A lone figure strode slowly down the paths of the palace gardens, his hands behind his back and eyes fixed on the ground. His build suggested a warrior, and the sword that hung at his side strengthened the image.
But, eventually, he sat heavily on a bench, holding his face in his hands. He sighed deeply and shook his head.
A rustling in a bush caught him by surprise and he stood, gaining his feet just in time to see a cat-girl slink out of the bushes.
"Merle? What are you doing in the gardens at this time of night?" As he spoke, he glanced up at the moon. Yes, it was about, if not past midnight, "You should be sleeping, especially after all the excitement lately."
"Well, I couldn't sleep and…well…" She scratched at her ear and grinned nervously, "Allen, I kind of wanted to ask you something."
"Of course," The knight of Caeli sat back down on the bench, and she joined him.
"Well, it's about home…Fanelia, I mean," Her cat-ears were drooping as she seemed to lose the carefree, hyperactive attitude that he had seen earlier, "Do you think that it might come back?"
"Come back? You mean, you are wondering if things will ever be the same as before," He smiled slightly as he filled in the broken voids in her question, speaking quietly, without intimidation, "You want to know if everything will go back to normal."
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Her left ear twitched.
Allen Shezar leaned forward onto his knees, glancing out at the gardens and, through them, the palace that glowed palely in the moonlight. He was silent as he remembered his own childhood, when his world had been torn from him.
He remembered hiding in his room, crying tears of sorrow and pain as he screamed inside, demanding and begging for explanations of why…why his parents were gone…why his sister had disappeared…why…why anything happened.
Scenes of his tumultuous adolescence flashed in his mind, between running off on his own, to fighting for money, until Balgus had found him…
Then, he had wished that life would return to normal.
"No," he whispered softly, "It won't."
Merle's ears drooped and small tears began to collect as she sniffled and wiped her eyes. Her lip began to tremble. "But…"
Allen smiled and laid his hand on her small shoulder, "But life always finds a way to fix itself, given enough time. The future is always bright, perhaps even better, than the past that you want it to be."
Merle was about to protest when he shook his head.
"You have to work hard," He removed his hand and folded them in his lap, "There are some things that life cannot heal unless you work for it."
"I guess," She slumped down, leaning her chin on her hands.
Together, they sat in silence, Merle gazing up at the stars and Allen staring at his hands. The young cat-girl glanced over at the man and noticed a single tear that traced its way down his cheek.
She had no idea what to do. Seeing a Holy Knight shed a tear with an emotional face was not something that she had dealt with before.
Tentatively, she rested her arm around his shoulders. It felt strange, but she decided to go for it. She embraced him whole-heartedly, wanting to cry herself. It felt like she was giving him strength my attempting to comfort him.
When she pulled away, red-faced, he smiled at her and gave her a quick squeeze around the shoulders, "Thank you, Merle."
They rested in silence for a few more minutes, not saying a word, communicating through their silence as they fixed their eyes upon the stars above, and the Mystic Moon that hung so gracefully there.