In-Between Happiness Part 3
If Ringo Andou had to contextualize her life, she would prefer using the word lively.
When Puyos had initially rained down on her world and Ecolo threatened mass destruction, she had been frightened. The terror that threatened to snap her spine in half had fueled her from the very start. She couldn't imagine that same terror plaguing her friends and the one who introduced her to Puyo battling, and she had resolved herself to stand tall in the wake of annihilation. As her adventure continued, she had come to terms with the madness thrust upon her, and in the end, she had made more friends than she could count on her fingers.
That strange incident was the catalyst of what was once an ordinary life. Every so often, Ringo found herself swept up in action that no normal girl fathomed. Whether it was weaving through space-time or battling beings bent on her demise, she persevered, casting spells with a flick of her wrist. With the help of her friends, as cheesy as it sounded in her head, she had grown stronger, both physically and intellectually.
Each chapter in her life had a happy ending. On the last page of each journey, she had smiled, her heart full even when she had part ways.
But now, in the vast span of nothingness, she ached. Her teeth rattled as she grinded them, her eyes twitching in pain. She struggled to remain standing, her knees buckling. Her breath came out in short gasps. If she had a full-length mirror, she would have found herself painted in bruises and cuts, slight tears in her clothing, and an expression so distressed that she would have squeezed her eyes shut.
Ringo raised her head. Arle met her gaze with cool indifference. She briefly weighed her options, and a bitter smirk cut into her cheek as the battle started.
She could not perform the same trick twice. Swapping their boards without Arle's comprehension of Tetris had been a trick out of Ecolo's bag, but now, Arle understood the trap. If by some off chance Ringo managed to succeed with it again, then Ringo faced obliteration in the form of a spell powerful enough to leave nothing of her behind, not even atoms.
Taking a sharp breath, Ringo extended her right arm. Her elbow twinged, and she cupped it with her other hand. She spared Arle a look, but Arle concentrated on her board. Groaning, Ringo methodically stacked. Reds in the corner, greens in the other, and in the middle were a series of hues that blurred together. She knew their shapes and sizes by heart. She twisted her wrist, directing each couplet to their destination, their eyes wide and round bodies quivering as if genuinely frightened.
Arle slammed the Puyos down on her board. Ringo flinched, the sound echoing in the barren landscape. Her mouth tightened, and she ordered herself to focus, but Arle smashed her Puyos with such force that a yelp strangled itself in her throat.
"Do you mind being quieter? I've never heard of anyone being so loud while playing Puyo," Ringo snapped, furrowing her brow.
"If this bothers you, then you should have accepted your fate before we began," Arle remarked, snapping her fingers.
Her chain set off with a fiery flare. Ringo heaved out a sigh as the blast only struck her board and knocked nuisance on top of her chain. She preferred that over the true scorch of Arle's magic, which seemed like an inevitability. She made quick work of the nuisance Puyos and countered with a short, electrical burst that slightly rocked Arle's board.
In her free hand, Ringo grasped her textbook. She cradled it, the worn spine and pages comforting. She had re-read it hundreds of times, memorizing each word and treasuring them all the same. Mathematics comforted her in realms that lacked logic. She could always trust reading equations and computations, as they provided familiar knowledge and assertions that no magical being could counter or deny.
She whipped it open when her Puyos hit the top of her board. Cutting her finger through the air, she cemented her final Puyos in place. As her Puyos popped, several of them going off at once and zigzagging across the board, Ringo relished in the warm electricity surging from her to her textbook, watching as it brightly burned and rose out in front of her.
"Integral!" she cried, her textbook flashing to the point where an outsider would have been blinded.
A bundle of lightning struck out from the lit pages. They coiled together, then unwound like threads. They speared towards Arle's board, shocking it with the full force of a mighty storm. Ringo clenched her fist, feeling the stale air tingle with electricity. Arle's board quaked, her Puyos shuddering as if they would fall out of place.
"Yes! Perfect!" Ringo exclaimed, pumping her fist. "How do you like them apples?"
"Is that all you have?" Arle asked, bored.
Ringo grunted, her lip curling. "What? Don't you see those nuisance Puyos above your board? There's tons of 'em! Take a lo-!"
"Do you honestly believe I care about your little attacks? What, with that kind of spell? An empowered chain using a majority of your pawns?" Arle flatly interjected with a slight tilt of her head. She twisted her finger, her Puyos dangling, and the constant swishing sound forced Ringo to look.
