liliumlies
lilium lies
may you find your dearest wishes granted
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thank you | epilogue
Anemone wakes more to her cat deciding to step on her face than to the alarm of her phone. Awake with a start, and a rush to get ready for the day. A quick shower to clean herself up, check how nice she looks, almost use up all her time trying to find a good-looking get up.
“See ya, Duchess,” she says good bye to her cat, and runs out into the world. It’s a cold morning. Probably going to snow later!
Today, she’ll be meeting up with her friends. Nothing special. She saw them yesterday, and they’re hanging out today. Go to the movies, play in the arcade, shop if they still got the money. Things they always do. In particular, Anemone wanted to get some chocolate.
But her waking emotions today were as if she woke up from a long, long dream. A crushing loneliness, and a sense of longing. She really wanted to see them. She just really wanted to see them. She felt like she hadn’t seen them in so, so long. That she wouldn’t see them ever again.
It’s stupid. Anemone feels like she’s about to cry from the thought, and closes her eyes in the train to pretend to be asleep. She worries that she will actually cry for some reason when she sees them again. It’s so stupid. It’s going to be so embarrassing if she actually does that. What would cool girls seeing her randomly tearing up think? What the heck happened in her dream?
She spends the rest of her trip with wet eyes, wiping them on her sleeve right before she steps into their meeting place.
Peony, Daisy, and Erica were already waiting for her, waving and calling to Anemone when they spot her. Anemone runs towards her friends, hiding an unreasonable amount of emotion in her heart behind a wide grin. Her friends... her brothers and sister, pretty much. Yeah, they were family. These names were something they chose for themselves--it was all her idea, actually. These flowery names were a sign of their bond.
Man, why did she miss them so much? An exchange of high fives and lively greetings, and they do as planned and as promised today. They have fun. They play together. They talk with each other about their own lives. They laugh with each other, screw around and tease each other. They enjoy their freedom together. Together...
As they eat together, Daisy points out that Erica is drawing Anemone’s stupid sentimental smile, coming unheeded. Anemone takes his sketchbook and slaps his head with it. Peony asks her if she’s okay.
“Huh? Uh... I don’t really understand it myself. I think I had a weird dream,” Anemone scratches her cheek. “Like... I feel like I’ve been granted a wish, or something. I don’t remember the dream, though.
“But... I feel like there’s something missing.”
Something is missing.
There is something missing.
They all confess feeling the same thing. And they go about for the rest of the day carrying this with them, until the time comes for them to part ways. It’s hard to find what’s missing... hard to recall a lost dream.
Anemone waves good bye to her friends, her found family, and sighs to herself before starting her walk home. The snow had started falling, so she should probably hurry up.
There was a wish.
Something they all shared.
She crosses the scramble crossing at the signal, losing herself in the crowd as she loses herself in her thoughts.
In that crowd, Anemone sees it. A small, peculiar doll, hanging from her purse. She has never before seen that strange, unrecognizable character of a doll before. But she knows it. Was it in her dream?
Anemone stops in her tracks. The girl, owner of the doll, appears in her vision. Oh, Anemone doesn’t recognize that uniform at all. There’s no way she would know who this was. She wouldn’t know that long, pale hair the same gold as the moon. The familiar red ribbon tied up in her hair.
The girl is frozen in her tracks as well, and Anemone finally meets her pink eyes.
Anemone knows them. She knows those eyes. And they are as wet as her own. Wide, with a cute, luminescent blush right below them. Aw, man. Anemone blinks and looks away, embarrassed by her own thoughts.
Beside the blonde girl is another, looking remarkably similar to her. A twin? With shorter hair, and a warm smile. She raises a hand as if to wave, and then shoves her sister forward.
Lily yelps, falling into Anemone’s arms.
There was a wish. A dream.
It was the dream they all shared.
A dream that they would all be together again, even in another time, living happier lives. Free to be with each other, free to love each other.
And her only wish was to see it for herself. To see her sister happy with those she loved. Selene laughs at her sister.
“Thank you,” her words for you, and for everyone.
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guide you home | epilogue
Elsewhere…
…
It’s dark.
How long have you been here?
It may have been centuries— it may have been just seconds— maybe there was no time before this, maybe this is all you’ve ever known. You’re lost in it, this crushing darkness, the never-ending terror your world begins and ends with.
There is no escape. There is no such thing as escape. There’s nothing—
And suddenly
there is.
...There’s something there.
You don’t need to look to find it. Where you claw and writhe desperately in the darkness, you can see it, miles and miles away (if such a measurement applies here).
A light.
And then another. And another, and another, and another—
One by one, cutting through the spaceless, timeless abyss you’ve lived (?) in for so long, the lights appear. They’re getting closer. And closer, and closer, and closer, until you can see—
They’re not just lights.
They’re flowers.
A dim part of you might recognize them. Or it might not. Light or no light, your mind is in tatters, your very self a distant dream that fades every second.
(Seconds have started to have meaning, again, since the lights appeared. The time between one and the next. Something concrete, something knowable. Funny how you could lose hold of such a concept, down in the dark.)
But something can’t fade unless it existed in the first place. You wouldn’t even see the lights if there was nothing left of you at all.
You may not be able to do anything else, not yet, not as you are now— but you grasp hold of this one, radiant sight. This proof that darkness isn’t all there is. It enters your mind, takes shape, recreating the concept of concepts— an anchor in a merciless sea.
