Author's Notes:
I'm so sorry for being late... Like this late...
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The simple movement of a finger, a pointing gesture.
The uncomplicated movement of familiarity, making them listen more intently.
And even the simple tap on the wrist did its job quite well.
As Naoko woke up, the silhouette, though perhaps not present in the real world, was still existent within the depths of the dark place that was the Shadow Garden.
Due to the limitations of his current ability, he could only communicate using very odd gestures and tools. He was glad that his daughters, or perhaps just daughter, was smart enough to get the gist of it all. He didn't know if he'd ever get to see them or if they would ever be able to free him or anything of the sort but he knew one thing, one thing that would save everyone.
It was odd, of course.
If a normal bystander took a look at the situation, it would seem that no one needed saving or any semblance of help. But unbeknownst to them, this was no fairy tale despite the fairy tale looks it gave.
In the land of magic, of elves, of dragons, of demi-humans, of Mabeasts, of spirits, of all sorts of fantastical fantasy things, held no true happy end. At this point, is this not a basic principle of human civilization? Humans or demi-humans, it did not matter of race, they were all the same. The same tendencies that were molded from the start only grew in size. Their own greed grew, their lust, their envy, their wrath and hatred for each other, their slothfulness, their pride, their gluttony, and…
Of course, their sorrow.
The silhouette knew full well of what would occur once they left them, the camp that is. They knew full well that they were the string that connected the pile of loosely hanging boards and that once that string was cut, each board would shatter upon contact with the ground feet below even if some broke more so than others depending on how they fell. Some boards would shatter like glass, others like... well like wood.
And so, with the usual golden heart that he was continuously praised to have, he swore to save them despite being trapped in this desolate, soul-ridden wasteland. At this point, people would have called him insane. After all, how could one man trapped in such a lonely place, with only visions of past failures and unthinkable presents save anyone when he never bothered to look a bit closer at himself?
They…
No…
HE learned that the hard way. But he understood that if he couldn't, IT can though.
No, the item is only an item.
He understood that if he couldn't…
They can.
Naoko woke up with a great welp of anxiousness, probably because of the quite "interesting," dream she just had.
As if it was instinct, she looked out of the windows of her Guest Room and presumed that it was still too early in the morning and despite the tendency to go back to bed, she simply could not. Was the Od Laguna preventing her from getting any more shut-eye? At least it was better than stay up all night, something that her mother constantly berated her for!
So with noodle like legs and wiggly movements, as if belonging to a drunk person, she walked towards the door to put her sweating hands on the door knob, slowing turning it so that no creak sound could be produced.
What just happened?
That was the only thing she could ask at this point, like what the heck was that dream about!?
She didn't know, she wanted to know yet didn't want to know.
A paradox in of itself.
She was scared of what the silhouette wanted to say or if it would now appear in every one of her dreams but still, like any child, was quite curious to what the message was in the first place.
But first, she needed a break.
Not feeling to wake up her other twin sister, she decided to walk to someone else's room.
With a swift and still quite tired turn of the handle, she found herself in a slightly purple-ish room inside of the manor and on the grandiose Master bed that laid on the middle of the room laid a drill-haired loli and purpled-haired Mabeast user sleeping together.
It was something that Naoko could only squeal, even if tiredly, in the cuteness of it all. The drill-haired loli… Beatrice, she thinks her name was… was cuddling up in a wrapping position around the other who she called her sister, even if not biologically. They were all bunched up and rubbing on each other's cheeks.
She wondered too, only for a split second, on whether or not this would be technically cheating.
Like the loli was supposed to be her dad's spirit! And sleeping with another, was this what mommy meant by cheating!?
With slow, ninja-like movements came the ever quiet and skillful Naoko, swinging across the room with expert precision, making no sound whatsoever. And once she made it to the bed, she started to wonder whether or not they would like to be woken up so early. With a hesitant nod of the head and a hesitant movement of a hand, she began to lightly tap the body of Meili.
A few seconds passed until she realized that such light tapping would never wake her up and so she started to tap harder and harder and speaking a few words, hoping that if Meili was in a dream, maybe she would hear her. Was that how dreams worked?
"Sissy, please wake up… Can I stay here for a while?" Naoko said, repeating such a basic phrase many times.
"Dad, wake up!" screamed the purple-haired girl, smacking her sleepy head of a father awake!
She was worried, extra worried for what she just witnessed.
Meili had walked into her father's room, planning to wake him up so that he could comfort her a bit after a very traumatizing nightmare she just had, one involving a certain mama she used to have.
