The Final Chapter

Farewell

Chapter 23

She opened her eyes to a new world. A world she knew, but also rediscovered. Something touched her head and as she looked to the left she saw what it was. Aether.
Lumine pushed herself up from the floor in pain. Adding to the shoulder injury and the smaller cuts, her back hurt. Probably from her floor landing. She groaned and turned towards her brother. "Aether?", her voice was weak and her breath heavy. But her brother didn't respond. As Lumine was about to listen for his heartbeat, her look glanced at his wound. Like she was only remembering it, now that she saw it, the realisation hit her. He was dead. In his last moments he had saved her and helped her to get the last gnosis. To get back home. Carefully she touched her brother's hair and stroked it gently. "The next time, we see each other, I will have completed our goal...", Lumine whispered. Her eyes got watery and she turned his head towards her face. She leaned down and her forehead touched his: "The Principles will have fallen. And we will be reunited..." With caution she pulled his glowing gnoses out of his pocket and put them  in hers.
Then her eyes wandered through the room. Purposefully overlooking Childe and ending on the corpse of the Cryo archon. She looked to to the right and picked up the Cryo gnosis. All this. Just for this thing. If the Tsaritsa hadn't done such bad things, they could have worked together. She could have convinced her brother. Forcing herself to stand, she moved through the hall to the archon. After retrieving her gnoses too, she stumbled out of the hall. No soldiers guarding the halls. Noise coming from outside the palace. Coughing she opened the front door and stepped into the fight. In an instant a Herald rushed to her side: "Your Highness are you allright?" "I am. Tell the troups to retreat. The fight is over..." She let herself fall into his arms and breathed out. Lumine never expected to feel safe around the Abyss Order. But her view had shifted so much after her memories returned. They were in the right to be angry. And even though the world wasn't as black and white as her brother thought, she would still help them. She was their princess now. But not in the way Aether did. She still wanted to protect this world. She had seen the wonders in it.
"The prince?", the Herald asked. To answer it Lumine shook her head. Her look glancing at the battlefield in front of the palace. Countless lives were lost on both sides. Their blood covered the ground. Their families were torn. Through hatred.

Lumine let herself fall back into the gras. Closing her eyes and taking in the sounds of the birds and the rustle of the leaves. The wind carrying the scent of everything around her. This would be her last peaceful moment in this world. She had to leave this behind now. The losses and friends. She had something bigger to do. She opened her eyes back up, looking at the crown of the big tree over her head. She had decided that her last moments in this world should be spent alone at the tree at Windrise. Where it was always so peaceful. One last moment of peace after all of that pain. Her last weeks had been filled with so much pain.
Childe's funeral was so painful. His siblings broke down crying when heard of their brothers death. She told them he died a hero, protecting her from the hilichurls when they defended the palace. She never mentioned his involvement in the fight against the Tsaritsa to anyone and destroyed all evidence of it. Some day they will learn the truth but now it's too early. 
She also visited Venti's, Ei's and Nahida's funeral. Even though they did horrible things, they weren't horrible beings. They were as much forced to follow the laws of Celestia as she and her brother.
She mourned so many more losses of friends until now, she was sick of it. The cost of this war had been so high and yet the only thing it accomplished was bringing her memory back and getting the key to reenter her home realm. But it caused so much destruction while doing that. As much harm as the Tsaritsa did, her way was much friendlier than her's.
"Traveler?", a familiar voice shouted from afar. Lumine got up and saw someone with a bag coming closer to her. A dear friend she hadn't seen in a while.
"Amber? How do you know I am here?", she asked. The Outrider huffed smiling, then let herself fall next to her in the grass. "Well a guard saw you coming here using the teleport nearby! He told me, about seeing you and I thought I would come here to say goodbye" Amber smiled. "Goodbye?", the Traveler asked. Her friend looked at her and laughed: "Of course! I heard you and Jean last week talking about the fact that you're leaving and that you don't know if and when you come back. You didn't think I would let you go without saying goodbye, did you?" Lumine smiled and lightly shook her head. "No of course not..."
"Oh!", Amber said giving her the bag she brought with her, "For you" Lumine took it and opened it. The smell of warm food hitting her nose. Tears filled her eyes as the nostalgia of smelling that smell for the first time hit her. And a small annoying friend chasing after it.
"I wanted to gift you something before you leave... I couldn't bring anyone else to throw you a big 'goodbye party', so this is the best I could do...", Amber said a little ashamed. "It's perfect!", Lumine answered hugging her tightly, fighting against her tears. "I put some 'sticky Honey Roast' in there for a certain someone. Maybe you'll meet her again" The Traveler let go of her, closing the bag again. Then she looked at the Outrider: "I am certain I will see her again" She could see that Amber had tears in her eyes too. "Please promise me that you wont forget us..."
"I promise."

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Just two more chapters... D: