//------------------------------// // By a Lonely Hillside // Story: Convocation by Need // by Etherdrone //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer, 'tis with a great weight in my heart that I approach you with a matter most unfortunate which I personally wish to see addressed. Truly, the matter of fact stands that ill befalls us all in one way or another, 'tis the truth about life. I desire not to proclaim to the winds some manner of self-centered, pretentious, self-righteous claim to express the fact that some suffer more than others, and we should all reminisce about such and act accordingly to those that suffer less or more. To ask a healthy man or woman to abandon their rights to have a good, happy life because their neighbor suffered greatly is the most unfair approach to everything that could ever be. The healthy man or woman, after all, have nothing to do with the other's suffering, albeit approaching the one that suffers and offer their hand in assistance is most viable and admirable of them. To each, the reach of their own hands, so to speak. 'Tis exactly why I reach out to you. I wish not to ask of you to suffer because someone else does, that would make me an awful creature that has no purpose in existing in some way - however, I still am compelled to ask of you to assist someone that does indeed, suffer. 'Twas a most unfortunate accident, one that I wish from the bottom of my heart to be able to revert time and undo what has been done, but such powers escape my abilities and thus I must resort to the methods I can employ. Perhaps you might find yourself suffering from the endeavor, relatively speaking, and for that I have no words to express the depths of the well from which I draw my apologies. Thusly, 'tis imperative of me to tell you not to accept this request unless you truly wish to do it. Hopefully, that will be enough. Within this city, there lies a single house that sits lonely atop a hillside that hangs solitary in the shade of its own trees. With a beautiful view of the cityscape, this house has been afflicted with such sorrow - one of which is harmless now, at least to us. That does not mean no one is suffering however, and it cuts me deeply to claim that for the sake of the safety of us all and for the secrecy of our existence, the one who suffers needs to go. I refuse, however, to do so through any means other than through a diplomatic approach, and that is why I contact you. I am sorry, Sunset Shimmer. I wish I could not ask such things of you, but sorrow comes for us all, in one way or another. 'Tis my wound, and if you do not want any part of it, then burn this letter and pretend I never contacted you. Sincerely; Nimue. Sunset Shimmer's hands clasped tightly around the paper she was holding, her eyes reaching out to the distant landscape before them as a sigh escaped her breath. She wasn't sure exactly how much of this was due to her having to climb a hillside, or if it was thanks to the extremely morose letter she now possessed, its words turning into a scrambled, garbled mess of incomprehensible nothing after she had read it. It wasn't very common for her to receive letters like this one. In fact, this was maybe the first one, ever. Nimue was always very straightforward when asking Sunset for assistance, so having her explicitly tell the Equestrian to avoid and pretend she never got this letter if she didn't want to assist them told her a whole lot about what Nimue was like, much more than she already seldom knew. Therefore, as her feet complained in fatigue as Sunset Shimmer found herself finally reaching the summit of said hillside, she was already decided on helping no matter what. This was a very lonely hillside, indeed. The pathway that lead all the way up here wasn't even pavement, more like cobbled stone with grass sprouting from it, making it feel and look like no one's walked these grounds for many days. The moon was high up in the sky, the light of the waning satellite and the stars being the main source of guidance for the path ahead of the girl made the area look really gloomy and sad. Sunset shivered a little as the wind blew lightly, but effectively, dancing through her hair with a chill, proper for a cold night. The path still extended a few ways to the house which sat atop of it like an old, battered down landmark that history had forgotten. It looked old, uncared for and it was obviously abandoned. Its wooden walls had definitely seen better days, some of them jutting forward and blemished with some black taint that Sunset identified as moss and dirt. Some of the few windows the house had were broken, and as the wind passed by her, Sunset could listen to the music the house echoed with as it passed through its frames, sounding much like a sad, crying lullaby. Sunset Shimmer stopped walking as she took the opportunity to take a look around. The area around the house was quite wide - there was a nice, big yard right next to it, neighboring the path down back to civilization. The Equestrian noticed a few toys around it - there was a swing; a couple car tires as well. A gnarled mess of a broken jungle