Beautiful, kind, caring and true,

A lot of things, she always knew;

Like a graceful swan, she soon flew,

Oh Rachelle, the Lady in Blue.

- Alessio Amaryllis

Drip drop plopped. Drip drop plopped the repeating sound of water dripping that I shortly was able to hear and recognize before the stream of the flowing river. Upon opening my eyes, I noticed there were stalactites high above the cave’s ceiling, and wrapping around them were roots with what seemed to be different colored-souls of the deceased. Which made me soon wonder, How did I know what those were? Does it mean that I’ve already died just by doing another reckless action? Because of trying to save the king?... But why do I seem to be too calm about all of this? Looking at my side, there I saw the white Lilies that were all decorated around the boat that I’m lying in, and the beautiful, clear blue river that reflects the lights that the souls give coming from above.

"Ah, you’re finally awake…" I heard a familiar woman say as she began to walk to my side. She was wearing a blue robe with a shade of purple in the bottom and tiny white stars in it as well. There was her hood covering her head, but I was still able to recognize some of her golden-colored hair, and her glowing blue eyes were a bit visible to me from where I was lying. She looked very familiar to me, and yet why couldn’t I…

"I honestly did not expect to have a visitor this early today..." she said as she slowly kneeled down at my side. "... Especially if it is someone like you who’s soul hasn't entirely left the world just yet. Well, this is not the first time this kind of meeting ever happened, but events like this one are very rare to occur, and unfortunately for the both of us, I do not have the exact answer as to how this keeps happening. Not yet at least…"

I couldn’t help but stare at her in silence for a short while, despite how I may want to sit up to get to a better position in talking to her, but unfortunately, only my eyes and mouth are the ones that I’m able to control and the rest of my body are pinned down on this bed burial. "My apologies, but it’s hard for me to believe in the fact that I haven’t passed away yet when it’s coming from the Grim Reaper herself, and seeing the souls of the deceased hanging above, and not being able to move my body right now..."

She sighed before suddenly standing up and turned away from me. "Hmph. If you were already dead, you would not be talking to me right now, and your soul would be up there as well. You’re fortunate enough that you’re here with me, if it were other Grim Reapers, they would have not hesitated on taking your soul..." she then became silent for a moment before continuing with, "Hmm. Perhaps that was too much information."

There’s… other Grim Reapers? If so, then she’s the very Director of them all. Everything that’s going on right now and everything I’ve heard from her still seems beyond belief, but there is no other choice but to believe her at this point. I thought before coming to a realization and asked, "Have you seen my younger sister? Endellion… Were you—"

"No." She quickly responded without looking at me. "It’s too complicated to say."

"W-What?... What do you mean by that?" I asked, but she went silent for a while.

"... You had heard way too much than you should have," she murmured before turning to look at me once again, but this time, instead of just kneeling down beside me, she surprisingly approached me very closely. Too closely even. Her chest was against mine, her cold hands were placed both on my cheeks as her face was very close to mine, and there was nothing I could do to keep her away from me. But looking closely at her face, I could clearly see her beautiful blue eyes. It’s almost— no, it’s truly very similar to hers. And I know that it is wrong to assume, but… Could she truly be who I think she is?

"If you decide to stay here longer, then you would never be able to return back, but… we both know that we don’t want that. Because that’s not where your story ends." she said as she gently placed her forehead against mine as my eyes slowly closed.

"I don’t know why nor do I understand why it seems that I don’t want to leave just yet at the last second, that I would regret this later on… Tell me, will I be able to remember all of this?... Will I be able to remember you? Or will you…" I asked in a low voice, but she gently hushed me instead as I could feel her tears falling against my face.

"Maybe this time… you’ll have a better chance." she said in a nostalgic tone before I soon felt her leaning closely until her soft and gentle lips met mine. It was warm, slow, and lasting despite her tears continuing to rain down on me. Somehow, I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to open my eyes to look at her one last time, but my entire body, even my eyes and mouth, slowly became senseless. Light began to flash in my eyes as my ears began to ring, but before losing consciousness once again, I could have sworn I heard say, "... Please, don’t forget me but... it would be better if you did…"

Upon waking up slowly from the murmurs I could barely hear somewhere nearby, my sight was a blur before I was able to recognize the white ceiling of the room. What just happened? Where am I? Who brought me here? I thought as I tried feeling my hands a bit that were hidden underneath layers upon layers of covers, then my gaze turned to look at the person who I soon felt lying on the lower part of my bedside, only to be surprised to see ‘her’ there. With her eyes closed, her arms and head lying on the bed, she was singing so beautifully and yet seemed in such a melancholic and very familiar tone.

