Another

Chapter 22: Goodbyes

     I led Nezuko to the river. For whatever reason, it just seemed like the right place to go. The right place to return home. To return to the real world. 

     Nezuko was quiet, until we reached the bank of the river. She withdrew her hand from my own and stood still until I turned around and looked her in the eye. 

     She wasn’t crying anymore. Although I was happy to see that, she had a look in her eyes that said she was hurting. She reached her hand out and tugged two times on my sleeve, a childhood sign that she wanted to be alone. 

     I sat down by the frozen water, tapping on the spot beside me. Nezuko sat down, gazing at the river’s near-perfect visage as she rested her head on my shoulder. I watched the river too, somehow content with my younger sister resting by me, the muted thrum of cold water from the river’s wall of ice, and the blank snow falling softly around us. 

     It was almost akin to old times, before oto-san passed away or when Muzan ruined our happy lives and turned us into this. For just a little while, Nezuko and I were children again. We were just brother and sister, with all the weight of the world on our parent’s shoulders, leaving us to our own childish dreams of innocent desires. We were young. We were happy. 

     A shame. A shame that we had to grow up and leave it all behind. It was, truly, a shame.

    The wind began to pick up, blowing the snow into our eyes. I quickly draped my haori over Nezuko and pulled her close before covering my own eyes. Distantly, I could hear the crackle of splintering wood. I could hear the sound of a blizzard, the sound of the river breaking free of the ice that held it. I could hear the voices of our loved ones urging us forward, telling us to live! 

     Nezuko tightened her grasp on me, and I knew that she could hear them as well, our mother telling us to take care of ourselves, our father telling us that he was proud of us, and all our siblings, Hanako, Takeo, Shigeru, and even little Rokuta, shouting that they loved us. Distantly, I even heard Yorichii-san, saying to not forget our little conversation. 

     I gave up blocking my eyes from the winds of the snowstorm, and wrapped both arms around Nezuko. She quickly wrapped both her arms tightly around my waist and buried her face into my chest. We hugged each other, while the snow blew around us and into the air. We knew that this was goodbye, not to each other but to the people we were before. We were saying goodbye to our old lives, to our family, to the resentment we felt-towards both ourselves and to fate. This was goodbye. 

     I did my best to shield Nezuko from the snow, pulling her as close as I could. She was crying again. The winter storm turned her tears into cold drops of ice against my clothes. I squinted my eyes shut and pressed my lips against the top of her head, feeling the wind whip our hair side to side. It was time to go, and we were leaving. It was time to wake up.

     I grit my teeth against the cold, and forced my eyes open. 
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Hey y'all. This chapter's video is what I was listening to as I wrote this chapter. You should totally check out cariño's account :)