Hellos Are Short Goodbyes Last forever

Two feet of snow covered the street today. It has been a while since I visited my mother. Today felt like a good day to visit her. The snow crunches underneath my feet. There it is. My mother's grave. It's stayed the same all these years. A pot of incense sits beside her.

"Thank you for what you did, mom," I kneel before her. I can see my breath fume from my mouth, "I promise I'll take care of things while you're gone."

I said all I needed to. I should head back before the others worry. I don't take too long on my walk back home. When I arrive, I see Elma meditating in front of our apartment. She's quietly meditating in the snow. Kanna kneels beside Elma wagging her tail. Tohru sits impatiently on a bench. Kotori goes through the laundry with Fafnir helping. I drop my bags at the front door, "Elma. You're back. And so is… everyone else."

She opens her eyes, "Yes…I need all of you to come with me. It's important."

Lucoa bumps into me. She's holding several bento boxes, "I brought meals for us. Will we be gone long?"

"I don't understand. Why do you need us?"

She bows, "I'm sorry. But I need all the dragons to come with me. You need to bring your people with me to see the dragons of Harmony, Tohru."

Tohru taps her feet on the snow. Her arms are crossed, "They're not my people anymore…I'm sorry. I can't make them go with you."

"It's important," Elma insists.

Whoosh

A portal opens in front of us.

Tohru scoffs, "You didn't need my help when you started oppressing your own species. What made you change your mind?"

Elma lowers her trident, glumly she looks at all of us. Her eyes trail off and she shakes, "The portal…to the other world is opening. Tohru."

Tohru looks up at Elma.

"Sorry…Repeat that again…The portal to the other world is open?"

Elma says nothing. She stands completely still.

"Open…," Kanna's horns stand up straight, "Elma. What are you planning to do with the portal?"

"We need to decide what to do with it. We should close it," Elma answers, "The portal could attract more dragons. Dangerous ones. Maybe even your fath-"

Tohru slaps Elma right across the cheek for mentioning her father.

Everyone is quiet. No one moves or reacts. Elma doesn't even rub her bruise.

"You're not closing the portal," Tohru whispers to her.

Elma slaps her back with an equal amount of force, "It's not your decision alone! Everyone has to vote-"

Tohru raises her voice, "That portal leads to our home! Both our parents live on the other side. We can't close it!" she pushes Elma against the wall.
"Lady Tohru," Kanna pulls Tohru away. She runs to Elma's side, "Your father is on the other side. He's dangerous. If he gets through-"

Lucoa gasps, "Kanna. You have friends on the other side. Don't you want to see them again?"

Kanna lowers her head. She looks at the snowflakes dropping to the earth, "I do. I want to, but I have friends on this side, too. I don't want them to get hurt."

An argument breaks out between all of us. Magus punches the wall, "Dammit! Listen, all of you! You know Tohru's comrades are dangerous. They believe in destroying the world and doing as they please! We can't let them into this world!" he walks over to Elma. Shouta steps in front of him, "Be calm for a second. Don't you remember what happened the last time?"

"But, dear. Don't you want to be able to show future generations where they came from?"

Conflicted, he steps aside. Magus walks over to Elma.

Elma puts her hand on Tohru's shoulder. Tohru looks up at Elma. They maintain a long ten seconds of eye contact.

"I'm sorry," Elma says in the sincerest tone she can muster, "But you remember what happened to Kobayashi."

I clear my throat. My curiosity is piqued. Everyone is indecisive, conflicted. They reference a past event. Something I'm not aware. I clench my fists, "You've been discussing this the whole time. But you forgot about me. I have a right to know, a right to decide…," steam forms at the tip of my mouth. I breathe in and out. The smoke fades in. Fades out, "So tell me what happened to mom? What happened the last time the portal opened?"

The snow falls under our feet. Quiet. I can only hear my short, rhythmic breaths. No one responds.

"Will someone please explain what happened to his mom?" Tohru asks to everyone present. Silence.

"Fine. Then I should be the one to tell him," she kneels in front of me like an adult does when addressing a child.

"I said I would be honest with you. I came here from the other world. We all did. That portal was closed a long time ago," she pauses.

I nod, "Yes. But why did you close it?"

"Kotori," she calls to my sister.

Kotori gives her the memory crystal. Tohru holds it in her palms, "I'll show you. It's much easier that way."

The memory portal lights up and shrouds me in a warm aura. The aura reminds me of a warm embrace.

When I come to I see rolling green hills. Is this the outskirts of our hometown?