And you don’t know it yet, but the lights that aren’t just lights aren’t just flowers, either.
They’re a path.
And one day—
with help from those you’ve yet to remember,
those who certainly have yet to forget—
You’ll take it.
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boreas.
Wishes granted. Lives reclaimed.
The future holds limitless possibilities, and from here on, no wish-granting magic will be needed.
And yet.
[♫]
Far away, deep in the Himalayas, beneath the cold snow and jagged rocks that have claimed many a life before, of those who were foolish enough to traverse the peaks,
a man wakes up.
Disoriented, displaced, a strange diaspora filling him as he picks himself up, his hands buried deep in snow that doesn’t feel as cold as it should – but when does anything feel as it should, to him? He is past that point, certainly, humanity is lost to him. Those treasured sensations, forsaken.
There were things he had wanted to say, before the end, but now he simply questions whether it was a dream or not. Dreams, such silly things, so confusing and deceptive, and he is glad he rarely ever dreams, for a moment.
He has not allowed himself to dream, of course, for a very long time.
But up in that white heaven, he recalls that someone told him he had more to live for, to atone, and maybe… maybe, that isn’t so far beyond him.
He runs a hand through his hair. It’s short. And he notes the weight of a dagger in his pocket, different from his Azoth blade. A gift.
… So it wasn’t a dream.
He hopes they are all alive. He hopes their wishes have been made and they are all happier for it. He hopes his daughter, the last of her sisters, is awake, he hopes…
(Ah, to hope is to dream, right?)
As he treads carefully through the crystalline snow, leaving heavy footprints, the cresting sunrise catches his eye. What else is there to do than watch it rise, the earliest natural wonder of the world? It will be the first genuine sunrise he’ll have seen in so, so long, and there’s a humming in his chest of anticipation and fear and worry and everything that has ever stifled him before.
So he climbs the hill, hoping he will catch a clear glimpse of it in spite of himself.
Though, as he walks closer, ever closer to the peak, he sees smaller footfalls, dents in the otherwise unmarred white landscape.
And he looks up, to see at the top of the peak…
A young girl.
She’s hardly dressed for the weather, but she seems unbothered by the cold, and her pale hair falls over her shoulders with a familiar-yet-different wave. And as she turns, her young face is familiar-yet-different, her eyes are not polished, glimmering gold but rather a shifting prism as the light hits them, and the smile on her face when she sees him is one of warmth and familiarity.
He knows this girl, he has seen her everywhere for the last two centuries, in all of her sister’s faces, and in her he sees all of them.
The sun is rising, casting a halo around the girl, because she is real and here and so, so tangible, and
he cries.
For those that have been lost to him, for those he failed to save, for this girl and all of her sisters.
He cries.
And so, in the cold, unforgiving peaks of the Himalayan mountains, where many have died before, a man finds his reason to live.
Watching the sun rise with his daughter, holding her close, he knows.
He knows that his wish, at last, has been granted.
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Blackwater Cranes | Vanessa and Julia | Epilogue
Waking up is an odd sensation, as Vanessa has never–purposefully–slept. She’s not sore like the others, and she slowly stands as the others discuss future plans. Even with some of them still asleep, her eyes water as she feels genuine hope again for the first time in weeks.
Liesel and Dilan invite everyone to their wedding, and Vanessa’s heart soars for the two of them. Arthur is already talking about plans to help those still asleep even though if anyone deserves rest, it’s him. Shinobu is talking about cooking for everyone, and a revisit to the dinner party they had weeks ago sounds so lovely.
She notices an emptiness in her mind, a familiar sensation that has happened once before. Her hand raises to her temple for a moment and finds nothing there. Ah…. She clears her throat.
“Arthur, I don’t know what help I can be with this, since… Well, I shouldn’t use Alchemy on people. I’m willing to help with anything I can, though. I’m sure we can find a way to bring them back.
Also… Everyone? Our mental connection broke off once we woke up…. If anyone would like to re-establish it, I’m going to look into making it longer lasting and further reaching. That way, we can pursue our own goals and research without worrying about it.
But first… I would really like the chance to rest. Our connection aside… I think it would be nice for us all to see each other off later this evening, especially if Shinobu is cooking. For now though, I think I’d like to go for a walk. Julia?”
Looking over to where Julia had recently been laying before they all awoke, Vanessa would see a small fox stretching out it’s limbs with a yawn. A moment later though after making a fox noise of agreement, Julia is once more beside her instead!
“Of course~ Everyone let me know if you need my assistance for anything. I would be more than willing to assist any of you in the present and the future as well with everything~ I imagine I’ll have access to quite a few more resources now at the very least, though that’s not all I have to offer of course. I’m glad that all of you are alright!”
Julia smiles brightly at those gathered here, and will of course be willing to discuss more specific plans with them later. But right now she’ll offer a hand to Vanessa with a smile. It seems as though they’ll all have plenty of time to figure things out now, and a walk with her girlfriend sounds great right about now.
A little while later, Vanessa leaves one of the classrooms with Julia, bidding a farewell to three people she never planned to learn so much about. She closes the door behind her, and the smile on her face starts to diminish a bit as the pair resume walking.
