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She walked quickly through the halls, trying to ignore the sounds of gunfire and shouting growing closer and closer as she neared the room.
Unfortunately, that room was the only way to the main exit. She hoped it wasn't blocked like all of the others were. She felt her dread growing as she approached the door, and tightly held the pistol that she had found a few minutes before.
She carefully peeked in and saw only two living soldiers. The enemies. Everyone else in the room appeared to be dead.
Something caught her eye. Leaning up against the bloodstained wall was someone with a familiar black uniform.
An Alpha stream student. Maybe the kid was still alive. She would check on him after taking down the two soldiers in the room.
With a loud yell, she swung the door open and fired her weapon, not giving the enemies any time to react. She watched as they fell dead and immediately made her way over to the boy leaning against the wall. As she knelt down to get a good look at him, she realized she was too late. He was pale, his eyes glassy and blank. She looked at the horrible wound that went across his stomach. He wouldn't have survived it long, which she was glad. He didn't have to suffer.
She looked at the six studs on the dead boy's uniform collar. Sixth year. He would've only been around eighteen or nineteen. "Barely an adult. You poor thing." She said with a sad frown.
She then noticed something. A terrible scar on the right side of his face, on the corner of his mouth and across his nose. Unlike the other scars he had, these didn't look like they came from a weapon. They seemed oddly familiar.
No, actually, he seemed oddly familiar. She couldn't figure out how, though. She stared at him, trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar. Did she see him before?
She looked back at the scar.
It's from the tree root. She thought.
She froze.
The tree root?
No. No it couldn't be.
"Mama! Mama, look I got more petals." Xiu Mei looked over at her five year old son, who was excitedly running over to her to add more petals to the growing pile next to her. She was leaning against the trunk of a cherry blossom tree, watching as Wing collected petals off the ground. He seemed to be easily entertained by then.
"That's a lot! How many do you plan on collecting?" She asked with a soft smile.
"The whole tree!"
"The whole tree?" She said, acting shocked, "that sure is a lot of petals."
"Uh-huh!" He gave a proud smile, "and I'm getting all of them."
He then ran off to the other side of the tree to where she couldn't see him very well. Though, she trusted the young boy well enough to come back after getting more petals. She just sat there and watched as more gently drifted down onto the ground, covering everything in a soft pink.
Soon, she heard a loud cry. Within seconds she leapt to her feet and ran to the other side of the tree. There, she saw Wing on his knees, crying as he covered the right side of his face. He was in front of a root with some blood on it.
"Wing!" She ran to him and knelt down, "are you ok sweetie?" She carefully moved his hand and gasped. He had a bad scratch across his face, on the corner of his mouth going to his nose.
"I was- I- the root-" he struggled to speak through his tears.
"Shh, it's ok baby, it's ok." She said with a comforting tone as she gently brushed the hair out of his face, "Come on, let's get you home so I can clean up your face."
"But I- the petals!"
"We can come back tomorrow for you to collect them."
He frowned, no longer seeming worried about the blood trickling down his face. He huffed, "Okay." He said sadly. She grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet. He still had a few petals in his other hand.
She stared at the dead boy in front of her.
No. No it wasn't true.
It had to be a coincidence.
But, it all added up. The scar and the fact he looked so familiar. The uniform too. It made sense for him to be a young adult.
"My…. My baby." She said, choking up from the tears threatening to fall, "oh my son! I'm so sorry!" She cried.
It had been over thirteen years. She had hoped to see him again after all that time.
She never thought she'd find him dead.
The worst part was that he seemed to have been the only one of the friendlies that died. The rest in the room were part of the enemies side, as one could tell from the uniforms they wore. Did the survivors just leave him?
They probably did, and she wasn't mad. He didn't survive long. The wounds he suffered were too bad.
She was glad her boy didn't have to suffer. Didn't have to watch as his team abandoned him.
She carefully placed a hand on his right cheek, "I'm so, so sorry… I wish I would've arrived sooner."
She looked at him. He was no longer the little five year old who was determined to collect all the cherry blossoms.
He was a young man.
He looks so much like his father.
"I wish I could've watched you grow up. I'm so sorry I ran away. I'm so sorry that I hid." She sobbed, carefully grabbing his hand, "I'm so sorry I abandoned you and your father."
She looked into his lifeless eyes, and couldn't stand how blank they look. She gently brushed her hand over his face, closing his eyes, letting him rest.
She slowly stood, still looking at him. She wanted to hold him, to beg him to get up, but she knew there was no point. He was gone.
Her baby boy was gone, and this was how she had found him after all those years.
She had always hoped to find him again, to see that bright smile on his face as he went to greet her. She always hoped to just talk to him again, for him to hear her apologies.
She never thought she'd find him dead, all alone. She wondered if he was scared. She wondered if he just accepted it. She had so many questions she knew would never get answered.
She had to leave before she was found, but she just couldn't take her eyes away from her son.
She knelt back down, carefully brushing a strand of hair out of his face, "We'll meet again, on the other side. Rest well, my little cherry blossom."
She gave him one last hug before gently laying him down and standing. She had to accept it.
But it was difficult.
She sighed, looking away from the body and running towards the exit.
She probably wasn't completely hopeless.
Maybe Wu was still out there. She could look for him.
That little bit of hope was all she had.