-Maniacal laugher- Finished~

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ amethyst
620 words
There was a ringing tone emanating from the cave mouth. It vibrated up through the icy sheer ground and into Nickiya's teeth.
The edges of her vision fuzzed.
But she went forwards anyways into the coolness of the crystalline cave.
The amythest caught every color and swallowed them up, only reflecting back shades of purple.
"You dislike my taste in decorating?"
"No," Nickiya replied carefully to the shapeless voice hovering in the back of the cave "It's just a lot of one color."
It laughed, not unkindly, but in a way that still made Nickiya catch her breath.
"Dedication," it said "Is key. Now tell me, why is it you've come all the way here to my humble home. What do you want."
"I've lost someone."
"Ahh," sympathy dropped from the unseen mouth "I'm afraid I cannot bring back the dead child."
"What?" Nickiya looked around, startled "No I don't mean like that, I can't find him. He's gone missing not died."
"Oh, well then you should have said that. It doesn't pay, it doesn't pay girl, to be obtuse."
"It wasn't on purpose, you're jumping to conclusions," Nickiya pointed out as she crossed her arms.
The voice went quiet.
After nearly a moment of being deafened by the singing Crystal's, Nickiya was forced to admit defeat.
"Sorry, I was impolite. Will you please still help me?"
Another beat.
"Fine," it spoke condescendingly "Since I am kind and understanding I will still help you. Where did you loose this someone?"
"Vastreach."
"A tricky place." There was the sound of something scraping lightly against the crystal.
"A tricky place indeed. Full of holes Vastreach is. I suppose your someone fell through one of them."
"I don't really know what happened."
"Unsurprising."
From the darkness of the cave something metal clinked.
Nickiya tried not to stare.
"I do have a little something. It's not for you to keep though."
"I'll bring it back."
"I do not sense any guile in you, but I've been wrong before." There was hesitation in the voice.
"I believe I will need collateral."
Nickiya looked herself over "I don't have much."
"You have plenty. The only question being, are you willing?"
To get Raygaard back? She'd do anything.
She nodded.
The voice cackled.
"Hold still!"
A sharp cold pain dug into her right eye. Nickiya shouted and stumbled back. She threw her arms over her head, trying to ward away the attack.
But it was useless.
The natural sense of warmth in the eye socket was replaced by something cold and and imperfectly shaped.
Nickiya sank to her knees, breathing hard. She reached up to touch and felt smooth crystal beneath her fingertips.
Afraid to breathe, she blinked.
Her left eye was normal, untouched.
Her right eye was no more, replaced by a lump of amethyst.
Faintly, distantly, she could see through it, a dim cloud of purple but little else.
"What...did you...?"
Something clattered to her feet out of thin air.
"There you go," chirped the voice "Take the tracker to the last place you saw your someone. Turn it on there and not before. After you find who you are looking for, bring it back and I will return your eye."
Her breathing quick and erratic and her head spinning, Nickiya couldn't summon the words to argue.
She picked up the tracker and jammed it into her pack.
"Th-thank you," she managed to bite out past the sobs and the panic. Then she made her way out of the cave as quickly as her trembling legs could take her.
The outside hadn't changed much in the past few minutes.
But it looked a tad more purple than it had when she'd gone into the cave.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ </error>
338
"Me?" Mei Lee asks, incredulous "Out of everyone, everywhere, that you've ever met, me?"
He nods, but he never breaks her gaze.
"Why?" But she doesn't wait for him to reply "How?"
"How?" He echoes in quiet disbelief "What do you mean how?"
"I mean, I'm not exactly loveable," she laughs. Because this is funny! Really, it is!
Lionel's eyes darken and he regards her with a touch of sadness. He's going to say something soft and sentimental. She knows it. And she's not going to melt when he does.
No matter deep a chord it strikes.
"Just because someone doesn't believe that they aren't easy to love doesn't mean they are in fact difficult to care about."
She's already choking back a lump from her throat.
"That's easy for you to say," it comes out before she can think. Sharp unkind words. "You're quite loveable yourself, it's not like it's ever been hard for someone to care about you."
She wants to take them back already. Wishes that her quick wit wasn't so quick.
"I'm sorry."
And no, Mei Lee is the one who should be apologizing, but now she's all tongue tied from the guilt.
He withdraws with a soft sigh, leaning heavily on his staff "It isn't fair to you, I misunderstood the direction I thought we were taking. I thought..." he voice trails away and he shakes his head.
Mei Lee stands there. Like an idiot.
Why is it harder to say the kind things, the things that well up from the less often opened parts of her? Why do the cruel and scathing remarks come like second nature, but when it isn't anger or meanness fueling her, suddenly she's at a loss.
"Well," and that's as far as she gets before she's stuck. It's enough though, to make Lionel pause.
"I didn't say I didn't want you to love me," that sounds lame, but now she's desperate. She's not lying either. "Just...surprised."
That isn't exactly the truth. She'd noticed.
It might not be going too far to say that she felt similarly.
She just never dreamed that he'd ever confess.
Never dreamed it could be real.
Well, it wouldn't be, if she continued to sabotage herself.
"If you need time-"
"No," she's spent enough sleepless nights on this already "I love you too."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ how did we get here?
506 words
Consciousness came slowly which was...odd.
Aveth had fairly average sleep habits, at least, he tried to. It was difficult, considering Kwet's restless tendencies and Aveth had become accustomed to jerking awake suddenly as the little doctor paced too far for comfort.
But now, he hovered in a nether state, not asleep and just awake to only know he wasn't sleeping.
Aveth tried to settle his mind and fall back asleep, but there was a noise prickling in his ears and it was pulling him from his rest and as he cracked his eyes open Aveth realized someone was screaming.
He strained to sit up and heard the clatter as debris slid free from his body. Looking down he found the remains of what looked to be a support beam pressing him into pulverized bits of what had once been his home.
He heaved it off and stood, head spinning and tears trickling down his face from the stinging smoke as he surveyed the destruction that surrounded him.
It wasn't just the room or the quarters or the floor or the building. The sky was black with fumes and all around him the city was shivering at its roots in time to the sound of distant explosions.
Aveth took in a breath and released it in a choking shudder as a horrific realization washed over him. Diocore had made good on his threats, he had made good on every single breath he'd uttered.

