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It was the night before the final fight. Mikleo sighed when he looked up at the stars glimmering in the dark sky: he always loved stargazing with Sorey, but he will probably have to get used to watching them alone from that day on. Just like that night. He looked down. He refused to cry. It was Sorey’s choice, and he would respect it.
Then why did he want to embrace Sorey tight enough to stop him from taking any possible step further?
Just as Mikleo was about to shed a single, painful tear, Sorey was by his side, patting his shoulder. “There’s a beautiful moon tonight, don’t you agree?”
Startled, Mikleo looked at his boyfriend, then gazed at the moon. “Very beautiful, indeed” he nodded. He hadn’t noticed, since he was staring at the stars. The seraphim smiled at how Sorey always seemed to widen his perspective.
There was a short silence, which seemed to last longer than it actually did, but it still spoke a thousand words. It was Sorey who broke it. “Why were you crying?” he asked, his voice slightly trembling. As if he was afraid of the fact that, in all probability, he was the reason of his beloved’s tears.
“I…” Mikleo started, clearly unprepared. He gulped, and bit his lip. He couldn’t lie to Sorey, because his heart ached at the sole thought. But also because, despite Sorey being oblivious most of the time, he was actually pretty sharp when it came to his loved ones. So he continued. “I don’t want you to go” he said simply.
Sorey smiled bitterly. He had, somewhat, predicted that would happen. Not many weeks before they had finally confessed their love, a love which they both knew was present since they were little. However, the verbal act had made it stronger. Their love was now concrete, it could be felt through their kisses, the brushing of their hands together, and their shared three magic words.
Now, Sorey’s choice was bound to destroy that. Maybe not forever, but their relationship had just been born. Was it wise to put a halt to it immediately?
Will our love survive to such separation?
Mikleo compared their newborn engagement to a baby bird. It needed attention, love and care, because it wasn’t able to fly on its own just yet. Separating meant leaving the baby bird alone. Sure, the little one was very strong, stronger than anyone, but… it was still a baby. Surviving was nothing but a small possibility.
Sorey interrupted his thoughts. “Remember some time ago? I told you I’ll tell you something once all of this is over” he mumbled. Mikleo nodded for him to continue.
“I want to tell you now” Sorey concluded, kneeling down. Mikleo felt his eyes water. Did this mean he wasn’t sure he was coming back?
Sorey smiled, - oh gods how Mikleo loved that smile. It was capable of dissipating all of his worries in an instant. Sorey took his hand and put a simple, silver ring on his finger. Two anemones were carved on it, coloured with different shades of blue and violet. “It’s beautiful” Mikleo said, covering his mouth with the other hand.
Sorey let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks heavens! I put a lot of thought on it, though I still wasn’t sure…” he shook his head, feeling that wasn’t the point of the conversation, “Mikleo, this is my promise. I will come back to you, and I will spend the rest of my life with you. I want to marry you” he stated solemnly, yet tenderly. Mikleo held his breath as tears formed at the corners of his eyes.
Sorey continued. “I’m not just giving up my life to save this world. I’ve thought a lot about this, actually. At first, I was pondering all the options I had, fleeing away from my fate. But… this is our only option to make our dream come true” he paused, wiping away a tear on Mikleo’s cheek. He took a deep breath. “Only now I took enough courage to confess to you, but I’ve loved you for so long – deep down, I knew you loved me back. We didn’t say it out loud, but we’ve always loved each other. And I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon” this stole a chuckle from the seraphim, and Sorey concluded, “my love for you will never die. My dream, my future, my life… all of them don’t exist without you”.
Mikleo hugged Sorey as tightly as he could. He cried silently on Sorey’s shoulder, whispering his lover’s name between sobs. Sorey wrapped his arms around him protectively, and the warm embrace filled Mikleo’s heart with love and affection.
After some minutes, Mikleo calmed down. He spoke softly. “Sorey… I want to marry you too. I will wait for you” he promised as well, “my existence has no meaning without you”. He knew it was cheesy, but he couldn’t help it. When he felt Sorey sobbing, he let out a soft whisper.
“I love you”
200 years later
Mikleo smiled as he saw how the world had changed. He spent his days travelling and exploring it, noting all of its beauty in his precious notebook. He would give it to Sorey one day, he was sure he’d love it even more than the Celestial Record. With that goal in mind, the notebook was growing wider and wider.
