Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Screee! Screee!" The gulls' piercing cries had echoed relentlessly for half the night, and Mikael, sprawled on the roof of a random villa, had listened with equal indifference.

He listened to the thin wings slicing through the air, the wind coaxing the waves against the breakwater, and light, chaotic footsteps approaching until they stopped behind him.

"Drunk?"

"Heehee… Found two bottles of wine in the room… Meant to take them back for Eden, but… couldn't resist…"

Elysia rested her chin on Mikael's shoulder, her fluffy hair tickling his ear, which turned crimson.

"Seele asleep?"

"Ugh… She was a bit shaken today. Took me, like, fifteen stories to get her to sleep!"

Mikael twitched his lips, humming, then his shoulders shook as he burst into laughter. "Elysia, there's a chance Seele, being almost fourteen, might be a little old for bedtime stories…"

"Well… I learned it from Aponia…" Elysia scratched her head sheepishly.

"Not entirely," Mikael corrected. "Maybe, more than Aponia, the idea that kids need bedtime stories is from… our childhood memories."

"Ah—you're right! I remember you borrowing books from the town library. When Mama Celia's throat hurt, you, the most literate, read to us… Though sometimes you fell asleep first, hahaha!"

"You remember that clearly, huh…"

"Of course! I remember everyone I've met! What about you, Mikael?"

"Me?" Mikael leaned against the railing, hesitating, then opened up, though not completely. "My… my heart's not big. Actually, it's quite small. I can only hold a few people… The rest… it's not that I don't care… More like… I can't. If I'm not destined to save them, why bother giving them space in my heart?"

"Is that so…" Elysia chuckled softly. Who knows a person better than they know themselves?

"Silly Mikael, what you say and what I see are completely different!"

"Ah! Does he see me that way too?"

So…

"Mikael…"

"Elysia…"

They spoke simultaneously, then paused. Mikael finally broke the silence. "Elysia… but… but you… you always occupy more than fifty-one percent of my heart—you're more important than everyone else, than the entire world combined."

"Hmm~ Wait! Fifty-one percent… What about the others?"

Bathed in moonlight, Elysia's playful smile drew closer, her bangs tickling Mikael's cheek in the night breeze. He held his breath, but couldn't escape the scent of wine on her breath.

She boldly placed her hand on his chest, feeling his heart race.

"How much for Pardofelis? How much for Hua? Mobius? Sakura? The Captain? Seele? Be honest, Mikael!"

Mikael shook his head gently. "I don't know, Elysia. I just don't know."

He took Elysia's hand, and they sat side-by-side on the rooftop. In the silence, the heavy fog rolled in.

Their surroundings blurred, their breaths mingling. The gulls' cries pierced the air like lightning, echoing from a distant place.

Mikael gripped Elysia's hand tightly, as if holding onto hope.

Even though… even though her figure, so many figures, were fading in the fog…

He raised his hand to dispel it, but Elysia, as if anticipating him, stopped him.

"No need to dispel the fog. All things considered, I like this hazy weather. And… it's the middle of the night. No serious crimes should happen, right?"

Or rather, under the cover of darkness, with or without fog, the crimes destined to happen would happen.

"Hey, Mikael, how long has it been since we had a proper heart-to-heart?"

"About…" Mikael pondered, then gave a vague answer. "More than two years?"

The last time was during the 3rd Eruption.

"By the way, Elysia, why do you like this hazy… no, not hazy. Hazy means you can still see. This is complete darkness."

"But… aren't we humans like this?" Elysia gently traced his palm.

"No one can exist in isolation. We're all connected. As long as we keep moving forward, we're bound to meet somewhere in the world."

"But… we're also separated, like this fog. I mean, what if this fog wasn't physical, but psychological?"

Mikael turned sharply. Elysia's pink outline was dissolving into the gray, but he could feel her gaze.

"Mikael, I can't see your face anymore. I'm holding your hand, I feel your warmth, I hear your breathing, but I can't see your outline, let alone your features… Mikael, what are you thinking? Why haven't you told me…"

Elysia's outline sharpened in the fog. Mikael thought he was hallucinating, then realized—she was moving closer.

Thump, thump, thump…

His heart raced. He moved towards the blurry figure, and the faint pink reappeared.

Then, they both closed their eyes…

Boom!

A blinding flash split the sky, shaking the fog. Thunder rumbled like waves.

Then, the rain fell.

A drop, two drops landed on Mikael's nose, then the heavens opened.

Creating an umbrella wasn't difficult. He could even stop the rain with the 4th Herrscher's power. But Elysia stopped him in her own way.

Mmm!

A fleeting kiss, so quick Mikael thought it a fantasy. When he came to, Elysia had linked her arm with his, leaning against him.

"Remember our early travels? We only had one umbrella. You'd give it to me, saying you couldn't create one… Heehee! You just wanted to share it with me, but were too shy to ask!"

Mikael smiled unconsciously. These memories had faded, almost forgotten if not for Elysia.

But as she spoke, they returned, bittersweet, yet leaving a sweet aftertaste.

The rain cut through the fog, the splashing droplets mingling with the haze, making it heavy, murky, and viscous. The air smelled of damp earth.

He suddenly understood why Elysia had said all this.

Yes, heavy, murky… wasn't that his heart now?

He was no longer the boy, both desperate and excited to be a Herrscher. He wasn't fighting just for Elysia anymore.

She'd walked the world, leaving her footprints, and the world had left its marks on her.

He'd walked with her, thinking he could avoid all other attachments, living, dying, fighting only for her.

But that was a distant past.

The world had left irreversible marks on him. He was entangled with it, with its people. Even he had to admit, Elysia's share in his heart had decreased from one hundred to fifty-one percent, hadn't it?

But she wasn't sad.

She was relieved. Relieved by his growth, his expanding bonds, the people he cared for, and the people who cared for him.

Relieved that the world was becoming real to him, that he was truly belonging.

"So, Mikael, since they're all people you trust, people you love, people who love you, people you want to save… why run away? Why not tell me, tell everyone, about your troubles? Like with Seele, instead of agonizing alone, why not tell us? We can figure it out together."

"Mobius told you? Her lips aren't that sealed, huh?"

"Just answer the question, Mikael… You don't have to carry everything alone. You want to save the world, so the world has a responsibility to support you."

"I once said, Elysia wants to be with Mikael forever. Now it's, Elysia wants to be with Mikael forever, living in this world, until the very end."

Mikael closed his eyes. A gentle wind dispersed the rain and the fog.

She'd said a lot that night, some of it contradictory and illogical, but that's what drunken words are.

And that's why Mikael was speechless.

She'd stumbled through his heart, taking detours, bumping into walls, but finally reaching the tumor within and punching it.

A gentle punch, landing on the softest, yet hardest spot.

Mikael gently embraced Elysia, but she was already asleep—making him realize how long he'd been sitting there.

He summoned a gentle breeze to dry her, but…

…his gaze wandered. A soft voice whispered in his ear.

His left hand opened, then clenched, opened, clenched… then trembling, reached out, slowly, until it rested on her chest.

Gulp… Mikael swallowed hard.

The world hadn't changed, but he had.

After all…

"Ah!" Elysia woke up with a start, not noticing Mikael's hastily retracted hand—because the cry wasn't hers.

"Seele!"

They appeared by Seele's bed. She was curled up, her terror slowly receding.

Following her gaze to the floor, they saw a small, white plush cow, wiggling its behind comically.