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A beam of light shone on the sunlit grass field.
Noises. Footsteps, footsteps that sounded faraway yet were already within her reach. A foreign pair of shoes carrying a recognizeable rhythm. And then, a familiar silhouette entered the young woman's peripheral vision.
Instantly, her face lit up. When she had turned around to meet his face, her lovely emerald pupils were flashing with tears of joy and incredible happiness.
It was the most beautiful sight Sunday had laid eyes on since leaving Penacony.
"Brother!" cried Robin, dashing towards him. Her adorable wings flapping in excitement and delight, she jumped up and threw her arms tightly around her brother. "Brother…"
"Robin," he smiled, and gently hugged her back. Robin was warm and bright, like the dazzling sunlight of summer. Sunday had many times dreamed of this final reunion during their long separation, but now that they were finally here, in each other's embrace, there was a lump in his throat and he couldn't say anything.
"I've missed you, Brother," said Robin, large drops of tears falling from her eyes as she did so. She had grown just a little, but she was still the same wonderful sister that he had always remembered. "I've missed you so much…"
"Ah… I've missed you too, Robin," Sunday answered. It was only at that moment when Sunday finally realized tears were dropping like rain out of his own eyes, too. (How embarassing!, mocked Wonweek inside his head, almost as though he himself were not feeling the exact same thing.)
Robin's voice was a little hesistant as she went on, but she ultimately decided to speak her mind. "You know, Brother… To be honest, I was really worried," her voice lowered slightly. "What if you got sick on the way… what if you ran into such strong enemies, not even you and the rest of the Express could deal with them…"
"Er. Sorry," he replied, feeling very awkward immediately after the words left his mouth. "For worrying you. As always, I suppose…"
Seeing his face, Robin chuckled fondly through her sparkling tears under the sun. "It's alright, Brother," she said, her voice even more melodious than before, "I'm so glad you're alright… You came back safe and sound, and that's all that matters." She paused for a little, then added as an afterthought, "Besides, you really did such a good job. You helped the Trailblazers saved so many people on so many planets on your journey, and everyone came back successfully. Our dream… is really coming true, isn't it?"
"…Yes," Sunday's smile grew a bit brighter, and he hugged her a bit tighter. He really wanted to say more to her—there was so much more left to say—but it was still too difficult to speak, let along properly articulate anything. Even his thoughts were suddenly a mess now.
But no matter, he thought. He had ample time to prepare himself to tell her in the future: about all the time he'd thought about her during the journey on the Astral Express—about the bittersweet feeling he felt whenever he saw her tour posters on other planets—about how much he had truly loved all of her songs all this time—and about all the fun and intriguing things he had witnessed on the way.
After all, the two siblings were together now, and they would never again part ways. That was the promise Sunday made to his sister and himself in his heart.
"Sit here and wait a little," Robin said cheerfully after they finally broke away from the long hug. She flashed him a shiny grin before running back inside her sweet countryside manor, on the way as she shouted: "Let me get you something ready to drink!"
Sunday watched her radiant figure disappear into the door, and couldn't help but beam. He sat down, and once again checked his travel bag for the various souvenirs he had long prepare for Robin, and began to ready himself for when they would speak to each other again. He was really going to say it, this time. He had so much to tell her.
All of a sudden, he felt calm. The brilliant sun above was exquisitely relaxing. All of a sudden, the pain, dread and endless guilt that had once haunted all his days and nights felt like things that only belonged to faded memories from long, long ago. Even though there was still a faint sense of doubt and anxieties inside his fundamentally weak heart, Sunday understood that he had truly overcome his past and found himself anew now that he had successfully returned from his journey.
For the two siblings, what lay ahead of them was a bright future of pure happiness and unending bliss.
Let’s nestle together quietly,
Don’t go anywhere.
Trill your birdsong by the window,
Don't go anywhere.
"I spy… with my little eeeyes… the biggest hypocrite in the entire cosmos!" A boyish voice said in the brightest, jolliest tone imaginable, while drawing out each vowel for dramatic effect.
Robin froze in shock for half a split second, but not without jumping to her feet and whirling around to respond to the uninvited guest immediately after. Years of experience with preparing herself to deal with stalkers had given her unexpectedly good reflexes.
