Chapter XLVIII

“So that was him, huh? Abigail’s son?”

“Yes, it must have been. After all, I’m absolutely certain that it wasn’t Album, and Lilly seemed to believe him when he called out to her, so I guess there was more going on in Ijiria than we expected. Who would have guessed that Eric Reiner would make a move as bold as that one.”

“It was so bold, in fact, that I highly doubt he could have done it alone. Even if he was welcomed into the Citadel with open arms, there isn’t a chance in hell that he ever would have been allowed to get to the Vault. In the first place, he’d have to have been a guide, and who in their right mind would have given him guideship?”

“Well, the only one who would have ever done such a thing would be Liri . She would have certainly been an ally to the boy once he arrived in Ijiria, and I wouldn’t put it past her and Kumo to protect him, especially considering what Nigreos and Album became. In the end, I could see Liri and Kumo really wanting to stop them.”

“It truly is a tragedy. I had hoped that the line of Noctis monsters would have come to an end with Nigreos. Though, in a way, I guess it did, just not how I imagined it would.”

“How do you feel, knowing he’s dead now?”

“I don’t feel a thing. I’ve long since severed myself from him and become my own entity. I imagine the same applies to you?”

“Oh, of course, but then again, I’m not the one who killed Album. I was merely an observer, watching as the body of Album crumbled before me. I never even got to see the horrible woman she became and for that, I’m lucky. I much prefer ignorance.”

“Of course you would. Very well, I suppose there’s no reason to think about it anymore. With Nigreos and Album dead, we simply need to rely on Abi’s boy to handle things on that end. And after what we’ve witnessed today, I have faith in him.”

“Yes, as do I.”

***

Lilly’s eyes slowly flickered open as the voices in her head quieted down, as if realizing she was now awake and could hear what they were talking about. She only caught the back end of their conversation as she slowly arrived in consciousness, but she hadn’t been awake enough to fully process what they were saying, and when they didn’t say anything further, she decided it wasn’t worth considering. If The Angel didn’t want to tell her something, then it wouldn’t. Her head was pounding and as she glanced around the room she was in, everything was blurry. She figured it probably had to do with the headache, so she pushed herself to a sitting position and placed her hands on her temples.

Where am I? What happened?

“The erased realm fell, Harper. Your little club won.”

It took her a moment to fully process what the Voice of Darkness said, but when it did, she immediately pushed past the pain in her head and jumped to her feet, desperate to take in her surroundings. She had to make sure she wasn’t back in that room in Ijiria because if she was, then the fighting was far from over. However, for the first time in a very long time, magic went in her favor, and as she scanned the room, she found herself in Eric’s bedroom back in Wilham. It didn’t look as if it had been used in a long time and was lit by a single lamp in the back of the room. The bed was perfectly made and there was a thin layer of dust on the desk and the various other surfaces. Yet, even knowing what those implications could mean, she still found a powerful wave of relief flooding through her.

I’m back. This place isn’t fake, it’s…real. It’s actually Wilham. It’s not made of magic or memories or any other bullshit!

She gently put her hands over her mouth and smiled, feeling tears already welling up in her eyes. They actually did it. Against all odds, they broke down the erased realm and escaped the inescapable prison. And…

Angel… Things got kinda dark in the end and I don’t remember it all. What happened to Nigreos? Did he survive?

“No, he didn’t. Scott’s trick actually worked. The two of you were able to strike him with the bullet and, with his magic depleted, Eric kept him distracted long enough for us to deal the final blow. We killed him, Harper. Nigreos Noctis can never hurt you again.”

Ah…so it was us…

There was a slight churn in her stomach knowing that she had taken a life with her own hands, but she was able to force it back down as she reminded herself of the many lives that would have been lost had the Master of Darkness lived any longer. The blood on her hands was a small price to pay to save everybody else.

She thought back to those final moments after she destroyed the mana port. As Eric and Nigreos continued their fight, she knew she needed to do something, but her strength had reached its limit and Nigreos was too focused on defense for them to get a clean shot in with the guns. But in the end, Scott had figured out a plan.

