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Pucci has walked through the garden gate a million times, and each time, he finds himself where he started. This place is fully contained and it will not let them leave, because this place is Hell and they are condemned to it. Six men are trapped inside, and Pucci fully expects that while another will join them one day, they will all be trapped here for eternity, living and dying and living again, and always within the same two thousand square feet.
Kars has tried a hundred thousand plans, so many that Pucci has lost track of them and what each was meant to accomplish. He still listens of course, and he understands what he can, even as they slowly blend into each other. Each plan fails, and each time, Kars continues forward. Even though Pucci never expects anything to work, he's been happy to help Kars when asked to.
In a sense, it's a way to pass the time in this place, and he finds the day always goes by quicker when he has something to focus on besides menial chores. But it's more than that. Pucci helps Kars with his experiments for another reason, maybe even simpler than the first: he truly believes that if anyone can find a way to escape, it would be Kars.
The man is as brilliant as he is determined. No failure ever sends Kars into despair or a fit of rage. He simply takes what he's learned and moves forward onto the next plan, and the next, and the next. There are times when Pucci tires of this and requests a break where he can have Dio around again for a while before it starts once more, but he always finds it in himself to move forward alongside Kars. Even if he never truly believes any single plan will work, he still finds himself sure that one of them will eventually, even if only because Kars will exhaust every single possibility.
So, even though he's walked through the garden gates a million times, and even though he's found his way back to where they started, he still takes a step forward when Kars tells him to.
The action is usually seamless. But this time is different. Pucci feels resistance as he steps forward, as if he's walked into a screen door, or plastic stretched tight. It pushes back on him and he has to push forward.
"Kars—" he says, and his voice feels strange and muffled. He strains, and he feels the air around him strain as well. Kars has been busy all day long, performing some experiments with the house, causing trees to grow into and around it until a mass of leaves and branches came from every which way and every side, until the sky was dark with them and Pucci had to duck as he made his way through the backyard. He must have found a way to force the field around their house to it's very limits, and so Pucci presents a bridge too far.
One great, vast hand settles on Pucci's back and without warning, he's pushed forward. The field strains and Pucci cries out as he feels himself crushed against it. It reminds him of his final moments in life—of the fist against his skull, the pressure as he was crushed, and the pain that came with it. He'll be smashed against the field, turned to a red paste. All he can do is hope it'll be quick this time, and he'll wake up in his bed, with Kars perched nearby as he works on his next test.
But he doesn't get turned to paste. The world strains, and then—
Snaps.
Pucci staggers forward, stumbling and nearly tripping over himself as he falls over a sidewalk. Only a small, silver car stops him, both palms hitting the hood as his body comes to a halt against it. And that's where he stays for a moment, his whole body tingling as Pucci catches his breath. Then he raises his head and looks around.
He wasn't mistaken—he really is on a street—or, no, not a street, a cul-de-sac. There are no people anywhere around, but there are cars scattered here and there around the circular dead end, parked at random in front of homes. Pucci spots a few bikes as well, though they seem to just be leaning against the walls in front of each house. Each one seems to be set behind gates and high walls, each built slightly different, with eight other homes, and then what seems to be a corner store sitting in the middle of what should be a road. After an endless span of days trapped in the house, it's overwhelming to be somewhere completely new.
There's a faint voice calling from behind him. Pucci turns around and for the first time, he sees the house from the outside. There's a high garden wall and he can see the dense trees jutting out all around, though unlike the inside, they don't appear to bend or warp from this side. Pucci approaches carefully, standing in front of the open garden gate. He can see into the yard, and he can see Kars standing there, looking out.
It's clear that Kars can't see Pucci looking back. He must be staring back into the garden path. Pucci is careful not to get too close, in case he's pulled back in.
"Kars, can you hear me?" Pucci asks in a level voice. He's tempted to shout, but it's unwise to make any particularly loud sounds until he's had a chance to learn more about where he is and who else might be here. "I made it outside onto what looks like a street with other homes."
