Miku sleepily awoke to find a distinct lack of warmth in her bed. Foggily, she threw out her hand and patted the empty sheets for a few moments before her eyes snapped open and she sat up. Luka was not there.

That never happened before. Although Luka was an early riser, she was quite content to close her eyes and stay in bed with Miku until she woke up. Miku suddenly felt worried, and she shout out of bed and ran around the rooms, frantically checking each of them. The room with the piano in it, empty, the room with the books and couches, also empty, the kitchen and dining room, empty. Miku flung open Luka's room, which Luka had not gone into for a while, and saw Luka lying down in her coffin, her eyes closed.

Miku's heart felt as though it stopped. She ran over to Luka and grabbed her hand. "Luka! Are you alive!? Luka?!"

Luka gave a short groan and opened her eyes. "Oh...I'm alive."

Relief washed over Miku like a wave, so palpable and real. "You...you really made me worry...why...why are you lying down in your coffin?"

Luka struggled out of her coffin, and Miku noticed, to her alarm, that there was a thin trickle of blood seeping from Luka's mouth that Luka quickly wiped away with the back of her hand. Her face was ashen. "I didn't feel well. I think," Luka coughed into her palm, "that I'm going to die soon."

"What!?" Miku leapt to her feet, dread and grief and fear and sadness crashing through her body, sending her nerves into disarray. "You can't die! Not now...it's too soon!"

Luka drew her eyes up to look at her calendar. "No...I actually lived two months longer than I thought..."

It was true. It was the second week of their eighth month of marriage. Miku fell to her knees once more, all of her strength leaving her body at the terrible realization that her time with Luka had run out. She replayed memories of Luka in her head as she stared glassily at the floor. She couldn't even cry - she did not have the strength to summon up tears. All she could do was sit there.

"I didn't want to worry you," Luka continued. "That's why I went back to my room. I didn't want you to wake up next to a dead body."

Miku was silent, her mind refusing to absorb the words and to accept this reality.

Luka heaved a sigh and collapsed into a chair. "Not much longer now," she said in a whisper. Miku's heart ached - Luka's voice had once been so strong and powerful. It held Miku in thrall, back when Miku was an aspiring actress. Now it was sad and weak and wispy and ethereal.

"No," Miku's voice trembled. "This can't be true...you can't be dying...not now. Not like this..."

Luka wordlessly held out her hands, and Miku got up and enveloped Luka in a hug.

"I'm sorry," said Luka. "I don't want to leave you."

Miku's body was shaking from all of the emotions swirling around her. She should have prepared herself for this inevitable moment...after all, she had gone into the marriage knowing that Luka would die...she wanted to make Luka happy, but Miku had never known, ignorant girl she was at the time, that she would feel so much depth of love for Luka. Now that Luka was dying, Miku felt as though an essential part of her was being ripped away. She would be incomplete. Miku didn't say anything - she desperately grasped onto Luka, hugging her tightly to herself.

They stayed like that for a long while, before Luka shifted a little. Her trembling hands searched along the wall of her room, before they stopped and fumbled with something. Miku heard the faint sound of alarms, and she pulled back and looked at Luka, confused.

Luka smiled wryly. "That's my signal for a doctor."

Then, she closed her eyes and fell unconscious.

-o-o-o-

The doctor came, purple-haired and elegant in his movements. He looked ill at ease in the basement, and he flinched a little at the sight of Luka's exposed face. Miku only stared blankly at him.

"Is there a more traditional bed in the house?" he asked.

Miku nodded dumbly, pointed at her room, and the doctor nodded and managed to carry Luka there. Miku followed aimlessly behind. The doctor managed to get Luka in a sort of resting position on the bed, and Miku noticed to her relief that Luka was still breathing. She was still alive, at least.

"She's resting now, madame," said the doctor formally, as he took a seat in the living room some time later.

"How much longer?" Miku asked, cutting straight to the point. The doctor looked pained.

"One day, two at most," he said, gently. "I'm sorry."

Miku stared at him, and then stared at the floor. One or two days. She should have known it would be short. She wondered how Luka knew this doctor. Was he another assassin from the guild? That would be ironic...an assassin doctor. Miku nodded, slowly. The doctor stood up.

"I'll be in her study if you need me," said the doctor. "I will take care of her documents, so-"

"Documents?" Miku asked.

"Yes," the doctor nodded. "She left her fortune to you, as well as the basement. She left your safety and wellbeing to us, as well as a 'Meiko' and 'Kaito'. So basically, if you need us, we'll take care of you."

"...who's us?" Miku blinked. Meiko and Kaito she knew, of course, although she was unsure about living with them. That is not to say that she did not like them, but she did not want to impose - their home was so small, and they looked as though they were struggling to feed themselves...Miku would be nothing but a hindrance.

The doctor inclined his head. "We knew Luka back when she was in..." he trailed off before continuing. "Well, we knew her. I'm Gakupo, by the way," he said with a quick nod, "Gakupo Kamui."