Ringo's jaw dropped. She loosened her grip on her textbook. A chill raced down her spine so abruptly that she nearly lost her footing. Her face tensed, forming wrinkles by the corners of her mouth. Suddenly parched, Ringo swallowed her spit and swiftly returned to her board in desperate hopes of countering.
Arle's Puyos popped from above the board. As the ones near the top burst, others replaced them. She had stacked as high as she was permitted. Entirely focused on her chain to hurriedly outwit Arle, Ringo had failed to notice the clever sleight of hand that immediately gave the advantage to her opponent.
Puyo after Puyo exploded. Each seemed more intense than the last. Arle crossed her arms over her chest and closed in on herself. She lifted off the ground, and Ringo instinctively drew back. Magic channeled around her, forming like a mist, until they were tangible, crackling, elongated spheres of darkness.
Her mouth carved a wicked sneer across her face. Arle raised her head, the energy exuding off her enough to make Ringo whimper. Her knuckles burned white under the intensity of her own power, and she couldn't resist laughing over the sound of the shuddering Puyos as they exploded.
Ringo couldn't even flee.
"RAGNAROK!" Arle roared, thrusting her arms and legs out to the sides.
As she swung them out, black magic raced towards Ringo. It seared the air, cutting through the very fabric of the world. Ringo saw stars within the divots of space. It burned and chilled her to the bone, her entire body stunned when it struck through her, pinning her in place, her mind pulsing with a headache that thundered with each beat of her heart.
It slammed into her board. Everything within it shuddered. But she couldn't make a single retaliatory strike.
"What did you do to me?" she whispered, and Arle cackled.
"Think Bayoeen but deadly, my friend," she jeered. "When used in a certain way such as in a Puyo battle, it can make you tethered to the spot, frightened, your body feeling ready to come apart at the seams."
And she was. Ringo could hardly breathe with how terribly her body ached. It was like someone pressed hot candle wax on a cold burn that spread across her. She hissed and gasped, watching as countless nuisance Puyos appeared over her board, her mind screaming in pain when she tried thinking of a counterattack.
"You thought you could win. You really believed that with your heart and soul," Arle sneered with a smile once seen upon her marionette mask. "Oh, I once believed that nonsense, too. When I killed the Creator, I thought I had won, but really, I only damned myself to a lifetime of miserable isolation." She leaned forward, giggling. "Well, I'll savor that stupid expression on your face for an eternity, Ringo! It matches the one I wore when I first realized I was trapped here!"
No. No. There must be something to be solved, Ringo thought, gritting her teeth so hard they almost chipped.
"Learn it! Learn exactly what I endured, Ringo!" Arle squealed, another maniacal laugh ripping free from her. "Know this hell! Know this tomb! And then, when you've suffered here for hundreds of years, I'll allow you to escape!" She cackled. "Too bad you'll be long dead by then! I'll return you as a milky white skeleton!"
Slowly, Ringo's final Puyos dropped down her board. She watched them, her index finger weakly wiggling as she rotated them. Arle's cacophony of laughter split her head in two, and the agony creasing down on her prevented her from excessive movement.
She couldn't surrender in such a pivotal moment, but she lacked the Puyos needed to return fire. She simply didn't have enough. And without them, she would face a punishment worse than anything she had ever faced.
Think! Think back to the start! There must be something I'm missing here! A fraction! A decimal point! Anything!
She racked her throbbing, heavy brain. She went over every note she had taken throughout her time with Arle. Every moment surged in her head, which danced with unconsciousness as black spots dotted her vision. But she thought, forcing her mind to focus, as she crunched and ran through the numbers.
Arriving at my place, discussing her past with us, going to school, Maguro and Risukuma battling, fighting Satan-! Wait.
And in a flash, it came to her.
"You're taking too long! Ragnarok!" Arle sneered, throwing her arms out again and casting another thick, black stream of dark magic at Ringo.
As the chaotic culmination of magic surged for her, ignoring her board entirely, Ringo looked up. She faced the magic with her textbook held wide open. It floated from her hands, twirling in the air above her head, and she raised her hands, following it. Lightning raced along her arms, dancing and pivoting on her skin in warm bursts.
Who knew such a simple solution was right in front of me this whole time?
Ringo outstretched her palms. The lightning, once a brilliant white, now burned with the color of her hair. She pressed her thumbs and index fingers together, forming a triangle beneath her textbook that spun and spun, its stinging pitch growing louder by the second.