“Harper! Is there anything you can do that might help us break past him!” he had said. “If we can just get one bullet in, we can turn this around! Could you maybe speed the bullet up somehow?”

The Angel had known a spell, and when Rista came to their aid and they got an opening, Lilly infused the bullet Scott shot with light magic, increasing its speed so that it could strike Nigreos before he even realized he was being attacked.

And in the end, that had been what inevitably beat him. With his magic weakened, there was nothing he could do against Eric and The Angel. And now he’s dead.

She lowered her eyes to stare at her left arm, which was once again made of flesh and blood rather than the black magic that had recreated it back there. Her body might have reverted back to its original state but the pain remained in her memories, and she couldn’t help but wince at the thought of it blowing off again. The erased realm had given her something to fall back on when she used The Angel’s power, but that wouldn’t apply to the real world. If she was ever forced to use it again, the damage would be permanent.

So let’s hope I never have to fight again. Abigail was right. This thing is far too dangerous to be used multiple times. Hell, I only unleashed it twice and I was minutes away from death. Those wounds cannot be healed, so it’s best that The Angel stay locked away for good.

“As much as I hate to agree with you, you aren’t wrong,” the Voice of Darkness said. “It seems your magicless body is even less compatible with our power. However, Harper, should there ever come a time when you need us, we will be here. Our contract makes you our host until the day you die, so until then, we will be at your disposal.”

Lilly smiled bitterly, finding both comfort and concern at the thought of having The Angel within her for the rest of her life. Well, thanks, I suppose. And I guess I might have to use you again if Album comes after us, but—

“Oh, don’t worry about her. Eric has killed her, so Album will not be a problem ever again. The only fear I have is that other Masters might come to finish what they started, but something tells me that they’ll be too busy in Ijiria to care about a few magicless individuals.”

Lilly just listened with her mouth slightly open, baffled. Album’s…dead, too? But how? I don’t…?

“We’ll explain it another time, but let’s just say your little gemstone came in handy for Eric.”

Even with that vague response, Lilly quickly understood what the voice was implying. The Assassination Stone, huh? So that’s what it did…

“Anyway, I imagine you have to make some calls, yes? The others should have woken up by now!”

At the prompting of Light, Lilly went to reach for her pocket where her phone should be before stopping and frowning. She still didn’t have a single clue what the world would be like in the aftermath of her return, but she did remember that when she was erased, her phone wasn’t on her. Nigreos and Album had attacked the apartment so suddenly and so, she hadn’t had time to grab it first. If she reformed in the real world the same way she left it then she shouldn’t have had it with her. Yet, just one look at herself told her that she hadn’t returned the way she left it. Her clothes were perfectly normal, without a single tear on them, and her body wasn’t covered in the wounds from battle. In addition, she could feel the weight of her phone in her pocket.

What the hell…?

She reached in and grabbed it, trying to wrap her head around what might have happened, before deciding that she could deal with it later. Her first priority would be to call the others. Knowing that Damien and Liz had been with Natalie the night they were erased, her first instinct was to give them a call and make sure the little girl was safe. After waiting quietly for Liz to pick up, she let out a breath of relief when the ringing stopped and the frantic greeting of her friend came through.

“Lilly! Thank god, you’re okay. This means you’re in Wilham, right?”

Lilly smiled, grateful to hear the girl’s voice. “Yeah, I’m in Wilham. I’m actually in Eric’s room right now, though it doesn’t sound like anybody’s home. What about you guys? Are Damien and Natalie with you?”

“Yeah, they are,” Liz confirmed, once again easing Lilly’s nerves. “And they’re both fine. We’re on the first floor of your apartment so if you want to come meet us, we can wait for you. Though, we’re still not sure how our reappearance is gonna affect everything. Oh, and also,” she added, as if remembering something important. “Damien’s already calling Vinny. Apparently, he’s at Ralph’s Diner right now, and while he’s a little disoriented, he says he’s okay.”

