anything and everything

The Night of the Fire

"Mom." Ahri whimpered out the name. "I got her. She's okay."

Ahri's room was beside Mocha's. When she was woken to the smell of smoke and the heat of flames, she'd run to rescue her sister. The collapsing house had trapped her but her mother had lifted the board off Ahri and told her to run.

She did run. She'd made it outside the house before collapsing in pain. Her sobbing sister laid beside her in the grass but Ahri found she didn't even have the strength to reach out to her. Her back screamed in pain, still hot as though the burning board lay across her.

And her stomach. Her blood felt cool compared to the scorched flesh of her wound. She could only smell smoke, despite how strong the iron of blood was.

"Ahri!" Her mother knelt beside her. Her hands were darkened from the fire and ash of the board she'd lifted from her daughter.

"I got her." Ahri coughed weakly.

Levide fought back tears as she looked down at her injured daughter. There was so much blood soaking through the remains of her shirt.

"You can heal me. Mom?" Ahri looked up at her mother.

Levide was not a healer. She could transfer energies from one person to another. Strength, energy, even life force itself could be transferred. She could save Ahri but she didn't have enough life force for the both of them.

"It's so cold out." Ahri attempted to lift her head but it fell back to the grass.

"I'm so sorry Ahri." Levide brushed Ahri's hair out of her eyes, unable to fight her tears as she made the hardest decision of her life.

Levide would give her lifeforce to Ahri in a heartbeat to save her if she thought they stood a fighting chance. But Ahri and Mocha alone? She was only 12, barely old enough to hunt for herself. She couldn't raise herself and a baby.

Levide could save herself, then she knew she and Mocha would both survive, or she could save Ahri and likely doom her entire family. She knew what she had to do.

"Why are you sorry?" Ahri closed her eyes. It was too hard to keep them open. "Please make it stop hurting mom."

"I'm going to. Just relax, I'll make it stop." Levide's voice broke at the end. She tried to stay strong but the tears continued to fall and a sob slipped through her lips.

Ahri opened her eyes again at the sound. "Mom?"

She slid her hand ever so slowly across the dirt to reach for her mother. Levide took her hand and raised it to her lips, kissing the back of Ahri's hand. "I love you so much Ahri. It's going to be okay. Just close your eyes for me honey."

"Okay..."

Ahri wasn't going to survive her injuries. Levide could feel her life force slowly draining away. Life force she could use to heal herself and give Mocha a better chance of survival. Besides, it would make the pain go away.

Ahri didn't feel a thing as her mother drained the life from her body, transferring it into herself. It was like falling asleep. The crackling of the fire got faint and her eyes felt heavier. She wasn't so cold anymore either. She was just. . . gone.

Levide broke into sobs when the last bit of life left her daughter and her hand fell to the ground. She could only spare herself a moment to mourn. Ahri deserved more but she needed to get Mocha somewhere safe. The little bit of life she'd taken from Ahri wasn't even enough to fully heal her own injuries.

Levide picked up Mocha and started off towards the safety of the trees. One last regretful glance was spared to her daughter before she turned ahead and promised herself she would never look back.

*****

Kitsune were not meant to survive without a mate. The only thing that kept Levide going was her daughter. She needed to live for her sake. Levide was never whole again after that night. Mocha watched her own mother slowly fade away for years.

Mocha was 15 when her mother fell ill. She could have recovered, enough friends were willing to take a portion of the sickness that they all could have survived. Levide simply didn't have the will to go on any longer. Mocha lost the final member of her family.

Mocha had strange powers. She could see the intentions of ones soul and the strings of fate the guided all people. She wasn't exactly sure how they all worked but she could tell you things about yourself that even you didn't know.

That's what made it so hard when she ran into that man. Mocha had bumped into Zafir in the hallway by accident. She hadn't even seen the mercenary until now but one look in his eyes and she knew who he was supposed to be to her.

Levide told Mocha stories about her older sister. She knew how Ahri had given her life to save her. She may not remember Ahri but between the stories and seeing the way her mother spoke about her, she felt a connection to her anyways.

This man was supposed to be Ahri's soulmate.

"Excuse me." Mocha lowered her head so he wouldn't notice the tears in her eyes and rushed by him.

"Are you alright?" Zafir caught her by the hand as she tried to run, worried he had scared or harmed her in some way. The tears only served to confuse him further. "What's wrong?"

Mocha didn't think to stop the words before they left her lips. "You were supposed to be my brother."