It seems that she arrived here safely afterall, that’s good. I quietly sighed in relief before very carefully sitting up. As I stared at her for a few seconds, only then I noticed the unwilted or the new Anemone flower behind her ear, just like where I placed one last time before our departure. I smiled a bit only to look away immediately to hide my flushing red face as soon as that memory played in my mind all of a sudden.

At least five hours. Why couldn’t this Stone of Time just give me and my mind a break even for five hours at least— Wait— Is it even with me right now? I thought before quickly holding my head and grunted in pain to which she suddenly woke up and looked at me.

"Oh! You are finally awake!" she said as she quickly approached me. "Please, do not force yourself. You still have not fully recovered from what you did last time."

"Last time… the only thing I could remember was the king, he— Where is he?"

"Do not worry too much, he is fine now..." she responded in a reassuring tone but soon her gaze slowly looked away from me as she frowned and continued, "I… I am truly sorry that I wasn’t able to tell you about looking after the king, especially on times when he’s alone. It was careless of me to think that the armlets were enough to keep his powers— the stone’s powers, and his emotions stable while I was away, but as I feared, things escalated to a disaster… And you… You almost lost your life by saving him—"

Immediately interrupting her, I grabbed her hand as I said, "Please, don’t blame yourself for what happened. You did what you could to prevent it happening before you left, but me, I have known about the king’s condition for years now as you do, but… I wasn’t there for him until I heard things got worse. It was my fault for neglecting my responsibilities, and it was my own recklessness that almost got me killed that day…"

She was surprised but soon placed her other hand on mine. And as soon as she opened her mouth to say something to me, the door suddenly opened wide and loudly which made us both quickly look to see the king. He seemed to be very much worried at first and was about to run to us, but quickly he just froze where he stood. He stared at us as we stared back at him for a short yet embarrassing moment of silence that filled the room before he chuckled in an awkward tone and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, I… I’m probably interrupting you two right now. I’ll just visit later on…" he said as he was about to slowly walk backwards, planning on quickly leaving or escaping.

But as soon as I realized what he meant by that, the little misunderstanding, I immediately let go of her hands, got off from my bed, and despite how I just recovered, I didn't waste another second on chasing after him in the hallways while shouting, "H-Hey! Don’t get the wrong idea! We were just talking! Taro! Come back here! Taro!"

Several minutes later after explaining to the king about the misunderstanding, getting a hit from me in the head, and regaining my composure right after, the three of us stayed in the room, talked and had our breakfast that the maids served to us later on. Looking at my reflection in my tea cup, it reminded me of the last breakfast that I had with the king and Garett, and how that turned out in the end. I’m not worried that it would end the same with this one, but I haven't been able to talk to Garett after that terrible morning, and because of the incident with the king, it’s been way too long now.

"Are you in deep thoughts again, Al?" the king asked with a smile with his hand against his cheek. "She told you earlier to not overthink things for now, remember?"

"I remember. But it sounds like that you would want to get hit in the head again."

"No more please. I’ve learned my lesson already…" he said in a whimpering tone while rubbing his head before looking at her. Quickly changing the topic, he then asked her, "How was your mission, Lady Lucerne? Did everything… Did everything go well?"

She nodded happily. "Mhm. Fortunately, the people were very cooperative and helpful so it didn’t take us that much time to do what we must. But even so…" her gaze turned away from us. "... While I was out there, even if it may only be a week, I couldn’t help but think and worry for the people I had left here, especially the two of you…"

The king and I suddenly became quiet in our seats like children being scolded.

It seems that we’ll be moving on to that certain topic now.

She then sighed before placing down her tea cup. "Let us continue this in another time, for now, we should move to the more important topic at hand." She then looked at the king, "When I healed you back to recovery, and checked your stone and your power’s stability, I never expected to sense that much negative energy coming from you before, and not in such a short notice. And I knew since the armlets seemed to have broken only recently... Please, tell me, how were you able to bottle up that much negative emotion for just a couple of days? Was it caused by the last battle? Was there—"

"No! I-I…! It wasn’t… It wasn’t only because of that. There was something else." the king paused, then looked at me for a short moment before looking down at the table. "A couple of days before it was triggered, I invited Alessio and his step-brother, sir Garett, to have breakfast with me one morning. Despite how I was very aware that he doesn’t like me for what I did in the past, I thought I would be able to get along with him by doing that, but… it only made him and Alessio fall apart even more… I’m sorry."

Lady Lucerne became quiet and looked at me but I looked away from her quickly.

