"When will you go home?" Ferio asked quietly.
Fuu looked up into his golden eyes, saw the pleading expression in them. "After the funeral, I think." She glanced away. "I... do not want to go home, but..."
"You have to." He wrapped his arms around her, embracing her gently. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you, too." Fuu shook her head. "Ferio... what am I going to tell Umi-san's parents?"
He stroked her hair gently. "I don't know, Fuu-chan. There's nothing to tell but the truth. You don't want to lie about Umi's death --- that would be dishonorable beyong imagining."
"Would it?"
"Yes. I don't know about your culture, but in Cephiro, lying about someone after their death, whether it be about how they died or something else, would be like spitting in their face." He sighed. "Maybe the best thing for you to do is nothing."
"I couldn't tell them nothing," Fuu insisted. "To see their grief and know all the time that I could ease it, tell them she died well..."
"Then the only thing to tell is the truth." Ferio still held her to him tightly. "But... you don't want to do that, do you?"
Fuu shook her head. "No. This... Cephiro is our secret. It is perhaps the most important thing in our lives, this place and all of you here, but it's special, private. I can't imagine telling anyone."
"Then don't." He kissed the top of her head, adding, "As for Umi's parents, whether you tell them or not, trust your heart in the decision. I think it knows what it's doing."
She sniffled, burying her face in his shoulder. "Ferio..."
After a moment, he looked down at Fuu. "Ne, Fuu." She looked up. "Do you want to go with Hikaru? She's going to see Presea soon."
"Perhaps I should go... I don't think Hikaru-san would want to face her alone." She looked back up at him, pleadingly. "Please come?..."
"Of course." He kissed her cheek softly, then took her hand. "Let's go, Fuu-chan."
Hikaru was much more at ease now. The story of Ascot being Cerise and Meline's brother had been cleared up by now --- Cerise had told her about how their parents had hated Ascot's beasts, and how he had run away from home long ago. And she felt at peace with herself, because after all that had happened, all that she had done, she now knew how to deal with such tradgedies. It wasn't as though Hikaru wasn't scarred --- she was, and she knew she would never completely get over what had happened. But she would not make the mistakes she had made in past events.
However, even though she felt somewhat better than she had, she was still nervous about facing Presea. She hadn't killed the woman, but somehow, what she had done to her felt even worse. Perhaps it was the deep understanding she and Presea had once shared, their friendship. Hadn't she really been one of the first friends they had made in Cephiro? And look at her now, missing an arm, by Hikaru's hand.
The redhead stopped, standing in front of the infirmary. She played with the end of her braid, hesitating.
"Hikaru-san?"
Hikaru looked over her shoulder, seeing Fuu and Ferio approaching, hand in hand. She felt a pang at her heart --- she was, somehow, reminded of Lantis --- but smiled faintly. "Yeah, Fuu-chan?"
Her blond friend smiled. "We will come in with you."
The shorter girl's smile widened. "Arigatou..."
Presea heard the door begin to slide open, and she turned away. She heard the soft voice of the Magic Knight, unsure: "Presea?"
The woman said nothing, didn't move. She glared at the sheets on the cot she sat on, feeling the last traces of emotion in her heart draining out.
Hikaru came to stand by her, Fuu and Ferio at her side. "Presea... I... I need to talk to you."
Presea shifted her gaze towards Hikaru, her eyes reflecting that dull, dead expression that had been upon them for so long now. She was silent a moment, then demanded, "Go away."
The redhead glanced away, once again playing with her braid. "Ano... Presea, I... I wanted to... to apologize..." She sighed, looking back up at the woman. "I know that what I... did to you is unforgiveable, but... I'm... I'm sorry all the same."
The blond woman raised her head, making eye contact. A shudder ran through Hikaru; the bleak, hopeless despair, the deadness of those chocolate-brown eyes, disturbed her deeply. "I'm glad," Presea said in a dull tone, "that I killed the other Magic Knight, and I regret not killing both of you while I had the chance." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm glad that you suffer."
Tears stung Hikaru's eyes. "Presea..."
"I don't know who the Presea you once knew was," the woman continued. "I don't want to know. But this is who I am now, and I am not going to change."
"Presea-san," begged Fuu from behind Hikaru, "please... can't you... can't you just try to remember?..."
"My life is empty and my soul is dead," Presea said, her eyes still locked in a solemn and eerie way. "I have accepted myself as something to hate, and I have been committed to a life in shadows. My heart is fixed, and even if I were able to change, it would be for myself, not for you." She spat out the final sentence: "I would never do anything for you."
The tears spilled out of Hikaru's cranberry eyes, and she leaned back against Fuu for support as Presea turned away again. She's lost. Presea is lost forever.
In the place of the shadows, a smokey-blue shadow shimmered into a ghostly shape before the glass. The girl who had formed from the shadow leaned her forehead against the glass, the dry tears of the shadows welling in her sapphire eyes.
"Oh, Presea," she whispered, "what have they done?"
A sob shuddered her delicated frame, and she drew away from the glass, slipping into her shadow form again, stirring in her remorse and reentering the eerie dance of the dead.
Epilouge
The sun was slowly slipping below the horizon as she laid the bunch of grymiles delicately on Umi's grave. She touched the navy petals lightly, then closed her eyes, whispering a silent prayer in her friend's name.
A breeze stirred Hikaru's long black skirt as she stood. Fuu came to stand next next to her, her arm around her friend's shoulders, and they stared at the neat row of graves: Hedaimo, Nobyre, Waemi, Umi, Lantis. Respects had been paid, prayers said, and now all that was left was mourning and healing.
Hikaru felt Eagle's presence next to her; Fuu was on her other side. Yeiry and Larumele stood, sniffling in their black skirts, with Ferio and Ascot. Clef, Caldina, and the others stood behind them, each quietly mourning in their own way.
Larumele stared at Hikaru, a deep sigh escaping her, the only sound in the quiet dusk. "It's vicious," she said almost voicelessly to Yeiry. "Life, I mean..." She shook her head. "There was no reason for them to die."
"Yes, there was," her blond friend replied in the same quiet tone. "They died for the same reason they were born."
"That being?"
"To impact the lives of others." Yeiry's brown eyes scanned across the five gravemarkers, then rested on Meline's, set a small distance away from the rest. "I believe that people are born to affect other people, and they die for the same reasons. Each of them was so wonderful, and each of them made their mark. But their time of influence is done, and it's time for them to move on." She closed her eyes, holding back her tears. "I only hope that each of them is happy, where ever they are."
The silence fell once again as the sun continued to slip below the hills. Then, there came the tp-tp sound of soft boots on the polished stone steps behind them. The tall woman made her way across the grass, a golden-yellow flower in her single hand.
Presea knelt in front of Meline's grave, laying the solitary nyra flower on the raised bit of ground. Then she rested her hand on the soft grass, whispering words that were never known to anyone but herself and Meline.
The woman stood, turning her back to the congregated people. She began walking away, and she did not look back once, nor show any sign of hesitation as she disappeared into the sunset.
