Three years after "In His Eyes", Gemma travels to realms one more time with her daughter, Kartik's daughter. This is crossed with the song "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from Phantom of the Opera.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; they belong solely to Libba Bray. The song belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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I enter the realms with her three year old daughter at her side. I want to bring her here; I want her to see what kind of power she will have. I allow her to play, near the river with a small bunny. I beckon her to come and walk with me.
You were once
my one companion . . .
you were all
that mattered . . .
You were once
a friend and father -
then my world
was shattered . . .
I walk along toward the Winterlands.
Wishing you were
somehow here again . . .
wishing you were
somehow near . . .
Sometimes it seemed
if I just dreamed,
somehow you would
be here . . .
Wishing I could
hear your voice again . . .
knowing that I
never would . . .
Dreaming of you
won't help me to do
all that you dreamed
I could . . .
I walk along further, and check behind me to see if she is still following close behind. It is no longer destroyed here, but slowly rejuvenating itself, to its former glory.
Passing bells
and sculpted angels,
cold and monumental,
seem, for you,
the wrong companions -
you were warm and gentle . . .
Then I see it, the Tree of All Souls. And my heart swells. Out of joy and sorrow. She'll never know her father and that is what saddens me.
Too many years
fighting back tears . . .
Why can't the past
just die . . .?
Wishing you were
somehow here again . . .
knowing we must
say goodbye . . .
Try to forgive . . .
teach me to live . . .
give me the strength
to try . . .
No more memories,
no more silent tears . . .
No more gazing across
the wasted years . . .
Help me say goodbye
I reach out her hand to the tree, to Kartik. A tear escapes down my freckled cheek.
Help me say goodbye.
My daughter runs up to me carrying a small lily of the valley, she stops just short of me and stares at the tree. I turn around a pick her up. She looks at the tree with an understanding I had hoped she would understand.She places her hand on the tree, on her father. This brings a surge of emotions in me, I had not expected.
"It is time to say goodbye, Mahima," I say.
Mahima looks at me knowingly. I conjure the door of light one last time; I will not come back to this place. Not until it is my final trip, when I die. I truly say goodbye to the realms and to Kartik though I know he will be in my dreams. I am ready to live my life for myself and my daughter.