I know I had put the "The End" sign on the previous chapter, but perhaps some of you might want to know how exactly Reine returned and all. So, I decided to put an extra chapter for that! I hope you enjoy this treat ^^

Neil relished the feeling of the sun light hitting on his back, and the sand against his bare stomach. The fact that Allen and Gwen was having their moments right in front of their eyes irked him, but somehow they became quite a paradoxically, welcome and intrusive company. After all, perhaps they were the only two people who could understand what's going on with him.

Gwen had been learning to walk ever since she turned into a human. At first, her leg muscles had been so weak that she needed a walker. Queen Ariel had suggested learning on the sand, which was why Allen and Gwen spent most of their time on the beach. Now, she could walk on her own for some distance, although sometimes she would sway and Allen couldn't help but to catch her.

Watching them, sometimes he wondered whether Reine would face similar difficulties, or she would just start kicking on the sand right after she got her legs.

"This is utterly unfair," Gwen grumbled quietly. "Neil could swim like most merpeople in hours."

"Just like most fishes," Neil reminded her. "Human babies needed one year to even start walking, please."

Gwen dusted off the sand on her dress while Allen sat in front of Neil cross-legged. He never thought he could be used to seeing Neil bare-chested—didn't even think about that, please—but now he could see him in his tail without wincing anymore. He saw him frowning, too, and while it could be said that frown was Neil's default expression, Allen knew it carried a different weight these days.

"How long has it been?" he asked. "One year?"

"One year and nineteen days," Neil corrected him.

"Living in the court as a Seeress needs some time to adjust, I'd admit," Gwen interposed quietly. "I… know Reine would have a hard time, if her powers is made known."

"Seeress of Choice…" Neil murmured. "I can imagine those people asking her what decision to make each and every time they need to make one."

Gwen nodded. "I see a vague vision that is bound to happen—the clearer, the stronger," she said. "But for her, no matter how clear her vision is, one change, and it will change everything else that had been made. She is forced to see it all."

"In other words, you see the constant and she the variables."

Gwen nodded. "Even I don't know which one is better, to be honest."

Neil sighed. "I'm starting to think that I shouldn't have thought of asking her that—staying with me," he admitted. "She's better off away from the court. I've been selfish."

"Hey, hey, there's nothing wrong with being assertive." Allen corrected him harshly. "A man should be sure of what he wants."

Gwen looked to the open sea. "In a relationship, there are bound to be sacrifices…" she said with a calm tone. "…the question will always be whether the relationship is worth the sacrifice."

"I am sure that ours is worth it," Allen quipped.

Gwen rolled her eyes, but she didn't deny it outright either.

A splash was heard. The trio turned towards the source of the sound, and a moment later something leapt out from the water. It wasn't a dolphin, whale or a flying fish. It was then Neil caught her eyes, the brilliant shade of burning scarlet. She smiled at him and dived back into the water. Some moments later, she was already approaching the beach—only then he noticed that she was wearing the circlet he gave her almost two years ago.

"Welcome back," Gwen greeted serenely.

"It's good to be back," Reine admitted. "There was too much ice in the Arctic to make a good jump, you know, no crashing. In the Indian Ocean, it's either too hot or the rain was too hard for a jump!"

"Of course," Gwen murmured. "I'd love to stay longer, but it's about time for us to return to the castle…"

Their conversation ran smoothly as if they had never missed each other for more than a day. Reine made no comment on Gwen's new appearance, nor did Gwen ask things like 'how have you been' and such. Perks of being seeresses.

"I doubt you'd need this, but let me tell you something…" Gwen offered. "Your first meeting with Neil—that crash—was one of the most… entertaining visions I'd ever received."

Reine's head perked up. She looked at her elder twin, who smiled back at her. "And one of the clearest, too," she added.

Taking Allen's eyes, Gwen walked—staggered—back to the castle, leaving Neil and Reine in the water. Reine turned her body around to sit on the sand while watching the open sea.

Initially, none of them spoke. They looked just like a pair of lovers simply enjoying the view of sunset on the beach. However, they knew better than that.

"Sounds like you had a good trip…" Neil started the conversation rather awkwardly. His attempt to sound nonchalant—at least, neutral—was barely passable.

"It was," Reine admitted. Unlike her usual sassy, cheerful tone, this was more subdued. "I didn't meet Therese when I was in the Indian, though. Heard she came back earlier."

"She did."

Another silence. Truthfully, Neil really wanted to ask whether Reine could give him the answer he needed now; he had even prepared himself for a 'no'. However, he still thought of it as being selfish, at least until Gwen's earlier words came back in his mind:

"…the question will always be whether the relationship is worth the sacrifice."

"At first, I thought I didn't want to be like Gwen, y'know, being cooped up in her chamber to answer the same, ol' boring question—what will happen to the kingdom today," Reine flicked her tail on the water surface as she spoke, watching the drops of water that dropped back making ripples as they hit the surface. "I want to be free."

"Uh-huh,"

"While I was away, I didn't think much of Atlantica per se, because somehow I know all will be well here, no matter how bad things seem to be now," Reine admitted. "I have less visions while I was away thanks to the foreign surrounding. It gives me more time to… think what I really want to think about."

Neil finally glanced at her, looking at her side profile. Appearance wise, she didn't change much; however, her eyes seemed to be different in the way they looked at things. Neil was unsure how to say it, but he knew that she had been thinking about what she was going to say through and through.

He took a deep breath.

"Now, what?"

Reine chuckled and turned to look at him. "Isn't that obvious already, Neil?" she asked him back.

Neil's mouth was ajar. "…Neil?" Reine called again, this time more hesitantly.

"You said you wanted to be free," he finally spoke. "I… I'm going to spend my life in the place you wanted to get away from."

"That's what I thought at first," Reine admitted. "But, while being away, I came to realize that… to be free isn't walking away from some place. It's to be able to choose where I am… and to be really there."

"So?"

"I choose to be wherever you are," Reine flushed with a smile. "The palace, the Cave of Treasures, Arctic, Indian, Pacific… wherever, anywhere between the east and west."

Reine put her hand on his chest. "Amidst all the variables I have to look at, I just need one constant to hold on—and that's you."

"A constant," Neil quipped. "Sounds like I'm pretty boring."

Reine flicked her finger playfully. "No, no, no—you're dependable," she said. "So, as long as your offer still stands… I'm here for yours to be."

Neil looked at the mermaid in front of him. He slowly reached out to her, running his finger on her wet jawline. "Mine, huh?" he murmured with a tone suggesting that he was deciding whether she had been real or a mere dream.

"Yours, Neil," Reine assured him. "So long you don't mind me spacing out at times… I can't control them, you know, the visions."

"I don't mind."

As if testing him, her eyes showed the infinity sign right after he finished his sentence. It lasted only for two seconds, but seemingly enough to bring more colors to Reine's cheeks.

"I wished I didn't see certain things," Reine grumbled. "Obviously, whoever sent me these visions has no sense of suspense."

"Hm?"

Reine looked at Neil carefully, pursing her lips for a moment. "…Nothing."

Somehow, the sight of upset Reine looked so cute in his eyes that he let go most of his sense of restraint and kissed her right there. He knew perhaps Allen and Gwen could see them from balcony, but he didn't care; he had seen them being lovey-dovey enough from a closer distance for months.

Reine closed her eyes and savored the feel of his lips against hers. Warm, wet, salty… and made her heart swelled more than ever that she held her breath.

Thankfully, the vision didn't include how it would make her feel—at least she still had some things to look forward to, then.