Unreality

15. Escape

It was a windy afternoon in the cemetery; under a gray sky of passing clouds, the small blades of grass trembled as the air currents caressed the earth.

There was one grave, however, which was somewhat shielded from the wind, as it was partially covered by a stone construction consisting of three monoliths spread out triangularly with some distance between them. These monoliths served as the support for an arched stone covering, under which — adjacent to the floor and in the middle of the triangle formed by the monoliths — the actual tombstone rested.

Standing right in front of this tombstone, gazing downwards thoughtfully, was none other than Ariadne Seymour, whose gray eyes observed the name imprinted on the stone with almost palpable longing.

CLAIRE SEYMOUR

She stood there for a while, her silver hair and black dress swaying lightly with the afternoon wind that managed to sneak into the stone construction.

A few minutes later, she realized she was no longer alone. Someone else had reached that corner of the cemetery, having traversed through the series of regular graves that led up to it.

That someone was Virgil York.

'...Sorry for running off without you like that,' she apologized in a dispirited voice, without removing her gaze from her brother's grave.

'It's okay... how are you feeling?' he asked somewhat hesitantly. 'Anything like the day I first came to your house?'

'...Don't worry, I'm not going to succumb to it again,' Ariadne replied solemnly, realizing he was concerned her unreality might emerge once more. 'I'm not about to go down like that...'

Silence settled in. No one else appeared to be inside the cemetery or anywhere near it.

'Have you...' the silver-haired girl said eventually, 'have you ever thought about... how your life might be easier if you were willing to sacrifice your true self in order to please others?'

Virgil did not answer.

'That's... how my brother lived,' she struggled to add, 'and sometimes... I can't help but think about how my own life might have turned out... if I had also chosen to live like that... you know, walked the same as path as him...

'But then... I remember where that path led him...'

She finally looked away from the tombstone and towards Virgil, who was standing a few feet behind her, outside the stone construction housing her brother's grave.

'So... why did you come here? The Commander only asked you to accompany me in visiting Alexander Seymour... that's over now. Or did he also ask you to take me back to headquarters?'

'No... he didn't.'

The silver-haired girl smiled a brief, joyless smile, after which she sat by one of the stone monoliths which made up the structure housing her brother's grave.

'Did my father say anything to you while I was talking to my mother?' she asked, her arms over her knees with her chin resting over them. 'I'm sorry if he bothered you... I didn't want for you to have to...'

'It's all right,' said Virgil, still standing with his hands tucked into the pockets of his trench coat. 'He just... told me about your hobbies.'