"Hmm… sir Garett Rowe." she said, placing her hand on her chin. "We talked a couple of times before, and I noticed how he always had that smile on his face. But I could sense the dangerous— and ever growing hatred inside of him slowly, especially if I ‘accidentally’ mentioned you to him, or bringing up the past… specifically the tragedy," she then looked at the king and placed her hand on top of his. "I do understand what you were trying to do there, Taro… It truly sounds like a wonderful idea, but you need to accept that there will be times where our plans… will not go well as we hoped for."

He slowly nodded. "Yes, you’re right, Lady Lucerne. I’ve come to realize that after some time thinking. And some other kind of realization as well, while I was reminded of the past…" he paused, looking at me while smiling. "It seems that it will take me several years to gain sir Garett’s trust since he is as difficult and stubborn as Alessio was before."

I stared at him for five seconds of silence. Despite keeping himself smiling, he began sweating in uneasiness the more he waited for my response or reaction to that. As if he was expecting me to get mad at him again, but instead I sighed and responded calmly, "Hmph. Good luck with that. He’s more stubborn than I am than you think."

"O-Oh? Is that so?" his words were staggering. "I-I’ll keep that in mind then."

She nodded. "That is good. I am glad that you have understood it. And speaking of… General Amaryllis?" She then turned to look at me. "... If you do not mind me asking— well, I never doubt what powers you uphold, but it did surprise me how you are able to do what you just did to save the king from before. How were you able to do it?"

I stared at them in silence for a short moment before clearing my throat.

"Ah, right. I… I honestly don’t know that I was able to do something like that." I paused as I looked at my hand. "When the king accidentally entrapped me in an inner void of delusions, the Chains of Duress, I thought I was going to fail on my duty, doubted my past choices, and then die there with regret. But she… someone suddenly appeared. She gave me light, warmth, enough strength and power to stand back up and break free from it. I had no thoughts or plan on how to save the king right after— I just acted on instinct. Giving him my hand, I told him that everything will be alright in the end, and from there— I’m not entirely sure what I did, but it miraculously worked, and he finally calmed down… I know this isn’t the kind of response you were expecting—"

"No. Do not worry. I understand…" she said while having her hand on her chin once again before looking at me. "But please, do keep in mind this time, if it happens and I am not around again, do not come in contact with Taro, who has the Stone of Void, while having the Stone of Time with you. The delusions caused by his stone were only supposed to inflict on him, but because you had your stone as well, it affected you too, and was able to make delusions from different timelines for the both of you."

And as I opened my mouth and was about to apologize, she quickly raised her hand, signaling for me to halt from my tracks. "You do not need to apologize for it. You did not know about it at first. As for what or how you are able to save him that time. But unfortunately for us, I do not know the answer to that as well. I do not believe that I had read about it from the book that mother has left for me about the six stones of the realm, or heard about it from the mages who have the element of Light— or Fire even…"

If it wasn’t the power from the Stone of Time or from my element of Fire, then what could it be? It seemed interesting enough to find more about it, but… I paused on that thought before telling her in a reassuring tone, "I see… and it’s alright, Lady Lucerne. I understand. You don’t have to force yourself if you truly don’t know about it. Even if we may not know the answer for now, perhaps we may find it one day from somewhere or from someone else, we’re not the only ones who have the stones of the realm afterall…"

Though, thinking about it, it is such a frightening thought. Still not knowing who has the other three stones even until now, there’s a high possibility that the enemy has them all.

"It would be better if we do know about it early, but I suppose you are right." the king said before soon looking at the door upon hearing a knock from it. "Oh? Come in!"

An unfamiliar maid soon came into the room. Throughout my years serving this kingdom, I never once saw someone like her before. I was only able to recognize her conspicuous long rosy-colored hair, but I wasn’t able to clearly see her face as she immediately bowed down and said, "... My apologies if I am interrupting something, but Queen Guinevere has asked me to tell you to meet her in the library right now…"

The king then blinked twice in surprise and confusion after hearing that.

"O-Oh? Mother is looking for me? That’s… new. But alright, I’ll be there soon."

As he stood up and said those words, the maid had her head lowered during that time before giving another bow, "Of course, Your Highness," and soon left the room.

The king stared at the door before giving a quiet sigh then looked at the two of us with a smile, "It seems that I am needed elsewhere for now, even if I don’t want to leave just yet. Lady Lucerne, General Amaryllis, I’ll leave you two be for the meantime."

"Right, of course. Take care of yourself, your Highness." I said as I nodded at him.

