Clash of the Elements Part 5: The Lover From the Lost Aura

by mewmaster93

Long ago, there was not just the nine elemental tribes, but a tenth one dedicated to the power of one's inner energy, or aura for short. These Aurians have lived in secret above the Earth for two-thousand years, but the desperation of it's leader has drawn the Elemental Overlord Mew into a conflict that will change the history of the universe. This is the beginning of turmoil...

25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: The End of a Two-Thousand Year Suffering

Throughout the entirety of the battle between Kairi and Gravitus, Auris had been watching things from the bottom of the pyramid, seeing what most other Aurians could not thanks to her advanced knowledge of aura sensing. 'Til the very end of the battle, Auris could only hope that the worst would not come to pass, but every passing second that Gravitus did not acquire the Neo Drive lowering the odds that he would succeed in his goals. Eventually though, Auris saw the flash of bright aura coming from Kairi's final attack, and Auris herself could briefly hear the screams of Gravitus as he was sent hurtling away from the planet.

Auris' heart then skipped a beat at that moment, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked up towards the sky and saw the northern lights fade away. With mouth briefly agape, Auris heart continued to beat against her chest quite a few times in a row in happiness before she suddenly murmured out "I-It happened…Kairi managed to defeat Gravitus…" Auris had to take a moment to fully comprehend the implications of this event, thinking mostly about the events of two-thousand years past as they flushed across the expanse of her mind.

All that suffering for herself and her people, the lives of all of her children lost for the sake of Gravitus' machinations, and especially all that Kairi had to go through because her own mother was too weak to do enough for her sake. Now it was at an end, and Auris almost did not recognize the feeling of tears trickling down her cheeks at that very moment. She had held back tears for so long that this release of happiness felt so, so good in her mind because of it. Leaning forward a bit and wiping the tears with the lips of her sleeves, Auris whispered out for a moment "Thank you Kairi…Thank you Mew…I will never forget this moment."

But Auris knew she could not stand around for long, for the future she saw had Kairi carrying Mew down the side of the pyramid to take him back to her house for healing. To keep the future on the right path, Auris turned around and quickly sprinted across Sancturia with ease to make it back to her house while the rest of the Aurians slowly recovered from Gravitus draining some of their aura, all of them greatly confused by what had just happened above the Sages' Pyramid.

Auris knew that matter would have to be addressed soon enough, but that was not something Auris could deal with at this very moment. She opened the way to her house by pushing aside the curtain that acted as the door, and then made her way to the right couch and sat herself down. On the table were a few beer and wine bottles that Auris had downed since Mew and Kairi had left her house, and only one was still full. Auris moved her hand to that bottle and picked it up, looking at it for a few seconds with the intention to drink it before she smiled and closed her eyelids, remarking to herself "Perhaps I could stand to quit…"

She then put the bottle down on the table and crossed her hands together atop her legs, letting her happiness be her way of comfort for now until she had to react to Kairi returning to the house. It took a few minutes for that to happen, but when it does Auris turned to the door and saw the bed of aura Mew was laying on being carried in head-first, with Kairi walking in close behind while exclaiming "Mom! Are you here?!" Auris did not have to reply as Kairi walked in and saw her sitting on the couch, and with her barely hiding her smile Auris said to her daughter happily "You made it back…"

"Mom? Have you been at the house the entire time?" Kairi said in a surprised and somewhat disappointed tone, followed by Auris saying to her "Of course not. There was no way I was going to miss your victory against Gravitus, my dear." Kairi blinked her eyelids a couple of times before remembering that her mom had the ability to see the future, and then Kairi placed Mew on the other couch onto his back and dropped the aura bed so he could relax on the comfort of the couch. Mew groaned a bit in pain before he turned his head to look at Auris and said "I think Kairi has some things she wants to say to you…"

Auris nodded her head in acknowledgement of that, and she stood herself upright in front of the couch and looked at Kairi, telling her bluntly "If there's anything you want to get off your chest Kairi, then I'm willing to listen." Kairi clenched her right fist tightly and held it against her chest, lifting her head up slightly before she said "Mom, I have a lot to say…But I'm going to pull my punches a bit here cause I understand why you did some of the things you did. First things first…Did you actually willingly let Gravitus…Umm…You know?"

