The Zodiac Cycle

3.9 Remembrance

Hecate threw the sword across the room

Get it away from me

the look he gave her was still burning behind her eyelids

Fear

Betrayal

Pity

she needed to get it out of her head, and she couldn't do that with the sword covered in his blood still strapped to her back. she tore the rest of her outfit off in a rage and backed up against the wall, looking to the side at the small circular mirror on the wall.

Hecate saw her own face, looking back at her in panic

Murderer

she let out a scream, her fist colliding with her own face, shattering it. pulling her hand back from the mirror, she knew she had hurt her hand. she looked at the already wrapped palm, and flashes of the same fear from George, she could see on Elizabeth not moments before.

I had no choice

she hoped the poison had worked quickly, painlessly. she knew the wound alone couldn't be fatal, she didn't have the guts to make it so.

I'm-

she looked once again at the broken mirror, reflecting the broken pieces of herself. the cropped hair, stuck to her forehead by sweat. the succession of scars running up her cheek and over her red eye, a reminder of her ties to the earth.

I'm sorry

Hecate was no killer.

and that was why she was still alive.

she ran her hand through her hair, and pressed her back once more against the cool wall, sliding down it until she was curled with her knees against her chest. she stayed there, trapped in her room. her wings were not clipped, and there were no chains around her, but she was still trapped there. The flames of her emotions wrapped around her, hot, but not enough to burn.

I never asked for this.

~~~

Sakura watched from the top of the roof as all the citizens, rebels and loyals alike, gathered around the shimmering Lethe Lake. of course, Loyals didn't know there were rebels around them, but all the same.

she wondered if people saw the remembrance ceremony in the same way as she did. if they saw the souls whispering unheard goodbye to their loved ones, or if they heard the wailing of the tortured spirits, unable to release their spite. every month, she would watch the ceremony. it was good training, Olive had said, to be there in case there were any last things the spirits wanted conveyed.

they usually wanted one of three things; Justice, Repentance, or Reminiscence. 

Sakura helped where she could, but there was only so much she could do when she had to stay out of sight.

she saw the Zodiacs on the Northern side of the lake, well hidden to loyals, but she could see them just fine. she watched as the brown-haired hippocampi - Clementine, she believed - stepped up to one of the floating lanterns on the edge of the water. she knelt down next to the edge of where the waves reached and kissed something in her hand before placing it on the lantern and pushing it to drift into the middle of the lake.

then came the singing.

it started as a hum. it was the same tune, known throughout the city as "The Weary Travelers Tune." it was a slow song, that only repeated the same line several times, but that was what made it perfect for the ceremony. someone would start to hum it, and as it got repeated, others would add their own voices in, harmonizing and creating a very ethereal sound, loud enough to hear on the other side of the city, yet still calm and melodic. 

then came the arrows. 

by the time the melody was catching on, people all around the lake drew back their bows and lit their arrows on fire. the lanterns had started gathering in the middle of the lake, so the arrows were aimed there. 

the blaze was mesmerizing, spreading across the lanterns as stray arrows were aimed for the stragglers. 

the melody came to its climax, its loudest. that was the best part of the ceremony, to Sakura, as she watched the glowing spirits around the lake start dancing to the melody across the waters surface. those who were ready took others hands and rode the smoke from the fire into the sky, disappearing from Sakura's sight after they shot upwards.

the others remained dancing until the bells from the nearby cathedral struck midnight.

the singing stopped so suddenly, and what followed was silence.