Talon's of Life & Death

36

*Trigger Warning: Explicit Language Used*

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I don't know what I expected to find when I entered Adrian's and Mei's little cottage at the edge of campus, hidden away in its own little landscape.

I assumed she had heard me coming, since I had landed with Pyro.

Pyro had started sniffing Cobalt's little stall shacked up beside the cottage, right by a natural spring that encompassed the cottage and the small patch of land it stood on.

It was its own little wonder, away from everything else.

I understood why they chose it.

When I entered the cottage, everything was silent, dark. Which was unlike anything I'd ever consider when it came to Mei. Everything should come to life, even with all the colours glowing through the home, everything was gloomy, forgotten.

I found her out back, standing over a shallow pond, with a large blanket wrapped around her. The dress she wore was nude, long but plain. And her hair was straight. Not a curl or a wave present.

I was concerned. Considerably concerned.

I didn't move from the back porch as I watch her slowly lean down and place a lily on to the water, watching it float for a moment before standing back up.

I take a step closer. "Mei?"

I shuffle to stand next to her. She doesn't look at me straight away, she only peels her eyes away from the lily once I reached her, standing over the pond as she was.

"Sith," She smiles, but it was hollow. Not empty but tired.

"Are you okay?" I anxiously ask.

She looks back at the flower, her smile remaining. "I am. I've been waiting for you to come."

"I know," I take a moment. "I'm sorry for not coming sooner."

"Your here now." She uses one hand to keep the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She uses the other to clutch my own. "You have to forgive my appearance... I take one day out of every month for myself. To mourn what I have lost, to bask in the silence for as long as I can, before going back."

Pain fills the void, her very essence wrapping around mine. "Adrian asked me to come." I shake my head. "He said you wanted to see me... I can come back—"

"No, Adrian was right. I do want to see you."

"Mei," I whisper.

"I know how you feel, Sith. The death of my flame, the loss of my friends, the suffering of my choice taken away from me. I feel it all. The guilt. Sometimes, it's all too much. Which is why I take this day."

"You don't have to tell me this."

"But I do," She turns to face me, that flower floating too far out of reach. "I know how many people have told you to forgive yourself, I know they have told you to not blame yourself... but you do. I do."

I shudder a breath, tears filling the rim of my eyelids. "I'm so angry, all the time."

"Look at me," She clutches my face in her hands, her touch delicate. "You are rare. You are so rare. Everything you are everything you will be is rare. You suffer the fate of carrying this power on your own, this shall not be the last time you feel like this. It will hurt, it will consume you. But you are the rarest form of hope we have left. And you are not alone, I don't need to tell you that."