gym, which was turned to scrap thanks to lack of care from whoever had left this place a long time ago. Sunset also saw hints of sand in there; maybe there was a sand box somewhere around here prior to it being abandoned, but now all that remained were shadow remnants of something that once was. It was impossible to tell for how long this place had been abandoned. If Sunset didn't know any better, she would probably have guessed that this was abandoned for decades, but that would probably stretch her guess too far. The soft lights of the night sky, despite sparkling beautifully above her head like diamond dust expertly sprinkled atop a black velvet curtain, did very little to illuminate this area in any other way other than sad and depressing. The Equestrian didn't really bother looking up too much despite of that however, and found herself walking amidst the wreckage, carefully not stepping on any rogue sheets of metal or scraping herself on one by accident. Her hands were cold, so she stuffed them inside her jacket's pockets, almost in an attempt to shield herself from the environment in some way. And then she finally saw it. A tiny speck of light, emanating from the wreckage almost as if it was trying to hide from her. Sunset took a deep breath in as she slowly walked forward, her mind being strangely serene and collected; a very thankful change of pace. Sunset stopped walking as soon as she got very close to the light, who gasped and remained still like a statue. The Equestrian shrugged; collecting as much of her words as she could before using any of them. "...You don't need to hide, you know?" she said as the small light gasped fiercely once again, flinching like it had been suddenly dumped in cold water. "Not from me, at least." The tiny light didn't respond for a quick while before standing up on its own. After another very short while, it stepped out of the wreckage, and the sight before her eyes made Sunset's heart sink. It was a child. A little kid, a bit younger than Rarity's little sister, Sweetie Belle. It was impossible to tell what the rags she was wearing once were, but they looked like something a very happy urban child would wear before being mauled by a bear. Her hair was long and braided, but it was hard to pay too much attention to it due to a very nasty-looking wound on her temple - something that the Equestrian couldn't guess what caused it. It must have been a tremendous impact, however... She was not alive. A pale, silver silhouette that emanated a soft, haunting light of said child now stood before Sunset Shimmer with such big, expressive eyes it made the Unicorn frown in discomfort. The little ghost tried to open a smile at her, but all that Sunset saw was a sad glint of shyness and embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I was told to keep quiet and hide if someone showed up." The ghost's voice echoed, ringing like an abandoned bell in a ghost town long lost to time. It sounded very light and soft, almost restrained, somehow. She fiddled with her fingers as she looked up at the Equestrian, coy and careful. "...I just did what I was told." She was told to stay quiet and hide? Makes sense. No one's very inclined to meeting with the ghost of a child in this place. "I was also told to come up here and meet up with you," Sunset carefully said, smiling a little as she attempted to find common ground with the fallen one. "I suppose I also did what I was told, so we're even." The child's smile grew a little, much to Sunset's comfort. It was strange, really. She could barely see her surroundings under the pale moon's light, but she could see the ghost so clearly... it was almost surreal, too much like looking at the moon itself. "So we're not going to get in trouble? Are you one of the nice ones, lady?" "Oh, I suppose I am one of the nice ones," the Unicorn responded, bringing herself down a little to the kid's own level. "My name's Sunset Shimmer. What's yours?" "I'm Cascade." Sunset took a deep look inside the little apparition's eyes. They were filled with fear and worry, something that quite frankly, made Sunset Shimmer take pause if nothing else. "You don't need to be afraid of me. I'm not going to do anything to you." "Oh. I-I'm not really afraid of you." "You're not? ...But aren't you scared?" Sunset asked, without really forcing her voice too hard. It was much harder for her to do than she thought it would be. "What scares you?" "...Being dead." The Unicorn opened her eyes wide in surprise at what the ghost said. She nodded at Sunset, opening a fraction of a smile that vanished just as quickly as it arrived. "Yeah, I know I am dead. I heard it's uncommon for that to happen." Oh, no. You poor thing... "I... I'm sorry." "You don't have to be sorry... I'm the one that died." Sunset Shimmer was at a relative loss for words. What does one say to someone that just says things like that? How do you really talk to the ghost of a child that understands that it's dead? She couldn't find the answer. Or more like, she couldn't construct a proper answer. Theorizing and debating within her own mind for a correct method of approachability