Another Way

Chapter 25: Acceptance

Hearing the weak, ephemeral voice almost toppled them both over, primarily because of Sue freezing in place out of shock. Thankfully, she snapped out of it shortly after, even doubling down on her pace just to find a spot to rest sooner. The sudden shift was rather amusing to the firefox, though she didn't comment on it—she had to save all the breath she had for walking.

One strained, shambled corner later, Solstice's tent finally came into view. And with it, somewhere to sit down at.

Neither Sue nor Sundance knew how they'd managed to make it down onto the grass without outward collapsing, but they accomplished it all the same. Their only reward was a scene so dark they could only barely make each other out—aside from the very faint glow emanating from the eyes of everyone gathered, the only source of light was a single fireball on a pole a few dozen yards away.

Above them, uncountable stars and a thin crescent moon. Around them, slightly chilly air of the late spring evening.

With them, much pain, much strain, much aching of the still-injured chest-mounted extremity...

And a tiny, ghostly child, understandable at last.

"Hello, Twinkle. A-are you okay?"

Sue's voice quivered as she focused the entirety of her attention on the bundle tied around her torso, stroking it with one hand. Just to her side, Spark was getting comfortable on her mom's lap, valiantly holding back tears of relief at her finally being back. Said mom was focusing harder than she should have in her current state, but if not for her efforts, the confounding mess of thoughts and emotions swirling inside the canvas bag would remain completely incomprehensible.

She'd live.

"Y-yes. Confused..."

As the once-human held the bundle of ghost closer, and the bundle of ghost held her back, she realized she couldn't hear their voice. She could perceive it, she heard it in her mind, but there didn't seem to be a physical—

"Yes, that's on me. They aren't talking like we are, their thoughts are still messy and I'm having to do some interpretation to get the meaning from them."

On the other hand, Sue heard the barked sounds underlining Sundance's words clearly. She wasn't sure how to respond to her revelation, settling on thanking her with a curt nod before refocusing on Twinkle.

"It's okay, it's okay, sweetie. Here, lemme unwrap you."

Sue's arms shook as she untied the weak knot holding the dirty bag to her body. Lil' one's ghostly tentacles immediately wrapped themselves around her. The sight made her pause for a bit before reaching to hold the hauntling with one hand as the other kept freeing them, just to let them know she was still there for them.

And that she would always be, for as long as she could.

Once they were down on her lap, they took a few moments to come to afterwards—doubly so, with the bag's opening pointing straight up at their guardian—but once they did, they only clung closer.

"Hey Twinkle. I'm—"

Sue paused mid-word, mind tearing itself between the two equally valid answers to that question. Or rather, one truthful answer, and one she wished so very much she could say in the moment, but which still felt both harmful to admit to herself, and impossible to ever accomplish.

"I'm Sue. We're here for you sweetie, everything will be alright."

While Sue was laser focused on keeping them as happy as she could after what they'd gone through, Sundance... had questions, ones that would hopefully help. She waited until she was sure that the lil' ghost had understood Sue's response, however much of it they could even understand, before chiming in as well.