Lilly frowned and pulled her phone from her ear to quickly check the time. It was apparently seven-thirty in the evening on the same day it had been back in the erased realm.

So Omaruo and the realm were running at the same time. Interesting…

“Wait, so if Vinny’s at the diner, then did the customers see him reappear or…?”

At Lilly’s question, Liz paused and sounded like she was talking to Damien. After another moment, her voice became clearer and she replied, “Vinny says it didn’t seem like anybody noticed anything odd. In fact, a server came up to him and delivered him food that he doesn't remember ordering.”

“So…he just popped back into existence and nobody batted an eye?” she inquired.

“I guess so, though it’s not too surprising if you think about it. I mean, we were erased from the world without anybody noticing so that must mean we can come back the same way.”

Taking in Liz’s hypothesis about their return, Lilly realized that there could be some merit to that. Every time Album erased somebody, Wilham was altered to make it so that each victim never existed in the first place. If erased magic could create a world where somebody didn’t exist then maybe it could create one where they always had. Maybe the magic would fill in the gaps for the time they were gone and they would just be able to go back to their lives like nothing happened. Though, to Lilly, that almost seemed too convenient considering the hell magic had already put them through.

“Alright, I guess I’ll meet you guys back at the apartment. Wait for me there and I’ll try to get a hold of the others,” Lilly told her friend, then after a quick goodbye, she hung up.

From the sound of it, we’re all returning to the places where Album infused us with magic. That means that Brad, Evan, and Jay are probably in the woods right now and Alice would be on my balcony. However…

Lilly paused and tightened her lips in thought. When they were erased, Alice and Jay were missing and the town feared they were dead. How would their return factor into the circumstances that preceded their disappearance?

Damn it, I guess there’s not really anything we can do at this point. Whatever happens will happen so I just need to make sure everybody’s okay.

With one last glance around the bedroom, her thoughts briefly shifting to Eric, Lilly turned and exited the room. But after only taking a few steps into the darkened hall, she stopped and felt her instincts go on alert at the sound of a key turning in front door just up ahead, and moments after, she heard it push open. Her first thought was that somebody was coming for her, but after reminding herself not to be too paranoid, she realized that if a key had been used then there was only one person it could be.

“Scott?” she called out softly as she rounded the corner and came to the front door.

The man standing there stopped in surprise, but his suspicious glare quickly relaxed as he realized who she was. Scott Reiner chuckled to himself and closed the door behind him, his clothes also different from what she would have expected. He wore a suit and tie, as well as some nice shoes, making her wonder if he had been coming home from work. Or at the very least, that was the scenario their return had created for him.

“What the hell are you doing in here, Harper?” he asked with a wry look. “Don’t tell me you got erased in my damn house?”

Lilly shrugged as she grinned at the man, happy to know that he had made it back safely as well. “Well, it was the last place Eric and I could go after my apartment was attacked. Not like it did us much good though, but regardless, I’m just happy I reformed here and not in Ijiria. Where the hell were you?”

Scott snorted. “I was in the middle of the damn street.”

“Why? I’m assuming you remember it all now, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” he grunted. “I remember it all. After Davens was killed, Eric told me everything, and I knew that it was hopeless. My serum wasn’t done yet and so, I had no way to protect my son. I figured we were all doomed to be erased, so I bet everything on the chance that we might be able to escape from inside. I went after Nigreos myself and got erased. I’m not sure what I was hoping for, but it seems you were the one who saved everything.”

She regarded him with an exasperated expression, realizing just how much this man had been willing to go through. “You got erased on purpose? Jeez, you really are lucky I was there or else you’d have been stuck there forever.”

“Yes, I really am,” he muttered. “I owe you one, Harper. Eric found himself a real nice girl.”

She felt her cheeks turning a soft red, and she could tell that he meant what he said. Scott no longer had that angry and bitter look that she had always seen on him. Instead, it was as if he had found peace—like his mission had finally ended.