It was clearly a hard thing for Kairi to bring up even now, and Auris felt the same way in the matter as she closed her eyelids and crossed her hands in front of her waist before saying "Yes…I willingly had his children. I'm sorry to have never mentioned this before, but had I done so to you at a young age there was a high chance that you would have come to sympathize with your father more than loathe him…That's why I have never told any of my kids of that fact." Kairi nodded her head and then asked "Ok…Then why was I led to believe that the Planetary Aurians were a myth, especially when Gabriel was one the entire time?"

"Hmm…" Auris did not respond to that matter at first, until Kairi asked her with a bothered expression on her face "Did…Did Shina know that Gabriel was Aurian Earth?" "Y-Yes…Yes she did…" Auris remarked immediately afterwards with some hesitation in her voice, which then leads to her opening her eyelids and remarking "But I had no ill intentions in holding that truth from you, I promise. My powers always have allowed me to see all the futures that could happen, but never does it say what will happen in the timeline I'm present in. I can manipulate the probability of said events occurring if that is within my control, such as bringing Mew here to help out, but I cannot stop the other timelines from existing permanently."

"…What I'm trying to say here is that I only did not tell you about the Planetary Aurians because I wanted you to have a happy childhood, and for that Gabriel had to act as a trustworthy father figure to make up for Gravitus' lack of empathy." Auris finished her explanation, and Kairi then asked afterwards "I figured that was the case, but now there's one thing I have to know now that I've gone through this whole ordeal. You should know what I'm going to ask by now, mother…" Auris closed her eyelids again and remarked "It's about Shian, isn't it?"

"You can see all futures, you had to have known Shina had left the planet two years ago. Why did she leave?" Kairi bluntly inquired, and Auris replied by lifting her head up slightly and glancing to the right at Mew for just a brief second before saying "I have no idea what Shina was thinking when she left the planet. I was asleep when she had left Sancturia…" Mew pointed out afterwards while syncing his words with Kairi's perfectly "We know that's not the case."

Mew and Kairi looked at each other in surprise for a moment before Kairi looked back at Auris and said to her "Mom, do you not see this drive on my bracelet?" Kairi specifically points to the Angel Drive as she asks that, leading to Kairi then stating "I know for a fact that only you and Gravitus had access to the Aurian Drive Library, meaning that Shina could have only gotten this from you. She put this on the back of her gift to me because you must have told her that it would help me in the future. Please mom…What happened to Shina?"

"…Shina went out on her own mission to stop Gravitus. She went to find help off the planet and has been gone ever since. I wish I could tell you where she was now, but there are so many possibilities of where she could have gone, and even if I told you by the time you could reach her she will likely have moved to a new location." Auris explained in an honest tone of voice, and Mew commented afterwards "And you didn't send her after me cause you knew I wouldn't be ready to face Gravitus…So who did she go searching for?"

"…Anyone that could've helped, really." Auris said, followed by Kairi asking "And is she still alive?" Auris paused for a bit and looked at Mew once more before glancing back at her own daughter and telling her as she sees her heart beating against her chest a little in anticipation of some good news. Auris could lie to her daughter at this junction, and with her arms laid out beside her hips she said with a smile on her face "Yes. Shina is still alive. That's what the future has told me."

Kairi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that news, while Mew had a little bit of suspicion regarding the information he was hearing. However, he wasn't going to speak his mind at the moment, as Kairi smiled brightly and stated "Then I will have to go and find her someday. Perhaps I will ask the Planetary Aurians for their assistance since they no longer have to serve Gravitus…But I need to bring Shina back here, and thank her for all of her efforts and kindness. Don't you agree, mom?"

