Ainz Ooal Gown was staring at the moon again.

In his previous life, Ainz had the opportunity to see the moon exactly once in his life. It was a rare day where a massive earthquake had hit and shut down major manufacturing centers for a few days. Because of that, all of the smoke in the air was lessened enough to the point where the moon could be seen again, unobscured by fog.

Not forever, of course. The fog from the other nations had quickly taken over the skies, and by then, the factories were fixed and the skies were once again hidden from Japan.

Being able to see something that many people took for granted was deeply moving for Ainz, and as such, he often looks at the moon while deciding what his next course of action should be.

And what was so serious as for Ainz to consult the very stars for aid?

Ainz wanted to take Furina out on a date.

It could be said that Ainz and Furina had gone on many dates before as Momon and Cloe. Even today, Ainz and Furina are basically connected to the hip with each other. However, none of those things were ever called dates.

Ainz, logically, knows that it was just a label. However, that label was extremely important to an almost religious degree.

It might not make or break their relationship, but it sure did feel like it.

As such, this date needed to be basically perfect, and if not perfect, at least planned out to not disappoint.

The name Ainz Ooal Gown doesn't know defeat, and that applies to everything. This date isn't an exception.

Since Furina decided to stay in the Court of Fontaine to better pursue her directing career, Ainz decided to just live with her in a spare room. It wasn't as though Ainz couldn't just teleport to Nazarick on will anyhow, so it was a tearless ordeal.

Which was why Ainz could just waltz into her living room while Furina was eating macaroni and ask her a question.

Furina raised an eyebrow, "You want to take me somewhere?"

Ainz nodded, "Yes, I was hoping you could take some time out of your day to go… On a date with me."

What was Furina doing again? It didn't really matter, because she was going to obviously say yes to the date.

Wait, is Furina properly dressed right now?

She looked down to her outfit and- she was still in her pajamas. Damn it.

"Give me a moment to change, and I'll be right there," Furina said, accepting the date request.

Ainz didn't have a face, but Furina was quite sure he would smile if he could.

The first step of Ainz's master plan was very simple. He would have to show off his method of transportation.

Furina was already well acquainted with his ability to create portals to anywhere he wanted, so that obviously wouldn't impress her.

Furina has also seen the various beasts of Nazarick that could be mounted, so that obviously wouldn't work either.

But then, like a lightning bolt, it hit Ainz.

Ainz's favorite way to look at the moon was to fly far above the clouds and just float there.

Fly. It was a real spell with real effects that he really had.

Ainz led Furina outside into the streets, as Furina questioned, "So, Ainz, where are we going?"

Ainz stuck his hand out towards Furina, "Do you trust me, Furina?"

Furina tilted her head with slight confusion, "Of course I do. Why?"

Furina didn't even wait for any cue for her to take Ainz's hand. It worked out in Ainz's favor because it skipped one of his lines.

Then, he casted Fly on both of them.

Furina yelped as her legs no longer touched the ground,"Wha-what the?!"

Ainz chuckled, "It's a spell that I have that allows us to fly. This is how we'll be traveling today."

Furina panickedly told Ainz, "I don't know how to fly!"

"Do you know how to swim?" Ainz asked.

"Yes?" Furina answered, "Is it like swimming?"

"I've never swam before," Ainz said, "I wouldn't know."

Furina dramatically gasped as though Ainz told her that he killed her family, "You've never swam before?! Forget your plans, we have to go to the sea now!"

Ainz chuckled, "Haha, alright then. It's not as if we're low on time. Now, let me help you fly…"

Flying was fairly intuitive the moment you figured out that the way to fly was to simply imagine yourself flying.

And Furina was, just like anything else she tried, pretty good at it.

With the ability to fly now in their arsenal, Furina immediately pointed them into the direction of the closest beach, and they began to fly.

During this flight, Furina asked Ainz a question, "By the way, I was thinking of this since my birthday isn't too far from now… But do you have a birthday?"

Ainz thought of it for a bit, however… He hasn't celebrated his birthday since his mother died decades ago. As such, he doesn't know when his birthday is.

So, Ainz answered with the full truth, "I do have a birthday. But I am unsure as to when that day is. I have not celebrated it in many years."

Furina hummed, "Oh, that's a bit sad… Then how about we just make up a day as your birthday?"

Ainz tilted his head with slight confusion, "Make up a day?"

Furina nodded, smiling, "I think your birthday should be on the same day as mine. That way, we'll never forget each other's birthdays."

