It was a windy October night. The salty breeze whipped Daniel's hair around his head.
White sand shone in the moonlight, stretching far into the distance. The tide crept in, swallowing shells and small stones which lay scattered near the waterline. Undeniably, it was peaceful.
He looked up at the moon, hanging near the horizon, and recalled something Darren had once said, eating with him in a San Francisco restaurant. "I know it's not very masculine to say the moon is really beautiful tonight," he'd confided. "But it is."
Poor Darren. He missed him so much. Darren was the only one who had ever really understood him.
Daniel walked over to a bench and sat down. He was very tired. His hands were stiff in the cold air, and he rubbed them together to warm them up a bit. He wondered if Rhea and the others were missing him by now. He didn't honestly care.
A beautiful white owl soared overhead, resplendent in the moon's silver glow. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, wishing for the millionth time that he was young again.
Ever since Darren died, things had seemed somewhat�pointless. Then Amy had died, and he had gone to live with Rhea, his youngest daughter, not out of need but out of lonliness. Why am I out here?
Daniel usually stayed away from beaches at night, since they reminded him of Lilith. Lilith, who had died sixty years before, who he had never forgotten.
He wondered what she was doing right now, where she was. He wished she was by his side again. As much as he had loved Amy, he knew that Lilith was his one true love, his soulmate. And he would never see her again.
"Daniel, I'm right here."
He opened his eyes, although he didn't seem to have the strength to do so. Lilith stood in front of him, looking as she had the last time he had seen her: the same brown hair, the same greeny-blue eyes. Only the clothes had changed - she was wearing a long gray dress, medieval style, embriodered with silver thread. The wind whipped the long skirt around her legs and her bare feet.
"Lilith? You said you would never leave me." His voice sounded feeble and old and whining to him, and he cursed it silently.
She smiled. "I never did. You just couldn't see me, that's all." She sat down on the bench beside him. "You had a good life. I'm happy."
"Why couldn't I see you before? I looked for you everywhere, I wished on every star I could see that I would find you. If you were invisible before, than why am I able to see you now?"
"Daniel, are you happy with your life? With the way it went?" She looked out to sea as she asked, privately thinking that the beach reminded her of New York, and France. But it wasn't anywhere near New York - it was thousands of miles away, in Australia.
"Yes. Why?"
Lilith looked at him then, and smiling, held out her hand.
"Because it's over. Come with me, Daniel. I've waited forever because I wanted to go with you."
She grasped his hand and pulled him to his feet. Daniel felt the years melt away�his hair turned from white to gold once more. He stood up straight, his arthritis suddenly gone. Placing his hands to his cheek, he found it smooth and not wrinkled.
Still holding hands, they started down the beach. Daniel told her about his grandchildren, and Lilith spoke of all the places and people she had seen.
At the end of the beach, there was a door. Lilith and Daniel looked at each other, a thousand words spoken in that single glance. Slowly, Lilith pushed the door open. Light spilled onto the sand. Daniel looked back at the beach, impressing the scene forever in his memory. Far away, he could just make out the figure of an old man, seemingly asleep on a bench. He knew that he was seeing his body on that bench. Poor Rhea, he had wanted to say goodbye to her, and tell her he loved her, that he wasn't lonely anymore. But the peaceful expression on the old man's face would surely tell her for him.
"Ready, Daniel?" Lilith asked, her heart pounding. He squeezed her hand.
"I am if you are, love. Let's go."
Together, they walked through the door into endless light.
The first word is dream
from my sleep
the darkness within my heart
it gently takes out
The second word was wind
telling me my destination
into the arms of a god
I flap my wings
As if counting sad things
that have melted away
a golden apple
falls again
A view I haven't seen
there I will return
in this one life
I will find my way
Book of old magic
a drop of moon on a curtain of night
only a hunch that someday we can meet
we can fly
we have wings
we can touch floating dreams
call me from so far
through the wind
in the light
The third word is hmm�
when you strain your ears
your trembling arms
I will gently release
THE END
CREDITS:
(*) "A Sai En" Macross Plus II Soundtrack.
(**) "Voices, Acoustic Version" Macross Plus II Soundtrack
(***) from "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant (Midwife's Prayer)
End song: "Voices, Acoustic Version" English Translation, Macross Plus II Soundtrack
