Death was not something that Lewis had ever prepared himself for. He had always lived during the moment, and rarely had ever considered that his actions may result in his actual end. It was something to never worry about, and yet…

“Here we are,” he said aloud. Everything was strangely calm. There was no pain. No breathing. Only his thoughts. His mind. It was bright. Or…was it dark? It was impossible to comprehend.

But it was quiet.

There was something missing. The sounds of Simone. Even in death they should be connected. The resonance was something that was bound not only to their body, but to their soul. At least, that was what Angela had intended for it. After all, the incident with Xeik and Lewis swapping bodies had shown the flaw in how the resonance works, and the goddess had rectified that as the resonance grew.

Now, though, it was too quiet. Her voice and presence were missing.

“Simone?” Nothing. “Simone!” Nothing.

Lewis could feel a fit of anger coursing through him. He refused to believe that this was the end, that his life would finish in being alone. “No.” The resonance tattoo started to burn, even without a body.

“Simone…?”

She had been through this once before once Lewis had originally ended her life. Death was cold and cruel but right now she wanted nothing more than to go meet with her beloved.

”Simone?

”Simone…?

”SIMONE?!”

It took a bit for her to materialize near Lewis. “I’m right here… I’m sorry.” She gave him a frown before she started to cry. She was never going to hold her babies again. Her babies that she had carried for nine months and her babies that had been miracles. Even her adopted children were on her mind. Lewis held her as he cried too. He understood what she was feeling since he could feel it too.

“Simone?” After hours of crying a voice cut through as Lewis pushed Simone behind him. “Easy, I won’t hurt her…”

“Edwin…” Simone whispered as she looked up at Lewis. “This is Edwin… “ This is the afterlife. “You still waited here for me?”

“Just to make sure you didn’t get lost… I didn’t expect you to be back here so soon..”

“We… were…” Simone frowned a bit. “We were tricked and murdered.”

“I see… I’m so sorry… You’ve been crying. You don’t ever cry.”

“I had to leave my babies…” Simone frowned before looking up at Lewis. “This is my husband Lewis.”

“You failed her too…” He didn’t mean to make it sound bad.

“Edwin!” Simone snapped.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted you to be happy…” She realized he thought that she was cursed to not be so.

“Heh… Maybe you are right to say it…” She frowned and looked at Lewis.

If looks could kill, Lewis would have assassinated Edwin time and time again for his statement. The fact that he said Lewis had failed irritated the un-living hell out of the ex-assassin, and he took a ‘step’ towards Edwin.

“And through our deaths, I have protected my children. With what happened, Xeik nor Angela will ever let harm come to them. I haven’t ‘failed,’ I did my duty as a father.” To be insulted by someone long dead was infuriating.

He paused, though, and looked back to Simone. “We may not be able to hold them…but we exist with the knowledge that they will grow up safe and strong. I will not count this as a failure…” He closed his eyes. “I miss them so much…but we did what we had to do.”

This was a strange, emotional side to him. Despite his tears, he was proud that they still could protect their babies. “I’d do it all over again if it meant they would stay safe.”

Edwin looked between the two of them and frowned. “I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

Simone hugged herself into Lewis and cried with him some more. She didn’t answer him and Edwin let them have their moment. “I thought… You told me you couldn’t?”

“Through powerful means we did but my ex-fiance he took it all from us out of jealousy…” He had known how to deal with Simone.

“I’m sorry for what I said… You didn’t deserve this.” Edwin looked around. “I was told if you showed back up to take you somewhere.”

Simone looked up, “Someone wants to see me?”

“Yeah… He wasn’t happy with who I was to you but….” Edwin rubbed the back of his head. “Take that path up there and you’ll find a familiar setting.”

Simone looked at him and tilted her head, “You aren’t coming with.”

“I’m going to wait until your husband isn’t going to kill me.” Edwin put up his hands and looked at Lewis. “He is pissy looking all the time like you said…” Simone smirked a bit and kissed Lewis’s face.

"He is my pissy prince~"

Lewis grumbled, “Can’t exactly kill you given where we are…” He sighed, and looked at the path that was laid out before them. The two wandered through, and soon approached a man who seemed to be sitting on a throne of some kind. He looked tired, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

There was a moment where he locked eyes with Simone, and he blinked. Once it registered who had arrived, he suddenly jumped up, and ran towards Simone.

Simone was just as shocked as he was, but she opened her arms with a smile. “Father!’ At once the two embraced, having not seen each other for quite some time. Not since the fall of Auclair.

“Oh…so this is…?” Lewis looked the older man over. “Your father? The King of Auclair?”

At once, the King put himself between Lewis and Simone. “And just who is this ruffian!?” He eyed Lewis over. “What exactly are your intentions with my daughter.”

Lewis gave him a dead stare. “We’re in the afterlife…now if you’ll excuse me,” he took a threatening step forward. “I’d appreciate it if you would stop standing between me and my wife…”

Simone was overjoyed to see her father. They had hugged a long time before he noticed Lewis. Oh boy… This was going to be fun. Lewis felt a deep eyeroll. “Okay. Okay. Okay.” Simone got inbetween her husband and her father.

“Simone, I’m looking out for you!” Her father still wanted to do the father thing.

“This is my husband of over a decade,” Simone explained calmly.

“He could be your husband of five thousand years and I’m still going to interrogate him!” Jurien hugged his daughter and looked him over. “He looks like a street rat.”

“Daddy…” Simone whined up. “He was one. But that’s not important. He is my husband, the father of YOUR grandchildren, and the one who killed the fey lord.”

“Oh,” Jurien gave him a look again. “My name is Jurien…” He held his hand out to Lewis. “I like him more than Jerome.”

