"She was forgotten. She was barely an afterthought."
"Is that so?"
"I never found out what happened to her. I never even looked."
"She was her own person. You barely even knew her"
"How long do you think she waited for me? How long do you think it took for her to move on?"
"Maybe she never cared. Maybe she never let go. In any case, there's only one way to find out now."
"Right…"
"But you already knew that. Right, Pax?"
Upon finishing the conversation with himself, Pax didn't immediately get moving.
He continued looking up at that cold ceiling in silence. He had been staring at it for years now, unmoving. Though, it might also have only been a few hours.
A vampire lay at his feet, sleeping. He dared not disturb her –her form of immortality was far weaker than his own.
As much as he would've liked to close his eyes and carelessly rest with her once more, such a thing would have disastrous consequences.
"Disastrous?"
Well, there would be no one to observe the disaster so I suppose it depends on how you define it.
"Would it still be a disaster if no one was around to care?"
"I guess not, though it would still feel kind of sad."
"Sad?"
"Sad in the empty sort of way. Sad in the way a parent watches their child graduate. Sad in the realization a student has when unable to pass a class, no matter how hard they might try. Sad in the way you can never return to the way things were before."
"In that case, we should avoid doing anything that would cause something disastrous."
"Yes… we already agreed upon that though."
Pax checked to see if the ceiling hadn't moved one last time –It hadn't.
Noting that there was nothing else he should be doing, he finally stood up.
"She was forgotten. She was barely an afterthought."
"Is that so?" Pax responded, answering his own musings where no one else would. "And what are you going to do about it?"
Every soul he couldn't save weighed on him to some degree. Since he had just barely managed to save a single soul, the weight he forced himself to carry was enormous.
At least, it should have been. After all, if a single soul weighed just one milligram then Pax should have been constantly wearing a weighted vest that measured in at just over a trillion kilograms.
"Victoria would call it gaudy and a complete waste of mana."
"But since you don't wear such a vest, doesn't that make you a fake?"
"No, Pax too would only say something like that as a figure of speech."
"So Pax is a liar?"
"Well…" Pax said, but it took him a while to finish the thought.
He had to think very carefully about how to answer this question as it was the kind of thing that could retroactively change his character if he weren't careful.
"In certain way, Pax could be considered a liar. But the weight of such an unfathomably large number of souls was not something he could carry anyways. It's not even an idea he could fully wrap his little head around anyways. Most likely, he would shoulder as much weight as he could mentally handle and call it good enough. What else could he do?"
Pax nodded in satisfaction with his own assessment. Though, just because he knew exactly how Pax would think and act didn't mean that he wasn't a faker.
"Faker– A fake Pax."
In reality, there was no way for Pax to truly know if he was really Pax or just someone pretending to be him. After an eternity of introspection had gotten him nowhere, he simply decided to accept not knowing and move on.
Pax probably would have done the same.
Pax would have also probably done his best to hold onto his own humanity for as long as possible.
In accordance with that, Pax felt that this time he should collect this Perspective himself.
Any human would have felt remorse for forgetting about such a woman, Pax included. Therefore, Pax felt remorse and wanted to personally express his regret.
Standing up, he stretched his body (just like how a human might stretch their body after staying in one position for a long period of time) then moved closer to Victoria. Resting his hand on her head, he loaned her a bit more of his Will. Then, brushing her hair away, he kissed her forehead.
After this simple ritual, he finally set out.
"But, much like Pax, there isn't a whole lot I can do for a dead person."
Opening the door outside the house, he was greeted by an endless void. It was impossibly white yet impossibly black. The void depicted every possible scenery you could imagine at once.
Pax studied the void for a moment before confidently walking past the decorative mailbox that signified the outer bounds of his modest residence.
"Fate is not as easily Manipulated as time. Since this particular woman's death is already Fated, there is no way to reverse it."
He walked an impossibly long distance for an impossibly long time. This period of time, however, had been Augmented to pass by impossibly quick.
Therefore, in just a single step, Pax made it to what he called the "Hall of Echoes".
"Though, calling it a 'Hall' might be a bit of a stretch."
It looked no different to void immediately surrounding Pax's modest house except for
- - - - - - -
Pax: [Hello there.]
The blob bubbled and contorted until it resembled the shape of a human.
Then, just to make things a bit easier for himself, Pax gave the blob some colors.
???: [...Hi.]
After responding, the blob became indistinguishable from a true human. She wore a proper maid dress and stood perfectly straight.
Pax: [Your name was Alyssa. Do you remember?]
Alyssa: [Right, that was my name…]
She looked around with a face of confusion, but was much calmer than any human could possibly be in this situation.
Pax: [I'm going to ask you a few questions. Is that alright with you?]
Alyssa: [Sure, feel free to go ahead, sir.]
Pax: [Firstly, do you remember me?]
Alyssa: [Forgive me, I don't think I've ever met you before, sir.]
Pax: [I'm Adam, the son of the woman who employed you.]
Alyssa: [No, Adam is a little boy with brown hair. Your hair is black and you're a grown adult.]
Pax: [Yeah, I just grew up a little bit.]
Alyssa just stared back at Pax when he said that. After she blinked a few times, Pax sighed and reduced his height a bit.
Adam: [Now do you recognize me?]
Alyssa: [Oh, hello there Adam!] she said with a gentle smile. [It's good to see you again.]
Pax would have found talking to Echoes strange. They couldn't have any memories beyond what they had when they were living, making it impossible for Pax to forget he was talking to a corpse. Therefore, he felt that he should end this conversation as soon as possible.
Adam: [Would you mind if I looked through your memories? Would you mind if I were to see the truth from your perspective?]
Alyssa: [Sure thing. I'm sure you'll find it interesting.]
Pax smiled subtly when she said that –A genuine smile.
