[RE] Decisions

You’re late. It’s not your fault, exactly, except that it is- it’s entirely your fault, because you lost track of them, again, and now you can’t find them, and the Long Night or whatever is nearly upon you and they’re still missing but what are you supposed to do because it’s getting dark, real dark, and it’s entirely your fault. You should have kept better track of them, but they were always so resistant to your hovering, and you figured hey, how much trouble could they get into, locked up in this bubble? A lot, it turns out. But you don’t know that right now. All you know is that they’re missing, and you’re late. So you hurry along the empty path, unnerved and uneasy in the eerie quiet. There is nobody - nobody - on the road, only dying street lights and howling wind and more snow than you ever knew could possibly fall in a single place. But there’s life ahead, or so you have been led to believe, a group at the Rathskeller, a safeguard against the dark. Maybe they’re there, your absentee quarry. They must be. They love… bars. And… peo…ple. And… and… and okay, so they don’t like any of these things in particular. Let’s be real, though: your sisters are more likely to be causing havoc than hiding from it. All your fear aside, they’re probably fine. You’re the one who should be afraid. It’s dark when you reach the Rathskeller. Like, really dark. Panting now, you reach for the gate, and… nothing. The thing is locked, shut tight against the darkness. Shit shit shit shit. Mere meters away you can see lights, and silhouettes in the windows: civilization, safety, just out of reach. “Ha- hey!” you call into the shadows, your voice echoing eerily down the alleyway. “HEY!” Behind you, a sound- and you spin around, heart in your throat, hopeful and terrified as a figure comes closer, indistinct in the dark. It looks almost familiar, and then suddenly there are two, and hope rises hot in your fluttering chest. Could it be…? Maybe…? “Grusha?” you whisper hopefully, fear coating your words like sticky tar. “Tae? I’ve been looking for you- I missed you- I-“ But whatever else you would have said dies upon your tongues. It isn’t your sisters. It was never your sisters. Once again, you have failed as a brother. At least, you think in your final moments, this will be the last time.