“Ugh, seriously, screw these damned tides!” Cecily gagged out her seasickness as I temporarily held Cene for her, “How much longer until we make it to the island?”

“Calm down, we’re almost there.”

“Ugh, got any snorting alcohol?” She put her hand out towards me.

Tilting my head, I genuinely didn’t know what she meant by that. I don’t remember ever bringing such a thing, nor have I ever even seen it in any of Miss Harper’s cabinets. An alcohol that you… snort? Am I getting that right?

“Ugh, never mind.” She then peeked over the edge of the ship, “Blergh!”

“Whoa, hold it!” I went to drag her back towards the deck, “Don’t go acting like Grim all of a sudden! What if you fell?!”

“I can swim, don’t, ugh, worry…” She took some water we had packed in advance to wash away the vomit, “They say throwing up helps alleviate seasickness.”

“Well I’m a Doctor’s intern, and I’ll have you know that right now you need to rest!” I took her inside, “In here, you probably won’t be as nauseous, plus you can take care of Cene that way so that he doesn’t throw up as well.”

“Right, about that…” She took Cene from my arms and took a good hard look at him, “How come I’m over here dying from seasickness, while this little guy doesn’t even feel the difference between the tides and my rocking?”

“I thought the same thing a couple minutes ago. The tides were pretty calm the whole ride here, but suddenly now that we’re approaching land, it’s all out of whack. Still, he must be a pretty tough nut if he doesn’t get agitated by this.”

Honestly, I didn’t like the idea of taking such a young baby on a perilous trip across the seas one bit, but I guess it’s still safer than having these two stay back in a battlefield. Actually, there were moments when he seemed so calm that I even thought he had died in my very arms. Man would I feel bad if that happened, but a quick yawn or cry were all that I needed to reassure me the little guy is doing just fine. Really, the resemblance between Cene and Lune are astounding, it’s kind of uncanny…

“Oh! There’s the island!” She pointed through the window, “Alright Ed, steer us that a’ way!”

About twenty more minutes of slowly but steadily inching towards the Lichtenstelle dock, with Cecily getting more and more antsy about the entire debacle, and we finally managed to successfully dock the ship. Now all we needed to do was carry Grim’s casket and all of our stuff out and we’ll be done, but we’ll get someone to help us with that at a later time, for now though…

“Who could that be?” Anna nudged the ginger-haired girl with a bob-cut that was standing next to her, “Is that your mommy and uncle, perhaps? Come on, let’s go say hi to them!”

“Mommy!” Nelly immediately went to hug her, not even minding her younger brother at all, “And uncle, it’s been so long!”

Wait a second, has it already been this long since I last saw her? She was only just under four when I last saw her, and now look at how much she’s grown! Honestly, had it not been for Anna spelling it out, there’s a possibility I might not have even recognized her! Well, that might be stretching it a bit, given she’s the only ginger-haired girl on the island.

“Hey kiddo!” I hugged her back, “Haven’t seen you in a while!”

“Uncle, look! I made sure to brush my teeth every day just like you told me to!” She showed me a glistening white smile, “No cavities for me!”

“Whoa, and you learned your R’s! Congrats kid!” I suddenly donned a mischievous yet smug smile, “Heh, I’m sure the guy you’re interested in is gonna be so happy to hear that~!”

“Gasp! Mom, did you tell him about Meil?!” She berated her mother with a flushed expression, “U-Uncle! Please don’t tell him that, okay?! I want him to be just as surprised as you when we reunite!”

“…Eh, ha-ha…” I turned to a giggling Cecily, “B-By Meil, she couldn’t mean…?”

“Yeah, it’s a long story…” She sighed, “But never mind that! Nelly, are you purposefully ignoring this little bundle of joy in my arms or are you genuinely that starstruck? Come say hi to your little brother Cene!”

“Oh. My. God.” Anna nabbed him from Cecily’s arms without a second thought, “He is soooo cute! You said Cene was his name? It’s so funny, just like Nelly’s name! N’aww, he’s playing with my breasts! Now, now, no milk will come out no matter how hard you try…”

Hastily swiping Cene back from the titty-monster Anna’s embrace, I could feel an intense glare emanating from the lesser-than-average Cecily’s frame. Even still, taking a look at Cene as he clasped his tiny mitts a couple more times as if desperately trying to recall the sensation of copping a feel, I could easily tell just how disappointed he was that the moment was over all too quickly. Listen kid, I’ll forgive you this time since you’re just a baby and don’t know any better, but you gotta remember that Anna’s mine-OI DID YOU JUST SMIRK AT ME YOU LITTLE SHIT?!

“I... don’t like how you’re carrying him.” Cecily shook her head at Anna, “Cene’s still a delicate little baby boy, and your… energy is too big for him. Please refrain from carrying him around so haphazardly.”

”Whaat~? Come on, girl! You can’t be serious!” Anna got all sad, “Ed, tell her I’m not a threat to Cene! Come on, I’m the best auntie ever!”

“Yeah…” I once again glanced at Cene’s rather aggravating smirk, “I think you should leave taking care of Cene to Cecily. He gets all sad when he’s not around his mother for too long.”

Seeing how I read the room and responded adequately, Cecily gave me an all too thankful smile, meanwhile I would probably have to endure Anna’s harsh punishment for this at a later date. That being said, I feel like I’m forgetting something.

“So Cene, eh?” Anna donned a melancholic look, “I bet the only dork who could’ve thought of such a unique name was Lune, right?”