Once getting there however, she could only hear the panicked breathing and pleading of the spirit that was almost like a second daughter to her father and the sound of sobbing within the room. If Meili had been remotely similar to how she used to be, she would have simply walked away and come back later when things were easier to commence. But the fact that the spirit, who was a great spirit with much magical prowess and probably centuries worth of experience, was panicking because of her contractor, was truly something that the newly, well one year or so but whatever, adopted daughter had to naturally worry about.
She inched closer and closer to the door and lightly tapped on the door, hoping to get the attention of the great spirit.
"Whose there, I suppose!" loudly whispered the great spirit on the other side of the door.
Loudly whispered? Is that a thing?
"Are you guys okay? Can I talk with daddy for a second, Beako?" asked the groggy Meili.
"Shoo, shoo, I suppose. Betty's contractor is tired right now so maybe tomorro-"
"I'm so, so sorry, I-i tried but it was too fast…" said another voice emanating from the room.
To anybody else in the manner, the sound of the voice would have been quite foreign as the source never truly showed a side of themselves housing such anguish and sorrow before.
But to the great spirit who constantly stayed with the boy and to the daughter who spent increasing amounts of time with her dad, they both recognized the plead immediately.
Instead of continuing what she was going to say, Beatrice redirected all her attention to trying to ease Subaru's headaches and nightmares.
Meili, however, was standing in place.
She may have recognized the voice immediately, but the piecing together that it was said persons' voice was heart wrenching. Why would her amazing dad sound like this?
With a clear conviction ingrained into her iris's, she grabbed the knob.
"I'm coming in!" declared Meili.
"No! Wait, I suppose!" screamed on the other end of the door, the drill-haired loli.
And once Meili stepped into the room, nothing could prepare her for her dad constantly shuffling in the bed, sweat forming on his forehead, very indicative of a nightmare.
Beatrice stared at her with terrified eyes, horrified that her Subaru might hate her for letting someone find out. And yet at the same time she felt relieved that at least someone else saw this deeper side of Subaru, that she wasn't alone once again.
Meili stood there in shock.
Subaru was a person of unlimited determination and conviction, to not only her but quite literally everyone in the entire world.
A person who stared at the greatest of Mabeasts, someone who had no skill in magic, a broken gate, and not even a sliver of actual training and yet he would beat them one by one…
A person who was constantly put into unpredictable and impossible to escape situations only to predict them with the most exact of explanations and escape them with such ease and smoothness.
A person who was so kind and caring.
A person who was the only one she could accept as her parent.
Not the village moms, not Elsa, not Capella.
Subaru was her dad, she his daughter. So, as logic must dictate, she had to help.
Meili ran up to her dad and stared deep into Beatrice's eyes, asking her a simple question.
"What can I do to help?" asked Meili, hoping to repay her dad for all the joy he filled her with.
"You can't, I suppose. This one is worse than usual, in fact! I don't know why, Betty is too stressed right now, in fact!" cried the great spirit, the stress was building up to unforeseen levels.
Meili looked down at her father in deep thought, what could have caused this. What could have possibly caused thi-
"Worse than usual?" Meili muttered, making Beatrice flinch in a flight or fight response.
Beatrice breathed in and out and decided on doing something she wished to do years ago…
"He has nightmares every night, Subaru doesn't tell anyone so no one has to worry, in fact…" muttered a weak Beatrice, sounding quite tired despite being an eternal spirit.
And as Meili was lost in thought at the fact that her own dad had hid this from the entire camp, she created a masterful plan.
If they couldn't ease the nightmares, then wake him up and make every day from there on out too enjoyable that every nightmare would be overridden with dreams… dreams of family.
Not dreams of the two parents he left behind but of the two lovable daughters worrying for him.
I suppose it was also that day that Meili decided to write a book too, for her dad of course.
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.
.
Though the great spirit may have noticed it, she paid no mind to it when her priority was her contractor.
The Witches Scent had just grown in intensity at the peak of Subaru's nightmare, seconds before Meili entered the room in her attempts to help.
Beatrice and Meili didn't know what the increase in the scent meant or what it implied.
Unbeknownst to them…
Subaru just Returned by Death.
Meili's eyes opened up, the first sight being of a worried and tired Naoko.
"Naoko? You need something?" asked the also tired Meili.
"Can I stay here for a while?" asked Naoko.
"Did you have a nightmare?" asked Meili again.
