Prism 07- Your Return, Darling

Each day, Marco Danne made all sorts of food.

He then wrapped it all up, placed it in a bag and walked to the large wall of the Confinement. From there, he tossed it over and made his way to Alzure afterwards, to see how the world was doing and, especially, how his daughter Maria was fairing. He didn't talk to her often and rarely made himself known. Of course he had presented himself around the time of her wedding and preformed his duties as her father at that time, but that was the extent of it. Still, she knew he was proud of her. He would have been proud of her, whatever she had decided to do in life. That was what a father did. He was proud of his children and supported them.

That counted for both of them, because sometimes, when he felt like it, Marco went all the way to Etelia to see how his youngest son, Kelstyn, was. He lived with the princess of Etelia and was the Sanyan ambassador. Marco did not enjoy staying in Etelia for too long, because it made him nostalgic and he missed the times when he had been the ambassador and that Princess' father had been the king he served.
It reminded him why, exactly, he got up so early every morning to cook and throw food to the other side of the wall. He lived on the other side, and he needed to eat. There was no food on the other side, no animals and no cover. Just pure white snow, so it was up to Marco.

When this had begun, Marco had panicked. When he managed to calm himself down and think logically, he found all the blankets and ropes and knives that he could possibly scavenge up and bundled them together. Then he threw them over the wall, panicked some more, and caved. He traveled to the Valley of Flowers and asked Masaru Shizuka, the color Violet and the wisest of all, when Sepia would be reborn, if at all.
"You must die to be reborn," she stated with a shrug. His heart flipped, and he had to think about it and really take in what he had been told.
"So he's not dead then? Did he at least find the things I tossed over?" Marco was excited. There was a possibility they could somehow make it out of this mess!
"Yes, he has. And he recognizes that these things are from you," she answered. This was a miracle to Marco. Proof that Myriam cared about her humans or, at least, her Death God.

Every day from that point on, Marco made it his job to send Dantio some food and interesting things, like books to keep him occupied or letters that he could either read or burn. That was up to him.

On that specific day, Marco made his way to Alzure and, by chance, happened upon a newspaper. He could not read Alzurian, but he recognized the word "Hetelien" and Veniko's name. This confused him. What had happened to miss Veniko that it was on the front page of an Alzurian newspaper…?
Oh.
Well.
There, the answer was, printed in tiny letters. A date. The name of a Church. Marco put two and two together and they equaled funeral.

