She was all right? She was okay? She was anything but those things. Everything, everything in the entire world was wrong. The knowledge tore at her like a hungry beast.
Yomi let her head drop to the floor, but the dull ache of her temple hitting the tile was nothing compared to the pain in the rest of her body. In the face of Klavier’s insistence, she fell into stillness on her side. Not moving, yes, she could do that. There was no point in struggling to break free; it was not them she was fighting. But her grief didn’t stop--it continued to flow out of her in tears and choked noises, a grief that seemed to have no bottom to it. She wouldn’t have been surprised if all the blood in her body had been replaced with anguish, her heart pumping it in a never-ending circuit throughout her body, powering her limbs where the sesshouseki powered what remained of her soul.
Kindness would have been doing what the man asked and calming herself down. Climbing out of the ashes of her hope and donning a brave face would put them at ease, let them cling to a veneer of normalcy. But what was left of normalcy to cling to?
There was none. That, too, was something she had to accept.
She knew as well that the moment she was able to put on a smile was the moment the sesshouseki renewed its hold over her, and that terrified her beyond all reckoning. She gazed sightlessly along the floor, only vaguely aware of what the two above her were saying. Her. They were talking about her, what was wrong with her. But although Klavier had been there to see her fall, but he didn’t know… he didn’t know…
It was Rose’s accusation that pierced the dark cloud in her mind. Her eyes flew wide. Denial came instantaneously, but the words wouldn’t come.
No, no, that was a mistake… No one had killed her. She had done that herself.
no subject
Yomi let her head drop to the floor, but the dull ache of her temple hitting the tile was nothing compared to the pain in the rest of her body. In the face of Klavier’s insistence, she fell into stillness on her side. Not moving, yes, she could do that. There was no point in struggling to break free; it was not them she was fighting. But her grief didn’t stop--it continued to flow out of her in tears and choked noises, a grief that seemed to have no bottom to it. She wouldn’t have been surprised if all the blood in her body had been replaced with anguish, her heart pumping it in a never-ending circuit throughout her body, powering her limbs where the sesshouseki powered what remained of her soul.
Kindness would have been doing what the man asked and calming herself down. Climbing out of the ashes of her hope and donning a brave face would put them at ease, let them cling to a veneer of normalcy. But what was left of normalcy to cling to?
There was none. That, too, was something she had to accept.
She knew as well that the moment she was able to put on a smile was the moment the sesshouseki renewed its hold over her, and that terrified her beyond all reckoning. She gazed sightlessly along the floor, only vaguely aware of what the two above her were saying. Her. They were talking about her, what was wrong with her. But although Klavier had been there to see her fall, but he didn’t know… he didn’t know…
It was Rose’s accusation that pierced the dark cloud in her mind. Her eyes flew wide. Denial came instantaneously, but the words wouldn’t come.
No, no, that was a mistake… No one had killed her. She had done that herself.