Thunder still shines over District T, the thunder of chaos came from the Abyss Tower.
" It seems time had changed everything drastically. " said a hooded woman, guarding a stranded hotel where all of the people had already left.
" Even me... " she says as she opens her hood, showing her golden hair.
" You're still awake? " Zack asks her during the sightseeing.
" Why are you here? shouldn't you be with grandma Kent? " she asks as she looks at Zack.
Seeing her face, and hearing her words, Zack realized something, something that he also felt after so much time living.
" Time has changed us, didn't it? "
" You weren't supposed to use those words back then," he says to the woman.
" Why are thou hither? shouldn't thou be with grandma kent? " Zack rephrase the question with the words the woman used to use while talking.
" My sister Sera... " he says to her, as the woman with golden hair then shows her Halo.
" Hmphh... "
" Thou art right! "
" It seems time had changed me well! "
" Didn't it? " she asks.
" Of course, my sister Seraphim! " Zack says in his happiness, finally seeing Seraphim return to her old ways.
" It hath also changed me too. " Zack says as he shows his Halo to Seraphim.
Seeing it, Seraphim looks at him quietly as she then gazes back over the skies. "
" It seems our Divine and Deviant brethren had lost their way for too long, look at this. " Seraphim says as she closes her eyes after seeing the crimson thunders from the Abyss Tower.
" Yes sister, yet this is what befell, this is because of us lost to 'em during the Holy Wars. " Zack says as he then cries.
" I was not firm-set enough, would I be stronger I could've prevented the future that I had seen back then using the 'eye'. "
" Yet instead... "
" Spare thy thoughts, brother... " Seraphim says to Zack.
" Those are from the past we couldn't change. " Seraphim reminds him since it happens before the Universal Reboot even started, making it impossible to be changed.
" So please, mine brother Zadkiel... " Seraphim places her hands on his shoulders, calling Zack Kiehl by his real name, the name he long abandoned in order to strive in the world, living as a human in order to evade the Diviners and Deviants.
" Forbear regretting what thou could not change, it is over. " Seraphim tells him as he still cries over it, remembering everything he went through since he's technically in the same race with the Diviners, the Angels which means he still can remember what happened from the Previous Timelines.
" Yet what if it befell again? those sufferings...? " Zadkiel says as he cries, remembering those he cared about during his time as a human.
As he cries, Seraphim continues to comfort her brother, knowing well that his brother had been human for a long time, making him have those emotions that he would never have back then, in the ancient primordial times.
"( Brother's humanity had changed him for good, he might not but've been bearing these emotions ere he met me again. )" Seraphim thinks in her mind as she then looks at the hotel, looking inside with her eyes as she sees Rory Kent praying constantly for Ragna's safety as she cries on the ground, praying.
Seeing Rory, Seraphim immediately knows what she's praying, knowing well the person she's praying to is the person whom she seeks at this moment.
"( That man is hither... )"
"( Inhabiting himself from this Timeline. )" Seraphim remembers him, remembering the man who escaped the flow of time with his great power, given to him.
" Zadkiel, brother. " Seraphim suddenly says.
" Yes, I wot what thou art going to bid, mine sister..." he replies as he wipes his cries away.
" 'tis about 'that person', was it? " Zadkiel asks Seraphim, knowing well about what she's going to ask him.
" After many years using that 'eye', its ability still somehow exists within me, maugre not having the 'eye' again. " Zadkiel says as he refers to that 'eye'.
" After all, I am the one who inherited it, after Zafkiel, remember? " Zadkiel asks for he reminds Seraphim about it.
As he says it, he then tells Seraphim to return inside the hotel and when they returned, Rory already greeted them with her cooking as she prepared them dinner.
" Oh Zack, you've returned! " Rory greets him with Seraphim as she prepared the dinner.
" You made this? " Seraphim asks, changing her ways of speaking again.
