Chapter Text
“Professor? Professor, can you hear me?”
“It is alright, now, professor.”
“This is a special place, professor. It has the protection of our ancestors. Once, I, too, slept here, for a very long time. It is a place of both safety and healing. You will recover one day, professor. I just know it.
“Do you mind if I stay here with you a while?”
“Please wake up, professor. Please… We need you.”
“Perhaps it is only I who needs you. And perhaps I do not need you. But…”
“Oh, how I miss you.”
“It is very lonely here, professor. And I do not want for you to feel alone as I have felt in your place. You may recall that my brother—that Father and I… we have been living in hiding for some time. I am still a little nervous to tell you why we must live in hiding… even though I have no fear in confiding in you that the man you knew as my brother is actually my father! How odd. Perhaps it is because one is a secret that makes me feel warm and loved, like family, and I consider you to be like family as well, after all of this time. The other… it makes me feel very scared, professor. It makes me feel hunted, and as if the fate of the world may rest upon my small shoulders. I felt so safe by your side, professor, when you could protect me. I do not wish to leave you even now.
“But Father says that we may have to leave soon. It is no longer safe here for us.”
“Yes, yes, I know I have only just left you, and I am back here again! I was simply thinking upon it, and I realized that I must assure you that you need not be frightened for your own safety. No one knows that you are here. I have told you that the Goddess-mother protects this place, yes? She will watch over you when we are gone. She will continue the vigil that I have begun.
“Oh, I hope you can hear me.”
“I am afraid that this is goodbye. I am so sorry to leave you, professor. I am here to explain myself, and to say farewell, that perhaps you might hear my words. I could not bear the thought of leaving you without saying why, even if you do not remember it.
“The truth is, we know that the people we have been hiding from are rising to the surface. We do not know where they lurk, but we can no longer hide here. That much is clear. The enemy is invading this holy ground, and—”
“Forgive me, professor. It… it pains me to think about. I had said to myself, ‘You must not cry in front of the professor when you say farewell!’ Yet here I am… crying before we have even had to part.
“I wished most fervently that we could take you with us, professor, but Father is correct. It would indeed be more dangerous for you to stay with us than it would for you to remain here by yourself.
“May the Goddess-mother protect you, dear professor.”
“Flayn?”
“Ah! Yes, Fath—brother, I will be with you shortly.”
“Oh, professor, forgive me. I have told you that you need not worry for your own safety, and yet—the Goddess-mother herself was slain here by our enemies, while she, too, was resting to recover from a terrible battle. Father insists that it will be safe, but—”
“Flayn, we must go.”
“Right! Right. My apologies. Just one more moment, please.”
“I shall not say goodbye. I shall say, ‘Until we meet again, professor.’”