“Julia…. I’m glad Hari and Azhar are alright, and it’s so nice to see that their relationship is repaired in this timeline, but…. Hari remembers me as a student of this academy, and Azhar has forgotten me entirely for a second time. It’s also…. So odd to see Azhar as such an older man, now.”
Vanessa gives Julia’s hand a little squeeze. “I do have a few more worries about what this all means for us, but…. We’ll take them one at a time, I suppose? It’ll be easier to do it together. Also…. I have never seen such a harsh expression on Istina’s face– What did you do to her?”
Julia hums! “Mmm, it’s interesting to see how things have changed, now… I suppose much has still been lost to us, but I’m glad to know that they’re alive and well at least,” Julia says, before she chuckles at the question to her and gives her a mischievous smile. “Oh, nothing too terrible, really. You know how I am with libraries, ehehe~”
With everything else, that comment just gets a genuine laugh out of Vanessa! It feels good to laugh like that, since she hasn’t had reason to in weeks. Even as she returns to the more serious topic at hand, her expression is still a bit lighter now. “I’m worried, I suppose… If we find Johann, what if he’s forgotten us as well? Despite everything, I did become rather close to him by the end…. Miss Claire just invited me to be part of her family, too…. What about her?” Vanessa is just out here collecting supernatural family members.
“…I don’t even know if the doll village exists currently, without Anastasia, but I want to look for it. I like to think I’ll find it, eventually. I want to know if Polaris still exists, since Bituin is alive again. At the same time…. I am worried she’ll have forgotten us, too.” Vanessa sighs. “What about you, Julia? What do you want to do, now that we’re free?”
Julia thinks for a moment before she answers. What DID she want to do?
“I think… that I’d like to head back to the forest where my mentor lived to see if I can find her. I have missed her some, admittedly, and I have some things I’d like to ask her,” she says. There were a lot of questions that she had for her now, after learning about her own true nature. “It might be fun to terrorize my old ‘home’ as well with the news of what I am, and maybe a bit of fire too… But lucky for them, I don’t think I’ll bother~!” S-She’s joking, it’s fine hcuidhsiuch
“And I do imagine that there’ll be a lot I need to get used to on the demon side of things as well, really, though I don’t plan to devote all of my time to it. And after that… I think I would like to try and find that village with you and whoever else we can, even if they no longer remember us. Even just getting the chance to really travel would be fun for me, I think~”
Vanessa tilts her head a bit as she thinks. “You’re from America, right? I have been curious as to what it’s like there, since I’ve talked with Dilan about it… I think Arthur’s home is somewhere in America too, so that all works out well.” She has no idea how big America is.
“I do need to stop for some unfortunate business on our way, though–I very much intend to still make Jasper pay for what he did to Poppy, and… He is still a master Alchemist, and Fima…. Even if she survives all of this, she only has a few more years of life. I want to get a head start on learning more, so I can fix that. His research and equipment should help.”
She looks out to the lake a bit as they continue walking, and sighs. “I suppose I should also ask, Julia–do you still intend to wage war with the heavens? If you are…. I won’t ever really like war, but I’d much rather join you on that front than just wonder what happened if I don’t hear from you. Also…. our group aside, but do you intend to let everyone know who you are, or should I keep that a secret?”
“Mmm, just let me know if you need any help with things like that, I suppose. I have no personal vendettas I feel the need to act on, but I can assist you with yours, somewhat.” Julia laughs a little bit at that last question to her too. “I wasn’t planning on it in particular! I’m very much not a fan of war either, you know~ If there comes a time when there seem to be no other good options available to us yet again perhaps, but I would very much like to avoid doing anything of the sort. As for dealing with others…”
Julia pulls Vanessa over towards the lake at the end of their walk, and shifts her form into that of her horned and winged one as she gestures down to a spot of grass on the bank where they can sit down together and rest.
“…I think we can just take each situation as it comes~”
Vanessa smiles as she lies down with Julia, and just enjoys feeling truly safe for the first time.
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Someday We'll Linger in the Sun | Niamh | Epilogue
Niamh wakes up the same way she’s always woken up from nightmares— bolting dead upright, reaching for Xiaolong. And she finds them, right next to her, golden eyes peacefully closed in rest.
The others are talking, the words washing over her as she scrambles to press fingers against their wrist, their neck, checking again and again for that little flutter underneath her fingertips as her vision swims with tears. There, and there, a slow and steady beat under warm skin. They were alive.
She cradles their head and cards fingers through their hair and weeps in joy and relief and exhaustion and endless devotion as their still-sleeping friends surrounded them. Xiaolong was alive. Everyone was alive.
Niamh sniffles, drying her eyes with one sleeve, slowly collecting herself. What were they to do now?
“... It is still 1842,” she begins softly, voice cracking with emotion, “I still have more time. Someone on the train told me— I was so scared, that time outside the dream had kept moving, but— I still have time. I have all the time in the world,” she laughs incredulously, “so I want to help wake them up, first. Everyone. No matter what anyone decides later, no one deserves to be trapped in that limbo.”
When everyone is awake, Niamh can take as many as will come with her home. She can travel back to when she lost her eyes, go home and visit, make up the time between leaving home, as though she never disappeared at all, as though sixteen long years had not stretched between when she had last seen her family.
