Epilogue: Two Years Later

 

 

 

Epilogue: Two Years Later

 

Everyone

TWO years had passed since those events.

Cliff still lived on Chest Island, same as always. Two years ago, he thought he wanted to leave this island as soon as possible, but he had stayed to this day. However, he hadn’t stayed the same.

“Oi, Cliff! Bring these parts inside the garage next!”

“You got it!” Cliff energetically answered Akizu.

A small mountain of parts had formed around Akizu Company’s barracks. Business was good enough for Akizu to hire full-time employees. Cliff often helped him out like he was doing now.

He loaded the cart with the hunks of metal and pushed it to the garage. Heavy labor made him sweat waterfalls and his back crack and pop, but the work wasn’t all bad. He had a good reason for needing to earn money. Cliff endeavored in his work always thinking of that reason.

“Ah, Big Bro Cliff!” came a peppy voice when Cliff exited the garage. The boy Cliff had given his rye bread to two years ago stared at him with a conflicted look.

“Hey, what’s up?”

A small doll rested at the boy’s feet. It was a Prime Body he had pieced together with scrap metal.

“I’m practicing my Engrave Incantations, but I just can’t get the joints down… Can you show me how it’s done?”

Cliff smiled and walked over to the doll. His fingers glowed, and he smoothly stroked the doll’s surface with them. Highly detailed Engrave Incantations inscribed the doll’s body in the blink of an eye.

“You’re amazing, Bro! I always knew you were!”

“The ability to concentrate and memorize is just as important as anything else. You’ve gotta remember the Engrave Incantations you’re going to use, word for word.”

“Uh, I wonder if I can…”

“You can. You’ll definitely become capable of doing it someday.” Cliff ruffled the boy’s hair and walked off to return to his work.

“But, Big Bro,” the boy’s voice said to his back. “Why don’t you create your own Golem, when you’re so skilled with Engrave Incantations?”

Cliff stopped walking. He looked over his shoulder at the doll standing below the boy.

He remembered all the things he had destroyed two years ago: his giant, powerful, and mute comrade in arms made of metal, the boy he called master, who’d taught him how to make that giant, and the woman who had activated it.

“…I’ll make one when I can shoulder the responsibility that comes with creating life,” Cliff said quietly, and returned to work.

***

 

CLIFF finished his work around three o’clock. He fetched his pay for the day from the barracks and bowed his head to Akizu, who was reading the newspaper.

“Thanks a bunch!”

“No problem. Good work out there today.” Akizu waved before bringing the newspaper up to his face. “Head Island’s as chaotic as ever, huh?”

Cliff peered at the newspaper behind Akizu. The pages were hopping with articles on the Torah Church again, as was the usual these days. An army of Rabbis had been dispatched from the mainland after the archipelago’s Church faced near demise two years ago, and they had undergone rapid restructuring since.

“I hope this’ll help the Rabbis here take their jobs a lil’ more seriously,” Cliff commented.

“Ya can say that again. They’d better work hard not to bring shame to their name as People of Love,” Akizu said through a sigh. The name caught Cliff’s attention.

“People of Love?”

“Oh, never heard of it? Rabbi is derived from the word Lovie. In our ancient language, it means People of Love.”

“It does? You’re surprisingly well-read, Boss.”

“Call it an old man’s wisdom. By the way, if you wanna make that mean “Child of Love,” ya just change the end of the word and…” Akizu flashed a proud smile and said, “…it becomes the word Lovel.”

Something warm and tender filled Cliff at the sound of that name.

“It’s way too romantic,” she had said bashfully. That was why she hadn’t told him what her name meant.

There’s nothing for her to be embarrassed about. It’s a great name. It really is.

“…Lovel,” Cliff whispered that nostalgic name and automatically cast down his eyes.

Akizu gave him a dubious look. “By the way, don’t ya have to get going soon? Didn’t ya say yer going to the hospital?”

Cliff’s head jerked up, and he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost the time he’d promised to be there.

“Crap! Time’s not on my side! Sorry, but I’ve gotta run!” Cliff bolted from the barracks in a rush.

***

“ERIE, Cliff’s here,” Getz told Erie outside her room in the clinic standing on the outskirts of Chest Island.

He received no reply in return. He never did.

After what had happened in the cellar, Getz admitted Erie to his clinic, where at least her physical injuries recovered. He continued to care for her there ever since.

The tranquilizer drug was capable of putting people in a state of suspended animation, otherwise known as temporary death. The drug’s effects could only last so long. His earnest care paid off when Erie finally opened her eyes six months ago.

But she hadn’t uttered a single word since waking up. The miserable, sorrowful memories of their time together should have been stripped from her, but Erie wept when she saw Heath’s grave. She seemed incapable of knowing how to show any other emotion since.

Getz occasionally wondered if he had made the right choice. But he remembered that her life was already born into the world. He wanted her to survive and live her life to the fullest, regardless of the karma from the past she shouldered.

The least he could do for her was stay by her side. He would remain with her until the day she regained both her mind and soul. As he made that promise within himself, Erie wordlessly stepped out of her room.

