.hack/Morganna's End rewrite
Chapter 17
The next morning was one that no one would ever forget. Helb's email reached everyone in reaching distance. No one knew why she was emailing them. However, it was Helba who reinforced the email. Now they waited for the wavemaster that had emailed them all to show up, she wasn't at work, where was she? "Where is she? She said she would be here."
"Well, it isn't something I think was a matter she would just let go." Helba's face had stared at the email for ages, but she couldn't decode what the email being sent was. Everyone was there, everyone was there waiting for her like Helb had asked Helba to enforce. However, the wait wasn't as long as you might have suspected. An hour had passed before the doors to the sacred chapel opened, revealing the said wavemaster and Aura's daughter. They both had looks of grim ideals in their faces.
"Thank you for coming everyone, I had to see if my terminal in my apartment was working well. I had to reboot it several times before I could use it efficently."
"You could have just gone to work." This confused Helba's mind, what would cause her to access from home? The terminal was really old, and not only a few years, it was about the terminal used for beta testing the world. It was probably eighteen years or so old.
"I do not wish to be questioned on motive. Please look at the statue in front of the window closely." They were speechless. They had not looked at the statue because they always thought Aura's image was carved in the statue. This time Zefie's image was there, Zefie still clung to Helb's hand. "Before you ask me what happened, I will explain this in terms of the second epitaph. I always mentioned a role, a role that had to be fulfilled by me alone. However, this role was given by god himself, the creator of this world. What you see in front of you was the fulfilling of that role. Morganna is dead." The room began to fill with images, which turned into a memory.
"Aura." The mother smiled at her, Zefie at her side. She was clinging to to her mother closely.
"Mommy! Don't go! Please!" The girl was crying, she didn't want her mother to go away. She was the only one with no choice in the matter. She was part of the role as well. "Mommy! I want to grow up with you more!" The mother embraced the young girl, letting her sob into her robes. The clasp slightly showed as she did so. She could not give her daughter enough time, even if she had any. She had to die. She had to bring peace to the world.
"Zefie, I regret that I must leave you. However, I will regret if I forget what has happened to this woman. She has suffered for over eighteen years of her life. Many others have been affected by what many have suffered. They were all created for a specific purpose that in the end, she must fulfill. I will never be able to give you enough time to say goodbye. When the twilight moon rises, this role must be fulfilled. My precious daughter, please remember this: I will always be alive inside you, I will never leave you alone in this world." She turned to the wavemaster waiting for her, looking heartbroken at what she had to do.
"Zefie, please stand in front of the pedestal." The girl looked at her mother with puffy eyes and a tear streaked face. She knew no matter how she tried, her mother would die today. The twilight moon covered the whole form of the young girl, who saw her mother standing in front of her.
"Are you ready, Aura?"
"Are you?"
"I think I am." Her face almost looked regretful at any chance to do this job. Her eyes took no way to hide her emotions inside. She completely took a deep breath, placing the Twilight Amulet over her head. The sensation changed her character model once again, and the last moments of the mother of light began."I am ready."
"Go ahead." A red cross appeared behind the mother, and data began to deteriorate into fractal codes. These codes broke into simple computer keystrokes, leaving the mother into data peices. Tears were leaving the one killing Zefie's mothers eyes. After a few moments of the data breaking apart, she began to be lifted in the air. Parts of her mother were going in her, and she was beginning to feel sleepy. She could concentrate on nothing, seeing images from her mother's past. She stayed in the air for only a few moments of this time, slowly falling in a soft descent.
"Zefie, always remember what your mother said." The young girl smiled up at the one holding her, her eyes slowly going into a sound slumber. "Sleep well, we have a lot of work ahead of us."
The people watching the memory were absolutely striken speechless. "There were two coins all along. Cubia was one that was meant to be killed by the first bracelet bearer. The second is meant to be finished by me. For awhile, the world can maintain peace."
"Well, what did you mean by that last line?"
"Sleep well, we have a lot of work ahead of us."
She looked at Tsukasa with an almost faint look of silence. "We have to heal the world of all the damage that had been done by Morganna. There is no choice for me, I have to help Zefie do this. Please understand, I did not do this for my own interest...I had to do it. I had to do it for him..." A nostalgic smile came over her form. Helba had never saw this smile on her. It was almost as if to make her question.
"Who is he anyway?"
"Harold Hoerwick." She continued to speak, but that realization was enough to never ask questions about the second epitaph again.
TBC...