He wrote about how the 10% of the population could now see seraphim from birth. Those few elected ones would in turn help those who didn’t – that way, the total of those who could see seraphim by the age of twenty was 38%. And those who believed in seraphim were about 89%.
Sorey would have been so proud. But there was still a lot to do: the current Shepherd was the descendant of Alisha and Rose’s adopted daughter. Edna and Lailah followed him consistently, and guided him to erase the remaining malevolence from the world. Zaveid was still looking for Eizen’s cure.
During his first fifty years without Sorey, Mikleo had been gravely depressed. He didn’t surrender to malevolence only because of the silver ring on his finger: he looked at it every time he felt his heart clench with despair. And every single time, Sorey’s smile came to his head, as well as his voice, and his promise of coming back. And the darkness was gone.
He had also received a lot of help from his friends. Edna was surprisingly good at listening, whereas Lailah’s cheerful attitude and fresh-baked cookies always helped. Zaveid took him out to see the world, renewing his love for history and architecture.
He thought about those dark times as he arrived at the usual place. He went there once a week, but it was a quite recent habit: he couldn’t bring himself to go there for 170 years since Sorey’s departure. Sure, he often glanced at this place, and he had gone closer year after year. But he only approached the origin of the beam of light during the last thirty years. Down there, Sorey still lived.
He sat down on the grass. “Hey, Sorey” he began, smiling “how are you? I hope you’re fine. Me? I’m getting there. I’ve discovered so much, I can’t wait to show you. Of course, I miss you so much. But I believe in you, you were not lying”. Mikleo planted a kiss on the ring he constantly wore. “I still love you. Our love is not a lie”.
He chuckled as a breeze ruffled his long hair. He left a bouquet of red anemones and red roses on the grass. “This colour suits you better. It’s passionate, full of love, and so warm” he smiled. Every week he choose a different colour for the roses and the anemones he brought. Anemone, because of their ring. Roses, because they were always there when Sorey wrote him a cheesy, cringing poem.
“I can’t wait to see you again”
400 years later
Sorey slowly opened his eyes. He was on the grass, surrounded by bouquets of anemones and roses of many different hues. He rose up, remembering what Maotelus had told him.
Your body is getting weaker, but mine is getting stronger. I’ll handle this alone. You can go back to your world. Ah, but I can’t let you go with that body of yours…
This is why Maotelus had let Sorey die, sure he would be reborn as a seraph. And that’s what actually happened: Sorey’s hair was now longer, painted with shades of yellow. And, like Zenrus, he was a Lightning Seraph. Smiling, he got up.
The side effect of getting a new life as seraph was amnesia, but Sorey remembered most things: how he had been the Shepherd, his childhood and a great deal of his adventures. However, he felt there was something he was forgetting.
It was his gut which told him he had to go to Elysia. During his journey, he was surprised to see how much the world had changed: Seraphim and humans walked hand in hand, smiling and chatting together, like they weren’t any different from one another. He felt bashful when he saw some statues of himself, and also an entire museum consecrated to him and his friends.
Anyone could see him now. Thus, Sorey decided to take another road to his hometown. When he arrived, he saw that Elysia was much more bigger than he remembered – it went from being a village to being a city. Still populated by Seraphim, they welcomed him warmly when they saw him back.
“You’re lucky! Mikleo is in the ruins nearby!”
“Yeah, he usually travels so far from here”
Sorey paled.
Mikleo?
That name sounded so distant, yet so familiar. Sorey rushed to the ruins. And the moment he saw him, he remembered everything.
He recalled the flowers beneath him when he had woken up. Those were the flowers Mikleo brought him every week – Sorey was able to see and hear him every time, and it had pained him to no end not being able to answer him.
He took a step forward. Oh, how much he still loved him. That was the part of his heart he felt missing when he opened his eyes. Would Mikleo still love him? Sorey had no doubt.
The new seraph’s eyes widened when he saw the other falling. Quickly, he ran and grabbed his hand. His eyes made contact with those breath-taking, sweet pupils of his one and only. Sorey smiled wider as he saw Mikleo’s lips curving into a smile brighter than the sun.
Without a word, Sorey pulled him back to the floor. Mikleo stared at him, dumbfounded. Then, he hugged him tightly. “Welcome home, Sorey”
Sorey hugged him back, tears forming in his eyes when he saw the ring still shining on his boyfriend’s finger. Their love was sincere and immortal.
“I’m home, Mikleo”