“My mother was imperian and my father was part of the Holy Empire. Holy blood she says, well i don’t really know I have never seen or met my father before. After all, only granny was the one taking care of me and her, mother usually come and go. So only granny was the one telling us the stories and taking care of us. Though I would occasionally ask about them, especially my father. Granny would usually redirect the question to something else entirely.”

“I remember I would ask all sorts of questions about it.”

“Like what?”

“Questions about my father and mother, though i don’t blame her though, at least now i don’t. Back then I didn't understand anything, life, stress or love for that matter. All I’d care about is playing and reading novels, I even had a whole bookshelf dedicated to my novels but sadly they are… no longer here. I am sure granny didn’t want to tell us because she cared about us, she had a… sort of like a hesitant face? Like she had a worried face when we asked those types of questions. But I wished back then that she trusted us and told us everything. Well, I can only wish now.”

“Why not ask her now?”

“S

he’s gone. Flew off onto heaven. I sure hope she is at peace up there. She’d prayed with us every night after all.” She said pointing at the dark sky

Frei looked at “Gloria”’s finger pointing at the sky and innocently said “Maybe I can find her if I fly up there. And Once I am up there I can ask her about your mother and father.”

“Gloria” laughed at Frei’s remarks all the while trying to cover her laugh with her hands. “Yeah I am counting on you Frei! Ask about them for me! Pfft hah!”

Her laughter confused Frei. As he thinks he could seriously do it. But her gentle laughter made Frei smile with a slight hint of blush. Frei felt warm and fuzzy inside.

“But if you could… Maybe take me with you too? To heaven?”

“Yeah! I will!” Frei said excitedly. “But don’t you have a mother left? Why not ask her?”

“Hmm…” She thinks deeply. “Well I don’t think she wants to meet me now, after all i now work for an Imperian. Mother always disliked Imperians. And I don't want to bother her…Besides, i can’t even leave here now, i mean what would happen to you guys? Berg and Johnny, I don't want them to go work starving…especially you. Not after what I have done.” She replied, reminiscing about her past.

“You work for the CornWell guy? But you don't have any irons or any chains on you.”

“Well… I work here as a maid, it would be hard to cook and clean with those irons and chains right?” She said as she pulled in her legs and hugged them, knees close to the face.

Both of them sat on the ground and with their back against the tree, and the light slowly got dimmer as insects started surrounding it. It was peaceful for the both of them and “Gloria” began humming the same lullaby that she was humming last week out of instinct. The lullaby has the power to make any man or woman doze off in a matter of seconds, but Frei didn’t immediately fall asleep this time. As she hummed, Frei sang all the while swaying his body to the rhythm of the lullaby.

Though his singing was pretty bad, maybe because of his limited vocabulary or his lack of imagination. But she didn’t laugh, she continued and progressively got louder and got more enthusiastic. That, she eventually stood up and sang together, along with Frei. She sang her heart out, along with her problems, troubles, in her head she could hear the sounds of guitar and drums playing along with her. The two euphonious and disharmonic tones clashed with one another, but they didn’t care, they just continued to sing anyway. Eventually both of them adapted to one another’s tone and rhythm, then the lullaby turned into a whole nother genre.

They sang.

And sang.

And sang…

It’s like they were only the two of them in the world. Frei and “Gloria” . Singing their hearts out for the world to hear, and then suddenly her voice went softer and became much gentler almost as if their time was reaching its end. Frei stopped and listened to her performance, with gleam and admiration in his eyes, he watched as she sang the lullaby again, her hands moving around like it was dancing.

Then she ended it off by slowly fading it out .

“WOOO!” she shouted but in a softer manner, lifting both her hands up in the air like she just finished and woo’d an entire concert. Her body laid down on the grass and the lantern right above her head had extinguished making the moon the only light source they have. 

“That felt great!”

Though they can’t completely see each other’s face and are only able to see the other’s structure. They knew each other had the biggest smile on their faces.

.

.

.

.

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*ratatata*

*ratatata*

Someone is typing on the computer. It’s a man. The room is dark and high above the outside world, towers can be seen towering over it and small rooms and buildings can be seen below the room. The clock on the wall is past 12AM.

Who is this? Somehow the man is very familiar to Frei, the scene too. The familiar sound of the keyboard and the fingers clashing with one another rapidly, like an assault rifle. 

What is an assault rifle? Frei instinctively questioned it, though likely he knew what it was, he doesn’t remember what it is. 

The man had a restless face and dark circles for eyes. Around him are pills, cups and cans.

Spillings can be seen near his laptop.

What is all this? Frei thought.

But he knew deep down, he knew who the man was, what all these stuff are. But he just can’t put a finger on it, everything he sees now clashes with everything he knows now. It’s overwhelming for him. Then everything goes black.

He wakes up to a new morning.