“I got him,” Scott went on with a distant smile. “I may not have killed him, and I might not have been able to fight him, but my bullet struck home. My serum…played a role in killing Nigreos Noctis, and I will forever be grateful for that. It’s finally over… After all this time… I just hope…I’ll get to see my boy again. I want to make it all up to him, if he'll let me.”

Lilly laughed softly. “You’ll see him again. Eric’s always been able to pull off miracles. One way or another, he’ll come home, and if the two of you just talk to each other, I think you’ll be able to start repairing your relationship. And don’t worry, if he doesn’t want to hear you out for whatever reason, I’ll talk to him myself.”

She gave him an assuring thumbs-up and the man just chuckled. “I appreciate that, Harper. But anyway, we can talk another time. You seem like you have somewhere you need to be. So get going. Go check on everybody.”

“Okay. Take care, Scott. And thank you, too.”

With one last smile, she rushed past him and out into the night air of the neighborhood before making a sharp turn and breaking into a sprint in the direction of her apartment building. All at once, she took in the quiet town around her, having never thought she would be so happy to see it. It was real this time. She was no longer looking at a copy, but the real place, and even though it didn’t look any different from the erased realm, she could feel how real it was. The smells of the night and the cool summer air had a different tone that the realm just couldn’t replicate, and it was such a surreal feeling.

I really am home…

As she ran, she was already considering who to call when she realized that she didn’t have Evan’s number and she couldn’t be sure if Jay even had a phone, so she instead decided to call Brad, hoping that he had found the other two.

“Lilly?!” the boy exclaimed barely two seconds after she had called him. “Are you okay?! What happened on your end?!”

The concern in his voice was comforting and she knew she needed to quickly calm him down. “Everything’s okay, Brad. We did it. Yeah, there was a problem on our side, but we handled it. Everybody’s okay, as far as I know.”

“But what happened?” he pressed. “Rista said you guys should have beaten your port first, so when ours went down and you still hadn’t finished, he went off to find you.”

Rounding another corner, Lilly considered the question, knowing that it wasn’t something she could explain in a quick answer. “I’ll give you a longer explanation another time, but let’s just say that Nigreos showed up right as we got to the beach.”

“What?! But then—”

“And we killed him,” she interrupted firmly. “Yes, it was unexpected, but in the end, it worked out. Nigreos and Album are both dead, so we don’t need to worry about them again.”

“Nigreos…and Album,” he parroted, clearly struggling to take in the sudden news she was presenting him.

“Now, I promise to tell you everything the first chance I get, but I need you to go find Evan and Jay and make sure they’re okay,” she said. “They should have both reappeared back at the cabin where the mana port was. I’ve already made sure the club and Natalie are okay, so I need to check on them now.”

“R-right…” Lilly could hear the emotion and confusion in his voice, but he must have known how important it was to check on everybody because he didn’t press her any further. “Okay, yeah, fine. But when we get everybody together, you clearly have a lot of explaining to do. And what about Mendez and Rista? Where are they reappearing?”

“Alice should be at my apartment,” she answered. “And Rista…”

Just as she was about to continue, it suddenly struck Lilly what that answer was, and she came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. She hadn’t really given it a lot of thought before then, but now that it had happened, she realized just what it meant.

“Rista’s…back in Ijiria,” Lilly responded softly. “We’re not going to find him here.”

“O-oh… Okay then. Well, I’m glad he was able to get home then. Maybe he’ll be able to find his family.”

“Yeah, I hope so…” she whispered.

“Alright, I’ll go find Brooks and Evan. Good luck, Lilly! Bye!”

As Brad hung up the phone, Lilly just stood there in silence and slowly lowered it from her ear. She was happy that Rista wasn’t going to be stuck in Omaruo, but at the same time…

I never got to say goodbye…

***

Lilly arrived in the lobby of her apartment barely ten minutes later and when she did, she stopped and hurriedly scanned the room. Aside from Mr. Esteban at the front desk, the only other people there were sitting on the couches on the left side of the room. The moment she entered, Damien and Liz glanced back at her and jumped to their feet, immediately followed by Natalie.