When everyone is awake, she can cry and beg forgiveness, apologize over and over to Bituin and Balera and Leaf all, exorcise the mire of guilt and heartache that weighed heavy in her chest.
When everyone is awake, Niamh can go home.
... I wonder if they can all fit in the scroll, now, Niamh wonders idly, gazing over everyone still sleeping as she took slow, even breaths to collect herself.
Later. They can all figure it out later, but everyone around her professed their exhaustion even as she felt like a live wire, so she tilts her head back instead to gaze in wonder at the Lunarium ceiling.
One day, she can find everyone again— a man and his innumerable silver-haired daughters, an immoral scientist and her cheerful husband, an entire village of dolls and their headstrong leader, a student from the future with a pension for silly action movies, a mystery writer married to an elven photographer.
(Maybe others, too— a woman from the moon and her adopted sons, a cheerful royal agent from long before she was born— maybe, one day, she would be walking down some unfamiliar street in some other time, and see the blurry face of a child she recognized running past her, calling out happily to their family.)
There was time. There would always be time, now. Niamh would live forever with her beloved, new immortals at the dawn of a new world, and this is the happiest she has ever been.
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there is a world inside your dreams | auguste | epilogue
Death has stained every inch of Auguste's life. From the day he was born - the day his mother traded her life to save his - death has been there. In his dreams, his visions. When he looked at others, and saw the shadows sinking their claws in, officially marking them for death.
For nearly three decades, Auguste has been fighting death.
That is why he accepted the invitation in the first place. He was already living on borrowed time, as his medicine was not a perfect cure. There was no cure, as far as he was concerned. The few mages he met were unable to explain what was wrong, never mind how to fix it. He was doomed, all but cursed to die a young death after a life never truly lived.
That was not a fate that he would accept.
And so he fought, dying and killing in loops he couldn't remember, all to try and live. All to avoid his own soul being what killed him. The bonds he made changed the course of his life each time, and yet each time he would never remember.
Until now.
He is alive, and so are his friends. His family, as he's come to think of some of them. Even those that have yet to wake. He won't leave them, not for long. This is his duty now, to guide the restless sleepers towards more peaceful dreams until the morning comes.
So he accepts Arthur's invitation, just as readily as he accepts Cedar's hug and Shinobu's offer for food. While he wants to start trying to wake those still sleeping right away, he knows Arthur is right. They all need a break, even a short one.
Some of the others start leaving, and Auguste finally has some time to think. He thinks of the future, in a world of his own creation. He thinks of the journey ahead, both the physical and metaphorical one. He thinks of wedding dresses and fancy cakes. He thinks of his brother, and how he'd be able to fit into this new world.
He does not think of death, that familiar shadow. He doesn't need to, not anymore. That fear that ruled his life is gone, and Auguste is finally free.
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HEADING HOME | SHINOBU | EPILOGUE
It still shocks him that he was able to make it this far.
But here he was, waking up after that long nightmare, finally back in the reality he knew.
Only, it was far from what he had known now, wasn’t it?
He listens to all the explanations, trying to formulate his own response as others put forth their own next steps. He looks at the ones still lost in a dream, and where he might have felt lost before, now he only has hope that they will be able to wake them.
Eventually, he even remembers to stand up too.
“I… I will try my best to help.” He resolves, “In waking them, in everything.”
And he does have a few ideas of how this time, at least. The purification side of lunar magic proved to at least have some effect on the soul, on bringing peace to those lost. He would certainly have to see if it could be any help here, too. And, if it was, he wasn’t the only one who knew how to wield this magic.
He looks around again, at everyone. There’s got to be all manner of emotions spinning through everyone’s heads, he knows that. But he’s glad they all made it through. He’s glad to have people who wanted him to make it through, too.
“For now though, I think I’ll be content to go home and rest.”
He has one of those now, after all. And he glances at Arthur as he says it. It’s strange, finally being so close to arriving at that place he wasn’t sure he ever would. But he’s excited to go, because he knows he won’t be alone.
“Maybe I could whip up a meal for everyone too,” he says, light smile on his lips, “It’d be good to get some actual food in all of us before we go off or get to work on anything I think.”
And he does have a point. He knew he’d already felt his stomach growling, at least, and he figured being in a dream for so long would likely have a similar effect on the others. And even if it didn’t, he was just eager to continue being around them all.
What a strange sensation it was.
But if he knew anything, it was that the worst was over, and he'd somehow managed to gain so much more than he had ever expected when he first resolved to join this rite.
So in that moment, surrounded by those he had come to consider both friends and family, Shinobu just feels hope.
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Waiting to Bloom | Cedar | Epilogue
Waking is disorienting.
Cedar does not need sleep so much as he needs a shutdown period to recalibrate his spellwork, and he has never woken up. Nevron thought he had, but Cedar had known.
Yet when he opens his eyes now, he feels groggy, thoughts swimming slowly in his head, the where and how of it all.
Auguste let go of his hand....
And the first thing he feels is a sting in his chest. Auguste let go of his hand, he tossed him aside. Auguste let go of his hand, he must be as dead as all the others who had. Which thought would be in charge of his pain, which shape would it take? Sorrow? Contempt?
....He knows this ceiling. And when he lazily looks around him, not standing up just yet, he knows the men next to him.
Nevron. Fyodor. He is lying between them, smaller and more frail, and their vessel for so long. Carrying to where they needed to be. Carrying them to where they would die.