Auris flinched for a moment outside of Mew and Kairi's line of sight and then said with a smile on her face "Yes dear, I can't wait for the day when my precious daughters are reunited. When that day comes, we will have to do something fun, like go down to the Earth and visit the beach or something…" Auris then decided to interrupt this tender moment by glancing fully at Mew and telling Kairi "But for now, I think we should probably heal Mew's spine. Kairi, please go to the basement and search for the healing vials I have stored in the back of the cellar. I'll perform the preparations for the medicine in the meantime."

Auris then moves around the table and kneels herself down beside Mew, extending her left hand out slowly to touch the back of his neck with a couple fingers, poking into the skin slightly with her nails and causing Mew to quiver a bit before she began to pour aura through the nerves in his body to ease them. Kairi nodded her head and said "I'll try and be as quick as I can. Hang in there Mew, mom's treatments can be pretty stressful." With that kindly warning, Kairi then ran for the kitchen, where the stairs to the basement were.

Auris waited a couple seconds and then looked at Mew, making sure that Kairi would not spring back into the room before she closed her eyelids and said "You have a few minutes now. Ask what you need to." Mew didn't bother reacting to Auris' prediction of his inquiries and instead immediately asked as he felt the aura pouring down his spine "Why did you tell Kairi that about Shina? You said yourself you don't know where she could be because of all the possibilities she could have taken, how can you even know that she's alive?"

"…You must promise not to tell Kairi this…" Auris remarks before opening her eyelids and telling Mew bluntly but quietly "At some point, I became unable to see what Shina's future would be like. It's not that she died so much as some powerful force is preventing me from seeing her future. I wish I could tell you anymore than that, and I wish I did not have to get Kairi's hopes up like that…But it could always be possible that Shina will return." "Fine, I can believe that…But there's something I KNOW you have information about. Well, two things exactly." Mew remarked.

As he raised his right pointer finger up and prepared to comment, Auris closed her eyelids again and said with a bit of a smile on her face "You wish to know what was up with that cage the energy came from. I may not be able to use my premonitions to see what people are thinking, but it's easy to predict their intentions from the way events occur." "…Didn't expect you to say that. Fine then, so what's the truth behind the cage? You can't tell me that it was simply a means of holding that energy within…" Mew said with a glare on his face.

"But that's simply the truth of the matter. The Elemental Overlord needed to store that energy within since it could not be disposed of otherwise, and he placed the cage and key far enough away from each other that if the energy were to be released it would not harm any planets…It's just an unfortunate twist of fate that Gravitus had set things up to utilize the energy against this Earth. I assure you though, if there was anything else within that cage, I'd certainly tell you. And even if I didn't, I'd give you a vow that any further keys would be much, much more complicated to activate than even the first one was." When Auris was done with her reassurance, Mew raised an eyebrow and said "The fact that you are being so specific really doesn't get rid of my suspicions, Auris."

"I seriously have no idea what you are talking about. All I'm doing is speaking the honest truth." Auris said with the utmost genuine tone of sincerity in her voice, followed by Mew squinting a bit as she continued to ease his muscles with her aura spread through the innards of his body. Mew then said "…Well, whatever…There's more important things for me to be concerned about at the present anyways. Tell me Auris, you know of the demon 'D.', correct? He had to have been around during the time of the original Overlord and the Dark King, after all…"

"…Of course he was. He was the Dark King's second-in-command, though only in the sense that he was the most powerful person the Dark King commanded. As such, when the Dark King's rebellion was quelled, 'D.' was considered the highest priority target to seal away, bound together by chains that were connected to the seven Elemental Temples the Overlord had set up. But considering the fact that the demon is inhabiting your mind…" Auris' is interrupted when Mew asks her "I don't care to know any of that. I just wanted a yes. What I really want to know is if it's possible to pull the demon free from my mind."

Auris could only offer a shake of her head, telling the disappointed Mew afterwards "A demon like him is almost impossible to purge from the minds of those he has chosen to inhabit. It is a great miracle that you have not been possessed by his power, so you should continue to do what you've been doing so far." "'Almost impossible'?" Mew inquired afterwards, and Auris explained why she said that with "'D.' has existed for an immeasurable amount of time. Any techniques that could have been used to purge the demon from one's mind have likely been lost or burned away."

