One Last Desire

There was nothing… but white.

Alucard didn't know how much time has passed. A millisecond, or dozens of lifetimes? All he knew was that he was standing on a blank landscape covered in white, as if he was standing on a sheet of paper like a molecule. His head hurt as shocks of numbness and pain slowly left from his body… assuming he has one.

He did, he was fully intact. His demonic arm was gone, replaced with a regular human arm, but he was wearing his red Demon Hunter outfit instead of the black set of clothes he wore as he and the other heroes fought against Andras. Wait a minute, what about Andras? Why is Alucard even there in this vast, white scape? Shouldn't he have known about what happened to the Land of Dawn? Where was his friends? Where was Lunox? All he knew was that there was a flash of light-

"Did we… win?"

Alucard closed his eyes and concentrate, trying to focus on some sounds or anything, but there was nothing around, nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to experience. Just a huge, empty space, covered in white. There was no one around at all, only him.

"H-Hey… this is nuts. First, the dream world. Second, outer space. Third, is this?"

He scratches his head as he tries to take a step. Alucard stops, his foot lifted up. He notes the sound of trickling water coming from his boots, but there was no fluid on the ground. Alucard theorizes the presence of clear, invisible water on the ground, probably a millimeter in height or thickness. He touched his 'wet' foot, only to realize the soul wasn't physically wet, but completely dry.

"The hell… This is new… Somebody should be here. The water, or whatever this is, it's here for a reason."

Alucard attempts to walk straight ahead, the sloshing of the water echoing around the space, as if he was in a virtual dimension. He tries to discern any form of irregular or foreign movement or presence anywhere, but the world he was in isn't Lunox' dream world. He knows that the cataclysmic merging of Light and Dark… of Truth and Lie… it decimated reality. It broke apart the fabric of the universe, but he doesn't believe it. The universe is immense. There's no way a small focal point of illogical convergence would destroy galaxies, much less the observable universe. Though, he did see planets, stars and galaxies disappear without a trace, seemingly swallowed by black holes in an abrupt manner. It took the collective consciousness everyone to defeat Andras and turn everything against the Dark Lord. The price to pay could be what he was experiencing right now…

Eternal torment, in vast nothingness.

But what about the clear water on the ground he was walking on?

"Does the water even move or anything? There should be something-"

Alucard jerks his head upward and sees a figure. Well, it was an odd figure, no doubt. It was an owl, but it was larger than the usual owls Alucard has encountered. It was around the size of an adolescent, if you don't count the wingspan. His feathers bore colors of brown, cream and white. The bird had large yellow eyes and sported round, full-frame glasses. A ski cap was on the bird's head, with a small, yellow flower on it. The owl wore a comfy set of clothes, adorned by a scarf with a blue-yellow pattern. He held a thick tree branch on his right hand with a treehouse on it, which possessed a clock with cartoonish features. He was flapping around with his free wing.

"What in the… Hey!" Alucard began to call out, running towards the owl. It turns its head towards the hunter, and his neutral expression turned into one of happiness, then into nervousness.

"Toot, toot! Here you are! I knew you were just somewhere, but you found me first before vice versa, nice!" The owl squeaked. He had a child's voice.

"Hey, uhm… where am I?" Alucard asked. "Where are we, exactly? Where is everyone? And most of all, why are-"

"Woah, woah, woah, mister! Easy with the questions, even I have trouble explaining everything!" the bird responds. "Because everything here doesn't make sense at all, if you don't open your mind to the impossibilities!"

"Impossibilities? No offense, but I've had my fair share as well, so I think I'll comprehend this place. So, what? What's all this white space?"

"Usually, this isn't white space, mister!"

"Alucard," the hunter interrupts. "You can call me Alucard."

"Okie dokie, Alucard! As you can see here, this white space isn't meant to be white space at all! All of this… it's the endless ocean of time!" The owl proclaimed cheekily, spreading his wings while twirling around happily. "Yep, the endless ocean of time!"

"Ocean of time… so you mean to say that this is meant to be lively and raging and all of the time?"

"What? No, no, no, storms don't need to occur for time to take its natural course! Small waves on the water means good time flow and constraint! The storms mean that something bad is happening to the continuum, and by now, you would already acknowledge the fact that I just faced the greatest storm to ever occur in these waters, Alucard!"

"You know too much about time, do you?" Alucard asked, awestruck. "Let me guess… you're a prodigy, an aspiring horologist."

"I'm no aspiring horologist. I already am a horologist! Horology has always been my craft. Oh, and if you haven't known about it yet, Diggie is my name!"

