**Chapter 41 – The Silence After the Storm**
When the tears finally dried—no one knew how much time had passed—Elara spoke, her voice hoarse from so much crying:
— Lunalie found me when I was already dead inside.
She cried with me.
The goddess truly cried.
She said: "I cannot bear to see my children destroyed like this."
And she threw me through time… so I could become strong… so I could change everything.
I fought monsters that devoured souls… thinking only of all of you.
I carried the weight of a future that will never exist again…
and now… I just want to stay here.
Smell the scent of home.
Hear you laugh.
Be the big sister I could never be.
Lysithea kissed her forehead, still trembling, but with a soft smile beginning to bloom on her lips:
— You always were.
And you always will be.
Now you don't carry that weight alone anymore. We carry it together.
Joker extended his little hand, crooked smile on his face, golden eyes shining with a new light:
— The circus just gained a star who came from the future, family.
And now that star is going to shine with us… forever.
Elara looked at everyone—at the little children laughing through their tears, at the nuns who raised her, at the sisters she had seen die in another time—and, for the first time in years, she felt something warm and alive growing inside her chest: hope.
She smiled—a real, light, almost childlike smile—and stretched her hands toward the circle.
— Then teach me how to be part of the show.
Teach me to laugh again.
Teach me to live… without fear of losing you.
Harley jumped into her lap, hugging her tightly:
— We'll teach you everything!
And the first step is: mandatory group hug!
Everyone laughed—a clean, loud laugh that echoed through the garden like music.
Lysithea opened her arms, and the circle closed once more: thirteen bodies, one single heart, beating strong and alive.
The sky, which moments earlier had bled wounds, now showed timid stars peeking through the clouds.
The moon, white once again, seemed to smile down from above.
Elara whispered, her voice almost inaudible but filled with peace:
— I came back… and this time, no one is leaving.
Joker gave a mischievous wink:
— Welcome home, big sis.
The best is yet to come.
And beneath that sky healing alongside them, the embraced family laughed, cried, and dreamed—not of the past that nearly destroyed them, but of the future they themselves would build: together, brilliant, and eternal.
(to be continued…)