"I'm sorry, for what it's worth," he said. "You didn't deserve to lose everything you lost."
Alyssa's face made a strange expression when Pax said that.
Alyssa: [Adam, you don't need to take responsibility for every bad thing that happened in this world. No one is blaming you for what happened. I know, at least, your mother and I don't.]
Pax looked off into the void when she said that, usure of how to respond.
He scratched his head to express this feeling.
Alyssa: [And, for what it's worth, I'm sorry that I couldn't help soothe your loneliness. You didn't deserve to live an eternity by yourself.]
She smiled in an almost motherly way, then fell back into nothingness.
- - - - - - -
It was a hot day in Guileva. The sun shone mercilessly upon the maid diligently brooming the front porch of the house. Still, she never once considered resting before finishing her work for the day.
"They're not coming back," called a voice from somewhere in the distance.
The maid looked up and frowned, but still didn't see anyone.
"So how long do you plan to take care of this house for them, Alyssa?"
The mysterious person rudely continued speaking without even identifying themselves. Alyssa would've been scared for her life if not for how much the voice's words made her worry about her employers.
"What are you talking about?" she finally responded, too curious to worry about her own safety.
The voice did not answer immediately, but a young girl suddenly appeared before her. The girl sighed and walked towards the porch before siting down on the second to last step.
"They're all dead I mean," she finally said. "Fate pulled its strings to kill all of the Golden Wings."
Alyssa's knuckles whitened on the broom she was holding, but it wasn't because she was surprised. In fact, she had already figured that they were dead but didn't want to say it out loud for fear that she couldn't take it back.
Already three weeks had passed since they last left on their expedition.
Just focusing on her work and refusing to think about it had no effect on the outcome.
But what could she have done? Weak, and unable to even use the simplest of magics, Alyssa was the epitome of useless.
A simple maid that no one would give a second thought about.
"Even… Even little Adam?" she said, nearly choking on her words, the tears starting to come no matter how hard she tried to force them back.
Unknowingly, Alyssa had started leaning on the broom in her hand, its bristles fanning out on the floor. Her eyes were locked on the fragile figure of the little girl seated in front of her, whose name she still didn't know.
She was waiting again.
Waiting for this child to deliver her the brutal truth.
Just waiting for someone to put her out of her misery.
"Adam is… No," said the girl, hesitantly. She seemed to be thinking a bit too much for how simple a question it was. Finally she answered:
"Adam is still alive. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't die in the first place."
"Then where is he?" asked Alyssa, momentarily ignoring the second half of what the girl had said.
"I don't know, but probably far away from this town. All I know is that he left with Raya."
Alyssa nodded thoughtfully. She had briefly met Raya on a few occasions, but never really talked to her. Though, from what she'd seen, Raya was a smart and kind girl.
"That's good then. Thank you for letting me know," said Alyssa, sitting down next to Charlotte before continuing. "But what about you? You look like you were friends with him. Are you truly fine not knowing where he went?"
Charlotte gave her a sideways glance before looking away once more.
"Hmph, what a presumptuous maid you are," she said. "Why do you seem fine with his running off? Shouldn't you be chasing after that young boy?"
"Well, I just don't think that I'd be much use to him either way. And he must feel the same way, considering that he didn't bother to ask me for any help."
Charlotte's jaw clenched slightly as stared into the distance. She watched as the sun slowly set across the horizon, the clouds reflecting its bright colors.
"I could find him at any time, you know? Just one trip to the lab and I could find out exactly where he is and how many hairs happen to be on his head at that moment."
"But doing so wouldn't bring him back, would it? I'm sure you miss him too, but there's nothing we can do anymore."
Charlotte opened her mouth to say something but closed it soon after. Though Alyssa didn't know what Charlotte had tried to say, she put her hand on the girl's shoulder and rubbed it softly.
"Maybe someday he will return and you can talk things out with him then," said Alyssa, gazing longingly at the setting sun.
"Yeah, someday."
"Someday he will return," said Charlotte, looking down at the tombstone before her. "A shame you won't be there to see it."
The last of the funeral procession had left, so Charlotte was finally able to speak.
"You made me dress up for the first time in 150 years, Alyssa. You should be proud."
Indeed, Charlotte was finally wearing something other than the karate gi she'd gotten from her master. Now she wore a subdued black dress that had a subtle hint of the modern fashion trends.
She fiddled with the dress a little bit as she continued, "You know I'm not one for many words so I'll just go straight to it then…"
Charlotte paused to steady her breath.
"Thank you, Alyssa. You were a good friend. I enjoyed talking to you, even when you were nagging me to take better care of my appearance."
It had only been thirty years since the day they'd met –merely a single page in Charlotte's life. Unfortunately, the average lifespan of a human was around 60 years and Alyssa had refused Charlotte's offer to continue living as a doll.
Alyssa had, however, long moved on from the deaths of Martha, the Golden Wings, and everyone who'd lived with her at the Witherton estate.
But occasionally, in her old age, Alyssa would remember her old friends when doing mundane things and reminisce of those days when she dreamed of balls and fancy dresses. Some days she would sit on the porch that used to belong to Oliver and Mau and wonder how everyone might have looked with the same wrinkles and gray hair she now had. She wondered what they might have said, as they gazed upon the sunset together for the ten-thousandth time.
It was on such a day that Alyssa rested her eyes for a moment, never to open them again.
Charlotte looked up at the sky when raindrops began to fall upon her.
In reality, Charlotte and Alyssa had only met on a few dozen occasions over years. Each time they usually didn't say much, and when they did it was usually about small things. Sometimes they didn't even say anything to one another at all and simply stared at the sunset together in silence.
"So I wonder what you'll say to her when you finally return… Pax. And I wonder what you'll bring with you."