"So I'll just have to bear it for now until I find something that can help me out with him. Fair enough, I can be patient." Mew said with a shrug of his shoulders, and he raised his right arm slightly and summoned forth his sword, looking at the triggers and noting the appearance of a black one on it now. "At least I can now use his power." He then commented on, with Auris looking at the handle of the sword in surprise and saying "Yes, but you must still remember not to get too angry."

Mew cracked a smile and dispelled his sword, remarking to Auris afterwards "I think that will be pretty hard from here on out. I'm genuinely happy for the first time in a long while, and I'm in love with your daughter." Auris grimaces a bit and remarks "Yes…Yes I did see that happen multiple times while observing the future." Mew grins a little bit and scratched the side of his head with his right hand while saying "So you know, as my future mother-in-law, perhaps you should be a little more open with whatever knowledge you have."

Auris then suddenly sent a jolt of aura through Mew's spine to make his heart skip a beat and cause him to flinch, remarking nonchalantly as he yelped "Oh dear, it seems you're making too many unnecessary movements and breaking the flow of aura. Perhaps you should stop that, starting with your mouth." Auris glared at Mew and made a good emphasis on that last part, but then quickly went back to having a more caring looking demeanor as she knew Kairi was seconds away from entering back into the room.

Sure enough, Kairi ran in with a glass vial containing some translucent light-blue aura mixture of sorts, and she quickly made it over to her mother and kneeled down beside her, giving her the vial and saying "You could stand to put these in a better spot mom." Auris took the vial and quickly popped the cork off of it, placing it into Mew's mouth to pour the mixture into his body while responding to Kairi's comment with "Perhaps I will later. Thank you for getting this for me though Kairi." As Mew takes some time to swallow the aura mixture, Auris explained "This vial contains both aura and some other materials for easy swallowing. It'll take a few seconds, but the mixture will blend in with the aura I pushed through your spine and nerves to heal whatever damage you have within your body…But only if you stay perfectly still."

Mew thought Auris said that just so he wouldn't say anything else for the moment, but at the same time he wasn't going to test that with some pointless show of defiance so he just shut up and let the aura heal his spine. Meanwhile, Kairi looked at Auris and said with a bit of nervousness present on her face "B-By the way mom…Ummm…There's something I wanted to say to you…" Before Kairi could voice herself due to prolonging her words out of hesitation for how difficult this was going to be to get across, but Auris had to look away along with Kairi when they heard some commotion coming from outside their house.

Auris slanted her brows and said "Oh right…Everyone else is probably wondering what the hell happened above the pyramid, especially after Gravitus made that bold move of pulling some of the aura from their bodies." Auris began to lift herself up, but Kairi then laid a hand on her right shoulder and said while lifting herself up "I'll do it. I think it's better if I tell them what happened." Kairi then went for the front door, with Auris having a worried expression on her face as she saw her leave the house. Mew looks at Auris upon feeling his spine healing up and said to her "This isn't going to end well if it's just her out there."

"…You healed up rather quickly. But yes, you have a point. I get that my daughter has learned a desire to help her people out, but she seems to have forgotten that they still hold a grudge against her." Auris commented on, and Mew shrugged his shoulders and said "Or it's more like she does know that and is trying her best to make amends for that now, even if she's going a little fast about it." The two of them paused for a moment, leading to Mew pulling himself up from off of the couch and standing up behind Auris, putting his hands in his pockets before he glanced at the back of her head and said "I'll help her out with defusing the situation."

As Mew made his way to the door, Auris advised him "Just be careful" and then stood upright, folding her arms together before she continued on to mention "You may have the best shot of handling this problem, but you can still screw up and make things worse. Just because Gravitus is no longer around doesn't mean a civil war could not break out between my people." "Put a little faith in me, we've gotten this far after all, right?" Mew said with a smile on his face before he exited through the front door rather casually.

