Chapter 35

 Blue skies as far as the eye could see, a field of green one side, and the vastness of the ocean in front of her. She could smell the salty sea air, and feel the cool breeze. Hanabi had seen this sight several times only… this time it wasn’t a fabrication of her mental space. It was real.

The man known as Ghost stood on one side, while Vera was on the other. The three of them stayed motionless, staring out at this sight.

“So… this is the area outside of the dome?” Asked Hanabi. From across the ocean, on a landmass far out on the horizon, she saw what was unmistakably the dome, swirling mass of energy and all. It almost seemed like a dream that she would wake up from at any moment. Like she’d be in her bunk, or back in that diner, or somewhere else in the dome.

“Seems like it. Though…” Vera pointed up at the ring of space debris around the planet. “That, I don’t have an answer for, though I suspect that if I wander long enough, I’ll figure it out.” Vera placed her hands in her pockets and turned around.

“Wait!” Hanabi suddenly stood. “I’m not… ungrateful about you bringing me along.” Odds are she would’ve been discovered by the Soluna military, questioned, then melted down and deleted from the server — assuming they hadn’t already deleted her backup off the server.

“But,” she continued, “what exactly do you plan to do with me? Am I a prisoner?”

Vera contemplated this for a while, and then finally said. “Nope. Where am I gonna keep you prisoner, did you see us bring a cage? No, Gatekeeper, well former Gatekeeper. You’re free to go wherever you wish. Heck, if you want, you can probably try to find a way back into the Dome if you like.”

The prospect of seeing the girls was tempting but… she couldn’t even begin to figure out how to do that.

“You could also come with us, Ghost there has taken a liking to you for some reason. Man never says a word for several years, suddenly he doesn’t want to leave your side.” Vera shrugged. “Our bands a bit strange, and often times I feel like I’m a mother to a bunch of idiot teenagers who have all the survival skills of a lemming, but it’s not so bad.”

“What’s a lemming?”

“Earth animal, long extinct. Anyways, it’s up to you what you want to do, you can go wherever you want.” Vera left before Hanabi could question her some more, rejoining her crew, who’d taken it upon themselves to try to build a makeshift shelter.

“Where I want to go?” Hanabi repeated the words, and a smile spread across her face. She sighed in contentment. “Well, I guess I would like to bring the girls here someday, maybe I’ll look into how to do that. We can be free from the Soluna Consortium together. Could be fun.” She could just imagine the things they’d say if they were here.

Her gaze drifted to the man known as Ghost, standing there like a statue. There was just one more loose end to tie up. He knew who she was, and it was time for her to finally get that answer.

“Alright.” She stood up, and turned to face him. “You know who I was, back in the past, right?”

“...” He nodded slowly.

Hope welled up within her, “then… can you tell me? Who I was?”

He nodded again.

She smiled at him, “I have one last question.” She stepped closer, standing a few inches away. “Who are you, exactly?” She had… a hunch about who he was. As impossible as it seemed. There were only a few people she could guess who cared about her enough to regard her with such kindness back in her old life. “I mean…” she averted her eyes, as her cheeks reddened. “I… might have an idea, but… I wanna hear it from you. Who are you?”

For a while, Ghost just stared blankly at her through the eye-holes in his mask. His expression unknowable. “I…” he began to speak. “don’t remember my name. I have… like you… lost many memories. But, one memory stayed. One I could never forget.” He placed his hand atop her head and brushed her hair. “Your face, no matter how it changes, I would know it was you.” His hands fell to his side, and then slowly reached to his mask. It hissed as the latches came undone. “Sorry, my face… might’ve changed a lot… since you last saw me.”

She watched with amazement as the mask slowly fell from his face as he lowered his hood, his long hair flowing with the sea breeze. Her heart leapt out of her chest as she recognized him, it could only be him.

She held her hands to her mouth, trying to fight back the sudden rush of emotion, tears formed in her eyes, but she would not let them fall. She choked back the tears, breathed, and then let the smile form on her face. She didn’t know what to say, how could she possibly express her emotions at this moment. So, as if she was greeting an old friend, she said just one thing to him.

“Welcome home.”