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"Brilliant." A7 whispered with a breath of such ferocity, such thick emotion, that it almost frightened him. It was coupled with a reminder of the anger he'd felt a minute ago, for the masks. If they weren't there..

He forced himself to look away, placing a hand on A9's shoulder. "Your turn! In fact, everyone should sing it!"

"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door! COME ON GUYS!"

A-Nine hiccuped again but she had stopped crying. A-One's reassurance had gone a long way. She had tried. Failed, yes, but she had tried her best. No one was mad at her.

And they were singing. A-Seven was asking her to sing.

Softly at first, her throat still scratchy from her crying, A-Nine raised her voice with everyone else.

She could feel the horrors of that room sliding off of her and she smiled, gleefully singing along now.

"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door~"

Apparently, even in purgatory's lounge, punches to the face could knock someone out cold.

From the ground, slightly late and a little wobbly, Z4 added in: "Knock... Knock... Knockin'..." Before he groaned and shifted on the carpet.

Ow.

yII quickly snapped from being lost in his thoughts as the ones around him started to sing very loudly once more. Sitting up straight, he turned towards the group that had begun to shout out 'knock knock knocking on heaven's door' over and over again.

He was going to join in himself but A7 nearly tumbled into the abyss of a doorway. Thankfully, Zeta Eight had caught him.

Letting out a breath, he looked at the door again, recalling what he was thinking about before the brief distraction the singing had given him. The door still frightened him some.

"Might want to be more careful there," he said towards A7 before relaxing again.

Even the music had stopped, as G3 had smashed a glass with her spoon when A7 almost fell in. He could still hear the glass falling, even as he was pulled back from the vortex.

But as soon as his body slammed down - not into the vortex, but into the cold, hard floor instead - he felt a sense of loss. Everything was waiting there for him. All the answers, right there. Everything.

Except this.

Don't you... ******** dare... do that again.

When Z8 grabbed his hand, he pulled it hard and had her dropping down on top of him. His arms squeezed around her, and she could feel him shaking underneath him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, baby." A7 sounded muffled, lost, as if he wasn't quite all there anymore. "I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to. You know I love yowhoa whoa whoa wait a minute."

His last few words sounded a lot more like himself again, as he pulled back and dropped his head on the floor. What was he saying? He hardly knew this woman. What was wrong with him? His head rang painfully, as if the memory that had tried to leak out could only be stifled back with pain. It worked, of course - he remembered nothing.

Nothing but the feel of heartbreak - because as much as this place had locked his memories away, there was nothing they could do to keep his heart from it's own memories. How it felt.

As awkward as the situation was, he tried to soothe it over with a lighthearted explanation. It was clear his heart wasn't in it.

"I mean. You know, I love you for saving my life there, sunshine. Don't worry, I ain't leaving you that soon."

A-Three's careful gaze could almost be perceived through his goggles, as his head slowly rotated to the side, staring at the hand that Z5 had proffered his way. Somewhere, dimly, his body reminded him that he could dance, or at least, those movements of one's frame seemed strangely familiar, but if he recalled correctly, the social protocol of the thing was a touch...different than what Fiver II seemed to be implying. And now he was singing again, which only made the entire thing worse. With a soft 'tch', barely to be heard through the mask, he kept staring at that offer. Had anyone ever asked him to dance? Had he accepted then? Heh. He didn't know.

Noting the way that there was now an influx of yet more familiar faces, he actually made a low sound that was something akin to amusement. Good, so they'd all come down to the end of things. That was but further proof that his logic had been nigh-on infallible. He would much have preferred not to die instantly, but at least he hadn't been a fool, slaughtered like a bleating lamb spouting useless pleas for their life....whilst he'd been afraid of what death might hold, surely, he had not regretted his decisions. He rather doubted that such was the case for most of their fellows in this lounge of the afterlife.

Sighing once more, a motion that seemed to be ingrained into his behavior, he nodded to A-One. "Or much else for that matter. A shame. Some of us might actually have enjoyed one another's company, given different circumstances." He doubted it, but what was the point to bicker over it, since they were rather firmly in a state of dead.

