Disclaimer: The usual. Song is Anna ni issho datta no ni from Gundam Seed. Lines are quoted from The Ashes of Eden, also used in Chapter Ten earlier.
Previously, on "The Romancers"...
Sheo: "At iyon na nga. Jeanne and Lyserg live happily ever after– and so with Marco and Rune."
Setsumi/Syaoran/Apple/Fluff:"Ay. Yun na? Tapos na yung kwento?"
Sheo: "Oy, hindi pa, a. May epilogue na, may sequel pa."
Setsumi/Syaoran/Apple/Fluff: "Talaga? Yehey!"
Person: "Please translate what you said, I can't understand Tagalog…"
The Romancers
Set One: Shaman King
By: Sheo Darren
Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight
Epilogue: The Next Arc Beckons…
Rione Asuka Hunter was troubled.
She was an emotional person by nature. The Filipina was one of those people who just can't help but say their feelings out loud, as if holding back on them might hurt far worse that whatever consequence of admitting so could. Always wanting to share her thoughts and emotions and opinions knowing that they'd help others feel better easy, she was indeed like a little child, what with her openly sunny disposition and happy-go-lucky thoughtfulness. She couldn't lie worth a damn and couldn't hide anything. Her line of work not only highlighted her persona, it also amplified it. She was the perfect big sister/guidance counselor/best friend, and thus the perfect Romancer.
But some things weren't meant to be known so easily to others.
Some things just had to be hidden.
Fortunately her cell phone was of a rugged design. Thus, it wasn't damaged by the bumps it took when it slipped away from her suddenly nerveless fingers and fell onto the sandy beach shore. It was overly dramatic but totally unintended and honestly unexpected. The shock of it all was just too much.
Someone's voice could be faintly heard from the phone. The other party seemed to be calling her, asking what was wrong or was she still there or whatever. Slowly she bent down and picked it up and held it up to her head again.
"Sumenasai.Go ahead, ituloy mo lang, please."
She seemed so mechanical in her actions and speech, so unlike her vibrant self. She was staring off out into unlimited space again, the thousand yard stare. The voice on the other side –they didn't know who it was, but the X-Laws had a fairly good idea of what he or she was thinking; they themselves were going through it, too– was puzzled and worried, maybe asking her what was wrong. Rione tried chuckling but her heart wasn't into it, she just couldn't do it, her face and tone and actions told it out loud.
"Oo. Oo, I understand. Oo, mag-iingat ako. Kayo rin. Sige, paalam na. Babay."
As the hand that bore it wavered away from her, the phone went dead.
Rione was dead to the world.
"Kite…"
"Rione?"
She didn't reply or respond in any way towards the well-meant query, just stood there still and quiet like a statue–, no, more like the Beefeater guards standing watchful attention at Buckingham Palace, those imposing riflemen in the bright red coats and tall bearskin hats whose tradition went back to Napoleonic times, where their company defeated the legendary French Grenadiers and thus won the eternal honor to wear their vanquished foes' headgear. The way they'd stand still for hours in rain or snow or sunlight, utterly unmindful of everything around them –or at least that's what most people think, for they were alert as bloodhounds on the prowl–, the only signs of life in them being their regular pattern of twirling and tossing their rifles every so and so, otherwise being as lifelessly inhuman as any human being can.
But it wasn't that way with her. You knew she was alive. You knew she was human. It just was much more so with her. Where those soldiers didn't seem human at all, Rione was far more human in the way she was seemed so helpless and forlorn. You remember that she was alive and mortal and had feelings that could be hurt despite her invincible power, not despite of herself but because of herself.
"A long time ago, he was a starship captain. And starship captains think they're invincible."
"Why, James?"
"They have to be. It's their job."
She was a Romancer.
And all Romancers are human, even the ones who aren't human at all.
They just have to be.
They have to be.
"Rione?"
