Author's note: Hey there. Sorry again for another late update, I keep ending up with lots to do. This is not so happy a chapter, but bear with me. =]

Chapter 19

Sayonara

Some hours later they reached the blue and green planet that was Earth. Everyone looked out of the window and Claude thought about how it had not changed a bit, apart from the numerous stations which were floating around the planet, one of them being Moonbase. He saw that there was a part of the Earth's surface and atmosphere that was blackened.

"This is Earth. Due to a universal threat which threatened to destroy the Milky Way, Earth was a victim of enemy fire," Cliff narrated. Claude looked confused.

"But…Earth has the greatest of defences and I'm sure it grew stronger while we were last conscious. I don't understand," Claude said.

"Yes…well, these were no normal enemies," Cliff said. He sighed and explained the whole story; not leaving anything out.

"That's plausible. We have always asked about our origins. And now we know," Opera said.

"Sooo…we're not real?" Precis asked.

"Originally, we were just characters out of a game. But we have evolved to become much more than that and after defeating Luther, we proved that we were truly our own selves. We all survived the deletion," Cliff said.

"Oh, darlings, what does it matter? We're here, and it does not matter how," Celine said.

"Hell yeah!" Aniki exclaimed. Cliff and the others were surprised at the lack of shock from the story. They descended down to Earth and docked in one of the stations on the Earth. Fayt woke Albel up and they all exited the ship, being whisked through the station. They headed straight for the Federation headquarters, where they explained all that had happened. The Federation Commodore listened intently and his eyes widened.

"No way! Claude and Ariette Kenni?" He said. Claude nodded. Before they knew it, they were in front of a large press conference. Albel was made a Federation hero, much to his dismay, as he was constantly pestered and asked questions.

"How did you know where they were?" Was one of the many questions. He could only answer that he had premonitions and gut feelings about these things. After a whole day of questions, interviews and celebration parties, Albel and the others were glad to get back to their ship. The Federation sent off numerous strong ships to go investigate the mysterious planet.

"We should stay in this ship for a while, until we can get some proper accommodation for our new friends," Cliff announced. They moved the ship so that it was docked in the New York area, where our Earth bound friends studied and worked.

Ariette stayed silently in her room for days, not wanting the company of anyone else. Terrible thoughts latched onto her mind and she was haunted by terrible nightmares by night. Fayt went back to college, Sophia returned to high school and Maria returned to her place in the Federation-now that the Federation had reformed its values and actions, Maria found the Federation a good thing. She worked under the Commodore and was making quite a name for herself. As for Cliff, in the time that they had gone off to do their own things, he was helping out the planets who were in need of assistance. Along with his sidekick Mirage they helped bring the planets, which were victims in the Luther incident, back onto their feet. Now Cliff decided to help Claude and his friends by bringing them up to date on the things that had happened in the four hundred years they had been asleep. Peppita and Roger sat around doing what young people do: chat and play games. They managed to coax Leon into joining them, bringing out the lost child in him once again. Albel returned to work, hoping that there would be more fun in flying around chasing felons.

A week passed and one day Albel returned home from a long day of chasing offenders. This day was particularly stressful, as a shooting had occurred. Luckily back up managed to get there fast and he rushed the victim to the hospital, where they were able to save the woman's life. He always hated the crimes where people had potential to die because of the crime. They were particularly stressful and he entered the ship silently. He got himself a can of pop out of the fridge and walked to the hallway, without hesitation. His room was opposite that of Ariette, whom he noticed didn't come out of the room much, only to find food or other such 'matters.' He decided to knock lightly on the door and, after silence ensued, he entered quietly. No one was there. He walked further in and noticed a note on the pillow. He picked it up and his eyes went backward and forward, reading through the neatly written note. He frowned and scrunched the paper up in his fist, walking hastily out of the room.

"Hey, where are you going? You only just got back," Fayt asked, as Albel walked straight past him and out of the door. He ran through the streets and sighed, knowing his dragon, Reayru, could not possibly come to his aid. Reayru had suffered a minor injury that day and Albel was now excused from work until Reayru had recovered. He ran and ran, until he reached a tall building in a large square. He ran into the building and ran up the stairs, knowing the lift would be too slow. He got to the top and opened the roof door. There, standing at the edge of the building, was Ariette.

