Dreamweaver; The Seven Stones Of Virtue

Episode 23: Better Half

EPISODE 23: BETTER HALF

I stood within Ayumi's mind. I saw her memories, all of them. Do you now understand why I can narrate her past with such detail and why I said I could because I was the Dreamweaver? Wait, wait, wait; don't tell me you actually thought the first two books I told you about my life were just full of meaningless jokes. You really did, didn't you?

It wasn't until I stood within Ayumi's memories after invoking Better Half that I finally understood how different, yet similar we were. I finally, truly understood Ayumi. I saw her memories of her parents and what she endured as a child. I saw her memories of the evil souls, of Cowardice and Chaos and her dreams and fears of watching me turn into Zanfar and slay her. I saw her murder Wanye and saw all the guilt that came from it...and I finally saw that Ayumi really did love me. It wasn't guilt that made her take me into her household. It was concern. I fell in love with her of my own will and she didn't know until after Enslavement's defeat that she was the one that killed Wanye. All this time I'd fought for Ayumi's love and felt it get farther and farther from my reach. The only thing that kept her from confessing her love for me was the fear she had of me believing what I did now, that she'd only manipulated me to protect herself. The only thing that kept her love from me was myself.

I sighed and fell on my knees as tears flowed down my eyes. And this is where I finally cried the cry I told you about in the Book Of Chaos.

"How could I not forgive you now Ayumi?" I wept.

I shut my eyes and tried to regain my composure. I took in a deep breath and calmed down.

By now, I don't need to tell you that I'm quite a crybaby.

"Ayumi!" I called.

I had to find her and break her free from the prison of her own feelings.

"Ayumi!" I called again.

I ran through her mind, through her memories, seeking her. I searched her good memories which were quite many but mostly suppressed and her bad memories which were much more and running amok in her mind.

"Ayumi!" I called over and over again.

I looked everywhere and finally found something. In a memory she had that appeared to be different from the others were four songs. Two appeared to be unique. They stretched in the form of musical notes into even deeper memories. One song appeared to be a song Ayumi liked but did not give much thought to and the fourth song appeared to be broken, yet transcendent. It might have been a song she knew in her past and forgot. The three songs were songs I had sang to Ayumi, "Possible", "Dawn Of God With Human Beings", and "Lunar Flower". The final song was a song I did not recognize but seemed strangely familiar. The melody was something I recalled but its lyrics were something I couldn't hear no matter how much I tried. It might have been a song her mother sang to her as a child, I thought.

The broken song lowered itself before me and became a flight of stairs. I climbed the notes of the broken song and followed its path. But when I reached the break in the song, it was like a wide chasm I couldn't cross.

"This is a song Ayumi deeply treasures. In fact, it is the song she treasures the most" I thought.

I smiled.

I don't know the lyrics but looking at the progression of the sounds, it appears the next notes would be...I said as I hummed the melodies I had stepped on so far and finally added in what I felt the song should be like.

As I did that, my own memories became mixed in with Ayumi's. I realized I had definitely heard that song before. The reason I couldn't recall its lyrics was because I was too young then to comprehend words. As my memories and Ayumi's began to mix together, the melody of the song in my memories fused with the words in Ayumi's and I finally understood the song.