Chapter Text
The sky was a darker red than usual. Smoke in the air made breathing uncomfortable. Even so, he wandered with no destination in sight. Kicking around loose rubble was his only form of entertainment. A few hours of this was fine, maybe later he’d walk in a tight circle, or perhaps lie on the ground and watch the clouds move. That last one usually made him very sweaty though, lying out in the unwavering heat made him feel like a fish in an oven. Even if he was very bored, he preferred for nothing to happen, if lady fate was kind to him, nothing would continue to happen forever. Whenever something did happen, it was never good.
He hadn’t heard it, but he felt the ground shiver. Following the shockwave to its origins, he found a building crumbling under its weight. Light seeped through the cracks of the rubble and the noise of alarms permeated the quiet evening. He pulled the rocks away to make an entrance large enough to walk through. This was it, today was the day he always feared would come. Though not like this, everything about this was wrong.
She lay propped up against the wall, her dirty lab coat now stained even further with blood. Her shortcut cobalt spines were matted against her forehead, sticky with the sweat running down her face. Sickly pale skin nearly matched her hair color, stitches on the side of her face looked like they threatened to open. One still functioning tired eye-still as sharp as he remembered- meets him. She was cradling an unconscious child in her arms, tightly gripping onto his shoulders.
“You…are very slow.” She rasps out. He runs over to her and grabs her in his arms, letting the child fall to the wayside. “Silver… he had an episode.” She looks over at the boy who is now lying on the floor.
“What did I tell you, Mercuri… I TOLD YOU!” The man grits his teeth, his voice a low whisper.
“Ahh.” Mercuri laughed lightly. Her breaths became more shuttered. “I'm getting yelled at for trying to give my o’l gramps a break.” She grabs his hand, squeezing it tightly. “Is this- is- the first time you hugged me?”
The man looks around for a first aid kit. There was nothing, just broken glass and shattered hopes. “Damn..damn.” The man's heart rate jumped as he examined her wounds. He didn’t pull up her shirt, the wound was mortal.
“Hey. that boy. His name is Silver.” She says loud enough to catch his attention. “Without me, he’ll need…” her eyes closed as she trailed off.
“MERCURI!” The man shakes her. But she doesn’t reply.
The sight of it is unbearable. Especially her hair. It’s blue, it’s always that damn color. Everywhere he looks he sees nothing but blues stained with red. The skies, the birds, bodies that had gone long cold, Maria.
He snaps out of it when he registers his ragged cloak being soaked in blood. Mercuri's body was pressed tightly against his in a fierce embrace. His face was dry, after so many years he had run out of tears to shed.
Releasing the woman her body fell with an unceremonious thud. The man barely lifts himself, his old bones begging to rest. Every muscle in his body screamed at him to stop walking, there was nowhere else to go now. His heart weighs heavy in his chest, years worth of grief dragging it down to the pits of his stomach leaving him queasy.
He picked up the unconscious child, the boy's long white hair hanging off his arm. The man walked, with no destination in mind.