“Lilly!” her clubmates exclaimed, pure relief in their eyes as the three of them looked at each other. She wanted to rush over and embrace them both, but first, she crossed the room, knelt down beside the little girl, and threw her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

“Told you I’d see you again,” she whispered with a grin.

Natalie’s body was shaking and she could hear soft sobs as the girl clutched her back tightly, as if fearing she was going to disappear.

“Lilly… Thank you for coming home. I love you…”

“I love you, too, Nat’.”

They just hugged in silence for a few moments, allowing Natalie to cry while Lilly gently ran her fingers through her hair and assured her that she was safe. And as much as she wanted to be with Damien and Liz, she knew that they could spend time together after everything was resolved.

“I’ve got everything handled here,” she told them. “I’ll take Natalie back to Renee and I’ll check on Alice, so if you could go find Vinny, that’d be great. Call me once you do.”

“Okay, gotcha,” Damien said without protest, and after both of them gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, they rushed from the apartment and turned in the direction of Main Street.

“Alright, let’s take you back to your Mom before she gets worried, if she isn’t already,” she said to Natalie. “I’ll come see you in the morning, if I can. You good with that?”

The girl nodded without breaking the hug. “Okay. I do want to see my real mom. And I want everybody to be okay.”

Once again assuring her that it would be alright, Lilly took Natalie’s hand and led her to the elevator, then pushed the button that would take them to the Hills’ floor. From what Vinny said about the diner, she was starting to wonder if the world really had screwed with everybody’s memories to make it so that they never disappeared, but that was still only their hope. She would truly find out when she arrived at Renee’s. If the woman reacted as if Natalie had been gone for months then she and the others would have a far more difficult time returning to their lives. But if she greeted Natalie as if she’d seen her earlier that day, then they might not have to do anything. These thoughts caused her heart to beat faster and faster, and by the time they reached Natalie’s apartment door and knocked, Lilly felt herself getting sick with anticipation. She heard the lock turning, followed by the opening of the door, and there stood the real Renee Hill.

“Ah, welcome back, girls,” she greeted cheerfully. “How was your walk?”

Renee’s smile was warm as she looked between them, and as all the tension left Lilly’s body, she found herself on the verge of falling down. Luckily, Natalie was quick to salvage the situation.

“It was really nice! I love walking around in summer. Everything smells so good!”

Renee laughed. “Well that’s good. But now you’ve got to come in and eat your dinner. Make sure you thank Lilly first.”

Natalie nodded firmly and directed her head toward Lilly. “Thank you, Lilly!”

She said it with the enthusiasm she normally had, but there was a meaning behind those words that Renee hadn’t picked up on. The emotion Natalie was hiding so as to not worry her mother was clear and Lilly knew she had to pull herself together.

“Of course, Nat’. Any time.”

She patted the girl on the head and said goodbye as Natalie walked into the apartment and disappeared. Lilly and Renee both wished each other good night before the woman closed the door and left Lilly standing alone out in the hallway. She took a handful of deep breaths then turned and headed back to the elevator.

“Well, that’s certainly interesting. So that’s how this all works? Though, I suppose Tao had a point. If it can alter the world to get rid of you, it can alter it to put you back. Congratulations, Harper. It seems your work here is done.”

Yeah…it seems so…

Continuing to calm her beating heart, Lilly rode the elevator up to her own floor, ready to see her real family again for the first time since April. When it reached her floor, she picked up her pace and was almost running until she got to her apartment. Unfortunately, the erased realm didn’t put her back with her keys, so she had to knock. But this time, there was no fear or apprehension. She was just excited to see her mother and father.

“Lilly? Did you forget your keys or something?”

When the door opened, her dad was standing there, grinning with exasperation. It was actually him. For so long, her focus had been only on saving everybody and getting out of the erased realm, but now that she had finally done so, she realized just how many emotions she had been suppressing the entire time. She had missed her family more than she allowed herself to know, so seeing her father there, smiling like he always did, was enough for her to finally drop the walls on her emotions.

