Your wings take you through the endless sky, and you don't know why the tears flow down your face.
You hum a melody you don't seem to recognize but one ingrained in your soul so deeply that you can not forget it.
The song that those dark, beautiful wings sang for you to protect their owner from himself, which you failed to do in the end.
The last Lunarian let you go before you could understand the bond that grew between you and him, but he also let you go before he could hurt you.
You don't know that he tried to kill you and don't see the thin car across your neck.
You don't see the blue circles shining brightly in your eyes from the fire he gifted you as protection.
Your wings cast a large shadow above the clouds, taking you to the old home, following the command of the last Lunarian.
Your mind feels empty and clear ever since you left Onigashima.
You fell into delirium, the flames of his care taking over your will to guide you through the infinite sky, trying to get you to the last and only place safe for his kind.
And your last bits of consciousness sense as your body slowly reaches its limits despite the power he gave you.
You keep flying for several days without eating, drinking, or sleeping.
The world drifted far from reality, and the Dance of the Sun and the Moon resonates through your bones to the rhythm he taught you too.
You tilt your head as you see enormous mountains painted crimson by nature.
The way he chose leads you there, the Red Line growing tremendous on the horizon.
No thought is allowed to your mind as the blue fire rules over your body, keeping only his last word that suffocates every emotion and every notion of your own.
"Go."
His strength runs through your veins and keeps your heart beating as you crash into the ground of his home and gasp for air as exhaustion shakes all your nerves.
It brought you to the edge of passing out, but Alber's fire let you fly through the world safely, moving your wings for over a week without an end.
You are only a Halfblood.
You couldn't inherit those crimson eyes, couldn't awaken their flames, and couldn't acquire the power of his race.
Yet all the things you missed were given by him to fill in the void, offering the promise of a long life that your kind never had a chance to.
He never gave you a choice since the day you saw his face, which you can't recall now, under the charm he casted to send you far from him.
It was to make sure you won't meet the fate you escaped from and the one he got by visiting the Blue Sea.
The hatred of humanity, the torture and doom that their fear brings to anything threatening them.
You shake your head when you look around the unfamiliar place, your gaze blurred from the tiredness.
Your face falls back to the dirt, and you cover yourself with your wings, panting as you try to gather your composure again.
You close your eyes, the human eyes burning with Alber's fire.
The one word releases your mind as you reach the destination he gave you.
The Sun sets on the horizon, and the same stars shine upon you that attended the birth of the first Lunarians who emerged from the shadows of the dark sea.
The Moon watches over you, reflecting his eyes from the other end of the New World as he searches for your face in the sky, trying to find the same light.
You feel peace you only met in his arms before, now floating in wide space and narrow time.
You are infinite.
You are loved.
Yet, a soft and kind voice pulls you back to reality.
"You are under a spell," it says.
You look up and freeze at the sight.
A woman crouches opposite you, her long wings lay on the ground next to her.
The left one looks weak and deformed, and you recognize the line of the broken bone, as you have seen it on yourself before.
The gentle waft moves her silvery hair, her red eyes gleaming in the darkness.
She smiles at you, but her face stays serious somehow. She's noble and beautiful, every stroke of her figure flawless.
Steady, orange fire burns on her back.
It feels like a vision. Maybe she is.
As the Lunarian looks at your flames, her eyes suddenly widen. She cries voicelessly for a few minutes, but you are too weak to talk.
"Alber," she whispers, wiping her cheeks with fast movements. She laughs as she sobs, leaning closer to you. "He's alive, right? Have you met him? Did he find happiness?"
You scowl confusedly, and the Lunarian hits herself on the head, chuckling sweetly.
"I'm sorry. You don't remember."
She leans over you, and her hand stops only a few centimeters from your face. You don't feel any danger.
"Let me help you," she whispers with care.
As she closes her glowing eyes and chants in their ancient language quietly, you slowly wake up.
The spell leaves your mind little by little, and you feel like reaching the surface after sleeping on the bottom of the ocean.
And once you can breathe again, you press your hands to the sides of your head as thousands of memories appear, roaming through your very existence.
And they all have the same center, all the pictures you see.
You see him smiling, brighter than the Sun itself. You hear him laugh, you hear him cry, you hear him sing for you.
You remember his name.
And all the little pieces finally start to connect, that he left behind through the time you lived by his side and learned what care is.
As the frames run through your mind, you see things you haven't found meaning in before.
The time you spent with him flashes before your eyes as life does before one's last heartbeat.
You hear Alber's deep, hoarse voice talking through your memories.
You feel his rough, gentle hand brushing your skin as he guided you to the soft lips.
"You are a creature that shouldn't exist."
"I wanted someone."
"Rainflowers were a treasure for my kind. Sign that a new Moon will rise again every night, and rebirth will never cease to exist."
"We don't have many spells, but they are all used for protection."
"I can hear them sing, Rain."
"If I'm still able to feel care, I want to care about you the most."
"I won't watch you fade away."
You start sobbing desperately as you finally understand him.
A hollow opens in your heart, and you feel like you were blind all this time.
He left so many traces but was too hurt to make it clear as his bond grew more powerful and pure.
You force yourself to sit up, your tears soaking the dirt.
The Lunarian scowls, sadness written above her beautiful features.
You are still stuck in the past, his essence numbing your senses as your soul searches for its missing piece.
