" We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, 'Blessed are they that mourn,' and I accept it. I've got nothing that I hadn't bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not imagination."

― C.S. Lewis

Being left alone with Amelie, Carol took a seat and sat beside the former slave and cancer patient. At first, she was too jealous of her, but she didn't realise how Amelie had suffered a lot from her condition and needed to befriend the disguised Kree Eternal. The elderly blonde woman saw how the bedridden patient was still grimacing in pain and felt sorry for her.

" Amelie, are you sure you want me to keep you in company? " the half-Kree woman asked with concern.

" It's all right, Carol, " the Frenchwoman slightly smiled, still in experiencing such excruciating pain. " It doesn't matter to me. It's better that I need someone to talk to, instead of being isolated and enduring this suffering. "

" Okay, " she nodded and pondered. " So, how should we start? Wait, I have a question, how did you and the real Methuselah Belladonna meet before the Kree Eternal took over? "

" Oh, that, " the former slave said and paused for a while before recollecting her memories into words. It took more time when Carol waited for her to open up. " Selah and I met each other at the slave camp in Marseilles. We couldn't bear that harsh environment where we spent inhaling fumes of those strange chemicals. Selah noticed me coughing at first, but I ignored them and told him that I would be alright. "

" So, you spent a long time working at the labor camp, " Carol surmised and curiously asked. " How did you two escape? "

" We studied and observed how and where the guards had gone and come. It took months to years of this attempt. Selah thought of hiding under the crates while going to Paris and waited for anyone to pick us up and bring us into the truck. We were spending days hiding in separate crates. Until, we ended in the City of Lights, " she continued. " We spent hiding in those abandoned buildings and had a peaceful time together despite the unending onslaughts of our enemies. "

" Then, did something happen to both of you? "

Amelie heavily sighed and looked at the window when some images of the Moulin Rouge had flashed in her mind. Carol patiently sat and waited for her to open up.

" I'm sorry if I had triggered you, Amelie, " she sadly sighed.

" No, it's nothing, " the cancer patient sincerely smiled and changed her facial expression into a gloomy one. " That fateful day..."

" What is it? "

" Selah died when the Kree and Lizards had invaded and killed some people on the streets. I was there watching and carrying him in his arms. I couldn't do anything to spare him, " Amelie replied.

" I'm sorry about what happened to him. "

" It's all right, Carol. Hours after the disaster, I was supposed to bring and bury his body near Sacré Coeur, but there was a bright bluish-white light appearing to me. It was the Kree Eternal who asked me to borrow the deceased Kree-Faunus man's body. At first, I refused his request, but he insisted on entering and controlling Selah's form."

" So, you met Methu and dealt with him, didn't you? "

" Yes, at first, I was terrified of him. I could not believe and understand what he was talking about. "

" What do you mean? "

" Selah started to speak of prophecies and visions of a young man and his friends who will defeat the overlord. I found it very hard to understand and told him that he was getting delusional, but he had said it's the truth of the future that will happen. The Selah I knew was humorous, carefree, and loving, but the man inside him is more different than him. I found him very peculiar and more romantic. "

" Well, Methu may have similarities from your previous boyfriend, " Carol answered. " It's just that he has been so powerful and mysterious. I met him back in Remnant after I gave birth to my daughter and brought her father to Australia. "

" You have a daughter?! How come?! Why? " Amelie raised her voice in disbelief and looked concerned at the half-Kree woman.

" It's a long story, " she sadly sighed. " We'd better not discuss that. "

" I'm sorry about that, Carol. I'm not supposed to ask that. "

" It's alright. Speaking of Methu-Selah. Can you tell me more about him? "

" He was a protector and a visionary. At first, it was too hard to comprehend him. Slowly realizing what he had said, it came true.
Then, he spoke of his missing son, who he wanted to meet. I really don't have an idea what he was talking about. "

Carol remained silent and understood what the terminally-ill Frenchwoman had meant. She gently held Amelie's and smiled.

" He has found him, " the elderly half-Kree woman sincerely answered.