"Diggie… sounds familiar…"

"Hahaha! Toot toot, that's the déjà vu confusing you, Alucard! Don't worry, it will pass like always. It's a constant feature here. My name is so familiar. Though, I think you know why you are here!"

"To bring back the ocean of time?"

"Not just that," Diggie chirped. "Well, uhm… I think the pretty blonde woman didn't tell you about the plan, right?"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up," Alucard interrupts. "This is the plan all along? This is Lunox' plan?"

"For you to be here? No, it's something else. This ocean of time… it's not moving. Stagnant. It can mean many things. It's either time ends, taking a short break, or moving beyond light speeds! Even I don't know how those works, and I don't want to find out soon enough."

"So, Diggie… what are we supposed to do?"

"See the treehouse on my wing?" Diggie said, raising the tree branch. "The clock isn't moving because the ocean of time is nada! Well, the mechanisms here can basically reset the timelines or make a new one! It's only used for severe emergencies, like the one we are experiencing right now. It's like a Deus Ex Machina! How awesome is that?"

"But there should be consequences, right?"

"Well, that depends. With the whole dimension gone, there is probably nothing to worry about, supposedly. Using the so-called 'Deus Ex Machina' thingy can do some unexpected things that you won't expect though, but it won't do anything unless you act or focus on it, both physically and mentally. That's what you're here to do, make one wish!"

"Like a genie?"

"Kind of, but let's just call it as some sort of… uhm… 'restart' program. It's hard to develop technology like that, even in Antoinerei and Eruditio. Master Rooney told me that it's near-impossible to-"

"You met my dad?" Alucard asked, his eyes widening.

"Of course! He's my idol! I'd do anything to impress Master Rooney!" Diggie chirps, flying around happily in circles. "It's a shame he passed away, he was old and happy, he died of old age, living a happy life!"

"Wait… I thought he died in Malefic City."

"No, he died in Eruditio," the owl pressed. "Wait a minute… oh."

"What?"

"I think you may not know about this whole 'several dimensions' thing-"

"So you're from another Eruditio?"

"Pretty blonde girl did appoint me as caretaker of the ocean of time, but I really don't recall which Eruditio I'm from. Was it 59? This is 73, yes?"

"Okay, enough with all of that, so what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, you hold the tree branch, focus on what you want, and it will happen! You'll just wake up-"

At that moment on, Alucard yanks Diggie's clock off and clutches the branch with his two hands.

"HEY HEY HEY! What are you doing?!"

"What you said-"

Diggie grips the branch with his free wings and retrieves them back. "You don't even know around half of what this could do!"

"But you said-"

"Consequences!"

"But-"

"What if you could bring them back? Just think about it, dude!" Diggie halts. "Look, I know that you're meant to bring them all back by wishing on the clock, but… just think about it first… everything!"

Alucard scrunches his eyebrows. "What do you even mean?"

"Are you really sure that everyone would like to live again?"

The hunter stopped in his tracks. Diggie asked the proper question. What if he did bring everyone back? What if he did restore Gaius back to normalcy? Would they like to live back in the Land of Dawn? How would they recall the encounters?

"Crap… you're right."

"Some of the soldiers there have wanted to die. Sure, we could wish that everyone who wants to live again are the only ones that can return, alongside the fact that we can revert back Gaius into the best place ever, but… how would they think about it? How would they feel? What if they loved being in the other life? What is the other life, even? It's not that easy, Alucard. If there was anyone else before me that had to guide the other strays that arrived here… they'd tell you the same thing! Just stop rushing and think about it. I know how much it means to you… but to them?"

"I know who they are, Diggie. They do not want to stay there, they want to live out their best lives!"

"Yes, we are aware, but how about Victor? How about every other civilian that wants to stay there with the ones that left them in the physical, existential plane? How can you even internalize all of that?"

"I have to try, Diggie."

"That's easy for you to say, but harder to do!"

"I know!" Alucard shouts. "All I have to do is to bring them back-"

"That's half the issue! What if you take literal concepts and emotions away? You can try and take away the Dark Lord and the demons out of the equation, but what will it do to the balance? Try and take away the Dark, and the Light swallows itself up. You can take away Andras without issue, but not evil itself. This is why I'm ranting everything, Alucard. You need to reconsider everything. What if you bring back the old villains from the Old War? What if you bring back the old guardians of the Labyrinth? What if you bring back every unborn children, every last person that have died in history? Think about it. If you can't control your perception, your focus, as you wish on the clock… what would happen?"