As the new song started up, he found that it was a tune that he didn't mind, and slowly, giving Fiver's shoulder a squeeze as he arose, he glanced around at the other occupants of the room, closing his eyes for a moment to assess the tempo. No. Not a bad sort of song at all. "You..." He turned to look at Z-Five once more, taking a deep breath in. "I'm not sure...if dancing before we meet our final end is the best way to bide our time, until we decide to walk through that door." But he knew full well that if he didn't acquiesce, that Fiver II would be giving him the dejected puppy look, even from behind the shield of that suit. That and Fiver might give him a tongue-lashing once more, and that wasn't the sort of hassle that he'd really imagined he'd be in for in the great beyond. "Must we....?" He wasn't sure if he wanted an affirmative or negative answer, not really.

He wondered just how he was at the waltz...that at least, a dance that wouldn't make him look utterly ridiculous....like the Cha-cha. The idiocy of that particular step was inherent in the name, if you were to ask Three his opinion.

And as he watched more of them step through that door, he had to admit...he admired them...for facing the unknown, even as fearful as he knew they all were. Sooner or later, he knew that he would mount up the resolve to do likewise.

There was a jerk of her body, a suddenly hard pull from the hand in hers, and suddenly she found herself falling, another rush of adrenaline spiking through her veins, although this time a purely physical reaction as the ground suddenly rushed up to meet her. Except when she finally collided with something solid, it wasn't the unforgiving wood floor, spread out beneath red carpet. It was soft and warm, the subtlest of gives as Alpha Seven's chest tightened as she landed on top of him, his arms catching her before she went sprawling. Giving a little start, she braced her forearms on his chest as she felt him squeeze her, tilting her head inward a little towards his neck to give him a curious look, suddenly going completely stiff as his distorted words reached her ears.

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to. You know I love you.'

There was a rush of something she couldn't put her finger on, blood suddenly pounding in her ears, a mixture of emotions she couldn't recall ever feeling, yet felt so familiar it scared her. Unbidden she thrashed against him, trying to tear her body away from him, out of his grip, as if his fist had reached into her chest cavity, ripping at her insides, tearing as if to do as much damage as he could. But his arms would not let go, and after a few minutes she, too, regained herself, pushing herself up awkwardly to sit on his stomach as he assured her he wouldn't be leaving her yet.

He read her so well.

She'd barely sat up before she saw Alpha One coming towards them, purpose in his stride. She knew without having to ask where he was headed -- there was a sureness about him, a confidence unlike what any of them ever had. He'd always had it, it'd been what had allowed her follow him without question, something she would have never done with anyone else, save one or two others. Immediately, Zeta Eight straightened from where she sat, lifting her chin a bit in respect as he offered his hand, taking it and giving it a squeeze, her handshake firm. She couldn't say the things she wanted to say -- even in death, that was one thing she would likely regret, this inability. She just hoped he knew.

"Alpha One."

There were a few other goodbyes, and she watched them all, her eyes not leaving the door even after a good few moments had passed after he'd disappeared through it, not allowing the ache to show.

Oh Captain, my Captain.

Well, it seemed like that song had kinda died when the door almost sucked someone in. Though Fiver found it almost a little amusing that it had been A7 the door decided to pick on.

When someone from before, A2 asked him about the door, he shook his head slightly. "I don't know ... I don't even remember being here before. If I ever was. I just... died, and then I woke up in the tent. Sorry." He shrugged slightly.

Tilting his head, he attempted to think of something else to sing, frowning behind his mask. There was a melody ... tickling at the back of his mind, something he felt fit their situation quite well, really.

Slowly, he got up from that couch and started to whistle a tune ... and then he sang softly,
"I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park,
Listening to the wind of chaaaange.
An August summer night,
Soldiers passing by,
Listening to the wind of chaaaaange ..."

It was a little bit rough, as he was feeling his way along, trying to remember the words. But once he'd started, it was a little easier, the next lyrics coming to mind more readily. And he wondered ... if anyone else knew the song...