The next day, in the bedroom of Elena’s apartment in the Ancient Cathedral…

It was a small but spacious place, light with the scent of roses in full bloom. There were artifacts, souvenirs, luxurious furnishings as far as the eye could see, and a desk cramped with scribbled notes and esoteric texts left opened and half-read. The melody of a bittersweet aria heavy with heartfelt yearning, audible throughout the room.

“Where… am I?”

Claire de la Lune rubbed her eyes gently as she mouthed those very words breathlessly to herself. She then closed her eyes, her breaths relaxing as she felt the back of her head sink deep into a pillow dampened with sweat.

“This place, it isn’t the mansion…”

Even in the darkness of her mind’s eye, everything felt good. It was all around her, in the bedsheets that bore the scent of freshly-washed laundry, and on the silk so fine and soft upon her skin like an angel’s embrace. No longer was the world filled with mocking shadows and grasping darkness, but warm and dimmed light that seemed completely absent of the waking terror that she feared to have become a part of her, forever.

“I’m in control, again…”

It was like night and day, like she had crossed between one world to another. Felt that way, at least. And it was then, that she remembered.

“Anna…”

“Hmm… you’re finally awake, huh? Good.”

With her head still resting upon the pillow, Claire tilted her head towards the sight of an elven girl with crimson eyes who looked to be in the twilight of her teenage years. Whose voice, was sharp like a knife’s edge. Who was, at least compared to herself, rather short in stature, dressed in a white shirt with long sleeves and untucked flaps that seemed a cut too big for her petite frame, and grey trousers that covered her ankles. Beside her, was a gramophone set upon an antique table that she had been toying with – the source of that bittersweet aria lingering in the room.

“Right, this isn’t what I’m used to, uh…”

“Where’s Cecelia?” Claire demanded, letting out a hacking cough when the shortness of her breath suddenly made itself known within her throat. “She was with me, and I…”

“She entrusted you to me. You were hurting real bad, so I brought you out of there.”

In response to that, Claire’s eyes widened. The elven girl pulled up a nearby chair to sit by the bed.

“Yeah, it’s true! It’s not my usual way of doing things, y’know, but I promised I’d help.”

“I don’t even know who you are, at all…”

“Let’s change that, then. The name’s Elena…”

“No…! I don’t have time for this. Apologies, but I…”

With a deep breath, Claire pushed herself up from her pillow. She attempted to stand up, only to suddenly freeze in place, coughing violently as if to regurgitate her insides upon the bedsheets.

“Anna, she’s still with them…! I have to…”

“You oughta take it easy. Please.”

“Shut up, damn you! What kind of a worthless sister am I… if I can’t…”

It was then, with tears rolling down her eyes in huge beads, that Claire felt herself tense up. The feeling was sudden, almost unseen in the blindness of her tear-stricken vision, but the elven girl had leaned in to embrace her. She could feel it, and it felt cold, corpselike even. And it felt good, for some reason. The numbing and freezing sensation upon her body was, strangely enough, a rather welcome feeling.

“I made a promise to myself… if I can’t help her with these hands of mine, I…”

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“Hey now, nobody’s letting you slack off. I’m just helping out.”

“Help…? Me…?”

“Yeah, that. Don’t sweat it, alright? Everything’s gonna be okay.”

Slowly, Claire placed her arms around the elven girl’s back. Embracing her coldness, in turn.

“R-really?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Like clockwork, the gramophone continued its musical routine for its audience of two. Eventually, when the cold became too much to bear, Claire moved away from their mutual embrace, her head and shoulders leaning back onto a pillow that had been propped up for her to fall back upon.

“You’re really cold,” Claire remarked with a grimace. “But, thank you. I really needed that.”

“Hey, you’re very welcome. You’re really warm, like all mortals. Love that feeling, y’know?”

“You said your name earlier, that it’s…”

The elven girl stood up from her chair and performed a curtsy, bowing her head and bending her knees with the grace of a swan in flight.

“Elena de L’Enfer, at your service.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady de L’Enfer,” Claire said in reply, giving the strongest and biggest smile she could muster. “You probably know my name, but I’m Claire de la Lune.”

“Yup,” Elena stated with a smile of her own. “The pleasure’s all mine.”

“Seems to be so. It has been so long ever since I’ve worked with Heretic, I didn’t expect that I’d still have fans of my work…”

“Huh?”