Naoko widened her eyes for a split second, surprised that her sister correctly deduced the situation. Well, almost correctly.
"It was a dream, but it was sooooo confusing Meili! I saw a silhouette of a guy and the manor, h-"
"Woah, calm down, tell me everything," Meili said with a tired sigh.
Meili from the second she was officially known as Meili Natsuki tried her damn hardest to be the best she could be. She knew that kids and their parents always struggled with each other and fought, so she tried so very hard to make that assumption false.
She would walk into the village everyday with her dad and would sometimes play a casual game of kick the ball or tag with the kids but it always intrigued her on whether or not they acted like this when she wasn't there. Were they rude people and only acted as such when she was gone? Or were they nice even when she wasn't there to play?
Meili had a hard time trusting anybody or whether they were acting genuinely.
But over the years, both spent with the trusty great spirit who slept with her or with the black-haired father or both, she learned that sometimes trust was a thing that was worth the risk.
And as she stared into the deep recesses that was Naoko's mind, she saw the girl for who she really was and it made her happy. So even if she interrupted her sleep, especially after such long work preparing for the celebration, she would not mind. Naoko was her dad's daughter, her sister, and she, her sister too.
Naoko shuffled about, climbing onto the large master bed with the ease of a monkey and limply sat opposing Meili so they can talk more comfortably.
"I was sooo confused! I woke up in the mansion but it was all dark and icky and there was this guy who kept pointing into a room!"
Meili nodded as a sign of her listening, though secretly confused to how this somehow made Naoko want to consult her. Weren't you only supposed to talk to somebody after a dream if that dream was bad? And she interrupted her sleep for this! Irony…
"I went into the room; mommy would scold me because she said to never listen to suspciwus strangers but when I went in the room, the guy was there again!"
"Yup," interjected Meili…
"And he was just standing there like he telepo-"
"Quick question, what did he look like? Was he scary," asked Meili, did Naoko come to her room because the guy looked scary?
"Well, he was just a shadow,"
"Then how do you know it was a guy?" continued Meili.
"I-I don't know! I just knew," pride fully stated the girl, proud for some odd reason.
Naoko wasn't lying though. How did she know? It did not feel like assuming ones gender but more as if it was the obvious answer. But why? How? How did she know that the silhouette was a guy and how did she know that he was trying to tell her something?
Something?
Oh yeah!
"Will you shut up, I suppose," swore Beatrice, a rare sight indeed.
"Beatrice, Language!" Meili interjected.
"Betty is 40 times older than you, in fact. Why is Betty's Contractors Daughter here, I suppose," groggily stated Beatrice, despite not actually being tired.
"I have a name you know!" screamed Naoko.
Wouldn't simply saying Naoko be easier than constantly saying Betty's Contractors Daughter!?
Beatrice sighed before continuing the discussion.
"Betty woke up when you came in the room, in fact. Betty can use magic to make a sleep easier, I suppose," said Beatrice, ready but still hesitant to use the magic that she was far too experienced at using already… sadly.
"No, it's just that…"
Just spit it out Naoko!
"Just wha?" said the two in front of her, almost in perfect unison.
"Jynx, I suppose," chillingly said the spirit.
Spit it out Naoko!
"Can we visit the servant's area tomorrow!"
Meili and Beatrice looked at each other before looking back at Naoko…
They saw this sort of passion before… in Petra.
"Naoko, do you want to perhaps… be a maid," asked Meili.
"What? What, no, no ,no – I just wanted to see…In my dream, I went into a room right? It was in the servant's area, I'm sure."
"Naoko, the celebration is tomorrow, you need to be able to attend the entire thing and greet all the guests. Plus, the servants will be very busy, we can't interrupt them and all of their cooking and last minute preparations," worryingly said Meili, still excited about the celebration tomorrow though.
"Please! If you won't help me then me and Fortuna will just have to sneak right under your noses!" said Naoko, pointing a finger and magnificent proportions of confidence towards the two.
"Challenge accepted, I suppose," said Beatrice smirking.
She raised her hand and casted a simple spell, putting Naoko into a deep sleep once again.
Meili sat there confused to why Beatrice did that, they had the whole day tomorrow they could just quickly visit the servant's area maybe at the end of the day right? Or they could do it the day after.
But with one single glance to Beatrice, she realized something.
Beatrice just wanted to have some fun.
Just like old times.
This was very unfair.
After waking up back in her room and quickly informing Fortuna of the Master Plan to sneak into the servant's area, like stealth operatives, they trained and prepared.
