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The Re_Birthday had been completed. The door to Paradise was finally open. The big bad evil witch had been defeated. The souls could go in through the door as they pleased and be incorporated into the Fourth Period, all their sins forgiven.
It was certainly a happy ending for the human souls on earth.
And for those up?
Allen (or Alexiel, or Kokutan-douji) thought it was quiet up on the moon, certainly, but not exactly perfect.
Up there in the moon where they were, one could even say it was agonizingly quiet. The empty rice fields, cultivated with love and care by the sun god made up the celestial scenery. Supernatural in its gentleness, the breeze caressed the rice plants, whose perfect sprouts reflected identically on the infinite lakes, so calm and clean they worked perfectly as mirrors for the infinite starry night above them. It was almost romantic.
Romantic for anyone who wasn’t them both. Brother and sister, or perhaps two long lost souls who had failed to find each other until now in several lifetimes.
What a waste.
Sitting next to his sister (was she still his sister? Or was she Rin, Lilith, Postman, Waiter… Given how many lives she had lived, it was surprising how much herself she still was; unlike Levia, who had taken on a new name after all her incarnations, Riliane was unmistakably, beautifully, gloriously Riliane . But, and this question unsettled Allen in a way that could be called existential, was being herself synonymous with being Allen’s sister?) their awaited reunion was falling into the side of underwhelming. Or perhaps the hype had been already used up, of course doing a process such as a Re_Birthday took a lot of energy and connection, a kind of closeness regular people weren’t privy to. But after their magic opened the door, there didn’t seem to be anything else to talk about.
No, that wasn’t right. It was more like neither of them had the courage to speak up. They had spent so much time waiting that actually meeting each other had become more of an ethical principle than a concrete, achievable goal.
Five hundred years was a lot of time for mere humans.
“Allen I-” Riliane tried to speak up first, unsuccessfully. The kind of doubtfulness exhibited most commonly by teenagers in love. Gods, she still kept her girlishishness and cuteness intact. Relief washed over Allen’s body, how could she possibly not be his own cute, adorable, girlish big sister? “Is… is Allen okay? I mean, if you prefer Alexiel or Koukan-douji or anything else that’s- that’s fine too.”
“Allen is fine.” He said, and he tried his best to sound kind about it. When his companion didn’t respond and the acute silence fell again upon them, he tried to ask back. “Is Riliane good for you?”
”Riliane is…” And she thought about it for a second. Riliane wasn’t exactly a good name back on earth. It had been their grandmother’s name, yes, a good woman; but after the events on Lucifenia, the name had stuck as a sort of curse or insult to women who were tyrannical or selfish. In his infinite research, Allen had seen the cruelest words be directed at that name, it had hurt him. He was sure his sister had heard them too in her infinite lives as well.
“Riliane is fine.” she concluded.
So she didn’t hold any resentment, then? Had she felt like her crimes had been forgiven? That her own name was no longer a burden? Allen liked her name a lot, he liked calling it out loud when it was tea time and saying it under his breath when he had to remind himself what the most important task on earth was. He enjoyed how the end part of her name was similar to the name he’d chosen for himself, how good they rhymed. He liked how it reminded him of their mother and grandmother. So if Riliane liked her own name it was good. That was good.
“That's good.” Allen replied. And the silence fell again between them.
“…”
”…”
« It’s unfair!!!! Why is this so hard!!! Why is it so hard to speak to you when you are the person I love the most in this entire world!!! » Is what they both wanted to say, and probably kick and punch some perfect rice sprouts in frustration.
They didn’t, though, because each was afraid of the other thinking it was unsightly and the rice plants were admittedly too beautiful to hurt. Too well cared for and perfectly arranged to float over the still lake.
Even so, they would have forgiven each other for any burst of anger or any expression of emotion at all. By this point, neither minded a sudden explosion of energy or anything else that might disturb them, just about anything to get out of this silence that could potentially extend for eternity.
“…”
”…”
Two souls who had spent so long looking for each other’s company they didn’t know what to do when they found it. Such a long time and they couldn’t be happier or more nervous.
How absolutely dreadful.
“…”
”…”
Suddenly (and thankfully, as they both breathed in unison) a distraction came up. A beautiful sound was coming down from earth, its pleasant notes reaching from the ground to the moon. The resplendent singing voice of a young girl (though the specific lyrics had lost shape in their voyage) and the sweet melody of expert musicians, the best of the best in a thousand years, carried up and imbued the moon with their delightful song.
