Tales of a Broken Mother

Chapter Four

I vetured onward, wanting to see what the rest of this biome entailed as I saw a small flickering light of a candle in the distance. Finding no other form of comfort, I ran towards it only to be greeted with colored blood draw on cave walls. I recognized some of the symbols on the walls, one being my own.

"What in the world could have drawn this...?" I brushed up my hand against the dried jade blood and continued to travel in deeper. Different colors became more prominanat as I could see flames moving in the distance. I had taken my time to inspect all the art and the tales their colors provided. Small marks of spades, clubs and diamonds were scattered and were heavily scratched upon. The taps of my steps seemed to echo more and more as I went deeper towards the small flames. The walls became blank as I reached the dead end. A mass of tangled looking black hair and familiar olive clothes was sitting in front of a large, bright red drawing of my own child.

"M-meulin... What had happened to you..." My voice quivered as I reached out to her, a hand being placed on her shoulder only to have been clawed away. She crouched down and growled viciously, unadulterated rage shown on her cat-like face until she finally could gaze at me. The strings to my heart had tugged horribly at the stranger in front of me.

"M-mother Rosa... It's you..." Her body shook with each word as she stood up straight, the grip on my blood pusher lessened as I approached her more carefully.

"Dear... You have been so alone since his passing haven't you...?" Her shoulders went rigid as I was met with smaller arms wrapping tightly around my torso and a heavy heart present on my shoulders.

"I c-can't even find him here! He is gone and I lost him! I want him back!" The Disciple cried out, her tears falling like waterfalls down her beaten expression.

"We can find him together, let us go out of this cave and find him..." I cooed to her softly and gently petted her large head of hair to calm her down. She only shook her head and sniffled quietly.

"I can't lose the writings here. I need to stay and continue the sermons and teachings for him to one day see. Thank you Mother Rosa. I suppose I can't make you stay then..."

"I will make sure to bring him to see your hard work... He will be delighted to see his darling Disciple... Will you not come?" I was met with a determined shake to the head and smiled with gloom as I cleaned her dirt cover face. I understood her duty to finish recording all Kankri's writings and had respected it, despite the want to bring her along as well.

"I need to finish this. Then I will face him and be able to feel happy again." I sighed softly and placed my lips on her forehead maternally.

"Be careful dear, there could be danger. I don't want to lose you again." A genuine smile that shined onto her face, a happy spark in her eye. She soon clung to me tightly for a small time until she released me.

"I will be here, I purromise!" I cracked a warm smile, recognizing the small meow-beast pun that was usually weaved into her words back in life.

"Be safe Meulin, I will be back very soon." Guilt washed over me as I began to leave, my mind divided on staying or leaving. My feet walked on their own and I was left in a mild light right outside the entrance of the cave. I seemed to move faster and farther away from the rock formation, a slightly higher esteem for my journey and the crunch of leaves and one other sound I could not identify until later on.

A/N: I am very sorry for not finishing this sooner but I did! It should be longer than some of the other ones so maybe that will make up for it. I would love some feedback and I will be seeing you all in the next chapter.