The city was burning. Soon so would the rest of Kataria.

Aveth opened his wings, preparing to shoot up into the sky where, instinct insisted, he'd be safe. But as his feet left the ground Aveth realized he was missing something and he froze, landing hard, eyes darting about.
"Kwet?" He rasped out before coughing and then screaming out the doctor's name as panic sank into him with needle claws.
The next few minutes blurred in Aveth's mind, a patchwork of smoke and destruction as he skimmed over the fallen remnants of the city, Kwet's name pouring from his mouth in a desperate torrent.
His muddled head tried to suggest over and over that maybe, maybe Kwet was still back there, buried, with Aveth's voice echoing in ears that had gone deaf.
But over and over some other part of him rejected the thought, leaving his mind running in circles as he spiraled over the burning wreckage.
It all ground to a halt as his eyes picked out a familiar frame amidst the destruction.
Kwet didn't move as Aveth shouted at him, didn't turn as Aveth landed or when Aveth gripped his shoulder.
"Kwet?" Aveth dropped his voice to a whisper trying to elicited a response from his friend, but there was nothing but a blank eyed stare.
"It's okay," Aveth gasped, more to convince himself then Kwet "I'm going to get you out of here. I'm going to get you somewhere safe. I promise."
Kwet just looked up at him devoid of emotion, arms wrapped loosely over his chest and wings dangling limply.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ if only for a moment
358 words
"Give me a year Jasmine, a year to find him and if I can't then I swear, I swear I will return, I'll come back and I won't leave again."
Jasmine looked at her sister who was standing there, impatient yet reluctant, sword slung over one shoulder, travel pack over the other.
"Jade," Jasmine started, then stopped.
What was she supposed to say?
How did she fix this?
Could she fix this?
She pulled in a breath and tried to think. What was she trying to fix? Was it even broken?
"Go," she released the breath and reached out to rest her hand on Jade's shoulder "Go out and find him, he's far too intelligent to be dead. Go and find him and be happy."
Jade's expression trembled and she lurched forwards, wrapping her arms around Jasmine and burying her face in her shoulder.
Jasmine returned the embrace just as tightly, swallowing back tears.
"I'll come back, I promise, I won't be gone forever," Jade slipped out of her sister's arms.
Jasmine swallowed hard "I don't want you to come back, I just want you to be happy."
Jade's breath hitched and she took a heavy step back, as though her pack had suddenly increased in weight. She gave Jasmine the saddest smile Jasmine had ever seen on her face "Do you think that I could be happy if I never saw you again?"
Jasmine's breath hitched and she too took a step back "Go."
Because if Jade didn't go, now, Jasmine was in danger of reaching out and not letting go again.
"Bye," Jade hesitated for a second and Jasmine forced herself to drop her gaze to her feet.
Jade turned and Jasmine listened to the rhythm of her steps as she first walked away, then broke out into a loping run.
Only as the sound began to fade did Jasmine muster the strength to lift her head to watch as her sister diminished to a dim speck in the landscape.
She wiped away the tears and fought against every fiber that was insisting that she follow her sister and returned to the shadows beneath the roof.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ bring you back down
181 words
"She betrayed me."
"She betrayed you?" Jasmine's tone bled with outrage and contempt "She betrayed you? You were her idol, her hero. She had nothing but respect for you and she still would if you deserved it," Jasmine's voice grew in volume and fervor as she jabbed an accusatory finger towards Kiff, "Jade would have become anything you asked but without a word you held her up to silent standards, tried to force her to fit a mold she did not understand. If you had but said once that you loved her she would have laid down her life for you. But you gave her nothing so she went looking for love elsewhere. Jade did not betray you, Father, she offered you her loyalty, every ounce of it, and you rejected it. There was nothing for her to betray."
Silence descended over the room like a frosty snowfall as Kif and Jasmine stared down at each other.
Finally Jadmine's throat rippled as she swallowed and turned away her shoulders gathered and tight.
She left the room followed by her father's stare.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ light
409 words