Lilly rushed forward and threw her arms around him, already crying as she put her head against his chest.

“Dad,” she sobbed. “I missed you so much. God, I missed you.”

“Woah, Lilly? What’s the matter, Sweetheart? What happened? You just saw me earlier!”

She could tell he was confused but she no longer had the strength to explain anything. All she wanted to do was hug him and cry. She had blocked her emotions off for so long, and now that it was over, she just wanted to revert to a child and be comforted by her parents.

“David, what’s going on?” came the sound of her mother’s voice.

“Um, I don’t know. She just started crying. I swear I didn’t do anything!”

Immediately, Lilly released one hand from her dad and wrapped it around her mom, pulling them both close. She knew she was being selfish by worrying them like that, but she couldn’t help it. And despite their confusion, they must have understood that all she needed was affection because they didn’t question her any further, instead just hugging her back and being there for her. Though, her father did add one thing.

“Your friend’s visiting, by the way,” he said awkwardly, as if wanting to let her know but not knowing how to say it.

For a moment, she opened her eyes and looked over their shoulders to where Alice was sitting quietly by the sliding glass door, which, she noted, was completely different from what she remembered, implying that they must have fixed the damage the Ijirians caused sometime during their erasure. Alice was once again in her wheelchair, but she was smiling and when the two girls looked at each other, Alice just nodded.

As much as Lilly wanted the moment to last longer, when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, she knew she had to pick it up since it was probably from Brad or Liz.

“Sorry, give me a second,” she said softly to her parents. “And sorry for breaking down so suddenly. I don’t know what that was about.”

“Well, Sweetie,” her mother replied. “Are you sure nothing happened? Are you stressed about something or…?”

Lilly just stared down at the screen of her phone as it continued to buzz, and a broad smile formed on her lips as she read the name of the caller.

“No…I actually couldn’t be happier.”

Lilly answered the call and put it to her ear and was immediately greeted with a panicked voice.

“Lilly?! Oh my god, are you okay?! What happened?! Are you safe?! I was just sitting in my dorm room when I got to thinking about home, and then I suddenly thought about you and realized that I had forgotten you and I didn’t know what happened and I was terrified that you were dead or that the magic people had gotten you and I didn’t know what to do and I think I’ve worried my roommate but I just had to call you and make sure everything was okay!”

The rambling of her older sister caused more emotion to break through, and even though there was so much she wanted to say, Lilly knew she had to reassure her first.

“Alexa…we’re home. We won.”

***

Eric soured across the rooftops of Wilham, his destination the place he knew Lilly would have reappeared. After saying goodbye to the Children of Reiner and going through the portal, he had once again found himself on the beach where they first found the stone, though this time, it was the real one. There was so much he needed to do and so many people to see, but after Ryokumo assured him that Lilly wasn’t in the portal room, he knew he had to make sure she was alive first. She had been in such terrible condition when he left the erased realm and so, it was crucial that he get to her soon and heal her if she needed it. Album had gotten her while they were still at his house, so if she reappeared anywhere, it would be there. As he ran, he took in the sights of his hometown around him, knowing that once he had calmed his nerves, he would be able to truly process the feeling of home. Wilham was just as he left it, or at least on the surface.

But I’ll enjoy it all later. First…

Using magic to slow his descent, Eric landed on the driveway of his home and rushed toward the front door. He didn’t know what he would find there after having been gone for so long. His father had been erased and Eric had vanished. The people of the town wouldn’t have forgotten him, so it was possible that the house was taken and sold to somebody else. Yet that didn’t change the fact that Lilly would be inside, so to him, he would deal with whatever he was faced with. Casting a brief spell to unlock the door, he swung it open and hurried inside.

“Lilly?!” he exclaimed, finding the hallway dark and the house silent. It didn’t sound like anybody was home, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still in the bedroom. “Lilly, are you here?! Are you—?!”