Riliane’s eyes opened wide and shone with glee. Was she remembering the palace musicians? The glamorous balls and brilliant dresses? Or the choirs sung in the Held church by the orphans she loved so much? She looked so happy, either way. Allen could get lost in her expression.
“Allen, look!” She turned around, and Allen prayed to any god that was still out there that she didn’t catch him staring. “Look, they're dancing!”
Perspectives in the heavenly yard were an odd thing. Physically, they were thousands upon thousands of kilometers away from earth, but psychologically, they felt so close to them. It was as if the kind sun god had wanted them to have the possibility of watching over their loved ones should they wish to.
Which allowed the pair of twins, far as they were from the surface of earth, to watch over the waltz of the deceased from an indeterminate distance.
Riliane had her eyes fixed on the waltz, hypnotized by the grace and happiness from the dancers. People from all classes and ages, from all parts of the world, from every single walk of life, dancing together, having a good time, smiling. This was what her mother dreamed of, absolute blissful peace. A kingdom where everyone is happy.
Allen was taken in by his sister’s beauty. She had seen her cruel smile, her wicked laughs and her lonely and grim expressions. But in this very moment, private and intimate as it was, she was just a girl wishing to be a princess.
For the first time, she was just a girl.
And yet a tint of loneliness, one Allen knew too well, tinted her sempiternal blue eyes.
Even as they had reached heaven, was she still not happy? After all this time, what could possibly be missing?
And it hit him, then. They were together physically, or as physical as ghosts could get. They had each other’s company, but that wasn’t enough. Allen was aware even back then that accompanying her wasn’t nearly enough to cure her of her longing.
Loving someone, after all, is not about just standing besides them. People need more than that. People need to know they’re loved.
”Shall we dance, princess?” Escaped from Allen’s lips and it felt like a confession. And even though he thought he had just thought it instead of saying it out loud, Riliane’s adorable dumbfounded stare made him stand by it.
Oh the things he would do for her.
He stood up and offered his hand. And though his movement caused waves on the water, his clothes stayed pristine.
The benefits of being a ghost on the moon, he could guess.
Riliane, the most majestic princess in all of Evillious, awarded him the honor of taking her hand.
As she grabbed his shoulder and he grabbed her hip, they started to spin slowly to the sound of the music. Taking on rhythm, their movement made perfectly circular ripples in the water while the rice sprouts, while brushing their legs occasionally, seemed to move on their own so as not to bother them, spectating respectfully the dance.
A dream that was made just for the two of them.
On the waves, vaguely, Allen could see their reflections change: his elegant Lucifenian jacked change to a Jakokuese haori, then to his simple clothes when he was acting as Leonheart’s son, vaguely he thought he could see something that had never happened, a royal palace outfit, which matched Riliane’s baroque flowiness. Intermittently, his lives flashed before his eyes, accompanying him in this dance, all of them waiting for this single moment.
Riliane’s was even more ostentatious, fitting for her. Though he could clearly see her typical royal outfit she was wearing in front of him, he also saw glimpses of a nun in a convent, waiting for the person he loved most to come back knowing well he never would; he saw a Jakokuese girl, full of hope, in a beautiful yellow kimono with a hairpin to match; he saw a young girl, first completely innocent, then broken by a wicked woman, alternating between a red outfit and a waiter uniform, always waiting, always her .
Riliane, his most beloved. She had lived so much, waited for so long, everything to see him . Him, of all people, his humble servant, forever loyal to his princess.
And she was, finally, finally, in his arms. Her graceful movements matching his own, dreamlike in her perfection.
Had she ever looked so beautiful in their time spent together? Even as kids, was she ever so full of life? And, despite it all, so… so content.
And in her eyes? Allen’s own. Looking at her back with adoration. Several lifetimes to get there, about five hundred years of yearning, of grieving, of pain. Allen would wait five hundred more if it meant having her like this.
All this time, all the “my princess”, all the “my most loyal servant”; they had always meant the same thing.
“I love you.”
Nobody knew who said it, but it was spoken as the most fundamental truth. Words couldn’t take over the time they had between them, but they could start.
“I love you.”
”I love you.”
Under the infinite starry sky, in the moon that was made for two, words didn’t suffice, but they both could tell it had all been worth it.
.
.
.
.
If I could be born again…