Fate Weaver's convergence

C81 Winter's story 11

Why?

Hic...

Why?

H-hic.

Why now? Why again?!

I wailed within my mind, too afraid to do so outwardly. My mind was a mess, attempting to find some reasoning to my own pointless questioning. One more marker, one more loved one soon to be gone.

Auntie...

I was currently sitting on my knees, burying my face into Sarah's blood soaked legs. They were still warm, but I couldn't feel the beat of her heart.

"There's nothing we can do, Kiyomi... there's nothing we can do..."

Papa spoke, his voice strained as his own condition failed to improve. I turned my head as I sat up, holding my hands out to my sides.

"Why can't you just heal her like before?! You've healed her and Mama plenty! Why not now?"

My voice was now riddled with the sounds of congestion as the once absent tears were welling forth. Papa remained silent, refusing to look back to me. He was holding onto Goro's saddle as if it was the only thing keeping him from falling.

"We need to move..."

His deflection sending a shock of fear and disbelief down my spine.

Were we going to leave her? She still breathed, her chest just barely rising and falling as her body persisted. Turning back to her, I thought of my own words.

Please don't leave me...

"I-"

Sadness persisted within me, the events to pass within the last few months hurt. This only served to make the pain worse, but I couldn't go against Papa. Not right now, unless I wanted us to face odds we had no hope of overcoming. I'd witnessed what happened to my siblings, I could hope for no different treatment myself. After a moment, I placed the knife Sarah handed me into her lap. Unwilling to let go, I found myself still looking at her. She was alive, but barely so.

"But..."

Father sighed, or more accurately, wheezed. Immediately after, he spoke slowly and concisely.

"She has no mana left..."

He breathed between each pause for air.

"Her wounds are great, Kiyomi... We can't do anything for her... my own mana is running short."

Running Short? But he isn't like me or Mama. He should have mana by now.

"Papa?"

I was unable to turn and face him once more, staring at Sarah as she lay slumped against a tree. Each shallow exhale was followed by droplets of blood forming on her lips. Her arm still bled, slowly, but it bled. She seemed pale, and gray streaks not present in the morning littered the braid she kept her hair in.

Can we truly do nothing?

Just as I was blind within my circle of being unable to let go, I heard Papa struggle to mount Goro. Not a second later, I felt Goro's draconic maw press against the back of my head. He was biting the hem of my clothes and lifting me as if I were a pup.

"Papa, no! I don't wanna leave her! Auntie! Auntie, wake up! Please!"

Goro turned his head as I swung, thrashing about and screaming whilst he handed me off to Papa.

"Auntie! Sar-sar! No! No! I don't wanna! We can't!"

"Goro, move!"

Papa wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close as Goro began running as fast as he could manage. I struggled to fight, so much so that it must have been a great feat for Papa to maintain his hold. Auntie Sarah soon was out of sight and I somehow wailed louder. My wailing turned to crying as time passed, even Papa managing to shudder as he breathed. His silent lapses in his facade serving as a lone harmonizer with my own grief.