Originally posted by Echo:
*Edge slowly sets the fruit on the table and stares at it with glassy eyes.*
Edge: I don't feel so good all of a sudden...
Moon: What's the matter, darling?
Edge: I don't know...I just...oh, God I REALLY don't feel good...
*Edge leans over, his eyelids heavy. Echo looks at the purple fruit on the table and makes a quick deduction.*
Echo: Oh no...Moon, do you know where the kitchen is?
Moon: No, I...I'm not familiar.
Echo: *sigh* Alright, come on, Edge, we'll have to find it. Stand up, Edge...
*Edge stands, weakly. Echo grabs him around the waist and pulls his arm over her shoulders. He's resting nearly his full weight on her, but he's surprisingly light. he whimpers in pain and clutches his abdomen.*
Echo: Lean on me, we've got to go find something...
Edge: What's going on...Oh God, my stomach...
Moon: What should I do?
Echo: Oh, you've done enough.
*Echo ascends the stairs with Edge at her side. She does her best to keep Edge upright and conscious as they lurch down the hall in search of help. A butler passes.
Echo: Sir! Where is the kitchen? *The butler points.* Okay. Come on, Edge, I've got an idea...
*They make their slow way to the kitchen. Edge's whimpering grows louder and more urgent, until it becomes strangled groaning. Echo pushes them both through the swinging doors of the kitchen. She drops Edge in a chair and shoves her way through the kitchen staff, rifling though cupboards. Her search becomes fruitful, strangely, when she finds the shelves of cleaning products and rat poisons. She pulls out a tiny glass container with an ancient, yellowed label. Gathering up a bit of its contents in the dropper, she orders Edge to tilt his head back. He hasn't the strength. Echo grabs his chin and his head lolls back. She forces the liquid in the dropper down his throat, then drops the bottle and leads Edge to a nearby basin.*
*The kitchen staff is quiet, even the water in the pots seems to have stopped boiling, to wait in suspense. Echo holds Edge's head over the basin for ten seconds, fifteen seconds...and the silence is torn asunder by a sound Echo never imagined she'd hear. Edge vomiting, violently.*
*Echo turns her head away, trying in vain to avoid the sound and the smell. When the silence returns, Echo pulls Edge away from the sink. Crawling in the basin, amongst the remnants of the purple fruit, are hundreds of tiny larvae.*
Echo: Edge! Are you alright? Say something!
*Edge spits a few more larvae into the basin. His knees weaken and he sinks to the ground. Echo kneels as he looks up at her.*
Edge: I think I'd like a glass of water.
Echo: Oh, Edge...
*One of the kitchen hands a glass to Echo, which she holds to Edge's lips and tilts for him to drink. She grabs a wastebasket so he can swirl it and spit it out.*
*When the glass is empty Echo sets it aside and takes Edge's face in her hands.*
Edge: You saved my life...
Echo: *Silence. She gently wipes the sweat from Edge's face with a washcloth someone has handed her.*
Edge: What was that you gave me?
Echo: Ipecac. It induces vomiting.
Edge: Oh...
Echo: Killed Karen Carpenter.
Edge: What?!
Echo: Well, she drank it for years.
*Echo looks in the basin. The larvae squirm and writhe. There could not have been that many, that size, when Edge ate the fruit.*
Echo: Jesus Christ....
Jesus Christ: *as he passes* Hey, what's going on. I was actually just about to take off. Been quite a night.