cascade | kotlc

10. The Most Miserable Place on Earth

 They sat down at their original table, before Sophie came. June poked at her brown mushroom sludge. She didn't have the mind to eat.

Fitz was gripping her hand. Normally June would be cuddling next to Fitz, but it wasn't normal. Their lives weren't normal anymore

Fitz had lost his father.

She still didn't know what to do. Fitz still refused to see Sophie, and Biana was too busy hiding in the bathroom to talk with her. She couldn't blame them. She didn't know who to blame either. It made her want to flip the table and cause a hurricane.

The pressure had been expanding within her for days. Ever since she received her three -- three! -- elemental crystals and was tasked with keeping up Silveny's protection, June had been subject to so much pressure. First, of course, the air cage required all her attention. She couldn't focus on anything else, and her mind always had to be on Silveny. It made it impossible to sleep, and she didn't even realize she had a fever until Sophie pointed it out.

The Opening Ceremonies really was fun, but helping Sophie through the entire routine and especially the backflip really did require a lot of her attention. Her head was spinning by the time she got home and collapsed in her bed, and Sophie- well, Sophie had more important things to focus on. And, of course, Alden's mind broke, and now she was the last thread in maintaining all her friends and relationships.

It was impossible, and so tiring. Nobody realized. Nobody bothered to ask either.

She understood everyone was going through their own troubles. Fitz and Biana had lost their dad, Sophie had to deal with her own guilt, and everyone else couldn't know. Alden's mind break was highly classified until the Council deemed it appropriate. But she still wished someone could ask how she was doing, offer to help.

It seemed like too much to ask.

After hours of attempting to teach Sophie how to fly Silveny while gliding around the chaotic alicorn, June felt ready to collapse. She had to hop on, several times, sometimes upside down, to spur the alicorn in the right direction. Sophie was hopeless when it came to PE, and she had no idea how to stop her from falling off a flying alicorn.

Great. More burdens.

Silveny still bucked and thrashed whenever anyone besides them got too close to her, and often the alicorn felt frustrated and rebellious. She often wondered if the alicorn actually was reflecting her emotions. Because if Silveny was... aaargghhhhhh.

At least Sophie's learned how to steer her without June by using simple commands like left and right and if you dump me into another pile of sparkly manure, I will clobber you.

The next morning Sophie stumbled and fell during midair dodgeball, which, of course, June excelled at, and it gave her a headache trying to keep Sophie minimally afloat. Her relationship with Fitz still wasn't improving and Biana seemed more distant too, and Alden was still broken and they had to train Silveny in weeks, and nobody bothered to help-

June felt a whoosh through her head. Calm.

She almost dropped down in surprise when she heard Silveny's voice. It was the alicorn. June leapt upwards when she started to fill her head with scenery, absolutely breathtaking scenery, expansive and wild, and it must've been places Silveny had been before. She soared across an ocean and dipped her hooves in the glittering water, casting waves as dawn struck and the sun ascended from beneath the deep, radiant with brilliant light, illuminating the world around her as the sky turned ablaze, and she leapt for it, her hand reaching for the sky-