[SFW VERSION]
🌹 There's something wonderful in those who stare death in the face. Even in a world wracked by relentless calamity, flowers blossom between a sea of corpses, the shapeless crimson rivers marched over by mechanical instruments of mass...
Even when I walk alone, no matter where I go, I like to think your shadow is just a few steps behind.
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Illness paints the walls. Ashy decay is laid thick upon old bricks that have lost their color to the ages. The musty smell radiating from these streets and this building now have your nose tensed up, too much for your helpless senses to bear.
"We're here. The coordinates lead inside," Rapi spoke in a low voice. You felt her eyes pressing the back of your head but did not stray your vision from the entrance to the old nursery.
She spoke again, this time quieter. "Let us take the lead, Commander. There may be Raptures inside."
You shook your head and silently carried on down the narrow concrete. The members of your squad exchanged brief, quiet glances, puzzled by the boldness of your actions — walking directly into a building you'd never been, unlit by nothing more than subtle streams of sunlight flowing in through broken windows.
None of you spoke, the quiet too precious to shatter. Only the collective rhythm of soft footsteps upon tarnished tile flooring filled the abstract silence. Far enough into the dark, you pulled a flashlight from your side and flipped it on. A beam of white light shone through the empty void of seemingly nothing, only to vastly illuminate the room and uncover what looked like baby cribs lining the walls. Some still standing, others strewn about the floor, their paint chipped, their bodies cracked wildly apart.
"You really trust any message you get, don't you, Commander?" Anis spoke up. "All we got was a 'hello' and then boom — the coordinates — from some random contact, mind you, and now here we are." Her voice was just as condescending as ever. She made her way over to a cabinet and pried the dusty doors open, beginning her search alongside Rapi and Neon, though none of them knew what for.
"What are we looking for anyway, Master?" Neon inquired, running a hand along the length of a countertop that happened to be leaning too far out from the wall.
"I don't know," you answered honestly. "But it's here." You aimed your light at a corner of the room, finding nothing but more dirt and grime caked into the tiles and walls, and another lone baby crib lying dormant. Shallow crevices in the building were filled in with a dirty brown gunk, so much so you could have scooped a heap out with just a stroke of your finger.
Just when you were about to turn away entirely, something stood out to you below that one lonely crib. The sound of your squad searching the rest of the room carried on behind you — the shuffling of feet and hands and the cry of old hinges on doors finally able to let out their unkempt shrieks after eons.
As for you, you knelt down in the corner, reaching for the one thing that was not just dirt and dust or clumps of paint and brick — it was paper.
A single slip of paper, clean and unbothered by the environment it laid within. No rips, no tears, not even the slightest bit of decay on its edges. You picked it up and unfolded it, surprised to find a handwritten note haphazardly fit between the lines.
Dear Commander,
If you're reading this, you followed the coordinates I was able to discreetly send to you. The Pilgrims don't know about this, so hush please, hehe. If you're wondering, no, I'm not in the building, so please don't come looking for me. I just want to let you know, Commander, I really miss you.
My bandages keep coming undone and I can't figure out to how to put them back on like you can. I wish you could wrap new ones for me, and then hold my hand for a little while. Would that be okay? When we meet again, I'm going to hold your hand and never let go. I can reach for you in my dreams but it's never enough. Even now, I'm sure I'm somewhere, holding my arm out to the world in hopes a vision of you will find me and hold me as well.
Modernia — no, Marian's words cut deep into you. Reading that, you felt a piece of yourself chip off, as though a fragment of your soul were desperately wishing to find her in that big, horrific world.
The note ended there, abrupt. You couldn't help but feel there was more to it than that when you folded away the note into your pocket. Standing back up, you turned and started searching a little more briskly to find what you were looking for.
Rapi and the others were still oblivious to your goal now, even as they searched for anything of interest. Filing past them, you dug into some drawers, finding nothing in one, nothing in another, but on the third you glanced at it — the second note. Or at least, you were hoping it was from her. You took it, unfolded it, and as simple as the note was, it still managed to pull at your heartstrings.
It managed to get a single teardrop gliding down your cheek.