The hunter shakes his head. "For the Lords' sake, you're just complicating the issue-"

"It's complicated enough as it should be, Alucard… and believe me, I tried simplifying everything. I could guide you, but all of the thinking and wishing will be on you. Lunox has complete faith you can do it, but how, if every other person that could've been here were old men, ancient scholars, or some benevolent gods or something? Be careful what you wish for, Alucard. That's the simplest piece of advice. If you want, we can round up everything we need to fix, but we should avoid missing one bit, okay?"

"Okay, okay," Alucard answers, his hands sweaty and shaking. Diggie outstretches his wing and Alucard grips the branch with both of his hands, while the owl remained clutching on it to guide the hunter. "Okay, um… where to begin?"

"First off, the whole world, okay? We take away the black, icky corruption, and let interdimensional travel stuff allowed again! The ruins before the big fight stay as ruins, but the whole Land of Dawn becomes fully repaired. Alaghat, Korea, Makadan, Iga, Onmyouji, Eruditio, Nost Gal, the Angelic Plains, everything. That's easy. The demonic spawning points are gone. Keva Infernus and the Dreadmare Chest, gone. The Anantasheshan thingamajig and everything with the funny looking horses-"

"Centaurs."

"Something like that. And then, this existential plane, the ocean of time, links to other dimensions… Finally, the Genesys Gem's shards are now placed off randomly in different directions, so as to maintain balance and randomness. If you want, we can have the Moonlight Shard in the Land of Dawn."

"Sounds good," Alucard nods, breathing easily. "Nothing else?"

"Nope. Anyway, now that that's over, we need to round up the personnel. First is the Turtle on the oasis of the Wastelands. We have Harith, who was missing, right?"

"He died?"

"Probably, got caught and swallowed by the corruption somewhere, but he'll be back. We can't bring up some of the dead like the ones mentioned in Lunox' stories, as well as the guardians of the Labyrinth. We might not have a 100% efficiency rate on this, but we'll have to do it calmly to get the best chances."

"Okay… how about my friends, and everybody in the Land of Dawn?"

"Hmm… Toot toot! What if we just wish that everybody that chooses to be back will return? That way, they can decide, no need for unnecessary pulling out. Doesn't matter how small or big they are, or how numerous. The outcome won't hurt much, especially when we revert Gaius back in perfect, mint condition!"

"Okay, then how about the villains?"

"No more Andras, we can do that!" Diggie cheers. "However, we need to put some of the demons back. We can send them as far away as the Wastelands and deep into the sea. Alice, Zhask, and whoever they are, they are gone, but not the outside, external opposition, though. Do you agree?"

"We can take it."

"Okay… now, here's the tricky part, Alucard. What do you want them to remember?"

Alucard was confused. "Um, what do you mean?"

"Well, now that they're back and about, and ask what happened-"

"No, I won't do that," Alucard rejects. "I won't plant false memories, I won't take advantage of the open chance. I'm not that kind of person. We leave them be to think, and we won't force them to have a common perception. And besides… I think Estes and the other leaders can elaborate on that to them."

"Well… it's your choice, won't hold anything against you, dude," Diggie says. "We now have that covered… few things remain. You know that Kagura is pregnant, right? And the volatility of her and Hayabusa's souls?"

"Oh, snap… how do we-"

"I mean, when I watched the whole war unfold, I've been keeping track of her movements, and she actually had a miscarriage. She wasn't aware of it, surprisingly. We can let the two live with the miscarriage. It's not as if they cannot… like… um-"

"Don't worry, even I have trouble opening that topic up," Alucard smirks. "We must revert the soul energy's reaction's cause from physical contact to physical and mental activity, in which they can fully control. What else?"

"We have Roger's curse-"

"He's used to it, it's no longer a hassle for him. We'll just give him the same benefits like what we gave Hayabusa and Kagura. Oh, and it's best we remove the effects of the 'change'."

"Ah, the 'change'! Toot toot, only a few were affected by the phenomena. Zhao's outburst? Barely influenced by it. I'll deal with that part, since I know whom to fix."

"And Ruby's eye. She should get it back. Also Lesley's. Remove her PTSD- wait, scratch that. Remove everyone's unnecessary PTSD, but let bad emotions go through, so the balance and all of that can stabilize or something."

"Good thinking!"

"Aurora's arms, bring the human versions back. We can bring back Gord and Cyclops' communities, but it's up to them. Franco, Bane, Yi Sun Shin, Lapu, Gatot… I hope they will be fine. Y-You can do that, r-right?"

"Already did!"

