After finally composing myself from laughing, Enia just hovered there, pouting with a half-offended, half-amused look on her face.
"Have you finished?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, still chuckling "I'm sorry, it's been a while since I laughed that hard."
"Speaking of which, your influence has leveled finely. You should be returning now." Her eyes swept over me, measuring something I couldn't see.
"Influence levels?…" I repeated, thinking back to the last time measured it, it had been years.
"What are you thinking about? Don't you wanna go back to your family?"
She perched lightly on my shoulder. "If a soul stays out of the body too long, it strays."
"No, that's not it. I just have a question… actually"
"I'm all ears." leaning in close to my ear,
Her voice brushed against my ear, soft, melodic, dangerously too close. It sent a ripple down my spine.
"Why am I…" I hesitated, trying to find the right words.
"This calm, even after everything you just experienced? …Close enough?" she guessed.
"Yeah, that"
"You're in my realm, things like grief, sadness, guilt can't follow you here, that's the language of the mortal world" She tilts her head, amused, when she saw my confused expression. "That's the simple way to put it..., Now, close your eyes."
She floated around to face me, her light glowing faintly.
"Time to go home."
I closed my eyes, then I felt her soft, small, warm lips pressing gently against my forehead.
The touch lingered, light as starlight.
(Aww… so cute.)
.><><><.
"Bye Bye"
The words lingered, from a soft, melodic, almost teasing vioce.
My senses woke numbly, muffled voices, humming sounds, the world felt wrong, too bright, warm-er, maybe it was just the weather, or was my body burning up, ash filled my lungs as I took small breaths, my eyes felt heavy, but I managed to open just enough to see the catastrophe around me,
The ground was battered, cracked deep, Hampton knights laid dead, some brutally severed, some just crushed under rubble, (what happened...) I turned faintly up, Father head bore against my chest, his arms cradling me, trembling, not out of fear... exhaustion.
His clothes were tore, blood stains all over, from dozens of cuts, I parted my lips, desperately wanting to console him, but a cracked breath was all that lets my mouth, He raised his head immediately, his face havd relief and despair, a look I'd never seen on his usual always playful face.
"You're awake" he exclaimed softly, "Save your breath, rest... it's alright now, you're safe"
My heart sank at the last words, safe.., at what cost, I turned to where the low humming sound had been coming from, there laid Mother, covered with Father's cloak, underneath her body, the ground pulsed with white sigils, overlapping and turning around like clockwork as her body faded, -she was going home.
Next to her, the short lady... now restrained with a that same choker intended for me, out cold on the ground, guards towered over the body, I still couldn't see her face, her body didn't look like... female.
I was too tired to strain my eyes, I drifted, just before my eyes shut, I got a gleams of two black bodies on the ground, I heard father yell out.. something!, probably scared for my life, but my senses gave up fast, then everything turned dark.
.><><><.
The air on my face felt cold, hair--my hair rested on my shoulder, heavy and tangled, my eyes fluttered open to the dark-dim moon lit room,the silver of the moonlight cut through the curtains.
The silence was heavy-thick-still, suffocating, the smell of iron linger near. But the sheets under my fingers were soft, clean... whispering home. It didn't feel real, I knew I was home, the familiar ceiling was undeniab, but... I felt nothing... just hollow, blank.
The whole of me ached, wrapped in bandages--head, leg, one arm strapped against my neck.
(Right, ...at least it doesn't hurt...,)
I felt a gentle clutch in my one good arm, pulled me from thought, I turn my head slowly, it was the only thing I could think to move.
(Gia.)
She sat slumped by the bedside, her head resting awkwardly against the mattress, still clutching my hand. Her golden curls fell messily over her face, catching the moonlight carefully, her lips parted slightly in sleep.
A soft "hmm" left me like a breath,
(Cute.)
She must've been here for hours.
But even with Gia beside me, I still didn't feel anything, my mind was awake, but quite... numb, running low.
I slid my hand out of of Gia's, sat up carefully, and stepped down from the bed, my mind was too awake to even pretend to sleep.
I left the room, closing the door behind me gently so Gia stayed asleep.
I walked along the halls for a while, the air carried a faint scent ash-a far away memory. A reminder.
I passing by some maids, who gave me subtle and worried stares of pity that I couldn't care less for,
I hated it.
Not cause they were wrong, but simply because they'd now see me even more as what they've always thought me to. A timid child
Their stares slid over me like rain on glass.
I was headed for father's chambers, partly...I doubted he'd be there, I just wanted to check... on him, not sure why, but I thought of him first when I woke, I intended to find him tonight.
But when I stood, frozen, before his door, slowly... I reached to knock. my hand stopped midair.. Inches away from the door,
Then I heard it, soft muffled crying coming from the opposite room..., it was low, but the emptiness made it echo, I turned...I walked towards it with much thought.
(Ofcourse) I spoke softly in my mind...(He truly loved her, will I even be able to face him after killing his wife..)
Again. I stood frozen before the door, the crying was clearer now, heavy breathing, an image crossed my mind, Younger Sylvester Hampton.
(It would make sense if he went back to being that cold hearted person...)
My hand dropped...I couldn't do it, I turned and walked away,
(I don't think I can face him right now, I'll leave him to calm down first...yes, I'll prob make it worse anyway )
.><><><.
I thought of Theo next, but I quickly dismissed the thought, I wasn't in the right mind state to meet him, ( I'd probably just make him worry )
Instead, I visited -The Greenhouse-, Mother's retreat space, she took care of the plants here, it use to make me wonder if she was the reason we had a greenhouse, the few times I spent with her here, she spoke with the lilies, sang to orchids, (very bizarre woman )
The greenhouse hadn't changed. She had managed the same system for years, the air still smelled of her perfume, faint soap, and soil. The glass panes shivered in the night wind, but nothing else dared to move.
The irises leaned down to the floor, heavy with dew, their color under shadows. the silence pressed, thick enough to choke a person.
The dirt was dry, they hadn't been watered that day--the whole day,
(Of course they hadn't )
I found the watering can, half-ful, and began to water them all... at a tired pace, spilling water hitting soil filled the emptiness.
And there, in the middle of the decay, the protea stood, the one I had been side eyeing all the while, the only thing that hadn't bowed. Its petals were ever more bright in the dark, defiant and cruel in their beauty.
Mother's favorite.
According to her, this flower's the reason I exist, superstitious belief...(Alie, what power could a flower hold, that stupidity is partly what killed her, I'd never risk my life for hers, not in that situation )
I waited.. for tears, to feel something - regret, anger, anything.
But only the quiet weight of existing when someone else didn't lingered.
A stillness that wasn't peace, muted and endless, curling around my ribs like roots too deep to pull out.
If grief was something supposed to come naturally, mine must have died with her.
"I want to mourn her" I whispered to myself. Putting down the watering can, squatting beside the protea, legs together.
"You shouldn't be awake so late into the night"
That vioce, it shouldn't be here...
Young.
Firm, and wrong.
I turned sharply.