Waning of the Sun Gods

Light Bouncing off a Blade: V

"Ruatoy," I murmur, dragging myself to my feet. My mind feels completely blank. I knew that my sisters would be returning but – so soon? Then again, with how long I've been waiting, perhaps I should be complaining about the wait.

Later, I'll return to my normal mocking dynamic with my sister after I've wrapped up my mourning turned to unexpected joy at her arrival.

"It's been a while," Ruatoy says conversationally, pulling her blade out of Bay's head with a vicious tug. "Or at least, I think it's been. Time doesn't pass right down there. Up there." A brief chuckle, a familiar warmth to it that fills a gaping absence I'd learned long ago to ignore. "Wherever 'that place' is."

She turns to me, her grin fading into a smirk. The scar, the one from the training incident, makes it characteristically lopsided and makes her seem roguish in a way I know she's proud of. "Well. Hi again, Anra! I'd give you a hug, but based on the way you're standing your ribs would kill me – or more likely, you."

As if to accentuate her point, the frantic beating of my heart begins to fade and in comes the pain in its place. A bright burst of pain flares every time I take a deep breath, leaving my breaths shallow and panting. "Probably for the best."

Nevertheless, I stumble over to her and collapse over her shoulder. Draping my arms around her with a slight wheeze, Ruatoy shifts beneath me to help support my weight. "Oh, Anra. You couldn't have missed me that much," she says awkwardly as she gently pats me on the back. "I saw Üirshon too, sure, but–"

"It was all of you," I hiss out, pulling myself off of her and looking into her wide eyes. "All of you were gone. And I – I was so alone."

Her eyes flick nervously around, not knowing what to do with her older sister who at the moment is practically threatening to cry on her. "Oh. All of us? I... I mean, I knew that Üirshon was with me, but I couldn't have imagined..."

As if suddenly overcome, she drops to the floor next to me and tugs back her hair. "If I'd known, I would have hurried the hell up!"

"Can you do that?"

"I don't know!" she cries out. Ruatoy has always been prone to sudden bursts of emotion, struggling to get a firm grip on herself. Remembering that, there's still an instinct within me to crouch down next to her and ignore my own pain, instead rubbing her shoulder gently. "I would have at least tried." Wiping firmly at her shining eyes, she looks up at me. "I would have. Really."

"I'm sure," I soothe. "I'm sure you did your best, knowing what you knew."

Ruatoy hunches over further despite my efforts, hiding under her furs until she's a hulking spot of shadow against the floor of the cave. Sitting next to her for a moment, I'm startled out of my attempts to comfort her when I hear scraping against the stone from further inside.

"Yendai!" I gasp. In my haste to speak with my sister again, I didn't have the time to process those final terrifying moments of our battle with Bay. Lifting myself up with a groan, I go to him as quickly as possible. If anything terrible has befallen him, I don't think I could forgive myself for my delay.

I see him stirring as I approach, which puts my first fear at rest. Pushing himself up on his arms, he falls back against the wall of the cavern. There is still far too much blood though. In the dim light, it's hard to tell what's shadow and what's something far more dire, but I realize quickly that he must have hit the wall and then fallen to the floor.

With the force it would have taken to knock him all the way over here, it's incredible he can still move at all.

"Can you move your legs?" I ask him urgently, kneeling next to him with a wince. Blinking at me a few times as his head rocks to the side, he squints in concentration before twitching his foot, then with a hitch of his breath dragging up both of his legs to his stomach.