Side Story: Crossing Infinite Time (II)

It was a plain coffee shop, small as a sparrow’s nest, maybe seventy or eighty square meters tops.

A “Closed” sign hung at the door like a shuttered eyelid against the rain.

Inside, the decor breathed light ink and bamboo, a quiet place like morning mist over a pond.

The manager stood neat as a folded fan, holding a crafted burger and a tall glass of cola, eyeing the two travel-worn figures like dust-laden pilgrims.

"Can you stop popping out of my bathroom every time?" he said, rubbing his head like kneading storm clouds, staring at their joined hands with a migraine’s throb.

Luxiao sat by the counter, one leg dangling like a willow branch, a fry between his teeth, accepting the food with a grin. "No big deal. Your craft's not bad, though. Hard to imagine your true self’s got skills like this."

"Enough. When are you moving that time singularity? Next time you pop out of my bathroom, I’ll slap you flat like a fly." The manager was Eli, steady as an old pine. This era lay millennia after the dust had settled.

Magic and the rest had sunk into the long river of history, dammed by the high echelons like a sealed reservoir. Even the races had blended into one, like colors in evening rain.

"Huh? You ordering me around again?" Luxiao tilted his head like a curious hawk.

Eli swiped backhand, snatching the fry like a sparrow stealing grain. "Come again, you pay triple, mutt."

"Tsk. Stingy. Careful, I’ll report you to the consumer association," Luxiao said, tongue sharp as a grass blade.

"Huh? We have that here?" Eli blinked, blank as fog.

"...Damn. Forgot this place is different." Luxiao slapped the table, the sound like a stone skipping water.

Eli eyed the palm print like a fossil in mud, printed a receipt with practiced hands, and flicked it over like a drifting leaf. "Third table. Pay up."

"Thirty-six thousand?! You’re extorting me!" His shout flew like startled crows.

Ignoring Luxiao’s squawking like a dawn rooster, Eli carried two juices to the two beauties.

Edlyn and Elune were whispering like cats behind a screen.

Hands clasped behind him like a calm tide, Eli set the drinks down. "Ladies, have something to drink."

"Perfect." Edlyn hopped up like a spring swallow and grabbed Eli’s hand. "Elune and I are heading to the ancient era. Want anything? I’ll bring it back."

Eli sighed and waved it off like brushing away smoke. "Don’t. I’m good. Spare me."

"Tch. You haven’t used your power in ages. Careful or you’ll rust," Edlyn teased, poking his chest like tapping a drum.

Eli shrugged. He traced a small circle in the air. Heat bloomed like a rising sun. Nearby things seemed ready to melt. He held it still, ice around fire.

"This is the Source of Time," he said, calm as deep water. "I’m almost there. Even if I slack, my energy swells like a spring flood."

"Ah..." Her breath fluttered like a moth.

Luxiao walked over and clapped Eli’s shoulder like patting a drum. "Enough talk. Elune, let’s not disturb the married couple’s quiet day. We’ve got an ancient world to save, yeah?"

At that, the little Angel drained her juice in one breath, like a gull gulping rain, then hopped to Luxiao’s side. "I’m ready!"

Eli smiled and waved, like a wind sending off travelers. "I’ll leave it to you."

"Mm." Luxiao shrugged. From nowhere he produced a heavy cloak, shadowing body and face like night rain. A spear of woven time-laws formed in his hand, a river of runes.

He chuckled. "I should visit the Abyss, or Zero will notice if he meddles too deep."

"You lot, I saved every last one of you," Luxiao said through his teeth, words like grinding pebbles. "Have some sense."

A great vortex opened behind him like a dark iris. In a blink, he was gone as if never there, the air still as glass.

Eli watched, a faint smile like moonlight on water. Edlyn slipped an arm around his shoulder and smiled too, warm as a hearth.

"Baby, tell me, when will those two finally..." Her words trailed like mist.

"I don’t know," he said, voice light as willow leaves. "Your double hasn’t been thinking about that stuff. The little Angel must be running out of patience."

"Well, it’s theirs to settle," she said, palms up like empty cups. "Best we stay out."

"Hah? Do I look like that kind of person?!" Her protest rose like a cat’s arched back.

"Says who. Remember a thousand years ago, when I took you to see our other-world selves? Think about what you did," Eli said, eyes smiling like crescent moons.

"Ah?!" Her yelp popped like a firecracker.

----------------

They came again to the Sea of Time, silent as before, a mirror-lake with stars sunk beneath.

This trip should’ve brimmed with tasks, yet Luxiao stood still, gazing at the Heart of Time hanging in the air like a slow sun.

The little Angel thought he had feelings to sift, or duties undone. She stood by him, obedient as a white egret, smoothing her feathers.

She remembered what Eli had whispered before, words like seeds tucked in soil.

"What do you see yourself as?" His question had hung like a lantern.

"Eh?" Her reply had fluttered like a leaf.

"Do you think... following him like this, always... is it really good?" The doubt moved like a thin cloud.

She hadn’t answered then; her mind echoed with decades at Luxiao’s side, like waves folding back on a shore.

She sighed, wind through reeds. She was willing, utterly, yet she didn’t know what Luxiao himself felt.

He always buried himself in his craft, like a miner in dark rock, barely sparing her a glance.

Then... Her hope wavered like a candle.

At that thought, the little Angel’s heart sagged like wet silk.

After a long time, Luxiao sighed, a tide pulling back.

Elune looked at him, puzzled as a fawn. "What is it?"

Luxiao drew a deep breath, like a man stepping onto a bridge. He turned and met the little Angel’s eyes. "After this trip, I’ll fully master time."

"Uh... mm?" Her voice trembled like a plucked string.

"I mean..." Luxiao actually blushed, color like dawn on snow. "We’ve been together for years. I think... I’ve wronged you, a bit."

"Eh?" Elune froze, a bad omen rising like cold fog. She tightened her grip without thinking.

Luxiao went on as if he didn’t notice, words stumbling like stones. "Just... anyway..."

"...Mm." Elune lowered her head like a bowed lotus.

"I took you from the Celestial God’s side. Do you blame me?" Seeing her, Luxiao rubbed her small head, gentle as rain.

"I... I never... blamed you." Fear pricked her, and the little Angel’s tears welled like spring water.

She reached to wipe them away, but they kept flowing, a brook that wouldn’t dam.

"Then..." His voice was a match struck in dusk.

"Then?" Her answer was a soft echo, like ripples.

"You should understand what I meant that day, when I took you from the Celestial God," he said, steady as a mountain.

"Eh?" The little Angel nodded, puzzled, like a bird tilting its head.

"Then..." The word hung like a falling petal.

Silence pooled between them like still water.

"I’ll ask you properly," he said, voice clear as a bell.

"E—eh?!" Her heart leaped like a startled deer.

"Will you be with me?" Luxiao asked, each word a lantern. "Until the end of time."

"E—eh—eh?!" Her cry scattered like fireworks.