"Moskov… he's the harbinger of Dark. In case the things are settled, I hope you can keep an eye on him."

"He's a good person, so we could barely doubt," Diggie responds. "Now, all the conditions are met… Hey, you okay?"

Alucard was zoning out, his eyes out of focus. "Oh, darn, s-sorry, I-"

"It's alright, I've set the conditions on the clock. All you need to do is visualize, okay? We have all the time in the universe… kind of."

"No, not that, I…"

Diggie tilts his head. "Your parents?"

"And Lunox. I… I haven't heard from them, even when I had to hold hands with everybody-"

"You know… I have to tell you this, but Master Rooney and his wife? They often visit or contact me, more ways than one!"

"R-Really?!"

"Yeah! They'd often check on how you were doing. They kind of knew about Lunox' plan… But they didn't want to interfere or anything. Master Rooney always told me… um… he told me that he'd always have faith in his little lumos, and that he had nothing to worry about."

"He said that?"

"He also wanted to say sorry to you, personally. After all of the time you were walking on Gaius, he never saw you grow up close with him. Her wife is still happy, though. I believe they're waiting for you to bring everyone back."

"B-But…" Alucard stammers. "Do they want to get to Gaius again?"

Diggie frowns. "I think not… But hey, it's okay! They're kind of jealous. Hehe, you were so delighted with your friends on your side… I think we can't call them friends anymore, right?"

"Heh… I guess so… At least I know they're not forgetting me and Layla, and everything they've sacrificed for coming into good fruition… But… how about you, Diggie?"

"What about me?"

Alucard sighs. "I mean, we can bring back the ocean of time, but what will happen to you?"

"I'll reincarnate as an egg, as a new timeline, a new world, flourishes! And it's okay, for I know that the ocean of time will be calm and soothing, and I'd be resting on a cozy island with my home on it! And I would have pleasant dreams…"

"You're fine with it?"

"At least I have good dreams… but one of them seemed so puzzling…"

"Puzzling?"

Diggie lifts his head to the left, trying to recall. "It's this one vision, where I see this person, sitting on a stool, typing on a desktop or something. The scene varies often. He would be on the bed, or on the car, typing something I cannot understand, but it's always the same person… As if something is happening… Anyway, we should get on with it. I'm tired of seeing white space! Are you ready?"

"Yeah, Diggie… thank you. Thank you for helping me."

"And thank you, dude, for saving everything. I owe you lots, so I give you an added 3 years of no conflict!"

"Psh, you didn't need to-"

"Oops, already did! Never mind that now, focus on the branch, okay?"

Diggie hands over the tree branch to Alucard, and the hunter grips them tightly, trying to calm his breathing.

"Okay, now, close your eyes, okay?" the owl says. "Listen to my words."

"Alright… Wait, how do you know this isn't just a dream?"

"I don't know… but can you believe me if I say this works?"

"Nothing else to believe in…"

"Okay... Listen carefully… imagine, the Land of Dawn, completely restored… Imagine you're in the grand hall of the citadel, and there are banquets there, an all-you-can-eat buffet, all of it!"

"Okay…" Alucard attempts to visualize the scenario, his mind slowly drifting…

"And you see Ruby, both of her eyes present, smiling at you as she runs to you with her arms out, and you see Bruno and Chou, waving at you with their drinks… you see Estes and the others enjoying and celebrating with the other heroes and soldiers. You see parades and cheerful children, with their parents without a hint of worry… as all of the bad things slowly… calmly… dissipates… as all of the pain becomes a hazy nightmare… replaced by a pleasant dream…

[DATA CORRUPTED]

CONSISTENCIES RESTORED TO 100%.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESUME THE PLAYBACK?

YES

COMMAND RECEIVED.

RESUMING SESSION IN 5…

RESUMING SESSION IN 4…

RESUMING SESSION IN 3…

RESUMING SESSION IN 2…

RESUMING SESSION IN 1…

"WHA!"

Alucard wakes up in a jolt, hyperventilating. The white blanket draped over him gets flown, slowly floating down to the floor. He clutches his torso, slightly panicking. There was no wound on him, and he was alright. He was wearing a black buttoned shirt with matching black pants. Alucard looks around the room he is in, and sees his red trench coat hanging within the open wardrobe with his gloves on the left pocket. He finds his greatsword, resting on the foot of the bed. It wasn't Testament, however, but rather, the one that Argus gave him. His combat boots were below the hanged trench coat

The hunter calmly puts his feet on the floor, which had balanced temperature. He inhales slowly before exhaling at the same pace, trying to grasp what occurred.