Standing at the door behind her was a male Pepeshi, his fluffball fluttering in excitement: Hendrick, who had guarded the Dewlight Pavilion's reception hall for years and always fantasized about being a 'Mobile Knight' in impenetrable armour.
Robin grimaced.
"Masked Fool!" she chided in a controlled voice, a sharp glint of green flashing across her narrowed eyes.
"Wow… Impressive!" exclaimed 'Hendrick', his voice growing sweetened, high-pitched and familiar at once. With a flash of ruby red, Sparkle appeared inside the room. "One and a quarter seconds…" she mused, her pretty pink eyes glowing in amazement, "How did you figure me out so quickly, little birdie?" She paused for a second here to gasped in mock surprise, as she leaned forward towards her. "Are you secretly my biggest fan?"
Robin didn't bother to answer her directly. "…Years have passed, and you haven't grown up even a bit," she said quietly. Raising her voice, she demanded, "What brought you here?"
"Growing up is boring, so I don't do it!" Sparkle shrugged happily. "Besides, that was very rich coming from someone who has actually regressed… don't you think, little songbird?"
"Masked Fool, what brought you here?" Robin repeated her question, her voice further increasing. As it was a dream constructed with the power of Xipe, there was no real risk of waking up Sunday from his slumber no matter what volume they spoke in.
"What brought me here?" repeated Sparkle. "Hmmmm!" Her eyes became very round with exaggeration, and she pretended to be deep in thought. "Well, let's see… little ol' Miss Sparkle was just walking on the street on a normal day, being a very dutiful law-abiding citizen—as she always does—never poking her nose into other people's business or anything… And suddenly, a little lightbulb lit up in her brain, and a thought came in: 'Hey, I wonder how the chicken-wing siblings are doing lately!' So then… Here she caaame!" She declared sunnily. "Surprised?"
To Robin, this naturally was not a convincing answer. "… What exactly did you mean by 'the biggest hypocrite in the cosmos'?"
"Hmmm? What did I mean… by what?" Sparkle batted her eyelashes. "The 'biggest hypocrite in the cosmos'? Wowww! That's got to be a high bar." She tilted her head a little looked at the songstress right in the eye. "I mean… who do you think that title should rightfully belong to, Robin, hmm?"
Robin winced in irritation, even as that creeping sense of fear was tingling inside her chest. "I'm not here to play your games, Masked Fool," she stood up straighter as to maintain an air of authority, though it might be entirely wasted on a girl such as Sparkle. "If you have anything to say, please be straight with me without further delay."
Another dramatic, exaggerated gasp. "S-straight?!" she cried, and wept a single tear from the corner of her eye. She took three long seconds just to wipe it off, and then she sobbed, intensely and emotionally, "You're the brightest, most beautiful star in the cosmos, Miss Robin… How can you possibly be so utterly stonehearted as to expect a poor, simple girl to be 'straight' in your irresistibly alluring presence?!"
"…" Robin was speechless. "If you really have nothing to say, Fool, you may take your leave now."
Sparkle's mouth quirked up. "But Robin! Aren't you perhaps a little worried what I might tell everyone else if you just let me go like this? I mean…" She glanced around the room meaningfully, then nodded severely. "…You know! Surely you won't want everyone in the universe to know what I know, do you now, little bird?"
For a second, Robin considered pretending to be entirely unconcerned with this threat, since she had a feeling that Sparkle might be the kind of person who couldn't help but want to say it out in the end anyway—but if she said something like 'they wouldn't believe you anyway', the girl might take it as a challenge and end up spreading the rumour. "… What exactly do you know, Masked Fool?" she asked.
Sparkle shook her head. "Ask me nicely, little birdie! I mean, the lovely Miss Robin is always so nice with everyone else… What did poor little Sparkle ever do to deserve such treatment?" she pouted dejectedly, just as if she was about to weep another single drop of tear from the corner of her eye. "Ask nicely, Robin, then I'll tell you everything. Promise."
Well, that's fine. "Could you please do me a favour and kindly let me know just what exactly you know, Masked Fool?"