seemed like the wrong thing to think in a situation like this. The ghost of a child was still a child, after all... The Equestrian stood up and looked around the wreckage, and the abandoned house. Considering the child's existence in this place, it wasn't very far-fetched to assume things, but she needed to find something to speak about, if only to avoid getting choked in her own inability to produce words. "This place," Sunset started, her hands feeling chilly even as they rested inside her jacket's pockets. "Was this your house?" "...It was. Me, my dad and my mom all lived here. I think I had a dog, too...?" "You... think you did?" "I can't remember a lot of things... I try to remember them, but it's like my head doesn't want me to." I think that's because of that nasty-looking wound. "It's really weird, I don't know how to explain." "Well. What can you tell me about what you remember, then?" Little Cascade fidgeted in place a little, obviously shy and embarrassed about being asked that question. It made sense, she was a little kid after all, and Sunset was a complete stranger. Once again, she lowered herself enough down to the ghost's level and tried speaking with a voice as mischievously soft as she could. "I'll tell you a secret; no one knows about this! ...Actually, I'm also a ghost doctor!" "...A ghost doctor?" the kid said almost in a doubtful tone, but Sunset was pretty good with her words. "Really?" "Really. Ghosts are a bit different than people, so you need special medics to take care of them," she said as she opened a smile, laughing a little at how strangely convincing she was sounding. "So, as a ghost doctor, I know that if you re-view what you do remember, everything will start going full circle." "Oh! Is that why you were told to come here?" Her eyes lit up like fireworks as Sunset stood up slowly, her smile finally growing beyond what the Equestrian expected. "It is. The ones that told you to hide told me to come here and take care of you. Isn't that thoughtful of them?" The little ghost opened up a smile, nodding slowly, but surely. Sunset Shimmer's little lie seemed to have done the job for now... Living up to it shouldn't be too hard of an issue, maybe. "This is a large yard. Did you play here often when you were alive?" The Equestrian immediately took action into speaking. Just as long as that was happening, she wouldn't feel too much like the atmosphere alone of this place would crush her. "I did. I lived a little bit away from other kids, so my dad and my mom both built this place for me." "Seems like a lot of care was put into all of this. So they built it all for you?" "Uh-huh! I especially liked the swing! Sometimes, I would get a big swing from it and jump into the jungle gym! My dad didn't like when I did that, but mom didn't mind too much?" Maybe she thought it was a good adventure. "I stayed here a lot. Most of the time, I think. The most of what I remember is of this place, and my house. Have you seen it yet?" Sunset threw a quick glance at the abandoned building, and the creaking of the windows, followed by the howl of the wind through its frames made the Equestrian shake her head, her hands seemed to get a little bit colder from the thought alone. "I don't think it's safe for me to go in there now." "Ah, that's true," Cascade spoke as she took a few quick steps around the broken jungle gym, almost as if she was skipping around a meadow. "Did you play around a lot too? When you were little?" The Equestrian stopped herself to think. She should have expected questions like this, but trying to reflect upon her life was never something easy for her to do. "...I don't think I did. At least, not in that sense of the word." "Hm?" "I mean, I had fun, but not with jumping around or playing with my friends. I liked to stay quiet, on my own little space. I always thought that was more comfortable for me." "...So you never had friends?" "Oh, I had them," Sunset chuckled, her eyes dancing in their orbits as she attempted to think of the proper things to say. "I was just... not a good friend when I was young. What about you? I think your friends would have loved to come over and play." "Ah! They did! I remember that, I had a bunch of friends!" ...This is the first time I've done this, but apparently it really does work. "I remember meeting them when me and dad went to town to buy some stuff for the house. I can't remember what it was, I think it was boring adult stuff," little Cascade chuckled with an undefined tone, bordering the sad and happy. "They were all playing at the park. It was a pretty sunny day and I was soooo tired... From the sun! I never liked the heat. ...Anyway, I hid under that thing that looks like a plastic igloo? I can't remember the name of that thing, and they found me, and made me play with them!" "I believe you were pretty mad at them for that?" "I WAS! I was sooo annoyed! ...Well, not that annoyed maybe, but I was still annoyed," she corrected herself almost as if apologizing to her own memories of her friends. "I wanted to hide from the sun, and then Quill comes and asks what I was doing there all alone, looking gloomy