For example, if a maid saw them and tried to capture them they would do a barrel roll onto cover and not make a noise!
The maid would simply think it was the wind, they wouldn't suspect a thing!
Tis' but the wind.
They were currently sitting by a wooden table near the entrance of the manor, waiting for their esteemed guests to arrive but unbeknownst to anyone, they were secretly plotting their masterful escape.
Who would stop them now!
There were no maids in sight, all preparing the final decorations or food for the occasion they bet.
There was no Meili or "Beako" in the area, probably still dosing off as they continuously cuddled.
There was no Ram or Rem, as both probably were having tea together or relaxing before the party.
With light, soft taps and tip toes they slowly but surely made it to the hallway that connected with the servant's quarters.
"Hey Naoko, look!"
Naoko turned around… only to see Fortuna flying.
Oh no, not the PTSD!
"Put your hands up now, I suppose!"
With a face of surrender and of disappointment, Naoko put her hands up and was swiftly arrested by the cute loli that literally appeared out of nowhere. She then was proceeded to be locked up back near the wooden table at the entrance.
Reinhardt stepped out of the carriage in front of the Mather's Manor and looked at it with a sense of nostalgia. It was once here that Subaru was truly at home, here where his friend lived and who continued to make people's lives better.
Subaru was truly someone he could respect.
"You going to help me, Reinhardt!" teased Felt, one foot sticking out of carriage.
"My lady! Does this mean you've finally matured!" gleefully teased back Reinhardt, swiftly sliding to her need with the divine protection of swift movement.
Felt seemed a bit dumbfounded for a second, did Reinhardt just…
Felt stuck her hand out, only for Reinhardt to help her out of the carriage as a knight escorting their beloved princess. Or perhaps a husband with a wife.
Wilhelm could only smile at the scene, his grandson was getting even more progress!
That's what it's all about, That's what he's been waiting for!
Not like any more progress was needed though, if Reinhardt were to propose this very second, Felt-sama would accept it in a heartbeat. Maybe faster with that divine protection of hers.
They opened the doors of Mather's Manor, being greeted by two goofballs that slouched in front of a large wooden table, probably for putting the guest's coats and other accessories that they didn't need at the moment.
"Welcome to the- FELT! REINHARDT!"
The two daughters of the proclaimed hero named Natsuki Subaru ran to the knight, glad to see that another one of their friends made it.
Reinhardt bent down to hug the kids as they gleefully accepted the movement, Reinhardt was like a brother in some ways to them as he constantly kept them safe, even if he would sometimes be too overprotective.
"You really would make a good father," muttered Felt, saying it in such a low volume so no one would hear.
And oh Reinhardt's face was red, damn that divine protection of hearing literally everything!
"Reinhardt, your face is hot, you got a fever," innocently asked Fortuna, wondering if Reinhardt overexerted himself… or if…
"Brother Reinhardt!" yelled Naoko, before coming closer and whispering in his ear:
"Did you get the, you know?" asked Naoko
Reinhardt could only smile and softly nod his head.
Felt, though, could easily tell what they were saying, you didn't need a divine protection to guess what they were saying. Did Reinhardt really think that she didn't know?
The Divine Protection of being Dense really works wonders, doesn't it?
Naoko looked really happy, happy for Reinhardt that is, but the she caught the eye of Wilhelm and greeted him as well.
And as they walked past the two sisters, Fortuna gained the most brilliant of ideas.
"Wilhelm-san! Can you leave your coat here; we don't want our guests to have dirty coats when they leave!" asked Fortuna.
Wilhelm raised his hand to refuse, only to fall victim to the girl's semi-good logic and partially falling to their master plan.
Fortuna stared at Naoko, wondering if she too was thinking the same thing. And with one swift nod from her sister, their new plan started.
"Beako-sama, if you can hear me, I'm just going to go to the bathroom!" said Naoko, before walking in the direction of a bathroom.
"Fine, I suppose," said Beatrice, her voice popping out of literally nowhere again.
As Naoko walked towards the Mather's Manor bathroom, her eyes would continue to search every inch of the place in hopes of finding something to distract Beako so that they could escape. As she got closer and closer to the bathroom though, she heard something.
It was a delightful squealing noise and coming directly out of the wall. As she carefully used her ears to slowly find the source of the noise, she became aware to what it was. It was…
A rat.
Oh no! NO, No, NO!
