Days passed by for Lewis since the day she died, and he took it well for a time. He devoted himself to studies and training, and hunting down Marcov. But those days seemed to slow after the first week hit. His motivation seemed to dwindle, and he found himself unable to sleep, dreaming about her. Every time he woke up in a cold sweat, he noted that her presence was no longer with him.

More days passed, and his room was a wreck. Lewis, however, found himself in a local tavern. He had more silver than he knew what to do with, and found that wasting it on apple ale seemed to be the best use. Days passed like this, and the nightmares only got more and more vivid. One day, on his way home from the tavern, he stumbled off the pathway, and found himself leaning against a tree.

I don’t understand.

The emotions should have left. He should have been free of them once Simone was gone. They were all her emotions feeding into him because of that blasted resonance.

Except that the resonance does not work like that, and I know it. Lies. Lies he had told himself to keep himself from feeling. All she did was open the door for them. Everything else was on me. The feelings, he had discovered, were longing and sorrow. Loss. He looked down at his hands, feeling a weird, tugging sensation on one of his fingers.

“No. Fuck you…” There was a red string tied around his finger, and it tugged harder. “The last thing I want to do is talk to you…” But he knew it was unavoidable. And so, he stepped once more into Angela’s realm, and found himself on the shores of her mystical realm.

“Fine then…if I’m going to be here…then bring her back…” Lewis pointed in nowhere particular. “Bring her the fuck back…”

It was bad enough that the goddess couldn’t make headway with Simone. She didn’t want the girl to suffer and yet like the man sitting next to her, she was being stubborn. Angela waved her hands. She had been trying for a few minutes every few days to get the girl to budge. She was stubborn and that was what made her a strong survivor.

Angela was tucked into bed and snoozing away. She was only a few months pregnant with Nemesis and her’s surprise triplets. It took a lot of energy to move throughout the day if only because she refused to use her godly disposition. Still, she did her job and she did it well.

It was the screaming that woke her up. Her eyes were bloodshot and Angela was pissy. “How fucking pleasant…” She growled a bit as she climbed out of bed and threw on her robe. Raine bounced by her side in her own little nightgown. Even she had felt the intruder.

“Coming into my realm at all hours of the fucking night drunk off your ass,” Angela was hissing under her breath.

“Are we going to punish him?” Raine tilted her head as she trotted next to Angela.

“Who the fuck knows what I’m going to do with these two,” Angela threw up her hands. Soon she gated into the beach area and Raine was right behind her. “Will you shut your fucking mouth,” Angela punched him in the face. She made sure he was conscious, “WHAT IS IT WITH YOU TWO?! She won’t move on. You are in here trying to get her back!”

She pulled him up by the collar of his shirt. “ALL YOU HAD TO SAY WAS ‘Simone I don’t want you to leave me.’ YOU MORON! She would have stayed. ALL SHE HAD TO DO WAS TELL YOU THAT SHE WANTED TO STAY WITH YOU. INSTEAD, BOTH OF YOU FUCKING IDIOTS JUST KILLED HER THINKING IT WOULD FIX EVERYTHING!” She dropped Lewis on his ass. “You are drunk and you stink. I’m also exhausted. I refuse to help you in this state.”

Raine had gotten a stick and she was poking him, “Do we give him a bath?”

“And medication for alcoholism,” Angela grumbled a bit. “Get your shit together and come see me sober.”

Raine continued to poke him with a stick to make sure he was still alive as the goddess left, “Let’s get you inside the temple!” Raine helped him inside and she got him bathed, changed, and thrown into a bed. “In the morning, come for breakfast. The clergy should be able to help you find us.”

In the morning, Lewis was brought into the dining area of the temple. There were two small children and Angela was reading a book. The kids pushed their plates back as they looked up at Angela. “Done?” They nodded. “You can go play but don’t bite or punch each other.” The two little ones ran off. Angela kicked a chair out by her. “Sit. Tell me what you want calmly.” Raine came bounding in and she found her place opposite Lewis as she waited for the conversation to happen.

This was a surprise.

Lewis had seen Lord Raith angry, but that was a fairly common occurrence being the fact that it was just who he was as a god. But to see the goddess of Life and Love, Lady Angela, in such a furious state was almost sobering enough in itself. The punch hit hard, and while she yelled at him, stars danced across his vision. Everything she was saying only half made sense to his addled brain, but when she threw him down, he just laid there, processing the information.

The fact that Raine was poking at him didn’t register until the bird dragged him off to get cleaned up. The night was once again filled with strange dreams of him slitting Simone’s throat, and him waking up in a mixture of arousal and cold sweats, unable to really comprehend what was going on through his complicated mental state. The emotions were all over the place, and made little sense, and simply confused him.

As he dragged himself into the dining area, Lewis regretted the excessive amounts of drinking. Whatever they had given him to help ease the drunkenness did nothing for the massive hangover he was feeling. Still, he did as he was asked and sat down next to Lady Angela.

Lewis took a small, hesitant breath. What did he want? I don’t entirely know.