and unfun. So he pulled me out, and when I realized it, we were playing tag. I was it, of course." "You must have worked up quite a little, I'd guess?" "I don't think I had ever ran that much before in my life. I was always a bit weak, so I got winded super hard. I still ran, though. I was it, after all," Cascade chuckled sadly, looking down to the broken down yard and swinging her foot at one of the broken bars of the jungle gym that prodded at a weird angle, but she didn't hit anything. "Dad looked super shocked when he saw me playing with them all. He was so happy when he picked me up he asked me if I had made new friends! He had never asked me that before." Sunset Shimmer remained in relative silence. The little ghost seemed like she was completely lost in her memories, reliving them almost as if they were happening right in front of her eyes right now. "I had no idea. I thought they were all just annoying at first, but... When I looked back at them and they were all smiling so nicely, with so much energy... I realized that I really liked them. I said yes." "I imagine your dad was radiant from the news." "He was! He looked so happy, I never saw that before! ...I wanted to see him make that face again! So I would make EXTRA effort to go out and play with them! ...but..." Once again, her eyes just dozed off into the ground. The Unicorn walked a little closer to the ghost, being extra careful not to step into any jagged edges of the wreckage. "I was always a bit weak. I'd get sick easy, so I couldn't get out on my own too much, my parents were scared I'd get worse doing that. So, they built this place for me. ...For us." For us. For you and your friends. That explains why this yard is so much larger than a normal one. Your parents must have put so much more effort into building this place than I could possibly try to understand. "They would come over almost every Saturday. It was a relief, I really liked those days." Sunset Shimmer rose an eyebrow at Cascade as she jumped off the wreckage, almost as if she genuinely thought she had to dodge the objects there. "So you enjoyed Saturday more than any other day of the week?" "Holidays, too! I never really got along well with school." Ah, I see how that would've went. "I never liked it. It was all so boring. I liked reading and staying quiet, but not really participating in all the things the teacher would have us do. ...I think that's a bit strange?" "The word would be contradictory," Sunset said as she followed the little ghost out of the wrecks, walking now on the cobbled street that led toward the house, the grass that was growing through the cracks ruffling gently as her feet passed by them. "So you got bored at school? Was it always like this?" "I don't remember. I don't think so." "...So I would say your friends made you appreciate adventure a bit more, wouldn't you agree?" Cascade took a little pause, considering the Equestrian's words with a small nod and a smile of her own. "I think you're right! You really know a lot, Miss Sunset!" she exclaimed with the innocence of a child, making the not-quite-human blush a little. "Did you get bored at school too?" "I would say that if I did, it was for very specific reasons," Sunset analyzed, scratching her Adam's Apple as her eyes locked onto the horizon for a second, the beautiful view of the city down below being something out of a painting of lights. "I admit I hated studying the same matter more than once. I always thought that learning it one time only was enough, and it proved right most of the time." "Heheh. You were a better student than I was. ...It's super weird, you know? I didn't enjoy school at all, but now that I'm dead, I wish I could go back and apologize to my teacher for all the trouble I gave her. But that's not happening, right?" "Sadly, no," the Equestrian shook her head dismissively, sliding her fingers in her hair as she did it. "But I don't think you have anything to worry about. You can't possibly have been a bad student. I know, I can tell." "So you were a good student, then?" No. I was a failure. Sunset's voice didn't come out, but her eyes did all of the talking for her. Cascade tilted her head just a little, her eyes filling with a strange sadness Sunset wasn't sure it was her own. "I'm sorry." "Heh. It's okay, you're not the one that's at fault," the Equestrian chuckled a little, pulling her jacket a little closer to herself, looking at the ghost with a relative bad girl vibe. "I think it always kind of stuck with me, though. Having to learn to accept myself was a pretty hard thing to do." "And did you?" Sunset Shimmer blinked in surprise at the surprisingly caring look the child gave her, and smiled back in response. The camaraderie of girls dealing with their wish to apologize to their teachers was strangely comforting, and the Equestrian shrugged awkwardly as a response. "I wish that was the case. I really don't think I did yet. I think I'll be sorting things out for the rest of my life, I'm not sure." The child ghost skipped a bit on the pavement, walking toward the edge of the view toward the city, where a thigh high stone wall