He was frantically calling out to her as he rushed inside, but when he passed by the open door to the family room, he stopped and did a double take, having spotted a figure in the corner of his vision. For a moment, he just stared at the man in shock as he slowly rose from the tattered armchair, his expression just as stunned.

“D-dad?” Eric stuttered. “You’re…here?”

His father’s mouth opened to speak, but he appeared so thrown off by his sudden arrival, as well as by the Ijirian-style clothing he was still dressed in, that he must not have known what to say. “Er, Eric… You’re home already? Uh, Harper already left. She was here but she went to check on the others.”

“She was here? And was she okay? I mean, how injured was she?!” he quickly asked.

Scott shook his head. “Oh, she was okay. It seems that whatever happened to her in the erased realm was undone by her reappearance. She’s alive and healthy, Eric. You don’t have to worry about her. Though, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see you. She was so worried…”

Eric let out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that Lilly was okay. He placed his hand against his heart, feeling it pounding so hard that he wondered if his dad could hear it. His immediate instinct was to go find her, but as he took in the sight of his father before him, he realized that he couldn’t just ignore the man and go running after his friends. After all, his dad had been there in the erased realm with the club, and he had been the one to fire that shot into Nigreos that had disrupted his mana. If Lilly and the others were safe then perhaps this was a chance to actually speak with the man he had always ignored.

“I saw you—back in the erased realm, I mean,” he said softly. “I’m sure the others will tell me all about it but…what was going on? I never thought I’d see you with them, and especially not under those circumstances.”

The older man seemed taken aback by the sudden question before his expression turned somber once more. “Well, it is a long story and you’re right, Harper and the others will explain it, probably better than I could. I didn’t even get my memories back until I woke up back here.”

“You didn’t?” Eric murmured. “But then…why? Why did you help them? Why were you even in the erased realm to begin with? Back before I left, you didn’t seem as if you cared about what Nigreos and Album were doing. So what changed?”

“What changed?” Scott almost seemed to whisper that more to himself than as a response to his son. “Nothing changed. In fact, if that’s the impression you had of me then it just proves to me how terrible of a father I was. No, Eric, I cared more than anything. I wanted to kill Noctis so badly…but I never had the power.”

The boy frowned as he regarded his father, hearing the first genuine emotion in his voice since before his mother left. Scott’s eyes flickered down to the ground as if determining what to say and what to keep to himself.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I’m sorry for everything, Eric.”

“Sorry? What do you—?”

“I let my hatred toward Ijiria and my need for revenge get in the way of everything,” he went on, talking over his son. “I was so obsessed with perfecting my serum—with being ready to fight and kill Noctis if he ever came after you…that I forgot that my primary job was to be your father. I wanted to keep you safe, and the further I spiraled into misery, the more I pushed you away, and in the end, it didn’t even matter. Noctis came and I was unprepared…and if not for Harper, I would have forgotten you ever existed for the rest of my life—forever condemned to that world. I failed you, Son, and for that, I am sorry.”

Eric couldn’t bring himself to interrupt as his father spoke, and in the dim lighting of the sitting room, he could just barely make out tears in the man’s eyes. He didn’t know what to say, having not expected to be face-to-face with his dad so soon after coming home, and he certainly never thought he’d hear such a confession from him. Even during his time in Ijiria, his thoughts were always focussed on saving the club, as well as the others who touched the relic. He rarely gave his father a second thought, yet there he was, realizing just how poorly he’d understood the man. For the first time in what felt like forever, he found himself actually looking at Scott Reiner. He’d averted his eyes for so long and he hadn’t even realized he was doing it.

