“Well, I was almost certain I had scared you off, young one...”

The words of Yuki rang through his head almost before he had finished summoning himself here — to Erytheia — once more. It seemed his ancestor had been waiting for him.

Alphonse wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. Yuki had given him quite a bit of information the last time he was here, but he had also managed to generate a good share of confusion too. What had that kiss been about?

That and he kept insisting on calling him ‘Yuri’.

“Yuri! It looks like you came back, after all. Look...” The man looked serious for once if only for a moment. “...It wasn’t my intention to confuse you, but you’re just so adorable with those insecurities of yours.”

The man’s spectral hand patted him on the shoulder in sympathy. Erytheia nearly flinched.

“Ah, I see. You haven’t completely processed what we discussed last time. I am your ancestor, Yuri, and I did foretell of you coming here.”

Erytheia had been meaning to say this since the last time he had come here but he just couldn’t bring himself to say it. Until now.

“My real name is Alphonse. I’m not this... ‘Yuri’... you have dreamt about all this time. I... can’t be.”

Yuki’s eyes turned soft for a moment, like when he first kissed him. Gone was the boundless confidence and you could see that he was looking right through Erytheia. Right into his heart.

“You doubt yourself too much, dear.” He smiled and now added a trademark wink. “Besides, who said Yuri is not your name!”

He whined as Yuki continued.

“But Yuki...”

Despite Erytheia’s protest, Yuki bounced across the open field. It was so pretty in the sunlight. It was almost if the very grass were golden and for a moment it shown like starlight. And then, there was the sun and it was so much closer to the planet then he had ever realized.

It was in a clearing he found Yuki laying down with a crown of flowers on his head.

“You’re late. Well, I can’t blame you. You just noticed the star we have in the sky currently. Yes, it’s quite close. We tend to cycle through stars here. Maybe to be more accurate, we are the ones who are in a cycle. We drift with the stellar winds. Erytheia is an star-shaped asteroid in actuality. We have no true sun.”

Yuki looked again to Erytheia and this time Erytheia didn’t turn away.

“It seems you are ready for the second item. But this one is not as straightforward as finding your signet ring.”

Yuki reaches into his kimono and pulled out a small golden bird cage with a crystal lock.

“This item, I am afraid, is locked.”

Erytheia held the item in his hand and he could see the strange lock...

...it had no key hole!

“How am I supposed to open this?”

Yuki tapped the crystal lock with a delicate finger and a message appeared in shifting light.

When you have overcome what only might,
It is then you will see the true light,
And in that moment, you shall take flight.

“Now — go — find out what it means back on Earth!”

And, with that, he was back home again in the night under a familiar moon.

✪