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Columbina gives a faint smile to her friends that surround her after Dottore's body disperses into the wind. She watches as their faces fall slightly as they watch her look around the platform for sight of Sandrone. Her eyes widen as she finally sees Sandrone laid on the ground, unmoving.
She pads over with haste and feels her knees buckle as she leans down to hold her friend. Noticing that the key that was once ever-turning has now been rusted to a stop. With hesitant hands Columbina tries to wind Sandrone's key up, maybe that'll help her.
The first attempt is a failure. The key unwinds itself to come to a stop in the same position that Columbina found it in. So, she tries again only to be met with the same result. And she keeps trying, she retries and keeps retrying because the first time that she gets to see Sandrone with her own eyes can't possibly be when she's died. She refuses to believe it.
Hours must've passed by now. Her friends have left her on that cursed platform with kind condolences and sympathizing shoulder pats. Yet she's rooted in place on the ground with the weight of a lifeless puppet halfway in her lap. It seems she's tried everything that she could think of in an attempt to bring Sandrone back. Pulonia lays motionless a few steps away, the sight of the scratches and exposed wires leave a dull and aching hurt inside of her chest.
She slowly pulls her eyes away once again, peering down at Sandrone.
She never knew Sandrone had a small scar by her eyebrow. She didn't know specks of glitter rested in between her perfectly spaced eyelashes. The way her hands had the joints of a puppet showing without shame. How some strands of her hair were a lighter shade than the rest. Then, she notices the brown colored smudge against the corner of her lips. A silent pang rings out in Columbina's chest from her heart lurching at the discovery.
She brings a gentle finger to the smudge, wiping it away with care. Columbina wipes over the area once more although the oil has already been removed. She thinks about what Sandrone's reaction would be if she were to ever do this when she was alive. "What are you doing, Columbinaaaa?! Get your hands away from me!" Columbina finds herself breaking into a barley-there grin, Sandrone always did have funny reactions. Columbina wishes she could pull more from her more than ever right now.
She stays on that platform for who knows how long, still holding onto Sandrone like she were her lifeline. Tears are unable to fall from her eyes, only a permanent frown laced into her skin. She allows her body to give into its exhaustion as she buries her face into Sandrone's hair. It's soft to the touch, just as she assumed. Columbina finds herself wondering if Sandrone would ever allow her to brush it. She twirls a stray strand around her finger and watches as it appears like it wants to stay wrapped onto it, before it uncoils and falls back into place.
She redoes it about a hundred times over, thinking that, if she keeps trying, it'll finally stay wrapped around her.
It feels like months have passed by the time Columbina finally hands over Sandrone and Pulonia's cores to Arlecchino. Arle wouldn't tell her why she needed them, said it was just something she needed for something important. Columbina just let herself nod in understanding as she made her way to Sandrone's office back at her base in Nod-Krai. She sees the fatui soldiers being tended to and watches as others walk out solemnly.
Once she's in the office she opens her eyes to see the reminisce of Sandrone everywhere. Slowly floating over to the cutely decorated desk, awaits a plate of cakes that have seemed to grow cold after being left behind. She smiles when she sees a small bite out of one of the treats, seeing the unfinished tea still halfway in the small cup. Sandrone always loved tea parties even though she swore she hated having Columbina at them.
Although, when Columbina did show up to them, Sandrone never made a genuine attempt to have her removed. She'd huff and scoff- rolling her eyes in mock irritation, all while pushing a cup of tea towards Columbina. Columbina always found her horrible facade of indifference.. slightly cute. Especially when it was directed at her. She misses her more than she can even begin to comprehend. The stark silence that now lays upon everything that was once hers is deafening.
Columbina thinks back to all of the times back at the fatui, feeling the presence of Sandrone watching her from the garden. Her being slightly too shy to introduce herself and Sandrone being too prickly to approach. But one day, Columbina brought a flower to Sandrone's room because she wanted to try and become friends. Sandrone stared at her for a moment in her doorway before slamming the door shut right in front of her face. But Columbina wasn't deterred by it and simply created a small bubble around the flower, leaving it floating in front of Sandrone's door.
The next day, Columbina was walking throughout the halls humming the one tune she'd known since her birth and saw Sandrone's door open. She walked by while continuing to peer inside and saw the flower carefully placed in what seemed like a hand crafted mechanical vase. She smiled to herself, reminding herself to tease Sandrone about it later and continued her walk down the halls.
If Sandorne were to reappear right now only to berate Columbina and call her annoying and a nuisance, Columbina would gladly listen to her. She'd gladly let herself be rocked to sleep by the fury and storm that is Sandrone over the absence of her. Anything would be better than that.
Now all she can do is sit and wait, hoping that her friend will find a way back to her. Columbina will make sure that she's the first face she sees, just so she can get that nasty scowl from her lips.
She waits. It's nothing she's not used to already.