"I see," said Miku. She looked down once more. This all seemed so perfectly planned. She wondered when Luka knew, when Luka sat down and wrote her will. Maybe she wrote it a long time ago, maybe she wrote it before she even married Miku. If that was the case, then...Miku once more felt angry at herself for being so indecisive and immature, before she calmed herself down and sighed. There was no use getting angry now.

"She really does care about you," Gakupo offered. "Even back when we were still in the guild, you could just tell. She didn't talk much, but...you can just see it in her face."

"I know," said Miku, quietly. After all, Luka had loved her ever since that cold day, in the freak show, fourteen years ago. Her love for Miku was one thing that could never be doubted. From the time Miku saw Luka again, when Luka took her to the basement for the first time, it was obvious - the evidence of Luka's love for her was right there in front of her.

It was unimaginable that she was dying now. Even though Miku knew, had worried, had tried to prepare herself for Luka's death, it was still painful, so painful Miku couldn't cry, couldn't bring herself to cry, or else she would become hysterical with sorrow.

Gakupo recognized Miku's need for solitude, and quietly left the room, leaving Miku alone with her memories of Luka.

-o-o-o-

Miku stayed by Luka's side after that, holding tightly to her hand, wishing that she would have the chance to say one last goodbye. She would watch the rise and fall of Luka's chest as she breathed and try to synchronize her own with it.

Luka had a seizure at midnight, and when she was finished, the pillow was covered in blood from the copious bleeding from her nose. Miku only stared in horror as Gakupo stood by and changed the pillow, quietly and softly explaining to Miku that Luka's bleeding was from her blood vessels bursting.

"You should eat," Gakupo said after a few hours. Miku had not eaten in two days.

Miku stubbornly shook her head.

"Luka would not want to see you like this," pressed Gakupo.

"I want to stay with her," said Miku, and Gakupo nodded and left quietly. Miku stared at Luka and tightened her grip on her hand. Luka had always seemed so strong, but now her body was betraying her. Miku stayed resolutely by Luka's side, and a few hours later, when Gakupo was in the room checking up on Luka's condition, Miku felt some movement in Luka's hand, and Miku immediately looked up and stared at Luka, hope tinged with sadness in her chest. It would be the last time Luka would ever open her eyes, she knew.

Luka slowly blinked open her eye and she looked over at Miku. Her expression was slightly bemused at first, but then it changed to a look that was both loving and full of sorrow.

"Miku," breathed Luka, and then she turned and looked at Gakupo, a stern expression manifesting itself on her face.

"Keep your promise," she said.

"I will," Gakupo said as he nodded his head, once, before he left the room. It was Luka and Miku again, alone in the room, just the two of them. As it should be, as if it had been destined from the beginning.

Luka looked at Miku, and Miku held her breath.

"Miku," Luka began, her voice soft and wispy. "I..." She coughed. "You're everything to me..." Luka coughed again, a more violent one this time, and Miku clutched onto her hands, tighter, and leaned in forward. "Thank you...I love you..."

"I love you too," Miku said. "Always. Forever." She smiled, and leaned over and placed a kiss on Luka's forehead.

Luka nodded, and took two breaths, before she died. There was a beginning of a smile on her face, and Miku gently brushed away some strands of Luka's hair. She stared at Luka's face, so beautiful even in death, despite the right side of her face. Miku brought her hand up to gently stroke the roughened surface of Luka's right cheek.

It was only then that Miku began to cry.

-o-o-o-

Luka was buried in the Christalle cemetery on the outskirts of Crypton. It was a simple, quiet ceremony, and few people attended. Miku recognized Gakupo, Meiko, and Kaito, but the other four people there were people she did not know. She assumed that they were the assassins that Luka befriended in her time. Miku watched as Luka was placed into the coffin she slept in for most of her life, watched as the dirt was piled on top of her grave, stood there staring at the grave in silent sorrow.

Luka was gone now. She had left this world to another. Miku closed her eyes and sent up a small prayer, hoping that her feelings would reach Luka's heart.

They would see each other again, Miku knew. Somehow, they would. Perhaps in another life, under different circumstances, they would meet, and they would fall in love again. Perhaps in the far future, they would be reborn to be with each other again, or perhaps in the heavens, they would see each other again. Maybe in a different world, they would be together.

Miku turned and left the cemetery, and put her precious memories of her time with Luka in her heart. Every time she sang, she would think of Luka, the one who gave her song in the first place, the one who painted Miku's previously childish and shallow world with colors and feelings.

For sure, they would see each other again, somehow, some way.

Miku glanced down at her wedding ring, and looked up at the bright blue sky. The wind brushed past her cheek, and she closed her eyes.

So, only for now...good bye.

end


It's over! Thanks for the continued support everyone XDD I hope you enjoyed Libretto and Serenata! :D For those willing to stick with me, see you in my other stories!