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Elysia smiles, casually playing with one of the singer's hands, like a kitten with a ball of yarn. She interlaces their fingers, untangles them, and then traces along the lines of her palms, squinting at them as if she could read her future. Her hands are soft, with only slight calluses at the tips, from where her skin meets the keys of the piano. She has no scars, no signs of battle (though she has surely been on the battlefield). Elysia presses a kiss on the back of her hand, interlocking their fingers once again. She glances up at the singer, getting lost in the honeyed gold irises of the woman above her.
Dazzling. That's what she is the embodiment of. Dazzling and elegant and beautiful, from her looks, to her voice, and the way she carries herself. A woman straight out of a painting. Or perhaps a star, plucked right out of the night sky.
"Eden, my sweet Eden~" she calls out. Never has a name tasted so delectable on her lips. She savors every syllable. "Do you believe in soulmates?"
Eden hums, taking a slow sip of the glass of wine in her hand. She sets it on the table beside them, stroking the silky pink hair of the Flamechaser resting in her lap. "Soulmates, hmm?" Her voice is rich and melodic, and music to her ears.
"Mhm!" Elysia nods, preening against the relaxing sensation of fingers dragging through her hair.
"Yes, I suppose I do. It's romantic to believe that there are people you can connect so deeply to, as if destined to intertwine." Eden's smile is gentle and warm, like the Sun shining upon you on a summer day. "But I also think soulmates can come in many different forms. And maybe they don't have to be purely romantic."
Elysia's smile widens. "Yes, I think so too!" She clasps the captured singer's hand with both of her own, holding it to her chest, against her heart. "When I first heard you sing on the radio, and the moment I saw you, I knew we were soulmates!" She gleams with fondness and admiration. Though, of the present or the past, that couldn't be too sure.
Eden chuckles, always bemused by Elysia's honesty and enthusiasm. "When you first spoke to me, that's when I knew too." The look in her eyes carry a layer of wistfulness to them. She hadn't met Elysia until after the destruction of the seventh herrscher in Australia. On the very day Eden the singer died, and Eden the Flamechaser was born.
She stops stroking Elysia's hair to plant a kiss on the archer's temple.
Elysia, greedy for affection as ever, pulls her further down and captures her lips instead.
She smiles against her. "In Mu, Elysia means 'paradise.' And the name Eden comes from the garden of Eden, which also can mean 'paradise'!"
"Oh, I didn't know that." Eden arches a brow, pleasantly surprised but pleased at the rare talk of Elysia's past. It's the one thing the open and honest archer keeps tightly hidden; any and all tidbits she shares, Eden tucks away like her precious golden trinkets. But instead of giving them away like her material goods, she keeps Elysia's secrets close to her. Her prized, personal collection.
"That just means we're meant to be~" she sits up, wrapping her arms around the singer and nuzzles her chest with a happy giggle that ends in a content sigh.
Eden chuckles again, rubbing big, slow circles onto the younger woman's back, feeling her muscles relax under the soothing touch. "Yes, Ellie, dear."
They stay like that for a while, soaking in each other's company.
"Hey Eden," Elysia doesn't move her head from her chest, her hair and angle hiding the expression of her face from the singer. Her voice is soft, hardly above a whisper. "You'll love me no matter what, right?"
The question catches her off guard and makes her pause - only momentarily - in her strokes. "Of course. You have my unconditional support." She resumes the motion on her back, leaning down to press a kiss on her temple. "I love you wholeheartedly, Elysia."
The archer curls up more against Eden in response. It gives her time to identify this new facet to her partner - vulnerability.
She cradles Elysia, pressing her head against her chest and wrapping around her like a protective cloak.
"Eden…" when she finally looks at her again, her eyes are just as bright, but glassy with restrained tears. "Will you sing me a song? You have the prettiest voice in the world~" She flashes her signature smile, her eyes curling like half moons.
Eden has sworn off singing after the final concert that ended in fire and ice. But for Elysia, sweet Elysia, she finds her voice wanting to claw its way out of her throat. She smiles, tucking a strand of hair beyond a lovely pointed ear. "For you? Always."
Her expression is not one of joy, as it is relief.
Sakura's burial was yesterday; under a beautiful cherry tree, decorated with forget-me-nots. The first of the thirteen to fall.
The few remaining cities are reduced to ash and rubble after the twelfth herrscher launched the nukes at the last bastions of humanity.
Tragedies upon tragedies. Any respite they have is but brief and fleeting.
It is an unspoken fact - they may not prevail against the end.
So Eden sings. An aria for those they've lost. Her voice carries, powerful and rich and smooth like silk caressing the skin, resonating in the hall they occupy. She doesn't care if anyone else hears, not when she holds her audience in her lap, and a pure smile stretches across her face once again.
Eden finishes her glass or wine, and then another. A whole bottle of her finest wine sits empty at the table. Eventually they move to the bedroom and bury themselves in each other for the rest of the night. She's the first to drift off to sleep.
Elysia stays awake, tracing the contours of Eden's gentle face with her eyes. In the dark, she whispers, "I love you too, Eden. I hope one day, you'll forgive me."
*****
Eden swirls the goblet in her hand and watches the ripples, smiling at the memory. The last peaceful night they spent together. It is bittersweet, dry and aged, much like the wine in her glass.
The next few memories after that are much more bitter, tinged with too much mourning.
And then that's where the recollections end, for the original Eden should have been evacuated into the cryo pod to emerge in the next era and guide humanity as the owner of Project Ember.
Except she never did. Eden knows. She inherited everything from the original. Her voice, her memories, and her feelings. She understands the depth of love she had for Elysia.
The original Eden followed Elysia into death.
After all, stars are made to shine, but even the brightest will fade out one day.
Eden takes a sip of her wine, letting the flavor sit on her tongue. Violet Helen, wine made from a grape species in Mu. A continent that no longer exists.
Perhaps they've found true paradise in the afterlife. She, the simulation, the echo, sure hopes so.
"Eden~" rings the voice of a certain pink elf. "Mei won't let me touch her horns!"
Eden smiles against the rim of her goblet as the woman approaches and plants herself on her lap.
And if there is no afterlife, then at the very least they have the Golden Courtyard – the Elysian Realm – their second chance.