Conclusion

As Frawa faded away, she left nothing behind but a familiar body, laid out on the grass behind the mansion.

I climbed back down to find Maria still on the ground, struggling to move.

“It’s alright.” I said while approaching her. “It’s over, we won.”

“Good.” She gave me the widest smile I’d ever seen.

I gave her my shoulder to lean on as we headed towards the body that was just now regaining consciousness.

“Yo.” I greeted Arthur. “This is the first time we talk like this, huh?”

“You…You’re-”

“I’m Jack. I’ve been Jack this whole time, Emmett faded away before you ever got to meet him, unfortunately.”

“I see…” Arthur nodded. “Well then, what are you planning to do now?”

“The two of us are going home.” Maria said.

“The two of….you’re from Earth as well, Louise?”

“It’s Maria.” She corrected him. “And yes, I am.”

“Wait a minute.” I exclaimed as I just realized something important. “How the hell are we even supposed to go back, now? I only managed to get back last time because of Frawa, but now she isn’t here anymore!”

“Don’t worry, the procedure is simple.” Arthur said. “All you have to do is reverse the ritual.”

“Wait what? Surely it can’t be that easy, can it? I mean, we would have just tried that from the beginning and everything would have worked out fine. You’re telling me out of everyone that tried to leave the void, no one thought of that?”

“No, it never used to work. But the reason I believe it will only work now is because the gate between Earth and Obrillis has been unlocked, I think. I saw it, I was there with you, remember?

“Oh, right. For some reason, I kinda assumed you didn’t see all that, for some reason.”

“Enough chit chat, time to get on with it!” A voice exclaimed towards us.

Arthur turned and saw Esmeralda behind him. He immediately ran over and hugged her tightly as tears welled up in his eyes.

“How….How?” He was stunned. “I…I saw you die…I saw your corpse….”

“I’m sorry.” Esmeralda held him in her arms as he broke down. “I’m sorry for lying to you this whole time. I was planning to interfere, but Jack managed to get a hold of things just fine, it seems.”

Esmeralda carried Arthur in her arms and created a portal which opened up to the meeting place. We all stepped through and the portal closed behind us. The familiar large space with the symbol engraved into the ground greeted us.

“Hey, Arthur.” I broke the silence that had begun to settle in, as we prepared to say our goodbyes.

“Yeah?” He looked up, his eyes red from all the tears.

“I know it’s not my place to say this, but you should maybe try to reconcile with your parents. I don’t know everything that happened between all of you, but if you feel like it, this might be the perfect time for a fresh start.

“...I’ll think about it.” He nodded.

Esmeralda placed him on the floor, ruffled his head, and then motioned for the two of us to head towards the symbol.

“Are you two ready?” She asked.

“I guess.” I was ready to finally quit this world, I was sick of it after having lived here for nearly a lifetime. Earth was now nearly a fragment of a memory, so the idea of going back home excited me.

“Wait, hold on!” Maria exclaimed. “There’s still some loose ends!”

“Like what?” Esmeralda asked.

“Like the fact that the connection between Earth and The Void is now even stronger than ever! Shouldn’t we have done the opposite and actually separated them from each other?”

“Why? The way things are right now are perfectly fine.” Esmeralda explained. “Severing the connection means giving no chance to the people here to ever go back, wouldn’t that be kind of sad? The Void’s balance is now completely offset, which means anyone that tries to go back shouldn’t be hindered by Frawa’s forces anymore, now that she’s gone and the connection is secure.”

“Yeah, but…It’ll also make it easier for people to leave Earth to come here, right?” I interjected.

“But that’s a choice that they decide to make for themselves. You can’t decide what’s wrong for someone else. You can explain it to them, but you can’t understand it for them. Sure, escapism is a very toxic form of coping when your entire life itself becomes an escape, but at the same time, I can kind of understand the feelings they go through. The best way for them to find out is by deciding to return by themselves.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I guess it’s okay if we leave things as they are, then.”

“Now that that’s settled, do you two have any last words, before we send you home?”

I looked at Maria, and she took my hand in hers. We both nodded to each other and then to Esmeralda, the sign that we were ready.

I closed my eyes as Esmeralda performed the ritual. I opened them slightly and turned to the side to see that Arthur was back on his feet. I made eye contact with him, and we both nodded as a sign of mutual understanding. This would most likely be the last time I ever see him for the rest of my life.

And then, everything went white.

I opened my eyes and immediately jumped out of bed. I ignored everyone around me and instantly ran as fast as I physically could. I stumbled and struggled to get up, since I’d been asleep for some time, but every time I fell, no matter how long I stayed on the ground, I eventually managed to pull myself up and keep going forward.

After mere minutes, I was breathing heavily, but I found myself in front of Maria’s room. I knocked, and received an answer to come in from a familiar voice.

I opened the door, and light shone right in my face. The window in front of the door was perfectly in front of the sun, with a strong air current pushing the curtains away from the window.

In the bed, laid a woman that I hadn’t seen in a very long time. Although half of her body was still battered and covered in casts from the accident, since on Earth not that much time had actually passed, Maria smiled like she’d never smiled before.

Tears filled my eyes as I rushed towards her and jumped into her bed, the two of us giggling. She held me in her arms and kissed me on the lips. The sensation I felt right there gave meaning to my entire life. All the decades I’d spent waiting for her, they were all worth it just for me to have experienced that single moment of pure ecstasy. We held each other and didn’t plan on letting go any time soon.

“Sorry I’m late.” were the last things I said before falling asleep next to her.