Boom

The ground rumbles beneath me. A cloud of smoke and fire flies into the air. Wings stretch out of the smoke. A green dragon slams into the ground splitting the earth underneath her like a massive hoe.

A woman with red hair, runs to the dragon's side. She kneels down in the dirt and grabs the dragon by the sides, "Tohru. Wake up!"

A red dragon towered over them menacingly. It had red eyes. "Rrrggh," it growled.

Thump Thump

It stepped closer to Kobayashi. Tohru got up.

Fwoomp!

She spins with her tail in a circle. The red dragon latches onto her tail.

"Hisss!" Tohru was dragged along the floor and slammed into the earth.

Thoomp

The ground shakes again. Kobayashi loses her footing. Kanna and Lucoa dive at the red dragon with their claws. He steps back, parrying their attacks. The red dragon opens its mouth and shoots out rays of hot death.

Kanna and Lucoa fly out of the way, barely making contact. Parts of Kanna's fur singes.

"I will not let you stay this time, Tohru. I will bring you home even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming," it threatens.

Tohru struggles to get up, but he stomps her into the earth. She changes back into her human form. She's too weak to move, "F-Father. I can't leave lady Tohru."

The red dragon dives toward Kobayashi with its palm and claws protruding from its fingers.

"Duck!" Kanna fires a short burst of energy at Tohru's father. The blast temporarily blinds her. She jumps to the floor. A wall of fire flies over her. Her clothes catch fire, "Hot, Hot, Hot!" she rolls and smacks the fire with her hands. She grabs Tohru and puts her on her back. Tohru's father charges at her.

"Shit!" Kobayashi curses. She runs as fast as her legs can take her. A black dragon slams into him. Tohru's father and the black dragon roll away. The black dragon attempts to wrestle Tohru's dad to the floor. The black dragon's grip over Tohru's dad is weakening, "How much more time do we have?!"

Elma is floating above the clouds, "Wait…I'm almost done." Elma is channeling her energy through a circle of magic crystals. They dispel electric sparks as they rotate around here.

"Fools. Tohru is needed. She cannot abandon her duty to Chaos. To us!" he gives in to his primal rage. The dirt beneath him is sucked up by an invisible force, molded into powerful meteorites.

Ptooom

They tear through the wind toward Kobayashi. Lucoa, Kanna, and Fafnir jump in front of her. Thousands of fragments and shards slam into them. They fly in numerous directions away from Kobayashi and Tohru.

"K-Kobayashi," she falls over, "Run…" They all collapse and change back into their human forms.

Thud…Thud…

The Emperor of Demise, Tohru's father stood menacingly over Kobayashi. Kobayashi holds tightly on to Tohru. Tohru smiles weakly at Kobayashi, "If we die, I want you to know I'll always love you." She squeezes her tightly, "We're not dying! We're going to go home. I promise."

He slowly pokes Kobayashi in the chest.

"Y-You can't disrupt the order of this world," she stutters, "You can't kill me. You can't kill-," she feels her heart stop beating.

His cold breath shrouds Kobayashi's body, "If you get in my way again, you'll wish I could kill you," he whispers.

"T-T-T-o-h-r-u."

"Now!" Elma swings her trident. A bright blue ripple pierces the clouds and slices Tohru's father. He falls, "What treachery is this?!" A group of Harmony Dragons all chant with Elma, "Being of chaos... With the power given to me by the council of Harmony, I banish you!"

His eye widens open.
The rotating crystals spin like a lasso towards him, binding his arms and legs together.

THUMP

Vrm Vrm Vrm Vrm Vrm Vrm…Whoosh

The crystals spin wildly. A massive portal opens, sucking him.

Whoosh

The portal closes on him. Crash

The crystals Elma use break.

A portal opens from beneath him and sucks him before he could resist.

The red dragon vanished. Kobayashi catches her breath, "Tohru?"

Tohru doesn't move. She shakes her body, "Tohru…? Tohru! Wake up! Tohru. I love you!"

Elma floats down to Tohru. She wraps her hand over Tohru's forehead to check her temperature.

Kanna crawls over to Tohru's side. Lucoa refuses to look at Tohru's body.

Elma shouts, "She's breathing!"

"I'm grateful," Kobayashi sighs.

Kanna lies down and relaxes. Lucoa wipes her eyes, "I k-knew she would be okay from the start!" she tells herself.

The harmony dragons look at the wounded dragons shaking their heads, "Their actions brought the Emperor of Demise here."