Sparkle's eyes glistened happily. "Great job! But you forgot one tiny thing. 'Masked Fool' is too cold. If you want me to give you the information, you have to call me… uhh… 'The Most Awesome Girl Miss Sparkle who Has the Cutest Smile in the Universe', at least once!"
Oh, for the Great One…
"… All right. Could you do me a favour, please, and kindly let me know what exactly you are aware of, the… the 'Most Awesome Girl Miss Sparkle, Who Has the Cutest Smile in the Universe'?" To be honest, Robin felt rather like a fool herself just saying all that out loud. When she looked at Sparkle again after she finished speaking, she saw that the Masked Fool girl was gazing at her with comically largened eyes, beaming widely like she was going to melt.
"And now, add 'I love you' to the end?" Sparkle commanded excitedly.
"Miss Sparkle," hissed Robin, "I—"
"Juuust kidding!" cheered Sparkle immediately. "Thank you, thank you!" she clapped her hands, then bowed. "Sparkle is a good girl who never betrays her promises. I'll tell you about it immediately." Despite what she just said, she instantly paused again, clearly waiting for the other woman's reaction.
"Well?" prompted Robin, who was starting to feel increasingly impatient.
"It's exactly what you're thinking, little birdie," affirmed Sparkle. "Look, I have no idea what you're doing here in this room, except… I totally do," She gestured across the room to where Sunday lay peacefully in the Dreampool. "It looks like someone is following her brother's footsteps even to where it totally failed to lead him… Curious. Don't you think? When the brother only failed at that time because his sister went against him. It's so funny!"
Robin was silent.
"Oh? Not denying it?" Seeing no response, Sparkle continued. "But seriously, this is hilarious. The irony is killing me!" She paused, then her face shifted. "But, I'm not laughing… because, the lovely Miss Robin should belong to me!" She whined melodramatically, "So tell me, why does her heart lie with her twin brother?! The world is deeply unfair."
She let out a loud sigh. The songstress almost opened her mouth to deny the extremely out-of-the-blue accusation, but she thought the effort would be completely wasted on the joke of a Masked Fool.
"Remember what I asked you back then, a few hours before the Charmony Festival?" Sparkle went on. "I'm sure you still remember it, Robin. …Do you really believe those living in dreams can escape pain and find true happiness?"
"…I do remember it. I have my answer still, in case you are wondering."
Sparkle raised a brow. "Oh? Let's hear it out."
"I don't believe they can," Robin stated. "True happiness and the meaning of life lie in defying the Nihility and embracing all that life offers… I still genuinely think that."
"Huh!" The Fool was surprised. "What a Morally Correct answer! Just as expected of Miss Robin, the epitome of 'joy, kindness, and goodness'~!" she said in a sing-song voice. "Then what…" she shot a meaningful glance at Sunday and the Dreampool, "…are we doing here, little birdie?"
"I'm afraid that is none of your concern, Masked Fool," Robin said coldly.
"How cruel!" gasped Sparkle. "So now that I've served my purpose, my first name privilege is gone? Darn! You don't have to remind me of how useless I am to you. Who could've thought that everyone's most beloved Miss Robin was actually just like the type of scumbag lover who immediately act like they don't know you the moment they pick up their pants!"
"…Excuse me?" Robin knew better than to entertain the Fool's odd sense of humour, but she couldn't help but frown at that description.
"That's a saying from the Xianzhou Luofu, I think. I learned it from Zhon— eh, another Fool, you probably don't know him. Isn't the imagery very funny?"
Not particularly, thought Robin.
"I know, right!" Sparkle said as though she could read her mind. "Miss Sparkle's jokes are so much more amusing. But anyway, Robin… If you kick me out of here now, I can't guarantee I won't instantly tell everyone about what you're doing here with chicken wing boy." She paused for effect, then resumed, "On the other hand, if you explain all this to me… I swear I won't ever tell a single soul about anything in this room. Promise~!"
"…Aren't you afraid at all that I may use certain means to prevent you from speaking?" They were in Penacony, after all. This was The Family's terrority.
Sparkle's eyes brightened with glee. "Are you threatening me?"
Robin took a second to answer. "It is really just a question."
"Well, for the record, I think it'll be entertaining… Don't you think? Go ahead!"