Kars' voice is faint. Pucci has to strain to hear him and ends up glad that he can read Kars' lips to help him discern his new instructions. "Find out as much as you can before you return. I'll breach the barrier and join you shortly."
Pucci smiles a little, amused by Kars' confidence that he'll get through as well. But then, why shouldn't he be? This was Kars' plan and it succeeded. It seems there's nothing he can't set his mind to.
But Pucci has his own mission and he turns around, looking over the street once more. He decides to start by going left, since it's always felt like an auspicious direction to him.
What strikes him first is how strange this place is, and in the exact same way that the house was strange. It's like a TV set—too perfectly designed, too clean, too timeless. All of the imprecisions have been ironed out like wrinkles, leaving Pucci with some strange dream of a world that simply never was. The cars parked along the street are all old, and yet brand new, as if they rolled off the assembly line yesterday. Pucci drags a few fingers along the hood of one, silently noting how perfectly smooth it is, not a single scratch or bump to be found anywhere.
The same can be said for everything else. The lampposts and telephone poles have no graffiti or posters. The bike leaning against a garden wall is brand new but looks like something from his childhood. Every brick in the wall is laid perfectly, interlocking with its neighbors, not a single bit of crumbling mortar or aging to be found. Just like the house. He suspects any damage would repair itself.
If he broke down one of the walls, what would happen? Pucci doesn't have the tools to do so, but he might be able to find them, or to use one of these cars—assuming they can start. He tries the passenger door of the next one he passes and it pops open easily. There are keys dangling in the ignition and what looks like gas in the tank. He doesn't start it, not yet, in case he's not alone out here.
It would be easy to assume there's no one else around, but Pucci knows better than that. He didn't escape the reach of the Speedwagon Foundation for twenty years by drawing attention to himself. So he shuts the car door gently so it makes no sound and he walks down the street, carefully observing everything and listening for any sign of life.
The house he's been trapped in with the others gives way to another yard, another clean brick wall. He slows as he comes towards a gate. There's no sound from the yard, and he carefully steps forward, Made in Heaven at the ready in case he needs to vanish.
There's a strange, wild yard with two gigantic men inside, and the shadow of a third in the wndow of the house. In an instant Pucci knows they must be Pillar Men, even before he spots the horns on them. They're dressed like Kars, with the same ancient clothes and ornate jewelry on their faces, and they move in the same particular way that Kars does as well. He wonders if Kars would know these men, or if they would be strangers to him.
When Kars escapes from the yard, he'll have to bring him here and discern if he knows these Pillar Men. They might be too dangerous to communicate with just yet, so he steps away from the gate, glancing at the next house. The house he was in rested at the center of the cul-de-sac circle, with the store directly facing it. There's a house on either side, and again, and again, mirroring each other. When he looks again at the garden gate, he spots an ornate 2 hanging on the wall.
Across the way is a house with a 1 and beside it, a 3, then a 5, then a 7. On Pucci's side of the 'street', he sees the next numbered house coming up has a 4 on it, then beyond that, a 6, and an 8. When he looks back at the house he originated from, he finds a 0 there. Pucci moves forward, passing another car that looks as if it was a show model and has never been driven. It's strange—why are there cars here but nowhere to drive them? Why bikes when there's nowhere to ride besides the sidewalk circling the houses?
As he approaches the 4 house, he notes how the brick has changed subtly, and the plants growing both above and outside of the walls are different from those he saw at the 2 house, and different from the ones in the backyard of the house he's been forced to call home. The closer he looks, the more distinct every area appears to be. He could swear he can see what looks like a live oak hanging slightly over the 6 house and he feels unsettled to spot something so familiar in a place like this.
Pucci keeps moving, looking in the garden gate. There's no one he can see there, but he notices the sliding door on the house is open. Perhaps there is someone inside enjoying the fresh air, but Pucci can't tell if it's more Pillar Men or something else.