Your eyes find your palm, and you tremble without an end as a bright, blue fire lights up above your skin.
"This fire can't exist only out of hatred. We have to keep it alive."
"Fire isn't just a force of nature. You have part of us inside you. You must find it, or the flames will hurt you forever."
"You must see how desperately you are longing for these flames."
"Being a Lunarian will never be enough to have them."
"Flames aren't only about harm. They can heal, protect, and keep you alive."
"As long as I have my fire, I'm not alone."
"If you find this fire within yourself, you will never be cold again. And if you understand what it needs to stay alive, maybe you will defeat me for your freedom one day."
You look up as you cry loudly, trying to get rid the suffocating matter in your lungs, reaching for the stranger to show her the wonder that blooms over your hand.
He set me free.
"It's love, isn't it?" you ask with a shaking voice, falling even deeper into the black hole that opened in your chest. "Love keeps Lunarian fire alive."
She nods without a word, her sorrowful smile faints as she sees the scar around your neck.
She leans forward and closes your fingers around the flames.
You look at her confusedly as you barely feel her hand. It's unbelievably cold.
"Lunarians fall in love only once in their lifetime," she answers. "And he had that from his childhood. It awoke the flames that are our greatest wonder. Without them, anyone bearing our blood lives a short and empty life, where they never experience care."
The woman touches your face, and your tears stop.
You suddenly notice how young she is as your mind finally clears.
She sounds wise and special, but she is barely more than a child.
"But you are a Halfblood," she continues a little surprisedly, her long fingers setting your messy braid behind your ear that Alber made you back then. "And for the first time in our history, a Lunarian not only fell in love with one but awaked a second, unique fire for her, which had the chance to heal him from his past."
Her crimson gaze runs over your face.
"But did you love him too?" she asks. You are unable to react.
Her whole presence feels like a phenomenon from another dimension, with such beauty that doesn't belong to this world.
She laughs softly, her eyes gleaming with water.
"Whether you did or not, you never had hope for this fire. So when he found out about his new flames, he gifted them to you. He made sure his Halfblood has a chance for a happy, whole life without losing herself."
"Who are you?" you shout as you find your voice, shaking your head. "How do you know so much?"
The young girl smiles at you and lets you go.
"My name is Lumen."
"I never lost her. She was taken away from me."
Your eyes widen with disbelief, and you recoil, moving farther from her. She tilts her head and pouts at your reaction.
"What's wrong?"
"You need to find him!" you cry out, reaching for her. Her face darkens with sorrow. "You are his-"
But you freeze when your hand goes through hers like it isn't there.
You look at the Lunarian frightenedly, and she shivers, hiding her face with her wing.
You realize how hazy her silhouette is.
"You are not here," you murmur, folding your arms around your waist.
"I can't leave this place, but I couldn't leave him behind either," she says silently. "Not when I know how much he lost, how he became. He is drifting farther and farther from himself. He needs to remember who he is. Alber has to come home."
Alber.
The name calls a warm, powerful feeling in your mind, which rushes through the blood of your veins and the fire he left behind.
"He gave part of his soul to you, and I don't know what will happen to him now," she whispers. "But I can't help him anymore. I never could since that day at the Blue Sea."
He sent me away to protect me. He set me free despite everything he promised me.
.
.
.
Alber loved me.
.
.
.
"I have to find him!" you shout, standing up.
Your knees shake from the effort, your wings barely able to move.
Your fire shines brightly as it tries to keep you going.
"You can't go!" says Lumen, moving closer to you. "He sent you here for a reason, to protect you. This is the only safe place for you."
"But he must be hurt," you cry, opening your black wings.
You lurch from the pain of your sore muscles, and the Lunarian tries to help you, but she can't, from the other world.
"I waited for you over ten years!" she continues, and you stop, your strained muscles easing from the shock.
"What?"
Lumen wipes her tears and smiles at you with faith.
"After I died, I saw a vision of a human child," she says. "She showed me a dream, and I believe it was from the future. I saw Alber returning to this place. There was an eclipse of the Sun and the Moon, and I found him in time. He had one of his wings cut off and could only fly with my help. I still see the same dream so often that it burnt into my thoughts. It ends with me looking into his eyes, which reflected blue flames. Your flames!"
Your fists clench, and she falls on her knees opposite you.
"I can't help him," cries Lumen, and your heart shatters into myriads of pieces from the pain in her voice. "I waited at this place for someone who can. When that day comes, you must be there, or he will fall and die in the sea as I did after they took him from me. Please. We both believed in the old tales. Once Joyboy arrives, he will come back."
You cast down your eyes as his words come into your mind again.
"The world will fall into war, Rain, and it will change everything we know. I'm waiting for Joyboy to see it. I want to see the Sun coming to the Earth again, whatever form it takes. And I want you to wait with me until that day."
"I wanted to watch this world burn. Now, I want to see how it will be born again."
"Please help him find peace again," whispers the Lunarian, looking up at you.
And you sit opposite her again, with an ocean of emotions making you shudder.
One more wonder comes to the world as you embrace her, and somehow, for only this time through eternity, the living can touch the dead to bring comfort.
You close your eyes when you promise her to wait, as you promised him before.
And with the blue flames spreading through your heart, you finally understand what it means to love.
.
.
.