Here's my answer, Arle!
Arle's laughter was drowned out by the booming, thunderous explosions that she had rocketed at Ringo, bathing her in vile magic. In another world, in another time, she would have been decorated with flowers. Arle couldn't stop herself. The noise that had been trapped within her for hundreds of years roared out of her as her attack swooped in on Ringo, covering her from all angles, blinding Arle from her own assault.
"It's game over, Ringo Andoooou!" Arle shrieked, tossing her head back. "Enjoy oblivion!"
But then, Arle choked on her own gasp when she finally noticed the lightning in Ringo's palms, and her heart stopped.
"Pythagorean! Pythagorean!" Ringo cried out.
Twin triangular beams of scarlet magic shot out from her hands and from her textbook. One dashed for the nuisance that had built up at her board and electrified them. The nuisance rattled and evaporated, swallowed up several long rows before appearing over Arle's board. The second blow pierced right through Arle like an arrow through smog, exploding with such a fury of sound that both girls were blown back.
Arle bit back her surprise. She hurried to her feet and gazed at Ringo, speechless. The question was right on the tip of her tongue, but Ringo spoke as if reading her mind.
"Super moves, remember? You've used them twice now, and you taught us just a little while ago," Ringo explained, panting. "Pretty awesome, right?"
"But-! That's-! You're just-!"
"Just a little girl who can't comprehend the complexity of immortal beings? If you finish that line of questioning though, my nuisance will drop right on top of you," Ringo remarked as the remaining nuisance plopped a meager three lines worth of Puyos on her own half-filled board.
Arle had no choice. She cursed and used her final Void Hole. It expanded over the top of her board, swallowing up the rampaging Puyos. The timer ticked, warning an ominous thirty seconds that would pass sooner than expected.
Rage filled Arle from head to toe. Ringo returned to stacking, focusing solely on the blue and green Puyos in the center. Arle trembled, allowing her Puyos to descend without direction. They landed on top of each other, their squelching a noise more irritable than stepping in grime.
I can't lose, not to her. I'm Arle Nadja. I killed my own Creator. I lived for five hundred years. I mastered spells beyond mortal understanding, but I'm letting everything go to waste over a dumb puzzle game?
Something within her, like a thin thread that had been cut, snapped.
Oh, forget this stupid game!
Arle abandoned her board. She rushed over at Ringo, who gasped. She flung her hands wildly, casting spells of fire and ice. They burned and froze the ground, scorching and blistering Ringo's shoes and socks. Ringo yelped, hopping around and yelping like a small dog, but through the smoke, Arle rushed forward and parted it with her fist.
Ringo raised her textbook just in time. The blow's impact was enough to almost knock her off her feet, but she continued twisting her hand. She wobbled, narrowly missing a bolt of magenta lightning that almost nicked her ear when she jerked backwards, but she couldn't hide the smirk on her face at Arle's distressed expression.
"Time's up," Ringo hissed, glancing at Arle's board.
Her void vanished. The nuisance flowed freely. They pounded the Puyos on her board and scattered them, smothering them without allowing Arle any boost in her magical power. The board jostled and quaked before eventually flinging off into nothingness, but Ringo's attack wasn't done. The nuisance rained on the girl who had forsaken the game, battering her, tossing her around like a broken doll, bruising her face and cracking her armor.
An inhumane, guttural hollow seeped past Arle's teeth. She swatted the hard Puyos, but they continued appearing out of thin air. She fired all kinds of spells of them, some to dizzy them, others to confuse, but they resisted her and smashed down on the lithe mage.
Ringo wiggled her fingers. She pursed her lips, watching as Arle struggled to move in the growing pile of nuisance. Pity ran through her, albeit smothered by her own injuries. She drew in a breath, remarking, "I'm sorry. This isn't exactly my ideal Puyo battle."
"Quiet! As if I care about your game when I'm strong enough to kill a god!" Arle roared only for a Puyo to crack down on her nose. Blood gushed out, staining her teeth and chin. The sight of her made Ringo grimace, briefly halting her fidgeting. She smeared the dark red liquid across her jaw, but she gasped when she drank in Ringo's baffled, frightened expression. As the nuisance threatened to snap her bones, she clenched her fists, hot embarrassment and wrath fueling her over rationality.
"Don't you know you should never give your enemy an inch in battle?" Arle sneered, and with a burst of adrenaline, she parted through the sea of nuisance and darted towards Ringo.