The king gave us one nod and a smile on his face before soon leaving the room, as only the two of us, Lady Lucerne and I, stayed with the heavy silence in the air. I was suddenly at a loss of words on what to say to her, for reasons I wasn’t entirely sure of, when earlier our conversations seemed to go smoothly, well, somewhat smoothly for most of its parts. But looking at her now, with the sunlight shining against her golden long hair, and blue sapphire eyes, she somehow reminds me of someone familiar, but…

"General Amaryllis? Alessio?" I soon heard her say as I noticed her waving her hand in front of my face. "You seemed to be spacing out… Is there something wrong?"

I shook my head. "It’s nothing. I’m just glad that you all arrived safely, my Lady."

She is truly beautiful, it’s mesmerizing, and that is something I cannot deny. A lot of men thought and already told her the same thing before, but she immediately rejected their marriage proposals. But it’s not like I have a plan to do such a silly thing in the future. Furthermore, if she did choose to be with me one day, she would be seen as the wife of a beast, I didn’t want that for her… No, I don’t deserve to be with someone like her.

"Hmm?" I soon felt her gentle hand on the palm of mine, surprising me a bit.

"Alessio…" she began, which made me quickly look at her and saw her flushing red face. "I had thought about things, while you were unconscious for a couple of days… I know how you may not like making promises, and it would be selfish of me to be asking you this— foolish of me even to think that it is possible to be kept, but…" as she slowly moved her hand away from mine, I saw the Stone of Time in the palm of my hand before looking back at her once again as she continued, "... May you stay being the guardian of this stone?... Despite knowing the risk, and what it might cost you one day."

I stared at her for a short moment before looking back at the Stone of Time in my hand then asked, "What if… I no longer wanted to be the owner of the stone anymore?"

"Well, I will keep the Stone of Time with me, along with the Stone of Space that I already have." she said, pointing to the blue stone that embedded on the upper chest part of her dress. "As dangerous as it may be, I truly do not mind. I had already expected the risks of it all… Afterall, as the daughter of the once Great Sorceress, who created the six stones of the realm, it is my responsibility now as well…" she then looked down on the table. "... But of course, what may be your decision in the end, I would respect it."

I began to stare down at the stone in my hand and think about it thoroughly, The Stone of Time… The only reason I had this in the first place was because of a certain friend of mine in the past who gave this to me as a gift… It is a gift. Despite how I may complain at times about its drawbacks, because of the curse the Sorceress has cast on it before, I still continue on using it, to help more on defending the people in this kingdom, and to remember where I once came from to get this far in life… As I made my final choice, I clenched my hand into a fist before looking at her to see her surprised face then looked back at me.

"It’s true that I may have made countless mistakes in my life already, but if you are giving me a choice to change my fate forever, then I would rather choose not to change anything. Only then, perhaps making this mistake of a decision of mine would let you have a choice to change yours." I responded as I placed the Stone of Time back to my tie. "If it will lessen the weight of burden from the duty that was set for you, and if it is my fate to be the owner of this stone, then I will continue to be so until the end."

After giving my proper response, she stared at me in silence for quite some time. I then looked away after a while, thinking that perhaps it wasn’t the answer she was expecting from me, but in an unexpected glimpse of time, I heard her chair suddenly fall backwards as she stood up, ran towards me, and felt her warm embrace.

W-What? Why would she… I sat there frozen on my seat. Unable to think straight of what just happened, but soon after I heard her sigh in relief and said, "It seems that… mother was right on her prediction of us meeting afterall… You truly are such a stubborn man. But even so, that’s what I…" she chose not to finish her sentence as she then slowly broke the hug, and looked at me with a smile on her face. "If that is your final decision, like I said earlier, I would respect that… And I suppose that would mean as well that you would keep your promise of staying as the guardian of the Stone of Time… as well as sharing each other’s secrets and burdens from now on... Am I wrong?"

I shook my head. "Despite not knowing fully of what the future may hold for all of us, for you, that’s certainly a promise that I will try my best to keep and not to break."

"I’m glad to hear that. And I suppose I should do the same for you, and keep my part of the promise…" she said with such a comforting smile but the last part left me confused. And as I was about to ask her about it, she suddenly began walking away but soon stopped as she seemed to remember something. Without looking at me, she said in a low voice which froze me where I stood, "... But please, Alessio, as much as you care more for those people around you, do not forget about caring for yourself too, alright?"

I was silent for a few seconds but I gave her a hesitant nod then watched her soon leave the room. For a moment there, after hearing her say those last sentences, it sounded right yet it felt so wrong. Even if I told her my choice, and she told me that she would respect my decision, twice even, those last words she told me seemed that she wished that I would have chosen a different path instead, but I didn’t. Or perhaps I could just be overthinking it, I could be wrong about it, and she does truly care for me.

It seemed that even until now, I still couldn’t read you afterall… Rachelle…