"Mister James?"
The blonde man looked over at the kid who had said his name in the questioning tone, and smiled when he saw her hand was raised. "Yes, Olivia? What is it?"
"Why can you remember all that even though you're over there?"
"In the Fields of Asphodel?" James asked for clarification, even thouh he knew what she meant.
The young girl nodded. "Yeah. Isn't that the place where everyone who goes there forgets everything?"
The six or seven other kids in front of James in Elysium nodded, and began to speak up as well. The man tried to keep track of their voices and which questions belonged to who, but after a while, he couldn't. He pursed his lips and attempted to fix his messy blonde hair, but only succeeded in making it even messier than it originally was as he waited for the kids to quiet down. Eventually a couple of the older kids caught on, and they began to shush the other kids so that James may attempt to answer their questions, and once he was sure they weren't going to try to talk over him anymore, he answered Olivia's question, glancing behind the kids to a few of the adults behind them.
"Well," he started, "to answer the question about me being able to remember my past life even though I'm in the Fields of Asphodel..." He made eye contact with a set of bright blue eyes, eyes that belonged to a woman with silky, dark black hair that reached her waist in soft curls, part of it braided at the top in a halo braid. "The reason is because it's my punishment. Forever able to see what I want, but never able to get it."
The woman's eyes softened, and James watched as she bit her lip and looked away. He sighed and turned his attention back to the kids, just in time to hear another question, this one asked by a dirty blonde boy with blue eyes and pale skin.
"Then why aren't you in the Fields of Punishment if you have one?" He asked.
James felt the corners of his lips twitch up slightly, and he glanced back at the woman before looking at the blonde boy again. "Because what I want, it needs to be the real thing, not some illusion punishment gives."
"What do you want?" The same boy asked.
"Someone that I was foolish to let go of for my own selfish reasons."
"Who is it?"
"Jamie, I think that's quite enough."
James' lips quirked up again as he looked back at the woman again. "'Jamie'?" He repeated.
"I was just asking a question, mom!" The boy, Jamie, whined.
The woman ignored him, instead talking to James. "Yeah, Jamie. Problem with it?"
"You named him after me."
"No, I named him the name Judith used to call you."
"That's still my name, my flower," James chuckled.
Calla smiled slightly when the blonde man called her his flower. "That it is, Jimmy."
Jamie, Olivia, and the other young kids who had lived shorter lives than James looked between the two adults, confused.
"Mama, you know him?"
The woman pursed her lips and nodded. "I do, sweetie. A-"
"And it's her that I want." James interrupted before she could say anything else. The two adults looked sadly at each other as the older of the kids clasped their hands over their hearts.
"Aww!" Exclaimed one of them. "That's so romantic and sad! So she's your punishment?"
James shook his head. "I don't see her as my punishment," he told them, and Calla tilted her head slightly. The blonde man smiled slightly before continuing. "I see her as my greatest gift."
Calla's sad smile appeared a little happier at that, and James grinned.
"That's sooo romantic," the girl who had said their situation was romantic before said again.
James chuckled and glanced at the kids. "Well, that does it for my story. You all should run along now and go see if your parents have passed Judgement, yet."
A chorus of "oo"'s erupted from the kids, and soon they were all springing up and running away towards the gates of Elysium, the adults that had been listening to James following at a slower pace, but still a bit excited at the thought of seeing their loved ones again. Calla stayed behind, and once the two were alone, they walked up to each other, James standing up to do so.
"Jimmy?"
"Yes, Cal?"
"Are you ever going to get the option of rebirth?"
He sighed. "Only after another four hundred or so years."
"'Four hundred years'?" Calla repeated, pain clear in her voice.
James nodded, lifting a hand, his palm facing towards Calla, and she did the same. They tried to put their hands together, to touch for the first time since they had both died, but they couldn't, a barrier keeping their hands four inches apart. But they didn't drop their hands from each other.
"Yes. It's only that way because Zavid's decision to ban me from camp influenced the councils decision when giving me the punishment."
"But what you did wasn't bad enough for punishment in death!"
"Cal... I stole things all throughout my life, I cheated on you, I got banned from our safe haven, I let a monster influence me, I killed my girlfriend, and on top of that, I killed our unborn child, who apparently wasn't going to be a sex leech like their mother. The council ruled that as unworthy of Elysium, but not bad enough for eternal punishment. Just barely, though. If I had done one thing worse, it would have been eternal. Just be glad that one day we'll be able to hold each other again, in a new life that we will live together in forever."
Calla sighed and looked down, nodding. "I know, Jimmy. It's just... I've already gone so long without you..."
"And I've gone longer without you," James pointed out. "I died before you, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember..."
"...But I'm willing to wait longer until I can be with you again. And in our next life together, I promise you that, even if I won't be able to remember this when we meet in our next life, I'm going to do my best to make you happier than I made you in our first one together."
Calla smiled slightly. "...Thank you, Jimmy."
James smiled as well. "You're welcome, my flower. I'll see you in another four hundred years, okay?"
"Why not tomorrow?"
"Because I need to make my future self worthy of our tomorrow together."
"It already is..."
"Not as much as I'd like to be."
Calla nodded. "Alright... But... You know more kids are going to want to hear your story next year..."
"You mean our story, my view of it," James corrected. "And I'd be more than happy to share it again if they ask."
Calla lit up at that. "So then I'm seeing you again next year...?"
James smiled slightly. "Looks like it."
"That's far better than in four hundred years... Thank you, James."
"You're welcome, my flower. I'll see you again next year, then."
"I'll wait till then."
James smiled again and nodded. He lowered his hand before taking a few steps back and walking away. Calla watched him for a little while before calling out his name. James stopped and turned back around, tilting his head questioningly at Calla.
Calla hesitated a while before speaking again. "I love you, Jimmy."
James smiled. "I love you, too, Cal. I'll see you again next year."
And so it went, the two past life lovers met up once a year to hear the telling of their story, until, eventually, they were both reborn, and fell in love again.
...
End of story! :D