The end of the world was approaching. Each time she would look out of the windows of the ranch, the moon was the only thing Cremia would see in the sky, its twisted caricature of a face grinning down at her as the moon slowly got closer and closer. There couldn't be more than a few minutes left, maybe a couple of hours if they were lucky, until it would fall down completely.
And yet, as she looked over at Anju, sitting there in one of the chairs at the dining table - the dining table of Romani Ranch that would soon be gone forever along with the rest of the life Cremia had known - she was filled with a strange sense of calmness. Though she had not had time to confess her feelings to Anju due to the combination of Romani having been worried about the cows, Anju's fiancé going missing, and the moon looming over their heads, she would at least spend her last couple of minutes close to her.
Cremia had given up hope that they would be saved a long time ago. The boy in green who had told them that he could stop the moon from falling, Link, had not been back to the ranch since he had defended them from the ones her sister had called Them. The very last thing he had told them before taking off had been something about going to the ancient ruins of the Ikana kingdom to search for a way to stop the moon. She had not heard from him since and had been able to figure out what had most likely happened to him although Romani seemed intent to believe that the boy would succeed in his quest. Cremia's younger sister wasn't the only one in the room who still believed that they would be saved as Anju's grandmother was still clinging to the hope of a miracle happening as well, having spent most of the evening telling them that the fabled Four Giants would show up in time to stop the moon. Although she would never share her thoughts with the two, Cremia did not dare to hope for that kind of miracle. If there really were beings powerful enough to stop the nearing moon, then why had they not done so already?
Fact was that they were going to die soon. Nothing could change that.
Cremia looked over at her little sister. She was sitting on the little table next to the cupboard, taking small sips from her cup of Chateau Romani. During her upbringing, Cremia's parents had always insisted that Chateau Romani was only for adults, not children. Not wanting one of her last actions to be to go against her parents' wishes, Cremia had not felt like it was a good idea to give her little sister the drink, but at least Romani would have tried the drink once in her life.
Besides, they would soon meet their parents again and then Cremia could explain it to them. But for now, the only thing she could do was to make sure that her guests and sister felt as comfortable as possible.
As Cremia began to pour another two cups of Chateau Romani, she looked at how Anju was slouching in the chair, looking anxiously out of the window while twisting a strand of her bright red hair around her finger. From the way that she was sitting, Cremia could not tell if her childhood friend was afraid of what was to come or if she was still hoping that Kafei would return. But at least she was still aware of her surroundings, and she did look up when Cremia placed a cup filled to the brim with the signature drink of Romani Ranch down on the table right in front of her and went to sit in the chair next to her.
"Oh, no, Cremia I can't-" Anju began, gesturing towards the cup.
But Cremia insisted, trying to make sure that her voice did not sound as tired and hopeless as she felt. "Of course you can. Once the moon will hit Termina, no one will have use of it, so we might as well drink it while we still can."
Anju's lower lip quivered, as she picked up the cup, taking a single sip of it before placing it back down on the table and looking over at Cremia. Her eyes were shiny, red and puffy and Cremia knew that it was from crying. Even though Anju and her family had only went to the ranch a few hours ago, with Anju's grandmother having tried to insist that they should stay in the town and wait for the Giants to arrive, Cremia had already seen Anju get up from her chair and walk over to the front door to look for Kafei at least five times. Each time, Anju's mother had reminded Anju to stay inside, often having to repeat herself a couple of times before her daughter would tear herself away from the door.
"I'm scared," Anju suddenly whispered.
Cremia placed her own cup back onto the table to reach out to grab Anju's hand. "Don't be."
"How can you be calm in a time like this?" Anju asked. "The moon is so close."
Cremia thought about it. Before Anju had said so, she had not thought that she was calm. Despite missing her parents and looking forward to seeing them again, she did not want to die. But with her sister not truly understanding what was happening outside and how the moon was going to crash, Cremia had done her best to not let her know what was going on. Her sister spending the last couple of minutes they had left still thinking that they would be saved was the best thing Cremia could do for her.
"I think it is because of Romani. I can't let her see me worry for then she will get scared as well. Right now, she is calm and happy that she got the chance to taste the Chateau Romani." She looked at the moon hanging low on the sky right outside the window. "Besides, I can't do anything to stop the moon from falling, so there really is no reason for me to panic."
That made Anju smile weakly. "I wish I could look at it the same way as you. But I keep… I keep hoping for Kafei to come back. Even if he ran away because he changed his mind about us getting married, I still want to know why he ran away from me."
The fact that Kafei had made Anju doubt herself was enough to make Cremia wish that she knew where he had gone so that she could personally go and berate him for what he had done. She was not exactly sure what she would yell, whether she would yell at him for having ran away from Anju and having caused her to be this sad, or if she would rather yell at him for how Kafei had ever been able to leave her. It was perhaps a combination of both along with the bitter feeling of knowing that she had missed her chance when she had not told Anju about her feelings before Kafei had had the chance to do the same. Cremia knew that had she confessed to Anju before Kafei had and Anju had returned her feelings, Cremia would have stayed with her and not left three days before their wedding.
Anju continued. "I mean, what is it about me that made him just run away?"
"Anju," Cremia gave her hand a light squeeze, "Kafei running away is not something you should blame yourself for. That is something he chose to do, and I am sure that he had his reasons for doing so, reasons that have nothing to do with you."
"I know… but I had always thought that he would be here if the world should end. That it would be just like it had always been when we were young; the three of us against the world."
"And now it is just you and I," Cremia finished.
Anju nodded. "Yes. Now it is just you and I. Although," she leaned over towards Cremia, resting her head on her shoulder, "I am happy that you are here with me."
"And I am happy that you are with me as well." Cremia said, and though she was not sure how Anju had meant it, she could not help but feel the hope blossom in her chest. Looking out of the window, the sight of the approaching moon reminded her of how little time they had left, but for the first time, Cremia felt at peace with what was going to happen.
"Anju, do you remember when we were younger, and you thought that you could touch the moon?"
"Yes." Anju tilted her head to smile up at Cremia. "It seemed like it was so close that I would just have to reach out slightly to be able to touch it." Cremia saw how she quickly glanced out of the window. "And now it really is so close that I would almost be able to touch it."
"It will be just like when we were children, won't it?" Cremia said, making Anju look away from the window to smile at her once more and throw her arms around her.
"It will."
They sat there, being completely still, until the moon kissed the tip of the Clock Tower and the wall of fiery destruction reached Romani Ranch, the sky lightening up like it was nothing more than a sunrise.