A few weeks later
You stand up and wipe away the sweat from your forehead, but you smile as you look at the sealed gates of the old tower.
"Thank you," says Lumen with a quivering voice.
You bow opposite the place shortly to provide an ending to this duty.
Since you arrived at the Red Line, she never disappeared.
The ghost of the Lunarian girl accompanied you as you discovered their ancient home.
She made sure you were never lonely and talked a lot about her life here and the love that you share, and the heritage of their kind.
You were amazed by her natural kindness.
Maybe it was the bond that connected the two of you through Alber, but she appeared to care about you deeply.
And even in death, her beauty shined through the land like nothing else ever did.
You could understand why Alber treasured her so much. Lumen was truly the Sun for his Moon.
Yet he fell in love with you too.
He heard the song of your wings and held you just as special as her.
Lumen was the one written to him, but you were the one he chose.
He let you feel emotions you have never faced before.
Gifted his care to you for your life, even if it took part of him away, leaving a hollow that changed him forever.
"Alber will be so happy," cries Lumen silently. "He always hated the sight of the corpses. But he was... too scared to move them."
You look at her perplexedly, and she wipes her face clear.
"He was afraid to find someone from his family," she explains. "We never knew anyone else, but he believed that he would recognize them, even if only the bones remained."
"I'm sorry," you answer with a clenched heart, but she shakes her head and smiles at you. It eases the pain that suffocated your throat.
"I had Alber with me my whole life," she says. "And what I had is more important than the things I never got."
You take a deep breath and lock the gates, closing the area completely.
Since you ended up here, you spent each day carrying the Lunarian corpses to this tower that stood against the fangs of time.
Lumen told you about their traditions for funerals.
You burned the remains at night, as they always did throughout history.
She taught you how to dance in the air to create a wind that carries the smoke and dust up towards the stars, as it was penned to be.
They believed that if Lunarian wings guide their last way up to the sky so they fall into the ocean after, their soul can be at rest, closing the circle since they were born from the mirror of the sea.
It was a special and foregone ritual, and it warmed your heart. It made you feel like you belonged somewhere, despite being a Halfblood.
A Lunarian asked for your help to do this, and it meant more than anything.
You felt grateful as you flew, and wondered how beautiful the rite must have looked when hundreds of wings danced together for the dead ones.
But there is one thing you couldn't understand, and didn't dare to ask until now.
"Lumen, why is your wing still broken?" you turn to her, and the girl tilts her head as she hears the question. She reels a lock of white hair around her finger, as it is her habit. "You should be able to fly if you are... away."
She starts walking and you follow her as she answers.
"I don't know why I can't," she says. "But I think it might be because of that dream. My current form reflects what I saw there since that vision keeps me here."
The Lunarian stops, and she looks at the Sun rising from the horizon, painting the ocean the color of her eyes.
You stand by her side and smile at the sight.
Ever since you are free, you are always amazed by the world's beauty.
"I shouldn't be here anymore, Rain," she murmurs. "But I need to stay until Alber comes back, to make sure he is safe. Maybe I can say my goodbye too."
She bites her lip and closes her crimson eyes.
"After he arrives, I will be gone," continues the Lunarian. "I knew it from the day I returned from the sea. You must be the one who heals Alber because he will be broken. From what you told me, he already is. Hatred and grief alter people. But I have faith that if anyone, you can bring him back to his true self only I saw yet."
You open your wings and let the air resonate through the dark feathers.
In another dimension, they play the song only he can hear.
"I know he did horrible things," she whispers. "He became a monster like those who took our future. But there must be a way for him to change again. Find it with him, whatever it costs. Please."
You nod and try to smile at her. She smiles back through her sadness and looks up at the sky again.
You are once again stunned by the perfection of every line of her face, the noble and graceful atmosphere that surrounds her.
And as in the past ten years, Alber's Sun waits for the eclipse to see her love once more before she can return to the sea, to meet the family she never knew.
But you feel a tug at your heartstring as she continues.
"I just wish I had more time, Rain."
Lumen opens her free wing as you do, even if the wind can never make it sing again.
You understand that her acceptance can't make her sorrow fade.
But she has hope stronger than anyone you knew before.
And you decide that whatever it takes, you will let them meet one last time.
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Twenty years later
King's side
What do I expect to find after all these years?
The Lunarian strains from the struggle as he climbs the endless stones with bare hands.
His cut wing would make him lose his balance, he only moves the other as he tries to find a stable grip one after another.
He pants softly from the pain in his chest.
I lost Kaido-san.
I don't have anything left.
But Joyboy has arrived as it was told long ago. Everything is about to change, and I must fulfill my last promise.
And the man suddenly freezes as a shadow falls over the Red Line, strengthening second after second.
He turns around and his eyes widen as he sees the Moon slowly crawling in the way of the Sun, blocking its light.
This can't be happening.
Alber's tears flow at a fast pace as one of his hands let go of the crimson stones when he reaches for the sky.
Rain. Lumen.
The world still holds wonders.
But when he hears a melody from above his head, his heart misses a beat.
It's one that he never heard before, a song that blends the two that his loved ones presented him.
The Lunarian tries to look up as he almost loses consciousness.
Everything feels like a dream, like sometime through his path he departed to a different universe.
He lets go of the cliff in the desperate hope that he sees where the sound comes from, but his sight is not clear anymore.
The man starts falling and the injured wings flap in the air.