They would return....
They are here in body, not in spirit, and bodies don't really matter, but it is all that Cedar is, and though he knows he is as alone as ever, he grasps their hands, lying on his back, and he cries.
He doesn't know why.
Is it pain? Relief? Happiness?
He has no words to describe the feelings he has, not the necessary practice to sort them out into terms he can understand. Even newborn humans know what discomfort is, what pain is, at least, but Cedar... He simply cries. And his hands grab his brothers' own hands tightly, bring them up to his cheeks, lifeless and cold, and holds them against his face, nuzzles against them quietly. They'd never done that in life. They'd never lived the life that allowed for it. Cedar knows... he knows he is not their brother like they are each other's, but.... If they're all here, couldn't he be? Couldn't he be like them? He wants to be like them, to be with them. He wants a family, and no more sadness. He doesn't just want to be a vessel.
He barely hears what the others say. His brother's might.. might as well be dead still, as lifeless as they are right now. He knows they can bring them back. He's the only one with enough energy. And... Halua, he wants to find Halua. And... and...
There's so much he must do, so much he must plan and act on, and it must all be from his own mind and will... And when he finally sits up, he feels along his determination a sense of fragile fear of it all. The world is too big. Too big by far for him to navigate. He has never made decisions like that...
He knows he can, but...
His teary eyes search the room, and finally they latch onto Auguste. He gets up on shaky legs, and ignoring everything else that is happening he walks towards him, stumbling a little, sniffling.
Would if be okay if....
But before he can think of the question, overthink, passively begrudge his inability to act and blame it on the world around him and its cruelty, he's already wrapping his arms around Auguste's shoulders, he's already resting his head against his shoulder. He's not heavy. It's okay. Auguste is here. He would carry some of his weight. And then, then he can....
"Thank you..."
He whispers, and a hiccup gets into his words, uncontrolled and unneccessary, another vanity to make him look more human.
He would go look for Halua. He would restore his brother's souls. He would study with Auguste, and when it's all done, he would finally have peace.
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Springs Eternal | Arthur | Epilogue
Perhaps it’s fitting that it was all a dream, since so much had happened by the end that Arthur couldn’t feel anything but disoriented and overwhelmed. Waking up is the first relief he’s felt in far too long, even though it comes with the surprising (though not unwelcome) jolt of encountering the familiar face of Sheridan. He has to wonder if they’ll even recognize him in his current state, given the sheer magnitude of the physical changes he’s undergone.
It’s all too much. Arthur doesn’t even know where to begin to react. He can scarcely process anything and he feels… burnt out. Ever since the reveal of Samael it’s like his head has been filled with static. The important thing was… he trusted Auguste. He trusted Auguste, and he didn’t know Selene, and while he does love Julia he doesn’t want a war, he just wanted to go home, and… and he can’t. Because his home is walking away from him now, retreating across the room, saying he doesn’t want anything to do with it anymore, saying he doesn’t care, saying he’s leaving.
The pain is excruciating beyond description. Arthur’s heart has broken a thousand times by now, but never quite like this. The simple belief that Sunny would never hurt him has served as a foundation of his reality. A fact, as far as he was concerned. In an instant it dissolves, another disillusionment to chalk up with the rest.
Eight years of being lied to. Eight years of suffering. A hundred loops of pain, ninety-nine failures and one, one single, lonely success that apparently still isn't enough. Arthur could defy fate and time and god and death itself, but he can’t defy Sunny. Arthur has fought and died and won and lost and lived for Sunny, and now he’s faced with the hardest thing he’s ever had to do, because he doesn’t even have to look at the rest of the faces of the sleeping and the awoken around him to know that he can’t follow. He doesn’t have the luxury of being done here. These people are everything to him, as much so as Sunny himself is, and he can’t choose one over the other, he couldn’t possibly walk away from them, anymore than he could’ve walked away from Sunny - but Sunny is the one walking away and he. Can’t. Follow.
Slowly, hands steady as though he isn’t being torn in half at the deepest level, Arthur reaches into his pocket and pulls out a notebook. Much more quickly, the words there the moment he tries to look for them, he writes something down, rips out the page, and gets to his feet. He folds it as he walks, and presses it into Sunny’s hand.
Within the folded page is written a New York address in Arthur’s perfect, uniform handwriting. Next to it is a poem.
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—
See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?
And beneath, this:
I will always be yours.
It’s true. It’s the truest thing he’s ever written or said. And he can’t say come back to me and he can’t even say write to me because Sunny will do as he likes regardless of what Arthur says. All Arthur can do is what he’s always done: Hope.
As he turns back to the rest of his family, Arthur begins organizing his thoughts around what is needed, only to be greeted with Liesel handing him his own handkerchief. He takes the bundle on reflex, almost before he registers the words that come with it… and then he nods, to both of them. If they are not leaving right this second, there should be time to help them make arrangements for their travel.
“I think…” It feels strange to speak again, possibly because his real body has not done so in such a long time. Arthur clears his throat, quietly, and continues, “We will all need a little time to process and recover, to begin with.” They’ve all been through an ordeal, after all, and he wants to make certain that no one is in danger from any lingering effects of their recent experiences, especially Auguste and Cedar.