separated the road to a downhill slope towards gravity. Cascade was barely tall enough to look over it. "You know, I never got to see all of that," the child said with a glint of melancholic excitement in her tone. "It looks so beautiful from up here! What is it like?" Sunset Shimmer rested her hands on top of the wall, letting the cool night wind blow through her hair as the light of the moon and the city, both took aim at her eyes like a spotlight. "It's busy. There's always something happening down there, at night and day. People coming, going and staying." "Don't they ever sleep?" "It's a big city. Not everypo-- one goes to sleep at the same time." "Really? I guess that's a nice thing about being an adult," Cascade noted to herself as she swung her foot at the ground, as if she was patting it with the sole of her extremely damaged shoes. "It's kinda sad. I never thought too hard about this kind of stuff, but not ever being able to know what that's like..." "You still lived around adults. Your parents usually show you what being an adult is like, even if they try not to." "Your parents must have been really adult-like, then! Dad and mom both goofed around with me when they could. Except when I did badly at school... they would give me the stink-eye when that happened." You make that sound like a fond memory of yours. I'm not sure I have memories like that about my own folks. A prodigy daughter of yours... So much for an honors student. "...Do you mind if I ask something?" Sunset asked, resting her weight on top of the wall, giving her legs some sense of rest. "Sorry if this seems inappropriate, but... how did you die, exactly?" Cascade didn't answer for a couple seconds, taking the time to look down into the lights of the city, almost in a hypnotized trance. She shook her little head a little, discontent with her own thoughts, and turned around to face Sunset, looking her right in the eye. "I remember just a little about it. ...More like, how it started." "I have no intention of having you answer if you don't want to." "It's okay, I guess. I said I didn't remember much about it. It was a car accident, though." Car accident. I hear that in this world so often... I'm partially glad that Equestria's lack of automobiles is actually a thing, Manehattan's semi-industrialization be damned. "I remember we were going to visit someone. ...I think it was my mom's friend? I was super sleepy because we had to wake up really early, so I was a bit switched off, I guess," the ghost mumbled as she paced around the pavement, avoiding stepping on the blades of grass as she did it. "It was Saturday, wasn't it? Since it was a holiday, my parents decided to go out for a change. Dad was super excited, I remember him waking me up with a really energetic smile on his face. He convinced mom to get up super early! I don't think that ever happened before." "Sounds like your father was truly one of a kind." "He was crying so hard. He tried to pull me out, but I was stuck in the metal bars. He was desperate, he couldn't pull me out." ...Sunset's eyes lost all of their shine as the ghost's eyes lost their own, stuck once again in a lapse as if she was witnessing it happen right in front of her. Cascade was unmoving, her head slumped down in a depressed hunch, her voice coming out like it didn't belong to her. "I couldn't recognize dad. He looked like the world had ended. He yelled, and cried, and scolded me seriously for the first time in my life," the ghost's eyes started to shine again as her voice became watered down and shaken. "He ordered me not to die. If I did it, I'd be disobeying him. He told me to live, and if I died I'd be grounded. ...I didn't understand what he was saying, but I didn't want to make dad sad...!" The Equestrian saw for the first time in her life, the face of a ghost as it cried. The child turned around to face Sunset as her face was a mess of tears, flowing from her incorporeal cheeks like curtains thrashing in the wind. "I-I d-din't-t w-want to...! M-Make d-dad sad! I did-dn't w-want to...!" the words the Unicorn could understand as Cascade barely managed to enunciate them hit Sunset much harder than she thought they could. "B-BUT I DID! ...D-Dad...! I made dad sad! I died! I couldn't live, so I died! ...I made him cry! I-I made dad cryy!" ...The Equestrian cursed her own inability to be able to hold this child and tell her it was going to be all right. She cursed her inability to correct the mistake made that day, and her lack of understanding about what it actually means to be dead. How does one respond to that? How does one soothe the crying heart of a dead child as it bawls and despairs about something outside of the control of time's unforgiving eternity? So, she didn't reply. Instead, Sunset Shimmer simply listened. She heard the ghost cry, and silently embraced it within her own thoughts. She had no other option, she had no words for this. She simply had her presence, and her silence. It felt like she had lost sense of time as the ghost looked up to her, looking with the lost and confused eyes as she had. Sunset could swear she could feel the child's hand as