Naoko seemingly turned her entire body around and started walking the other direction, only to have the most disgusting of ideas pop in her head. She hated rats but… this was worth it!
She went back to the noise, pinpointing it against a wall and slowly tapping her finger repeatedly to lead the rat somewhere such as a hole, so that it could pop out. Two minutes had past of constant trying, each second making Naoko worry more considering bathroom breaks take a certain time limit before it gets suspicious.
And in a flash, the rat popped out and as it scurried away, Naoko vaulted right behind it before catching it with her hands. It was truly unbecoming of a princess but it was the only way.
With a slow walk towards Fortuna, she signaled to her of the disgusting creature in her possession. And as if they were in perfect sync, they stuffed the rat in Mr. Wilhelm's coat!
What was left in their master plan was a count down!
3
2
1…
GO!
Naoko and Fortuna ran to the nearest room, hoping to get the attention of Beatrice.
And with the growing tension that came from the fear of being lifted in the air by Murak grew, the blonde haired loli appeared, chasing them as well as if it was a game meant for kids. Was she enjoying it? Naw, she couldn't be. Could she?
After running into the nearest room, Naoko and Fortuna quickly opened the closet door in the most exaggerated manner possible, all before Beako was able to enter the room.
After doing what needed to be done, the duo hid behind the rooms entrance door.
The door slowly opened and what came out was none other than the great spirit, making a pouting face as she would have rather continued to chase the two rascals than play a game of hide and seek. That was when Beatrice heard a squeak coming from… the closet?
Beatrice smirked, truly proud that her hide and seeking skills must have improved considering she had already deduced where they were hiding in the room. With exaggerated footsteps and a smug face, Beatrice opened the closet door to be met with the two daughters.
Or at least, she would have.
You know, if they hid in the closet.
She looked down only to see a fancy coat of a butler, Wilhelm's, wiggling about while the squeaking noise became more and more frequent. And with the jolt of a rat from the coat, squealed Beatrice. Looking at the rat as it ran across the room, she came into contact with the front door of the room as she realized one simple thing.
She remembered opening the door fully and now the door was closed and with a swift conclusion, Beatrice muttered a phrase of defeat, knowing that the two daughters escaped with a plan as stupid as a rat.
"F***, I suppose."
A ring.
It was huge, well perhaps huge describes it wrong. It was still quite a good size for a ring but she could not think of anyone in the mansion whom the ring would fit upon. Meili and the loli she was with had no need for such rings, they believed that such things were usually only hassles unless one needed to look for an occasion.
There was no way these rings were of Uncle Otto or Garfiel, why would they ever need rings?
"You think it's one of the maids?" butted in Fortuna, her suggestion honestly quite logical and sound.
After all, they were in the servent's quarters.
Naoko pondered upon the suggestion, it would make sense in the context of the situation. Maybe some romantic happening was occurring within this fancy mansion? It certainly would be quite a place for a date or two. Yet the room was full of dust, a swipe of a finger sending shockwaves of dirt and gray into the dry air. Why would someone leave such a delicate ring inside a drawer like this? Why not keep it? Why not give it to who needed or who it was intended? Heck, why not sell it?
Though Naoko had similar thoughts, she rejected that idea for a more profound and simpler reason. It just didn't feel right. Was this the gut feeling she had been told about before?
"Nah, I don't think it can," responded Naoko, getting a nod from her sister as they intently looked at the ring.
"Then who's is it?" questioned back the curious cat that was Fortuna, her eyes shining for answers for the ring that was said to be worth all the trouble.
Naoko didn't know how to respond to that question.
In fact, who's was it exactly? From her vision of the ring in the dust ridden drawer, it was only a piece of silver with markings carved alongside the intricate, finely made edges. As she stuck her hand to pull the ring out, perhaps out of curiosity or to get a closer look, her eyes were then amazed by the hidden beauty that could make anyone awe in admiration.
Amethyst, a lovely amethyst shined from the old ring. Like purple flowers, Naoko's mind jogged with thoughts of her mother. Their mothers finger was far too small and delicate to fit such a large, though beautiful, ring. But she couldn't escape the fact that this ring was somewhat connected despite that problem.
Fortuna looked at it in complete surprise too. In this dust infested room laid such a worthwhile item, an item that, especially to a child's eyes, seemed priceless and worthy of being displayed to others of its intricacy. Or maybe, to be appreciated by those who knew of its true importance.
Yet another clank was heard though, it seemed almost offbeat and unexpected, worthy of gaining a short scream and flinch from the two sisters who were afraid of being caught.
