IRON GOD | 2: Empyrean

[24] Ami: Strings Undone

Be nice.

Whatever did that mean, anyway?

Don't think bad thoughts or you'll do bad things.

Ami heard her own voice say those words and many more. But it wasn't her, not really. But it was. Magpie –

Magpie was arguing with herself again. In both their voices, rattling angry words out like birdsong. Ami couldn't move. She couldn't make any sound. And she certainly couldn't scream anything horrid again. All she could do was listen and wait for someone else to notice.

The blankets tied tight around her stifled what little breath she could force in. Her body was cold and shaky, her throat parched as the sheets soaked through with sickening warmth. She smelled blood. Her own blood. Magpie. Her own blood. What was the difference? Her most precious–

A new scent wafted in. Before Ami could fully register it, her shadow's hand fell gently over her mouth. No force, but a clear message nonetheless.

And Ami could only choke on silent screams as Kolo and Magpie spoke like she wasn't even there. And Kolo had no idea. How could she? It wasn't as if Ami and Magpie would give her the truth. One of them couldn't and one of them wouldn't.

Her head felt full of cold sand. The voices in her ears softened. It was cold. It was heavy. It hurt. It hurt so much.

Magpie started shrieking. Ami could barely hear it. She could barely feel her noncompliant body being torn from its restraints. Her consciousness slipped further with each shallow frantic breath. But before she passed out fully, she grasped one thing with stark clarity.

Him.

Master?

May the fate you feared above all else
be kinder to you
than one more day.

After far too much hesitation, Ami had finally gone out and scratched that meager prayer into Haode's stone.

Then she'd felt many things she'd long forgotten how to feel. And she'd felt them hideously.

Magpie hadn't liked that.

.....

Ami's eyes opened halfway and there he was.

Xigon's gaze permeated her like light through glass. Stared straight through the rot he once wouldn't even glance toward. His bare hands held tight to her mangled body, his power instilling profound calm in what should have been a violent moment.

Ami wondered, detached from all relevant sensation, whether he was about to take her soul. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Perhaps he could be a gentler Destroyer than Kaosaan...

What am I even thinking?

Instinctive fear ripped through her already racing heart. Her mauled chest spasmed with a cough that made her taste iron. Now she didn't even dare blink. Pathetic. Pathetic! To be just like her helpless patients at the end of the day? She couldn't bear it.

Xigon's thumb brushed across her cheek. Wiping away a tear she didn't even know she'd shed. So much power in even his tiniest motions. How could it not be enough?

Had she really been searching in all the wrong places?

Another hand grabbed her numb fingers. A much smaller hand. Kolo's voice barely broke through the haze. Ami heard something about learning the truth. Something about being unreasonable. Magpie. Valielit. A family heirloom. Grinner. Trust me. Trust me.

What?

How much time had even passed? Had she moved at all?

Kolo withdrew, leaving string tangled in Ami's numb fingers. Ami managed to turn her head slightly, and she saw Kolo charging away like her life depended on it.

Magpie shrieked long and loud.

Ami's hand clenched. Kolo's talisman burned in her palm. A precious gift and a horrific gamble.

Kolo, what a wonder. What a fool.

With a sudden blaze of clarity, Ami lifted her head and spoke. Quietly, but still louder than she ever thought she could speak the words she had so desperately wanted to scream through the gags Magpie had strung through her so tight.

"Valielit is eating me alive."

Ami watched Xigon's eyes widen. She saw the question leave his mouth. Then she watched, feeling detached from it all, as her precious shadow lunged at the master of Styzia, sharp little nails going straight for his eyes.