A sweet, balmy feeling. 

It reminded Noir of being a teenager, spending her summers alone while her parents were out for business. Their summer villa was by the shore, she’d often dip her feet and wade the warm water. 

Up to her waist in water, she’d feel the dry, salty air blow on her face, blowing her dreaded hair briskly. Only the crashing waves could be heard. It seemed like a nice place to disappear.

Sometimes...when she was within her own solitude she thought about walking into the sea until she couldn’t be seen anymore. Perhaps if she was lucky enough, her body wouldn’t have recovered.

And then she’d give up and go back inside.

After she had gotten older, Noir abandoned those thoughts. Living her life again after disengaging herself from her adoptive family, she found things to live for...and then she had died, like that.

And for the first time, she regretted all of those times she wanted to cause her own death.

Noir slowly opened her eyes to a field of flowers, similar to the one she encountered when she first came to the novel world. It was peaceful here, no fire in sight, and approaching her in the distance was a woman, one with ‘hair the color of the purest white, eyes as clear as water.” just as she had been described in the novel. 

The goddess, Lumière.

Her gaze was graceful, her stride was powerful, overwhelming almost. Her skin was the color of pure onyx,  contrasting with the white robe she wore.

Did she die...again? At the sight of the woman, back away from her. No. no--she couldn’t die, not now.

The goddess smiles. 

“Don’t be afraid. I’m your mother.” Noir looks at the woman, wide-eyed, not moving towards her, not avoiding her. She was just at the most, stunned.

Her mother?

 “My child, my baby--how I’ve missed you so...” The woman, who claimed to be her mother, walked up to her with her arms stretched to her. Noir dodges her touch, slapping away the hands that tried to embrace her.

“...I don’t have a mother, she abandoned me ages ago.” The woman sighed, retracting her hands.

“I suppose you have the right to be upset.” She bit her lower lip, her clear, icy eyes looking down at her hands. Noir clutched her the bottom of her fluffy, frilly white shirt--her face a deep crimson. 

Of course, she was upset. 

She’s just now meeting the mother who abandoned her in her second life, where she was almost killed for existing.

“I...I thought I left you in better hands on earth.”

Noir listening to her words lets out a cold, slow chuckle as she shook her head. Anger shook her body and felt tears roll down her cheeks.     

“Better hands, better hands. Do you know what I thought all those years? That something was wrong with me that not even my mother wanted me? How many times I wanted to fucking die to save myself from living a life that wasn’t my own? AND YOU THINK YOU LEFT ME IN BETTER HANDS? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME AT ALL? MY ADOPTIVE PARENTS DIDN’T WANT ME AND YOU DIDN’T EITHER. And...and now you come here and I’m supposed to be happy? I hate you--I HATE YOU SO MUCH!” Before she knew it, she’d collapsed amongst the floral landscape, with a grave sob escaping her chest. She had cried much in her previous life, perhaps it was due to the emptiness she felt. But, she cried, as a thirty-something-year-old woman, in a child’s body. In front of her mother, who was a goddess.

A goddess who blessed and looked over those around her...but, not her own flesh, and blood.

“You stupid goddess...I hate you, I hate you.”  A thick, lengthy nail ran across her cheek, wiping away tears. Noir succumbs, feeling a familiar warmth spread around her as she wailed. Soft, tender lips brushed against her forehead and her body was accosted--a hand ran through her ebony, coiled hair.

Goodness, her touch felt as beautiful...no wonder those bastards worship her.

“Yes, yes--surely I am an idiotic god to leave my child in such a place. I’ve done atrocities towards my beautiful child.” Lumière--her mother, caresses her with a gentle strength.

“You and that boy are very much like Nuit and me--twin flames. Although, we’re siblings born from the same god, and you two are more akin to soul-mates. One cannot exist without the other. That means until my brother is awakened, I can only speak to you in spirit...” Lumière trails over, her god-like beauty screwing into something demonic.

“That Nuit...when he awakens, when I get my hands on that imbecile...”

Noir looks at her mother, helpless as she plotted something extreme.

“Noir, please open your eyes, once more.” Noir’s head popped from her mother’s hold, looking in the direction that the voice came from. It sounded a lot like Hiliaries’ but perhaps deeper, cool like a deep in a pond during autumn.

It was strange--but the voice made her feel like she needed to go to that voice, as soon as possible.

“I’ve kept you for a long time, haven’t I? That child’s become quite selfish.” With one more squeeze, the goddess lets go of her, reluctantly. Slowly, she sees her image fade away.

“It seems that it’s time for you to wake up. I don’t have much more time with you...so listen carefully. Remember, light cannot exist with darkness, so please, take care of that child, loved by the darkness my little one. When the time comes, I will be beside you, so don’t fear a thing.”