☁️ • Promises Cerulean • (Colentine)

2. Phantom Pains

TW: Death

•••

The only things Cole knew were that someone was waiting for them, and that they were running out of time.

They were in a place which should have been forgotten; their old village. From which they had gone forth, and left behind, yet there it was, standing still around them. Everything they had ever known. But it was not how Cole remembered it, it was colder for one. And rather than hills that stretched on as far as one could see, there was emptiness, darkness, and deafening noise. The raging storm of a foreign war, clashing dissonance filling each and every space.

Yet they could pick out their partner's voice from any place.

"Cole! Hurry, please!"

They did not belong here, Cole knew this in a corner of their mind. And yet, they found themselves running around without direction, hopelessly unable to pinpoint the source of the voice. Akin to a rodent in a maze. Yet if the predator followed close behind, and their nose was blind to the sweet scent of the prize.

"Help me, please! Where are you?"

Each step they took brought them more panic. Their dearest needed them, yet try as they might, they were helpless to find them. The village they could have navigated with their eyes closed before now felt like a labyrinth, every turn past tall, nameless buildings changing the path they might have taken. There was no rhyme, nor pattern, nor reason.

It was getting closer, this they knew. The danger, the battle, which they did not want to see. The sound was horrifying enough. A pounding like angry hooves invaded their ears, seizing control over their senses. Their vision blurred gradually, but they didn't give up fighting.

"Cole, please! You haven't left me alone, have you?"

"I'm coming! Just tell me where you are!"

It was very rare that Cole shouted, though on this occasion it was necessary. But it seemed that it wasn't enough, for there was no response for a concerningly long time.

At last, they saw it. Just a few more turns took Cole to the edge of the village. They could flee, and escape, and leave this place behind once more. Yet something important held them back.

"Clémentine? I found an escape."

Bones crashed to the ground, heavy stomps drummed it in profusely. Metal screeched against metal, it cried and echoed endlessly. Each wave was louder than the last, but none of the noise was parted by the sweet trill of their companion's voice. Not anymore, but Cole couldn't leave without them.

"Clémentine! We can go!"

Still nothing. It was an easy enough decision, Cole ran back into the village in search of their lost partner. Maybe there was still time, if they could just find them.

"I'm coming! Clémentine, hold on!"

Smoke began to rise from some distant part of the town, the devouring flame rapidly approaching. But it didn't matter how far it was, Cole could smell it, taste it, scorching each of their lungs. They were running out of breath, but they still did not stop.

Several twists, turns, paths, roads, each having the potential to lead them to their demise, but Cole hardly even considered it. The only thing that mattered was getting their partner out safely.

"Clémentine, I-!"

"Oh. Oh my... Knells of the Bellringer..."

Cold as the desolate landscape laid a lifeless Clémentine, there on the hard, unforgiving ground. Their bright silver eyes glazed over in a dull and frozen gray. Their skin forever still as a porcelain doll.