"Okay… okay…"

He notices a furnished, wooden desk near his bed. It had a small piece of paper with writing on it. Alucard picks it up and reads the note.

You've done it, Alucard. You earned your rest. Come down and join them. They're waiting for you.

-Lunox

"Hmm… this is… disorienting…"

Alucard shrugs to himself and begins to wear his combat boots. He picks up his trench coat and puts it on, as well as the gloves. He notices that they are a pair instead of one glove.

"Wait…"

He checks his right arm. It was now a normal human arm. "Oh… yeah, I almost forgot… Agh, this is hard to take in."

He couldn't hear anything from outside, as there are no windows. All that's left is the door that he needs to exit out of. He gets up and grips the doorknob.

"Here goes nothing…"

Alucard opens up the door to find out that he was in one of the citadel's hallways on the second floor. He could hear rumbling and echoing sounds of laughter.

"You're already celebrating without me? How long was I even out?"

He briskly walks to the end of the hallway, meeting the staircase. The cheering and the bustling sounds of happy voice slowly intensified as Alucard went down the steps, trying to discern what was happening. He sees a bit of light as he grew near the source of the commotion. Alucard exits the staircase and was taken aback.

"Holy…"

The grand hall of the citadel was completely clean and looked brand new. As Diggie said, there were extremely long tables that were set on, draped over by shiny cloth and graced with various amounts of food and drink. Many soldiers and heroes were sitting and having fun, while the others were standing around, playing games.

Estes, Rafaela, Kaja, Uranus, Argus and Hylos were near the front ends of the table, conversing with each other as they took light sips (except Kaja and Uranus, of course). Akai, somewhat drunk, was trying to catch Cyclops, who was chugging on wine and was still not drunk. Hayabusa and Kagura were sitting on the chairs, laughing and joking at each other. Zhao and Moskov were having arm wrestling contests, with half of the other heroes watching them duke it out, already taking small bets.

"The heck, why aren't we moving?!"

Moskov snickers. "Let's just represent, man. C'mon!"

Alucard veers his vision to the other tables. Franco, Bane, Yi Sun Shin, Lapu-Lapu and Gatotkaca were telling each other stories, with members of their respective clans amazed by their tales. Aurora, Eudora and Gord were not drinking, however, but were still appreciating the joyous commotion. Harley, Nana, Miya, Gossen and Lesley were amongst the crowd that watched over Zhao and Moskov's duel. Alucard notices that Lesley no longer wore an eyepatch, and had two eyes.

"So it worked…"

Irithel and Karrie were sitting with their backs on the pillar, petting Leo, who fell asleep. Saber, Alpha and Johnson didn't talk much, but they were reviewing on who among the two spearmen would win in the arm wrestle. Alucard sees Roger drift apart from Ruby in order to watch the ongoing duel. Ruby simply sat, eating a piece of cake while drinking juice.

"R-Ruby!" Alucard slowly approaches the scene, trying to reach her. He awkwardly hides his face to prevent everyone from witnessing him. He was about to get closer to Ruby, but he slips on his footing as he was still recovering from his hazy thoughts. Alucard grunts, trying to get up.

"Woah, hey, are you okay?" Ruby began, noticing the person next to her tripping on the floor. "Are you alright? No concussion?"

"Argh… Ruby…"

"W-Wait… Alucard?"

The hunter looks up, brushing off the bread crumbs on his pants. "H-Hey… Ruby-"

She didn't let him finish as she embraced him tightly, her arms wrapped around his neck. "Oh… Oh… A-Alu… I… I thought-"

"H-Hey… I'm here now, I'm here now," Alucard comforts, hugging her in return. "It's okay… What… What happened?"

Ruby pulled away, wiping her tears of joy. "Don't you know? We won!"

"Yo, Ruby," Chou says, going closer to the group while awkwardly holding his cup of punch. "Where can you find more of this good stuff? Also, who is-"

"Chou," Alucard began.

The kung fu boy stops in his tracks and drops his glass of punch. It breaks as it hits the floor, echoing around the hall.

"NO. FREAKING. WAY!"

"Damn it, Chou, keep it down-"

It was too late. Everyone had their eyes focused on the source of the breaking glass. All of them began to notice Alucard's presence, and they barely reacted, standing still. The hunter was intimidated.

"Oh… um… hi?" He began, waving his hand shyly.

All that he could remember next was the erupting sound of yells and war cries resonating, to the point that it could be heard far away up to the ends of the restored kingdom.

"EVERYONE!" Argus began, shouting in a loud voice. "ALUCARD HAS RETURNED!"

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