Author's note: I'M SO SORRY! I'm always neglecting my fanfiction, especially this one...But please read, tis the last chapter.
The last chapter...it has been an era and I wrote this agesssss ago. Twas my...second fanfic? Third? I forget. Though, I may do a sequel...but I don't know yet. Depends if people want anymore.
It's been great, guys!
Chapter 25
New life, new looks and new hope
The next morning Ariette and Albel were sat in the kitchen having breakfast together.
"I guess I should get my own apartment now. Then we can take things as they come," Ariette said, munching on her cereal. Albel shook his head.
"Why bother? You could always share my room," Albel said. Ariette gave him a strange look.
"No silly. That' is stepping way too ahead of ourselves. Tee hee. I think we should wait a little while until we move to sharing the same bed, you know?" Ariette said. Albel shook his head and smiled cunningly.
"That's not what happens where I come from. Normally the women move in with us straight away," Albel said.
"Is that so? Well, I happen to be a part of a more sophisticated society," Ariette smiled. Albel laughed and admitted he did not actually know what happens in his society, to which she laughed. Fayt walked through the kitchen and shook his head.
"Look at you lovebirds. Ariette and Albel, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-," Fayt started, before two empty cereal bowls went whizzing towards him, which he narrowly dodged. Fayt shook his head and left the apartment building. Albel and Ariette finished their breakfast and got ready to go out. They went for a stroll around the city streets. Along the way a smart looking businessman came up to them.
"Hey there. I am the manager of New Music Industry, a music company who are trying to find new talent. I believe you are the recently found Ariette Kenni?" The man asked. Ariette nodded and he smiled in delight.
"Ahh. Well how would you like to take up singing again? We offer great services and you will have the best time of your life," the man said. "Forgive me, my name is Freddie Norman."
"Well, singers don't really get much time off…," Ariette said. Freddie shook his head.
"No, your holidays will be much more frequent. With your skills, albums would come quickly and you needn't spend so much time in the recording studio. We can provide protection services if you wish for them," Freddie explained. Ariette nodded, telling him she wouldn't need it. She accepted the offer and she and Albel were led into a large and snazzy looking building. They were taken to a floor to the middle of the building and Ariette was shown the ropes of the music area.
"We wish to bring your single Hearts back into circulation. Would you like some help with song writing?" Freddie asked. Ariette nodded and she spent the day going through ideas with the professional writers and Albel stood around awkwardly.
Claude had decided to go out for a walk, leaving Rena with Celine and Aniki. He took a walk through Central Park and remembered back to all the good times he had with Ariette around there. He saw Dias sat down on a park bench staring up at the sky. Claude walked up to him and Dias stopped staring at the sky.
"How are things going?" Claude asked. Dias looked away.
"Not too bad…but things sure are different…it's hard to get used to," Dias said.
"It is a little weird…we have been thrown into a totally new time. It's easier for me as I have past knowledge of technology, but you came from a simpler planet," Claude said. Dias nodded.
"Now I cannot fight like I used to, just do this police work. It beats all the other jobs they had, I guess," Dias said. Claude nodded. "Atleast we still have the 16 of us. Plus those other guys."
"Hey, if you're in want of battle, we could have a rematch," Claude said. Dias smiled and stood, unsheathing his sword. They clashed swords pushing each other back. Claude summoned wind, willing it to flow through his blade.
"AIR SLASH!" Claude shouted. The searing blade flew towards Dias and he stepped out of the way.
"CHAOS SWORD!" Dias shouted. His blue attack raged towards Claude, who jumped out of the way and ran behind him, taking him by surprise. He knocked Dias off balance and he used Ripper Blast to send Dias flying to the other side of the park. They fought for a long time, each giving it their best and each sending each other flying, until they were both panting heavily.
"Heh. I haven't had this much of a challenge since Luther," Dias said. Claude smiled.
"From each fight I grow stronger," Claude said. Dias smiled and they went in for one final lunge. Dias fell to his knees, barely, and Claude stood victory. Dias got back up and sheathed his sword.
"I'm impressed. You have gotten stronger. Finally," Dias said. Claude smiled triumphantly. They nodded to each other and went their separate ways to recover.
Claude got home to find Ariette waiting for him with Rena, with a huge grin on her face.
"Claude? Guess what?" Ariette asked Claude shook his head, not knowing what it could be.
"A concert's been booked! I'm going to be singing in a concert again! And you're all invited!" Ariette said.
"Oh my God! Awesome, Ariette! I'm so happy for you," Claude said, hugging his twin. She ran out of the apartment, rushing to tell everyone the news.
One week later, the big day of the concert arrived. Everyone was really excited, those who knew Ariette's singing were even more excited. There was a huge concert stadium, where thousands of seats were arranged around the stadium and a huge standing area was in the middle, before the stage. Ariette waited backstage for all her fans to seat or stand themselves, ready to hear her sing once more. Albel waited out in the front of the middle section, inches from the stage, along with her brother and the rest of the two groups. Once the Manager told her she was ready to take the stage, she squealed and calmly walked onto stage, greeted by a huge uproar of cheering.
"Hey there, you guys! I'm so lucky to be here today. What strange events have happened that myself and my brother, and friends were transported to this time. I can now carry on doing what I love and that is singing for you guys!" Ariette shouted. Cheering erupted and she smiled in delight of it all. "I'm going to start off with the song you all should know, the only one you'll know and that is Hearts!"