He moves on, approaching the live oak, his eyes drawn to the moss growing heavily on the branches. With every step he takes past the old brown brick wall, he can almost feel the climate change, becoming hotter, wetter, damper—uncomfortably familiar. There's something about the shape of the roof that he can glimpse just over the brick walls that sends a shiver down his spine.
Pucci looks back toward the other houses and feels dread building in him as well. He shouldn't jump to any conclusions, not until he's looked for himself. After all, there was nothing notable in the garden of the house marked with a 4. There may be nothing in the garden ahead. But even before he can see through the garden gate, Pucci finds himself sure he'll know the faces of the people inside.
He stops in front of the opening and it's just as he expected: the all-too familiar faces of Miu Miu and Sports Maxx—and Donatello Versus, all three of them sitting in garden chairs. They've clearly been here a long time judging from how casual they all are with one another, the conversation too quiet to be heard outside of their comfortable prison.
What makes Pucci feel deeply unsettled is the garden chairs, which are identical to those that were in the garden of his family home. And the closer he looks at the area around them, the more familiar it all looks to his eyes—the stone paths, the trees and flowers, all the small decorative touches his mother's garden had. And though the house here isn't his childhood home, he still sees too familiar touches in the windows and curtains.
Part of him half expects to see the door open and for Perla to step out—
Would Perla be here? No. No, of course not. His sister would never be found in a place like this. All he needs to do is see who's sitting in the garden to know exactly what a person needs to do to end up here. Pucci may have been judged and found wanting, but his sister is without sin. He's certain that she's in Heaven now, far from this place.
He's been lingering here too long. Pucci forces his feet to move, leaving behind house 6 and heading to the next stop. House 8 seems much the same, though the garden is empty and there's no sign of anyone in the home either. Oddly, the flowers and trees here are all without leaves or buds. It's hard to tell at a distance, but they don't look dead, just as if they're in early spring and yet to bloom.
Pucci keeps moving, his mind turning on what he's seen and learned, already drawing conclusions. There's more to confirm first, and most importantly, he needs to understand the mystery of the convenience store at the end of the block. While he can guess what's in the other four houses across the street, he wants to know what's in this building first, what it means. It’s the one place that doesn’t fit the theme, which means it’s the one place most likely to reveal a secret he hasn’t already learned from the house he’s been trapped in.
The sliding doors swing open, all the lights on inside and even from outside, he can hear the hum of machinery. It reminds him of the convenience store that was just off school grounds, and also partly of the prison canteen. Pucci considers stepping inside, but he has no interest in trading a prison with a comfortable bed and kitchen for what looks like checked tile and the constant hum of a soda machine. Until Kars has had a chance to replicate their escape and knows how to exit these places as well, Pucci won't step into any of them.
But even if he won't step in yet, he can still see quite a bit. He wouldn't say he cared to learn the brand names of junk food, but working at the prison had made him uncomfortably familiar with them. Occasionally it was advantageous to grease the wheels with the kind of things that couldn't be purchased at the canteen. But he doesn't recognize anything on the shelves—not the brand names, and not the knock-offs that were also inexplicably popular among inmates. The shapes are familiar enough though, and among the usual junk food and drinks, he also sees items more at home in a pantry. Some of their labels are familiar enough, as he's seen them in the kitchen in the house.
There's a magazine rack, but it's too far back to clearly see what they are. Though the food hasn't tempted him in the slightest, the promise of new reading material certainly makes Pucci want to take all of them. He's so bored of reading the same things over and over again. At this point, anything new would be a relief, no matter how inane.
Despite the lights and the hum of machinery, there's no one behind the counter and Pucci finds himself doubting anyone has ever stood there. The place is too clean, the shelves perfectly stocked with no gaps anywhere to be seen. What's the purpose of this place? Pucci can perhaps grasp the idea behind the houses, and even why they've been contained inside of them, seeing as all of them have faced the Joestars at some point or another. But why this place? Why a convenience store?