She looked at her at last, looked at the girl she had just helped regain her own person with saddened eyes whose owner's heart was lost within a dark unhappiness as black as their pupils. She wondered if some of her own humanity had been lost in that generous act, wondered if it was now resident with the fair-haired girl with cherry-red eyes in sky blue. If so, she wished that misplaced part of her to be happy and well in its new home despite her self.
In that, she was still herself.
Rione was still herself despite her self…
She smiled sadly, that same smile the green-haired dowser boy had seen before when she had first taken her away from him, that smile of someone pained to do what she had to do– but knew that she must do it, no one else capable of doing so, and knew it was for the best. Her smile was known to the ash-blonde girl who was herself afflicted with the same sort of unrequited pain through love; her smile was known to her 'targets', the pale woman in black and the blonde man with glasses, for they themselves had known it and done so. Her smile was known to all the others because it was something that touched their very hearts and souls, something they had all gone through before, something familiar and welcome despite its sadness.
In that smile, she was them, and they were her.
They were no longer strangers.
Like all who have gone through the same kind of suffering together, they were now friends, all of them.
"I have to go, Jeanne," she said quietly. "I just have to."
For the Romancers…
For myself…
For him…
And Iron Maiden Jeanne D' Arc bowed her head in understanding, and she went over to her friend and held the latter girl's sun-browned hands in her own pale ones, her touch and presence telling all there needed to be told far better than words could ever do.
"Be careful, Rione."
She smiled again.
"Be happy, Jeanne."
And then she let go of her and stepped back even as her friend did the same. The Romancer gave them all one last smile, her eyes lingering upon Jeanne and Lyserg, Drake and Vincent, even on Maestro, Rune and Marco, and finally on Millie.
"Please, take care of Red for me."
The X-Laws girl nodded, but seemed like she wanted to say something. Rione waited expectantly.
"We used to have so much together," softly whispered Millie at last, her words lingering like the dying light at sunset, "But now the dusk is already a different shade."
For a while there was silence.
"We used to have so much together," answered Rione, "But I can't get by on just one word. Hurry and go; your time is now."
"We used to have so much together…"
"…But now the dusk is already of a different shade."
"At least," both girls murmured as if in song, "At least I can sleep quietly in the moonlight."
They both smiled.
In a way, they were the most alike of them all. They both loved, and yet their love could not love them back.
But it was okay, they decided both. It was okay.
Taking one last deep breath, she bent down on one knee as if genuflecting –and perhaps she was, in a sense– and then her legs kicked out from beneath her and she was up flying into the air as if borne by a unlimited storm of wind, hurtling upwards like a rocket but far faster than any could be ever made, her 'Superman thing' in full magnitude.
And as she flew, Rione found that she was crying.
They watched her vanish into the sky, watched her until even the faintest speck of her was gone.
And yet, to use a saying beloved of the young man who wrote these chronicles and many others beside, "But we never leave for good. We never do."
We never do.
Lyserg held the Sakura Card in his hand.
"Take us home, Return."
There was a flash of light, and then there was nothing.
Anna ni issho datta no ni
Yuugure wa mou chigau iro
Arifureta yasashisa wa kimi wo
Toozakeru dake
Tsumetaku kimi sutte kokoro wa
Samayou bakari
Sonna kakko warusa ga
Ikuru to iu koto nara
Samuzora no shita
Me wo tojite iyou
Anna ni issho datta no ni
Kotoba hitotsu tooranai
Kasoku shite ikuse naka ni ima wa
Anna ni issho datta no ni
Yuugure wa mou chigau iro
Semete kono tsuki akari no shita de
Shizuka na nemuri wo
Much to most normal people's dismay but to Eriol and Tomoyo's amusement and the occasional distant uncaring glance of a third person, Eah Osborn had been pretty much his usual crazy self for the whole morning and much of the afternoon. He had pointed his AK at most everyone save Lavi, Eriol and Tomoyo; for people who especially annoyed him –and who were, in turn, even more annoyed of him–, at least twice, and for the person mentioned in the first part of this paragraph, perhaps about a dozen times. He had blustered and threatened and cackled and run around like a proverbial headless chicken, albeit this one was worse off than the others in that it had a machine gun handy. All the time, he was promising a vengefully painful and prolonged death by torture for Fluff Inc., a company none of the others had heard of before but which –actually, whom, as Lavi explained later– seemed to have earned Eah's especial ire. Even Lavi's wrench couldn't put him down for long.