Mew then turned his head around and was quickly surprised by just how many Aurians had gathered around the house. There were certainly at least a hundred-thousand of so Aurians visible from this spot alone. Kairi was standing beside Mew with her hands held up beside her head as she tried to voice herself to the Aurians as they all rambled on about the whole ordeal that happened today, with a lot of them throwing insults towards Kairi and confused inquires regarding what happened to the aura in their bodies.

Kairi was looking a bit flustered at the whole situation and began to laugh a bit at how overwhelming this was, thinking to herself that this whole thing was even tougher to deal with than Gravitus was. Mew quickly raised his right hand up and created an invisible series of wind tunnels that would carry his voice across the air, and then lifted his head up to yell into with "Everyone calm down for a moment and you'll be able to get some answers!" His voice went out into the entire crowd and struck their eardrums, immediately bringing them to temporary silence much to Kairi's surprise.

Mew then backed off for a moment and let Kairi get back to what she was doing, saying nothing but giving her an approving smile and wink beforehand. Kairi then held her arms down and commented "There's a lot I want to tell all of you." "Yeah! Like what happened above the pyramid! What did you do to us?!" One random Aurian proclaimed, and this just ignited the crowd's vocal rampage once more, leaving Mew with no choice but to put two fingers between his lips and let out a piercing whistle through his wind tunnels to shut them all up.

Kairi then looks at Mew and says while feeling absolutely embarrassed about this whole thing "Ugh…You're the better speaker here, you can tell them…I'll interject later…" Kairi then folds her arms together and appeared saddened by her failure to get her people to listen, but Mew would have to wait to cheer her up as the crowd's impatience would soon get them to start acting out of control once more. Turning to the crowd, Mew said "Ok guys, lets get down to the meat of the situation here…"

Mew spent a couple minutes explaining everything that had happened in the pyramid from beginning to end, being as quick but cohesive as he could while not mentioning the finer details like Kairi's reasons for fighting Gravitus and him going into Dark Form for the sake of making things easier for them to understand. Once he was done, Mew gestured his arms at Kairi much to her surprise and said "So long story short, Gravitus is dead and Kairi is the one responsible for doing that thanks to her being shown worthy of the Neo Drive."

"…You expect us to believe all of that?" One random Aurian said, and Kairi holds her right arm up then and shows off the rainbow stone that was the Neo Drive, commenting to the crowd afterwards "Well this stone on my bracelet isn't for decoration's sake." This display was enough to make the crowd pause one after the other, with those further in the back having the information of this relayed to them through the whispers of the crowd until they all eventually turned back at Kairi, with one of them commenting "W-We've heard rumors of what the Neo Drive looks like…But to think that you of all people were worthy of it…So then…That really means Gravitus is…?"

"Deader than the Dark King? Yeah, he is. So really, instead of being here you guys should be celebrating, living it up like there's no tomorrow! …Even though now you got plenty of those to go around without Gravitus breathing down your necks." Mew commented while awkwardly scratching the side of his head, and all the Aurians could do was blink a few times before one of them remarked "I really hope you aren't expecting us to start liking Kairi just because she stopped Gravitus though."

Kairi looked down because of that comment, but Mew just stretched his arms out and said in defense of her "Hey, both parties have a lot to get off their backs here, that can't just be swept under the rug, I get that…But you know a celebration is the perfect time to take care of whatever issues you have. Instead of being an organized mob, you guys can have the chance to speak to her one at a time in a laid-back partying environment. So umm…Do you guys have like a dining hall or something around here?"

Kairi turns to Mew and whispers into his ear "There's a pretty large one east of the pyramid." Mew's expression brightens up and he exclaims "Well there you go! Make up some dishes, bring all of your friends along, and lets all have a good time celebrating the defeat of Gravitus." There was a bit of silence amongst everyone else for a few seconds, with Mew putting a bright grin on his face as he continued to hold his arms out and waited for an answer from the Aurians. One of them then said "…Kairi, do you genuinely want to apologize for everything you've done over the last couple of years?"

