A boy rushes through the woods, his brother at his side.
His sister had awoken him only minutes ago and told him to run. She had shoved a bag into his arms, tears streaming down her face as his twin came running in. She’d pulled him from his bed, the strength she’d had before her illness took hold coming back into her muscles as he stumbled, barely catching them both.
“Go! Brother, you must go! Please!” She’d screamed, more emotion marring her face than he’d seen since the day she woke in the middle of the night saying she’d had a dream of their Papa dying, cold and alone. He’d studied her face, putting his hands to her cheeks to try and wipe the tears away, searching her blank eyes for any sign of what could have happened.
“K-Koi, darling, wh-”
“There’s no time!” She’d pushed him away, sending him stumbling into his larger brother, caught by him this time as he stared at his sister in shock. She was never so... violent in her fits, instead he was far more used to her shutting down into silence, sometimes for days on end.
She’d looked down at her older brothers from her full height, her eyes seeming almost to glow as she trembled before them. He’d thought he’d seen green flame licking from her lips for a moment, but soon decided it must be a trick of the moonlight that flooded from his window.
“...Please Brother. Go, save the Miss. We cannot afford to lose another. None of us will survive it,”
It took only that, only the crack in her voice to make him nod, the mage’s hands tightening on the worn bag in his arms. He’d spun on his heel and ran, his sister calling after him as his twin followed close on his heels, a growl in his throat.
“I promise you Brother! I will protect our home! Please, come back to me!”
He can only remember nodding as the door, the same heavy wooden door he struggled to open as a child, closed behind him with a quiet, final click.
And now, he shakes the memory from his head, focusing only on the crunch of the underbrush under his and his brother’s feet as they follow the long-memorized path to the home of their dearest friend, lit only by the light of his faithful familiar. Over the distant sound of screams and crunching bone, he hears his brother’s voice, shaky and afraid.
“Xi... Xi what’s going on? Why was Koi so scared, w-what are those noises?”
“...I don’t know Linkoln. I don’t know anything. All I know is, if Papa were here, he’d be doing exactly what we’re doing now,” He answers, determination cutting through the fearful trembles in the young man’s voice.
“... You’re right. We have to find Miss Carla, maybe she’ll have the answers. She always has before,”
The mage’s teeth clench, a breath hissing in through them as he glances down at Purity, the creature’s bright green coat of flame settling a comfort into his heart, a feeling that despite them being alone, they just may be able to survive this fight.
“...She may. And even if she doesn’t, we will protect her, as she does us. Won’t we Brother?” He smirks, lifting a gloved hand towards his brother. It takes Linkoln only a moment before he smiles past the tears in his eyes and takes the other’s hand, nodding.
Firae arrives at their dear friend’s door, the young seer tucked against their side.
When they had arrived at the Angel’s home at Miss Carla’s request, the young one had been curled by the fireplace, wrapped in an old blanket and gripping her head for dear life. The god remembers looking upon her and feeling a sympathy they rarely feel for the living and soon after, they walked over to kneel beside her. The child hadn’t even moved.
They’d knelt down beside her, reaching a hand out to touch her hair. The child twitched before grabbing their wrist with a strength they hadn’t expected. Her eyes when they turned to meet theirs were blank, as always, but differently so.
“...You left my Papa, w-why did...” She’d trailed off, her voice shaking as she pulled herself up, leaning into their chest. They were surprised, especially by how they found their arms wrapping around the seer, an almost parental feeling coming over them at seeing the girl shiver and suffer in their arms.
“...I left him because I was more needed here. You understand that child,” They’d whispered to her, surprised yet again by how their voice lowered, became gentler than they’re used to speaking. The feeling of the child in their arms, the way she trembled, the protective ache in their chest was so very, very strange. Koi hadn’t responded, hiding in the god’s shoulder.
“...What frightens you?”
“There’s so much yelling, I-I can’t sleep... when I sleep I see suffering, I don’t...” She trailed off again, Firae shushing her gently and petting her hair.
“...I understand child, I understand. Come, we can bring you to Miss Carla, she can calm you. Your brothers are waiting,”
“Firae,”
“Yes child?”
“Is my Papa okay? Was... was he okay?” She’d looked up at them, tears in her eyes and her hands tight on their arms, too tight for such a sickly girl. They’d looked her over, weighing if they could lie to her, but it doesn’t seem likely.
“He’s lonely. And frightened, but thoughts of you children and of your father keep him strong. He’s working hard,”
The child had nodded before mostly collapsing against their chest, shivering in exhaustion. It wasn’t long before she passed out, and they simply gathered her in their arms, keeping the blanket wrapped around her. She was bigger now than when she was young and would wander off from her family, but Firae finds carrying her no harder.