For a moment, Robin considered if she should really do something (Not murder, naturally, but certain milder preventive measures or punitive measures that could be exacted with the power of the Harmony). Unfortunately—no, no, fortunately—her conscience got the better of her, and she softened against her wishes.
"I knew it," breathed Sparkle, seeing the expression on her face. "How disappointing."
"If you would really like to know," Robin sighed after a moment, turning away from her to pace across the room. "I'm not doing it because I think it is the right thing to do… I'm doing it because he is my brother."
Sparkled stared.
"… How much do you already know about what happened to my brother during the Trailblazers' journey?"
"Erm… Oh, he got injured, didn't he? Or so I heard."
"Injured, yes. Multiple times," Robin lowered her voice into a murmur. "Near-fatal injuries. Seven consecutive scares… Can you imagine?"
Sparkle's eyes were round. "Oooooh."
"That's why… I understand it now. I guess I never really knew what it was like to receive such news before it happened to me in person. Brother refused to even tell me once; it was the other members of the Express who informed me… then again, I can't blame him, for I did the same thing the one time it happened to me."
Sparkle squinted at her. "So… what you're saying is, because chicken wing guy kept almost dying from injuries, you now understand the urge to imprison people in dreams to protect them, and that's why you're doing this? To prevent accidents from happening to him?" She nodded. "I see, little birdie~"
"…Perhaps that is true?" replied Robin, her gaze fixed on the Dreampool on the other side of the room. She turned back to her, and spoke in the tone of an order: "Now that you've had your fill, you may take your leave from this room."
Sparkle was frowning at her. "But, Robin…" She sounded slightly uncertain—unconvinced, almost. "I mean, I don't care what you do with your brother, but just what happened to you? This was everything you were so much against. What changed you?"
"Well, who knows?" answered Robin, softly. She was looking at the distance. "Maybe it's the flow of time. I'm older than before. And I've seen him crashing to his death too many times. Now please, take your leave."
"…Man, I can't believe this," Sparkle glared at her incredulously as she began to retreat to the doorway. "Even Miss Robin doesn't believe in freedom anymore… What is still real in this world?"
"I still believe in it," Robin said. "I've never once thought that this was the right thing to do. But I have no other choice."
"…What?" Sparkle's footsteps paused for a second. She glanced at the songbird with a frown of confusion.
Robin avoided her eyes. "There is no way I can possibly save him. Not unless I betray him and myself, like this."
"…Huh?"
"I admit you were right, in what you said earlier. How ironic… For all those years I thought—always, even after knowing it had died from flying—that I would've let the Charmony Dove fly to its freedom, even if it meant I should watch it fall to its death…" She heaved a sigh. "I had overestimated myself. The truth is that I'm a much weaker person than I thought I was. Perhaps I only thought so because I was not the person who had saw it fall to its death, with his own eyes, after all its attempts to fly to the sky… It was my brother. Now I understand him a bit more."
She wasn't sure why she was even confiding about any of this to the untrustworthy Masked Fool of all people, but perhaps she simply wanted to speak to someone at last—and who better a listener than someone with no morals and ethics? (Though, if this was Sunday in her place, he probably would've preferred to be judged and morally condemned by anyone as much as possible. But Robin was not the same as Sunday, after all, and there were fields in which they were quite different.) "Still, I disagree with what he believed in. Birds are meant to fly in the sky, even if they may fall their death when flying. Whether it is to protect them or not, it is simply never correct to trap them in a cage and deprive them of their freedom… I just can't give him that."
"And why is that?"
"I have told you the reason. It's because Sunday is my brother. I won't allow him to run away from me, any longer… I never thought I would be doing this one day, but now that it has come to this, I would sooner betray everyone than allow him to die—even though that, too, should be his own decision to make.
"…I'm a much more selfish person than I thought," Robin added softly after a second. Then she stood up straight. "Is that a good enough answer for you, Masked Fool?"
Sparkle didn't speak for a moment. She seemed somewhat fascinated. She observed the Halovian girl curiously, looking rather intrigued by her words.
"And… How many more times would I need to bid you farewell?" questioned Robin, letting a hint of exasperation show in her voice. "Please leave us alone."