Kairi nodded her head, telling her people then and there "Every last one of you I've wronged, if there's anything you want to say to me, then I'll take the time to speak to you whenever you're willing. But Mew's right…Let us have a party at the dining hall to celebrate our freedom from Gravitus' tyranny." Kairi smiled at the idea, and it seemed as though the Aurians were all in agreement of the plan as they just stared at each other and murmured for a few seconds before going their separate ways. Once they were back to taking care of their normal affairs, Kairi dropped onto her rear and sighed, saying to Mew immediately "You made that look so easy…"

"Hehe…Did I? Any mistake and I would've had all of them at our necks. Now the rest is up to you as far as mending things with your people goes, however." Mew said while folding his arms behind his head, and Kairi looked up at him and said "What? Are you planning on leaving already?" "What? No way. Got to have the cliché'd after-battle feast you know. Then I'll probably spend a night here and head back in the morning. Not like I'm in any rush, right?" Mew replied with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I suppose not. Hmmm…Guess I should go in and tell mom." Kairi said, pushing herself slowly off the ground while Mew remarked "She'd already know. I'd be more worried about putting on something nice for dinner tonight." "I-I don't really have anything nice to wear. Well, nothing like a fancy dress that is…" Kairi said while looking a bit embarrassed at the idea of wearing fancy clothes for once.

"Eh, do whatever you want then, but a nice appearance will help the conversations go by smoothly at dinner time, I feel." Mew said, with Kairi then grabbing Mew by the lip of his left sleeve and saying "T-Then you're going to help me pick out some stuff to wear!" Mew widened his eyes as Kairi tugged on him to go into the house, and with a nervous chuckle of acceptance Mew nevertheless said "For crying out loud Kairi, I know nothing about women's clothing! You're going too fast about this!"

Quite a few hours pass by before it's time for everyone to meet up at the dining hall, which lied east of the pyramid as Kairi mentioned. The hall was incredibly long, likely to fit the thousands upon thousands of Aurians that would want to come there for dinner. The hall's exterior aesthetic was similar to the pyramid's own, while the inside had a dim but warm lighting on the brown velvet walls. There were a couple large crystal chandelier on the ceiling and a couple of very long tables filled to the brim with plates and dishes of food beyond all possible comprehension.

All the Aurians were enjoying themselves to the best of their ability, with Mew just sitting back in a chair with a towering plate of food in front of him and a content look on his face. Mew looks to the left while chewing a piece of pie and finds Kairi chatting with a couple of Aurians her age about some things. It seemed as though things were going well, as she was smiling and none of the Aurians were on the ground bruised. Kairi had kept the same clothes on as before, but just put on a little bit of make-up to make herself look a little nicer.

With Kairi enjoying herself, Mew smiled and went back to his food for the time being until someone approached him from the side. "Perhaps you'd like to drink something to help digest all of that food." A familiar voice said before extending a green glass bottle out in front of Mew's face. Mew looked to the right and saw Auris standing next to him, with her now wearing a sparkling aquamarine sleeveless dress with the sides slit to show off her legs a bit and some of her breasts visible from the side. She also had on some fancy violet slippers and a little blush applied to her cheeks.

"Well well, someone's looking beautiful tonight, if you don't mind me saying." Mew said in a complimenting tone before taking the bottle from Auris' hand, with her commenting while she shows a genuine blush on her face and brushes the side of her hair "Oh I don't mind at all. I have chosen to enjoy the night for all it's worth, and it's been quite a long time since I wore this dress." Mew then looked at the bottle and said "So what's in this?"

"Just a blend of tropical fruits from other worlds. I grew them in my underground garden." Auris remarked, leading Mew to pop open the cork and prepare to take a drink, commenting afterwards "I did not know you had an underground garden. You'll have to show me it sometime." He then took a drink of the mixture, finding himself overwhelmed by the sensations of sweet and extravagant pleasure within while Auris brushed her hair again and said "Perhaps later, once the festivities have died down."