They’d gotten halfway down the path before she woke up and insisted on walking, though she stayed pressed against their side.
Now, they stand in front of Miss Carla’s door, the girl’s trembling having mostly passed.
“...She’s going to tell us everything now, isn’t she?”
“Not... everything. But as much as she can,”
“My brothers won’t like it,”
“No they won’t. But they deserve the truth, do they not?”
Koi pauses, taking a deep breath before looking down.
“I don’t know. The truth hurts an awful lot,”
Firae is unable to come up with a response to that, and instead just pulls her closer for a brief moment. They’ve never been very good at being comforting, but at the very least, they can be here.
A child awakens on the floor, wrapped in a soft blanket and with a pain pounding in their temples.
Tav gasps and sits up as fast as they can, surprised by the sun that streams in through the window. With a hiss of pain they hold their head, trying to remember how they got on the floor. When a hand lands in their hair, their own lashes out quick as a whip to catch the other’s wrist, stopping millimeters from them as the scent hits their mind. Mama... it’s their Mama, dear gods how could they have thought of hurting their Mama?
Tav looks up, squinting past the pain to see Carla’s face above them, and allowing their eyes to follow her as she kneels in front of them, petting their hair back from their face.
“Good morning baby. I knew you’d be the first awake,” The woman smiles, though Tav’s eyes look through it, studying the dark circles, how her kind, unnaturally bright blue eyes are dulled by the shadows of old tears. They can feel her hand trembling, can see how her lips pull up a bit less than her real smiles, hear how her voice is quieter, rougher... Mama’s lying again.
“I asked you not to pretend. You promised you wouldn’t...” They mutter, letting their head tilt as their fingers wrap around her wrist. “You... you look scared? Why are you scared? I promised to protect you, I’ll protect you Mama I swear it,”
Carla blinks, looking them over before the smile moves that fraction of an inch closer to being real and she sighs, kissing their forehead.
“You did protect me baby. You did a good job, you were very good,”
Tavir feels their heart swell with the praise, the pain in their head fading not in actuality, but in comparison as they get up. They look at the others, the strangers. Two males, no older than they are... twins. And a small creature created from fire that they can’t hear, which is awfully unsettling. The scent is familiar, but mixed with something new and strange. They give a hum of thought and help Carla up.
“I’ll make tea. I know you won’t sleep, but rest. You can’t do anything until those two are awake, right?” They are relieved when she nods and takes a seat, that book still open on the table.
As they go off to make the morning’s tea, they allow their racing thoughts to sort themselves out, falling into quiet silence as usual. They’re... afraid. That’s what this tight feeling in their chest is, it’s fear. They’d known that their Mama was part of some dangerous things, but this is so much. This woman had taken them in, was the only person who had never hurt them, who sat with them and taught them the things they didn’t know, who woke them with a gentle touch... this woman was the only family they had ever had and now she’s being hurt, she’s being hurt so very much-
Tav cuts off the line of thought as tears hit their hand, hot and burning the scrapes from the night before. Bruises ache at their ribs, their back scraped raw and old cuts reopened and rehealed overnight. They wonder if it was their own quick healing that did it or if their Mama had once again tired herself for them on top of it all.
They wipe their eyes and get back to work. No time to think of those things. You have to make it better, for Mama. They think, ears perking to the sounds of the others waking up behind them. They silently take out two more cups, taking the chipped one for themself.
“Boys, you’re awake. Good morning,” Carla mumbles. Tav wonders if these boys can hear the waver in her voice.
“Miss Carla? What... what happened? Wha-” The thinner one says. He gets up, that odd creature jumping onto the table as he sits down, a hand on his head. He smells like paper and leather and ink past his scent, and as Tav sets his cup before him, the way he pauses makes them to the same.
“...There’s not honey in this, is there?”
Tavir is surprised by seeing him look directly at them. Mama’s guests never look at them past a glance, and they’re even more surprised to see that he’s waiting for them to answer.
“N-no... w-would you...” They trail off, irritated by their inability to form the last part of their sentence. They expect irritation as the pause lengthens, but the boy smiles their way and shakes his head, bowing it over his cup soon after.
“No, thank you. I’m allergic, so I wanted to be sure,” They nod, jumping a bit as the larger of the two reaches out to take his own cup, his hot fingers brushing their skin. They glance his way, guilt flooding their body as they spot the already-darkening bruises on his throat from their attack.
