An Empty World

Cael just stood there in shock as the revelation settled in. It felt like the ground had just opened up from under him, dropping him into a bottomless pit.

"Cael? Are you okay?" Val gently shook his shoulders.

He didn't respond.

He had figured that Val was alone out here, but he thought that was just due to how remote the cottage was.

He never expected that the entire damn world would be empty.

"Cael? Cael?! Are you okay?" Val was nudging him again, trying to get him to respond. She was starting to look worried, guilty even.

Guilt.

He remembered seeing the emotion in her before, but he had thought she just felt guilty about summoning him in general. Now though… he was beginning to understand the full reason for it.

She was the only one in this world.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he was a little relieved to not have to deal with strangers or their general cruelty. On the other, though… The thought of there being no one else besides them was terrifying.

He shivered.

"Cael…? Are you sad? Upset? Mad?"

He had been a little mad back when he was summoned, but that had been more shock than anger.

It took a minute for him to find a proper answer.

"…No," he finally said, giving her a small smile. "I'm not mad. Just… surprised and maybe confused."

"Confused?"

Confused barely scratched the surface of what he was feeling, but it was pretty close. He just nodded.

"Yes… I don't understand. Why is the world empty?"

Val looked thoughtful for a second before uttering a couple of words. "The Vanishing."

"The Vanishing?"

She nodded. "My parents called it that. I don't remember many things though. I was very little." She flatly gestured her hand toward her knee, as if indicating how short she had been.

Even more questions were beginning to pop up for him, but he went with the most obvious one first.

"…What happened?"

"Everyone vofettaesav." Her hands opened up in a 'poofing' motion. "Only me and my parents were here after."

He could piece together what the word meant considering the name of the event.

But then…everyone had just disappeared. Just like that? The scenario sounded like it was right out of a horror movie.

"…Why?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, but my parents were scared. Maybe it was magic. Maybe a jiv was angry. Or maybe it was something else."

"That's… awful."

Honestly, awful was putting it lightly. Cael knew what it was like to be lonely, but to this extent? Just living through some apocalyptic event?

He couldn't imagine it.

"I'm sorry, Val." No other words came to mind—how could any?

She shrugged sadly. "It's… okay. It was a long time ago."

"…" Cael just observed her. It was clear to him that she was trying to downplay her feelings despite how casually she'd said it.

Wait.

Did this mean that for six entire years she was completely alone in this world?

He looked at her, obviously trying to put on a strong front with a reassuring smile, but it was shaky, as if it would fall apart at any moment.

"…Cael? What are you—"

He moved forward, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. She let out a small gasp, and he could feel her tense up in surprise—honestly, he was surprised at himself too—but he didn't let go. Instead, he held her tight, and his fingers gently brushed against her back in slow, comforting strokes.

"It's okay."

He felt her tremble in his arms and a quiet sob escaped her lips. A few seconds later, she began shaking as tears streamed down her face.

"I-I'm sorry…"

Her hands clung tightly to him now, as if she were afraid to let him go. She whispered between sobs.

"I'm… sorry I summoned you. I trapped you here. I stole your life…"

A hiccup.

"Cael, I'm so sorry…"

He shook his head. "No, Val. It's alright… don't say sorry."

"Cael? But—"

He interrupted her. "Val, like I said, it's fine. I'm okay. In fact, I'm… thankful."

The last word caused her to momentarily stop. "What?"

He paused too. It just slipped out, and he tried to piece together the reasoning behind it. Eventually, after a minute, he found it.

"I'm… glad I met you, Val."

She seemed taken aback at his words.

"Y-you are? But are you not lonely? More lonely?"

He thought about it for a little. Was he lonely here?

"No. Not really," he answered, shaking his head. "I was lonely in my old world. I had no one. Not really."

"But you had people, right?" she persisted. "You had people to talk to. To see. To touch. To… be."

"No. There were many people in my world. But no one cared."

He wasn't sure if he managed to communicate that well enough to her, but from the look on Val's face, it seemed like she understood. It probably helped that he'd tried communicating that idea to her the first day they'd met, and she already knew he didn't have any family left.

"I'm sorry, Cael." A somber look crossed her face, but Cael tried to dispel it.

"Don't worry. I'm okay. See?" He motioned to himself and offered a strained smile. "I'm not lonely now. I'm… happy?"

"…" Val remained quiet. He could see her lips moving, as if she were muttering to herself, and her fingers were fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

"Are you okay, Val?"

She blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. "Oh! Um, yes. I'm okay." She wiped away the remaining tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her dress. "Sorry."

Cael studied her face. There was still something off about her expression, and she refused to maintain eye contact.

"Val? Please tell me what you are thinking." He might've been good at reading people, but he wasn't a mind reader, and the language barrier between them only made that more apparent.

She hesitated a few more seconds before finally responding.

"I'm… I'm thinking of how to return you to your home world."

Cael froze.

Wait. Return? Was Val still intent on sending him back? He remembered her promising to help him do that before, but…

"D-do you want me to return?" he quickly asked.

