Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 16

A Home

Mari'il stood on the balcony of her apartment and looked out over the quiet city to the beach and beyond that the sea, dark and peaceful as dawn's first rays lit the wave-tops. [[ Ekaril, dear, ]] began Mari. [[ This really is a lovely world. I'm so glad we came here. I'm so glad we can enjoy this together. ]]

[[ Oh Mari. ]] Her loving response brings a sense of warm contentment to them both. [[ I remember that day back in the fields when we finally merged. I was terrified of hurting you, but I didn't want to lose you either. I also didn't know then if we'd be able to work this out. ]]

[[ I was so scared of losing you, of being left alone, that I didn't know what to do. I'm so glad we could end up together like this. ]] The two remembered their early days together, how they learned to work together, sharing Mari's body, and how they came to know more and more of each other's thoughts and memories.

[[ I'm also glad Abdiel showed us we never need fear being parted, not even like Zephrael's victims where one consciousness supplanted the other. ]]

[[ True, I don't think it's possible to separate us now. ]]

[[ You know, back on Forime they say in a truly good marriage, the two become one. I think we've done that a bit more than the saying implied. ]]

[[ True. I'm so glad we ``married.'' And look, we even have the family to go with it. ]] Mari'il smiled, thinking over their two children. As they grew, they sometimes would tax her patience, but that was nothing compared to the joy they brought.

This dawn reverie was broken by the sounds of laughter and running little feet. She turned as the door behind her opened.

``Mama, Mama!'' cried her daughters as they ran up and hugged Mari'il who knelt down and wrapped her arms around them.

``Good morning, Micchi'il, Akanel,'' said Mari'il. ``Do you want to come out here and watch the sun finish rising with me?''

``Yes, mama,'' they both agreed. So Mari'il sat down on the balcony step. Her daughters sat down, one on each side of her, snuggling close under the protection of her loving arms as the three watched the sun turn the sea golden and then azure as it rose up in the sky.

A small tear of joy gathered in the corner of Mari'il's eye as she looked from the sea down to her daughters. [[ They're so precious. Thank you for bringing hope to Arume in them. ]] She then continued, quoting from Micchi's play, [[ Jeanne, you have sown the seeds of hope in the world. ]]

[[ But it was you who saved me and brought the hope here. ]] Mari'il's two voices had to agree that they both did, and that it didn't really matter who, as they were both together. [[ And it's no longer just ``both'' of us who are together now, ]] she told herself hugging their children tighter.

With this family, with their love, with her friends, Mari'il finally felt content here on Arume. She belonged. She truly was home.

Author's Note:
And so we come to an end of Blue Drop: Angel's Home. Mari and Ekaril have made something they find they've both missed and wanted for many years, a home and a life together.

I hope you've enjoyed their journey. I liked Hagino and Mari enough from the TV series to be unhappy at their sad, and separate, ending there. So, through Angel's Partner and Angel's Home, I hope to have successfully brought them from a beginning in loneliness and pain into a place where they can enjoy happiness and life together.

This story has focused on Mari'il herself and her settling into a happy life on Arume. I see several seeds of potential stories involving more of the world still here, but I think I need to let them rest in the quiet recesses of my mind to see if they will grow into a full fledged story. Meanwhile, I am working on a different tale, this one for Sora no Woto, which has caught my imagination.

Please drop me a review and let me know what you thought of this. Your words are why I do this. Hopefully they will give me the inspiration to continue with the next story.