The Arcana: Fragments

XXV: Catatonic

*Asra Side Tale*

I woke to the same tepid air and gray sky as I had for the past fourteen days. The air was cold, and when I swallowed the morning smells and tastes it all tasted bitter and made the back of my throat sting like I had eaten spicy swordfish. Rousing and dressing myself, I made my way to their room. Faust did not join me, I learned she could not be in the same room as them anymore, they simply weren't their old selves and this pained her greatly. Crossing the hall to their room, I find them in the same position I had left them in hours ago. "Morning", I whisper, pulling the drapes aside to let in the gray sky and falling rain. It's been raining all week.

"How did you sleep?", I ask, gathering fresh clothes for them. Their limp figure doesn't respond, I notice they must've left their eyes open through the entire night; the whites of their eyes are strawberry red and the pillow beneath them is soaked through with tears. I frown and sit by their side. As I do, the bed squelches with an all too familiar moisture. My frown grows deeper. "You slept with your eyes open..", I say.

There's so many things I want to do, to say. This is not the person I fell in love with. I bite the inside of my cheek, vowing not to break down into their laps again. They are not themselves. I need to be strong for them. I want them back. I need them back. I cannot do this much longer. Yanking the sheets of their form, I crawl on top of them and squeeze the sides of their face. "Look at me!", I yell, begging for a shift of their irises, a twitch of their fingers, something. "Why did you do this? How could you go there without me? You're an idiot, you know that?" Tears leave my eyes much to my disappointment. "Come back to me.."

I signal my defeat with a sigh. Brushing my fingers across their lids, I shut their eyes. They look peaceful this way, and the most alive. A thought crosses my mind, I could kill them now, end it. They'd finally be at peace, this is no way for them to live. I could use the pillow...or the water from their bath...or the food for their breakfast. No, what am I thinking? I love them, that means I must do what I have to to bring them back. I begin brainstorming some ideas and I levitate their figure to the bathroom where I draw a bath.

They don't respond to my touch as I clean them. I recall how even the brush of my fingertip across their cheek would send goosebumps over their arms, now they hardly flinch. Muriel drops by later to check in as well, using another failed charm to try and bring back their consciousness. "I have a plan", I say to him, spooning porridge in y/n's mouth and using magic to contract her throat muscles to swallow. He doesn't reply, only grumbles and shifts uncomfortably in the bundles of pillows as his seat. "But you know that already..", I continue. "I need you to watch over my body when I go into the magicians realm, will you do this for me?"

Muriel's chains rattle to signify a nod, I thank him and remind him he'll have to take care of them as well, to which another chain rattle occurs.

"Right", I sigh, laying myself down next to y/n's figure. Faust slithers in between us both and i close my eyes, "Hang on y/n, I'm coming", I say, leaving my body and entering the dimensions of the magic realms, all to the sensation of Faust coiling our wrists together to get our hands to finally touch.

[11.27.2019]