But the navigator girl was nothing if resourceful, and it's said that sheer aggravation is the spring for inspiration. Lavi 'absently' mentioned that the Orky–
"Argh! It is not 'Orky', Nav! It's Orca! Orca Transport!"
–correction; the Orca needed a maintenance check. Very concerned for his aircraft –Eah loved it more than anything or anyone in the world, and that includes Lavi, Fluff-chan, despite your best efforts – the Filipino pilot had immediately went about the MV-22 looking for trouble. Thus nearly everyone had figuratively fallen at Lavi's feet in worship for sparing them Eah for perhaps an hour or so (it takes several days, actually, a fact they were to praise her for much more later on).
Anyway, it was during his maintenance checking that Eah suddenly felt an eldritch current in the air. The Haribon Agila had one of the most enviable of abilities a pilot or a sailor could ever have: The ability to actually detect the most subtle differences in the air and react to them accordingly. It was his masterful judgment on winds and weather that had earned him fame on all his aerial runs.
Even before all the sorcerers felt the magical surge, Eah was yelling out aloud as he ran towards them all.
"Yeehaah! 'Andito na sila!"
The sigil of sorcery was already forming even as he ran, and then the clouds above parted as Return went through them, a beam of laser-like light that struck the garden grounds with a silent thunderclap. Everyone dropped what they were doing –in Nakuru's case, the water balloon she was planning to throw at Yukito landed on poor Suppi instead, drenching the black cat and Keroberos who was unfortunately too close to dodge– and gathered towards the spot, watching the figures materialize with expectations of hope and dread.
Eah slung his AK around one shoulder even as he grinned widely, his enthusiasm that of a young kid who's about to get the biggest Christmas present ever from Santa Claus (in whom the pilot was an unabashedly fervent believer). At his side was Lavi, surprisingly as hopeful as her friend was.
Return sailed into Sakura's arms, but not before buzzing Li just for the fun of it. Cards need to unwind, too, and the sour-looking Chinese sorcerer was just too tempting a target to ignore. Sakura scolded her naughty Card but was smiling. An elbow nudge reminded Li to do the same.
The thoroughly soaked Suppi and Kero-chan were bawling at Nakuru. The Moon Guardian pointedly ignored them, jostling Yukito aside for a better view. The last good-naturedly stepped aside, but he did notice his younger 'sibling' squeezing his arm in excitement.
Myzuki stood alone as always, the only one with a troubled expression, and it was not due to the fact that she was alone.
And as always, Tomoyo was with Eriol, their hands intertwined as tightly as their hearts and hopes. One believed in the best; one hoped for the best. Both were together without a match in the world.
The glare from the Gate spell vanished.
Instead of the seven who had struck out on the epic adventure–
Instead of seven, there were eight.
The grin Lyserg Diethyl gave the assembly was one of flourish and immense happiness.
"Ladies, gentlemen and Sun Guardians, I have the great honor to present the Iron Maiden of the X-Laws herself." He guided her forward towards them, their hands held as tight as Tomoyo and Eriol's. "May I present Miss Jeanne D'Arc."
Despite Lavi's momentary glance of disapproval –she had to grin, even as she held her ears protectively against the sheer shocking sound of it and ducked beneath the fist thrust up above her head– the whoop of joy Eah released was echoed by more reserved but no less joyful cheers and applause.
Tomoyo and Jeanne held hands in greeting and marveled at each other. "I feel like I've known you all my life, Jeanne," the dark-haired girl told her fair-haired counterpart, "Even though this is the first time we've met in person."
"The same goes for me as well, I have to confess," Jeanne replied. Tomoyo smiled back dotingly.
