Epilogue: Release

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What is love?

I write that question at the top of every page for my daily log; my only companion. Accompanied with a brown eagle quill pen I write what I hope to be enlightened to each day, my daily activities, and my reflection for that day. I hope that one day I will be able to find the answer for myself. In the meantime I will remain confused, uncertain, and a little fearful of what it may be.

Three hours I spend in meditation. Two hours I spend in therapy. Four hours I spend cleansing my body and soul. Three hours I'm allotted for meals. Eight hours are devoted for sleep. Three hours I am thrown into the bulk of my training. The remaining hour I am to write my reflections of the day in this book; the only hour where I am allowed to truly rest. This has been my life every day for the past five months and will be my life every day until the sentence handed down to me from the Goddess Claire is served. I will continue my studies isolated, alone, in the depths of the temple until my 18th birthday.

After that? " Your path will be yours to decide. " The High Priestess told me when I was escorted to the quarters I will remain in until then. I can choose to leave the Temple like any other Priestess the moment I gained my freedom, or I can continue my studies in hopes that one day the Goddess will forgive me. Thus far Claire has not heard my prayers.

What is love?

My parents loved me enough to try and protect me against Klonoa. I thought them to be cruel for keeping me from playing with my friends as a child, but now I see that they loved me. My parents came to both of my trails; the one held by Jugkettle that gave me to the Sky Temple for punishment and the one at the Temple that ultimately decided my fate. They both hugged me in turn and told me that they loved me despite it all. They will be waiting for me in Breezegale. I know they will.

What is love?

I am not the only one with a family. Mr. Pango also came to both of my trials despite anticipation for his own daughter's birth. He treated me with kindness and never faulted me for what I did on the pier. Pango was the only one in the small audience that did not cry at my sentencing. I remember him telling me that things could have turned out a lot worst then they did for me. When my sentence was read he told me to ' be strong ' like he knew I was. I smiled at him in silence recognition, met briefly with my parents, before being dragged away by my fellow Priestesses to my fate. Even today Pango is still Hero as well as a husband and father twice over. He still visits the temple with new potential Heroes including his young son Borris who received his Blank Hero Medal on their last visit. In ten years time he will return again this time with his daughter, Gantz, named in honor of the bounty hunter who risked so much to ensure his family's safety.

What is love?

My trail was not the only one in Jugkettle. The former Priestess Leorina was arrested when she turned me in to the police. Her outstanding record of warrants was astonishing, at least to me, though she showed indifference. Leorina and I shared a cell in the days before we were to go to trail. There we engaged in small talk to quell our anxiety over what was going to happen to us. Leorina is not an orphan; her parents abandoned the unwanted child at the Sky Temple so they can live their merry lives. She was groomed in the shadow of The Great Priestess in hopes of becoming her successor but the pressure was too much for her to handle. Leorina quit the moment she gained a voice for herself. Leorina traveled this world as a petty thief every since, searching for a sense of belonging that she never had. In her travels she found a cat spirit, Tat, who became the sister she always wanted.

Tat came to Leorina's trial and had her share of emotional outbursts that nearly got her escorted from the courtroom. I think it was Tat's compassion in part that made the judge go easy on Leorina, as well as her heroism during that night. Leorina was sentenced to three years probation under the condition that she spends those three years serving on Jugkettle's police department. It is said that she has quite a fierce Police Cat.

What is love?

The investigation into the cause of the incident at the ruins ended with inconclusive results. None of the three conspirator's bodies were found after an extensive search of Lunatea and The Moon Kingdom even after being told where they supposedly fell. With no evidence pointing one way or another Janga, Joka, and Garlen were filed under missing persons of interests in relation to a staggering number of serious crimes. The results of the investigation put fear into the hearts of the people of Lunatea. Against all reason memorials began being constructed for the incident on the Moon. For the Heroes, for the Villains, for everyone who perished in the transition. These were the first significant memorials since the Goddess Claire ascended thousands of years ago; the second historical event that influenced the lives of every creature on this planet.