"I-I'm not! You're-ah!" Ringo raised her textbook in time again to Arle's punch. "Stop! This isn't right! You're only gonna make both of us suffer some more!"
"What do you know about what's right? What can a mortal tell me about righteousness or suffering?" Arle screeched, tears burning her eyes. They slipped over her grinding teeth. Her chest plate fell off, clattering without a sound as Ringo's onslaught continued. She howled, "I'm a god compared to you! You're nothing but a little girl!"
"Wrong! You've never grown up past the age of sixteen!" Ringo roared, rotating her wrists. Arle gawked. "Everything that happened to you in your world, it disallowed you the opportunity to grow up normally! And when you were thrust into the battle with your Creator and trapped here, it stunted you in every sense! Emotionally! Mentally! Magically!"
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up! What does a little girl like you know? You've never experienced bloodshed! You've never seen bodies pile up in front of you, scorched, bludgeoned, mutilated, forgotten!" Arle bellowed, snatching Ringo's throat. Ringo gasped, briefly stopping her gestures, her throat bulging as Arle curled her fingers into her weak skin. "You'll never understand me until you go through what I did!"
"Pythagorean!" Ringo bellowed, jabbing her textbook into Arle's stomach and blasting her with pinpoint lightning.
Arle screamed. Electricity surged through her and burned her from within. She felt like her eyes would pop out her skull until Ringo retreated. She slammed on to the nuisance Puyos, her bones cracking and her muscles aching as she stumbled through the debris.
Ringo jumped away, leaving Arle to twist and writhe in place. She sucked in a sharp breath, hugging her textbook to her chest. She swallowed, her arms aching from the exertion. Rolling her shoulders back and hearing them pop, she watched Arle, shrieking and bleeding, ascend into the air with an expression so malignant it would have made even the strongest of souls weep.
"You child," she hissed, "this isn't over!"
Ringo drew her hand to her textbook and set it on the cover. "No. This match is over, and I'm sorry it had to end this way. I'm sure a battle like this would make Marle and Squares very sad."
"What the hell are you-?" Her eyes flicked up, and all the pain in her body comprised itself in a monosyllabic sound. "No!"
Ringo sighed as Arle shrieked and tore through her hair. Perhaps, it was a bit cruel to utter even the mildest of giggles, but after suffering blow after blow from Arle, she felt more than vindicated when distress ate away at her features.
While Arle had attacked her, Ringo had continued stacking. She had organized her Puyos while Arle volleyed attacks on her. Arle had completely disregarded her own board, which in the chaos of the match, had filled with Puyos with no opportunity to pop them.
Lightning flashed all around them. It shot off from Ringo's board, her textbook, from her own ringlets. She extended her arms, gathering the electrical magic like a winding current, and she spun them, round and round, gathering power. She blitzed forward, heat and magic encompassing her in brilliant hues that Arle had never seen within the void.
Ringo smiled. She couldn't hide the delight swelling in her chest. It appeared whenever she used her strongest spell, one she treasured like her friends did with their most poignant powers. Lightning and flowers erupted from her, her afterimages splintering off and surrounding Arle with how quickly she raced around her, stupefying the girl who took down a god.
And with a deep breath, Ringo bellowed, "PERMUTATION!"
She gave everything to Arle. All of her magic propelled forward from every angle. The lightning weaved in the air, the flowers following shortly behind, and Arle couldn't move. She was fixed to her spot, her mouth hanging open, her understanding of everything shattering just as Ringo's spell slammed into her.
She didn't feel any pain. Warmth glided along her skin. The occasional static shock pricked her, but she felt like she was floating on air. Ringo's spell should have rendered her unconscious or worse, but instead, she was reminded of the stupefying effects of a spell she had long abandoned.
How did I lose? Me? When I killed my Creator?
Arle pivoted in the air. Gravity was unkind to her, and she crashed into the ground. Her body spun, her limbs smashing lifelessly. She rolled into the nuisance Puyos, knocking them over like bowling pins, and when she flopped to the side, she stared at the girl who flipped an apple casually in her free hand.
"I'm at one hundred percent," she proclaimed, one corner of her mouth drawn higher than the other.
She won. She beat me in every sense of word. Emotionally. Mentally. Magically. Even physically.