They bled light.

It seeped out from their cuts and gushed from their gaping wounds.

It coated the scientist-doctor's hands as he hovered over a gasping patient and it dripped from the other medical staff as they rushed about.

There was a pool gathering at Serpen's feet.
It was liquid, burning bright, churning thickly.
The young man knelt. His face caught the glow from the shed alien blood and the thin angles cut shadows in his profile as he caught a smear of it on the tip of a finger.

For a moment the substance retained its glow, then slowly faded to a metallic gray. There were reflective particles caught in the dried blood, glittering. But no real shine left.

----

The scientist-doctor sat at the edge of an empty bed, staring at their stained hands. The medical bay was covered in similar stains.

Serpens wondered how many times this had happened.

How many times had the scientist-doctor been left alone in a room where they'd spent hours trying to save lives and watch others die because they could not be in two places at once.

Where was the big one? The mother-hen as Cassiopeia had dubbed them.

Serpens hoped that they hadn't been one of the ones burned so badly they were unrecognizable husks that the doctors just shook their heads at when they'd been brought in.

Swallowing down that thought Serpens edged out from between the stack of supplies he'd cornered himself in.

The scientist-doctor lifted their head and blinked twice.

Serpens came to the foot of the bed and began to scale the siding.

There was a weak huff from above him and a stained hand reached down to him.

Serpens took it and let himself be lifted up and set at the scientist-doctor's side.

They said a few words. Serpens wished he could understand, but the tone sounded sad.

Defeated.

"I'm sorry," he said, full knowing the scientist-doctor didn't understand him either. He hoped the inflections could convey enough. "I don't know why you're fighting or what this war is about. But I'm still sorry for you."

They looked down at him, the lenses in their eyes whirring gently as they focused on him.

Serpens realized that it wasn't only the scientist-doctor's hands that were stained. Their face was coated in splatters of still glowing liquid.

Serpens reached out and touched armor plating.

They shut their eyes. A tear ran down the light staining their face.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ sanctimonious
546 words
The roof halted its downwards slant at the large window. The bed sat beneath the glass.

Sitting up, Willow could see across the yard and into the trees.

The spread of green grass beneath the swaying golden summer leaves was picturesque.

Willow pulled the curtains shut.

She was up in the second floor and there was nothing outside the window except a straight drop. But she'd sleep easier knowing she couldn't be seen.

Nevermind the thought that if something was capable of leaping high enough to get to the window or determined enough to climb up to the sill, that the curtains would be little defense.

Nevermind that.

Just so long as nothing was watching her.

----

Something was watching her.

Willow didn't know how she knew. She had awoken abruptly from a simple dream of darkness to the overwhelming sensation of eyes on her.