" What do you mean? "

" Remember the one who spared your life back at the slave den in Bern, " Carol said. " He happened to be my son who's with us, right now. "

Amelie was speechless and in shock as she couldn't believe in what she had heard. In what she could remember, the former slave had seen the Kree-Lizard accuser who was manipulated to be ruthless. He felt pity at her and helped her to escape from the horrors of the slave den where her illness had succumbed. Earlier, she saw the blonde young man who visited her along with his parents and a dark angel. For her, it was thoughtful that they remembered her.

" I just don't know what to say. You mean the boy, Amnon..." the cancer patient paused and exclaimed. " How come?! I couldn't recognize him at first! "

" He is my son from Methu, " Carol answered. " The MTF facility in Paris had his body kept for thirty years, while his other form had gone hiding from those invaders. He had experienced such pain as you have. "

" I didn't know. "

" It will take a long time for you to hear of his stories. He would be happy to tell everyone. "

" I see, " she nodded. " Eventually, I will when he comes to visit me. "

" By the way, I have a question. How did you get into Bern and had cancer? "

" I just got abducted by those Kree and Lizards weeks after the Moulin Rouge disaster. Selah failed to spare me from them. I ended up in total darkness, " Amelie recalled. " I woke up and found myself in the room. The only thing I have found out was becoming a slave and toiling too much for the invaders without any benefit. Days turned to years, I became weaker and tired. The doctors discovered I am terminally-ill. The soldiers planned to put me into death by feeding me into the roaches. "

Carol heavily sighed and heard of what the Frenchwoman had said. Looking at her, she felt more sorry for her than ever. She had completely put her anger and jealousy away and replaced it with empathy and compassion. The elderly half-Kree woman had finally understood how Amelie had survived the harsh conditions of this invasion. In her end, an impossible illness had become more dominant than ever. The Frenchwoman silently wept after she had told the story. Carol instantly hugged her to comfort her.

" I'm sorry this happened to you, " she said with concern. " I understand how you have experienced it. If I were in your shoes, I would feel the same thing as you have. Believe me, I have heard such hardships from my son. "

" I just don't know if I would live any longer, " Amelie said and gently rubbed her eye with her blanket, trying to pacify herself. " You are so fortunate that you have a son and Selah with you. I apologize if I made you upset a few nights ago. "

" Why did you say that? "

" Carol, I am dying. I cannot survive such monstrosity. I lost my parents and siblings at an early age. I don't think I could live that longer. You may be too old, but you have to finish your true purpose before you reach my final sunset. I know you can fulfill it. "

Carol remained silent and weeping, as she understood what the terminally-ill woman had meant. Amelie hugged her back, comforting and empathizing with her. In times like these, they had to support and care for each other.

(Several Hours Later)

After eating supper, Amnon spent time at the rooftop looking at the bright nebulous arm of the Milky Way Galaxy and saw the stars roaming and dancing around the skies. He sighed in relief and recalled the other night when he and his parents had flown and reached the Low Earth Orbit for the first time. Aside from that recent memory, he remembered five decades ago when he had to bid farewell to his beloved. He saw how her soul had crossed into the vastness of the cosmos. He leaned his back on the wall and gloomily stared at the skies.

" Shadra's right, "he sadly thought and looked at the left palm of his hand, then turned back into the starry sky." Our bodies have the same elements as the stars in the sky. She told me that we do have the same connection with the cosmos. Somehow, we are special and made of star-stuff. Perhaps, Nancy had turned into one of the brightest stars in the universe when she had gone. "

He sadly sighed and never realized a winged person was just beside him. The young pink Kree was surprised to see her. Skouro was smiling at him.

" Hello, Amnon! " she cheerfully greeted him.

" Oh, you just startled me! What are you doing here at this time of night?! " he exclaimed in shock.

" You know I should be asking you that question, " Skouro softly chuckled and asked him with concern. " Aren't you supposed to be sleeping at this time of night? "

" Sleep is very pointless to me, Skouro, " Amnon seriously answered. " Even you kept thinking about someone dear to me who had passed away a long time ago. It's too hard to forget how you learned and discovered love for the first time. "

" What do you mean? "

" When I saw Amelie for the first time, she reminded me of Nancy, " he sadly sighed and bowed his head.

