Isabel looked away from a bowl of sparkling water, and sighed. The Elder One's shoulders hunched, as she muttered to herself, 'I would have thought so.'

In the Society of Seamstresses, starlight shone through the windows. Vanessa, the Seamstress, sat opposite the Elder One. "Well?" Vanessa asked.

"My hunch was right. They are drifting apart," Isabel said.

"What?" Vanessa said sharply.

"Yes. Shivam and Aparajita are no longer together."

"What...but you...after all that time?"

"Because of all that time, Vanessa, dear," Isabel said patiently.

"Goodness Gracious. Why then...what is the point of all of it, then, Elder One? Shivam journeyed all across Heart looking for Aparajita. Now that they're back to where they belong and now that Blikrot's gone, shouldn't they live happily ever after? I mean...both's been through different types of hell. Don't they deserve some happiness now?" Vanessa asked.

"They do...and perhaps, they will. But I don't think they'll be together, you know?" Isabel explained.

"Why is it happening to them? Why?" Vanessa asked stubbornly, making Isabel sigh.

"When it all began, the question at the centre of their universe was, whether their love was more powerful than their Fate. And while trying to defeat one side of their cruel fate, they lost on the other. For Fate is like a coin, Vanessa, a coin with two faces. When it is flipped in the air, you can at best choose a side. But you can't escape the outcome of it's dropping. You can't just wish the tumbling coin away, you can't make it vanish."

"So...you're saying...their love wasn't more powerful than their Fate?"

"It was, yet it wasn't. It was strong enough for Shivam to serve the worlds. It wasn't strong enough for Shivam to win Aparajita back."

"So...what happens now?" Vanessa asked.

"Now I quit, and you take on the duties of the Elder One, my dear. I'm going to Las Vegas for a long vacation..." Isabel said joyfully.

And Vanessa failed to persuade her to continue, just as she failed to convince her that she was too young for such an Office.

Therefore, what Shivam did next went unnoticed by them. At least until the deed was done.

***

Shivam stood in the balcony of his room and looked at the moon and wondered where is Heart was.

Of course, he loved Aparajita, and he always would, but he could no longer deny that it was over between them now. Insane as it seemed, it was over. Days had passed since their catastrophical date at that cursed cafe, and they hardly even talked anymore. He had tried calling her, and she always answered him back in tears, and asked him not to call her any longer. She had also said that he had lost all rights of calling her.

'So what do you think of that, Shivam, eh?' He thought to himself, the voice in his mind cynical, mocking. 'You stayed away from your home for you don't know how long, faced monsters and nightmares for her, and now you don't have the right of calling her either. So what do you think about that, Mr. Shivam Shadowblade Soldier, eh?'

He tried to shut that voice from his mind. Tried to block his thoughts. But he couldn't and the voice began again in his head. 'People died for her. All those people back in Heart who tried to help you, they got hurt or died. Remember Took, Shivam? Remember Tiyasha?'

Tiyasha. The tossed away girl. Shivam sighed, tears sharpening his vision. Oh, how the moon bloomed like a mad flower. Oh, god, how beautiful the world was, how beautiful all the worlds across the Fabric must be. Yet why was his life so broken, so hopeless?

Tiyasha...Took...what had they done to deserve death? Who the fuck was he to demand their support to such extraordinary lengths?

He wiped his tears away, face reddening, jaws clenching. "You shouldn't have left me, Aparajita. You don't know what your life cost," he muttered to the moon. The moon didn't reply. Or maybe it did, maybe somewhere, in some other world, it did, in a mystic language of its own. He couldn't be sure. He couldn't be sure about anything anymore...except one thing.

He had to leave, now. Maybe, this time, forever. He broght out the handkerchief the Seamstress had given him, and looked at it intensely. Back in Heart, he had lied to the Seamstress so that he could keep it with him. He wasn't sure why he had lied to her, maybe he just wanted to keep it as a proof that all of that had really happened, that he wasn't really a mental patient released from a hospital. But he wasn't sure exactly why he had kept it.

He wasn't sure about many things. But man, it was going to be handy.

***

In her room, Aparajita felt Shivam leaving. She literally felt it--it was like the snapping of a timber inside her head. It hurt. She jerked her head backwards, but saw nothing but the wall.

Then she cried, silently, thinking about all the good times they had had together, all the wise-ass jokes Shivam used to crack, all the cafe dates and kisses and movies and late night calls. All the madness...

She buried her face in her hands and shook, as the moon shone theough her window, too. The moon, which had seen Shivam crying, too, just minutes earlier. And perhaps the moon wondered why such a young couple were doing this to themselves. Perhaps the moon wondered, didn't understand, and simply shone on.

***

Shivam walked to the exact spot where the Hollow had appeared for the first time, which had taken him to Heart.

He clutched the handkerchief in his hand, and tried to remember what the incantations were.

"Hello, mister," a sharp voice said.

Shivam jumped. He had been sure no one was around him.

A black cat with green eyes looked back at him. "Meow," it said complacently.

'Just your imagination,' Shivam thought, trying to calm himself. But of course it was the Cat. He was a Raiser, after all. He could hear animals' thoughts.

Time had come to read the mind of a dragon.

The incantations flowed from his lips.

""Et incarnatus est de terra et igne,

unde imber et odorem fumi

Mando portarum pareat

Vadite et nihil frangentur."