Chapter Text
After a while of socializing with Viska’s easily excitable family Mei decided to step away. She glanced around before heading to the kitchen door. She wanted some time to herself away from the loudness.
She smiled. She felt like she had a family again.
Mei reached her temporary room. Or maybe permanent? She sat down on the bed. Her bed, she smiled at the thought. It had been a while since she had felt that sense of belonging.
Mei winced at the pain in her side. Her wound still hadn’t properly healed. Her hand slid across her waist, she lifted her hand to her nose. She could smell the blood.
She sighed and climbed up the ladder in the room. The moonlight lit up her face and the stars shone around her. She climbed to the edge of the roof and sighed.
“Things won’t always be like this. He will come back. They will come back” she muttered to herself.
Mei tensed as she heard the creaking of the ladder. It sounded like a small girl. Viska. No, it could be Yami.
“Hey Mei!” Viska quipped as she threw herself next to her new found friend.
Viska turned her head from the night sky to Mei’s eyes.
“What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”
Mei shook her head.
“Aw! Come on, you know you can tell me anything!” Viska wrapped her arm around Mei.
“You just startled me. That’s all.” She looked down to see that her clenched fists were shaking.
Viska looked down and moved her hands onto Mei’s.
“You know I care about you, right?” Viska swallowed.
“Yeah, I know. I care about you too. Your family has been so good to me. I hope someday I can return the favor”
Viska’s hands moved back to her lap. She held her own hands tight.
“You okay? I’m sorry. I did something wrong, didn't I?” Mei stared at the stars above them.
“No!” Viska yelled.
Mei jerked her head towards the red head whose eyes were starting to water.
“No, I mean you-you’ve been a great friend! I don’t deserve you”
Viska grabbed Mei’s collar and began to violently sob into her chest.
Mei looked down in confusion. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around Viska, but that only made her cry more.
“I-I I’m so sorry” and with that Viska pushed Mei off the roof where the cliff side tavern, inn, and most importantly home resided.
Viska screamed a sound that should never have been able to come out of a young girl. She fell onto the green colored wood of the roof. She brought her hands to her face. What had she done? Did she really kill her best friend? She sobbed even harder at that thought.
“Wow! Who would have guessed the fox would actually do it?”
“Man, it would have been so much more fun if you would have let me do it”
Two women landed on the roof.
“Yeah, you know I would have loved to watch it, Torra. Too bad we were too late to be able to watch. I would have loved to have seen the look on the two idiots’ faces, but I suppose the aftermath is equally as entertaining.”
Viska looked up to see a tall blonde and a short cat yokai looking down at her.
“You look awful” the cat yokai informed the kitsune.
“I did it! I-I I did it,” she sobbed, “I killed her”
“I see you did” Yami bent over and grabbed her face.
Torra squatted down next to the two “A pretty boring way to kill though. I mean you didn’t even really kill her.”
“I didn’t?” Viska looked up hopefully.
“Oh, you definitely did”
“No, she didn’t, the fall killed her” Torra argued.
“It doesn’t matter! She died either way!”
“Yes, it does-“
Viska began to cry more.
Torra leaned into her face more, “Come on! You’re not telling me it wasn’t fun are you?”
“The look of terror had to be priceless, although you probably couldn’t even see her eyes. The eyes tell it all. When we find the body I’m going to have to see them” Yami grinned at Viska’s look of horror.
“Please leave!” Viska begged.
“What? Are you tired of us already?” Yami licked her lips.
“Yami! Please, I want to stay longer! I haven’t even gotten to kill anyone yet!”
“Well we did promise not to kill the fox’s family. It was the deal after.”
“But that’s no fun!”
Yami’s eyes glowed and all of her teeth showed with this new grin. It was horrifying.
“We promised not to kill the fox’s family. We didn’t promise not to kill the fox.”
Yami retracted her claws. Torra cracked her knuckles.
Viska gulped and then resolved to a sigh.
I deserve this. I’m awful.
Yami grabbed her by the neck and pulled her to her feet.
“I want to kill her! It’s my turn!”
Yami ignored this and with a slight scratch blood began to spill out of her pale neck. Viska was sobbing. The tears were falling down her face onto Yami’s claws.
Viska struggled and kicked. She was pulling at Yami’s hands trying desperately to free herself. The more she struggled the more uncomfortable Yami looked. Her body was dangling over the cliff. She struggled more, crying louder after each attempt at freedom and soon Yami’s grin disappeared and a look of concern appeared on her face.
She seemed scared. Of what Viska couldn’t tell, but the deadly grasp was loosened. She fell.
She quickly turned into the first flying animal she could think of. A vulture, how oddly fitting. She flew into the stars away from her home, her family, and her friends.
“Hey! Come back here! I haven’t gotten to kill you yet!” Torra yelled.
Yami’s body was shaking. She was terrified.
Mei fell. She fell from the roof. She had been pushed by the one she trusted most. She had been stupid. Stupid to trust someone again. And even stupider to think someone would ever care for her again. For the brief seconds she would fall she would consider that she deserved it. Deserved death.
But she couldn’t just let go of her will to live that quick. Maybe she should have, but she grabbed on to the ledge of the window. She couldn’t cry. She couldn’t cry right now. She needed to focus all of her strength on holding herself up. She breathed heavily.
“I just need to get my other hand onto the ledge too. If I could pull with both arms I could get enough strength to pull myself up” she reasoned with herself.
She felt something warm on her hand. It was another hand. The hand of a young male. Kallon.
He’s gonna push me off. I’m done for.
Without much thought Mei yelled. Mei cried. She begged him not to push her down.
“Mei! Stop! Look at me right now, give me your hands.” He shouted at her as he leaned out the window grabbing her by the arm. He pulled her hard. She grabbed his upper arm and held tight.
He was helping her?
“KLIFFE! Get your butt over here and help me get Mei inside!” Kallon shouted to the young boy sitting next to him.
Killfe you grabbed one of her arms and they pulled her inside the bedroom.
Mei stood for a minute before she fell onto the floor.
“Mei-“
Then everything went black.
“She must have just tripped and fell”
“She’s not that dumb”
Mei woke to the sound of Kallon insulting her. There was chatter all around her. She felt a wet rag lying across her eyes. She groaned.
“Mei!” She heard Kallin rush to her side, who was soon followed by Viska’s parents, Max and Em, and her younger brother Kliffe.
“What happened?” Oh, I know what happened.
“That’s what we wanted to ask you,” Miss Em said as she sat on the bed next to Mei.