“After that, I fully intend to work towards waking the others, anyone who would like to help is welcome to join me. It would likely be best to move them somewhere safe. My manor is large enough for everyone, and I have the funds to move us all there, though it is very far.” Maybe they can see about utilizing Claire’s train for transport, but that’s something that can be discussed after a nap, which he’s craving even in spite of his body no longer requiring sleep. ��We can see about contacting Johann… hopefully soon. I know where he is, but I am… very tired, right now. So we really should rest.” At least thanks to the tracking charm he’d placed on him back at the temple, Arthur knows where to look.
“If the doll village still exists, I would like to find that as well - if only to check on Polaris and Halua and be sure they are doing well.”
These are the immediate concerns. There is more, finding Chandra’s brother and ascertaining his condition, looking into the status of Cremoria and seeing to it that Bituin’s rebellion is succeeding and supported as needed, eliminating the threats of Jasper, Liesel’s fair folk, and Grigori… well, perhaps that last one could wait until Fyodor was awake.
And then, of course, there’s something else, perhaps the most important matter of all.
Shinobu is as beautiful as ever in the bright light of the lunarium. Arthur’s gaze finds him and stays, a feeling not unlike peace settling into the cracks of his heart. Imagination is not one of Arthur’s strong suits, but now he thinks of Paris, and lights, and music. He thinks of a promised proposal long overdue.
Arthur came to the Rite alone. He came seeking something that would give his life meaning and worth. Eight years later, the Rite is over, and he has more than he could ever have dreamed. A family. A future.
There’s a bittersweet taste in his mouth, and an aching longing in his chest that will never be fully satisfied without a certain one-armed doctor, but Arthur looks around at all the people he loves in the room and finds that there’s one thing at least that he’s still as certain of as he was when he began.
It’s all worth it.
They are all worth it.
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Die wahre Braut || Liesel and Dilan || Epilogue
Es war einmal ein Mädchen, das war jung und schön, aber seine Mutter war ihm früh gestorben…
They may have been freed from the confines of the goddess’s nightmare, but Liesel still has to claw her way to the surface of her own mind, through sluggish remnants of memory and things that would become their own dreams if she let them. An unfamiliar sensation, for a woman so used to springing awake alert for any sign of danger. “Urgh,” is her first utterance in the new world they’ve brought to life. What an auspicious start.
Once she’s remembered how to focus her eyes and stand up, she does both, unsteadily. Liesel looks around at the other chosen groggily achieving consciousness, but she only has eyes for one.
She hurries to Dilan’s side, taking his hand in hers as he comes to. She wants to do more, but… they’re not alone.
~
The first rays of real, non-dream light in ages begin to swim before Dilan’s closed eyes. At first, his instinct is to close them tighter - five more minutes, he feels himself saying. Then, the reality of the situation comes flooding back to him, and he bolts upright.
Almost immediately, he regrets it. His real body hasn’t moved for ages, and he feels a tinge of pain in his shoulders. But that’s not important. What’s important is that he’s alive - he’s real. The world is real again.
When everything settles, he realizes that Liesel’s holding his hand. He can’t help but smile at that. “Good morning,” he murmurs.
The explanation - from Auguste, from the detective - comes just after. A lot of it is really much more than Dilan can comprehend. So much of this has been. Eidolons, fake goddesses, Nyarlthotep - he voted for something, but the decision didn’t feel like his. But now, his- their lives were laid out long in front of them. They could do whatever they wanted.
After it’s all said and done, he turns to Liesel. “What do you think, then?” He asks. “What do you want to do?” She always has good ideas.
~
Liesel smiles. “Well, we made plans, did we not? Travel the world, and such. Hmmm… We will have to think about this in rather more detail now that we are actually doing it, won’t we?” She glances at Arthur. He’s been around. He might be a good resource… or, they could peruse an atlas in the library before they leave. They are in no hurry. How simply luxurious, to have the rest of their lives ahead of them, to live at their own pace.
“After that… well, I am sure we will find somewhere to settle down along the way. Somewhere with enough space for a chicken coop and a stable, of course.” Liesel is adamant about the whole pastoral thing. “And do you think we should adopt a dog or a cat first?”
~
Dilan puts his hands on his hips, smiling. “If I remember right… we said Egypt, didn’t we? After that, I guess we can play it by ear. We’ve got more than enough money now.” He scratches his cheek. “And yeah, of course. You can have your chickens, maybe I can get a second horse… maybe…”
He remembers Duchess. “A cat,” he decides. “‘S always room for a dog later down the line.”
Dilan looks back at the others. Slowly, he stands up, and then turns the pockets of his jacket inside-out. Crystal flowers clatter onto the floor. “I don’t know what most of that was about,” he admits, “And I don’t think I ever will. But I’m not messin’ around with resurrection magic ever again. Not after all of that shit,” he runs a hand through his hair. “So ‘s all yours. Hope you can bring them all back.”
He looks down at Liesel - his fiancée - and smiles. “When you’re ready,” he remarks. “We’ve got a lot ahead of us.”
~
Liesel tilts her head. “I thought it was… Peru?” The train, and their first discussion of this topic on it, was a long, long time ago. She feels she’s aged a lifetime in the intervening months. “Oh, well. We will figure it out, I’m sure.”
