At the cosmic turnover station outside the crack, Rick saw a person who could never exist.
Diane.
"Do we know each other?"
Her tone was calm, with a hint of displeasure at being disturbed. This Diane was alive, strong, free—but didn't know him.
Standing there, Rick suddenly realized a fact that was crueler than all his scientific problems: the central finite curve he created by his own hands never trapped anyone else, but himself. And she, outside the curve, lived a life that he couldn't understand.
——
The setting of this article does not follow the official statement that "Diane was erased from all reality". The endings never intersect.
Intention: Make peace with the cage you built, and coexist with the loss that can never be undone.