Mon Pays

I

"Ah, you made a wonderful decision for coming here." Pleased, the nation offered. "How would you like me to be your tour guide? It would be better to have a local such as myself to show you around, oui?"

"Really?" She gasped, excitement pratically bubbling in her eyes. Her expression sobered a moment later. "But, I shouldn't accept. It's already late, and.."

"Nonsense, the night is still young and I always have time, ma cherie." He then noted the apprehensive look on the girl's youthful features. "What's the matter?"

"N-nothing, it's just.. My friends and I, we didn't expect here to be so crowded." Ritsuka glanced across the river, seeing all the life in the city. "And before I met you, we.."

"You were separated." He surmised. She cringed, but nodded.

"Yeah.. I thought about going to the hotel we were staying at, so I wandered around and around trying to find it, and before I knew it, I'm here." Sighing, amber eyes stared back at him. "Can you help me find my friends?"

"Of course, mademoiselle Ritsuka." Her eyes lit up, and he chuckled. "After all, what kind of a man will I be if I choose not to help a distressed lady?"

...

As it turned out, the hotel was not that far away from where they were.

Ritsuka clearly wanted to find her friends, but after a little bit of persuasion, she relented. And as they walked, they talked. The nation was surprised by how easily they conversed, discussing about various topics, likes and dislikes. Along the way, he pointed out the facts of some of the historical buildings they saw in the distance, chuckling inwardly at the gleaming interest in her eyes.

"Senpai!"

"Master!"

Just then, three different voices called out amongst the noise of the crowd. The girl looked around, her expression brightening as she noticed and waved at her friends. From a distance, a group of three approached them. The first had an exasperated look behind her light purple hair that covered half of her features. She wore a black sweater underneath the white cardigan, short skirt and a pair of black shoes.

Cerulean eyes wandered to the other companions, and he felt the world stopped.

Beside the purple haired girl, a young woman stood almost regally, smiling at Ritsuka with a playful expression on those ice blue eyes. Her long, silver hair were tied in twintails, flowing down to her knees. She wore a red dress, stitched with patterns of black swirls around the hem. However, it was not her that caught his eyes, but the person who stood next to her.

Dressed in a simple white blouse and blue skirt reaching her knees, the woman felt his gaze and focused on him, stiffening. Her eyes, as bright as the blue sky, stared back at him, filled with surprise, disbelief. Golden locks of hair, longer than he remembered, was tied in a braid down her back. Without a doubt, Jeanne d'Arc and Marie Antoinette stood right in front of him.

"Mon dieu.." He breathed.

The conversation between the others faded into the background as they stare at each other. So many thoughts rushed into his head, so many fear, sadness, regrets. He wanted to hold her hand once more, he wanted to apologise, he wanted to hug her close and cry, to finally ease this centuries old ache in his chest.

But he did none of those things and looked away instead, because he knew it was impossible to have such an encounter.

"-cis? Francis-san?" Ritsuka's voice brought him back to reality, anchoring him away from such painful thoughts. They were staring at him now, concern etched on their faces. He smiled apologetically, not aware of the look of sad recognition.