Strays (WHM)

Part 11

The sky was dark, with only the occasional bright white flash of light accompanied by distant rumbling. The world was painted a dull blue-gray, and the city carried on below just as it had every other day. A woman, thin and frail, stood at the edge of a rooftop looking down. She wore a tattered t-shirt and shorts, nothing more. Her long, dark hair blew in the wind, streaked with gray and whipping back and forth. Red, crystalline horns forked out from her temples, and a crimson tail was dragged along with the direction of the wind.

"Mom?"

She looked back, to a small child that had called out to her weakly. The child's body was different from her own, so much that she barely looked related. She was small, frail like her mother. But her body was completely encapsulated in the dragon-like scales. The color of the girl's were unlike her mother's, too. Pale, nearly colorless, with a faint hint of blue in certain light. The biggest similarity were the large, tired eyes that stared up at the woman. Yellow where it should have been white. Colorless and shining pink where it should have been colored in.

"Mom, what are..?"

The child called out again, flinching with each strike and crash of the storm that rushed over the city. There was a loud crash below, followed by a string of expletives and angry shouting. The child rushed toward her mother, whose blank expression turned to one of deep sorrow. She held up a hand, signaling at the child to stop her approach. The child obeyed, but very obviously didn't want to. She fidgeted in the rain, glancing over her shoulder and tugging at the oversized shirt she wore.

"Mo-"

"Go back, Kuromi. I'm just...watching the rain," the woman instructed, but to no avail. The child, showing her rebellious side once more, shook her head and stepped forward. Again, and again. One step at a time, timid but determined. Until she was close enough to reach out and grab hold of the woman's shirt hem.

"Please..."

The woman pleaded, inching her foot closer to the edge. The child, possessed of an uncanny understanding, refused again and tugged the woman back toward the rooftop. Before the two could argue any further, in their wordless way, there was a loud bang and crash from the door the child had crept out through. A man stood in the doorway, face twisted with rage. He caught sight of the pair, his lips curling into a dark snarl. The sound startled the girl, who reflexively lurched forward to cling to the woman's waist.

And then they were tumbling. Wind rushing past their ears, water pelting them as they descended. The man cursed over the edge of the rooftop, and lightning struck wildly around them. The child unfurled her large, bat-like wings, with little effect. A bolt of lightning struck right through the left wing, shattering the crystalline structure with a shriek of pain. The child writhed, panicked, whimpering into her mother's chest. The woman wrapped her arms around the child, murmuring sweet nothings along with a faint apology. And then the impact, the bodies bounced off the pavement below. With sickening cracks and crunches, and consciousness faded. Blood pooled and mixed with the rain, and the small smile faded from the woman's face.

...

Senji stirred in her sleep, and Rody felt something wet on his shoulder that trailed down his arm. He glanced down, seeing tears glistening on the girl's lashes. Her brow wrinkled, and she clung to the edge of his shirt. The air was warm and humid, but she shivered beside him.

"Nightmares?," he asked, expecting and receiving no response. He brushed his free hand against hers, too nervous to try anything more. She curled her fingers around his, while Pino wiped her tears away with a small wing.

...

Images and sounds shifted and swirled around, blurring into one another. Dirty alleyways, rooms filled with debris and trash strewn about. Shouts, softly spoken words with hidden meaning, incoherent babbling. Faces blending together into unrecognizable messes. Dark rooms, shining city skylines. Figures looming overhead, with blindingly bright lights blocking their faces from view.

"Kumori.."

The images coalesced into a scene. Dark, wind whistling past, and cold concrete stretching out behind. A small child, messy purplish red hair flying wildly, stared listlessly out over the city below. A young man, blonde with large feathery wings perched beside her. He had brought her up here, intending to show off the view and help her push past her fear. But now he wondered if that was the right thing to have done, as she shut down completely and stood statuesque beside him.

Lightning crashed, and she suddenly snapped into motion, startling the man. She at first reached toward his red wings, then withdrew, curling into herself and hyperventilating on the ground. All this happened in an instant, the reaction, hesitation, then a new reaction. The man floundered for a moment, as rain drops started falling from the raging clouds above. He hopped down, shielding her from the rain with his wing and reaching out slowly toward her. She flinched, and he noted how scales were creeping over her body and slowly covering her.

"Senji."

She suddenly stopped, peering up at him. Her eyes reflected almost red in the flashing light, with tears streaming down her cheeks. He moved slowly, wiping her eye and pulling her hair out of the way. She shuddered, unleashing a new stream of tears, and dove into his chest. Clutching tightly at his jacket, burying her face in the fleece.

"It's alright," he whispered, embracing her and staying like that until her sobs stopped. She eventually pulled herself away, wiping her face and shaking her hair aside. The man smiled down at her, softly, while internally kicking himself for making her go through whatever that was. She nodded, affirming something to herself, and tried to produce her wings. They had taken on a form much closer to his own, something that the head of the commission commented on. When she brought them out this time, though, only one formed correctly. The other was only partially there, with a huge hole where the main span should have been. Trying a few more times, she grew frustrated and eventually shook her head at the man. It wasn't going to be possible.

"Alright, that's good for now. Let's go," her instructor stood up, and took her by the hand to head down the stairwell of the building they were on. She looked up at him quizzically, but he just beamed down at her and they made their exit.