Yes, for all of my past reviewers reading this, I'm back! Hurray! I've tried to put the details of my return on my profile page, but it's being a butt and not saving my changes. XP Anyway, I'm not going to repeat it all here, so just keep checking my profile page for details. Just look for an update date at the top sometime this year (in other words, ending in an "07"—ignore the one that says "06"). In the meantime, enjoy my newest post!
This is my short little idea of just what Ledah and Ein were discussing off to the side in Heaven's Gate, right around where you get Rosier or Longinus.
Disclaimer: I don't own Riviera. Or Ein. Or Ledah. Or Rose. Which sucks.
"Ein."
He stopped to listen. He loved the way the tall and elegant Grim Angel said his name. It wasn't brief or curt, like his usual manner of speech, nor was it a fragmented string of letters in a name, as Hector's pronunciation implied. It even rivaled Rose's expression: short, sweet, and to the point. It was almost soothing, like the sound of water running over silky-smooth skipping stones.
"Yeah?"
There was a pause.
"It's nothing."
Rose wandered on ahead, but Ein didn't notice. He turned around to face his companion.
"What's wrong, Ledah?"
He found it odd for Ledah to start a conversation (unless it was to tell them to hurry up), and so he was genuinely curious. He stared up at Ledah, waiting anxiously for a response.
Something was bothering the other angel, however.
"Ein, there's something I need to discuss with you."
Ein raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Right here? Now? But, aren't we—?"
"No, not now. Later. When we complete our mission."
Ledah couldn't explain himself, especially not to the dark-haired angel standing before him, whom he'd known as long as he could remember. Even so, Ein's rather naïve perspective annoyed the more experienced angel at times. He had come to view Ein as a younger brother of sorts: someone who constantly needed to be rescued (a damsel in distress, if you will), and whose curiosity always got the better of him. The affection that had fostered over time, which went hand in hand with this relationship, had been lost, he believed, and perhaps replaced with a rather impulsive irritability. What remained of it was nothing but a gaping hole, filled temporarily by a sense of duty to tide him over, to keep him going.
The sight of Ein's pouting expression brought him instantly back to Heaven's Gate.
"You brought it up, and now you've got me curious, Ledah. Are you sure you can't just tell me now?"
Suddenly, Rose's voice interrupted them. "Look at all these cracks! This place could go at any second."
"Don't say things like that," Ein replied nervously. He turned back to Ledah. "I know asking's pointless with you, isn't it?" he asked with a sigh.
Something akin to a smile flickered across Ledah's features. "When it's over, Ein. When we have lived out our purpose." He paused again, then added, "Think of it as something to keep you alive."
Ein shivered at his last words. "When it's over…" he echoed.
"Ein, there's something in the cracks!" Rose called again.
Ein made as if to walk over to her, but stared long and hard at Ledah as if to secure his promise before heading off. And suddenly, inexplicably, the wingless angel seemed distant, just out of reach, and Ledah's expression darkened as he sensed that he might never be able to communicate what he thought he had lost for the sake of receiving his Diviner.
"Time will tell," he thought to himself. "Fate will decide our future." And so, brushing past Ein and his Familiar, he muttered, "We don't have time to waste. Let's go."