Work Text:
The lights do nothing to dispel away the shadows that crept from the corners of the room, threatening to swallow up the body lying prone on the bed and Sonetto's voice is stuck inside her throat with a plea for her to wake up so she doesn't leave too. Even the smell of antiseptic is proving to be too much already when she hasn't been here for long.
Her breathing is shaky but still, she picks up Vertin's hand with her own two gloved hands. She's paler than she's ever known her to be, thinner too from weeks of slumber. There's no strength in them and for a moment, Sonetto lets herself hope that she feels a twitch from the sleeping girl’s fingers when it really is just her own hands that are shaking so much.
She finds it difficult to speak, it being the very first time she has been allowed this close to the Timekeeper. It is only through Mesmer Jr's kindness and the fact that the building is emptier than it usually is that she was allowed in but she was given only a limited time and although she doesn't want to leave her side again, she knows that she has to speak up the words she came here to let out or else she'll never be able to say them again.
(Because there’s difficulty in speaking the moment her gaze meets eyes that know her very well.)
It’s been a couple hours since she had arrived back to the main branch, her business in the Chicago office having wrapped up to be a success. Her assistance as witness should guarantee their win, if Madam Z is to be believed.
And yet, she still feels lost.
She raises her hands to her face, still clutching Vertin’s. The dreaming girl's fingers comes to a rest just before Sonetto’s lips and she has to hold herself back from letting out a cry from escaping from her throat because it’s been more than a month and she’s—
“Timekeeper… Can you hear me?”
She’s tired .
And Vertin is still asleep.
The world continues to spin around them, even then.
How ridiculous, to speak to a person who can't even hear her words but this is something that Sonetto keeps to herself because she can be selfish too and for once, she wants to step over the line she had drawn in between the two of them from that day when the Storm took away the people they once called their classmates. People that Vertin once called her friends.
They were children then.
“It’s been several weeks since you were first brought in here,” Sonetto says softly, closing her eyes and if she can strain her hearing just a bit more, maybe she’ll hear the beating of her heart amidst all the sounds of the equipments connected to Vertin. “Everyone is still waiting for you.”
Madam Z, Regulus, Mr. Apple, Sotheby, Druvis, Lilya—
“I’m here, Timekeeper. Still waiting for you.”
Herself.
Of course, no response comes. She can wait all day, but the voice she yearned to hear will never come. The beeping of the equipments are steady, the only constant in this room that accompanies the unconscious body of her companion.
It’s a bit lonesome — to be here.
A bit cold too, something she has never known to associate with Vertin because she shouldn't be here to begin with. She should be outside, a bright light in her eyes with a wide smile on her face. Not in here, where even the brightest of lights doesn't make the place any less solemn. Her Timekeeper is warm and full of life, serving as a guiding light to so many people but here she is instead.
And Sonetto still couldn't do anything.
Her shoulders shake with unshed tears, breathing becoming even more of a chore now than it was when she had poured her heart out for a friend they could have had but lost to the cruelty she knew that the humans of the Foundation possessed.
“Was it because she did not pay enough ‘shelter fee’ to qualify for sheltering? Or was it because the wand she used was transformed by arcanum, which made you think she was an arcanist?”
Their contempt, an unchanging thing even as their time is ravaged by the Storm. She had always believed in the cause of the Foundation to unite humans and arcanists together but she cannot turn a blind eye and pretend as if their kind does not suffer from their hands too.
“They were humans. If only they had made it to the headquarters sooner… Maybe… They…”
Her own words back then echoes inside her mind, the pain of being reminded of a loss they could have prevented coming back so cruelly it tears a whimper out from Sonetto’s lips. She tightens her hold on Vertin’s hand, like a lifeline she cannot bear to let go of.
“Timekeeper…”
Maybe if it was her, she’d know. She always did, her wisdom praised by many.
“How do you… do it?”
The question, something she had always wanted to ask, lifts a heavy weight from her shoulders from finally being uttered out loud.
In a world where they exist (oh what beautiful existences they are, with arcane in their fingertips and the stars in their eyes) only to be turned away and be subjected to scorn from the very people they had sworn to protect and serve, Vertin stands tall — unwavering and full of determination to make a difference.
She had always chased after her, wondering what kind of power she possessed to be able to keep on standing up and marching forward even as the Storm wore her down time and again.
She’s no sun, this Sonetto knows. For the sun burns brightly and without fear. It is unopposed, worshiped by all. It shines upon a world so beautiful and only heard of from the many poems Sonetto has read.
She’s the moon, this Sonetto knows. She calls the waves to her, up and up until they shake the very foundations that are now causing the status quo to change. She has a pull that couldn't be ignored, people flocking to her so naturally. From the reliable Madam Z, to the arcanists that now surround her and fight for her.
Just a little, Sonetto feels envious of them.
“It’s difficult,” she says with a gulp, her throat so so dry that she feels as if she had not drank water for too long. “It’s… It’s painful.”
It hurts. Because she’s reminded of how helpless she truly is, unable to save even just one person but what about Vertin?
She had always wanted to save everyone, to save as many people as she could but Sonetto has been there from the very start. She had watched her lose more and more people, humans and arcanists alike in her pursuit of a safe place for them.
And yet even after all of that, she’s still here.
Please, won't you open your eyes?
She still can't say those words.
Please, won 't you answer me?
Although she has it in her to be selfish, there were some boundaries she dared not to cross. To ask her for something when it’s all she’s done in her life is too cruel, she should be given respite too. It’s something Sonetto is willing to give, even at the cost of her own true feelings.
So she lies. (The truth was, she wants her to wake up already.)
She tries to smile in spite of the tears waiting to spill from her eyes. “Take all your time and rest well, Timekeeper. It’ll all be over soon.”
She stands up, gently placing Vertin’s hand down by her side and makes her exit.
Mesmer Jr. eyes her, having been standing next to the door. She says nothing, only giving her a nod before shuffling back inside.
“Thank you.” Sonetto still says to the arcanist, receiving but a wave in return.
Vertin is the moon, this Sonetto knows as she walks down the empty hallways of the building.
For the moon shines upon a world already drowned by darkness, serving as its one guiding light when even the sun has set. It doesn't burn brightly, its light not as blinding as the sun but cool and welcoming.
It’s beautiful. (She is.)
(Sonetto likes to think she’s one of the stars hanging from the skies close to her. That way, she’s still by her side.)