It seemed impossible. That must have been a nightmare, but the pain blossoming on her body convinced her that it was, in fact, reality. Slowly, she dragged herself to her knees, then she pushed herself off the ground, digging her finger into the rubble of nuisance Puyos.
But I'm Arle Nadja. I'm Arle Nadja. I'm Arle Nadja. Arle. Arle. Arle. Arle. Arle. How did I lose to you, Ringo, when you're not even a mage?
She remained still, hovering in the air. With the spell wearing off, her skin felt roasted. Splotches of black smoke coated her rams and legs. Her armor had fallen off her, revealing a white, stained tunic underneath. Words failed her. Her mind ceased to think. All she could do was stare at the heroine who defeated her.
"How?" she crooned, trembling. "How did you win?"
"Because I had to," Ringo stated. "I had to show you why you were wrong."
She scoffed, puffing out a hoarse laugh. "You should've killed me. You might've been able to escape if you used a little more magic to tear through space-time."
"Wrong. We don't play Puyo to hurt people. We do it for fun or to help others see the errors of their ways," Ringo replied. "I'd never kill anyone, especially not someone like you suffering so plainly in front of me."
Arle wheezed out a pained, strangled laugh that failed to echo. "You're something else," she crooned. "Standing up to me, lecturing me, when you should be gloating."
Ringo sighed and raked her fingers through her hair. "Man, you're dense. I think I got through to Ecolo quicker at this point."
Mentioning the one who freed her from her prison earned her curiosity. She furrowed her brow, asking to know what Ringo meant. She failed to meet her gaze when Ringo looked up at her.
"It's kind of ironic what happened just now. Thinking about it, it reminded me of something you told me when you came into my life yesterday," Ringo replied, hugging her textbook.
"And what is that?"
"I'm not gonna give you the answer. That's cheating. Maybe if you stopped for a moment to think things through instead of attacking..." Ringo ordered, clenching her fists and glaring at Arle. "...then maybe you'd realize what's ironic."
"I don't...what do you...? Huh?" She blinked the blood and sweat out of her eyes. "Are you...you?"
As Arle's vision focused, she saw herself standing in Ringo's place. Bloodied, armor cracked, her auburn hair matted. Her face was fixed in a glower as she leered up at the doppelganger, and for the first time in centuries, Arle truly flinched.
Eh? That's strange. Why am I standing there? Wasn't Ringo there moments ago?
Slowly, Arle's eyes moved from side to side. She was still hovering, but she was several yards high above the other Arle's head. She stared down on her counterpart, who donned the color azure.
And why am I up here looking down on her? Me?
"You know who I am, right?" Ringo asked, Arle gasping. "My name is Ringo Andou. I'm a student attending Suzuran Junior High." She stepped forward, and Arle drew back, grasping nothing but air. "There's no reason to be afraid of me, but you get what this looks like, right? Doesn't this remind you of something?"
It feels familiar. Eerily familiar.
Arle willed herself to look over her shoulder, but no one was there. In that space, only Arle and Ringo remained. They were the last two living beings in a place forsaken by space and time.
This has happened before, but you weren't even born yet. I was in your place and-
Her heart sunk. Her eyes felt like popping out of her skull once again. Arle's teeth chattered, and she felt every muscle in her body contract. Stomach churning, blood freezing in her veins, she resisted the urge to vomit.
What did I want again? To be acknowledged? To be the real, full Arle Nadja again?
Hundreds of years ago, she had been called Arle Nadja. Hundreds of years later, only part of her held the respect and status to claim that name. The other half lamented and cried within a dismal hell, having only been accepted once freed a second time by a stranger's whim.
And she had been accepted by three people. They were the students who welcomed her despite her antagonism. She had spent the a whole day with them. Playing Puyo, discussing her past, and not once did they shun her like the world she had tried to invade with her circus.
Why am I doing this? What's the purpose again?
Her intention had been to teach Ringo the depths of her loneliness, to force her into the same fate she had suffered for hundreds of years. It was a punishment that never suited the crime, one that Ringo had hardly committed with only a few careless words.
Ah, I really am no better than the Creator, subjugating someone else to a fate worse than death. And it took this horrible battle to tell me that truth. I really...haven't grown up at all.
"You were trapped here for so many years that it twisted you," Ringo said, "and you became almost like your Creator."
She choked in a breath through her teeth. She squeezed her eyes shut, the memories of long dead friends tormenting her. Carbuncle's weight pressed on her shoulder. Rulue's laugh and Schezo's proclamations sung in her ears.
