Departed

Chapter 5: Blunder

Morro's POV

     Mistake's grin quickly turned into a frown. "Are you in shock or did you really mean it when you said, 'we'll go together?'" Her gaze trailed down my arms to my hand. The hand that was still interlocked with Harumi's. A blush spread across my face as I let go. My heart was ricocheting around my chest with a thousand different emotions: surprise, sorrow, disbelief, yet I still had the nerve to blush. I wasn't even exactly sure if it was embarrassment or... something else.

     "We're coming," I said quickly, my heavy heart getting in the way of a clear voice. I pushed myself off my knees to walk towards her. Harumi followed me, her eyes darkened.

     Mistake said nothing when we reached her, she just leaped off the roof onto another building. I would have thought such abilities were beyond an old woman, but then I remembered she wasn't just any ordinary old woman. I heard the building we were on start to moan as the Departed City shook from the punishments down in the chasm. Harumi and I followed her without a second thought. It was mostly Harumi doing the work in getting us to the next building, however. I barely had the strength to walk. I barely had any strength, whether it be mental or physical.

     The heat was crazy this close to the chasm. We had always close to the center of the city, where the heat wasn't as intense. I felt smothered by the suffocating warmth which came from the eternal fires. The screaming and wailing pounded through my ears; a constant reminder of what I'd just lost. The last of my friends gave themselves up for me. I had one duty as their leader, and I failed them.

     I had even failed Harumi, but Mistake saved us. I glanced at the white-haired girl next to me, as she practically carried me forward. She was breathing heavily from the exertion, coughing frequently from the thickness of the smoke in the air. She followed Mistake with her head down, her jaw set in a hard line.

     I was confused, relieved, and scared at the same time, and it was terribly hard for me to even think through the pain of grief. For one, I failed my friends. I had promised them safety, I had promised them a way to avoid the chasm, and I let them die. I had failed. Two, Harumi had refused my offer to save her and decided to stick by me. I was so happy that she finally decided to take one step towards good, even if she didn't believe in herself. Three, Mistake, the woman who told us she would not help us, came and saved our skins. She saved the last person I had left even when I couldn't. Why would she do such a thing? Harumi had barely changed at all. Along with the chaotic thoughts swirling around in my mind, my frantic heart beat wildly. Instead of Mistake saving us, instead of nearly being captured, instead of failure, all I could think about is her.

      Harumi.

     She took my hand. She promised to stick by me. She's all I have left now.

     Let her be the one you were able to save.

     I couldn't save her then, but maybe I could save her now. I had lost friends before, so many times. I had to let my failure drive me. I couldn't stop protecting her because of my own weaknesses.

     Mistake didn't jump across rooftops, she rather climbed down the rusty set of stairs to get to the street. Harumi and I limped behind her steady pace, each of us wondering who would be the first to address the elephant in the room. We were several buildings away from the edge of the chasm when Mistake decided to enter a rather dreary looking apartment. It was the same as all the ones around it, but it still looked like it held doom inside.

     "The tea's effects will take a while to wear off." Mistake said, breaking the silence. "But I still suggest getting your emotions under control. I've never tested it on spirits before."