I'll leave my love hidden in the sun
Transfixed in place, so locked into her internal battle against queasiness and guilt was the girl that she barely even noticed what Hotaru was doing, until the woman spoke. Hearing the calm voice cut above the stillness of sighing wind and the steady, bone-shuddering crunch as Umbra bit down on his carcass made Seren flinch.
Still. Still. Even though it took her some time to respond. Though it felt as though her entire body was rebelling - hands cold, arms numb, something like sweat or dread trickling down her back between tightly wound shoulderblades and a desert on the tongue - she nodded.
"Please," she heard herself say, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own. On stilted legs she stumbled in, closer. Staring at the bloodied scraps, where white bone glinted through tattered flesh that seemed much too red against the snow.
She knelt beside Hotaru. Swallowing, swallowing, against the bile in her throat.
"I need to get used to this," she told no one in particular, through the thin ringing in her ear. "The war is coming. In eight seasons, it will be here. It has been declared now. There's no going back."
She could not afford to remain a child forever.
Still. Still. Even though it took her some time to respond. Though it felt as though her entire body was rebelling - hands cold, arms numb, something like sweat or dread trickling down her back between tightly wound shoulderblades and a desert on the tongue - she nodded.
"Please," she heard herself say, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own. On stilted legs she stumbled in, closer. Staring at the bloodied scraps, where white bone glinted through tattered flesh that seemed much too red against the snow.
She knelt beside Hotaru. Swallowing, swallowing, against the bile in her throat.
"I need to get used to this," she told no one in particular, through the thin ringing in her ear. "The war is coming. In eight seasons, it will be here. It has been declared now. There's no going back."
She could not afford to remain a child forever.
For when the darkness comes
SEREN
