daffodil~ a shadow & maria one shot

daffodil

    "Maria?"
    Shadow glanced up towards the darkening sky and clenched his fists. Of course it wasn't her.
    Maria is dead.
    A twinkling bell sounded in the distance, ringing profoundly and desperately panging against his eardrums, willing him to listen. The sound was uncannily similar to the bell Maria would chase him around with, laughing with glee as they relished in the freedom that nothing and nobody could ever take away.
    Until they did.
    When the people came they carried weapons of all sorts- daggers, pistols, bombs- anything that could end a life as quick as a hummingbird's wing beat. When they came for Maria, he was powerless. Confined to his lonely capsule for fifty or more years, Shadow's memories had been quite misshapen. Contorted in such a way that allowed one man to reform and manipulate them to how he pleased, endangering every living being on the planet.
    That was, until that blue blurred nuisance came and changed his mind, saving him from an untimely death and allying himself with him so that they could save the world. It wasn't so bad when he put it like that, but all of the good that happened still couldn't outweigh all the horrors that had occurred while he had been... dead.
    Now, with his reinstated memories, Shadow couldn't help relieving almost every one of them, down to the very first. It was as if his mind needed him to feel every emotion he had once remembered, possibly to remind him of the good times whereas he would have rather focused on the problems at hand.
    I don't want to remember.
    He crumpled to the ground, fresh rain dripping down his cheeks and merging smoothly with his tears as they ventured down, down down. It seemed like that was the only place to go.
    When he had glimpsed the midday sun earlier, he had almost smiled. The sun's fluorescence seemed to touch every flower petal, every branch, every leaf. It was beautiful. So beautiful that the magnificence of it grew into disillusion- beautifully constructed lies that taunted and tormented him until his very last straw was broken and he was left screaming at the world for being so cruel.
    The sunflowers reminded him of her hair, the lakes of her dress, and the trees of the perfume she would wear on occasion. He would run toward the illusions, willing his feet to carry him until they couldn't any longer, only to find that he would never reach the image he thought he could see. They were nothing but mere illusions his brain had built to distract him from the agonizing reality that the only person he had ever cared for was gone.
    Now, the droplets fell faster and faster, racing each other to the ground. He was alone. Assuredly, unquestionably alone.
    How would she feel if she saw you right now? Withering to the ground like a delicate flower pelted by a river of rain?
    He clenched the grass strands in his hands, ripping out a few and tossing them hastily to the side. A bright dash of yellow caught his eye, and he noticed a petite daffodil, caught in the raindrop covered strands. It was bright yellow, yet its color seemed to dissipate faintly as its petals drooped solemnly, the weight of the raindrops weighing it down, down, down.
    Maria would say that she loves flowers, and then she would gently nourish it back to life.
    He looked up at the sky once more, imagining that she was there- that she was watching him- as he gently lifted his hand over the flower and shook its petals dry of rain.
Maria would say that the rain is needed for the flowers to grow, that things have to go down, down, down, before they can go up again.
    To let the flower grow, he realized he would have to remove his hand, leaving it to protect itself on its own against the wild raindrops tumbling down from the sky. He wiped his eyes, smoothing the petals one last time as he gently lifted his hand away, watching as the raindrops pelted the flower once more with no mercy. He frowned as the petals drooped towards the ground again, but after a few endless seconds the flower stood straight again, fighting the weight of the drops and standing for its life. The raindrops kept falling, and the wind kept blowing, but the daffodil grew stronger with every second, remaining rooted to the ground despite the world trying to change its mind.
    Shadow rose to his feet and started back towards the wall he had entered from, careful as to not trample any of the daffodils that littered the meadow with their yellow smiles.
    Maria would want me to fight. That's what I'm going to do.
    He reached the walkway and saw her face in the fog, smiling at him brightly as if she had never left. For the first time in a while, he felt himself smile softly as he walked away, stepping past the fog and away from her figure as he did so. The sky still hummed with life as drop by drop continued to hammer the ground, layering each step he took with a river of droplets. He closed his eyes, relishing in the life around him, as he stepped away and never looked back.
    For you Maria, I'll be like that daffodil. He smiled to himself at the thought. The ultimate lifeform. A daffodil. He felt himself laugh softly as he pictured how Maria would have reacted to that statement as he walked, and although the raindrops were still clamoring in his ears, he felt like he could hear her laughing too.