From the day we arrive on the planet,
And blinking, step into the sun,
There's more to see than can ever be seen,
More to do than can ever be done,
"I would never die on you." I walked down the street, my hands shoved into my jeans pockets, my scarf wrapped thickly around my neck. It's been a year since Serena died, and my heart has been empty since then. I couldn't help but remember the promise that she had made to me all those years ago, that she'd never die on me, yet she had. She had died to save me. I looked up when I realized that I had stopped, and I found myself in a park, snow drifting down from the sky, placing cold kisses on my cheeks.
"Whenever you see something beautiful, that'll be me." Jim Cook had given me a note Serena had given him to give to me after I woke up in the hospital after collapsing in the other dimension. He never opened it, never read it. Just gave it to me and offered me support when I broke into tears. It was good-bye note. Somehow, she had known. In it, she asked me to listen to the song 'The Circle of Life' from the first Lion King movie, and that was what she had said in the note, among other things. "Whenever you see something beautiful, that'll be me."
There's far too much to take in here,
More to find than can ever be found,
But the sun rolling high,
Through the sapphire sky,
Keeps great and small on the endless round,
I closed my eyes and sighed, my breath misting in front of me in the cold winter air, melting a few snowflakes in front of my face. The song was about her beliefs. Even after someone passes on, they're never truly gone, and life goes on. No matter how depressed I got, as long as I was able to see around me, I would see her.
It's the Circle of Life,
And it moves us all,
Through despair and hope,
Through faith and love,
I hadn't even been able to see the spirits of my duel monsters family since that day, not even Ruby. I had long since given up dueling, since every time I drew a card, I would remember her, and all of the happy times we'd had. It hurt my heart to remember how I had failed her, so I had put them away some place safe, and I had put my family up on the mantelpiece so that I could see them if I was feeling brave enough to look.
Till we find our place,
On the path unwinding,
In the Circle,
The Circle of Life,
"Whenever you see something beautiful, that'll be me."
I hadn't spoken a word since then either. I had heard my old friends talking with the doctors and saying that I had become a selective mute, and that people rarely recovered from it. It wasn't that I couldn't speak, it was just that I had had no desire to, and had consequently forgotten how to speak. I opened my eyes and looked up into the sky again.
"Whenever you see something beautiful, that'll be me."
"I'll never die on you."
Maybe she hadn't meant it the way I had taken it back then. Maybe… maybe… she had just twisted it into a way that I could accept it, when the time came for me to really think about what she had said? Maybe… what she had meant was…
"I'll never leave you." I jerked my head down to look around me as I thought I heard her voice, and I saw a particularly vigorous snow swirl before it settled. I squinted at it for a moment, and then shook my head at the ground. It couldn't be… Serena wasn't the only one to have disappeared, either. Jaden had gone missing too. Apparently he had done something to take us home after I had passed out in the other dimension. Something like I had done. Somehow I knew he'd be back though. It took more than an evil spirit take-over to keep that boy down.
"Jesse?" I was imagining things, I knew it. It was the wind that was making me hear her voice and the snow was making me pretend that that was her hand on my shoulder. The wind sighed, and brushed under my chin, softly whispering a song.
"It's the Circle of Life,
And it moves us all,
Through despair and hope,
Through faith and love,"
That wind was very realistic, and I frowned slightly in confusion, the wind under my chin trying to lift my eyes to look right ahead of me. I sighed and complied. She smiled at me.
"Till we find our place,
On the path unwinding,
In the Circle,
The Circle of Life."
I couldn't speak. Was I dreaming? Serena was standing in front of me. She looked healthy and her cheeks were pink with the cold, and her hand was still under my chin. She smiled at me as she removed her hand. Was I delusional?
"I've missed you Jesse." She sighed and wrapped her arms around me. She felt real. Surely I was hallucinating as I wrapped my arms slowly and carefully around her waist, staring blankly over her shoulder.
"You died." I whispered, my voice unused to being used. I felt her turn her head from side to side next to mine.
"I disappeared. I am as real as you are Jesse. I'm back now. For good." I pulled away from her, and looked deeply into her eyes, and she let me in. Serena's eyes, and she lifted a hand to softly stroke my cheek. It felt so real, and I slowly brought my face closer to hers, and she closed her eyes as my lips softly touched hers. Nothing like this can be faked.
"I'll never leave you Jesse. I love you." She whispered against my lips, and I choked on my tears as I pulled her to me, holding her tightly. She didn't disappear.
"I- I love you too."