He didn't feel much remorse. Not only was he thousands of years old and used to humans dying, but he'd never liked the woman. She'd been weasel-y at best, prone to saying bad things about her family behind their backs. Besides, he loved Dantio, obviously much more than that wicked rat ever had. However, to keep his status, Dantio had had to be capable of having heirs, despite being a God of Death and therefore immortal. At that time, the humans had also decided to kill all the Sepia people in fear, and Dantio's position had saved him from being burned like all the others. Not that Marco would have let that happen… But it had been a sacrifice that they had needed to make. It was okay, because Dantio loved his children more than anything in the whole world.
His Children! Right! This death made his oldest, Eufemia, the queen. Surely, she'd remove his sentence and let him return home! He remembered her as a child. Tiny, always clinging to her father's leg. Wary of others, but always loyal and adoring of her father. She was a strong and independent woman now. Surely no one had managed to sway her love for her father.
But Marco could wait no longer. He returned as quickly as he could to the Confinement and found the part of the wall at which he always threw food. Instead he stared at it and concentrated a burst of energy into the concrete to shatter it. It silently snapped, and burst concrete and dust everywhere. He heard a yelp and coughing from the other side. It made him smile. He almost rushed over to the other side, but managed to restrain himself.
Amber eyes peered out of the smoke.
The owner coughed a few more times before mumbling and clambering out of the hole.
Marco tilted his head in confusion.
" What the hell do you think you're doing? Our religion prohibits mercy killing, dumbass! Do you want them to kill you? Because they will," Dantio shouted at him. At the sound of his voice all restraint was lost, and Marco ran to the other, crushing him in a hug.
"I wasn't trying to kill you, promise! I was trying to get you out of this place," Marco argued. Dantio reluctantly hugged him back.
"They're going to kill you for this. You can't do this. And if you were going to break the wall and free me, why wait so long?" he asked quietly, though his voice shook. It did not sound very odd. Marco assumed that maybe he had sung or read aloud to continue using it.
"I'll fix the hole and no one will be the wiser. But it's far time for you to come home. Ren has been dead for quite some time, and Veniko just died…" He trailed off when the other's grip tightened around him.
"She… Died?" He repeated shakily.
"Yes. Just like humans do. They die," Marco said softly. Dantio nodded.
"I know that. And I know she wasn't the best of people, but still… Although I suppose I, out of all people, know death isn't anything bad, or to be feared." He lowered his head anyways, saddened by the fact.
" I'm sorry. But look on the bright side. Your daughter will be queen and we can request a fair trial or something. Then we can go visit your children. Neither of them are married, so you haven't missed too many important things."
"Every birthday is important! Every day, every step, every word, everything is important to me. I have missed too many important things!" Dantio exclaimed, and Marco nodded.
" Guess I can't fool either of us with that, can I?" I scoffed at himself and grabbed the other's frozen hand, to lead him to the house in which he had been staying for all that time.
"No. Though surely this is impossible," Dantio mumbled. " Fabulous and terrible and just not happening." Marco chuckled at that.
"I'm an adventurer. I laugh at things that are impossible and do them anyways!" He laughed for emphasis. Dantio shook his head at him.
"I shall believe it only when I hold my precious children in my arms once more… Or wake up and not find myself in that makeshift tent I made from the things you sent me," He declared.
"Fair enough," Marco said with a smirk, barely capable of masking his joy behind coolness.  They soon arrived to Marco's home, a little wooden cabin with a small kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom in the back. It was significantly warmer than the snowy wasteland outside, thanks to its insulation and the fire crackling in the fireplace. Dantio hurried as close to the fireplace as he possibly could, dragging Marco along with him. Marco got up and grabbed the thickest blanket he could find and draped it over the shivering male and then grabbed the phone. Dantio stared at it if it was alien.
" It's a phone. Technology really likes to advance uselessly these days," Marco explained with an amused chuckle before he sat beside Dantio on the ground.
"How tiny. Interesting," the exiled King said, snatching the device away. After a few moments of inspection, he began to dial a number, effectively confusing Marco. He noticed this.
" When they first decided to bring telephones to Etelia, the castle was given one easy, specific number that they promised never to change. Assuming they kept that, I remember it."
" Ah," Marco said and laid down on the ground. They waited maybe a minute before a maid from the castle answered the phone. After a long quarrel with her, since not everyone could speak with the royal family when they desired to, he was forced to wait another few minutes, the time for his call to be transferred to Eufemia.
Dantio's face lit up the moment he heard his daughter's voice, despite the fact that it was yelling and cursing him for 'insulting the Acossi family name' and 'impersonating' her dear father.
"I thought I had taught you not to use that kind of language, Missy," Dantio said after he managed to get over his joy and actually listen to the words being said. She stayed quiet for a while, and Dantio meanwhile wondered what, exactly, she looked like at that very moment.
"Dad…? How?" her voice was hushed, and he strained to hear it.
"Exploding concrete and Sanyans, same way I seem to get out of anything else," He answered. Marco burst out laughing.
"Wow… I was-" the sound of crumpling paper could be heard from the other side of the line "… Well, I was planning on doing nearly the same thing… Although in a less illegal fashion." She said. It was Dantio's turn to chuckle.
" Glad to know you were already thinking about me, love. I don't really want to go through the bitch of a thing people call a trial again," he said, grimacing. Etelia was a beautiful place, but their justice system was far from such. "I suppose I'll have to fix that."
"I'm in the position to get you back and I have accumulated all the evidence I need to to be able to do that. Of course I'm going to jump on it! You're the best king this place has ever had and I'll be damned if I don't make everyone see it. It wasn't fair what happened, you didn't deserve any of this, and the people know it, too. But Ren made sure none could speak the truth. Now he's dead and can't do shit, and I can," she said, sounding incredibly displeased with the situation.
"I love you, Eufie. I hope you know that."
"I love you too. And I've missed you so much. We both have," she said softly. Dantio frowned.
"I'll see you both very soon. After you make the official announcement." Not soon enough for my tastes, though, Dantio thought to himself.
"One, I'm planning on doing that tomorrow. Two, Fabio lives in Alzure. Assuming you're in Reizen, you could go visit him first, if you wanted." Dantio's face contorted in disgust.
"Alzure? Really?" He sighed and shook his head.
" Yes. Mother forced him to have a guard at all times to make sure he was always okay. They moved to Alzure maybe a year ago."
"Fun. I don't approve."
"I didn't think you would, but they get along really well and stuff, so what we feel about it doesn't really change a thing. Besides, the kid is from Labrey technically. Which doesn't exist anymore, just in case you didn't know," Eufemia explained. Dantio sighed. He remembered the first time he had been to Labrey. He's been expecting the ugly conformity of Alzure, but was pleasantly surprised. It had been a beautiful place before the Reizens had gotten their hands on it during The War. Despite being only a state of the Alzurian nation, it had been independent and combined art, fun and innovation… Too bad all of that was gone now, left with the rude stick-in-the-mud people of Alzure, that had nothing special and smelled of wet dog and motor oil. Then, when he considered that his son had left the beauty of his home country for such a place, he figured that she must be one beautiful Labryan to lure him to such a place… And that, in turn, made him homesick.
"I suppose I will visit him in an hour or so. I can possibly convince him to come to Etelia with me and we can be together as a family again," Dantio wondered, and looked over to Marco, who nodded.
"I haven't seen him in quite a while, so ye- Go visit him in an hour? Great birds or the great Mother, do you know what time it is?" She exclaimed in horror.
" Not a clue, hun. But I'm pretty sure we aren't too far in the day here," he replied with a shrug.
"It's five, actually," Marco clarified.
"Oh right. Time zones. I'm so exhausted I forgot," Eufemia said with a yawn. "Sorry."
"Then you should get some sleep. You have a big day ahead of you, assuming they will do the whole festival of power transfer tomorrow"
"They will, but-"
"No buts. I'm counting on you to be awake and do this right, my princess. The sooner you get to sleep, the sooner you'll get to see me. Besides, a beautiful girl like you must have a handsome man waiting for her," Dantio cut her off and smirked.
"I highly doubt he's waiting, and I wouldn't call him handsome, really," Eufemia retorted casually. Kelstyn could be heard in the background, voicing his insult.
"Either way my princess, good night and sleep well," Dantio said softly. He smiled and let himself be carried away by the pleasant nostalgia that the words brought him. A baby girl with pure snowy hair and ocean blue eyes, wiggling in the most intricately crafted of cribs…
"Night night. I'll call you when things are set for your return," Eufemia said.
" Alright. I love you."
"I love you too," She said and hung up. He sat there for a moment, still holding the phone to his ear and wondered if it was possible that any of this was actually happening. Or maybe he was dreaming. Sadly, since he could not die, he would wake up from the dream... Had it been the case.