Chapter Text
With Marion's injuries tended to, AJ realized that they were pretty much lost.
He had ran back into the cave without a single thought in his head that he didn't realize that he didn't know where they were.
"Let's get out of here, okay?" AJ asked. Marion just hummed. She looked exhausted.
AJ lifted Marion onto her feet.
She coughed several times.
Marion felt weak. It was a bad feeling... Jeez.
As seconds passed, Marion found herself on AJ's back. Well, that's one way to do it.
She could barely walk so why not? It's not like she was heavy. So, AJ tried retracing his steps as Marion tried her best not to fall asleep.
"AJ.?" Marion spoke up as they were still lost with AJ walking around aimlessly.
He didn't hear her, the blood on her clothes soaking into his back was enough of a distraction..
"AJ, set me down." Marion spoke sternly yet as gently as she always did, snapping AJ out of his own head.
AJ stopped and did as he was told. Marion found herself back on the ground, fiddling with the already blood-soaked bandages.
"Jeez, someone's going to have to teach you how properly treat wounds when we get back, huh?" She took them off with a skilled hand.
AJ wanted nothing more than to continue carrying her to the settlement.
Marion wanted nothing more than to rest.
"I guess so." AJ sighed as Marion shuffled over to the wall, pain coursing through her entire body as she moved, breathing heavy as she sank down against the ground.
They both knew how this was going to go.
Marion wanted to be sent off with a sense of peace.
AJ wanted to see her at the settlement, just once more, to scold him for getting hurt, to complain that he should just stay at the settlement...
He wouldn't hear that voice anymore as Marion motioned for him to get a little bit closer.
"You can ask Dandelion or Callisto or Sezim about that, okay?" She asked. That wouldn't do...
"No way. You're going to teach me, okay?" AJ's voice cracked, hearing her voice go soft, almost accepting of her fate.
"AJ... I'm sorry." Marion softly smiled.
They both knew that she was going to die. It was too cruel. If Marion died... What would he do.?
He couldn't lose another sister.
It was like holding sand. No matter how tightly you hold it, it will always slip through your fingers. AJ held onto Marion tightly, like she was sand and yet here she is, slipping through his fingers.
AJ hung his head, unable to look at the woman he considered family as a hand placed itself on his head, softly ruffling his hair.
"Sorry I couldn't be around longer." She calmly smiled.
She was bleeding out and AJ couldn't do a thing.
She was bleeding out and AJ couldn't do a damn thing, but watch as she slipped out of his hands.
As he stared at Marion, oh so silently. He couldn't register anything.
Marion's hand slid from his head and he caught it, holding it tenderly.
Perhaps she'd say something along the lines of "You're holding my hand too tightly" or perhaps she wouldn't say a thing. She always let AJ do whatever he wanted if she was in a good mood.
"Mari..." AJ breathed out, "What do I do?" He asked, clutching her hand a little tighter.
Would she have an answer? Maybe she would. Maybe she wouldn't.
He was like a curse. Forbidden from getting too close from anyone.
First his sister, and now Marion... AJ felt helpless.
What good was he if he couldn't even protect those close to him? Was fighting truly all he was good at? He didn't know but a voice seemed to reverberate against the walls of the cave.
"She would have lived if you told her to stay home." It sounded like Marion but he knew it wasn't her. Marion would have never sounded that cruel.
"Be quiet." He uttered, staring at her fragile hand in his. He knew that the voice was correct.
If he just left her behind before she even stepped foot off the settlement, perhaps she'd stay home.
Then again, Marion was stubborn. She probably would've gotten lost trying to find him if he left her behind. Or maybe he was making excuses...
"Mari died because of you, you know? If you didn't head out today, she would have lived." The voice tormented, sounding more and more like Marion with each second.
The gentle sternness in that fake's voice tormented him as he didn't bother looking.
He couldn't handle seeing Marion alive anymore, even if it were a fake.
Marion was dead.
Marion was dead and it was his fault.
"Perhaps if you stopped getting hurt so carelessly, she'd be less worried and have no reason to come with you like she did today."
"Shut up." AJ's voice oozed with hatred as he cursed at the shadow that almost seemed to want to egg him on and on until he acted.
"You may as well have killed her yourself."
Those words brought a dawning realization. Like a cloud covering the sun, coating the settlement in a temporary darkness.
It was his fault. He could have stopped her if he cared a little bit more.
It was his fault. He could have kept her safe if he cared a little bit more.
He let go of Marion's hand and threw the knife she had on her. Black ink soaked the cavern walls. The metallic smell was all too familiar even in the dark.
"I said be quiet. Marion wouldn't have blamed me... She was..." He choked and fell silent.
Would she blame him?
She was dead now and there was nothing he could do to get an answer from her.
The shadow of Marion had vanished and perhaps he couldn't process the pain of it all but he tenderly picked up Marion and headed back to the settlement.
His emotions shut down.
All he could do was carry Marion through the settlement before setting her down somewhere soft. A comfortable grave for someone as soft as she was.
With that, AJ walked away. A lingering pain in his throat, one that he thought was gone came back and suddenly he was on a stage.
He remembered that day well. The day he lost his sister, a soft soul, just like Marion was.
An indescribable feeling welled up in AJ's chest. He recognized it. How could he not? The pain of loss, and grief, and anger... It flooded into his body all at once and he found himself swept up in the waves.
AJ stepped back out of the settlement.
God who knows how many days he was gone but the days that he was gone for, was hellish.
Soaked in blood that didn't belong to him when he returned... Venting his anger out against anything and everything that had the misfortune of crossing his path, all the rage from what seemed so long ago came rushing back.
He didn't say a word when he came back, the hoarseness in his voice far too reminiscent of his sister's death.
AJ was left alone for god who knows how long, practically fighting anyone who even tried to check on him...
He couldn't handle the pain that came with losing another person he had grown attached to.
When AJ had returned, the spot he had set Marion almost looked undisturbed. He couldn't bear to see the funeral they had for her.
How could he? She was dear to him. And just as dead...
As if the grave they had put her in was some kind of sacred land, a few of her belongings were placed around the disturbed ground.
Perhaps he had fallen numb but he didn't cry or beg for something to bring her back again. Maybe if his throat didn't burn from doing so while he was out... He would've begged some kind of higher being to bring back Marion.
His dear sister that had left as quickly as she appeared.
AJ didn't go anywhere else. Just stayed by her lonesome grave. Perhaps she'd like the company. She always looked bothered by something if she was by herself.
The smile she had on her face as she took her final rest remained trapped in his brain...