When he discards his crystal flowers, Liesel digs into her satchel for hers as well. Stooping to gather his up, she wraps the sum of both their totals in Arthur’s handkerchief - another memory from Claire’s time-traveling train - and offers them to the lich himself. “I think… these will be more useful in your hands,” she ventures. “We’ll be in touch. And when they are all awake again -” not a pessimistic if, for once - “then Dilan and I shall have our wedding.”
She looks around. At Vanessa, who had been so excited by the false invitation Liesel had offered her. At everyone she’d made this journey with, who had helped her come back from the brink of despair and learn to want to be the woman she was. Even the sleeping ones. No longer lambs she was leading to slaughter with a lie. For there would be no more lies! Genuine guests, friends to fill the seats. Family, even, some of them. She can’t deny she’s grown to think of them that way. “To which you will all be invited, naturally.”
Auf der Treppe blühten die Blumen, aus dem Zimmer schallte der Gesang der fremden Vögel, aber in dem Saal stand der ganze Hof versammelt, und der Priester wartete, um den Bräutigam mit der wahren Braut zu vermählen.
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in the woods somewhere ; lazarus risen || sunny
It's a surprise, waking up.
In those last few moments, Sunny is sure he's about to die- for real this time- and it doesn’t happen.
...It doesn't.
Instead, he wakes up with an ache in his body from having been lying prone, and he's entered a world of the living.
If it's living. Truthfully, he isn't sure he can trust any of this to not be another dream. His being alive, now, sitting up and feeling the ache where his arm was. He doesn't... well.
He doesn't know what to do.
The flowers, the dead, the sense of unreality all collaborate in such a cruel way that he doesn't feel fit to still be sitting there.
But he feels a weight in his pocket.
Sunny slides his hand in, drawing forth something small, something- it's small. Bright blue. Shining, and he knows what it is.
His thumb traces over the object, expression drawn into something tight as he holds the object of his wishes.
...
It almost feels cruel.
But he puts it back, rises to his feet slowly, carefully, the weight of having not moved for what feels like ages, the weight sitting on his shoulders. He doesn't know what to do. Doesn't know what to do, where to stay, where to go-?
"No. I'm not doin' anything with those flowers. Ain't doin' anything with any'a this ever again."
He holds his hand up, backing away, miserable in every inch of the sight of him.
"Never touchin' this again. Never. I'm leaving. I'm going. I don't care. I just don't fuckin' care. I'm sorry. I can't."
And once he's far enough away, standing by the exit, he quietly mutters,
"I'm sorry. Do what you want. Leave me outta this."
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prologue: revolving heartbeat
Auguste greets and welcomes you to the new world. You notice that everyone is there with you, asleep. All those that you met when you came to this same Academy--including all those whom you remember dying. You even note the three separate Morozovs, all next to each other. They are all there, asleep.
Although, it should probably be noted that Johann is not there with you. After all, he did not come to the Academy as you did. Of course, neither were Selene nor Lily anywhere to be found.
You and Auguste wait for the others to come to. He’ll explain everything when they all wake, and it seems as if he'd explained at least part of it to Sheridan as well as they don't seem surprised by any of it.
And one by one, they do wake up. Those who survived everything up until the end, who made the choice with you and whose wishes helped shape this new world. However, only they woke. The ones who died in the dream remain asleep, and Auguste starts talking.
Auguste partook of Samael, shared in consuming his power to help Selene recreate the new world. According to everyone’s wishes.
History was rewritten so that the sleeping goddess was never found by Randall Fogg. As a result, the goddess never awoke, and Lilium was never formed around it. Time was turned back to the point where you all met the Watcher, and the first Rite had been invoked. All that had changed in everyone’s bodies, the items they acquired, everything they’ve achieved in their dream’s journey had stayed with all of you even now in your waking. And plenty other changes as well. Perhaps you should explore to see them.
The wishes you now have the power to grant to yourself, however, are for yourself to grant. There are things best left for yourself to grant--wishes that you’ve worked hard to grab. The things you do not have to lose due to events outside of your control.
And now, your attention is directed towards those who remain asleep. Neither Selene nor Auguste knew, and they failed to act towards it. Those who died in the dream got lost in limbo--Nyarlathotep had captured their souls, dragging them into his cage. They have spent an eternity in an empty limbo, with only him as company. Their minds are lost, trapped in the madness of Nyarlathotep’s grasp.
You recall Nyarlathotep’s words: “This is the void where all thine dead fall. An eternal cage with neither hope nor light.”
But in that despair, you also recall something else.
You remember the crystal flowers that guided you out that void. You still have those same crystal flowers on your self. You can take their minds back from his grasp. If there is a way for them to return, it is in these crystal flowers--these fragments of memories that you’ve gathered from learning the stories of others.
It will probably take some time. But you are among the most brilliant mages in history. Those who have survived the greatest ordeals thrown at them. Survived the end of the world. There is hope. You will take them back.
...
...
Caught up with everything, you step forward into this new world, with new goals in mind. New wishes, new dreams form. Your life carries on, with renewed purpose.
What will you do now?
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prologue: the promised neverland
And finally, you wake up. From the dream you’ve been caged in for so, so long now. You open your eyes to the world that, supposedly, is the amalgamation of all your wishes given shape by the two goddesses.