Ainz, in yet another instance of his emotional suppressor failing on anything Furina related, laughed in pure joy, "Hahaha! That's a great reason! Sure, when's your birthday?"

"October 13," Furina answered, "Just a few months from now. By the way, the beach is just down below. How do I uh, glide down?"

Ainz decided to be merciful and took in Furina in his arms, "Here, let me help you."

They dove directly into the ocean.

"Oh, you can talk underwater?" Furina asked as Ainz regretted his life choices as he sank to the bottom of the sea, "I thought it was only vision bearers who could do that."

Ainz looked at her as though he was unimpressed, "Perhaps if I had any organs, I would be like that."

Furina chuckled, "Haha, I'm sorry. But even so, whose decision was it to dive directly into the water like that?"

Ainz sighed, "It was me…"

Furina giggled and repeated, "It was you."

Ainz acted so unlike his stature at times, and it was one of the most endearing parts about him.

Furina gave Ainz a few tips on swimming, "So, do you know how to fly?"

"Please don't use my own words against me," Ainz pleaded, causing her to laugh.

It had taken Ainz a span of about an hour to finally get to a level where he could be called acceptably good at swimming.

Then, of course, Furina had to challenge him to a small race. From one side of the beach to the other. Underwater. No spells or cheating.

Furina was obviously having fun, so obviously Ainz accepted the challenge.

Furina started the countdown, and in 3 seconds, she was already bursting ahead with Ainz being rapidly left behind.

He did his best to catch up, of course, but it was akin to a toddler trying to catch a full grown adult. It was just never going to happen.

Ainz was fine with this, of course. It wasn't as though he wasn't enjoying himself. Swimming was a very relaxing activity, despite the fact that swim clothes weren't a thing for Fontanian vision wearers because their clothes would dry themselves when they got out of the water out of the virtue of being Fontanian and that's how their visions works.

So, really, they just had a cheat item that Peroroncino would cry and complain about.

'Peroroncino, huh…' Ainz realized he hadn't thought of his former guild members in a while. Months, in fact.

Could he still name all 40 of them, his close friends he spent the best parts of his life with?

Ainz wished he could say yes, but with every passing day, it was harder and harder to recall them all.

If only he could see them once again…

Without realizing it, Ainz had gone off course and ended up being dragged along in a current. Then, once he finally noticed his tardiness and elected to just teleport to Furina, he heard one of the last voices he thought he would ever hear again.

"Hey, Momonga!"

Ainz turned around, not believing his ears, "Herohero?"

Ainz was late.

Furina knew that he would be a bit slower than her, but it's been over 5 minutes, and he still hasn't returned, and Furina was getting worried.

Especially considering that the path she took was basically as straight of a line you could get underwater.

Furina thought that Ainz might just teleport to her and that he would just admit defeat in the art of swimming, but it's too long for that to be a plausible option.

And Furina couldn't imagine anything in these waters that could possibly beat Ainz in a fight, for even keep him at bay for 5 minutes.

With all that in mind, she dove into the water, retreading the path she took.

After just a minute, she found the issue. A current suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Ainz must've somehow been swept away by it.

Even so, Ainz could teleport. Why hasn't he come back yet?

Furina went into the currents, attempting to find the answer. And it only took her 5 seconds to figure it out.

This current leads straight into a domain.

Furina's eyes widened in shock as she was whisked away into the domain.

Then, she fell flat on the floor because the domain entrance didn't have any water in it, and she still carried the momentum of the current.

"Ow…" Furina stood up, dusting herself off, "Where am I?"

The domain's design seemed to be… Huh, this is exactly how Nazarick's first three floors look. Is she inside of Nazarick?

To test her claims, Furina shouted out, "Denizens of Nazarick! Come out!"

Nothing happened.

Furina sighed. The way back was blocked off, so the only way she could move was forward.

Hopefully, this won't take too long, she was really looking forward to the rest of the date.

Taking just a few steps forward though, she began to hear the voice of Ainz, "Huh, it looks like Touch Me didn't show up to tonight's raid. Is he alright?"

Furina widened her eyes at the sudden voice, "Ainz?! Are you there?"

Ainz did not reply, instead, another voice did, "Oh, I think Touch Me had to spend time with his daughter so his wife didn't get pissed off at him. He'll be fine."

Ainz laughed, "Oh! Yeah, that's perfectly understandable, we'll just have to adjust our strategy a bit, then."

Furina wasn't quite sure of what she was listening to. It sounded like… A conversation from the past.

With that in mind, she kept moving forward.

