Claire kissed me the night before the revolution, I kissed Claire just after the revolution, and on our wedding day, we kissed one another.
“Aaahhhh!” Claire shrieked as she hugged her body. The violet glow burst and disappeared. At the same time, our surroundings began to brighten.
“Miss Claire!”
“No…no! I don’t want to leave Mother. I don’t want to leave the one I love…” she said as though in a nightmare. She was afraid of waking from her dream and leaving her late mother and me behind. Even though she always acted tough, I knew this frail, vulnerable girl was the real Claire at heart.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “I’m right here, and I’m sure Madam Melia will always be with—”
Before I could finish, the fake Melia gently pushed Claire forward.
“Mother?”
“I see you’re in good hands, Claire. I can rest easy now, knowing you’ll be all right.” The Melia here should have been a fake created by TAIM, yet she spoke to Claire as though she were the real deal.
“No! I don’t want to go! I want to stay with you, Mother!”
“I’ll always be by your side. Don’t you remember what Manaria said? I will live on inside you forever—as long as you remember me, that is.”
“I would never forget you!”
“I know. So go on—do what you know must be done.”
Claire looked conflicted. Her ocean-blue eyes wavered with uncertainty.
“You are Claire François, the precious daughter of the Bauer nobles Dole François and me, Melia François. As our daughter, you must go forth and live a life that won’t bring us shame.”
“A life that…won’t bring Mother shame?” Claire said.
“The life you’ve led until this point may have had its trials and tribulations, but you’ve met so many new faces, just as Rae showed you. Are you truly prepared to throw away the feelings she and everyone else have given you?”
With a look of understanding, Claire turned my way. Her eyes took me in, as well as something further beyond me as well. She had found her answer.
“It’s time to wake up,” Melia continued. “I won’t say farewell. Until next time, my dear Claire.”
“Mother. Will I be able to see you again someday?”
“Yes, once you’ve finished living a life worth living.”
“I understand. I won’t waver anymore. I’ll live a life I can tell you all about with a smile—together with Rae.”
“I look forward to it,” Melia said. Then her body gradually faded into nothingness.
Claire wiped her tears before turning back my way. Slowly, she began to collapse. The Demon Queen moved to catch her, but I slipped ahead and caught her instead. Whatever had prevented me from approaching her before was now gone. I laid her down on the ground and held her hand tight, for a brief instant feeling as though many more hands were overlaid with mine. May, Aleah, Lilly, Manaria, Misha, Lene, Rod, Yu, Thane, Philine, Dorothea, our pupils, and many more… All the people Claire had met were with me now to hold her hand.
“Rae…” she said.
“Yes, Miss Claire?”
“I’m back.”
“Thank goodness… How do you feel?”
“Confused. Like I’ve awakened from a long dream…a comforting, yet sad dream.” Even if it wasn’t real, her imagined world had included both me and Melia. She must have felt so at peace. “But a dream is a dream. No matter how comforting it may be, it can never be real. Mother had to scold me because I couldn’t understand that…”
“It’s all right. In the end, you managed to feel everyone’s presence, right?”
“Yes, yes I did.”
So Claire had felt it too then, proving that hadn’t been just some figment of the imagination on my part. Of course, this was the world of the mind, so anything was possible.
“At any rate, with this, we’ve thrown a wrench into TAIM’s plans. All that’s left is to leave this place.”
“Indeed. So how do we do that?”
“You know, I dunno.” Now that I thought about it, I realized I had no return trip planned. TAIM had sent me here, but she sure wasn’t around to send me back.
“Don’t worry, I can do it.”
“Demon Queen…”
“Miss Claire… I’m glad you’re safe.”
“My goodness, your body…”
“Yes, I’m about at my limit.”
The Demon Queen had taken all of Claire’s attacks for me during my confrontation with her. Her body was slowly losing its color before our eyes. As I suspected, the damage she’d taken was very much real.
“I haven’t much power left,” she said. “Being an outsider, the Loop System sees me as a virus and will soon expel me. If you two hold on to me when it does, you should be able to leave this place. Rae Taylor, I leave Miss Claire in your hands.”
“Whoa, wait, but what do we do about the Loop System?” I asked.
“That’s for you to decide. I’m clearly not qualified to handle it anymore. Whether you choose to continue, bring it to an end, or even change these loops is up to you.”
“How can you be so irresponsible?” I scolded her.
“Need you even ask? That’s just how I am.”
“Right, how could I forget? Our Rae Taylor way.”
“Exactly.” The Demon Queen gave me a thin smile before wrapping her remaining arm around Claire and me. We began to rise into the air. “Once you get back, you should find a way to restrict TAIM’s functionality as soon as possible. Then you can take your time thinking about your next step.”
“Thank you, Demon Queen…no, my other Rae,” Claire said.
“I don’t deserve to be called by that name anymore.”
Claire’s face grew pained at that. The three of us ascended through the strange space in silence. Without warning, the Demon Queen let us go.
“Demon Queen?” I asked.
“This is farewell. You’ll be able to exit if you continue ascending.”
“But what about you?”
She looked back at me in silence. I watched as her body began to fade for good. As we continued to ascend, she fell to the dark depths below.
“You’ve come a long, long way…” Claire called. “You’ve earned your rest.”
“I won’t say thank you,” I echoed, “but please, rest well.”
As though seeing through a respected elder’s last moments, we gave the Demon Queen our final parting words.
“Yes, I think I will. Be well, Miss Claire, Rae Taylor. The world is in your hands.”
As her words reached our ears, our consciousness began to fade.
I couldn’t quite make out her face in the end, but I’d like to think she was smiling.