Phase 38 “The Farewell”
When he opened his eyes, he saw a greenish light and a faint glow. He roused himself slightly, only to be met with widespread ache throughout his limbs. When he turned his head to the left, he noticed Dominique speaking to a device and possibly calling for assistance. As he turned his head to the right, he spotted Benji and Nathan, who both appeared to be in good health despite that they were both still unconscious.
“Allen, it looks like you're awake!” Allen could hear Dominique screaming at him as the younger man got closer. He looked all over again, but he was unable to find the person he was looking for.
“Where's Kaien?” he questioned.
“He's... out there, finishing the stuff he couldn't.” Allen understood exactly what was being said. “Don't worry. I will make sure we return home in one piece.”
As he stood there and breathed in and out, Kaien was only a couple of metres away from the swallow alley where Dominique and the other people were resting. Next to him stood a figure from his previous life that he recognised all too well. He was clueless on where to begin.
“Finally everything ends,” she broke the silence and turned her attention to Kaien.
“... I'm sorry,” was the first thing that Kaien managed to utter. “I'm sorry for being such a fool, I'm sorry I can't save you, and I'm sorry I can only make things worse, I...”
“... Don't be silly, you're not,” she said as she continued to give Kaien a warm hug, despite the fact that Kaien was unable to feel anything touch him from it. “I am really grateful that you have returned and put a stop to this curse. I can finally rest in peace.”
“... Thank you for waiting,” Kaien smiled. A part of him wanted to feel her touch so much, but he knew it was impossible. She was only a spirit.
“I guess it's time for me to leave.” As she prepared to go, she added softly. “Take good care of them. They need you.”
Kaien responded with, “I promise.” She nood slowly and then she walked away. A few seconds later, a yellowish light began to shine from the east and caused some haziness in Kaien's vision. She flashed another grin in Kaien's direction before finally beginning to transform into a transparent form and disappearing from his line of sight. She has vanished once more, just as she did in the past when the king lost his empress. The only thing that was going to change from this point on was that Kaien would not repeat the same mistake. Because he was aware that nothing positive would result from him fighting the fate that would bring the undead, he chose not to do so.
Kaien turned around and headed back to the alley after saying his final good-bye. Although it was not quite that far, he felt like it was. It was as if he had, no, as if all of them had prevailed over a very hard and long journey, and now that everything had ended, they could finally smile in relief.
Dominique was the first person whom he noticed nearby and Dominique immediately hugged him. Kaien hugged and patted Dominique’s back. He looked around and saw that only Allen was awake, while the other men continued to slumber. At that very moment, he had the epiphany that his life could not possibly get any better. It was possible that his past and prior lives were full of nightmares and mayhem, but when he thought about the present and the future, he could not help but smile to himself as he imagined spending time with his most treasured friends as if they were family.
“Did you just do some inappropriate thing with my mother-in-the-past?” Dominique frowned and asked when saw Kaien smiling.
“Hey! I can't even come close to touching her. Stop feeding that twisted imagination of yours,” Kaien scolded as he sat down next to Allen, who gave him a friendly smile.
“Can't touch her doesn't mean you don't want to,” Allen added.
Kaien sighed in his defeat. “Just you wait and see, when we get back, I'll teach all of you how to behave!” While Allen and Dominique chuckled, Kaien delivered his ultimatum. It was as if the old Kaien had returned to them.
As Nathan opened his eyes, eventually the three of them stopped laughing and looked at him. He looked around for a few seconds and saw Benji was lying next to him. He immediately shook Benji fiercely as he yelled his name because he was under the impression that something terrible had occurred to his childhood friend.
“Hey! Are you trying to kill Benji, Nathan?” The first person to respond was Dominique, who quickly yanked Nathan away from Benji, who was on the verge of being killed. After what seemed like only a few seconds, the man slowly opened his eyes and peered at Nathan, completely confused and shocked.
“Stupid Ben!” Nathan let out a sob while he was comforting Benji with a hug. The other individual simply stared into space, perplexed as to why he felt as though he had just escaped a grave danger, as if he had come dangerously close to losing his life or something. When the others noticed Benji's confused expression, they could not help but laugh at him.
“Oh my, I'm definitely going to keep this picture!” Allen used his phone, which was stashed away in one of the pockets of his jacket, to take a picture of Benji’s confused face.
“You can count on me to frame it!” Dominique added.
“Post it online!” Kaien butted in.
“Yaaaa!” Nathan yelled as he stood up and prepared to chase after them. “Come on!” To everyone's amazement, Dominique was the only person who bolted when Nathan started chasing people. Allen took an unending number of photos of the adorable situation. He had no idea that Nathan and Dominique were capable of acting like children when they were together.
“Dominique,” Benji said at last, raising his voice slightly so that Dominique could hear him from a distance of a few metres. “You had better get yourself ready because Nathan is not the type of person who will get tired of running. He has very good stamina.”
“Ehhh?!” Dominique could feel that he was starting to feel fatigued. “Save me!”
The rest of them laughed once again as the two youngest ones continued to chase after each other. After some time, Benji stood up and took his place next to Kaien and Allen. They watched the 'attraction' with a smile on their face. Nathan did not see the mud pool and landed on his butt in the mud as he jumped above it. Dominique, on the other hand, proved that he was not as ignorant as he had been made out to be. Nathan’s jeans were completely drenched in the liquid from the brownies.
“You're so dead, Dominique!” Nathan cried out as Benji saw some images from his past memories. It was from their precious life when the Prince Lucas was being hunted by General Lance since the prince skipped his practice by playing at the town. General Lance was angry that the prince had missed his practice. He thought that they were not all that different from their past life, even if they had gained some important insights.
When they reached the exit from the woods, Kaien eventually murmured, “Let's get back.” The three of them walked away first. Dominique made a frantic attempt to reach out to them, but no one came to his aid. In the end, Dominique went after the others while Nathan trailed closely after him.