Disclaimer: Don't own any of it.

I Don't Have Any Solution, But I Certainly Admire the Problem

Ashleigh Brilliant

I tell Margarite and Karin about the masks the next day. They know everything else about me. Margarite told me that, last time around, I didn't tell anyone about the masks, although she guessed, and Yuri kept it to himself as well. Karin didn't tell anyone about the picture, either.

Margarite seems worried, when I tell her, but she does not say much.

She did tell me one thing, however. I asked her, finally why she had done what she did. Why she had tried to save both Yuri and I.

She replied, "I told Yuri once, in the confessional box, right here in Rouen that I loved him. It was the truth. But, I didn't – don't – love him in the same way you and Karin do. I…I guess I just loved what you and Yuri had together. I just…I loved that love like that existed. I wanted, more than anything to have that for myself. That's why. The world needs that love,"

I hugged her then.

I also spent a bit of time alone with Koudelka that day. I updated her on all that has happened, and I asked her a favour. She agreed to it.

I then ask her what happened in America. He tells me that she found Edward, after all. He had never married. He was still a drifter. Still that discontented nineteen year old, who, when he heard of Patrick, a rich English man in a monastery, decided to put the poor man's fear of god in him. However, when he first met Koudelka again,his face lit up. He knew her immediately, even after all these years, she told me. He never forgot her.

I smile as she tells me of their happy reunion, of how thrilled Edward was to meet Halley. I'm glad she got her happy ending. She tells me that Halley is actually staying with Edward now, and that Edward has asked her to marry him. She had told him no, but he had asked her again and again. I think, eventually she will say yes. She looks so much happier now, and she has lost that hunted look she used to have. I am pleased for her.

When we have finished talking, we head back to Inugami Village. On the way, I asked Margarite if we could stop at Yuri's grave. She agreed. She dropped Karin and I off, and told us she'd be back to pick us up later. She and Koudelka had some research to do, she said.

I walked over to Yuri's grave when the helicopter had left, Karin following me.

"Alice," she says. I ignore her. I pick up the cross from Yuri's grave, and hold it up to her.

"This cross was worn by Yuri's father, his…mother…and…Yuri," She begins to speak, but I ignore her still. I reach into my pocket and pull out my mother's cross. "This was worn by my mother and father," I hold the two crosses close together, and they…they sort of…snap together, becoming one cross. Karin gasps at this, but I merely smile. I thought so."Karin…I want you to look after this. No-one else could,"

"I…I…"

"Karin…when I lose my memories and my soul…this will be all that's left of me, of Yuri, of our parents,"

I put it around her neck. She looks at me, tears in her eyes. "Alice, I… I don't want to lose you,"

"You won't," I say. "I'll be right here. In the cross,"

She holds the cross in her hand, looking at it closely.

"You know," I say, turning away from her. "I remember once, I looked at Yuri, up by the Nemeton ruins and I…I thought of how much I loved the way he was. And of how that was due to the father and the mother that he loved,"

"Thank you, Alice," she says.

We are silent for a while, enjoying the peacefulness of the area. I walk over to the gravestone and begin cleaning it. Karin joins me. When it is clear, we sit back, and we talk about Yuri. I tell her of how much he loved…her. His mother. It is odd to think of her that way. Odd but nice.

Eventually, we lapse again into a companionable silence. Karin breaks it.

"Alice?"

"Yes?"

"What…what happens to me? How…how do I die?"

I had been lying on the ground, staring at the sky, but now I sit upright. I do not know how to answer her. I do not want to lie, but I do not know how to tell her. I do not know if I should tell her. Wouldn't that be another paradox?

On the other hand, was it any different for me, being saved by Margarite?

But I still don't know how to tell her. How to tell her she was torn apart by men from her village, men who had been turned to Zombies by Dehui? How to tell her that her ten-year-old son had seen her, had torn the demons apart?

Luckily it was then that the helicopter came back. I never did answer her question.