What is love?

It is not the only change to have come from this.

I watch two Priestesses walking hand in hand along the cobblestone path of the Goddess' Garden, smiling, as if they didn't have a care in the world. Beneath a tree they embrace in the way that lovers do, laughing, before deciding that it was better to play like children instead of the dignified women that they should have been.

I feel my heart ache at the sight and I do not know why. Since the details following the incident on the pier went public there had been a stir of debate over the morality behind it. It lead to many heated debates between the adults both inside and outside of the Temple. The discussion became so heated that The Great Priestess herself, the one said to be Claire's voice, had to voice her opinion on the matter. " Such behavior is not for mere mortals to judge. Please allow for the Goddess Claire to decide what is right and what is wrong as she always has. "

What is love?

No one knows what happened to Klonoa and Guntz except that they survived at least the night on the pier thanks to Tat's quick thinking. Klonoa was treated for hypothermia and other ailments associated with nearly drowning. Guntz had at least one major surgery to repair the damage done to his internal organs by the knife. No one seems to know what happened to them in the months that followed or even if they survived in the long run at all. An exception might be Mr. Pango considering the name of his daughter, but despite repeated inquires from curious parties he is not willing to tell. I think as their former comrade he wants to respect their privacy.

The rumor mill was left to fill in the rest. It ranged from the most common interpretation that they both died in the days following the incident, to that one died and the other survived only to be too shamed to continue being a Hero, or even to the most bizarre. The most widely reported rumor aside from their deaths was that they were living in the jungle that was overshadowed by the Jolliant Amusement Park. There were reports of great disasters within Jolliant diverted due to what seemed like divine intervention, that Klonoa or Guntz was somehow involved ...

What is love?

I decided that being a Priestess is not the path that I want to take.

On my 18th birthday I gathered my possessions, changed into civilian's clothing, and never looked back for even a second at what I left behind. My new life would begin with black pants, a pink shirt, and a feather decorated hair clip that pulled my free flowing hair from my eyes. I rejoined my parents in Breezegale briefly before informing them that I wouldn't be staying there, either. I had nothing left in the town of my childhood. I would gather what I could and move onto better things after telling them goodbye.

Today I find myself in Jugkettle running an Ice Cream Parlor that I bought from its former ailing owner. Many of my visitors are familiar faces that I met over the year. Mr. Pango and his family are regulars who come in every Saturday for what has become their usual: variations of waffle sundaes all around. Leorina and Tat came in for single scoop cones occasionally. They make me smile every time they come in since they alternate between getting chocolate and vanilla cones (much to the point that they argue about it). Popka came in once only to confirm that Lolo worked there. He did not like Ice Cream, but he did like the peanuts she rolled his cone in.

So many familiar faces came in ...

The one that lingered in my mind came at the end of a busy spring day when I wanted to close the shop early to spend a night on the town. My last customer was a creature who scurried in a few minutes before sunset. They wore a trench coat and brown fisherman's hat that made me suspicious of them. Just in case it was a robbery I began channeling spiritual energy through my body for use to repel them. I may not have been a Priestess anymore but I could still use their power.

He requested two containers of ice cream in a scratchy voice: Pure Vanilla and Strawberry.

Strawberry was the most expensive flavor in this store and possibly all of Lunatea. One scoop costs as much as ten scoops of chocolate combined, which made me even more skeptical to serve this person ... until they laid a pile of Dreamstones on the counter that was more then adequate to cover the cost. Keep the change. I gathered the stones first then gathered the containers to hand to them.

" Turappa. "

The expression made me look at him immediately, wide eyed, before he realized his mistake. My blue eyes met his dulled golden ones for only a second before he was gone in a flash. I tried in vain to chase after the stranger only to find him gone without a trace when I reached the door. My heart soared and ached at the same time. I felt my fingers curl into a fist so tight my knuckles began to hurt.