There aren't any answers here, not that he can be sure to find without risking trapping himself inside. Pucci moves on to check the houses on the other side of the street, intent on confirming what he partly suspects.
The 7 house is first, directly across from the 8. Unlike its silent mirror, this one has a backyard crowded with strangers. None seem familiar to Pucci, though he does reluctantly note that they do appear to be dressed in an 18th century style, and there are far too many American flags and decorations hanging from the obnoxiously white house.
Funny Valentine isn't a real president and Pucci's certain of this, but it seems that whatever he is, others might believe what he does.
The 5 house has an equally full garden, and confirmation that they are stand users, as one of them is using a fishing rod on the garden gate. The stand must be rather powerful, as he can see the line twisting around the outside of the iron. He brings forth Made in Heaven and commands his stand to touch it, preparing himself for pain or injury.
His stand transmits the feeling of it to him—thin, almost razor-sharp, slightly warm. On the other side of the gate, something flashes across the man's face, his head quickly turning to the side to talk to one of the others with him—a severe-looking man with his hair pulled back so tightly that he's given himself a facelift. The line squirms and flares open. Pucci glances back towards the main house, but Kars hasn't emerged yet.
This isn't Pucci's area of expertise but after assisting Kars with his experiments for a long time, Pucci feels that he's onto something here. He has Made in Heaven pinch the line again, and then carefully draw it into a larger circle, looking for the hook. It's a nasty looking thing, barbed though. Pucci expects it's meant for tearing the world apart.
That's exactly what they need to do here.
He moves it from its place on the top and carefully guides it down to the bottom of the gate, making sure it hooks firmly there. Then he gives the string a hard tug, a symbol he hopes will be firmly understood.
On the other side of the gate, he sees his message relayed to the stand user, who excitedly relays it to the man beside him. He must be loud, because it isn't long before others show up. Pucci lets his eyes slide over each of them, finally resting on what is clearly the leader of the group—a man in black and white whose presence brings a tension that wasn't there before.
The man with the fishing rod begins to reel in, cranking the wheel and winding the string. It goes taut and Pucci watches as it sinks into the iron, but doesn't pull through it. It's anchored in, holding tight, and he suspects there's nothing that can break the string beside the death of the user. And for a while, he watches as the string pulls and pulls, as the metal slowly warps.
But it's going to take more than a few minutes to pull this gate free. Pucci reluctantly steps away from it, knowing he should look at the other houses first, and see if Kars has managed to get free. It might be best if the two of them are together to meet the inhabitants of the 5th house.
Pucci means to look briefly into the garden gates of the 3 and the 1 house, but the idle glance comes to a halt as Pucci looks into the gate and sees the past and feels his breath taken away.
He knew one of these houses would likely have the men and women who were in Cairo. It was an obvious conclusion to draw after seeing the people in the 6th house. But it's one thing to know something intellectually, and another to actually see N'Doul and Mariah in the garden, both young and vibrant as the day he last saw them.
Mariah had escaped death, though not without some consequences. She lived out the rest of her days in Beirut, living an ordinary enough life with a boring little job, all under the watchful eye of the Speedwagon Foundation. N'Doul had gone into the desert to fight and never returned. His body lay somewhere beneath the sands, in a grave known only to Jotaro Kujo—and to Pucci, after he took Kujo's disc. He had never visited that remote spot. Pucci can't even say he would have made an effort, but the point is moot, since that year was a strange one, and he couldn't risk looking away from the prison for any amount of time.
But here they both are, young, laughing, drinking wine, and now that Pucci looks closer, he can see that they've buried Kenny G in the ground with only a sliver of his head sticking out. Hmm. So it seems they're the same as ever. It's comforting in it's own way.
Who else is in there? Vanilla Ice undoubtedly. Terence and Daniel? Oingo and Boingo? Who's been condemned to reside here? Pucci can only guess, but if the 5th house manages to break through their gate with that fishing line stand, then he'll know the answer to this soon enough.