"Quiet. Now is not the time for your lectures," Elma orders.

"But lady Elma," a dragon pauses, "The seal isn't permanent. He'll come back. What will you do then?"

She doesn't say anything. She is tired and cold. Elma didn't think this far, "I don't know."

"The seal closed off this world to the Emperor of Demise. It will last. But not forever," the harmony dragon nods.

Tohru's present self stands next to me.

"What happened next?" I asked.

"The emperor of demise came for me. We couldn't defeat him so we sealed him away."

Tohru's rubs her forehead. Sweat pours down her forehead, "If…If he comes back. He'll injure all of you. Or worse."

I grab Tohru's hand, "Tohru. You can't leave. We can face that red dragon together."

"You know that's not true," Tohru steps back.

"Please. Stay with us," I get on my knees and beg.

"But if I don't go with him…You'll all get hurt."

She's right. We will get hurt. Yet…I can't let her leave. I don't know how we will face him again.

I don't know which thought scares me more; Tohru leaving. Or her father returning. He beat everyone. There's no way we could face him again. "Let's go back to the others. It's time we decided what to do with the dragons."

Tohru pets me on the head, "You have the stubbornness of your mom…"

We're brought back to the present. Elma is waiting for us, "Are you ready to meet the others?"

"Yes," we all nod.

We walk through the portal into a council room. A group of dragons and humans are sitting together.

A tall man in armor sits in front of these officials. He stands up from his seat, "You brought the chaos dragons here and we arrived as promised. You came to discuss our next course of action?" He looks on while impatiently tapping the floor with his shoe.

Elma addresses the council, "As you are all aware. The portal is opening. This situation requires all dragons present. Chaos and Harmony."

The council voices their disgust at our presence. The man slams his table, "If the emperor's daughter hadn't come to this world we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. Return her and he'll leave us alone!" The council members shout in agreement, "Aye. The destroyer's daughter should do everyone a favor and go home."

Kotori speaks up, "Watch it. My mom isn't going anywhere. We live here and we deserve to be here like everyone us! You all came from the other world, too! Who are you to tell us where we can live."

Some council members whisper to each other, exchanging glances.

"She is right," Elma stands up for Kotori.

"Have you turned on us!"

The council shout at her, but she speaks over them, "We stood up to him once. We can do it again," she addresses the most vocal member of the council by name, "Cremene. You were there. We defeated him. We can defeat him again."

"And what happens if we fail?" Cremene asks, "You'll endanger countless lives. The dragons in this world respect humans. But the Emperor's dragons don't. I don't want to see them do as they please with the humans like toys," he shakes his head.

I notice there are at least ten harmony faction officials here. "They have slightly more people than us. Are you sure we can sway their minds? Are there no other Chaos dragons?" I whisper to Elma. Some guards hand out papers for us to sign. I write Yes. Elma looks at all the council members writing down their vote, "We can only hope we convinced some of them."

"Trust the same people who earlier picked a fight with Tohru and the others?" I sarcastically respond.

She shakes her head, "Not all of them are like that. There are some good people here who want to protect the human world."

A mage counts the results. It's so quiet I hear a pen drop, "The votes against…8. The votes for…," he flips through the results. I take a deep breath, "4 votes for yes… Lucoa…Shouta…Shiro…Kotori…."

I notice Tohru's name is absent from the votes for Yes. She voted against us…Tohru turns away, "I'm sorry. I can't…It's easier this way. If I go with him he'll leave you alone. Then Elma can close the portal. Hopefully for good this time."

"Tohru…Please don't leave." I approach her but she turns me away.

"You're a lot like you're mother, " she laughs, "That's why I have to leave. Goodbye, Shiro! Goodbye Kotori! Goodbye….," she wipes the tears coming down her cheeks, "Goodbye everyone," she opens a portal and vanishes.

Whoosh

I pass out. When I come to, I'm in my bed. Was it a dream? I jump out of my bed.

I swing open my bedroom door, "Shiro!" Kotori shouts to me. I look around the living room. She's not here. I check her room. All her things her gone. The bedroom is empty. I see only a note on the floor. I collapse to my knees and pick up the note to read it.

"Take care of each other. – Love, Tohru."

I punch the floor, "She just left…," I remember my mom. I remember the people dear to me I lost. Why is this happening to me?

Kotori sits beside me. She doesn't say anything. All she does is shake her head in disbelief. I slept with my eyes open and stare at the ceiling. This feeling is familiar. I felt it before…I remember now how I felt before meeting Tohru. The emptiness inside...