Lumiere had been slow to “tune” herself into her planet’s soft murmurings. Lumiere was at such odds with Aeria, it had taken especially long to simply calm her inner emotions down. But the struggle abated as quickly as it had started, the deafening silence filled in by .. Well.. It could only be identified as .. a calling. Like a whisper carried onto the wind, sharply entering Aeria’s senses. It was a whisper of disbelief and old age—As if the tune couldn’t comprehend itself, that there was a survivor.
But it was a melancholic tune, brushing it’s notes ever so gently against the crystal senshi.
It had been waiting. Waiting for such a long time.
She looked in the distance at the crumbling scenery, darkening purple eyes scanned the scenery. Her hand gripped her senshi cell phone tightly in her hand with such pressure, one of those new flimsy cell phones might have broke if it were in her hand. But this was a fairly old and durable model, the rainbow hued cell phone simply remained lit, only recently transporting the crystal senshi mere seconds ago.
She bent down, picking up a large broken shard of crystal. She could imagine what a gorgeous scenery this must have been.. Large structures of crystal everywhere, shining and glowing with an iridescent light… What remained of multiple large lakes was barren and empty wasteland now, dry and cracking under the cold temperature. Her hand lowered slowly to lightly trace a large fragment of crystal that stood from the ground. The material was icy to her touch, dull and lacking in color, matching the same shade of dismal colors of the scenery. In the distance stood something large and looming.. a tree? A long dead tree.
Images flashed, as if layered over each other when Lumiere looked up towards the rest of the scenery. Overlaying the dusty and silent valley of crystal was a picture of green valleys and rainbows, large vibrant crystals everywhere. It was a natural part of the scenery, as natural as the many trees, ponds and people that had once been scattered over the asteroid. Slowly, the cell phone slipped out of Lumiere’s grip, landing softly onto the infinite pieces of broken crystal. A cold mist rolled over the asteroid, lightly shrouding the crystal in a thin veil of foggy white.
The question was why she had such a memory. But it wasn’t just sceneries that were overlaying each other. It was as if, all of a sudden, the desperate state of the planet hit her all at once, tears falling down her cheeks. Her hand slowly touched the wet streaks running down her face, purple eyes wide. She fell to her knees, bewildered and confused, hands shaking as she stared down at her palms.
With each tear that fell, a new memory flooded into her senses. But these memories were only a grain of sand on the beach, both fleeting and faded with age.
The memories came back in incomplete fragments, replaced as suddenly as they came. Images of familiar faces scattered everywhere, sitting on top of crystals, conversing and beckoning for others to join. It faded to reveal a pristine table of crystal where several members sat around, cutting off at the faces.. As she struggled to make it out, it switched to another image of a tree. It wasn’t any tree—It was a tree of enormous size. Crystals surrounded it, growing and combining with the tree in various areas. But the most vivid image of all was a large white fountain, surrounded by a garden of crystal and flowers. If she thought the tears couldn’t form anymore, a new set overwhelmed her. The mix of feelings were more conflicting than anything she had ever known.
♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚
"You never get tired of sitting here, do you?"
"Decidedly not. This hanging garden is one of my few solaces." Her fingers raised to her lips, brushing against a leaf. The leaf's high pitched whistles creating the soft melody, floating throughout the colorful crystal garden.
"What, a prestigious girl like you has worries?"
"Of course. What do you regard me as? Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not infallible."
"Really? I wouldn't have known with that public appearance you keep up." The voice teased, a dark silhouette against the bright sun revealed someone to be holding their hand up, gesturing to .. presumably, Lumiere.
"Of course. If I appear otherwise, it'd simply give those maggots a chance to jump on the conspiracy train." Her tone was supremely confident, although both of them knew otherwise.
"Congratulations on making it in. With those skills, you'll be climbing the ranks in no time.
"High enough to reach you?" There was a significant note of challenge, the leaf released to blow along in the breeze.
Instead of letting it go as intended, a hand reached out to capture the leaf delicately. An amused note in their tone, the image only allowed Lumiere to see the bottom half of their face as a grin curved on their delicate features. "Perhaps."
♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚ ♚
Her expression twisted, her hands raising to uselessly control the flood of tears from her eyes, her face tipped up, the tears running down her cheeks, an anguished shake of her head acknowledging the destruction around her. Words swirled around in her head, her brain refusing to allow the mess of memories and words to calm down. It was as if .. she had awakened something embedded deeply within herself.
She did.
Not something. It was someone. Sailor Aeria. All of a sudden, it seemed that Aeria and Lumiere had both realized one heart crushing relevation. Within this cold crystalline planet, to the north where the a small pale moon was rising, there was only one person on the asteroid. The future of this world had passed without even a last desperate warning, where it seemed like all was dead and had left the world to mourn—Even in the distance, the sobs of the last would never be heard.
Lumiere realized.. she was truly the last. At this moment, she truly and utterly did hate this side of her, she thought bitterly-- Aeria was just as selfish as Lumiere was. Aeria, a senshi that should have remained dead with her planet in it's time of death. She should have remained in rest along with the others. To impose this fate on a model who simply wanted to concentrate on her career-- but no. Aeria had been desperate to live. She did. She lived on in Lumiere Estelle Aileron.
I never wanted to come back. Not like this. Never like this.
