A pure, endless sky above me, clouds gracefully passing by on that stage of blue.

A breeze passed through the strands of my hair as I lay on the grass.

I had been… asleep… right? Passed out just beneath the shade of this row of trees.

I propped myself up off the ground with both my arms, a sprawling, untouched expanse of rolling hills greeting my eyes.

That’s right… this was the Horizon… So why did I feel something amiss… something so… nostalgic?

“Did you have a nice nap?”

I jolted at the words that came from beside me. Yet, deep down, I knew where this was– I knew when this was… and I knew who I had come here with.

That voice… every fiber of my body yearned to turn and confirm their identity, yet some part of me couldn’t bear to.

I ended up blankly gazing into the distance in silence.

“Hello? Are you in there, Kaito?”

My will wasn’t strong enough.

I turned with and without really knowing what I was expecting.

Her face was the same as the day we never got to say our goodbyes.

“I– yeah… I’m… I just– had a bad dream–”

My words trailed off as I fell forwards.

She caught me in her arms.

I had taken that ability from her in that life… yet even now, she chose to embrace me.

Before I knew it, I had tears streaking down my face. I had never realized one moment… one hug could mean so much.

If I could turn back time… If I could just enjoy those moments for even a few seconds longer…

“You must’ve seen something really bad to get you to react like this– But, whatever it was, I’m glad you’re back.”

That would’ve been nice, wouldn’t it? If everything I had seen and experienced had just been nothing more than a bad dream.

I looked back up at the scenery around me.

In the depths of my mind, some small part of me was willing to believe that this was all real. That everything I had experienced was nothing more than a convoluted plot concocted within my sleep. That I still had time to cherish my life with them.

But I couldn’t change the past. Nobody could.

I looked down at my hands. If anything, their appearance was enough to reveal the truth in this situation.

I was wearing the clothes my memories so vividly told me I had been wearing during my trip to the Horizon, yet my body’s condition told a different story.

Even running away to the past didn’t erase those burns and scars on my right arm.

“So you realized it then…”

There was an underlying sadness beneath her words as she lay her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back, her eyes studying my face as if its features didn’t belong to her own son.

“I was hoping we’d get to have a bit more time in that moment… Oblivious to the truth… the present that we’ll eventually have to return to.”

Despite the blurriness of my tear-stained vision, her words were bringing more and more clarity to my state of mind.

“Hah… so this really isn’t that memory… and of course, all that I saw couldn’t have been just a dream.”

“Let’s not dwell on what’s come to pass… If it’s alright with you, I’d rather spend some time catching up.”

***

I still didn’t understand what kind of experience I was having right now.

Seraphim’s final words to me before all this suggested he had some authority to force people to relive the memories of their greatest regrets.

If that was the case, why was this playing out in no way similar to my actual memories?

I took another bite out of the sandwich my mom had brought along for me.

This wasn’t how my memory went. And what’s more, was this person with me right now really my mom? If so, then why was she aware of the life I had led beyond the barrier?

“If you’re ready, I was hoping to get to chat with you a bit before the time passes us by again.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Huh? Sure, go ahead.”

“Where are we right now? And… I feel like I should know that you’re her… but the her of my memories shouldn’t know about the me of the present, and the her of the present can’t possibly still–”

“Ah… so that’s why you seemed so awkward.”

She gazed off towards the Horizon, her eyes unfocused as if looking at something beyond what my human senses could register.

“I can’t tell you where this is right now… But, I want you to believe me when I say I really am the same person you remember.”

There was no hint of a lie in her words.

“I– ugh… I just managed to stop crying earlier… If it’s not something we should discuss right now, I won’t pursue it any further.”

“Thank you. So, how did you realize the true nature of this place?”

“There was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, but I confirmed it after seeing this.”

I raised my right arm for her to fully see.

“Haha, your first battle scars in the real world, I see…”

The her I remembered would’ve been excessively worrying over every injury I accumulated, yet that was when I was still just a child. After all that had happened, she finally saw me as an adult…

“It’s nice out here, isn’t it? Everything is quiet and calm… Makes you really feel as if you’re at one with nature and even the world itself.”

“Yeah… I really loved this memory.”