Her expression shifted slightly. "…If Cael stays here, you will be lonely. If Cael goes back, you will not be lonely. Cael's world has many people. Val's world has one. Maybe two." She pointed to herself and clutched her necklace.

Cael blinked.

He… didn't know what to think. Was Val still trying to send him back to his old world, even if that meant that she'd be all alone again?

In a way, it was a touching sentiment. However, the thought of Val completely by herself, attempting to find a lost mother who may never come back, made his stomach churn.

To abandon her again in a completely empty world…

Val gave him a smile, a brave one that was meant to reassure him. But it was forced like the first one, he knew it. It was the same type he'd given to his aunt when her illness had gotten worse and the same he always gave himself to pretend things were fine.

It hurt him to see her smile like that.

"Val…?" He hesitated, taking a deep breath.

He felt the urge to say something, and before he could doubt himself, he let it out.

"Val. Do not return me."

"…What?" she asked, tilting her head. She was almost gawking at him as if he had misspoken, or she had somehow misheard.

He repeated himself, speaking slowly and carefully. "Val. Do not return me. I want to stay here."

Her eyes widened as the words finally registered, and her mouth dropped open even more. "C-Cael?! But that—! You can't—!"

He pulled her closer until her face was buried in his shoulder before she could protest any more. "Val, please, let me stay here, with you."

She shook her head and protested, muffled through his shirt. "No, Cael. You can't stay. You need to—"

"I want to stay with you, Valeria Evernight."

The use of her full name caused her to freeze.

Cael didn't know what he was doing. It just… came. Frankly, everything now was just instinct.

The smart decision for himself, the rational one, would have been to agree with her—that eventually they should try to return him back to his world.

Sure, he might have been alone there, but it was a world filled with countless people. If he struggled long enough, there was a chance that he might eventually find someone who cared for him. At the very least, he wouldn't be stuck somewhere with literally no one else.

"…"

But for whatever reason, it just didn't feel right.

"Please," he repeated, gently running a hand down her braid. "Val, let me stay. At least until you find your mother. And maybe… even after that."

She managed to pull back slightly, looking up at him wide-eyed. "B-but, Cael, you are lonely here!"

"No, Val. I'm not. I was lonely before. But when I'm here… I'm not lonely."

"…" She gawked at him, speechless, as if she didn't want to believe him.

He smiled. It was a small, tired smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, but it was a real smile. "Erm, do you understand me?" he asked, releasing her from the hug and straightening up.

She quickly shook her head with still watery eyes. "No, no, I don't. Don't stay with Val. If you do—"

"Val, stop. Please. I don't want to leave."

"…Are you wasgeoc, Cael?" She stared at him, searching his eyes.

Perhaps she was asking if he was certain? He paused and thought it over one last time, but it wasn't necessary. His resolve didn't change.

"Yes."

More tears came. Val tried wiping them away, but it was no use. They kept streaming down her face.

Cael wasn't really used to comforting people, but he followed his instincts again and reached out to comfort her, just like he had when he first arrived in this world. Val flinched at the sudden contact as he brushed her tears away. But she relaxed once she understood what he was doing.

"Val, don't be sad. It's okay."

She sniffled and squeezed her eyes really tightly before looking back at him. She seemed a tiny bit calmer, although he wasn't sure if he was just imagining it.

Suddenly. "But Cael? Are you not sad too?"

"Huh?" 

His response came out a little choked.

She gestured to his cheek and wiped some stray dampness away with her finger.

It took a little for him to register what it was.

Oh. He was crying. When did that happen?

"Ah, n-no, I'm okay. Don't worry, Val." 

Before he knew it, it was his turn to try and stop tears. He tried stifling the shakiness that had suddenly come over him, to hide his weakness from her. But he couldn't stop.

Why was he crying?

Was it because he had finally found a place where he was actually wanted, even if he could still be imagining it? Or was it because he had just admitted out loud that there was no one really left for him back home?

"Damn it, I'm sorry," he mumbled, covering his face in an attempt to hide. "Please, don't look."

"No, no, no," she whispered, gently pulling his hands away from his face and holding them in hers. "Don't hide, Cael." The way her eyes shimmered made his chest tighten even further.

"Let me look, Cael. Please?"

He swallowed hard. "I don't want to look… weak." He had always been berated for it. He hated it. Yet despite his best efforts, his tears continued to fall.

"…Cael isn't weak," Val murmured. "And if you are, then it's okay."

She paused for a moment, before adding, "I'm weak too."

Crap.

He broke down as the weight of everything crashed down on him.

He couldn't keep up the facade anymore. He was tired of pretending that he had it all together. Tired of acting strong when he wasn't. Tired of lying to everyone, to himself, to her, and to the world. He collapsed to the ground and buried his face into his palms.

"It's okay, Cael," Val whispered, stroking his back soothingly. She had knelt down next to him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.

"It's okay…"

Cael wanted to push her away. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong, that nothing was okay. Nothing had ever been okay. Not since his parents died. Not since his aunt had passed away. Not since his sister had abandoned him.

But he couldn't find the strength to speak nor to act on that desire. Instead, he huddled closer to her.

Valeria didn't seem to mind. She just hugged him closer as they both cried together.