He moves forward. The gate will be there when he returns and behind it, his eternally youthful once-allies. It does make Pucci wonder about Mariah and the others who survived, and who was alive the last Pucci checked. Would they all be as young? He thinks of himself returned to the age he was at Dio's mansion—sixteen, barely past that awkward cusp of adolescence. Perhaps he had been more lithe and his skin hadn't needed the same care then, but he's incredibly glad that he's still comfortably 39, and not stuffed into the body of his younger self. What a nightmare that would be.
The last house is odd—an old-fashioned Victorian, done in the traditional colours. So that confirms it, though it does raise its own questions as Pucci comes to stand in front of the gate and glances inside. It's dark inside, as if an eternal night has come to stay. There's a man in the garden and by his feet, some kind of pet. Odd. Would that mean that Pet Shop is within the garden of the 3rd house? He sets a few fingers on the gate, tapping at it. So what's behind here that was so loyal to Dio that—
The animal's head moves and Pucci recoils as he finally sees clearly what he's looking at. It's not a pet, at least not any natural kind. There's a human head on an animal's body. It's a grotesque thing, and Pucci would swear that when it looks at the garden gate that it's looking directly at Pucci. It can't of course, no one inside can see out. And yet, it's gaze is entirely too sharp...
Pucci moves on. There's nothing useful to see there. He returns to where the journey started—to Kars and the garden gate, and the trees growing beyond and into their walls, so thick and deep that he can barely see the gate opening.
"Kars, are you there?" He rests a few fingers on the garden gate and risks raising his voice. At this point, he's confident that if anyone was going to emerge and stop him, they would have shown some sign by now. But this place is like the house, like all of the houses if he were to guess. It's a prison complex in the end. The only mystery is the convenience store at the end of the loop, and he supposes there's the mystery of how this all works and who made it, but he's long decided that this is simply another mechanism of Fate. "I've made my way through the entire loop."
No answer. Pucci turns away from the house and looks back over the loop. Even from this distance away, he can see that House 5's gate is bending, slowly but surely. It's just hard to tell how long that will take.
With no sign of Kars, Pucci goes back to the car he opened before and this time, he turns the key. It starts smoothly, rumbling to life. It smells just like a brand new car should and Pucci runs his fingers over the wheel. It's tempting to drive it into the garden wall, to see if that will be enough to tear it open. Perhaps it would be enough to kill Pucci for good, and he won't return to life.
It's tempting. But after a moment, his hand drops down to the ignition and he turns it off.
Extreme measures should be saved for when there's no other choices left, and right now the 5th house is promising. The only catch will be convincing them that Pucci is as much a prisoner as they are, and not their warden. If they're here, then they must know someone in the house. It's fairly easy to narrow the list of suspects—Kira wouldn't have any interest in a group of men like that, so they must have something to do with Diavolo. It's a shame the man is such a useless paranoiac, or maybe Pucci would have any idea who they are and what their relationship is with him.
Though what kind of relationship could anyone have with a man like Diavolo? Pucci can hardly imagine him being able to command anyone or to issue orders. Even when he's present in the house, he refuses to speak to anyone. Kira and Pucci have both attempted to be polite, with the same results each time.
Though perhaps he didn't need to have a direct relationship with his subordinates. After all, Pucci didn't with the majority of his. Their relationship was with Whitesnake, or else they simply thought Pucci was an easily manipulated priest showing entirely too much concern for their well-being. Perhaps when he wasn't forced into close contact with the rather... aggressive members of the household, he could manage to work through a proxy.
He supposes it's a good thing that he typically wears his cassock. It should be easier to convince the residents of House 5 to listen to him if they see him as a member of the parish first, and only consider his relationship to this place after that initial feeling of calm.
Pucci can see that the gate is still slowly twisting, and there's no sign of Kars yet, so he rests in the car and waits for something to happen.
--
It's hard to tell how much time has passed. The clock on the car counts down instead of up, and the time isn't relative to anything. The sun does eventually set, though it would be hard to call it 'dark' in the neighbourhood. The streetlights are lit and out here, there are stars shining brightly, all of them missing the constellations that Pucci knew. The convenience store sits, doors open, light pouring out.