she rose her hand to Sunset's jacket, trying to hold onto it, but to no avail. "I-I m-made dad cry. D-Do you think h-he hates me? I-I didn't obey him! I didn't obey dad...!" She cried words through her incorporeal tears as she wept right next to the Equestrian, who finally managed to bring herself to crouch next to the ghost, looking her with eyes filled with emotional sympathy. Look at you. So close... and yet so far... "Do I even have to say it...? Your dad wanted you to live because he loved you. I'm sure he still does," Sunset almost whispered her words, trying her hardest to make them the hand she wanted to have to pet this child's head. "He would never be angry at you because of this. He would never hate you, or anything like that." "...B-But he said..." "He was desperate to save your life, that much is clear. He wanted you to live, so he said what he did. Not because he meant to say that literally... but because the meaning behind his words meant more to him than anything else he could have said," the Equestrian gently said as she saw the little ghost's face brighten up so little, and yet it was such a relief to see. "You do know what he meant to say, don't you?" "..." "I love you, so please live. Ultimately selfish, but that's the nature of love. He didn't want you to live so he wouldn't punish you. He wanted you to live because he was your father." Sunset's smile grew generously wide as she stood up and looked over the horizon, again. The little ghost did the same, her eyes still filled with water in them, her little frame trembling relentlessly at the burst of emotion that surged within her. "...He truly was one of a kind." It didn't take too long before the ghost started sniffling again, her body quivering so much that the Unicorn could swear she was still alive. Cascade walked a little and sat down on the ground beyond the border of the wall, as she could not sit on them. She looked solemn at the horizon, her eyes still leaking phantasmal tears. "...Now that you say it, it m-makes me feel silly." She sniffed really loudly, making a dry, empty echo sing along the tunes of the wind. Sunset didn't comment on her words, and instead, jumped over the wall and sat atop it, looking at the horizon alongside the child for what felt like hours. "I'm sorry." "Don't be. Sometimes, things that happen to us cut us more deeply than anything else. And most of the time, it takes others to help us heal these wounds... some of them you might not even realize they were there to begin with." The little ghost threw a quick glance at Sunset, revealing her sad, tear-filled eyes to her alongside a smile that she wasn't sure what message it brought. "Sunset Shimmer? W-What is it like? ...On the other side?" On the other side. So that's the look you're giving me? "You're... asking me if I know?" She simply nodded a little. "...I don't know," she honestly responded, the chill of the wind growing so sharp that she could swear it could cut through her skin. Still, she refused to flinch to it. "I wish I knew, but I never died. So I don't know." "I see. I also don't know what it's like." The little ghost sniffed sadly, looking over at the moon while whimpering words, barely audible through the sounds of nature around them. Cascade turned around a little to face Sunset with the same sad eyes as before, her lips trembling with each syllable uttered. "I have to go, don't I?" she silently asked, her voice coming out so weak and powerless that it barely had enough strength to reach Sunset's ears. "...Do I have to?" "I'm sorry, Cascade. ...Being a ghost doctor doesn't make me able to bring you back to life. I can only help you bring some matter of closure to your life. Once you do that, though..." The little ghost nodded in silence, turning her head around slightly just so their eyes would meet. "I'm scared. ...I don't want to do that alone. Stay with me?" And just like before, the Equestrian didn't use any words. With a soft move from her legs, she positioned herself by the child's side and sat on the grass, both girls looking at the moon, side-by-side. She felt the unfathomable chill of Cascade's ghostly hand resting over her own, but refused to remove it. And there she stayed. ...She wasn't sure how long she sat on that one patch of grass. Time seemed to pass by so slowly, that minutes felt like they were hours. All that was heard in the air was the wind blowing through the house; the ruffling of the trees, shaking its leaves and branches together, making a harmonious sound that mimicked the sea. Grass and dry leaves sifted together, some carried as the song of the breeze passed by, carrying them towards the skies. Everything was hardly silent, and yet, Sunset couldn't shake the feeling like she didn't listen to anything. She wasn't sure when it happened. But before she realized it, the little ghost wasn't there anymore. Right by her side was nothing more but an empty hillside, full of grass, illuminated by the dull light of the night sky; the only company left for the girl was the howling wind, singing its song like a hymn for the departed. Sunset Shimmer stood up. She patted her clothes