Messages To and From Beyond the Grave

Neo sat cross-legged in the city graveyard, forearms resting on her knees. A bouquet hung limply in her hand as she stared with saddened eyes at the rows and rows of headstones stretching out across the emerald-green grass.

Mom... Wasn't there. She was miles and miles away, across the sea. Trapped in Japan until her contract with Sho expired, Neo couldn't even make a short trip home even though today was... No, she couldn't bring herself to think it.

Neo crossed her legs more, as if shrinking in on herself, or trying to keep herself together, literally and metaphorically. She certainly didn't have a mother there to help her through it anymore, just had rows and rows of strange, foreign headstones.

None of them are hers, but... Neo felt close to her mother every time she sang. Today, though, her voice was lost. She did not fear it as she had in the US D4Fes, for this time, she knew why her throat felt so tight and sore. It was from all the tears, both shed and unshed.

Parents and past were strange, fickle things, weren't they? Most days, Neo didn't think about her mother or father at all. Sometimes, the anniversary of their death-dates would come and go, and it wouldn't mean much to her. Other days, though...

Neo's stomach clenched, but her eyes were still distant and glazed. There were no tears. At least not right then. Mom...

Her fingers loosened, and the bouquet of flowers fell from her hand. None of these headstones were her mother's. There was nowhere to put these flowers. How was she supposed to give her mother her gift?

Of course, it was already Neo's intention to leave the bouquet elsewhere in the graveyard rather than upon any particular headstone, but again, parents and past were strange, fickle things. It made Neo's stomach churn that she was unable to give her mother something—anything.

I'm too far away! I'm too far away! One half of her brain lamented even as the other chided her for being so silly. She knew distance didn't matter. Even if she'd been standing right over her mother and father's graves, nothing she said or did or gave would be received. They were dead. Gone. There was no more Mom. There was no more Dad. Just Neo. She was the only one left now... Tears began to slip down her cheeks, but she didn't even realize it, at least not until her vision blurred and her eyes began to burn.

The closest thing she had to family—not including found family—was... Lumima. The thought made her shudder. But it wasn't just because of their usual rivalry. Even though Lumina was inspired by Neo's mother, and created by her father, it was not the same. Lumina hadn't grown up with Neo, hadn't lived in the same household throughout her entire childhood. Lumina hadn't been there when, at the tender age of nine, Neo received the devastating news from her father that her mother was dead. Lumina didn't watch her father begin to lose his life too. He was there in body, but Aria's death had changed his very soul. Neo lost both parents that day. It was something Lumina could never understand.

Click-CLANG! Neo whipped around, heat pounding. Someone else had just entered the graveyard. Neo's eyes widened.

Her! Th-that... girl! Unichord's VJ, with the multi-colored hair...! Neo scrambled behind the nearest tree in a most undignified manner, though to her credit, she remembered to grab the bouquet. Kokoa didn't notice her at all as she strode past, a bouquet in her hands as well. Neo's stomach dropped. It wasn't like the first two times when it squeezed uncomfortably, but rather, she felt dread, and empathetic sadness. The diva didn't even realize she was moving closer to the other girl until she was inches behind those multi-colored locks.

"Happy Mother's Day, Mama," she heard Kokoa say as she knelt before a headstone, carefully arranging her bouquet upon it. "I brought you your favorites..." She listed them off, explaining her rationale behind each and every flower. Not a single one was added to the bouquet without an immense amount of thought and love and dedication. "I'll come back with Papa later, I just wanted to spend some alone time with you first."