"NO!" Albel shouted. But it was too late; she dropped from the edge. Albel ran and dived off the side, catching her. He hoped that one of the passing cars would see them and catch them. But when they were near the ground, he knew. He made it so that she would land on top of him, and he surmised that there would be more chance she would survive that way. He sighed. Ariette was only half aware of anything. People screamed as they saw what was happening. The climax came and Albel hit the ground. He bounced back up a little, his back arched in an odd position and, finally, he came to rest in a pool of blood on the concrete. Ariette's eyes were open barely and bloody tears emerged from her eyes, as she quietly shrieked, reaching out for his face. But all strength left her and everything went black.

Back at the ship, Fayt and Cliff were sitting around talking to Claude, Rena and Leon in the lounge area. Fayt's phone rang and he answered it.

"Hello?" He asked. He stayed silent as he listened to the speaker. His eyes grew wide and watered suddenly.

"What?! But…how could this-? No, this can't be happening!" Fayt screamed. He kept screaming down the phone and, after numerous calming down attempts made by the speaker, Fayt chilled out enough to hand Claude the phone.

"What's going on?" Cliff asked. Fayt had his hands clutching his face and he was sobbing whole-heartedly.

"Albel's dead! He fell off a tall building trying to save Miss. Ariette! Why would he put his life in danger like that?" Fayt stammered. Cliff was startled by the discovery and Maria and Mirage stopped what they were doing.

"Oh no! What happened? Is she alright?…Ok, I'll get there as soon as I can," Claude shouted. He put the phone down and silently sobbed. Fayt and the others got a hold of themselves and joined Claude in journeying to the hospital.

The hospital was silent and they were led along the corridors until they reached a door. The nurse opened the door and they saw a bed near the window and a glass cased bed nearer to the door. Claude ran to the far bed and stared down at the heavily breathing form of his twin. She had breathing equipment attached to her and her features were pale. Claude lifted her right hand and held it to his face, while he cried. Meanwhile, Fayt had rushed to the glass case. In there the lifeless form of Albel lay. His face was serene and he had a slight smirk playing around the corners of his mouth. Fayt saw a scrunched piece of paper in his hand. Fayt wept silently for his lost friend and Cliff held a grave expression, putting his hand on Fayt's shoulder. The nurse walked up to where Fayt was standing.

"We do not know what drove these two to jump off the roof. But what we can say is that this young man did not suffer. Instant death; there was no way we could save him. Yet we have had to place him in here for two reasons; one is that there is very little room left in this hospital to put him in, and two the young lady who jumped with him had tight hold of his jacket. We thought it best we keep them together," the nurse explained.

"Why would he jump off a building like that? It's pretty stupid, especially since his life has been looking up for the best for the last six months," Cliff said. Fayt called the nurse back and asked her about the paper in his hand. She nodded and quickly extracted the paper. Fayt looked at the name at the top. To my dearest Claude…

"Hey…Claude. This letter, this is a letter from Ariette to you!" Fayt said. Claude ran over and took the piece of paper. It read:

To my dearest Claude,

I am sorry to say that there is nothing left in my life to keep me going. So I am afraid I must go and leave this life, for I feel another life is awaiting me. It was by bad luck that we were frozen and taken into the future. We will meet again. In another life sometime. But until then, enjoy this life and I hope my niece or nephew grows to be as strong and as brave as you.

From this life I wish you luck and I say…sayonara.

Ariette

Claude's eyes were wide open and he stared at it for a few moments.

"This is a suicide note…I can't believe she did that. And…not only that, she caused another person's life to fade instead," Claude said, trying to hold back the tears. Fayt and Cliff took the letter and read it.

"But…how did Albel know where to find her?" Cliff asked. Claude wiped his eyes and sighed.

"I have no idea," Claude replied, sighing. Claude looked at the man who had saved his sister.

"Saved by Mr. Albel again…when will she sit down and stop being so-so…angst-ridden," Claude sighed once again.

They left the hospital and over the next week, Claude visited Ariette constantly, only to find her still unconscious. Every time he would sigh and walk out miserably. Sometime after he left something happened; Ariette's eyes flickered and they flashed open. They were glowing slightly red and she sat up slowly. She took all of the hospital equipment out of her and stood up. She walked eerily over to Albel's glass coffin and put her hands on the casing.

"Why…did you do such a stupid thing…I didn't need help," Ariette whispered. Her eyes filled up with tears.

"Why? Why did you have to get yourself killed for me? Now what am I going to do?" She sobbed, tears free falling down her face at a fast pace. She pressed a button and the lid of the glass coffin rose. She touched his cold face and brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, bending down to kiss his dead lips lightly. She closed the case and walked out, her features seeming to glow a faintish red colour.

"Sayonara, brave knight," she whispered.