A Ceremony For The End And The Restart

A cloudless azure sky welcomed the awakening of Akira after the events of the last night. After leaving Heinrich at the exit of the town, Priscilla and Akira walked for a bit, until they found a field full of flowers, with a big tree right at the centre of it. There they settled for the rest of the night and, when they got to sit against a solid wall and a soft terrain, they both fell asleep before they had the occasion to do anything. So, when Akira got up and saw that azure sky, calm like nothing had happened the night before, he felt like he was dreaming, or felt like what happened the day before had been a dream: however, when he turned his head and saw Samai’s corpse, he understood that what happened last night was real, and that their city had been engulfed in flames and probably destroyed by them. Seeing Samai’s body there, her lips still a bit disclosed by the kiss they exchanged before she died, Akira felt an indescribable sadness and pain, but this time he let no tears come out of his eyes: he was sad that, again, he had been robbed by someone else of the person he loved the most. Then, he laughed at the irony of the situation he found himself in the last night: his girlfriend was killed again and its killer had been killed by him with a gun and his body had burned down with a building. It seemed like he was just living his old life again, just with another background. However, this time he was sure of a thing: he would have not become a soulless body, but he would have continued living, without letting that pain stop him from going forward. That was the promise he made to Samai, but also the one he made to himself: he had a second chance, he would have not wasted it, no matter the obstacles he had to face or the enemies he would have made or the friends he would have lost. Then, he looked at Priscilla, worried about her conditions after what she lived the night before: however, when he did that, he saw her sleeping face, which showed peace and relax. It was the first time since the night before he saw her like that, in that state of relax, so he let her sleep, wanting to make her live that blissful peace for a little longer. While looking at the scenery he was in – a beautiful field full of flowers and an ancient oak right in the centre of it, under which both Akira and Priscilla slept – and then at Samai’s body, he thought that it would have been the perfect place to bury her and make a gravestone to commemorate her. When he thought about that, his mind reminded him that, while they were going through the street that brought them to that field, he saw a shovel: it was the perfect object for what he wanted to do. He quickly went to see if his mind was right and indeed it was, because, right near a series of fences that delimitated the path to that field, a lonely shovel stayed there, probably forgotten by someone who was there when the fire started. He quickly grabbed it and then returned to the field and searched the entire field to find the best place where to bury Samai. At the end, he opted for a piece of land right under the oak and surrounded by flowers, a perfect place where to commemorate a loved one. Thus, he started digging a hole big enough to contain Samai’s corpse. He was sad that she had to be buried without a coffin or something to protect her, but, after all, it wasn’t that important: he was sure that Samai would have preferred to be deposed in the hole directly by his arms instead of having a layer between the two of them. Not that she had a choice in that, unfortunately. That was surely a hard work to do alone, but it also served to make Akira not think about all what happened the last night. That was an activity he did for too much the night before, now he needed to think about the present, instead of the past. When he decided to take a pause, he saw that he had dug almost half of the space he needed for the grave, and, when he got up and laid on the grass, he saw that, behind the tree, Priscilla was observing him.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?” asked Akira, thinking that he had to excuse himself for taking her out of the sweet world of dreams.

“No, no… I woke up just a few moments ago, anyways” replied her, looking at the grave he was digging. When Akira saw where her gaze was directed to, he explained her what he wanted to do.

“I wanted to give Samai a proper burial, you know… I though this place was perfect, for remembering a person we both loved”

When he said that, Priscilla looked to the ground, but then, she lifted her head, smiling, even though some tears were coming out of her eyes, and she said “Yeah, you’re right. This is the perfect place for Samai to sleep forever…”. Then, her expression transformed in a pained one and she started crying again, and, this time, Akira got near her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry… I still can’t believe… that I am not going to see her ever again…” said Priscilla, as if she needed to justify her sadness.

“I can’t believe it too… but there is a thing I have learned from my life: sometimes, looking only at the present is the best thing a human can do. Sometimes the past can be kind of a drug, and living in the past is only going to hurt you, because you’re living in a dimension that does not exist anymore. So, in those cases, it is better to forget you ever had a past, and you just need to live life from the moment you are onward”.

“Ah… I think you are right: if a person with your past says that, then it means it must be true”. Then, after she replied that, the both of them started laughing, as if to immediately try and forget the past.

“Listen, Priscilla, can you do me a favour?” asked Akira, when the both of them had calmed down a bit.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Could you please go and pick up some flowers for Samai? I’m sure you know what flowers she would have liked the most”.

“Sure thing! All right, I am going to pick up the best flowers this field has to offer us!” replied her, with an unusual enthusiasm in her voice. Then, she started running through the garden, while Akira was looking at her, smiling. He gave her that activity for two things: so that she could empty her mind a little with that and so that she hadn’t to face the fact that Samai was dead by giving him a help digging her grave. After looking at her for a bit, he continued digging Samai’s grave and, an hour or so later, he finished the job. He got up just right when Priscilla returned from her task, a lot of different flowers in her hands. When she saw that the grave had been finished, she offered Akira to give him a hand laying down the corpse in it and, when Akira heard that, he understood that she at least accepted the fact that Samai was now dead, and that that activity served her to really certify that, so he accepted her help. They first looked at the body: unfortunately, they had no better clothes than the one she already had, which were still elegant enough for a funeral, being a simple aquamarine dress that reminded Akira of the dress she wore at their first date. Plus, there were still traces of blood on her, so they decided to clean her first. However, before doing that, Akira went and broke a fence to have at least something similar to a gravestone: then, with a knife Priscilla still had with her, he wrote her epitaph, helped also by Priscilla.