Simone frowned a bit. “You like everyone more than Jerome.”

“Llywellyn…”

“Llywellyn is married now and he is a pansy king.”

“King?” Jurien looked at her.

“It’s a long story but yes. He is the king of Sulwal now.”

“A lot of time must have passed,” Jurien turned Simone over to LEwis. “I was just being a hard ass because I am her father.”

“He knows how that is… He is like that with our daughter.” Simone smirked at Lewis. “This is my husband Lewis.”

“Lewis? Is he a blue blood?”

“Bastard of a noble but he is a good man.”

Jurien rubbed his chin as he thought. “And you enjoyed your life?”

“Yes, he is a good husband even in death.” Simone gave Jurien a look. “Stop giving him the stink eye… BOTH OF YOU!” She wagged her finger at Lewis and Jurien.

Lewis wasn’t sure if he liked King Jurien, but Simone tried her best to foster a quick relationship with the two. In the end, Jurien relaxed, which put Lewis a little less on edge.

“It’s…a pleasure,” Lewis said finally. It was hard when Jurien was being aggressive, but if anything, Lewis could respect the king. After all, Alshaya and Lila were his treasures, and he had acted quite similarly when it came to Llonan.

“It seems like you two have a lot to catch up on,” Lewis said with a sigh. “I would say we’re in a hurry, but…” He waved his hand. “Take your time. We have nothing but…”

The father and daughter talked for hours, going over just about everything since the day that the two separated up until the day of Simone and Lewis’ death. After Simone stopped talking, there was a heavy silence in the air.

“That was quite a lot,” Jurien said after a moment. “You have lived quite the life. It’s a shame that I could not have been more a part of it.”

Lewis was napping, laying as if he were on a tree branch. The afterlife was quite weird and difficult to get a hold of, but at least here he could still enjoy some things about his old life.

“So what happens now?” Lewis asked as he woke up briefly. “Do we just…move on?”

“Yeah, what do we do?” Simone looked up at her father who was drying her tears.

“Well, there are plenty of things to see and do here. You’ve always been quite the explorer… So why not go explore?”

“I do suppose that is rational…” Simone looked at a corner of the look and spotted something. “Are you hiding something from me?”

“N-No…” Jurien put his hands up.

“You are! LEWIS GO GET WHOEVER THAT WAS!”

“Wait!” Jurien tried to stop Lewis who was up and pouncing on whoever it was.

Beneath Lewis was a scared woman with green eyes who looked a lot like Simone. “Jur-Jurien! HELP!” Had she been here this whole time?

Simone ran over and Jurien pushed Lewis off before helping the woman up. Simone was pointing her finger. “WHO ARE YOU?!” Simone put her hands on her hips. "DID YOU HAVE BASTARD CHILDREN I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?!"

Lewis was quick to drop on the unsuspecting woman, and even without weapons, he was easily able to restrain her. As she started to panic, though, the ex-assassin’s eyes widened. He had seen her face before, but…

Wait. In Suwal.

The image flashed in his mind of Llywellen explaining the picture to him. Jurien pushed Lewis away, who accepted this as the gears started to turn in his mind.

“You’re her mother,” he said with a slightly shocked expression. “Simone’s mother.” He glared over to Jurien. “Why would you hide that from her!?”

Jurien held up his hands, “I don’t want her to restrain herself to this place. Camille was curious of her but nervous to meet her.”

Simone looked at this woman and realized just how meek she was. Camille was hiding behind Jurien looking at her. They looked almost identical but for their different eyes. “You are really my mother?”

“Aye,” Camille looked at Lewis. “He is really skilled…”

“He should be. He’s an assassin. Or was. He retired for our children’s safety and so we could spend more time together as a family.” Simone explained easily.

“I see… You treated our son-in-law bad,” Camille looked up at Jurien with a pout that Lewis had seen several times.

“He is poaching my precious little girl,” Jurien explained.

“She hasn’t been your little girl in centuries,” Camille who had a soft voice was backing the king into a corner.

Simone realized why Jurien never corrected her behavior as she watched her mother. “That hurts…” Jurien frowned.

“Twenty-nine,” Simone spoke.

“What about it?” Camille looked up at her daughter with a bit more courage.

“You died when you were twenty-nine?”

“Yes,” Camille nodded.

“So… That’s why he chose it… Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Simone looked up at Jurien who shook his head.

“It wouldn’t have mattered. You didn’t remember it and I didn’t realize you were deep inside yourself.” Jurien pet Camille’s hair. “It was just a shot at me. You didn’t need to know that and hold it against yourself. We struggled with conceiving for a long time. When you were conceived… Male or female, you were our greatest treasure. Which is why we made the decision that the kingdom would be yours.”

Simone had always thought that the number the fey lord chose was random but it was always to hurt her father. “I’m sorry Daddy… I never meant my existence to hurt you.”

“Nonsense… He tried to hurt me but what hurt me most was not protecting you. Also letting you choose that scum Jerome,” Jurien made a face. “I should have just wedded you to Llywellyn.”

“I thought that was the plan,” Camille made a face before stomping on Jurien’s foot. “THAT WAS THE PLAN IF SHE WAS A GIRL!”

“Ow! HEY,” Jurien made a face. “Llywellyn was trouble. The older he got the worse I thought of him. Like him rolling in pig mud to make Simone laugh.”

“His mother would be so ashamed in you!” Camille wagged her finger like Simone.

“…But my little girl.”

“Ah… He acts as you do with Lila and Alshaya… If you must know I think our daughter is going to marry Llywellyn’s son.” Simone made a face as she felt the daggers from Lewis.