The Things We Do

Chapter XXV

Xayah moved from one grave to the next, singing as she bent down and touched each one. She went to Luna's grave first. "Walls have ears". Then to Soleil's grave as she sang "Doors have eyes". Then to Anastasia's. "Trees have voices" Then to Arlie's grave singing "Beasts tell lies." She stood and touched her own heart as she sang "Beware the rain." She ran over to her brother's grave singing "Beware the snow." She went over to Ryaxleb's grave as she sang "Beware the man you think you know." Knowing it had been completed, Xayah allowed herself to be taken up by the intense winds that circled her. She finished the song while in the winds that lifted her up, "Cause a fish with its mouth closed never gets caught"
Xayah looked down and saw the flashes of golden light coming from the earth that was so far below. She heard the others yelling for her, confused as to what was happening. A tear rolled down her cheek as she repeated the chorus over and over. She saw as the light below grew brighter and brighter, and she knew it was going as she planned. Her few tears grew to a sob. She knew that she was doing the right thing by bringing them all back without her. She hoped that when she died they would all remember the past. She hoped that would have them put their differences aside and forge the great Iphica they had all planned to build oh so long ago. The light seemed to be taken over by darkness, and she feared that she was failing. However, faces started to emerge from the darkness. She didn't stop singing, but looked around at the faces.
She first saw her mother, who had discouraged her from doing what she truly wanted. Then her father, who was one of the reasons she had to make everyone forget. She then saw Luna's father, the other reason she had to wipe everyone's memories. Then, she saw her own parents, whom had never understood her. They all opened their mouths and started to sing with her. More tears streamed down Xayah's face. She could barely sing, but knew that she still had too. The darkness had surrounded her now, but she could still feel the swirling sphere of wind around her. In the distance she heard the faint voices of her friends below.
They all watched as Xayah's body flipped around every which way. She closed her eyes and put her hands on her head but she kept singing. Lights came from each grave, and winds started pushing them back. Dadokes, Perdido, Tage and Soren grabbed onto the ledge and everyone else grabbed onto them. Had any buildings been near they would've been destroyed by now. The rain cleared up for a moment, but had all of a sudden come pouring down harder and harder. Looking down at the river, they saw that it flowed fast below them. The frogs that Xayah had brought threw themselves into the river on the other side and flew past in an instant.
The dark sphere of wind vanished. The winds pushing them back stopped. Xayah came plummeting down to the earth, and Leod jumped to catch her. He turned around with the limp body in his arms, and everyone saw that the effort had been too much for her. She was dead. The light still glowed from the graves, but it had started to fade.

"Has she not done whatever it was she was doing?"
"Was the effort too much for her?"
"It's not like her to give up easily..."
"Are we sure she's dead?"
"Did she not tell you what she was doing?"
"Why didn't she tell us this would be the end of her..."
"Maybe she didn't know."
"Or maybe she wanted to spare us."
"I don't think it worked, whatever it was."
"Maybe it takes a moment?"
"We'll see."

    All of a sudden a flash of gold light came from Xayah herself. It separated into six beams, each pointed at a different grave. As the others got off of the ledge and closer to the graves, they saw that the light was disintegrating the dirt above the bodies. The corpses were blown up to the top of the holes and moved them forward to lay in front of them. The lights reflected on their bodies, causing the light to go everywhere. It would have blinded those on the bridge had they not turned away and closed their eyes. At long last, it all stopped.
    The world was back to normal. Only Xayah no longer existed. The remaining six of the great seven looked at eachother and those who stood on the bridge. Children ran to mothers, husbands to the spouses, girlfriends to dead girlfriends, revived men to their dead sister. The sun came out from behind the clouds and shone a softer light down on them. The revived asked what had happened, and they did their best to explain it. "She said she wanted to make you all remember, but she knew she'd die in the process." Ideus said at last. All looked at him, confused. "Is it not clear to you yet? The sacrifices the seven of us made, our plans? The peaceful future we wanted to build together? It was on that journey that Arlie and Xayah got together, as did many of you. But you had to forget. Everyone had to forget, and somehow only I was spared from being wiped."
    They were all confused, so they buried Xayah and went to Anastasia and Beau's home to discuss what had happened. All started to remember what Ideus had spoken of, though none dared to relive it. They sat around in her and Beau's den, her in her chair, the other five and Beau on the couch and the others on the floor. "If none of you truly remember what had happened all those years ago, then fine. I remember, and I shall explain."