" Who's Nancy? "

" Nancy Johnson. She's my first girlfriend after you helped me escape from MTF Facility, " Amnon sincerely answered.

" You had a girlfriend before? Sorry, I didn't know that. "

" Yes, " he nodded and looked at the brightest star in the skies. " She was the third person who cared for me. She had let me realize that even though the world is chaotic and dark, there's a bright side of it. "

Skouro became attentive and intrigued when she wanted to hear more of her old friend's story with his beloved significant other. Amnon took a deep breath and tried to recall his memories with Nancy. It took minutes for him to remember and tell them. The dark angel waited for him to speak when she noticed him clearing his throat.

" Amnon? Did the cat get your tongue? " she asked.

" I'm sorry it took awhile for me to remember her, " Amnon slightly chuckled and said. " Fifty years ago, I met Nancy at an abandoned hospital in Seattle. She was all alone and angrily hitting me with those empty metallic bedpans. I didn't mean to scare her and told her to leave the place. She refused to join me, but what I did was to take her away. "

" That was a rough beginning for you both. So, where did you two go afterwards? "

" We headed into the streets and left America as we were afraid to meet some invaders and the MTF people chasing us. Nancy and I had ended up in Vancouver, Canada when we spent our times together talking about our lives before the Kree-Lizard invasion. She taught me what normal human life was like. "

" Interesting. "

" Yeah, Nancy just wanted her time fulfilled with me, as she told me she had a few days to live. So, we had a date together. She was so pleased that I helped her to make her dream come true. "

" That was thoughtful of you. "

Amnon shyly smiled and blushed harder, " I just really wanted to make her happy, because I loved her. She admitted her true feelings for me. "

" Did you ever fall in-love? "

" Yes, I fell in love with her. Nancy was a feisty and tough woman, but inside she was thoughtful, loving, and kind. There was no one like her, but she remained that way until the end. "

" Did she die of her illness? " Skouro curiously asked.

" She just died by some attackers when they found me and Nancy, " Amnon sadly spoke and silently wept, gently rubbing his eyes. " A group of Kree and Lizards ambushed us. They had beaten me as I couldn't break free from them. I saw how that murderer brutally took her life. I just couldn't save her. If we weren't found by them, I could have brought her to Alaska and taken care of her until her final day as she could have been my wife. I couldn't save her. I kept blaming myself for that failure. Now, I have seen Amelie, she's piercing my heart. It's like I have met Nancy again. "

The dark angel finished listening to the young pink Kree and sadly sighed. She instantly embraced and let him mourn and weep for the loss of his lost beloved one. Skouro felt sorry for him, but she never realized a beast turned humanoid alien had been grieving in all these years, away from the American MTF Facility. Somehow, she was surprised that she became empathic and curious about him.

" I don't understand. Why am I sensing his long term loss like Methu-Selah and Carol have known?! This is strange. I wonder why I can do this?! But how?! " she pondered while hugging and waiting for him to be pacified. Then, Skouro calmly broke her silence, " Amnon, I'm sorry for your loss. I just didn't even know you started a serious relationship. I know it's hard for you to let her go. If Nancy were here right now, she could have been happier to see and hear you growing and learning from your experiences. Now, she's no longer with you. She's in the best place in the universe, but I know she's watching you from above. "

Amnon was enlightened and staring at the brightest star near the Galaxy's pinkish-white nebulous arm. He had understood what she had meant. Somehow, he made his way to avenge Nancy's demise, learned to deal with the harshest parts of life, fell in love for the second time in Russia, and finally met his parents.

" You're right, " he answered and yawned. " Wherever she is now, I know for sure that she's still watching over me. "

" Right, " Skouro sincerely smiled and nodded. " I guess you should sleep it off. Your mother and master might be waiting for you. "

" Okay, Goodnight, Skouro. "

" Goodnight, Amnon. Sweet dreams. "

(Skoúro Valour belong toFlashlightMan)