A Curse so Twisted And Cruel.

The Silver Rosebush.

I stare as time freezes around me.
I see her bleeding, her eyes wide with shock. The orange dart sticks out of her arm at an odd angle, the colour flashing in my eyes.

Then she falls, breaking the trance.

"Silvey!" I scream, not caring who hears me. "Sil please, I swear to god..."

I jump down from the branch, and, ignoring the painful stab in my side, rush over to her tiny form.

"Silvey?" I crouch beside her and pull her into my arms, brushing the strands of bright pink from her dewy forehead. She shivers violently at my touch, her eyes hazy and unfocused.

"Ja-ss." She whispers, blinking up at me. I force a smile through the tears welling in my eyes.

"Hey, you're going to be fine." I whisper back, and, as if on cue,
the assholes start firing again.

I mutter a string of curses, before dragging us deeper under the cover of the tree.

"Jass?" Silvey says, her voice weak. "Yeah Sil? I'm right here." I squeeze her hand softly. I reach out to take out the dart, hoping foolishly that the poison hasn't infiltrated her system yet.

"It went in." Her eyes find me, but I shake my head stubbornly.
"It couldn't have gone in that quickly." I mutter, trying to convince the both of us.

But we both know the dart is empty, the foul orange liquid mixing with her blood.

"I..." She pauses, breathing heavily. "I don't want to l-leave you guys. You're.." She takes another breath, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

"My family." She whispers.
"I know, Sil." I whisper back, my voice raspy with unshed tears.

"And I'm..sacred." She tells me, her voice weak. "Oh Sil." My voice breaks as I hold her closer,
"Just..just think of it as another adventure, okay? Me, you, Gnarl, Vin, and Lira, going to..to-" "The sea, on a boat." She finishes for me, a faraway look in her eyes.

"Yes. Wherever you want to go." I whisper to her. She takes a deep, shuddering breath, and, with a surprising amount of force, hooks her fingers in the hem of my shirt, guiding her lips to my ear.

"You were the best mom I could ever wish for, Jass." She says, her voice soft, like the whispering of trees around us.

Then she smiles, her small face serene, and her big eyes flutter closed.

My voice fails me. My body fails me. Every part of me fails to bring her back. To wake her from inevitable sleep.

No. She can't die. Not here. Not...
"Silvey!" I say her name, rocking her as the dam bursts from my eyes. "Please, Sil, don't leave me. I'll give anything you want, you want Dizzy nuts? I'll get you so many, you'll get sick of them, just don't leave me."

I plead uselessly. I beg, but she's gone. She slipped through my hands, like a cut ribbon.
Nothing I can do will bring her back to me.
No amount of Dizzy nuts, and no amount of pleading.

"I'm s-sorry Sil." I sob, leaning my forehead against her now cold one, tears rolling down my cheeks.

•{§∆§}•

Three days later.

I look like something the cat dragged in, and that's an understatement.

There are suitcase sized bags under my eyes, which are itchy and bloodshot.
My cheeks are sunken, mere holes in my face. Clusters of pimples dot my face where there never were before, probably raising from my refusal to get under some kind of shelter.
My hair resembles a ten year old scarecrow, that was left out in the rain.

All in all, I'm a major mess.

It was night when the men finally left, probably deciding that we were going to die anyway, from the wild animals.

We wrapped her in Mulberry leaves, and carried her all the way back to the Fort, where we placed her beneath the silver rose bush where we found her and named her after it's colour.

The white Dove came the next morning, to take her body away.
I placed one last kiss on her nose,
before it flew off, taking her and a piece of me with it.

Gnarl carved her name in a piece of wood, and we placed it under the roses, a memory of the lively, bubblegum haired pixie that could melt anyone with one look of her chocolate brown eyes.

My Silvey.