" Rekobaniou, K - " My voice trembled, broke, and ultimately choked before I found myself crying. I do not know what love is. I only know that though I do not love him the way that I used to I still loved him, and I always will.

The End

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Here it is again. I hope you all enjoy it.

I removed the author's notes throughout the chapters to make the story itself flow better. So you'll be able to read the story and only the story one chapter after another. Most of them I added again down below along with a few new ones.

The gibberish. For those who are new here are the translations. “ Teme “ means “ Damn you! “ which is actually Japanese, not gibberish, which Guntz says whenever he's critically injured in Klonoa Heroes. “ Turappa “ means “ Thank you “ and “ Rekobaniou “ means “ You're welcome “. Klonoa's famous battle cry, “ Rupurudu “, means most commonly “ Let's go! “. I have to thank Kim for the harder to find gibberish translations.

Tributes to other stories in this section were done. In particular I remember Klonoa's habit of kissing his ring for good luck and Guntz's superior cooking ability being tie-ins with other stories. I'm pretty sure there's more but I can't remember them right now.

In the first few drafts of this story Guntz was supposed to be immensely depressed even without his memories to the point that he tries to commit suicide. I decided I didn't like the idea of a morbidly depressed Guntz so I decided to make him the optimistic one for the majority of the story.

Pango wasn't supposed to show up until the epilogue after the initial hospital visit. Originally he entrusted Lolo to take the Red Clan to Klonoa and it fell into the ocean because of her habitual clumsiness. I made the change at the last minute.

I changed Chapter 9 completely from my original script which ultimately made it half the length it was supposed to be. Originally Guntz was going to hint that he regained his memory multiple times throughout the night in hopes Klonoa would be honest with him. Eventually he gets frustrated at Klonoa's deception and yells “ is this the thanks I get for ruining my life to save yours!? “ which prompts Klonoa to abandon him in shame. More then a year later I came to the conclusion I liked the original script better then the final draft but it's been so long since I worked on this story I don't think I can write a decent replacement.

The fight in Chapter 10 was heavily censored from the original script. The most significant change I made was Lolo acting in self defense against Guntz in the final version. In the original she deliberately attacked Guntz after he belittled her and was stunned that she seriously injured him. That's when everything clicked and she ran. Klonoa diving into the water to save Guntz was also instinctive in the original. He hadn't been instructed by Leorina like in the final version.

And now for the final bit … the ending.

I'm still not completely satisfied with the ending. It's almost completely different from what was written in the original scripts. I think the final ending was the fourth or fifth complete rewrite. Here are some of the other possibilities.

The original script I worked from was narrated from the same perspective as the rest of the story. Here is the transcript: It takes a few agonizing weeks but finally Guntz’s condition stabilizes enough for Klonoa to visit. He comes to find him still confined to his bed, unfortunately, but recovered enough to joke that he’ll be eating from a straw the rest of his life. Klonoa apologizes for trying to deceive him prior explaining that he only did so because he feared for his life as a Hunter. Sighing, Guntz admits that he didn’t know which direction his life would take after defeating Janga. He knew that he didn’t want to be a Hunter the rest of his life, but felt there would be nothing left for him until he met Klonoa. It seems that the Goddess Claire made his decision for him; his injuries prevented him from returning to Hunting. Klonoa assured him that he would be there no matter what he chooses in the end, stopping just short of saying that he loved him in fear of provoking his anger again. Guntz sees right through it. He tells Klonoa that he wasn’t angry because Klonoa took advantage of him romantically in his state but because of his lying and deception (it’s a trait that doesn’t fit you).

I thought the ending was missing something so I axed it.

There were a few more versons before the final. All but one of them had Klonoa and Guntz surviving. The other had them both dying and was similar to this one; told from Lolo's perspective after she quit the Priesthood.