Epilogue – Someday, No One Will March There at All

Louis ran away from the spaceport, regularly checking behind him to ensure his parents weren’t following him. After travelling a kilometre at an impressive speed for his small legs, he encountered a grassy field filled with an array of stones and encompassed by an ornate Gothic fence. Spotting an open gate, he fled into it. He continued at a breakneck pace, only tripping a few times as he travelled further and further into the field.

Eventually, he stopped to catch his breath and began to observe his surroundings. The first thing he realised was that the field was not filled with stones. Rather, they were graves. The second thing he realised was that he was not alone in the field. He spotted a figure in the distance, standing in front of one of the graves. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he slowly approached her. When he was able to make her out more clearly, his jaw hung open.

She was the most beautiful woman Louis had ever seen, even considering modern obsessions with cosmetic alterations to one’s looks. It wasn’t the kind of beauty that one might fall in love with, but, rather, the untouchable appearance of a transient being. Her blindingly white hair flowed softly in the wind, framing a melancholic face that begged the Earth itself to weep in sympathy. Her eyes were reddish-brown, but the way they glinted in the sun gave the unmistakable appearance of them being precious jewels. She wore a plain white dress, and, while it was passé, she was able to pull it off with astonishing charm.

Louis stood still about ten metres from the woman, unsure what to do. As if to refute his indecision, the woman turned to peer at him. As if to say her previous expression was a lie, she gave him a smile so dazzling that his first impulse was to shield his eyes.

“What brings you here?”

“Uh….”

Louis, usually a talkative boy, found himself tongue-tied. Her voice was soft – almost melodic – yet it contained a certain weight to it that even Louis could notice. The woman approached him and kneeled down to his height.

“I’m Elysia. What’s your name?”

“… Louis.”

Elysia’s expression remained gentle.

“Did you get separated from your parents, Louis?”

“….”

With her having clocked him immediately, Louis turned his head away guiltily. That prevented him from noticing Elysia’s gaze focusing in on the Mars Academy badge on his shirt. She gave a soft laugh.

“They’ll probably be here soon.”

“Really?!”

Louis looked downcast as he gave a whiny answer. Elysia, paying no mind to that, looked at a grave adjacent to the one she had been standing at, before turning back to Louis.

“Are you scared of going to the academy?”

“… No! I’m not scared!”

Louis was too immature to particularly consider the surprising ease with which she figured out his thoughts, and instead blurted out an impulsive lie.

“It’s not a bad thing, Louis. I had a friend who was scared of… something similar.”

“….”

Louis, though listening, avoided commenting to prevent himself from affirming that he was scared. Elysia, for her part, stood up and walked to the grave she had looked at before.

Mark Bellon

2173-2385

Louis glanced at the grave which Elysia had been standing at prior, seeing that it was labelled with the same surname.

Lillia Bellon

2174-2401

“Wasn’t that centuries ago?!”

Elysia gave a bitter look to Louis’s comment, instantly making the boy feel guilty. However, she quickly erased the look and returned to her previous soft smile.

“It’s not polite to comment on a lady’s age so crudely, you know?”

Louis, having never heard a phrase like that before, tilted his head in confusion.

“Never mind. Anyway, Louis, why don’t you want to go to the Mars Academy?”

“I….”

Louis trailed off, curling up into a ball on the ground. Elysia patiently waited for him to continue. Feeling a silent pressure from her stare, Louis finally responded.

“I just don’t wanna move! I don’t wanna go!”

Elysia’s smile grew slightly at the childish behaviour.

“Do you not want to leave your friends here?”

“… Yeah.”

“Don’t you think you’ll make new friends on Mars?”

“… It’s not the same.”

Elysia’s eyes momentarily showed an unmistakable longing.

“That’s true.”

Elysia wistfully ran her hand over Lillia’s grave, dusting its top off lightly. Finally, she continued.

“But you’ll never lose the memories you made with them, right?”

Louis thought about Elysia’s comments for a moment, before suddenly hearing a familiar voice shouting behind him.

“Louis! What are you doing out here?! Our flight is leaving soon!”

His father had tracked him down through his Mars Academy Badge. Louis’ father turned to Elysia apologetically.

“I am so sorry if my son bothered-”

Elysia gave a soft laugh, interrupting the man.

“No, it was fine.”

She turned to Louis, giving him a pointed look.

“Be good for your dad, okay?”

Louis nodded sulkily.

After a brief back and forth, Louis and his father finally left, leaving Elysia alone in the graveyard. Suddenly, she received a voice call. She tapped her ear curiously to find out what it was.

“You need to come down here now!”

“… It’s my day off, Will.”

“The Earth Council needs drafts for that terraforming project in the TRAPPIST-1 system”

Elysia, internally grumbling, frowned.

“You do know that I’m not the Bellon family’s assistant, correct? You’re working me harder than your great aunt, you brat….”

Elysia, rolling her eyes, took one more look at the graves, before finally walking out of the cemetery, leaving behind the large sign reading “Drewville Cemetery” marking it.

‘Sometimes I wish that becoming a mortal meant that this damn body would age like one… but I suppose this is fine too. There wouldn’t be any other way for me to repay my debt to humans.’

She turned back to the cemetery one more time. She muttered something softly under her breath, leaving words behind solely for the ears of the wind.

“I think I was kind. Right, Father?”