Abnormal scenes

Why must death feel so cold?

(Perspective: Rei Endo)

It was a humid summer evening when my sister approached me. After Yuna's war declaration, both stereotypes and abnormals were a mess. The situation was tense and smaller fights started breaking out, that was until an armed group of stereotypes made their way towards the castle, wanting confrontation. We knew we couldn't ignore them forever.

When Tamane came to me, she had a request: "Make them forget me, if I don't make it." There was no official decision on how the situation should be handled, but for Tamane it was all clear. She'd made this decision when she swore loyalty to Yuna. Some say that people can feel when it's their time to go, I think that's what happened to Tamane. But I've known her all her life, so we both knew she wouldn't go down without a fight.
Still, her ask shocked me. A person's memories are so precious, why would she want to take it away from her loved ones? "Are you sure?" Was the only reply I could muster. Tamane breathed a sigh, she looked conflicted and it made me all the more unsure. "I don't want them to live with the pain", she mumbled, "I don't want them to put the blame on anyone but me." I could sympathize, of course. Nobody would want to hurt the ones they're closest to, but this decision seemed more than rushed. "We should wait for official instructions..", was the reply I ended up giving. I'm still not sure if that was the best thing I could've done, but Tamane seemed at least a bit discouraged.

The next day, we had a council meeting. Everyone who was currently staying in the castle was present, except for Rama. At the time I believed she might not have wanted to attend, but now I think she might've been excluded per Tamane's request. Maybe things would've ended differently if Rama was there, she would've been bold enough to stop Tamane.
"We can't just leave the situation like this.." Kalikos voice ripped me out of my trance. I sit by and listen to their conversation.. "I agree, we should send someone out there" Yunna nodded and at the moment Tamane volunteered.
I think everyone was hoping that no one would, because we had a feeling how it would end. But for some reason, all words of protest got stuck in my throat.

So not even two hours later, I watched my sister step out of the castle, sword in hand. I remember her eyes even darker than usually.
She tried to negotiate at first, but the stereotypes wouldn't take it and Tamane's patience was running out. I'm not even sure how it happened but in the matter of minutes there was a full-blown fight. Blood was spilling and dripping from the edge of my sisters blade. She was just defending herself but it looked so merciless, I almost didn't recognize her. The scarlet stains on her clothes and the ground were becoming more and more by the second, people dropping down. I could barely keep up watching her, until suddenly it all slowed down. I heard one shot, then two, hitting her leg and shoulder. It wasn't lethal, of course, but it was enough to take her down while letting out a guttural noise of pain.
I wanted to run out there and help her, but my body wouldn't budge.
The next thing I saw was a long speer piercing her her chest. It was like I could hear her scream, her voice ragged and strained as her flesh was torn open. When the person on the other end pulled the speer up, Tamane's heart was ripped from her now cold body.

Seemingly satisfied, the few remaining people left, holding up my sisters heart as if it was a treasure. Their faces were those of glee, celebrating their inhumane act of violence. I still couldn't move my body, too shocked to do anything but stare. I couldn't process anything, I didn't know how to deal with my sister actually being gone.

It feels like an eternity that I was standing there, looking out the window. I snapped out of it when I heard loud footsteps. I turn around to see Rama, completely out of breath. She came up behind me and looked out of the same window, her body shaking. It didn't even take a few seconds till she ran out, not caring about anything other than Tamane. She fell on her knees beside my sister..

And at this moment nothing else mattered, because she realized it would all be temporary.

She wished to be able to turn back time and make it, so she would be temporary too. So she could join her, on her deathbed. Maybe, it wouldn't be as scary then.

But still, she couldn't. She knew the type of consequences a decision like that would have. She was cursing at her past self, at how dumb she was for not thinking her decision through.

Because how could an immortal stand, having their loved ones die in their arms? It felt crushing, the reality that she would never see her again. The reality, that she could've prevented this if only she stopped her.

She tried to not blame herself, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't help it the same way she couldn't stop the tears flowing, while she was holding a corpse in her arms. She couldn't stop sobbing while looking at her face. Her face. Her still face, with empty eyes. She knew there was no life left in that body, that once belonged to the one she loved. Still, she kept checking the pulse, in case this might just be a bad dream after all.

And so there were two figures in the palace garden of wilted flowers, one literally and the other one figuratively having their heart ripped out.

It stayed like this, Rama sobbing over Tamane's corpse for at least 30 minutes, probably closer to an hour. That was until Kaliko managed to drag her inside. In the castle, Rama immediately collapsed to the floor, not having energy to hold herself up. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, she looked exhausted. "Why are you crying? She died a death worthy of a hero", Yuna spoke in a cold, almost monotone voice. Rama lifted her head, disbelief in both her eyes and voice: "What did you just say..? You dare say that when none of you tried to stop her?! You just let her do this, you let her die?" Yuna took a while to respond, seemingly contemplating on what the right thing to say would be, but after a while she responded: "It was her own decision, why would I try to change her mind?". Rama got up, in pure rage she kicked the table we previously held our meeting at, successfully making it tip over. She rushed out of the room, almost stumbling over a flight of stairs.

At her words, guilt was filling my whole body. I was at fault too, I didn't help either. Maybe if I just pulled through and went to help her, I could've changed Tamane's fate. Maybe if I wasn't such a coward, she would still be breathing.