He feels restless. He's sat in the car for a while, and then paced some more, checking in at each gate again. At House 6, he sees Donatello's body in the garden, crumpled on one of the chairs. At House 4, a young man sits in the garden, eyes closed and hands on his knees. In House 3, he catches a glimpse of Pet Shop flying, and thinks for a moment that he sees the near-invisible ripple of Cream moving on patrol, though what would he even have to guard against these days?
House 5 has made great progress, but it seems they've stopped for the moment, or perhaps been forced to stop. The gate is twisted now, the top and bottoms pulled up. Pucci can peer through, and he sees blood on the grass, but no sign of anyone. The house lights are on but when he calls out, no one answers.
In time, he moves on to the only place left unexplored—the convenience store. Though he told himself he would wait for Kars, it's been hours now without a sign of him. Perhaps he couldn't manage to get through. Maybe Pucci was an accident that can't be replicated. It does make him wonder what it would be like to step inside any of the houses. Would he be trapped in them?
The sterile light of the convenience store washes over the sidewalk. Perhaps this is foolish. But perhaps the night will pass and when Pucci eventually falls asleep, he'll find himself back in the house, this proving to be nothing more than a temporary reprieve. If so, then he should at least discover as much as he can.
So despite his trepidation, Pucci steps forward and through the automatic doors that roll open without a single sound or rumble.
It smells like the prison does. It takes Pucci a moment to realize it’s the chemical smell of cleaner—the same one that they used at Green Dolphin Street Prison. The lights are painfully bright, illuminating every last corner of the store. Pucci's shadow is underneath him, and yet also scattered to the sides. It moves when he moves, swirling around him as the lights bend and shape Pucci's shadow. It's unpleasant to watch.
There's muzak playing. Pucci knows this song, and he can't help but laugh a little despite all the tension. Even in Hell, a sense of humor remains. Though perhaps it would be better suited to Dio or Kars. Pucci had wanted many things, but ruling the world was never one of them.
While Curt Smith sings, he carefully explores the sterile store. The items on the shelves are all real—a quick pop of a few can tops, and opening a bag of pretzels produces the expected results. The soda and slushie machines at the back of the store hum and turn, moving around product that Pucci imagines is likely refreshed every single day, just like the food in the house. There are no trips, no streaks or smears, and absolutely no sign that this place has ever been inhabited by anyone or anything. He also notes a lack of price tags in the usual places. The security cameras are all still in place and their red lights shine. None of them move to follow Pucci, but he finds himself certain that they could turn at any moment.
The cash register looks real though, and when Pucci reaches over the counter to hit the drawer open button, it's devoid of money. But there is a key in the drawer closest to him and he picks it up. It's a fairly ordinary looking house key.
His eyes drift to the door at the back of the store. Once again, he wonders if he should wait for Kars, then steels himself to move forward. There's no point in backing down now. Anyway, Pucci has acted alone for most of his life. He doesn't need Kars to hold his hand anymore than he ever needed Dio to coddle him.
The cameras don't move. He feels tension building in the air as he approaches the door and slides the key inside of it. It easily unlocks for him, and he holds his stand at the ready as he swings the door open, prepared to face down something on the other side.
But there's no one inside the room. It's an office, and he sees a wall of monitors in front of a console and a chair. Things are notably different back here. For one—it's full of dust and the air tastes stale enough to make Pucci recoil. It's the first thing he's seen that wasn't perfectly clean in a long time. Somehow, that's even more shocking than finding someone back here, pulling at levers or controlling cameras.
He raises a hand to cover his mouth and nose as he steps inside the room and looks around at what must have once housed someone. Whoever was here is gone, and they've been gone for a long time. The layer of dust is thick on the floor, as well as over the chair and the console. The monitors are still working and as Pucci watches, they cycle through a number of options—all views from inside the store and the surrounding area, and finally through the houses. It's night and he sees that reflected in the still and sleeping bodies lying in various beds.
