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Maelle asks Verso if they could talk by the lake. They walk there together.
Verso: …
Maelle: I found the letter.
Verso: What?
Maelle: From Alicia.
Verso: …
Maelle: I need to see her. I want to talk to her. And understand…
Verso: Understand what?
Maelle: Why Maman…
Verso: What, kept her scars? No. Don’t go messing with her head, she doesn’t need that, and she doesn’t owe you any answers.
Maelle: She’s the one who kept coming to me. I think she wants to see me.
Verso: Just leave her be. Please.
Maelle: Verso. You’re not doing her any favours. You already destroyed her world. Maybe I can help her. She doesn’t owe me, but… maybe I owe her.
Verso: …
Maelle: And let’s not talk about what YOU owe her. Don’t you wanna see her too?
Verso: Yeah, of course. She doesn’t want to see me though. Not after everything.
Maelle: Then she can throw us out and we’ll leave her alone.
Verso: …
Maelle: Is that a yes?
Verso: …
Maelle: Great, where is she?
Verso: If I had to guess… There is a place she loves, at the top of the mountain near the Monolith. With the third Axon.
Maelle: Oh. That Axon… I guess we’re climbing.
Verso promised to take Maelle to his sister. She is most likely in a giant on the island of the last Axon, near the Monolith.
Lune: Another Axon. How did it get so large?
Verso: She wasn’t always this tall. But she’s obsessed with reaching the stars, so…
Maelle: Papa and his parables.
Verso: Parables?
Maelle: He never paints just to paint. Everything has to have layers and layers of meaning and purpose. Everything’s a lesson.
Verso: Hmm.
Lune: What’s the lesson with this one?
Maelle: Hope.
Verso: Alici- My sister’s at the top.
Maelle: And Papa knows I have vertigo.
Sciel: Are they trying to fix things? Or break things?
Monoco: She Who Grasps The Sky. They’re jealous. They wish to destroy her work. Pull her back to the ground.
Lune: Is this part of “the parable?”
Maelle: Everything is.
Sciel: Did that Nevron just kick a different Nevron off the tower?
Verso: Looks that way.
Maelle: (amused exasperation)
Maelle: Vertigo, remember? His intentions are good, I know… but his methods…
Lune: Your father?
Maelle: I’m the youngest, which makes everything worse.
Lune: Oh, I understand that.
Sciel: Only child.
Maelle: Yeah. Clea’s the oldest. She’s just so… perfect. So… accomplished and talented. Papa’s favourite, he’s so proud of her. And Verso… Verso could always make Papa laugh. They had so many inside jokes. Then there’s me…
Verso: And then there’s you. The ACTUAL favourite. The one he calls his “hidden star,” but who’s too shy and self-conscious to see it.
Maelle: Yet here I am, messing things up even more.
Verso: Look around. He just wants you to fly.
This Orphelin is different from the rest. It does not sabotage. It builds.
Lune: All these inventions—Gustave would have loved to see this.
Maelle: Hello.
Verso: Alicia. Your letter…
Maelle: She blames us, doesn’t she? You didn’t deserve that… Oh. You’re the real Axon. You know Papa painted her? So you know who she represents. You… like? Being here? With her? I guess… this… represents his hope. For us. For me, then. Go. Claim your piece of sky. We both deserve to fly. Let me give you a new beginning.
Verso: Alicia—
Alicia: Send me to my family.
Verso: Wait—Maelle—!
At camp, Verso refuses to talk to anyone. He stands alone by the lake. After a while, Maelle decides to go and talk to him.
Verso: …
Maelle: …
Verso: …
Maelle: I’m sorry.
Verso: …
Maelle: It’s what she wanted. I owed her that much. We owed her that much.
Verso: …
Maelle: I honoured her wishes. That’s something neither you nor Renoir ever did. And not Maman either.
Verso: … I didn’t get to say goodbye. You didn’t wait. You didn’t give me a chance to persuade her.
Maelle: She knew what she wanted. You wouldn’t have been able to sway her.
Verso: She’s not you. You don’t know that. I know her better than you do. But you didn’t even give me the chance to try. You just erased her.
Maelle: Verso…
Verso: You’ve lost two brothers. You know what it’s like to lose your sibling and never get the chance to say goodbye.
Maelle: …
Verso: You Painters. You just do what you want, you don’t care how it affects the rest of us.
Maelle: I do care. I know you’re hurting, but the person who made that decision wasn’t me. It was her. It would have been wrong to deny her just so you could try and talk her out of her decision.
Verso: She’s the last of my family. I have no one left now.
Maelle: You have me. You have us.
Verso: Maelle. I wasn’t ready.
Maelle: I don’t understand. You were ready when you set Papa free. You expected that he would erase the Canvas and everyone in it. Isn’t that the same thing?
Verso: It’s different. It’s different. Why did she do that?
Maelle: You know why.
Verso: …
Maelle: But you’re right. I should have thought of you. I should have given you a chance to say goodbye. I’m truly sorry, Verso.
Verso: … At least she’s free now.
Despite his frustration, Verso understands Maelle’s words. He appreciates that Maelle is honest with him and Maelle empathises deeply with Verso. Maelle and Verso feel closer to each other. They sit in silence a little longer. This time, Maelle comforts Verso. They head back to the others.