"Alright, alright," Sparkle waved her arms. "I won't bother you siblings anymore. But, before I go… Hey, um… How about a little goodbye kiss to shut me up?" She winked, her eyes glimmering like stars. "Girls who always smile deserve the best rewards! I promise I won't spill the beans to anyone~"
There was no point in arguing this further, so Robin walked towards her. "…Very well."
She leaned in. Sparkle, however, seemed to be utterly flabberghasted to see Robin do exactly as she just asked, and hopped backwards two times in pure shock before making a run for it, leaving the room entirely and vanishing from her sight like a white rabbit, as though she was never there.
Robin couldn't tell if she was relieved, disappointed or worried by this. Or perhaps she couldn't really feel anything at all. She closed the door, turned around, and headed towards the Dreampool.
Just now, she hadn't told Sparkle everything. There were things Robin could never tell anyone.
Robin sat down on the chair next to the Dreampool, and gazed at her brother's peaceful form in his sleep.
…
Caging someone in a happy dream to 'protect' them is fundamentally against my core principles as a human being.
Even though this was wrong, too, for living in an eternal dream was not truly living. Not to mention that Sunday had naturally never agreed—and would never have ever agreed—to such a thing. Robin understood that very well. She had no excuses. She didn't want any.
I never would've done such a thing, Brother… if it weren't the only way I could ever dream to keep you alive by my side.
Seven consecutive scares. His seven near-fatal injuries. Earlier, Sparkle had assumed those were dreadful accidents that Sunday must have got himself into along the way in the Trailblazing journey. That was a reasonable assumption, but not quite the whole truth.
When Robin learned about the incidents, the truth quickly became clear. Each and every one of those times it happened to him, it was always because he was desperately trying to sacrifice himself.
He wouldn't even acknowledge it to himself (In the end, maybe Robin's brother was the weakest person in the world), but it was very clear what he was actually doing.
For as long as he is awake and conscious, Brother… is always trying to die now.
Sometimes, when thinking back to their youth, Robin would heavily regret leaving his side for too long in her childhood and spending their teenage years so far apart from each other.
'If he had me by his side, maybe I could've helped him'… That was what I kept thinking, you know. But in the end, the past was in the past, and it was much too long of a time for both of them. Even after the Charmony Festival… even after you left Penacony, I didn't realize just how bad it had got.
Robin leaned down and gazed across at Sunday's face as he soaked in the tranquil river of the eternal dream inside the pool. Partly due to being Halovian like Robin herself, he possessed facial features widely deemed aesthetic by a large proportion of people around the universe. Right now, his body was relaxed and his face perfectly at ease, and he wore a calm, still smile, without even a hint of stress or tension between his eyebrows.
A very precious sight.
Robin beamed. She had not seen such a look on her brother's face while he was awake, not since all those years ago when she first left Penacony as a child to become a star in the cosmos.
She had no clue when it begun for him, but starting from some point in time, Sunday had become someone who was always haunted by anxiety and an unceasingly guilty conscience, a perpetual sense of discomfort in his chest. More precisely, it seemed that he was simply completely incapable of feeling relaxed or happy, not without feeling like he was fully in control and was the one helping and saving others in every situation.
Robin used to think all of this was going to improve greatly after he embarked on his journey—he must've thought so, too. Unfortunately, they were both too naive. Their wishful thinking did not come true; if anything, his issues only became much worse ever since his goal in life became to change as a person and to repent for his crimes. (In retrospect, maybe she should've really thought of that possibly, but it was too late now either way.) Nothing that anyone could ever say or do could save him from it; in fact, it tended to have the opposite effect. Whenever anyone offered him help, whenever anyone granted him forgiveness, whenever anyone did anything for him rather than the other way around, he could not live with that without paying them back tenfolds to regain his sense of control again and ease his guilt, except this would remind him again of how little he had changed from the person he had been, causing him to be trapped by his self-condemnation once more—and that way he simply could never escape from his cycle of self-reproach.
Ideally, there should still be treatments that could work for him, and ways for him to improve; but no one around them, nor Robin herself despite all her attempts, had been able to discover a method that worked, and now there was no time left for further growth. Or perhaps, what Sunday needed was not to grow at all. Brother, Robin thought, was a child grew up too quickly; he became an adult too fast, and that is why he still hasn't learned how to live at all.