"You know," muttered Vincent to Drake, "They do sort of look related, too, like distant cousins or something."
Nearby, Eah was begging Lyserg for his pasalubong. The Brit lad laughed sheepishly before admitting, "We didn't get much time to shop, so I didn't get any for you. Sorry, Eah."
The poor guy stared at him with eyes that were reminiscent of a puppy dog, and then Eah suddenly bawled "Wawa ako!" and then turned into a pouting but cute super-deformed/chibi plushie toy version of his self, like Amano Ginji does sometimes in Getbackers. A drop of perspiration hung on Lyserg's forehead at that, even as Millie went "Kawaaii!" and picked up Chibi-Eah– or tried to pick him up, as Red bumped Chibi-Eah aside and Chibi-Eah retaliated by trying to gobble the Haro up in just one chomp. Then both Millie and Lyserg had sweat-drops on their foreheads now.
Luckily for Red, Lavi caught the plushie Haribon Agila by the nape of his collar. Chibi Eah struggled and howled and wailed to be let to massacre Red, but that was before Lavi gave him a great big hug and squeezed all the wind –not to mention the fight and almost the very life– out of him. With the now-limp Chibi Eah comfortably restrained in her arms like a kid would hold her favorite stuffed toy close to her (and Fluff-chan dying in envy of her at that ), Lavi seemed quite younger than she was and looked rather cuter, too.
Her somewhat worried glance, however, told a different story.
"What's wrong, Lavi?"
"Lyserg, we've got trouble."
And then he caught sight of the woman.
She had been watching them ever since they'd arrived, watched them and their friends reunite. She watched the girl she once called her mistress, saw the newfound happiness and humanity in her and was happy for her. She looked upon the new faces with a bit of interest and perhaps some doubts; for her, the X-Laws would always be Porf and Larch and Venstar and Cebin and Marco and Lyserg–
–And herself, of course.
Marco stared.
Rune froze.
And Lyserg and Millie both gasped.
She made her usual letter-perfect touchdown, and as usual she should have been exhilarated by her rapid flight and the thrilling jump from one dimension to another. Yet as she slowed down to a halt she found herself lacking for extraneous thoughts aside from the one image so clearly imprinted on her mind– the only thing she found herself able to focus upon– that she wondered if she was still herself.
But of course she was.
She just felt different, that's all.
She stood up and looked around the place. It was a small park in the middle of the concrete jungle of Tokyo. Strangely enough for such a place, it was empty of people. There were only pigeons there, slate blue-gray mottled birds whose ancestors had migrated to the Orient long ago and flourished in their new environments so much that they seemed natives of this place already, more at home here than she herself was.
But this wasn't her home. Not this city or any other place in this country and not anywhere in America, though her name suggested it. But that wasn't her real name, and this was not her home. Her home was not so far away, separated from Japan by the expanse of the South China Sea (named so for its location south of China, which name the Chinese had used to justify their appropriation of the said waters), with nearly ninety million people all crammed into an archipelago of seven thousand islands.
That was her home, and yet it no longer was.
The pigeons all suddenly burst into slow flight at the approach of an intruder to the place and to her thoughts. She turned to face him, her thoughts a whirlwind, her terrified and confused and angry heart threatening to break free of her despite her best efforts.
"Miss Miranda. Surprised to see me?"
If nothing else, she had gotten much of her trademark lines from him. She'd learned so much from him, strove to emulate his every move and whole style, had followed him like a love-struck young girl all goggle-eyed and blushing like made– which she had been back then.
She had been in love with him.
But that was a long time ago.
That was a lifetime ago.
"Don't," he added.
Now?
They were enemies.
"Kite," Rione said.
The man named Kite smiled.
"Ohayou, Lyserg-kun, Marco-san, Rune-san.Hey, Millie. It's been a while."
She smiled at all of them as if she knew them very well.
In fact, she did.
She was, after all, Meene.
Itutuloy Sa Susunod Na Kuwento…