I watch his countdown timer tick

I have always wanted to be brighter.

To be more than the dreaded Silver Consul, slipping from mist to mist, inscrutable and terminally evocative of silent pain.

Maybe there is something to be said for an eternal moment as an ageless adult, a star that never wanes or bursts. If you're helping people, maybe. If you're sharing in joy, and learning how to take less and give more, always, always.

Always.

What you can be, in this world or any other that precedes or proceeds, is the brightest of all, because you know what's come before.

Finally, you're rising, Mio.