I arrived at my first winter without Gabe. For the past several months, I'd been satisfied with the way things were, but now, something just felt different. It was like something was missing. Did I miss my friend that much? We were from different worlds, but it's not like I couldn't visit every now and then, right? Though, going back and forth between worlds is a pain in the ass, so maybe it's for the best.
But still, I just wonder how Nova is doing. She's got Rose, so she should be fine... but I want to see her again. I shook my head, as I walked down the snowy street on my way to my part time job. I performed about as well as usual, but it seemed my co-workers noticed something was up.
"Is something wrong?" one of them asked.
"Oh, n-no." I said, "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" they said, "You seemed a bit out of it."
"Yeah, things are fine." I said, "Don't worry about it."
"Well, if you say so," they said, "I won't bother you about it."
Often times, I found myself going on walks alone. It didn't matter what the whether was. The snow could be coming down hard, the rain could messing up the snow, or there could be a lot of wind. One day, I was walking as the snow was coming down and I bumped into Mary.
"You're spending New Year's Day alone?" asked Mary.
"What if I am?" I responded.
"You want to go back, don't you?" asked Mary.
"W-what are you talking about?" I said.
"It's written all over your face." she said, "I heard you've been acting all weird lately."
"What? Were you worried about me?" I responded.
"Am I not allowed to?" she asked.
"Well, I don't get to decide who can and can't worry about."
"So, what do you want to do?"
"What can I do?"
"It's not impossible to see her again, y'know."
"I know that... it's just hard too, right?"
"It's true that's a bit difficult, but it's not impossible."
"Why are you bringing this up now?"
"The two of you were my only friends back in high school."
"R-really?"
"So of course I'd care about both of you!"
"I... see."
"Besides, my feelings for Gabe... I've decided to move on."
"Not into girls?"
"It's not that... it's just... there might be someone else."
"Well, good luck then."
"Th-thanks."
"So... I can go back to see Nova again, right?"
"Yeah."
I stood in front of Mary's aunt again.
"We're doing this again, huh?" she said.
"Yeah." I said, "But... would it be possible for me to stay there?"
"That would take a lot of magic power." the woman answered, "That would be pretty difficult."
"So, it's only temporary, huh?" I replied, "Sorry for asking for too much."
"No, it's fine." the woman responded, "I have enough magic to allow you you to stay. I just won't be able to use any more for a month afterward."
"S-sorry. You don't have to go through that much trouble." I said.
"Don't worry about it." the woman replied.
After that, I saw this bright light and my scenery soon changed.
***
I truly was the happiest I had been a while. I had so many people around me that were important that I wouldn't be leaving behind because of a dumb illness. But even so, I did miss the old day sometimes. However, I was satisfied with what my life had turned into. Rose and I were walking together on New Year's Day when we saw a shadow up ahead.
"Something feels familiar about the shadow." commented Rose.
"Really?" I said.
"Yeah..." she said.
The shadow started coming closer and it became clear who it was.
"...Oswin!" I said, without thinking.
"Hey." he said.
"W-what are you doing here?" asked Rose.
"I thought I'd come to see you two." he answered.
"Won't you just have to go back later?" responded Rose.
"Not this time." answered Oswin, "I'm going to stay here."
"What?" responded Rose.
"How does that even work?" I responded.
"I honestly don't know." he said.
"Well, I'm glad to have you back anyways." I said.
In the end, Oswin decided to stay with me and Rose. I'm not really sure how he managed to do it, but he was able to stay in my world. He might not have been very good with magic but he was good with combat so we let him join our party and the three of us went adventuring together. Apparently, we had become famous within a year, but I never really paid that much attention to that stuff.
Here were are, together again after all that crazy stuff happened. Honestly, so much happened in my two lifetimes that I will likely never understand. But that's thing. There are some things in life that were probably not meant to understand. For the most part, I had to leave my past life behind, but luckily, a few things remained.
When you move forward, you're not going to be able to take everything with you. Some things will stay behind, whether you like it or not. But even if you leave things behind, you will find new things in the future. These days, I have everything I need and I hope things will stay this way. After all, I like things better the way they are now.