and jumped over the wall, back to the cobbled pathway. Without thinking too much, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number - one that answered relatively quickly, considering how late at night it was. "...Yes?" "You gave me this number, so I'm using it. Nimue, I need a favor from you." *Knock* *Knock* ...The man opened his eyes, disgruntled. He yawned, the sharp pain in his mind striking the back of his head like the bad hangover that it was. He cursed under his breath as he threw a glance at the clock, and saw it was 13:00. It was a SUNDAY. Who on this cursed earth would bother someone in their Sunday break? He took another quick look at the bed he was resting in, only to be interrupted once again by the incessant knocking on the door. *Knock* *Knock* "Urgh! I'm COMING! Don't punch a hole in my door!" He was annoyed. Of course he was annoyed, someone prematurely woke him up during the one day of the week he would use all to himself. A day away from work, from contacts, from people in general. So the fact he had to actually see someone during this day was enough to make him wake in a bad mood. The house he shifted through wasn't in a bad condition, but it always looked a bit dirty during his day off. He would use this time to just enjoy himself and drown in some kind of alcohol, if only to make it easier to bear an empty house. So he had to dodge a few bottles on the ground, half-eaten pizzas, console CDs and controllers lost amidst the chaos that ensued at night; all of which culminated in the fury he felt when someone started to bang at his door. And angry he was. Very angry he was as he looked through the spyhole and saw a girl standing on the other side. She looked relatively young, with hair red and gold like fire reflected in the sun's light. He rose an eyebrow as he unlocked the door and swung it open, the cranky look on his face showing her all the welcomes she would get. But instead of backing off or looking relatively surprised at the power in which he opened the door, she looked stoic and serious, as if she expected him to do that. "Graze Wave?" "...What do you want? It's Sunday, I don't want to be disturbed." He once again, used a forceful tone to push her back, but she didn't flinch. She instead looked at his eyes like she saw something nostalgic in them, and shrugged slightly at the words he used. "I can imagine you'd want that," she calmly said as she pulled one of her hands from the leather jacket she wore. She held a small box, of which she presented to him without delay. "But I'm here for you, anyways. As in, this is for you. Yours, to be precise." "I didn't order anything," he said with another rasp of irritable in his tone. The girl once again, didn't flinch from his demeanor. "So you can take your little delivery and go deliver it to the one that asked for it." "You're Graze Wave, so this is yours. Or more like, it belongs to someone that was dear to you. I am just making sure it's properly returned." Those words gave the man some pause. He rose an eyebrow, confused at the girl's claim, but he decided to roll with it. Was she for real? He picked up the box. It was almost weightless... it was a cute little thing, obviously bought just recently from some store. He shook it just a little to hear a rattling noise inside, and threw a look at the girl who was staying there with the same blank, serious expression on her face, both hands inside the jacket's pockets. He shrugged once, undoing the little tie that held the box closed. Who was this girl, just coming over and delivering something for him like this? Somehow, the curiosity got the better of him, and the box found itself open... The man gaped his eyes. His mouth hang open by itself, and before he realized it, everything was a blur before him. A sudden rush. What was this that he was feeling? Joy? Sadness? A piercing blow of despair that cut so deep he could swear his soul was butchered in half? A seething wave of nostalgia and memory that mended the torn soul he had just felt be cut? The man couldn't tell. In what felt like milliseconds, he was on his knees, crying his eyes out as he held the tiny box in front of him, his eyes incapable of focusing on what they were seeing. He babbled, gasped, tried to breathe in, but all he could do was weep, uncontrollable tears flowing from his face like a leak just burst open after years of pressure. He gritted his teeth as he rested his whole weight on one of his arms, using the other one to cover his eyes as he couldn't stop, his mind slowly attempting to process all of the feelings that rushed over him, like a relentless wave of the oceans crashing down upon him. The girl crouched in front of him, her shiny teal eyes making contact with his as she opened a smile - a smile he could swear had the power to heal the deepest of wounds. "It's not your fault. It wasn't. And it will never have been." ...He wasn't sure when was it that he stopped crying. But once he did, the girl was already long gone - a mysterious creature that simply came and went, just like the wind. ...Thank you. Who ever you are. Wherever you are. Thank you. Thank you.