As she found stairs nearby, more voices came from the walls.

"Aw man, Bukubukuchagama hasn't appeared in a while," Another voice Furina didn't recognize complained, "Hey, Peroroncino! Tell your sister that she needs to show up more!"

Another voice groaned, "Ugh, I tell her that, but she says that she's too busy doing some ero voice acting. I mean, I can't complain, it pays our bills, but ugh…"

Furina was even more confused. By now, Furina has figured out that these were probably some former friends of Ainz that Furina sometimes heard about from Ainz's minions. But… paying bills? Voice acting?

It seemed so mundane.

As she entered the 3rd floor of Nazarick, Furina encountered Shalltear. Or, more likely, a copy of Shalltear.

The copy didn't speak. The walls did.

"Huh? What do you mean you're quitting?" Ainz said, shock and disbelief clear in his voice.

"Life is getting a bit too hard for me now that I'm older and all of my benefits are running out," The other voice said, "Besides, Yggdrasil isn't getting that many major updates anymore. I have to quit, use this time to make sure my family is alright. Otherwise… What's the point of my life?"

At that moment, Shalltear chose to attack Furina.

Furina's eyes widened in shock, but then she immediately summoned her own pets to defend her. At the same time, she made a sword made of water to defend from Shalltear's claws.

During the fight, the conversation continued.

Ainz sadly said, "Oh… I get it, you have to prioritize yourself after all, right, Touch Me?"

Touch Me sighed, "Yeah. It sucks, but that's how life goes."

Furina barely dodged Shalltear's strike, managing to stab her with her own sword as her attendants attacked Shalltear with every bit of power they could muster. Eventually, Shalltear dissipates out of existence.

Ainz spoke again, "I'll keep your gear for you, okay, Touch Me?"

Touch Me amusedly answered back, "Haha, I feel as though I would be gone for long enough that you would forget my name, and then sell it."

"What? Do you really doubt me?" Ainz playfully asked, "I'll remember you all for as long as I live."

The path to the next floor was cleared, and Furina was given a moment to figure out what happened.

The domain must've been something that formed based on Ainz's memories, and these memories… It was of Ainz's past. Before they were transported to Teyvat.

Ainz's friends left them for one reason or another. If Furina kept moving forward, maybe she'll be able to understand why.

As she entered the 5th floor, taking in the cold. It seemed as though the 4th floor was skipped for some odd reason. Ainz's voice spoke out again, "Eh? Wait, Peroroncino, YOU'RE getting married?!"

Peroroncino's voice came back extremely haughty and arrogant. And excited, "Hell yeah man! My sister hooked me up with one of her other voice actor friends. And let me tell you, we are TOTALLY compatible!"

A different voice came from beside them, "Wow, am I dreaming? Peroroncino getting married? I didn't even know you had a girlfriend, man."

"She told me to keep it secret since she didn't want me to embarrass myself if we broke up," Peroroncino answered, "But yeah! You guys are way behind me now!"

"Wow, congratulations!" Ainz sincerely praised, "Well done! Seriously, I didn't think you could do it."

"Hey!" Peroroncino indignantly cried out.

Cocytus came out of the blizzard, intending to fight. Furina gladly accepted the duel.

It was a short duel. These copies didn't possess even a fraction of the durability as the real things. They exchanged blows, and Cocytus was the one to fall.

The conversation continued.

Peroroncino regretfully said, "Ah, but since I'm gonna have a lot less time on my hand, my sister and I are gonna have to quit Yggdrasil."

"...What?" Ainz said, disbelief in his voice.

"Sorry, man. I really thought I was gonna make it to like, at least longer than half the guild. But you know how life goes, man," Peroroncino guiltily answered.

Furina could hear Ainz's voice break, "...I see."

The voices chose to stop at that moment, revealing the path to the 5th floor. Furina carried on.

The voices continued, and the two guardians of the 6th floor, Aura and Mare, came out from the ramparts to fight her.

"Oh man, there's not that many people online today…" Ainz gloomily said, "Can we even do a dungeon with just 4 people?"

A different voice chuckled, "Maybe if we run an older dungeon, sure. But at that point, why run a dungeon at all?"

Another voice chipped it, "Blegh, let's not run a dungeon today. Why don't we go gank a player?"

After Aura and Mare's swift defeat from her summons, the conversation seemed to shift to a different period.

It was Ainz's voice again, "Ha… Nobody's online today. I guess I should log off for the day, then."

Furina continued to the 7th floor, knowing full well that she could see where all of this is going.

