It felt strange, in a way, to be wandering the streets as Carterhaugh again. They barely knew what to make of it, really; of seeing the city, after a light snowfall, so soft and silent, as if the war that had driven them from it was a thousand miles away and not looming over them like a threat.
But in this part of the city, there was no Negaverse to bother them, no youma threat to combat. Just the peace of softly falling snow and an Earth Page wandering through, reacquainting themself with the city they'd left behind for a time.
Two years. Two years and a little change, they'd spent far from home, living an entirely different life. Becoming someone new. Because in their own foolishness, they'd nearly thrown everything away.
At least they'd escaped, in the end. And now they were back, and they'd have to figure out what came next. So they wandered, letting a little snow dust their shoulders, merging with the flow of wavy white hair.
They found a nice little bench to sit on, and casually dropped down, putting their chin in their hand and watching the snow fall.
In the distance, a church bell chimed.
At first, Carterhaugh thought the stillness was all in their head--that perhaps they simply wanted the peace and quiet to never end, and so it didn't. But by the second chime of the bell, it was clear--the snow was frozen in the air, little glittering showers of flakes paused in their fall.
tHe bell continued ot chime, but nothing else moved.
It was, to Carterhaugh, a purely magical moment. A moment of silence and peace, stretched out by whatever strange quirk of the city sometimes just made magical things happen with no further explanation. Here, in this moment, Carterhaugh was able to take it all in. To remember that this place was special, and magical, and worth protecting.
This was the sort of thing they had missed, being away from Destiny City for so long. No little surprise bits of magic to make an otherwise ordinary evening special. No hints of everything more that existed beyond the firmament of ordinary reality.
They'd missed this. So, so, so much. But they were home now, and Destiny City had clearly seen fit to welcome them back with a touch of its inimitable wonder.
The bell had ceased chiming, and yet the frozen moment stretched on. It might have been seconds, or might have been hours, Carterhaugh wasn't sure. All they knew was that, for the first time in a long time--perhaps since leaving the city--they felt truly, purely at peace.
This was where they needed to be. What they needed to do. They were a Knight of Earth, and they were here to protect their planet. And it felt like...a re-commitment. A promise, to themself, to never forget that again. To become the Knight they ought to be, given this miraculous second chance.
They sohuld have lost everything. Instead, they had a chance to find it all again.
And when time started again, Carterhaugh was changed.
[wc: 521 words]