With her smile turning playful, Claire pointed at Elena’s desk. There was a large poster pinned upon the wall where Elician Jewel, the legendary courtesan of Heretic’s ‘Private Collection’, stood tall within the luminosity of her surroundings immortalised by clockwork and ink. In colours so vivid and vibrant, that it looked like her brown eyes were sparkling, and that her voluptuous breasts were heaving from within the elegant folds of her scarlet gown.

“I remember that scene. It was so many years ago… back then, I was still a starry-eyed teenager, like Anna...”

“Wait, what?”

“That poster of yours. She’s Elician Jewel, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, but…”

“You’re not wrong to doubt me, Elena. Now, I’m nothing at all like her. Now, I’m just Claire de la Lune.”

With a smile, Claire watched as Elena stared at the poster. And then at her, before turning to look at the poster, once again.

“No wonder… I get it, now,” Elena uttered absent-mindedly, as the gaze of her crimson eyes finally rested themselves upon the weariness of Claire’s brown-eyed gaze. “No wonder those eyes of yours seemed so familiar back there, I…”

It was then, as those words left her mouth, that she found herself a newfound obsession with the marble tiling of the floor beneath her feet.

“That poster was a gift from my mistress. It was a decade ago, but I’ve always loved…”

“Loved, you said…?”

“Yeah, you’re the reason that I…”

“Um… Lady de L’Enfer…?” Claire asked worriedly, extending a hand towards Elena as she watched shades of necromantic green form upon her elven host’s face. “Are you alright?”

“Yes!” Elena shouted, covering herself with a sleeve. “I’m alright, I’m just a little…”

“Are you sure? You’re really, really… um, green?”

“Yeah! Just flustered, is all…”

“Wait,” Claire asked. “You’re… blushing?”

“Hate to say it,” Elena stated brusquely, only to frown at the sound of her tone. “But, you’re right.”

“I’ve never seen anyone blush like that, Lady de L’Enfer…”

“Well, uh… I’m not exactly ‘anyone’, in that sense of the matter…” Elena said, lowering her sleeve. “Oh, and uh… just call me Elena. Please, I, uh, like to keep things informal here.”

“If that’s what you prefer… Elena,” Claire said in reply, smiling as she leaned back upon her pillow. “You’re right. It’s less awkward this way…”

Elena nodded and shrugged her shoulders.

“Yeah. I mean, you’re my idol, but I, uh…”

“Idol, you said?” Claire asked, a bitter grimace forming upon her lips. “I’m not worthy of being your idol, Elena.”

“Why not?”

Claire looked past Elena. As tears formed within her brown eyes, she gazed at the poster of the person she once was a decade ago, in what felt like a life lost forever.

“I… I did a lot of things I’m not proud of to become what I am. I had to, if I wanted to make a good life for Anna and I.”

“That’s fine. Personally? I wouldn’t judge at all…”

“No! I’m a fool! For all that I was supposed to be, I stumbled into such an obvious trap! I was so worried for Anna, that they’d hurt her, that I didn’t think at all! I’m not worthy of your admiration, not at all…”

It was then, that Claire began to cry. She closed her eyes and wept noisily, her body trembling between gasps for air as the heat of her tears warmed themselves upon her cheeks.

“I can’t even…”

“Hey.”

Suddenly, at the prickling sensation of a touch most frigid and familiar placed upon her shoulders, Claire opened her eyes. With tears marring her vision, she looked at Elena, who smiled at her.

“We do what we gotta do, eh? I mean, I too, did something pretty awful back in my day. I’m not proud of it at all. Even if today, I’m a Vizier of the Eye, I…”

“You’re a Vizier…” Claire uttered. “By Elicia… you’re an Archon’s guardian…”

“Yes, I am,” Elena said quietly, blushing green once more as she showed Claire the etching of the Beholder’s mark upon her left hand. “I forgot to say it earlier, amidst, well, you know, everything just now. Sorry about that.”

“No… it’s fine… if you’re a Vizier, you can help Anna…”

“Of course,” Elena stated, leaning back upon her chair as Claire smiled weakly at her. “We can definitely help each other. You have information, and I want answers.”

In response to that, Claire nodded.

“My memories are blurry… but I’ll do my best.”

“I believe you,” Elena said with her best smile. “Start from the beginning, and together, we’ll get to Anna. Bring her home, safe and all. That’s a promise from me to you, as a Vizier of the Eye of Elicia.”