And my sense… He’s not a bad person…I knew that, but…

To Eric, after trying so hard when he was small to get his father’s attention and failing so miserably, he had simply given up. Why should he keep trying to spend time with him when his father was so caught up in other things? Clearly his son wasn’t a priority so finally, Eric decided it wasn’t worth it. With his mother gone and his father so distant, he had turned to the Magic Club as a source of companionship and family. Using his sense, he had found others in the school who were just as lonely as he was, and reached out to them, creating a place to belong when his home couldn’t serve that function. And thus, he stopped thinking about his father. His family was the club, and so he and Scott Reiner simply coexisted in the same house, rarely speaking and living lives that didn’t and shouldn’t intersect.

I pushed him from my mind, and even when I learned that Album had erased him, too, I couldn’t prioritize him. Freeing him would just be a side effect of freeing the others. But…

“I’m sorry, too,” Eric whispered finally. “I’m sorry that it all turned out this way. I’m sorry that I couldn’t have tried harder to understand just what you were going through.”

“No, no,” his dad quickly protested. “You tried hard enough, Eric. You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

The boy shrugged. “Despite that, I am sorry. But it’s over now. The erased realm is gone, Nigreos and Album are dead, and some friends of mine back in Ijiria will ensure that nobody ever realizes I came back here. We can finally be free from them…so…”

Eric took a step into the room and raised his hand, feeling so many conflicting emotions welling up inside of him. Yet even so, he knew that this was the right thing to do, and it was what, deep down, he wanted to do.

“Let’s start over,” he suggested. “I want to know my father. So if you’ll have me…”

The man just stood wide-eyed as he gazed at the outstretched hand before weakly shaking his head. “N-no, Eric…I don’t deserve that.”

“I think you do,” Eric replied firmly. “And even if you didn’t, it’s still what I want. I want to live a happy life from here out. I don’t want any more suffering. I don’t want people to get hurt. That was always how I felt, but it’s an even stronger belief after all of this. So I don’t want to continue on the way we have. I want us both to be better. For Mom’s sake, if anything.”

“For Abi…huh?”

Eric could see conflict in his father as well, but the man still moved forward and grasped his hand, holding it tightly. He couldn’t recall the last time he properly touched his dad, but it felt good to know that he could start over in Wilham once again. He wasn’t erased so returning to his old life wouldn’t be simple, but with his father on his side, it would make the process that much easier.

“By the way, Son,” Scott began softly. “I wanted to ask before you go running off after the others, but did you happen to run into that young man who was in the erased realm with us? Rista Pine? Did you see him before you came back?”

Eric frowned, thinking back to his few memories of the magic user that came to their rescue on the beach. “N-no, I didn’t see him. Why? Did he reappear back in Ijiria?”

“It would seem so.” Scott sighed and nodded. “That’s too bad… I had something for him.”

***

Damn it. I suppose this means I won’t be getting any of that serum, huh? Rista thought bitterly as he walked down one of the dark alleys of the Ijirian slums. Though I guess I shouldn’t complain. If I had reappeared in Omaruo, then it would have been nearly impossible to get here unless another realm dagger appeared on that beach. He sighed. And this also means Harper returned to Omaruo, where she belongs. That’s at least comforting.

Rista pulled the cowl of his cloak lower over his head, not wanting to be recognized by anybody in the city. When he woke up after the fall of the erased realm, he had been on that same neighborhood street where he fought Nigreos all those months ago, dressed not in Omaruan clothes but in his cloak and tunic that he wore the night of their Citadel raid. In addition, he had his sword still at his hip, ready to be drawn should the need arise.

And that doesn’t seem too unlikely, he thought. What the hell’s been going on down here?

The number of guards that had been in the Night Market was far larger than normal and there was the smell of smoke in the air, indicating that there had been conflict nearby. It only made him wonder just what chaos Eric Reiner had created in his plot to kill Nigreos and Album.

It’s too bad I couldn’t have had a conversation with him. Clearly, there’s more going on here than we realized. I mean, hell, he stole back the Assassination Stone and used it against the Masters. There’s no way that was easy, yet he did it.

Rista chuckled to himself, impressed at the feat that his mother’s genetic son had pulled off. Well anyway, I suppose I should get moving. If I want to find Malt, I’m going to have to get out of this cursed city…one way or another.