And they were dead. Dead, dead, dead.
"But you're alive," Ringo said, cutting through her thoughts. "You're alive, and there's so much life for you to live. There's so much life for me to live, too." She approached her and stood in Arle's shadow. "So, enough with this. No one has to suffer anymore because of the past. We can move on." She reached up and touched the top of Arle's soiled boot. "Together. Just come down here."
Arle's heart split in two. Such kind words being showered on her harmed her more than any spell or nuisance Puyo. A whine, trapped in her throat, slipped out of her mouth. She screwed her eyes shut, her head throbbing, but something overpowered her sorrow.
Something shattered. A harsh, cracking noise like that of glass hitting the pavement rocked their world. Arle and Ringo snapped their attention to the ground. Ringo uttered a shriek so sharp that it could have echoed across space-time.
The world...was breaking. Cracks slithered through the ground, the sky, the walls, whatever boxed them inside. Ringo danced in place, yelping. She avoided the sudden surges, hopping around as chunks of the world lifted up around her. She squinted into the fissures and crevices, spotting inky blackness and twinkling stars, and she covered her mouth as she concluded what was finality.
If I get sucked out of here, it's all over for me.
Collapsing, Arle shuddered on the ground. She made no move to flee. Even as tears rolled down her face and hunks of white platforms battered her body, she mouthed something over and over to herself. She stared at the nothingness, and it laughed back.
"Arle! Come on! We have to find a way out of here!" Ringo cried, skidding to her side.
But before she could wrap Arle's arm around her shoulder, the world tore them apart. The girls were thrown to opposite ends of the void. Ringo reached out for her, but Arle couldn't. She screamed the mage's name until the air in her lungs vanished. Air carved at her. Gravity snatched her body and flung her. She flipped around like a rag doll as the darkness came closer, threatening to swallow her up and spit her out into the vastness of space, where she would freeze and break.
And Arle watched. With her pupils constricted, she stared as the void suctioned out the only girl who tried to care about her.
"Stop. Stop it," Arle whispered, then she wailed, "Don't hurt her anymore! Only punish me! I brought her here! Let Ringo go home!"
Arle lunged to her feet and threw out her hands. She screamed against the cacophony, the world breaking apart all around her, but she couldn't lose Ringo. She couldn't lose one of the few friends who tried to understand her regardless of the sins that followed her like a stench.
She concentrated what little magic she had left into her hands. It formed a kaleidoscope of colors, blue, yellow, and pink. Long ago, she had mastered the technique before any of her peers, remembering the kind smile of her kindergarten teacher when she first cried out its heavenly name.
With the full brunt of confidence and agony filling her, she exclaimed it.
"Bayoeen!"
Hundreds of flowers, a variety found in the most prestigious gardens, rushed out for Ringo. Their scents wafted around her, filling her head with drowsiness unheard of by man. Her body fell limp, but she remained still, frozen in mid-air, her entire frame stunned and soothed at the same time. She felt the flowers press into her, vanishing upon impact, even curing her wounds as willed by Arle, as time seemed to slow down.
Her heart fluttered, and she found peace. Ringo closed her eyes, immersed in what felt like a massage or an embrace. She smiled to herself, knowing that not even the pull of gravity could kill her as Arle paralyzed her in mid-air. Although the world was being destroyed around her, she didn't have a care in the world.
"You saved me," she said as Arle stood, tall and proud.
"It's the other way around, Ringo," Arle replied, wiping her eyes. "You're the one who saved me."
"It was a fun battle, eh? We kept each other on the ropes."
Arle nodded. "Mm. I wholeheartedly agree, but in the end, you bested me in every possible way," she said, her body tottering backwards. "Thank you, Ringo. Enjoy your future in the world you love."
Something ripped apart behind Ringo. Stars shot out around her, their heat almost burning her skin, but Arle smiled through Ringo's sputtering.
"A sinful being like me should be buried along with this damned remnant of my old world. No more traces of this place should be allowed to exist, myself included." Arle raised her hands and fell, the ground beginning to swallow her up. "Go home, Ringo. They're calling for you."
"Ringo!"
She knew that voice before she could retort. Ringo couldn't open her eyes in time. But she heard his voice and the sound of a door blown wide, wide open.
Hands grasped her frozen body, countless hands from familiar friends. Startled, delighted voices filled her ears and comforted her. She felt them cradling her, holding her so tightly as if she would disappear if they let up for even a moment.