Cheering emerged and the music to the songs started.
Heart to heart
Kokoro no Switch on ni shite, namida o furi kirou
Fuki nukeru kaze, karadajuu kanjiteru
Love to Thank you o ashita e tsurete yukou
Kimi ni deaeta KISEKI, nani ni kansha sureba ii no?
Taisetsuna hito ni, hokoreru jibun sagashitai
Kimi ni 'suki' to ie tara jibun o suki ni nareta
Ai to iuji wa kokoro ga man naka
Minna onaji. Shirareta kunai koto datte aruyo ne
Ikite iru no MANEKIN jyanai
Genjitsu wa GEEMU jyanai
Wagamama ni RISETTO rinai* yo
Oh my wish
Kokoro no Switch on ni shite, shiawase ni naritai
KISU no kazu dake, yasashisa o dakishimete...
Shunkashuutou kono machi de yume o miyou
DAME ni natta kinou kara, kitto 'ima' ga hajimaru
Donna mainichi mo, hitomi sorasazu ikite yuku
Chotto nanka atta karatte zenbu oshimai jyanai
Suwaru seki wa chanto aru no
"Aisuru koto de seichou suru"tte ima yatto wakaru kigasuru
Heart to heart
Kokoro no Switch on ni shite, namida o furi kirou
Fuki nukeru kaze, karadajuu kanjiteru
Love to Thank you o ashita e tsurete yukou
Kimi ni deaeta KISEKI, nani ni kansha sureba ii no?
Taisetsuna hito ni, hokoreru jibun sagashitai
Dare ga sobani itakara akiramenakatta no?
Dare no kotoba de mata aruki daseta?
Hikari nagara hibi ware nagara, itsumo hisshi de itai
Ai daNE, ai ga nakuchaNE
As the last words of the final verse came out of Ariette's mouth, she started glowing in a bright white glow.
Oh my wish
At the start of the final verse, 'kokoro', the light subsided in a fell swish, making red feathers fly everywhere. As this happened, Ariette's hair was back to its yellow hue. Everything was back to normal and the universe was safe once again.
Kokoro no Switch on ni shite, shiawase ni naritai
KISU no kazu dake, yasashisa o dakishimete...
Shunkashuutou kono machi de yume o miyou
DAME ni natta kinou kara, kitto 'ima' ga hajimaru
Donna mainichi mo, hitomi sorasazu ikite yuku
Ookina door o NOKKU shiyou
Everyone cheered and clapped like crazy when she finished the song. She let her hand with the microphone fall to her side and she smiled in delight. She heard Claude's voice shouting to her through the crowds. She tried to shush everyone, so that she could hear him.
"Your hair! Look!" Claude shouted. She got puzzled and got hold of her hair and noticed it was yellow again. She brightened up and danced a little.
A few hours later, after the concert finished, all her friends came backstage and hugged her.
"That was great! You have such an awesome voice!" Precis shouted. Ariette thanked her and everyone was on high. The noise was interrupted by a sudden 'oh'. Everyone turned around to see Rena clutching her stomach.
"I-I think m-my water broke," Rena whispered. Silence pursued and then panic. Ashton started running around trying to figure out what to do.
"What do we do? What do we do? AHHHHHHHH!" Ashton shouted before Precis whacked him around the head and he crouched down clutching his head. Claude walked to Rena and hugged her. Cliff phoned the hospital and Mirage got out her emergency aid kit, examining Rena in case of harm. The ambulance came and Rena and Claude were whisked away to the hospital. Everyone got to the hospital, wanting to wait for the news.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Many hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Claude stumbled out of the hospital room, looking somewhat confused and happy. Everyone got up quickly and walked forward.
"Well?" Ariette asked.
"Rena and I are parents. We have a daughter," Claude said, dazed. The sixteen of the closer friends entered the hospital room-luckily it was a big room. Rena lay there holding a tiny sleeping child.
"Awww, what did you call her?" Precis asked.
"We thought it over and we thought Sakura would be a cute name for her," Claude said. Everyone awwwed.
"Leon, we would like you to be the Godfather," Claude said.
"Me? Really? I would be honoured," Leon said.
"And we would like Precis to be the Godmother," Rena said. Precis jumped forward and hugged Rena, being careful with little Sakura.
"That's great!" Precis said. Everyone laughed.
Albel and everyone else were able to come in and say hello afterwards. Later on Ariette and Albel walked home to their apartment, holding hands and chatting about things.
"Heh. Now that you have your yellow hair, you do look a lot like your brother," Albel said.
"Tee hee. Yeah. Between you and me, we used to switch places in high school. But no one needs to know that," Ariette said. Albel laughed. They got an elevator all the way to the roof and walked near the side. They sat there and watched the sun set down on the shining features of New York.
"Wow, how pretty," Ariette said.
"Not as pretty as you though," Albel whispered. Ariette laughed and gave him a friendly shove. They laughed, watching the beautiful colours in the fading sky…
The End.
Author's note: Just to say, the lyrics for the songs I got somewhere and I don't own them. This one was Hearts from Star Ocean Ex. 3
Thanks for reading. ~Gyoro and Ururun.