They shake the guilt away before moving to sit beside their Mama, handing her her tea. The larger boy speaks first, Tav’s ears perking to the lilt of his voice, a hint of some accent there they try to place.
“Miss Carla, what happened last night? Why were we on the floor? Is the fighting over, are the creatures gone? What about Koi?”
Tavir blinks at both the speed, and the clarity of his questions, wondering what it must be like to speak so quickly and with such conviction. Their attention switches when Carla speaks, though their eyes shift to the smaller twin’s hands and how they shake against his mug. They begin to worry he might break the cup and cut himself by mistake if he holds it any tighter.
“One at a time baby. Last night was an attack from a man who called himself the Lady’s Apostle. As for being on the floor, I put you to sleep so you wouldn’t have to listen to the fighting all night, and to be quite honest, carrying you to bed is awkward now that you’re adults. In a size way, not a personal one. As for your sister...” Carla pauses, looking out the window to the surrounding forest, the protection spell set the night before giving a slight shimmer to the light that Tav wonders if others can even see.
“Your sister is strong. Stronger than any of us can imagine her to be. Even if these creatures did get inside the walls, I can promise you both that she found some way to protect herself and your home,”
The two boys sigh in relief, the smaller one who smells of books placing his head in his hands and removing his glasses. Tav wonders how seeing in less clarity will help him relax any.
“Gods above... Miss Carla, you said you had much to tell us, but... what does that have to do with anything last night?”
Carla bites her lip in that way Tav sees when they ask her difficult questions, like she’s trying to bite back the urge to simply say “I don’t know” and move on. They realize that this is going to be hard for their Mama, and subconsciously move closer, whimpering very quietly under their breath.
“...I promise, it’ll all make sense. For now, we have to wait for my spell to take effect in the city, and for Firae to awaken and fetch your sister. You all have to be here for this, but I fear your sister already knows everything I am about to tell you,” She sighs yet again, covering her eyes for a moment.
“I’m so sorry babies. We- your father and I- have hidden so much from you. And I fear that now is the only time I’ll be able to tell you. I have to, for your own safety. I can only hope your father can forgive me,”
Max’s youngest child and only daughter isn’t one to stray far from her home, though when she does it is almost always while accompanied by one of her older brothers.
Her name is Koi, and while she is a kind girl, she can be known to be short and concise with her words in a way that can make her seem uncaring.
It is unknown if she can see at all, though she’s been known to spill prophecies from her lips if given enough time to speak one through. Many say she is simply mad, a sick girl given too much freedom to do as she pleases.
Her brothers have grown concerned for their younger sibling, the way she’s taken to sitting by the fire for hours while not actively doing something she deems important. They’ve taken to simply bringing her her favorite drinks, and blankets when the night falls and the house gets cool, leaving her be. If only they could see what she can.
Today, Koi sits and stares into the flames, though her eyes are seeing a different sight. Dark waters, blood, an empty pain in the center of her chest that refuses to fade. She hugs her blanket around herself, the piece of shoddily hand-sewn cloth soft with age and smelling heavily of sunshine from drying outside.
The girl tries to use the flames in front of her to drown out the images burning themselves into her mind, having to watch her Papa die yet again. She knew it would happen, she knew he would have to be hurt to find her Father, she knew it... but all the same it hurts her so deeply.
She loves her parents. If nothing else, she loves her family more than anything on the planet, and would give anything for them to be together again. She keeps this thought in mind as she sees the blood bloom in the dark water as her limbs go cold, her breathing going shallow and shaky.
It will be worth it. She thinks, closing her eyes to no avail, trying to stop the images. Papa will bring Father home, we’ll be together again. It will be worth it.
Finally, slowly, the images fade away and she takes a deep breath, pulling her knees up to her chest. She sits in silence for a few more moments until a voice pipes up from behind her.
“...Koi?” Linkoln walks over to sit beside his sister, not surprised when she doesn’t look up, trembling slightly under her blanket. The strongest of her siblings looks her over before moving the blanket so that he can hug himself to her side.
“...Something’s happened, hasn’t it?” He looks over, letting her just sit with her eyes closed as he speaks. “...That’s alright. Xi and I can make dinner tonight, you can sit and rest. And don’t worry, I’m sure Papa will come home to us soon,” He smiles, pulling her head onto his shoulder in the way his father’s done to all of them many a sleepless night.
“After all, he would never leave us behind. Papa will always come back,”
Koi takes a breath, finally opening her eyes and slowly nodding. Yes. Papa will always come back. She only hopes it’s in one piece.