Samai Natò
21
Too young to die, but not enough to be erased from our hearts.
We will always love you – Priscilla and Akira

After doing that painful yet somewhat cathartic activity, Priscilla said him that there was a river near that field, so they went there and cleaned her body. It wasn’t the first time that Akira looked at Priscilla’s naked body, but that was the last time he was going to see it: still, Priscilla was a little embarrassed when she took off Samai’s clothes in front of Akira, and she wasn’t reassured even when he said her that he already saw her without clothes. Still, they cleaned her together, they also washed her clothes and then dressed her back. Then, they transported her from the river to the grave, in an atmosphere that made it clear that it was like they had started Samai’s funeral. They took their time going back at the grave and, when they arrived near it, a gentle breeze started blowing around them, like even nature was participating in that funeral, like it was expressing its pain for the loss of such a young soul. When they arrived exactly near it, they slowly started deposing her body into the grave, not before the both of them had given her a final kiss: Priscilla gently kissed her on the cheek, while Akira, not wanting to overwrite the last memory of their passionate kiss, just kissed her on the forehead. After they deposed her, they both stayed in silent for a bit, before Priscilla started speaking.

“I… I always considered you more like a sister than a servant. You could have not been my biological sister, but you grew up with me, we were always together, both in the good and in the bad moments, we always shared everything. I… I will miss you, with all of my heart. I hope that, wherever you are, you will always be happy, from now on”.

Then, after she ended, it was time for Akira to say something.

“Samai… You don’t know how important you were for me. You were by my side during difficult times, you were the first person to listen to me, you gave me hope for a new future. I hope that, with the love I showed you, I was able to at least communicate you how much your presence was important for me. I really hope that you are happy, in another life, in Heaven, wherever you are… I will always treasure the time we passed together, so let me conclude by saying a last thing: I love you, Samai, and I will treasure you in my heart until I leave this earth”.

When he finished speaking, Priscilla handed him some flowers that she had picked up form the many she picked up from the field. Then, Priscilla deposed her flowers on Samai’s chest, and Akira did the exact same thing when she finished. Then, the two of them looked in the eyes: they knew it was the moment to fill the grave with the dirt Akira removed to make it. This time, Priscilla also helped Akira with another piece of the fence that Akira broke before, and, in no time, the two of them filled the grave. Then, Akira posed the gravestone they had made on the grave and, near it, Priscilla left the remaining flowers.

And thus, Samai’s funeral finished.

While a gentle breeze was still blowing around them, Priscilla and Akira embraced each other’s shoulder with one arm and looked towards Zuvaskja. The city was completely destroyed: from there, the two of them could see the burnt buildings and the disaster that the fire did to the city. Still, there seemed to have been no invasion whatsoever: those were probably just Heinrich’s worries, of which he just wanted to be convinced.

“So, what do you want to do now, Priscilla?” asked Akira, while he was still looking at that scenery. “The city is destroyed, and probably your family’s villa, too. The only thing we can do is go there and see if something survived the fire, but, if not, then we have to invent something in order to live, unless you had a fire insurance for your house”.

Priscilla remained silent for a bit before replying to him.

“I… I want to go away. Right now. With you, Akira. I don’t care if I have nothing: I don’t want to stay here anymore. But I want to leave with you, Akira, so, please, tell me: do you want to leave this city with me?”

“You know that your father is alive, right? If he doesn’t find you, he will be madly worried”

“I will just need to write him a letter, saying him that I want to go and live my life: you don’t have to worry about that”.

“And you don’t even want to go and see if something in the villa survived?”

“No. I don’t want to return to that city ever again. So, please, Akira: will you come with me?”

She had literally no plan. She had no money, even though he was sure that she knew how to get money from a bank under her father’s name. She had very little life experience. She had no destination in mind, probably. And, still, she wanted to go away and live her life. Akira could only give her an answer.

“…Yes, I want to come with you. No matter what we are going to face, we are going to live our journey. Together”.

Those words made Priscilla blush a bit, but Akira was sure that she understood what he meant: they were going to live that journey like family. She could have not liked that, she could have wanted more, but he was sure that, after what they passed together, she would have been able to treat him like family more like than a love interest.

They stayed silent for a bit, looking at a city they would have probably never seen again, enjoying the breeze that surrounded them, under the shadow of a giant oak. Then, after some minutes, Priscilla turned towards him, as if she had enough of looking at what her life had been until that moment.

“What do you think? Shall we go?”

Akira took a moment of silence before answering. 

“Yeah, let’s go”.

The two of them started approaching the path that would have brought them back to the principal street, from which they would have wandered until they had found a place that was to their liking, or something like that. They had to decide that as soon as possible. However, while Priscilla had walked a bit towards the path that would have brought them to their new life, Akira stayed still for a moment. Then, he turned towards Samai’s grave, and whispered, with a sweet yet determined smile on his face:

“I am going to live my life, Samai. You don’t have to worry about that. You showed me the way, and I am going to walk it until I want”.

“Akira! Hurry, or I am going to leave you behind!” shouted Priscilla from behind him, wanting to make the first steps of that new life together with her new family.

“I’m coming, Priscilla” replied Akira.

He then said a last word to Samai’s grave, a simple “Thank you” full of gratitude, then turned back, arrived near Priscilla and started walking the first steps of a new and unknown life, while a solitary grave stayed behind them to represent their passage on that earth, surrounded by a prosperous nature.