Vitae Memorandum

58-Precious Hearts

As planned, the entire base set off the next day for the lakeside. The time had finally arrived, there was nothing else they could do but to keep going forward.

Lwyn was still grasping her mother's core, most of the red already shedded away to reveal the golden mechanisms beneath. It looked sorta like a jigsaw cube.. except it was golden and a sphere and it wasn't moving.. at least, not anymore.. and not ever again. She looked across the multitude of blank panels spanning the device that had lost its purpose. No, no it hadn't.. her mother had told her that she would need to find a way to set this thing into the veil itself. This was how her mother would be here with her, helping her to achieve her goals.

She clung once more to the core, the passing words she had managed in the end before removing the core not feeling like they were enough. Saying goodbye was so very hard, and it hurt so very much. This wasn't even the first time she had been forced to endure the death of her mother, but it still hurt so very much. Even after the whole facility began to move, with Zyuixqs at the helm, Lwyn kept to her room, clinging to the core.

Mhyl had set off early, making sure to tend to the sort of stuff Lwyn typically did. Thanrie and Qheria had decided to help out as well, considering they had a month of training with a wide assortment of chores. It wasn't lost upon them though who had been responsible for these lessons, who they had worked under doing these tasks originally. In fact, somehow, that knowledge just made the whole thing even more fitting. Thanrie was sweeping up the floor around several of the rooms and halls, while Qheria was sweeping in the storage room and Mhyl was doing the dishes left from lunch. Lwyn hadn't even had lunch, although Mhyl still made sure something was saved for her.

Mhyl suddenly found herself beside Chyurae, who had started helping by drying dishes. "Will Lwyn be okay?" "Of course she will, she's gotten really strong. She just.. needs some time." Chyurae it seems was as worried as Mhyl was. Lwyn had kept hard feelings from them before, Mhyl was worried that the old plastic smile might return once again. Mhyl clung to her pendant, wishing that somehow things would still work out. Maybe when she was finished here, she should go check up on Lwyn, see if Lwyn had gotten hungry yet..

Qheria was at a loss. She was tall, but the shelves before her towered over her, and she had no way to tend to the upper shelves. This was something Lwyn was always far better at. Qheria was.. impressed with how much Lwyn had grown, even being their shortest. The soccer match, her cross-field kicks were impressive. The first had almost scored, the second was a pass that had lead to a goal. Later, her music had improved dramatically for that performance, even after having only failed it before. But the bravest part of it all was her having the courage to fulfill the passing request of Sxeiva. Qheria couldn't even imagine how rough it would be, being asked to help end one's own mother's life like that. Braving death, being a sacrifice to save another, it was actually far easier than facing a life of loss. Although, maybe it was her own sacrifice that had helped Lwyn gain this strength...

Rhyde and Yuxzn showed up, discovering that Qheria was having a few troubles with her volunteer work. Rhyde however explained that, with Lwyn gone to the fortress, they had already set about making a ladder for this very reason. Qheria was shown where the ladder had been hiding, as Yuxzn took the opportunity to make his own request. "How.. how is Lwyn doing?" Just like Rhyde, neither of them were used to situations of sacrifice. Rhyde had been impressed earlier, before the Fortress, by Qheria's dramatic leadership as she sacrificed herself to save Lwyn. Yuxzn was now impressed by Lwyn's courage in much the same way. He might have made choices that threatened peoples lives, made choices that had cost people's lives... but he had never been forced to choose that someone close and important to him should just simply die, no matter what the reasons and outcomes might have been. This was one thing he just simply could not wrap his head around.