OMG! Over 300 views! Thanks a lot for those who read this and enjoy the 7th chapter of Rilliane's Choice!

BTW:

Tell me if you want me to try writing a characters side in SoE! Just make sure that they really are in the Story of Evil canonically first!

~EC: 501 - Elphegort, Forest of Bewilderment - ?~

"You've been showing yourself more often to him..."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's just that he may think he's insane now..."

"I guess you're right. What do you think should I do?"

"Actually, I'm not sure. I never appeared in front of anyone, since I'm just a forest spirit, and not just anyone could see me."

"Gumillia-san's kind of shocked that I'm right here with you now, right?"

" she is."

Gumillia wasn't intending to, but she listened to their conversation intently. She wasn't still dealing well with the fact that the girl beside Michaela right now was her. The dreaded 'Daughter of Evil' was beside Michaela, talking with her like they had known each other for a long time. "Rilliane...What are you trying to do to Allen?"

"I want to make him smile, like how he wanted me to. I want to help him move on and let go and to stop blaming himself for having failed."

"I see...Wow...If the commoners were to hear that straight from your mouth..."

"I know, I know. Ironic that it was the 'Daughter of Evil' who had said that, right?"

"Very...Very ironic."

Alexiel looked over to Gumillia, who seemed to be talking to herself. As he approached her, he saw Rilliane and Michaela beside her.

"Hi there, 'cute foreign boy'!" Michaela greeted him cheerfully, nudging Rilliane in the side. She turned around and once she saw Alexiel, she flashed on a smile. "Alexiel! I didn't expect you to find me here! You were just a few feet away a while ago, right?" Alexiel nervously nodded his head. Rilliane...Michaela...Side-by-side...Gumillia talking to them...Wha-? Looking up, Rilliane was talking way too fast for him to understand Michaela was laughing behind her. "Alexiel~! Come, I'll show you something!" She stretched out her hand in front of his face. He reached out to it, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold her hand. She clasped her hand around his and dragged him deeper into the forest. He blindly followed her, berating himself for doing so all the while.

"Here we are!"

She gestured towards a large tree with markings on it. The Thousand-Year Tree, Eldoh. She said that most of the markings were made during the 'Green Hunting' then pointed towards a set of scratches near the foot of the tree. Alexiel sadly smiled as he saw the doodles that he and Rilliane made when they visited here when they were younger. One of Lucifenia and themselves, another one of the foal Josephine with them riding on top of her, another one of them playing beside the tree itself and a lot more that Alexiel couldn't remember what they were of. "Remember these?" Rilliane twirled around happily, her silk-white dress flowing around her so perfectly that Alexiel couldn't help but blush and smile. "I do, sis." He touched the rough bark of the tree and felt its power. "Who are you talking to?"

"Ah, it's you, Germaine..."

In her hands was the sapling and behind her, Michaela hid with a grin. She knelt down beside Eldoh and dug a hole with her dagger. "You still haven't answered my question..."

"If you're so persistent, it was Rilliane."

Germaine stopped digging for a moment before laughing. "She's dead Allen, that's impossible..."

"You won't believe it unless you see it, right?"

"Exactl- Was that you, Allen?" Germaine looked around her and saw no one. "This is not a funny joke, you know!"

"But, it's not a joke..." Germaine looked at the sapling to her right and saw Michaela materialize out of it. "It is real..Rilliane is dead, yes...But her spirit hasn't yet crossed on to the next world..."

"Who are you?"

"Michaela, pleased to meet you, Germaine Avadonnia." Michaela curtsied in front of Germaine while the woman stared at her like she had grown two heads all of a sudden. "I thought you're a tree!" she exclaimed

"Wrong. I'm a forest spirit who 'borrowed' the human body of one Eve Moonlit. After my death, I transfigured into a tree, since I'm Eldoh's successor. Don't tell me you forgot already!~ Oh, look, there's Clarith, gotta go!"Michaela quickly vanished as Clarith arrived. "I see you're planting Michaela." she said, kneeling at Germaine's left. "I just figured it'd make sense to plant her here, since this way, she'd be near her predecessor." Having finished digging, she put Michaela inside and began to fill in her surroundings with soil. When she finished, she got up, wiped the sweat and dirt with her cape and bade Clarith farewell. Clarith thanked her as she left. She then put her hand on the rough bark of the tree and uttered a prayer of thanks.

~EC: 501 - Lucifenia, Anonymous Shoal - Alexiel Lucifen d' Autriche~

Alexiel splashed the water on his face repeatedly, trying to clear his mind. By now, he was sure he was completely insane and delusional. 'Rilliane's never coming back...' he chanted over and over again until it became sort of a mantra. He looked up at the beautiful sunset above and lost himself in deep thought.

Was it real...Or a delusion...What could be obtained from that? Only one song is the truth...Lu li la, lu li la...The familiar lullaby he sang within his mind. It was a song that their mother would often sing to them. The Clockwork Lullaby She had called it. He eventually fell asleep on the warm sands of the beach, still thinking deeply and reminiscing.

Lu li la, lu li la,

This lullaby, I wonder, would it heal your heart?

Lu li la, lu li la,

This lullaby, it's the Clockwork Lullaby...

Memories, like flowers, and traumas like mud,

They dissolve as I'm wound.

Everything is inside me...