2023-05-03: Buon Compleanno
- Log: 2023-05-03: Buon Compleanno
- Cast: Lina Lombardi
- Where: Italy
- Date: U.C. 0097 04 05
- Summary: Lina catches up with family on her birthday.
Lina had never liked standing around in cemeteries.
They were too quiet, too somber, too still.
And there were also too many flowers. It bugged her sinuses, especially now that spring was rolling in.
A light fog fills the air as she walks along the solitary dirt path, the rising sun catching on the droplets of water suspended around her. It was just about the crack of dawn, Lina having made sure to get up before anyone else at the villa. Today was April 5, which meant it was Lina's birthday, and a Lombardi birthday was always a huge to-do at the Grove. Her uncle would have surely invited as many people from town as he could to come and celebrate, especially now that she was back home full-time. Alina would be flying into Florence later in the day, and even her old boss Elias Concord had sent her a card. But Lina had something she needed to do alone before the celebration could begin. She steps out onto the grass, stepping along a line of tombstones before finding her destination.
Isabella Lombardi was one of countless casualties of the One Year War. In the grand scope of the history of the Earth Sphere, she was a statistic, a number, a name on a memorial wall. To the Lombardi sisters, she was everything.
And as one could see from the tombstone, it was her birthday as well. Lina sits down cross-legged in front of the grave marker, taking a moment to notice the conspicuously empty plot next to it, and sighs. Elsa had suggested that they just put a marker for their father there, but Lina had refused her at every step. It would mean giving up, it would mean that the last 5 years had amounted to nothing. That she had uprooted her entire life for nothing.
"Buon compleanno, Mama. I hope you're doing well." As expected, the slab of stone could not answer her back. Lina wondered if her Newtype abilities would ever allow her to hear the voices of the dead. It would definitely make this place feel a lot less lonely. She could only imagine her mother immediately beginning to nag and fret over her.
Lina, mia cara, your hair is a mess. Are you taking care of yourself? I heard you quit your job at, what was it, G-Hound? You know I don't like all this pilot nonsense, but at least that was better than that Signore Concord. What are you going to do with yourself now?
"I don't know, Mama. I know you don't like it, but it's all I can do."
...You always were your father's child. Though I suppose if I could trust you with anyone, it'd be Dottore Kabuto.
"Heh, I don't know what he sees in me, but I suppose. I really should get back to him on that."
And don't think your mama hasn't heard about that little suitor that came by the Grove a while back!
"Sonia's just a friend! She just likes to tease me is all."
And you don't know what she sees in you either, eh? Lina, don't be so hard on yourself! You're wonderful.
Lina sighs again and gently hugs her knees to her chest as the voice in her head reassures her.
"I miss you, Mama. I miss you and Papa."
The voice in her head stops. It's not actually Isabella. It never would be. She was gone.
Lina sits for a while, her breath going slightly ragged as she tries to keep her eyes dry. She couldn't go back home with tears. Regaining her composure, she stands back up, brushing the grass off her pants and making the sign of the cross to see the grave off.
She looks out over the horizon, now bright with the morning sun, and stares over towards the grapevines of the villa on a nearby hill. She should probably be getting back.
"Ciao, Mama."