The moment Furina arrived in the hell that was the 7th floor of Nazarick, another voice rang out, "Heya, big boss!"

"Oh! Hello, Ulbert!" Ainz greeted back cheerfully.

Demiurge came with backup, it looks like. Perhaps this won't be as easy as the other copies.

Slicing through the demons, the conversation continued.

"So, I know it's just us two, everyone else already turned in their gear, but…" Ulbert regretfully sighed, "I just got fired."

Dodging a blow from a glaive, Furina struck back, advancing closer to Demiurge.

Ainz gasped, "No! You… Are you going to be alright?"

Ulbert answered, "That's what I'm asking too! But… This means I won't be able to play Yggdrasil with you anymore."

Furina finally got in striking distance of Demiurge, combatting his demonic claws with her righteous sword.

"Ulbert…" Ainz didn't seem to know what to say, and after a few moments, came up with an answer, "Thank you for being here with me for so long."

"I'm sorry," Was all Ulbert could say.

Demiurge was banished into the dark, slain by Furina.

It was clear now. All of Ainz's friends had left him.

But there were still 3 more floors to go. What else could the voices say?

She almost didn't want to find out. But she moved forward, regardless of the possibilities.

Victim was there waiting for her.

The voices continued, as Ainz once again was the only voice speaking, "...No one is online again, but our gold reserves are getting low… I have to keep grinding gold, just so that when they come back online, they won't see Nazarick gone."

Victim couldn't possibly do anything to her, so Furina showed Victim compassion and hugged it.

"They will come back, right?" Ainz said, his voice full of lies he desperately wanted to believe in.

Victim disappeared into the wind, leaving just the passage to the 9th floor.

Entering the 9th floor, Sebas stood in her way.

"It's the last day of Yggdrasil," Ainz's voice spoke up, then, filled with conviction, "They have to come back for at least this day."

Sebas threw a punch, but it was easily blocked by her sword. As if Sebas didn't truly want to hurt her.

Furina gently stabbed Sebas in the heart, the butler not resisting, as he too disappeared.

Moving to the 10th floor, Albedo was the one standing before her.

But… Albedo seemed stagnant.

Then, her visage was replaced by Pandora's Actor.

Pandora's Actor saluted Furina, then, he stepped aside to allow Furina entry into the next room.

"Thank you," Furina said, though she knew that it was unlikely Pandora's Actor could respond.

Furina entered the room, and there, she saw Ainz talking to a purple slime, sitting at a large conference table with 41 seats.

It seemed as though she had only caught the tail end of the conversation, however, as the purple slime waved goodbye, "I hope we'll meet again in Yggdrasil 2!"

Then, the purple slime disappeared. Perhaps forever.

Furina looked to Ainz.

He seemed… Resigned.

Then, for the first time since the voices began, Furina was addressed by Ainz, "Furina, will you listen to me?"

Furina gently nodded, "Of course, Ainz."

Ainz stood up, moving towards his guild weapon, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, "My name isn't actually Ainz Ooal Gown. That was the name of the guild. The one that all 41 of us were so proud of."

Furina was actually surprised by the revelation, but she didn't voice it, as she didn't want to feel as though she was intruding on his time to speak.

"My in-game name was Momonga, but… My true name is Suzuki Satoru," Suzuki revealed.

"Suzuki…" Furina tried the name on her lips, "It's a very nice name."
"Thank you," Suzuki said, "Here, let's go to the throne room."

Suzuki raised an arm, and a portal appeared. They both passed through it.

The Throne Room's door came in sight, and Suzuki continued his thoughts, "I haven't heard from my friends in a very long time. I don't know if all of them are alive or not. For a while, I was trying to have hope that they somehow made it here, but… I don't think they did."

Suzuki opened the massive door, and with it came the big reveal.

All of Ainz's guild members were standing to the sides, lining the path to the throne.

Suzuki was still made of bone, but… Furina could tell that Suzuki was holding in tears, "This place is my memory made manifest. I know it's all just fake, but… This is the first time in a very long time I've gotten to see and hear their voices and faces again."

Suzuki slowly walked the carpet towards the throne, slowly taking in the sight of all his friends once more.

Furina said nothing, following him.

"Eventually, I'll leave this place, and it'll all be a memory again," Suzuki said, "But… They're all here. This is what I've been dreaming of for years. I don't want to wake up from this dream. I want to be with them so badly, it's been my singular wish for so many years…"

Suzuki got to the foot of his throne, wearily eyeing its seat, "If I sit down and come back to reality, I might forget them all. I won't be able to remember their faces, voices, the way they acted, the way we had fun together… I might not even remember their names."