“Well, well, well. Good morning to all you sleeping beauties. What a pleasure to finally meet you all," a stranger (to most of you) greets you under the lunarium displaying the morning sun.
The tall woman introduces herself as Sheridan, a detective. Like her, she had also been invited to the city of Lilium in a game with her life in stake. Only… she’s never heard of this supposedly legendary city. There’s nothing anywhere that has ever mentioned a city of wishes and miracles, at least not one called Lilium.
So, she’s chosen to investigate, and it led her to all of you, asleep in the Eastern Lunarium in the Indian branch of the Astral Tower Academy.
Those of the Academy did not know how or when the Eastern Lunarium became sealed, nor how any of you ended up falling asleep within it. But eventually, it was opened, and Sheridan could continue her investigation.
One of you was already awake, sitting there as if waiting for all of you to follow.
“Ah... they've woken up, then?” a more familiar voice calls out.
Auguste appears as well, and you are welcomed to the new world.
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chapter 0: the wheel that spins us round
Auguste consumes the fruit.
Before you know it, everyone is gone. The house itself has disappeared, and you find yourself in an empty void. A limbo.
In it, there is only… him.
“This is the void she hath imprisoned me in,” the shadow’s voice echoes. His three eyes loom in the empty sky, looking down on you. “This is the void where all thine dead fall. An eternal cage with neither hope nor light.
“Free them. Free thine selves. Free me,” voices, that of the Watcher, the Sage, and Rago, fill your mind. Through their voices together, Nyarlathotep speaks to you, “Free us, and thy wishes will be grant.”
And he shows them to you. The wishes, the dreams you carried when you accepted that old invitation. Vast knowledge of magic. Immortality. Great power. The power to save lives. To own your life. To understand your own life. Humanity. Freedom. The truth.
You see these old wishes. And you know, some of you have already attained these wishes. Through your own power. Through the help of your peers and those around you. Or perhaps you’ve even found something to replace these wishes.
You see your wishes today. And you know, these are the last flailings of the angel Samael, a final attempt and plea for mercy before he is left in this prison until the end of time.
So you reject him. You condemn him, and leave him to rot in his eternal prison.
You turn away from his illusions, and find a path of small lights in the darkness. Twinkling stars leading to your promised world. Stars… small, crystalline flowers. Tiny fragments of people’s memories… to the light beyond.
And finally, you wake up.
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the door of fate we choose | selene & auguste | defiant end
It’s been decided. After all, it was the path that required the least willful sacrifice of another, with the greatest possible reward. An easy enough choice--once you remember that it’s there. Too long spent alone in the dark, too easy to forget that she could ask for help.
Selene clenches and unclenches her hand, shifting her eyes as she looks at each one of them in the house, and back at Auguste.
Auguste nods, then looks back towards Cedar. He puts his hand over one of the dolly's own, and nods.
"I will be fine. It will all be alright." He responds to Cedar, but addresses the room as a whole as he does so. Then he steps forward, removing himself from Cedar's grasp.
He addresses Selene next.
"You, too, are not alone. Not anymore. We can make this work... together."
And with those words, Selene accepts him.
The shadow next to her isn’t allowed words of protest. No one in the room seemed interested in giving him anything, any ground at all, thus he did not need to speak. The chains drag his struggling form down completely into the pool of black, the darkness receding until all that remains is the golden cage that serves as his prison. It empties as well.
Selene smiles, and ever gently, sets Lily down to lay on the bed of flowers. Slowly, she stands up, leveling herself with Auguste as she walks to him. She places her hand over her heart. A red apple takes shape, which she splits and offers to her fellow goddess.
“It’s a reward for those who have chosen love above all else,” she recites softly, barely a whisper to herself.
“Partake, and we’ll all leave this dream together. To a world of our making. It can’t be perfect, this is only true. But we can’t let ourselves be caged by truth.”
Auguste takes the fruit in his hands, and brings it to his mouth.
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Julia votes for Auguste's idea <3
Side with Lucifer - 1
Side with Auguste - 7
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Speak of the devil | Julia | Trial 7.4 | Re: Auguste, Selene
Julia listens closely to what Auguste and Selene are saying to one another, filling in the gaps in her own knowledge on the subject as she does so relatively well. And to her surprise and great relief, Selene seems to accept what Auguste suggests. Since the very start, Julia’s goal had been to find a better option for the group and listen to the others if they themselves could find one, so when yet another option is put forth that Auguste himself is willing to do…
The tension in Julia’s shoulders drops away some, and she smiles and shifts back to her human form, wings around Vanessa disappearing in favor of Julia grabbing her hand to hold instead. She laughs in clear relief, smiling. She would trust Auguste in this.
“Ahahahaha~ So that was the power given to you then, was it? I can agree to that suggestion, if you really think that it might work and are willing to try it, Auguste. Even if it’s just a chance though, it’s one I would still prefer to try, even over what I suggested myself for the risk it would still pose to you all.
I have never been a fan of conforming to the things we’re told are the only options, especially when suffering is involved.”
Even she didn’t really want to have to fight a full war, despite her preference for trying it over accepting an unfair and unwanted sacrifice without the chance to fight back. Defiant ending though, huh? That sounded right up her alley.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist you as well in what you would attempt, either with my own newfound abilities or just in general, the both of you. I will go with your option."
If there was anything more to help Auguste or the group that she could do, she would do it.
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