A/N: Firstly, thank you for 26 subscribers! I hope you all enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it. TW for the chapter due to mentions of death/dead bodies and abuse. Feel free to comment and share! Happy reading.

I felt weightless as if I was a feather floating. Is this what death feels like, a soul floating without a body? It feels kind, odd. No longer in the prison where  I died, I was somewhere where it was white, and smoke-like clouds filled the space, nothingness. Not the rags I wore during my execution, but a white dress.

I’ve finally died.

I had gotten my revenge, albeit late. Nothing would bring back my life or my Elise, so everything felt hollow. I always wondered, were the two of us doomed from the start? Fate is cruel to bastards like me, but Elise was innocent, why…

“This is a new face.” My head whips around to see a tall, willowy figure–I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman through the clouding in front of me, but their deep voice was soothing.

“You…where..where am I?” Wait…that sounded a bit rude.

“The place in-between.” Their voice sounds like a distant memory. “You’ve left the mortal world but haven’t reached the next…you don’t look surprised.”

I shrug–well, I did ask for death. I think for a moment, pacing around the white space. Since I’m truly dead–

“I…I have a daughter, Elise. She’s a bit lighter than me and goes up to my calf. She has white-blonde hair and the prettiest brown eyes. Please tell me you’ve seen her here.” Ah, my voice is trembling. Did I sound desperate? I didn’t want Elise’s tiny, bloated body in the lake to be my last time image of her.

“That child left a long time ago.”

“Oh.” Tears fell down my cheek–I thought–I hoped I’d be able to meet her again after my death. That was silly of me, wasn’t it?

The figure steps closer and I can feel a hand brush away tears that don’t seem to stop.

“You died too early…how dreadful.” They mutter, grasping at my hair like grains of sand. 

“Is there anything you regret?” I stare back with wide eyes before laughing almost uncomfortably.

“I regretted nearly everything about myself. I regretted not killing Lucien sooner, and not being able to see my father die at my hands.” staring at her palms, the tear that didn’t seem to stop fell harder.  

“I regretted not being able to live a normal life as a child and young woman. You know, other girls at my age were preparing for debutante balls, I was being married off to my elder brother, having my powers drained away to make a sister a Saint? If I..”

“If you’d like, would you take the chance to live again?”

My eyes blink quickly.

“What?” They swirl around my head, then approach me like a devil on my shoulder, playing with my hair.

“Another chance, a second life. Start again, find what was taken from you and what you never had.” For a split, violet eyes stared back at me as if asking, ‘Well, do? Do you want to live again?’ 

…do I? Thinking about it, from birth, I didn’t have much control of my life. If I left it up to fate, would this time be different? Did I want to risk another tragic life for a new beginning?

“...yes, I want to live again.”

Well, I’m going to at least try.

The person's smile widens and grows, before leaning away from me entirely. “Make a promise to me, then.”

This shouldn’t be too hard.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Promise me that we will meet again.” 

“...and if I can’t?” or don’t?

They take my hands and I can feel myself rise into the air, almost like a waltz. “Then I’ll come to find you instead.” …that sounds like a threat. How scary. I guess I’ll go along with it, for this is my only chance at living again.

“On this life of mine, I promise, I will find you again.” And for a moment, I see the person’s face–maybe allowed is more accurate. Those same violet eyes stare back at me, a face both androgynous and beautiful: pale skin and dark hair like a raven’s feather. With a soft, pretty smile, he says something as he presses our foreheads resting together, and the light around us becomes blinding.

“Don’t keep me waiting.”

What follows that blinding light is warmth–I can’t see, but I can hear so many voices and…a newborn’s cry. Gentle, steadying hands grasped my body, that felt so weak and disorientating. 

“Duchess, is this where you heard the child’s cry?”

“Yes, how’s the mother’s condition?”

“She doesn’t seem to be breathing, Duchess.”

“Oh, I see. But this child is alive…I’m sorry little one, I should’ve arrived faster.”