“So, what do you plan to do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sure you’ve already realized… You can either stay here with me in this world of fantasy where you lost nobody, or return to your life in the present with what you spent your time beyond me building up.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that… But that’s the nature of regrets, isn’t it? Undo your mistakes and go back, forsake what you’ve built up beyond them, or move forwards and forsake the past you left behind.”

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be one or the other.”

“Huh?”

“Moving forwards doesn’t always mean abandoning what you’re leaving behind. It sounds contradictory, but moving forwards can mean taking another step with what you’ve learned from your regrets.”

“Hah… easier said than done… and what kinda absurd fantastical experience is this? Am I really still getting life lessons from a reflection of my past?”

She smiled at me.

“I just want you to be a little more well rounded when you return, that’s all.”

“You make it sound as if I’ve already decided.”

“Well, you have, haven’t you?”

I didn’t want to admit it, but she was right.

“Saw right through me… I’m sorry… but I don’t think I can stomach staying here… Like you said, this is just a fantasy for me– a desperate dream. I have… people out there that I can’t leave behind.”

“It’s okay. I’m here to support you regardless of which path you choose. So tell me, what do you think of those bonds you’ve made?”

“Seika and Setsuya… they’re kind of like parental figures, y’know? They’re mentors to me… role models even… and I don’t want to leave them out to dry. And Yukiko…”

She smirked upon the mention of Yukiko’s name.

“Ooh, do you like her or something?”

“Ugh, how did I already know that’s what you were going to bring up first? Anyways… she’s the first friend I made out there in World Zero… I’m the same to her. Every night I beat myself up over what happened back in the village… but at the same time, I don’t think I’d trade the people I’ve met for anything in the world.”

“You’ve finally decided on what path you’re going to walk.”

She beamed with pride.

“Didn’t you already say you knew what I’d choose?”

“I meant regarding your childhood dreams. After all, a ‘hero’ needs something to protect.”

She stood up and ruffled my hair.

“Also, I’d say the black and white up here suits you.”

“Hah, thanks, I guess.”

“Now, don’t think I’m letting you go back out there like this.”

She looked me up and down.

“There’s still one more thing I’ve gotta teach you, so stand up.”

“Uh, you’re gonna teach me here?” I asked while brushing some stray blades of grass off my legs.

I hadn’t noticed it last time we were here, but it seemed that I was just a tad bit taller than her.

“We’ve got some time. You remember what I told you before about weaving, right? If so, let’s have just one more sparring match.”

“Other people would’ve settled for sharing a last drink together or something with weather this nice.”

For the first time since returning here, I felt like I could genuinely smile.

“Well, we aren’t a family of the village sentry for nothing, so let’s get started. One final lesson.”

I hadn’t registered it, but sometime during our conversation, my outfit and appearance had returned completely to that of mine in Synoria Outlook.

***

The edges of the horizon were beginning to fade. It wasn’t the gradual darkness that usually accompanied a sunset, instead appearing as if the very world of this ‘memory’ was beginning to crumble.

“I guess that’s it for this short reunion.”

“Regardless of how short, I’m glad we got to see each other again…”

The abyss was crawling in towards us from all sides, consuming the sky and earth alike.

“If I can ever come back here–”

“No ‘if.’ There will be a ‘when,’ so don’t ever forget the moments we’ve had here.”

“Yeah… dammit, you’re making me tear up again…”

“Moving forward doesn’t mean leaving your emotions behind. Just remember… everything we’ve faced together, everything you’ve faced alone up until your present, all of it is what makes you you.”

I could only nod. The previous backdrop of the Horizon was now nothing more than a shrinking circle of grass no more than a few feet wide.

“If Dad and Kouki are still back at the village in here, tell them I said hi.”

“I will… I only wish you’d call me–”

I could barely see an inch beyond her face now.

“Our time’s almost up… If it was just one more time, I’m glad I got to see you again… and I love you–”

For the first time, I saw her eyes begin to glisten.

There was a flash of light before the void consumed me whole.

In that darkness, the echoes of her voice still barely reached my ears.

“...Thank you–”

The rest of our words were swallowed by the emptiness.

Even so, I still smiled where there was no one to smile to. We had said all we needed to say and exchanged the proper goodbyes to atone for our first ending.

“Until we meet again… Mom.”