They automatically made the instinctive reaction to look behind them and inspect the doorway, trying their best to use their hearing, despite the dense wood doors, to hear if anybody was outside, waiting to scold them once they got out.
To their relief, they found no evidence of such a thing and only wondered what could have made such a sound.
"That gave me a heart explosion!" Naoko whispered, relieved at not being arrested.
"You mean a heart attack?" corrected Fortuna, though somewhat jokingly.
"uhhh, whatever! What's the difference?" responded back the corrected Naoko.
"Well a heart explosion would be more concerning wouldn't it? Like your heart… exploding," Fortuna deadpanned, not proud of the image that she conjured in her head.
Naoko felt a tad bit awkward but due to her amazing skills, changed the subject to what made the surprising and terrifying sound. In truth, the sound wasn't too terrifying at all, only the thought of being caught was to which the sound was only aligned with. It was just a clank, probably of nothing more but a small object within the room that probably got loose and fell.
"Hey, where the ring go?" asked Fortuna, earning a whelp of extreme panic from her sister.
Oh my OD! Did she just lose that ring! We literally went through so much trouble for it!?
In the desperate attempt to calm one another and calm the headache that came with the extreme stress and worry, they walked back to the drawer that held the ring in the first place. Hoping that maybe they dropped it inside as they were still quite close to it before the sound.
Sadly, though… wait…
It was there?
The ring was there! Naoko rejoiced in happiness as she looked upon the amethyst shine that the ring had the ability to portray. Their lungs let out much air as they sighed in a great relief. However, the children, knowing simple math, knew of something so very odd with the drawer.
There were two rings.
Fortuna, this time, was the one to pick this newly found ring from the depths of the drawer. She would be scared of the bugs that lurked inside of there but she was just as intrigued by the appearance of the ring. Turning it around, she could see similar material for what was used for the other ring very much apparent on this one as well. But on the top of the ring laid an even more intricate piece of work.
Whoever bought this ring for who, overdid it to extreme levels of ring buying.
The ring had tiny shining amounts of diamonds spiraling towards the center jewel, that being a very beautiful orange sapphire of an outstandingly mesmerizing quality. It seemed like a ring that only the most pristine and noble of nobles could ever have.
"It so pretty!" exclaimed Fortuna, her little elf ears perking from the artistic impression laid upon the ring.
Naoko too agreed. But like many things, she appreciated the rings beauty second to the first thing she truly appreciated…
The mysterious Orange that relieved her of so much stress and worry, once in her dreams and now here.
But now the ring, the color reminded her of something much more important.
If no one was using it then...
This would be an amazing present for their Mom!
"You thinking what I'm thinking," said the two almost completely in sync.
The two smirked as their question was unknowingly answered and both agreed to use this precious ring as a gift for their mom. Maybe that would cheer her up.
As they got up and skidded towards the handle of the door, hoping to return back so no one worried for them any longer, Fortuna picked up on something incredibly minute but so, so very important.
The ring, the orange one specifically, held a carving unlike the amethyst one. It seemed almost as if words were carved onto the silver surface of the ring, clearly not the same work of whoever bought the ring or whoever made it but, perhaps, of who received it.
The small, desperate pleas that were inscribed on that ring were secretly yelling, begging to be read in the hope that all was not for nothing. That their efforts meant something. That his efforts meant something even beyond the grave.
It was simple really, a simple phrase that once filled him with so much terror and yet…
So much pride and accomplishment.
It reminded him of so many traumatizing yet sometimes satisfying tribulations.
It was simple in all honesty…
On that ring, of small diamonds and an orange sapphire of great importance was carved a phrase once of fear and now of a brightly shining hope...
"Return by Death"
Silence permeated through the room...
Darkness began to creep in...
And in that instant, Naoko heard something...
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.
.
You did it
Guys... Please forgive me for being this late. You probably expect me to explain why I haven't updated in quite a while (ex. oh, I had lots of stuff going on), but I'm sorry that I can't give you that either. The main reason for the extremely late update was a simple lack of interest that only returned recently (not in the same magnitude though).
I'm also sorry if the chapter kind of sucks, probably cause I wrote it in like an hour with like 10% editing effort put forward.
So um...
I really hope you guys forgive me and stuff. Hoped you enjoyed the chapter, considering it's shorter than all the other ones before it.
My name is Yorelis...
Have a nice... no... brilliant day!
Or night...
It depends.
But you get the point.