Then… What he needed, maybe, was not to grow up (That was the gravest mistake in their judgment, after his wings were clipped and he set out to fly to the stars), but to be given a second chance at childhood. A child—a carefree child whose wings were not tied down by worries and responsibilities, without all those burdens on his shoulders and all those spikes in his chest.
Yet Sunday was already a grownup. Even though he was willing to make small attempts at changing, on a whole, he would simply never permit himself to be a child again.
There was no other choice. He had to be forced into it. There was no other choice, if Robin must keep him alive.
(Robin had always vowed to sing to inspire hope for those to fly onto their own desired futures, but what future was there for a bird whose dream of a future was 'death'?)
…Do you understand, Brother? Robin thought, as she gently lifted a string of hair from his eyes to his forehead with her delicate fingers. If you ever found out what I have done… I wonder if you would be able to understand me?
She would never ask for his forgiveness, but she knew he would inevitably forgive her if he ever woke up and found out. No, it was far worse—he would blame himself even more instead. That could never happen, and so, no matter how much he seemed to grow, she would never allow him to wake up.
As odd as this might sound (especially to other people who personally experienced the Charmony Festival incident), Robin did have a feeling that Sunday could not have actually allowed himself to do anything like this if he were in her shoes. Not like this. Brother was too kind, and he was always a fettered prisoner locked in the shackles of his forever-guilty conscience. He was only really capable of doing such a thing if he could convince himself it was the correct and righteous thing to do. Trapping planets inside a happy illusion was morally acceptable as long as he could make himself believe that it was just—but knowing Sunday, Robin believed that he would not have been able to talk himself into genuinely believing that imprisoning only his twin sister was a righteous, reasonable and normal course of action to take.
Then, was it lucky, or unlucky, that his sister was—it turned out—never truly bound by such chains of the mind?
…
"In our paradise, I believe there will be a star like that, shining with the same light. Its radiance will last 'forever,' and its name... will be 'happiness'," the trustful boy said.
"No, not just one star! We should have two stars... or maybe even more!" the guileless girl said.
They were together under the stars, and that was a long long time ago.
…
"One day, you'll step onto an even bigger stage. Even more people will hear you sing, and they'll sing with you," the trustful boy said.
"No, they'll sing with both of us, brother," the guileless girl said.
"...Right! Both of us," the trustful boy said.
They were together at home, and that was a long long time ago.
…
And like that, they both went ahead to chase their hopes and dreams.
Even as the trustful boy departed for the very last time, he couldn't bear to allow himself to face the guileless girl as his honest self, not even as they said goodbye to each other.
When all is said and done, Sunday was the weakest person in the universe.
…
Robin had never doubted her brother's love for her—but even in the very end, he never understood what exactly his sister had always wanted the most, no matter how many times Robin tried to clearly convey it to him.
"I have told you the reason. It's because Sunday is my brother. I won't allow him to run away from me, any longer… I never thought I would be doing this one day, but now that it has come to this, I would sooner betray everyone than allow him to die—even though that, too, should be his own decision to make."
You were right, Sparkle. I am the biggest hypocrite in the entire cosmos.
In the end, she was a selfish person, more selfish than anyone in this cosmos could have ever imagined from her picture-perfect image.
This is the only way I can keep him alive. This is the only way I can keep him with me. A sad smile grew wide on her face, as her eyes lingered on Sunday's restful face. This was the only way in which he would ever 'allow' himself to be protected by her, his younger sister. This is the only way you will ever be willing to stay by my side, isn't it?
Perhaps, Robin mused, it was only in dreams like this could he feel freedom and ease, and do away with all the chains that fettered his heart… Yet even that freedom was built on falsehoods, by his very own little sister, who had already forever deprived him of any chance at touching the real sky ever again.
Maybe—a horrible little thought lurked in the depth of Robin's mind (For some reason, it insisted to take on the sweet voice of the little Masked Fool, but Robin knew it was not her)—this was all you've ever wanted, Robin.
That wasn't the truth. Robin knew for a fact that it was not. Even then, it did feel like she was happy, in some shape or form, about this.
Brother… Please don't ever run away from me again.