"Ringo, you're safe!" Maguro cried, nestling his head to her brow.
Risukuma wrapped both of them in a hug befitting his name. "You gave us quite a scare."
An energetic bundle of blonde hair and a red cap beamed at Ringo, her laughter infectious. "Ringo! I have no idea what's going on, but I'm so glad you're okay!" Amitie exclaimed, burying her face into Ringo's chest.
"Honestly! What could you have possibly gotten yourself into at a time like this? Were you almost killed by a witch, too?" Raffina added, holding on to her back.
Sig smiled and steadied Ringo's shoulders, a familiar ladybug circling his head. "Looks like we got here just in time."
Ringo couldn't speak. Her voice had been stripped from her as they embraced her. Tears wet her eyelashes, and she clung to Maguro's shirt, whimpering. She felt something else pulling on her, looking in the direction to find none other than Accord grinning at her as she waved her broom in the direction of a door.
"Hurry, children. We'll be right behind you," Accord urged, and with a magical push on her head, despite Ringo's protests, she shoved them through without another word.
Before she could be swallowed up, Ringo thrust her arm out and screamed Arle's name.
As the children returned to a realm Arle could not call home, the world continued imploding. Soon enough, nothing would have remained. Every atom of the world once belonging to Arle's universe would have been erased by space-time.
And she grinned through it all.
Goodbye, Ringo. That was the most fun I've had in years. Even if your world wasn't meant to house an evil being like me, thank you for your kindness, you and your friends. Thank you for accepting someone like me. Live, Ringo.
As she slipped through the world and faced the darkness of space, her eyes snapped open at the sound of footsteps. Although gravity dragged her down, she reflexively threw her hand back up in the direction of a voice she hadn't heard in over five hundred years.
"Arle! Arle!" Lala screamed, rushing forward. She threw herself off remnants of limestone and metal. Tears ran down her dirty face as she plunged after her. "Arle! I'm here this time! I won't abandon you again! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean it! I didn't want to go!"
Arle's brain could not comprehend what was in front of her. She couldn't fathom the tattered, scarlet dress, the unwashed blonde locks, or the terror on the woman's face. But she knew her, befriended her ages ago. A fungal scent wafted in her nostrils, bringing her right back to her kindergarten exam, as she whispered her friend's name.
"Hang on, child! Don't slip through into space! You'll freeze out there!" Accord proclaimed, flying after Lala.
She didn't know this woman, but she sensed her power. There was an all-knowing aura around her. Despite the worry creasing her fine face, she soothed Arle. She carried herself in a way like her kindergarten teacher.
"Doppelganger! There's much to discuss! Don't you want to know the truth before you die?" Satan bellowed, flapping his wings with as much strength as he could muster.
And there was the one who cursed her. Or was he? She wasn't sure anymore. Everything confused her. She wasn't sure if she even understood a single word along her journey in Suzuran. But here he was reaching out for her with a promise of knowledge, and she couldn't understand why.
Sharp breathing escaped her. Arle couldn't believe it. Her old friend, her nemesis, and a perfect stranger, all coming to save her. Lala should have been dead. Satan should have disavowed her. She had no idea why an interloper would give even her the time of day.
Was her mind playing a cruel trick on her? Was she imagining things before her imminent demise? It was too good to be true, as if she had done anything righteous to earn a reprieve from death's grip.
But there was Lala. There was Satan. And there was a kind woman offering salvation. Their hands were inches away. All she had to do was grab one of them.
"Arle."
Before gravity could pull her out into space, a thick, cool palm grabbed her shoulder. She caught eyes with the one who freed her, and they smiled a grin without a trace of secrecy.
"Aren't happy endings the best?" they asked.
"Contrived," she whispered. "This really is nothing short of miraculous. All the pieces falling perfectly in place? I almost can't believe it."
Laughing, Ecolo grabbed Arle's hand. "But isn't it okay for things to turn out this way? If you did something stupid like dying now, a lot of people would be upset. An unhappy ending like that wouldn't be accepted by anyone."
She chuckled and squeezed Ecolo's hand as Lala wrapped her arms around her. "Yeah. On second thought, you're right. Happy endings really are preferable if I can make amends in them."
And as she allowed them to drag her to that strange door, Arle hugged the blubbering Lala with the rest of her strength before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
(If Arle Nadja had to contextualize her life, then she would prefer using the word lively.)