Auris then looked up and saw Kairi speaking with the other Aurians, which put a good smile on her face before saying "It seems Kairi is handling things well…I'm so glad to see this." Mew lets out a gasp of happiness after swallowing the juice down, commenting afterwards while his eyelids were closed in pleasure "She was still a nice person, it's just that part of her had been buried away for the last couple of years because of everything she had to deal with. Now that a lot of those problems are yesterday's news, she just has to make amends with everyone who wants to listen to her."

"In due time, I suppose. Mew, just make sure she makes it back home in time. I must attend to a meeting with someone else." Auris said, and Mew gave her an intrigued glare and said "Oh? Do you perhaps have a date tonight? With someone who will actually treat you right, I hope?" Auris shook her head and said "I will try and find a date some other day, months after all this is over…For now, I must meet with an old friend."

"Say no more. I'll just get back to eating myself to sleep and let you do your thing." Mew said before doing exactly that, and after Auris bowed her head in appreciation she turned around and slowly made her way out of the dining hall, moving between the bustling Aurians safely until she was greeted by the chill of the arctic nighttime. Her body quivered a bit but she braved the cold and let the breeze pass across her skin as she walked through the city, making her way slowly to the edge of the city until she came across the person she was to meet tonight.

It was Aurian Earth, who was currently standing and looking up towards the night sky where the stars shone brightly and the northern lights glowed with just as much luminosity. Earth's wounds had been patched up, and he still wore his samurai armor even though he was within the confines of the city. Auris paused a few feet behind him and smiled, saying to the man quietly "I see you've healed up, Gabriel." The man turned around and kneeled a bit, showing a respectful bow towards Auris before he commented "It wasn't too grievous of a wound the Elemental Overlord inflicted on me…My flesh will recover in a matter of days, especially with the treatment you gave me. I am as always in your debt, Lady Auris."

Auris laid a hand against the bottom of her chin and said "You may stand Gabriel. I know there are many things you wish to say to me." Gabriel lifts himself up and nods his head, stating to Auris with a respectful tone "I did what you asked me to and checked up on the other Planetary Aurians after Gravitus' defeat, alerting them of the news to the best of my ability…Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that Pluto has disappeared. I imagine his only defeat combined with Gravitus' death drove him mad and led to him running away. We'll have to keep an eye out for him should he try to make a move on his own. I'll reorganize the Planetary Aurians under my leadership and we'll attempt to find him in the meantime."

"Hmmm, I wouldn't worry too much about Pluto. He can't do much on his own. Just do not kill him when you do eventually find him." Auris said, followed by Earth nodding his head and saying in response to that "I shall do that…I still cannot believe though that it's finally over though. Two-thousand years is a long time for one to suffer the burdens I was forced to endure…But I would do it all again for you, Lady Auris. As her surrogate father, I cannot be prouder of what Kairi had accomplished."

Closing her eyelids, Auris remarked "In another timeline, you would've been even prouder as her actual father…Of course, in even another timeline, Damascus would have never become the monster named Gravitus." "But we cannot focus on what could've been. We can only protect what we have now. And I swear to you Lady Auris that I will not fail as my role as a guardian anymore." Earth said with the utmost honesty, and Auris opened her eyelids and said "Gabriel…There's something I want to say in regards to that."

"What is it, Lady Auris?" Earth inquired, leading to Auris lifted her right hand up and gently brushing the side of Earth's hair, telling him with an earnest smile on her face "I understand you wish to protect me still because that is what my father requested of you to do…But I feel as though your dedication to your duty has hurt you more than it has helped you." "We both have immortality, Lady Auris…And if I have chosen to spend my eternal years serving as your guardian, then that is what I will continue to do." Earth replied.