Furina blurted out, "I can help you."

Suzuki turned around to meet Furina's eyes as she elaborated, "If you can't remember all of those stories alone, you don't have to carry it alone. We can all gather around a fireplace, and you can tell us their story. All the times you had fun together, the challenges you surpassed together, all the petty arguments you had together. Help me understand your love for your friends."

Suzuki did not reply. He stared deeply into her eyes, then, he turned to his friends.

They were all smiling at him.

Suzuki finally let his emotions win over him, and he began crying, "You… You all… I'm so glad I got to see you all again…"

As Suzuki collapsed onto the throne, the images of his friends slowly started to disappear, becoming memories once more.

"I know I won't die for a very long time, I don't even know if the afterlife is a thing," Suzuki tearfully said, "But even so, I'm excited to be able to see you guys again when I die. I promise you all I'll have so many stories to tell, you'll get tired of it!"

The last whispers of his friends finally disappeared, the domain starting to collapse on itself.

"Furina…" Suzuki earnestly said, "I love you."

Furina smiled, the most genuine it's been in 500 years, "I love you too, Suzuki."

They shared a kiss as the domain disappeared, as everything became past, only to live on in the memories of those who remain.

Suzuki and Furina were staring at the moon again.

Furina hummed, "Well, why don't we marry each other?"

Suzuki looked at Furina with a bit of surprise, "That's the first thing you're asking me when we just got out of there?!"

Furina chuckled, "Well, I had to ask eventually. I thought that since we both know basically everything about each other, now's a good time to marry, right?"

Suzuki opened and closed his mouth several times in quick succession.

Then, he sighed, "I love you so much, Furina. Let's get married."

Furina gave Suzuki her hand, and he eagerly took it.

They flew back to the Court of Fontaine, much stronger in their love than they were the day before.

Omake

One Fic Ends, Another Fic Starts.

As Suzuki and Furina exit the writing room, their fic finally finished, they find the state of chaos that the waiting room has descended into.

Above all the dead ideas, Plaze & Mehira from the soon-to-be-written Hazbin Hotel fanfiction, Game Development, stood supreme above the corpses.

Plaze was a green-blue-red robot, and Mehira was a purple succubus wearing witch clothing. There was more to be elaborated on, but quite frankly, the two didn't care to further describe them inside of their heads.

Plaze took notice of the duo's finish first, "And who are- OH! OH! YOU FUCKERS ARE FINALLY DONE?!"

Suzuki and Furina tilted their heads as they tried to remember who these guys were.

Then, Furina seemed to remember the April Fools chapters on both Manifest Destiny and Time Capsule as she asked, "Oh! Are you the people who were supposed to be written before us, but then got delayed because our story was shorter?"

"YES!" Plaze shouted, then screaming incoherently in victory, "FUCKING FINALLY! YOUR LOVE STORY WAS STUPID ANYWAYS! Mehira! We won! We finally fucking won!"

Mehira was a lot more calm than Plaze, but it was easy to tell that Mehira was pleased, "Finally. It took a month longer than expected, but that's fine. All we need is another hyperfixation like Skryb had on Time Capsule, and we'll be golden."

Plaze confidently nodded, "Definitely! Now, SKRYB! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!"

Skryb suddenly entered the room, "Christ, you guys are loud and vulgar. Especially when your current version is the version in the middle of the planning docs and not the start. Anyways, chapter 1 is already started, get in."

Plaze and Mehira were shouting in hollering as they rushed to get into the writing room, leaving Suzuki and Furina all alone.

"So, uh, what happens now?" Suzuki asked.

Furina shrugged, pointing to some odd looking people in the distance, "Uh, I think I see other people over there. Maybe we can just go talk to them?"

It would be the worst decision of their lives. Skryb's OCs were very mean people.

AN:

I COOKED this chapter.

And this means that this fic, on 5/12/2024 at 8:48 PM, has finished completion! And you know what? I'm gonna upload the first chapter today since today is a Sunday. Get it started on its weekly upload schedule right.

To those who have somehow made it to the end, thank you for reading my indulgent shower thought manifested into a fic. Perhaps we shall meet again under different titles.

[Almost a full month of uploading. Maybe I should've just delayed it for 2 days longer, but eh.]

[I haven't had the urge to write any Ainz x Furina since I finished this fic, so this is all that I have for you.]