Pucci sees a shot of his own room and he thinks of the layout of it in his mind. There's no room for a camera in the place this footage is being shot from. He's even certain that the wall is blocked by a bookcase, though that will be the first thing he moves once he returns to the house.
Finally, he finds another sign of humanity there—a dog dish, tucked underneath the desk. It must have held water but it's long since evaporated, leaving behind what minerals couldn't evaporate. Someone was here with a pet, and that just makes everything feel even stranger.
There's a second door set into the wall, but this one has no doorknob. If it opens, it only opens from the other side. Pucci expects that whoever was here, whoever was watching, they passed through long ago and left this place to rot. Who was it?
He carefully moves the chair and sits gingerly in it. It's larger than the average office chair, and Pucci's legs nearly dangle off the floor. The dust is brushed from the controls and it doesn't take too much effort for him to figure the system out. It's very simple, clearly designed for someone who knew very little about computers. It has controls for all the cameras, allowing the monitors to cycle between individual houses, or with the touch of a button, to fill all of the screens at once with the same image, blown up large.
The most important set of controls are found when Pucci finds the main menu. The cameras are only a secondary function. The most important option is the first one—DOOR LOCKS.
He quickly selects that option and finds all of the houses neatly labeled—0 through 8. It's simple to select 0 and unlock it. There's no clear sign that the gate's been opened—the simple green text display simply changes from LOCKED to OPEN with no fanfare. He debates over the other gates and decides to leave them be for the moment. Perhaps 5 will escape on their own. If not, he may suggest they speak with them shortly to find out more.
With Kars hopefully released, Pucci leaves the dusty room behind. He locks the door behind him and slips the key into his pocket. This will likely need to be kept a secret for the moment. He can share it with Kars, but the others are all rather too impulsive to be trusted. Dio will likely be ecstatic to see the return of his servants and Pucci plans on reuniting them, but only once he and Kars have decided the best way forward.
The store is as empty and quiet as ever. The music's changed and he strides out to the soft jingle of a tambourine and an unfamiliar tune. The night is dark and the light from the convenience store stretches long over the cul-de-sac. He can see from here that the garden gate to his house lies open, and as Pucci watches, Kars bursts through it, taking flight. It's hard to see the shape of him at night, but he gets an impression of wings where arms were, and up rises Kars, higher and higher, swooping far above before he comes down just as fast, landing in front of Pucci.
He's never seen Kars smile like this before. The expression looks like his face might tear itself apart. He simply lifts Pucci and swings him around while Pucci grabs onto Kars' arms. He's not afraid of high speeds, but he still doesn't want to pass out from a few unexpected g-forces, and he's still saving Made in Heaven for an emergency.
"You truly are the best among humanity," Kars proclaims—a compliment only a Pillar Man could make. Pucci laughs a little himself as the weight of everything hits him. He's done the impossible. They may not have escaped entirely, but their small domain has expanded. A victory is a victory and Pucci has learned to enjoy those moments when the world rewards him for his persistence. "Tell me everything."
"Of course. Let's start with the homes. There's one I need you to see, and inhabitants you should recognize." Pucci pats Kars' arms, motioning to be set down. Kars does as he asks, setting Pucci firmly on the sidewalk. As soon as he's on solid ground, Pucci links an arm with Kars and leads him away from the convenience store, heading to the house with the 2 on the wall.
They'll start here, with the men who might be Kars' allies, and then go from there. There are so many others here, so many stands, so much potential that can be used to make their way forward. Pucci expects it may take some time to adjust to this place, but if he has learned anything from his life and his death, time is something that he has an infinite amount of. The petty squabbles will fall aside, and and in time, with their minds working together, they will open the door with no knob. They will walk through to the other side, and whatever lies beyond that, and so on and so on, until they find a way to break free from whatever imprisons them here.
Together, there is nothing that can stand in their way.