Auris then shook her head and said "It's because you are immortal that you should do more than just be my guardian. Live life for once, go out into the world you protect, and enjoy the splendors of it all without any restraints." Earth widened his eyes and said "L-Lady Auris…Are you saying…?" Auris nodded her head and pulled her arm back, reaching into the slit of her dress to pull out a small dagger from a belt she had placed close to her hip, and while holding it before her chest she said "Gabriel, please kneel down…"

Though he took pause at this request, Earth kneeled down before his sword protectee, and she held her left hand out and gently pulled on the back of his ponytail. With a quick slice from her dagger, she cut the ponytail off and let his hair spread out into a ruffled but more natural looking form. Keeping every strand of hair clenched in her hand, Auris held it in front of Earth's face and told him "I have cut you free from your burdens forever more. You may still be Aurian Earth, but I wish to see you form your own identity with the name you were given at birth, Gabriel."

Earth was left with his mouth agape and a look of shock on his face as he murmured out and laid a hand on the back of his hair "L-Lady Auris…Are you sure you wish to do this?" "Yes…Yes I am sure. As my last request though, I want for you to go to the dining hall and enjoy yourself like everyone else is. Perhaps send out an alert to the Planetary Aurians to come and join us, minus Uranus, of course…" Auris said.

"…Perhaps I will do that. Thank you very much, Lady Auris, and I hope you have a wonderful night." Earth said with a bow of his head in thanks before he stood upright and began to walk off, with Auris saying as the man left her there "I will have many wonderful nights from here on out, that much I can assure you." Auris then lifted her right hand up and walked directly onto the edge of the city, letting go of Gabriel's hairs so they can fall to the waters with the help of a breeze. Auris then sat herself down on the edge of the city and looked up to the stars, saying quietly to some unknown person "Wherever your spirit is at the moment, I hope you are enduring well…"

"Mom? Mom is that you?" Kairi's voice suddenly called out to Auris from behind, and she turned her head over her left shoulder to see her daughter running right at her with a surprised look in her eyes before she stops beside Auris and sits herself down on the edge of the city. Kairi looked Auris straight in the eyes and said "It is you…Geez, you look so different with these clothes on. I can see your clear skin and curves and everything…"

"Don't get used to it dear, it's only for tonight. Perhaps you could try it on sometime though?" Auris said with a teasing tone at the end, and Kairi immediately blushes after while swinging her hands out beside her head and saying "I-I could never make that look good!" Auris giggled a bit at that remark, and after a few seconds of silence between the two Kairi looks away from her mom and said "S-So mom…What I was trying to say to you earlier was…Ummm…"

Kairi quickly looked at her mom and with an honest expression of good will she suddenly proclaimed "I'm sorry for being such an ungrateful daughter!" Auris widened her eyes and then waited as Kairi said to her "You did so much for me and Shina, and I just spit in your face and acted like a total bitch. You didn't deserve it, and I'm sorry…" Auris blinked a couple of times and then shook her head a bit, admitting to her daughter "Perhaps I did deserve it a bit. I should have done a lot more to help you Kairi. Shina never should have had to leave the planet to get help, and you shouldn't have had to suffer the scorn of your peers. I was a horrible mother…"

"No no no, don't say that. I was a horrible daughter." Kairi said, and Auris insisted on her point of view by saying in turn "Please don't take all the blame, I was the horrible one here." The two go back and forth on blaming themselves for all the problems they had in regards to Kairi's own situation, both of them chuckling at how silly they were acting in regards to this not too long after they started. This then led to them both calming down and looking at one another, and after a few seconds of pause the two stretch their arms out and embrace in a nice and warm hug. With a merry sniffle, Kairi said "I-I love you mom…I don't ever want to lose you…"

"Neither do I Kairi…N-Neither do I…" Auris said, holding back her own desire to cry as best as she could until some small tears began to trickle down her cheeks. The two then pull back, with Kairi then laying her hands on top of her legs and glancing down at the arctic waters, leading to her remarking "Mom…There's something I want to discuss with you now. It has to do with Mew…" Auris nodded her head, remarking to her daughter with interest in her voice "We have all night to speak. Even without my premonitions, I can take a guess as to what you want to do…"

Next Time: Summer Vacation? What an odd note to end this part on…