Getz kindly said to her, “It seems he is going to pay a visit to Mrs. Kiriko. We have some fine weather today. Why not go with him?”

Erie remained with her head down, eyes trained on the floor. Then she finally gave a firm nod and walked toward the clinic entryway.

***

DRAM Junior zoomed across Neck Bridge. Ouka’s heart pounded in his chest as he rode on the lion’s back.

“I’m positive she’ll be furious if I’m late…”

After all, I’ve been under her pretty little thumb ever since I woke up a year ago, Ouka thought as he hurried to the hospital on Head Island.

He eventually arrived at his destination, hopped off Dram’s back, and rushed inside, where he spotted familiar faces at the front desk.

Ouka greeted the two people he knew. “Hey, if it ain’t Cliff and Erie. What’re you two doin’ here?”

They were restlessly pacing in front of the desk. Cliff noticed Ouka first, and immediately begged him for help. “We came to visit Miss Kiriko, but they refused to let us in because we aren’t family.”

“Obviously. It’d be impossible to tell what your relationship is to her, with just the two of ya here.” Ouka smiled wryly and announced to the nurse behind the desk, “I’m Kiriko Baraki’s husband. I came to visit her with family friends.”

The nurse smiled and greeted, “Thank you for coming,” and then let them through. The kids accompanied Ouka down the hallway until they arrived at Kiriko’s hospital room. Ouka cleared his throat once, then opened the door.

The hospital room curtain rippled in the wind. Kiriko was sitting on the bed next to the window with a peaceful expression.

Ouka walked over to her bed. “Yo! You doin’ good my little boy?!” he addressed the tiny new life swaddled in his wife’s arms.

The baby partially opened his eyes and looked at Ouka. Cliff peered at him from the side and exclaimed, “Wow! He’s so adorable!”

“Yeah, yeah! He so is!” Ouka agreed, nodding repeatedly.

Kiriko flashed a teasing grin. “I know, isn’t he? I am so relieved he doesn’t resemble his father one bit.”

“Hey, Kiriko, that’s not nice!” Ouka whined.

“Can I hold him?” Cliff asked.

“Of course you can. Be super careful,” Ouka said. Kiriko nodded and held the baby out—not to Cliff, but to Erie.

Erie shuddered with fright. She took her time before timidly holding out her arms. Kiriko smiled kindly at her and laid her son in her grasp. Erie accepted the baby a bit awkwardly. Apprehension showed on her face, but she held the baby with care, as though handling a glass crystal.

“What’s his name?” Cliff asked.

Kiriko smiled and replied, “Alita.”

Ouka and the others heard a faint voice repeat the name.

“…Alita.”

The voice was so quiet, it was nearly impossible to pick up on. But, sure enough, the speaker—Erie—had said something for the first time in two years.

Ouka looked at Erie and saw that she was smiling.

***

CLIFF and Erie finished their visit, said goodbye to Ouka and Kiriko, and left the hospital. Erie’s smile had returned. Ouka and Kiriko seemed happier than Cliff had ever seen them before.

I’m so glad for them, Cliff thought.

He returned to the clinic with Erie.

“Welcome back,” Getz greeted them at the door.

Cliff bowed to him and escorted Erie back into his care. Then, he said, “Professor Getz, I’ve come to do my daily job.”

Getz nodded and let him inside the clinic. Cliff passed through the hallway and opened the farthest clinic room door. A girl remained asleep on the bed inside, as she had for two years.

Cliff walked over to the girl’s bed and changed the IV drip for her like he did every day.

He didn’t know if he had made the right decision by admitting her to the clinic and caring for her like this for the past two years. But she was a life he had gotten involved with once. He didn’t think it was right to abandon, ignore, or give up on her.

She had taught him that.

She had never lost her brilliance or her spirit in the face of the unreasonable, horrible fate she shouldered. Even Cliff couldn’t be sure just how much courage her smile had given him.

Thanks to her, I can love life. And the strength Master Roche gave me acts as my pillar of support to this day. I’ll continue to protect the life they left to me, Cliff thought, and looked at the girl’s face.

The girl’s eyes slowly opened. Cliff drew in a sharp breath. She sat up and looked around.

The girl who had woken up for the first time in two years said, “Where…am I?” She looked at Cliff. She tilted her head slightly to one side and asked, “Who are you?”

“Clifford… Clifford Evans,” Cliff told her his name, his voice trembling, just like it had the first time he met her.

“…Cliff?” She dropped her head when she heard his name. She thoughtfully murmured, “I wonder why…this should be the first time I’ve met you, but you feel so incredibly nostalgic to me.”

The girl marveled at him and asked, “Say, why am I here? Can you tell me?”

Tears rushed to Cliff’s eyes and spilled over.

Cliff knew. He knew of the most amazing woman in the world, who had lived a short five days to save the daughter she loved more than anything else. He knew of the amazing man who spent the final moments of his unfortunate life thinking of the girl he loved.

They had both fought for the sake of this girl, in spite of knowing that they would disappear. Cliff thought back to his memories with them, and then of how he had to relay it all to her.

“Where should I begin?” Cliff said. He wiped away his tears and smiled at her.

 

The End