He can't see and can't hear, and closes his eyes as he faces his descent.
The eclipse completes and the man smiles at how it all ends. He's not afraid anymore. He won't be alone anymore.
A little more time to keep breathing before he will go to sleep.
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.
But he gasps as two arms lock around his body and someone nestles to his bare chest.
As his wings feel the support, they spread wide and strong, stopping the two figures in the middle of nothing, as complete darkness falls over the land.
Only two flames flash against the shadows.
He looks down and it all changes as red eyes look back at him.
Alber starts sobbing like never before, and he holds her as close as he can, while their wings complete each other to help them fly.
A careful hand strokes his face and he kisses her deeply, not caring if it's life or death anymore.
His heart beats like crazy, lungs fighting to get enough air as he feels her warmth so close.
And as he cries with the pureness of the child he once was, the other presses her forehead against his for a moment.
You can't be here.
She opens her lips but doesn't find what to say, so she searches for another way.
And as Lumen understands it, she closes her eyes and smiles at him, a smile brighter than anything he has seen before, which tells everything she can not.
Alber touches her face with such love that he didn't think he can still feel.
But the world shifts again as her eyes open, and their color changes the second her fire turns blue.
How?
"Rain?" he asks silently, still holding her close.
The Halfblood looks at him with tearful eyes, her wings flapping powerfully.
His sadness fades as he sees how she barely aged, her flames glowing as vividly as the day he sent her away.
Almost white circles of light shine by the iris of the human eye.
You are so beautiful.
"I was waiting," she whispers through her tears, carrying them up.
He notices how she can't look at him, but she stays so close that they feel like one soul.
The three wings take them to the top of the Red Line in a few minutes, and as they land, Alber falls on his knees and embraces her, trying to process what happened.
He is trembling in his whole body and she strokes his silky hair, their wings hiding them with care.
But how did I see Lumen too?
Alber buries his face in the crook of her neck and inhales her scent like he still can't believe she's truly here.
He kisses the skin under her jaw gently and caresses her face.
But when he feels the thin scar across her neck that his blade left, he remembers the night when they got separated.
And the Lunarian recoils from her arms, shaking his head fastly.
His mind darkens as he backs up, and she looks at him worriedly.
"Forgive me," he says silently, then his wings try to lift him in the air.
She shouts his name but doesn't stop him as he flies farther, almost crashing into the ground as he can't find balance.
Infinite pain fills his thoughts every time he remembers what he lost at the war.
And the Lunarian disappears from the sight of the woman he loves.
As the distance grew enough, he collapses and hides his face with the black feathers.
Thousands of feelings and memories conquer his rational self as he claws his own arm, fighting to get enough air.
And the desolate yell of his loss and relief shakes the Red Line as his wings did a long time ago when he first learned the Dance above these same ruins.
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Reader's side
You sit under the old, enormous tree at the edge of the cliffs, watching the distant sea.
One day passed since you last heard or saw him, but you didn't dare to look for him.
You have no idea how he is now. You don't know what he feels.
And you huddle yourself up, covering yourself with your dark wings for protection.
Lumen is gone after she saw him once more as her last wish.
You are completely alone again, for the first time in twenty years.
Alber got her back for only a moment, and you lost her too now. The only friend you ever had.
You don't know what will come and what to expect. Alber might not be the man you knew anymore.
Maybe his hatred only grew through this time, since nobody was there to keep his care alive.
But at midnight, when the Moon reaches the top of the sky, you hear footsteps from your back and you wake up to their sound.
You don't dare to look up as the Lunarian sits down next to you, but your eyes find the horizon as his.
The silence is deep and broad. A long time passes without either of you moving.
The side of your right wing touches his left one.
Your heartbeat slows down and you start to feel like he won't hurt you, but somehow you can't trust him fully.
When you dare to look at him again, you shiver from how gorgeous he is in the moonlight.
The scowl never disappears from his face, his white shirt is open.
You see the new scars over his dark skin, and it hurts you more than you would have thought.
Alber turns to you and your muscles strain, you cast your gaze down as you can't stand the weight of the red eyes.
He hesitates a little before reaching for you.
And your lungs ache as you are too afraid to move, not knowing if he's stable.
Yet when his long fingers set your hair tenderly, your mind clears.
You see his lower lip trembling for a second, his wings move against his will.
The Lunarian carefully places a Rainflower behind your ear, and an almost invisible, fragmented smile appears, his tense features relax from your sight.
He can't talk and his shoulders drop again, the light is gone from his eyes as fast as it appeared.
You can't understand how a man with such strength and beauty can look so fragile and lost.
And you forget the remains of your fear, sitting a little closer to him.
At first, he almost moves away, but he stays in the end.
You don't look at him again, not to scare him away.
But you lay your cheek above his shoulder as back then, the first time you felt your bond forming for him.
You look for words for a long time, but as his wing curls around your body protectively, you find the ones you were searching for.
"I can still hear them sing, Alber."
And you feel the man shaking, so you take his hand as you try to calm him down.
He breathes hard and shudders from your touch.
But a little later, he rests his head above yours, and you feel the waterdrops falling into your hair from his face.
You stroke his scarred skin with your thumb as he did to you an eternity ago.
You try to tell him that it will be alright, that he won't be alone ever again.
And when the last Lunarian presses his soft, warm lips over your skin, you know that your life will never be the same as before.
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