“Ah.” Both Cecily and I suddenly remembered one of our primary goals for coming here, “About that…”

***

Hastily climbing atop the ship alone together, Cecily and I had to conduct an emergency meeting about this little issue. On one hand, we need to tell them about Grim’s death eventually, but on the other hand we really don’t want to be the bearers of bad news!

“How do we tell them!?” I whispered to Cecily, “Do we just rip it off quick like a bandaid or do we take it slow?”

“Beats me! You’re the one who has the experience for this type of stuff!” She whispered back in a panic, “I’m sure the adults will understand, but what do we do about Nelly? Do we just lie and say he stayed back to fight with Meil and the others?”

“We can’t do that!” I hit Grim’s cloth-covered casket as if it were a fine table, “Ack, sorry bud…”

She kind of glared at me with a “Really? Did you have to do that just now?” face, but I’m sure Grim didn’t feel that at all, so I just continued on with the conversation, acting as if it never happened.

“Eh?” Nelly popped up from in between my legs, “What’s this? Looks expensive.”

“Nelly, don’t touch…!” We yelled as fast as we could, but she already took the cloth away, revealing a large human-sized wooden casket with Grim’s name engraved on it, “…that.”

“Eh?” She looked at the engravings carefully, “W-Why is dad’s name on this?”

“You guys! Sorry, but Nelly took advantage of me watching Cene to climb aboard the ship, even though you told me not to!” Anna climbed aboard as well right before reading the engravings too, “What the fu…?”

“We…” I tried finding a way to properly start this whole spiel off, “We tried to find an… adequate way to ease you all into this but…”

“Nelly, your dad is dead.” Cecily squatted down to meet her daughter’s Eye-level, “Now you can take this as a test, or you can…”

“Bwaaaahhh~!” She cried out, “Dead? Like, not coming back dead? Dad can’t be dead! He’s dad!”

“Nelly…”

“I don’t believe you, I wanna see him!” She tried opening the casket with her tiny little arms, but to no avail.

“Nelly! Stop it this instant!” Cecily reprimanded her, only for the little girl to talk back to her for the very first time.

“Shut up!” Nelly yelled with tears in her Eyes, “I don’t care! Is it so difficult for you to let me see him?! I-I know! If I learn Heal like him, then I can just revive him, right?! Hmmmm…! Hrng…!”

“Nelly.” I lifted her from the ground to properly see his casket from my point of view, “Under this small piece of wood, your father is resting. He can’t wake up, but I can assure you that he’s resting.”

“No! He CAN still wake up! I just know it!” She tried pushing herself off of me, but my strength proved too good for her to do that.

“Listen well.” I put her down calmly, “If you want to take a look at him, I’ll open the casket for you.”

“What?!” Anna and Cecily suddenly interjected, “Ed, what the hell are you saying?! She’ll be traumatized!”

“I didn’t ask you!” I shouted back, “Nelly! Think hard about this! If you want to see him, you must absolutely tell me you’re ready to live with that image in your head for the rest of your life! Otherwise, we’ll leave it at that!”

This was it. Her ultimatum. I know I’m being harsh on a young girl, but even still, I can’t just leave her like this. For such an important moment in her life, she ought to make the decision herself. If we as adults shield her from this, then she’ll forever despise us for it. On the other hand though, making it her choice will show me if she was raised well or not. It all rests on this very moment…!

“Gulp…” She inched her tiny palm closer to the wooden casket, brushing it lightly, gently, as if she didn’t want to somehow break it, before sighing and backing off, “D-Dad… Dad should rest…!”

Barely mustering the strength to even finish her sentence, she started bawling her Eyes out without even an ounce of childishness left in her. Without a doubt, I can tell that whatever it is that these two did during her childhood, it proved to have made her tougher than most kids her age. In truth, if she had said she wanted me to open it, I would have just taken her away from the casket forcefully and endured her eternal hatred towards me, but it seems there was no need for that. She’s a smart girl, smart enough to know the consequences of rash actions based off of a stroke of passion. Right, she isn’t at all like Grim, she’s better.

“Let’s…” Anna uttered with tears in her Eyes, “Let’s head inside. A storm is coming, we don’t wanna get wet.”

“Right.” Cecily picked up Nelly into her arms, despite how big she’s gotten, “Let’s go inside. We need to tell the others how much of a big girl you were today.”

“I don’t care about being a big girl!” Nelly cried into her mother’s loving embrace, “I only care about dad, dammit!”

“He’s…” I wanted to say with his kids now, but realized how god-awful that’d sound for her, so I refrained, “He’s up there.”

“Up where?” Nelly sniffled as she followed where I had my finger pointed.

“Heaven.” My voice cracked as I stifled my tears for just a bit more, “A place where the Gods take you when your life ends.”

“Is it a happy place?” Nelly tilted her head.

“Of course it is, dear.” Cecily smiled warmly at her, “It’s an amazing place, and I’m sure he’s probably busying himself there with your uncle Carter even as we speak, solving mysteries and uncovering secrets!”

“Hehe, sounds fun!” She finally cracked a short and equally weak smile, “That means I’ll get to meet them one day again…”

Looking at each other as we slowly made our way to the prison where everyone else was, the three of us chose to let her continue living with that idea festering in her head. Obviously, none of us know for sure if Heaven exists or not, but since Cecily and I both chose to believe in it to ease our pain, I’m sure there’s no harm in letting Nelly in on it as well. It seems Nelly’s grown from a little girl to a young lady all too quickly, but that is a burden that she herself must learn to bear. We’ve done all we could for her.