" Indeed, the ingredients this hotel have is quite good despite it being stranded. "
" The tomatoes, the eggs. "
" So I decided to make a 'Shakshouka' for tonight. " Rory says to them.
" A Shakshouka? " Seraphim asks.
" A Maghrebi dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion, and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika, and cayenne pepper. "
" Rory's mom used to make us this dish back in Kansas after she often go out of the country. " Zack explains as the three of them take a seat and pray. After their prayer, they began to feast upon the dish.
" What a magnificent dish, Mrs. Kent! " Seraphim praises Rory.
" Oh please, just call me Rory. "
" You're Zack's little cousin, aren't you, Sarah? " Rory asks her again and Seraphim is still not used to that role for Zadkiel, Zack Kiehl introduces her as Sarah Pine.
" Yes, Rory... " Seraphim looks at his brother, telepathically asking him why he gave her that name.
While conversing with their minds, suddenly Rory cries which made the shocked for she cries during her feast.
" Rory, what's going on? " Zack asks her and Rory says that it's nothing.
" It's nothing, it just. "
" I pray that Ragna is here right now, I wish he was here... " she cries.
" For this dish is his favorite... " Rory cries as the two Angels look at each other, knowing what's going on as the two look again at the tower.
" Ragna huh? " Seraphim/ 'Sarah Pine' says as she looks at the Tower.
...
( Meanwhile. )
" Struggling till the end? " Ragna asks the Yakan Curse who is still being chomped by the Black Shadow Teeth.
" What a waste, it's useless. "
" Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless... " Ragna says to the Divine Curse as she's still being chomped, slowly being destroyed.
While seeing it, he uses the [Twelve Eye of Time] as it gives him the vision of his grandmother with the two angels, eating the Shakshouka.
" They eat it without me. " Ragna says while his left eye unleashes its tears.
" Grandma... " Ragna says while he can only look but cannot call her since they are in a different space right now. Seeing it, Ragna closes his left eye, deactivating the eye of time for he can't stand it anymore he lowers his head down while he's executing his Divine Curse, remembering that there's someone who is actually waiting for him home.
"( I will return grandma... )"
"( I will return for the dinner, I promise... )" Ragna swears in his mind while Ragna Twelve sees him silently and Ragna 69 can feel his feelings while still inside the System Space that exists within his Core.
" Such a simple promise, not inspirational or empowering, but a meaningful one. " Ragna 69 says as he can feel Ragna feeling lonely after being separated from his grandmother, the person he cared about the most before meeting the others.
" During the thunderous night, all of this really matched sometimes, isn't it? "
" Thunder itself represents separation, that's why most people who are somewhat connected to it always feel lonely. " Ragna 69 says as he looks at his palm, creating a wind from it.
" After your sorrow, you will feel empty and when you felt it you realized how lonely you were. "
" It really matches the concept of your elemental pattern, huh, Ragna Current? "
" Water, Wind, Thunder, either it is planned by fate or not but the coincidence is very matched if it were looked by me. " Ragna 69 says as he looks at the thing beside him.
" After he is freed from that thing, I think it's time for you to appear, right? " he says to it.
" Next one? " he sees a pod with the number [X] and he can see the thunder slowly coming out from it.
" Of course, it seems it is time. " Ragna Twelve returns to the System Space.
" For Ragna Current to be free of his restrictions and continue his path to incinerate the enemy he will face. " Ragna Twelve says while his left eye, the [Twelve Eye of Time] glows, showing him the dangerous future that Ragna Current and them will face in this Tower.
" So, he's already making his move, isn't he? " Ragna 69 says.
" Old Twelve? " As he says that, on the top Floor of the Abyss Tower, Adrian Waterson is preparing the next phase of what's to come.
" Good, good, time for the real show to begin after many times of hiatus. " Adrian says to himself.
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Extra:
If you want to know who Seraphim is, look for Chapter 9: Second Chance (1)
Also, don't forget to read the Outside the Tower chapters both (1) and (2).