“I want…these emotions to go away,” he half lied. “They were supposed to go away…they’re not even mine…” Keep telling yourself that.

Lady Angela gave him a look, and for a moment the pain of the punch he had received the night before came to mind.

“Fine. I…” He glanced away, muttering under his breath, “Want her back.” There was a silence in the air, almost as if the room itself were judging him for his apprehension. “I want her back,” he said again, this time a bit louder, but still looking away. “I don’t…understand why. I hate these emotions, this stupid longing desire for her. I hate feeling lost and confused, waking up wondering why she isn’t here. I hate it all…”

“So bring her back, please…” Lewis looked at Lady Angela, just for a moment. “Because I hate that she’s not here…”

The goddess closed the book she was reading and crossed her leg. There was that familiar head tilt that the girls had given him in Jayou but hers was more of wonder. Her eyes bore into his soul and he should have known better than to try and lie to her. Which was why she shot him the look she did when he lied the first and only time.

Angela rolled her eyes back and forth. “Lewis, just because you don’t understand it doesn’t make it a bad thing. You want to tell my husband, one of the most powerful men in all of Revaliir, that his emotions make him weak? He cried in front of me the other day you know. Don’t tell anyone I told you but he was scared of becoming a monster.” Her eyes softened a bit. “I’ve been married plenty and I’ve lost plenty. I killed my own husband when I ascended. I was… just a bit younger than you actually.”

She reached over and pat his head with that motherly touch. “Love doesn’t have a rhyme or a reason. It doesn’t have a particular feel and I can’t tell you how Simone makes you feel or how your heart moves. Nor if your stomach gets butterflies. Love is different for everyone and the way that people show it is equally as different.” Offering a smile she thought about her next move.

“Before I tell you my answer I want you to see something.” She beckoned him near her and took a pitcher of water pouring it on the pristine marble table. “Look and listen.”

The image that came into view was a familiar-looking man to Lewis. He had seen Edwin in Lust’s vision. He was sitting on the log next to Simone who looked bored out of her mind. “Simone, you are being impatient. I’ve never known you to be impatient.”

“I’m waiting for him to get his shit together,” she threw up her arms in a stretch. “If he misses me that is.” She propped her chin upon her hand and her elbow to her leg.

“We’ve been over this a thousand times in the past two weeks…” Edwin groaned a bit. “He’ll come when he’s ready.”

She gave Edwin a side glance. “All these years and you would think I would have mastered patience.”

“No one masters patience but you are going to drive me mad with all your sighing. You didn’t even sigh this much over me.”

“I’ve never sighed this much over anyone,” she tussled her hair in a sassy motion with a head shake. “It’s infuriating.”

“That my dear is love,” Edwin leaned back and crossed his arms. “You’ve been in love a dozen times but probably only half-assed.” Simone snorted a bit in laughter and she fell silent. “Silent treatment again?”

“Maybe,” she teased.

The water disappeared off the table and Angela looked at Lewis. “She’s been waiting for you since she died. Once she figured out we weren’t sending her to hell… She got stubborn and has been waiting. Lewis, she wanted to die because she thought she was a burden on you. She loved you so much she wanted you free of her because she thought that’s what you wanted.”

She opened the book again, “I can… Within good reason make a new body for her. Her other body turned to dust shortly after her death because time caught up with it. However, she won’t be human anymore and you will be tied to her. This is my price. It will take one month for the ritual to be ready.”

Rolling her eyes back and forth some more she sighed, “Knowing all this… Do you still want her back?”

Lewis was surprised by his own reaction to her question. Before he had even realized it, he heard himself say yes. His heart wanted her back faster than his mind could keep up, and that was fine. It didn’t matter how she came back, or how long it would take. He just wanted to have her back. Even if, for some reason, she chose a different path and left him…at least he would have seen her one more time.

“Yes. Whatever it takes…however long it takes,” he said to her in a rushed whisper. What do I do now? What do I say? “…thank you?” he asked in a weird way. “I don’t…know what to do now. Or what to say.” It was weird being honest with the goddess, but for some reason, as with Lord Raith, he felt he could be.

Angela smirked a bit. “I’ll need something of hers. You must have something of hers still, please tell me you didn’t destroy any of it.” That would present a problem if he did but she could manage if only a little.

“You are welcome but you’ll help with the preparations. I had quite a lovely little idea for your Simone. Since rebirth and death is sort of her thing, why not build on top of that.” It might have sounded weird since Simone had been cursed.

Raine was getting all bouncy in her chair, “I know what you are going to make her!”

Angela tilted her head at Raine, “Shhh, let Lewis guess. Then we can start the mold.” Then the goddess eyed Lewis easily enough, “What you need to do now is everything and anything you can to prep for her arrival but first… We have to prep her and I’ll need something she owned. Something that was hers. Like… a wedding band?”

Did he still have it? That would be perfect.

Something of hers? He thought for a moment, furrowing his brow as he looked down. When Lady Angela spoke of of the wedding band, his eyes lit up and he reached into his pocket. At once, he felt the small ring, and thumbed the gemstones without looking.

