(no subject)
Do You Remember Me?
--
"I better tell Keine I'm back..."
Torn clothing aside, she couldn't care. It was her badge. A marker, that an unchanging being had been changed. She passed old friends with a wave, a small smile. She walked by Kaguya without hate engraved on her face. What had changed? Had the blazing firebird dimmed her flame, or had it fallen to ashes and become reborn? She walked through the forest of the lost with closed eyes and a peaceful smile. Summer was over, autumn would come, and winter, and they would... repeat... forever.
Forever, the skies of Gensokyo would keep her from paying the ferry across the river of the dead. But that didn't seem so wrong anymore.
Keine's library was gone. She stopped in her tracks.
The Hakurei shrine was run by the next Miko of the generation. She realized the familiar faces she'd seen...
... were only that of youkai.
She stopped in front of an overcrowded graveyard, filled to the brim with flowers. The living who remembered those they outlived never forgot, always prayed, always paid their respects.
There she was, Keine, inscribed on stone, in ash beneath Earth.
Mokou had been gone so much longer than she realized.
A woman approached her from behind. "Hong Meiling? The guard from the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"
"I bring Sakuya flowers everyday." Responded the gatekeeper. "... what's with that smile, Mokou?"
"I finally make something out of my immortality, just like she wanted." She said quietly. "And she was never there to see it. My battles, my friendships. All this time... I forgot... but she'd want me to smile right now." Mokou decided. "She'd want me to be proud for the long summer I had, not dying, but fighting for people with lives in danger, helping a king... yeah, that's what Keine would want."
The pause stretched between them, and Meiling finally found the words she was looking for.
"I don't think Keine would want to see a false grin through those tears running down your face, Mokou. I think she would prefer honest tears than a lying smile."
"Ah... yeah..." The phoenix reached up to touch her face. "Hahaha...ha ... where did... these come from? Stupid..."
Keine...
... You're not even here to erase my memory anymore.
Is that how you would have wanted it?
To hold onto something painful, because forgetting would be so much worse.
Even if I know that much, I have infinity to make that finite decision in my weakness.
To rewrite my history and have those memories taken.
I hope you're smiling... Keine.
...You too, king....
--
"I better tell Keine I'm back..."
Torn clothing aside, she couldn't care. It was her badge. A marker, that an unchanging being had been changed. She passed old friends with a wave, a small smile. She walked by Kaguya without hate engraved on her face. What had changed? Had the blazing firebird dimmed her flame, or had it fallen to ashes and become reborn? She walked through the forest of the lost with closed eyes and a peaceful smile. Summer was over, autumn would come, and winter, and they would... repeat... forever.
Forever, the skies of Gensokyo would keep her from paying the ferry across the river of the dead. But that didn't seem so wrong anymore.
Keine's library was gone. She stopped in her tracks.
The Hakurei shrine was run by the next Miko of the generation. She realized the familiar faces she'd seen...
... were only that of youkai.
She stopped in front of an overcrowded graveyard, filled to the brim with flowers. The living who remembered those they outlived never forgot, always prayed, always paid their respects.
There she was, Keine, inscribed on stone, in ash beneath Earth.
Mokou had been gone so much longer than she realized.
A woman approached her from behind. "Hong Meiling? The guard from the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"
"I bring Sakuya flowers everyday." Responded the gatekeeper. "... what's with that smile, Mokou?"
"I finally make something out of my immortality, just like she wanted." She said quietly. "And she was never there to see it. My battles, my friendships. All this time... I forgot... but she'd want me to smile right now." Mokou decided. "She'd want me to be proud for the long summer I had, not dying, but fighting for people with lives in danger, helping a king... yeah, that's what Keine would want."
The pause stretched between them, and Meiling finally found the words she was looking for.
"I don't think Keine would want to see a false grin through those tears running down your face, Mokou. I think she would prefer honest tears than a lying smile."
"Ah... yeah..." The phoenix reached up to touch her face. "Hahaha...ha ... where did... these come from? Stupid..."
Keine...
... You're not even here to erase my memory anymore.
Is that how you would have wanted it?
To hold onto something painful, because forgetting would be so much worse.
Even if I know that much, I have infinity to make that finite decision in my weakness.
To rewrite my history and have those memories taken.
I hope you're smiling... Keine.
...You too, king....