Malice in the gaze.

Just your imagination, she insisted silently to herself. Just breathe and don't move.
Go back to sleep.
There's nothing there.

Good advice. But she didn't take it.

It wasn't much movement. Just opening her eyes to check that the curtains really were closed.

She could see the wall and the dark glass. She could see the curtains pulled back.

Willow's breath hitched.

Something above her moved.

She froze, but it was too late. She'd been noticed.

A laughter like branches breaking beneath a load of snow descended on her with talons outstretched. Something sharp dug into her arm.

For a split second Willow thought she wouldn't be able to breathe. For a second she thought it would be like in the dreams where no matter how she tried, she couldn't pry a sound from her throat.

But no. She opened her mouth.
She screamed at the top of her lungs.

She rolled from the bed, still shrieking and howling, and dragged the blanket down with her.

The intruder was still laughing.

"Uncle Crane!" She managed to find her words after a moment of just noise and a beating heart "Uncle Crane! Help! Help me!"

Sharp as thorns, sharp as knives, something slashed through the blanket, aiming for her face.

All she could do was fight the blanket to try and shield herself with her arms.

There was thunder on the stairs and a crash as the door slammed open.

The light switch clicked, turning the light on and the laughter off.

Willow struggled out of the blanket, gargling out one sob after another.

Once she could see straight, she was only more confused.

Uncle Crane stood near her, the blanket in his hands. The window was shut, there was no one else in the room.

There were holes torn in the blanket that the light shine through. Long ragged tears.

...What?

"I'm sorry," Crane said "I should've know better than to put you in an upstairs room."

"I...I don't..." Breathe! Breathe!
She can taste the salt of her tears running down into her mouth.

"I'm sorry," Crane repeated "You can sleep in my room tonight. Tomorrow I'll set up a downstairs room for you.

He let the torn blanket drop and held out a hand to Willow.

He helped her stand.

"I don't want to go back to sleep," she managed to croak "I want to go home."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ these walls will build my casket

441 words

Golden green light soaked the air, bringing it down heavy, anchoring the atmosphere to the forest floor. Sunbeams slanted through the moss drenched branches of the old trees, illuminating Willow.

Ivy was growing through her hair, the leaves gathered into a crown over her forehead. Creeping vines grew over and around her wrists and pierced her skin, sending out tendrils into her veins.

Morning glories had crept up her legs, rooting the faded jeans to the earth. White, pink, and blue flowers where scattered across the vines like fragile stars.

Her eyes where shut. Her mouth was open and full of collected rainwater.
A single tadpole swam in the space between her teeth.

"She's not breathing," Indigo Rose knelt by Willow's head, tears in her eyes.

"She has a heartbeat," Crane touched Willow's warm shoulder "She'll be alright. If the forest will give her back to us."

He straightened up, running a hand through his hair as he looked around.

"Thank you," Crane said, his voice grating, resonating with the beams of light "Thank you for watching over her. But we are here now. Please, give her back. Let us take her home."

He lifted his arms up, entreating the trees, his eyes half closed as he swayed like the bulrushes in a summer wind.

The trees swayed in time, their ancient bodies cracking and snapping with the movement. The curtains of moss flapping in the sudden wind that had picked up.

Dandelion seedlings caught on the air and danced all around them, tiny angels singing above Willow.

The ivy retreated from her hair, withdrawing across the grass back to the tree roots.
The tendrils rolled back from her wrists, leaving behind beads of blood on her skin.

The morning glories folded up their petals and disappeared back into the earth while the rainwater ran from the edges of her mouth. Indigo Rose caught the tadpole before it fell to the grass.

The last of the water drained from her lungs and was replaced by the honey sweet air.
Willow took a breath, her eyes fluttering as her fingers sank into the soft dirt.

For a second she didn't move, gasping as she came out of that deep, dreamless sleep.
The she relaxed. The wind died down.

"She's not awake," Indigo Rose said, still cupping the tadpole.

"No, but she's much closer to us now," Crane slipped his arms beneath Willow and picked her up "Come on, let's take her home."

[Ranger of the North]

Willow and Crane have me intrigueeeeed. Did she rip her own blankets, or was there an attacker after all? 🤔

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Willow and Crane have me intrigueeeeed. Did she rip her own blankets, or was there an attacker after all? 🤔

: ))))) Who knows?????