“Yeah…” he pulled it out, and looked down at it. It was still as pristine as the day it was made. Tempest did quality work, and it was impressive that even in his neglect, it still looked perfect. “Here it is.” Lewis held out his hand, and gave it to the goddess. “Will…it survive the process? Or….”

It doesn’t matter. Simone matters. Her coming back is more important than the ring. “Never mind. What else do I need to do…” He paused. “Oh, and I’ll help as much as I can between jobs. If Lord Raith needs me to do something…”

Angela nodded and looked over the ring, “It will make it, we’re gonna use it to attract her soul and ground it into her new body. WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY NEXT IDEA.” She grabbed Lewis’s arms and pulled him over. “Your resonance with her. It will become her new life force but it will have some effects on you too. You’ll be longer lived for example. You’ll live as long as she does.” Angela pulled him closer and put her mouth to his ear. “Though if I may be honest, while it will be hard to kill Simone she will not be invincible. You’ll need to protect her just a tiny bit. She can die from her heart being ripped out and her head being cut off. Don’t say anything in front of Raine she doesn’t know.” Angela winked.

Ang pushed her chair back and pulled Lewis up. “Come on, there’s not a moment to lose Lewis! We’ve got to forge a body.” Making it into her workshop the goddess had easily changed into simple robes and thrown her hair up.

“You won’t take my tail feathers again will you?” Raine had her hands on her bottom and Angela shook her head.

“While you are in her new species category… I had a better.” Angela opened a cupboard. “Where is it,” she moved jars around until she found the one she was looking for. “AH HA!” She pulled it out. The plume inside the jar was black with ethereal blue at the tips.

“OH, THAT IS FANCY! WHAT KIND OF PHOENIX DOES THAT BELONG TO!” Raine ran over and snatched the jar as she admired it.

“Don’t break the jar. That feather is rare as all hell. I barely managed to get it. Alchemists would do anything for one of these.” She took the jar back and held it out to Lewis. “Do you like it? It’s a special type of phoenix feather. There are phoenixes that guard the death and are symbols of death approaching. Quite fitting for your job now, isn’t it? Don’t break the jar.”

She let him hold onto it as she prepped a pool of herbal water. Dumping in just about everything she could. “Right… What was it you said she tasted like? Ah.” She got a few apples and dumped them in. “Wouldn’t want that to change now would we?” She questioned Lewis. "Quick on your feet, what else reminds you of Simone?" She had a jar full of dust that conjured and one could only guess who it was.

Lewis had never seen an alchemist at work, but had heard of a few great ones and their…erratic manner. Raile had married one, and while he had never said anything about Leilah’s process, he seemed to avoid her rooms when she was working. The only experience he had was the limited knowledge he had mixed with the few times he had seen Xeik whip something up at a moment’s notice.

What he was witnessing today made it look like Lady Angela was a mad woman. She was dumping things in left and right, and some of it didn’t even seem to make sense. As he held on to the jar, he thought about the traits that made Simone, and paused.

“Blood,” he paused. There were a lot to account for. “Flowers. A black lotus specifically. Fire.” He thought some more, trying to come up with anything else. “Oh. Books. Handicrafts. And I guess,” he took out a dagger, and cut off a strand of his hair. “Me, I guess…” There were probably other things, but this was what came to mind first.

“What else?” the assassin asked.

Angela watched him and smirked, “All very Simone things I am sure but the only one who knows her is you.” A portal opened into an aquatic garden and Raine bounced off into it.

“Black lotus~ Black lotus~ I’m getting a black lotus~” She sang as she romped into a pond.

“DON’T YOU CRUSH THE MOSS!” Angela yelled at her.

“I DIDN’T!” She brought back six black lotuses. “Like these Lewis?” Raine held them up and waited before giving them to Angela. The goddess threw them into the water. “Handicrafts~ Handicrafts~” A portal opened up and a red-haired woman jumped. “I need some handicrafts~”

“MOTHER WHAT THE HELL!” Aaryona stood up shocked. Raine romped in and took the knitting kit. “WAIT RAINE! I NEED THAT FOR THE BABY BLANKET!”

“Ask Celeste for her’s,” Angela called out as the portal ended. She had gotten a few books that she had read a few hundred times. She threw them in the water with the flowers and the knitting kit. “Fire~” There was a smirk as she opened a portal. “TOYA YOU ARE LOOKING FUCKING FAT!”

“YOU STUPID BITCH WHAT THE FUCK,” Toya had been in bed with Blaine doing activities as the fire shot out of the portal. Angela redirected the fire into the water. Everything looked untouched but the water was now glistening with flames like it was oil. Angela closed the portal quickly. “Now for a touch of Lewis,” she took his hair and sprinkled it in.

The ashes were next as she dumped it in. The water began to lightly bubble once that was added. “Okay, Lewis… This is very important. I need you to add the plume in. I need you to think of Simone.” She poked him in the forehead. “Think of her hard. In your head. In your heart. Tell her you want her back.” She was idly playing with the wedding ring as she spoke.