Faded

How Unfortunate...~

WARNING: IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO SUICIDE AND GORE, PLEASE BE WARY

Protect them… protect them, Wadanohara. Protect them like you would protect me… even though I’m no longer there. They’re hurt, dear, dear Wadanohara. Heal them. You are their nurse. You are the Witch. Don’t let them end their lives. Save them. Don’t let them die; don’t let their souls fade… they’re fading… faded… gone. All of them. Each of them. Perhaps even you, and I am not aware. Even your precious husband is fading slowly. Let the last four live. Let Ver live, let Emalf live, let Kcalb live, let Samekichi live… let yourself live. I miss you. I miss you so… so very much. I don’t need to see you die… please… protect them… and yourself.

. . .

It was morning, and Wadanohara woke up to find Samekichi still asleep. Sunshine peeked through the curtains; reflecting off of Satanick’s horns and giving them a luminous glow. They were so beautiful… it only reminded her of how much she missed him. That dream she had last night lingered in her mind... who could it have been? If it was anyone, it might have been Meikai. He must have spoken with her for the first time! About something tragic as the events going on in the rehabilitation center, however concerned her.  

With a smile on her face just thinking about how her father had spoken with her, she hopped out of the bed and stretched her petite arms into the air; frolicking to the windows and pushing the curtains open with such force, the nurse almost fell. The light was blinding, and it woke Samekichi up almost immediately. Wadanohara grinned, and she went out the door and into the hallway to wake the rest of them up. As the nurse passed by the display box containing the devil’s horns… the light making them shimmer began to disappear.

“Rise and shine, everyone! Ver, Emalf, and Kcalb~! I want to have fun with you all today! Come on, come on! Kcalb, you can bring your crows, too! It’s a lovely day! Look outside!”

The witch began to sing and hum; knocking on the patient’s doors in a gentle rhythm. Kcalb’s figure blew through the thick black ooze on the wall; the little black particles soon forming into the devil she knew so well. He was gentle, kind, a bit unsocial, but he was so fun to be around. When she first heard that Satanick wanted her to act as Kcalb were her protector… she got thinking. In the war, Sal was about to kill her… Kcalb possessed her and fought him off; initially sending him into the Red Sea. That’s right… Satanick felt ashamed because he couldn’t protect her from ‘a real threat’. He was so sweet… she wanted to tell him wrong, but… it was too late.

While she was in thought, Kcalb straightened out his long coat before glancing over at Wadanohara. He was not saying anything, but when he opened his mouth to speak, Emalf walked out of his room with a large, exaggerated yawn. That yawn was followed with a grin as he waved at the two before heading into what used to be Vendetto’s room. After the witch had waved back and turned back around to face the devil, he cleared his throat.

“Ah… are you alright, Wadanohara? After last night, I wanted to make sure that… you weren’t too severely traumatized or…”

The instant he began to speak, she latched onto him for a hug; nuzzling against him. He seemed surprised by this, letting out a short gasp in which she responded to with a grin. Kcalb needed more snuggle time… everyone did. She felt like they must have thought that she spent most of her time with Samekichi, and she most certainly did not want that. She wanted to occupy all of her time to everyone; not just her husband (as weird as it felt saying that even after millennia).

“I’m okay, Kcalb… you helped me yesterday, too… I don’t think I ever thanked you… … thank you…”

Her frail form began to tremble, but he pulled back slightly and knelt down to meet her height; hugging her back. The witch’s eyes shot open, but when she realized the devil was simply returning the gesture, she let out a sweet, dreamy sigh. His eyes had closed, and he brought a hand to stroke up and down her back. His motions stopped immediately, however, and when he pulled away and stood up, the force of that blew wind towards Ver’s bedroom door; creaking it open.

No one was inside.

“Ver? Ver?? Where’s Ver?!”

Wadanohara exclaimed; running down the hall to reach other rooms in attempts to find her. Kcalb was mortified. Another… perhaps lost. No… not again… could he no longer control his power? This brought the number of patients down to three… what if he was next? What if he was just overthinking this all in general? There were too many possibilities and it made his head hurt. His hands began tremoring dangerously as he stared down at them in horror before turning around harshly with his coat wavering in the wind like a flag behind him and vanishing back into his room with an ear shattering wave of caws.

“V-Ver…! Ver, where are you?! Ver!!”

Tears were already streaming down her cheeks from her sleepy eyes. As she passed what used to be Vendetto’s room, she noticed Emalf kneeling there; cheek pressed against the base of the weapon that lied upon the bloody mattress. The flame demon was dead quiet. Wadanohara slowly trespassed into the room, and almost as if on cue, Emalf turned to face her. His shades had fallen off of his face, and his eyes were swollen with tears. His nose was red and runny, and his lips were quivering.

“W-Wada…”

The nurse immediately went to his side; kneeling down beside him and wrapping her arms around him to provide comfort. He clung onto the weapon as if it were the last thing in the world, and kept it away from Wadanohara in case it were to hurt her. That was the last thing he needed. It didn’t help that… Vendetto was the first one to die. Emalf had been in the rehabilitation center longer than Vendetto ever had been. He felt so guilty for making this far and not his friend… maybe he would…

“What’s the matter, Emalf? What happened?”

His response came out first in answering her question.

“Ver… she… sh-she… she’s gone… out the window… she… committed… su…ici…de… last night… I… her window was o-open, and…”

Every noise after that, the nurse was unable to make out. He was a blubbery mess of tears right now… maybe it was best to check it out for herself. Leaving a gentle kiss on his nose with added magic to flush out the congestion from all of his crying, she took groggy steps towards Ver’s room. No one else was seen. Samekichi was probably still waking up, Kcalb wasn’t in the hallway anymore (to her dismay), and Emalf was crying over Ver now. It was all a catastrophe.

Walking into her open room, the nurse noticed that, indeed, the window was left open. Her claw weapons laid upon her mattress stained with blood. The scarf… sprawled out on the ground at the foot of her bed. A cold wind blew in; typical for this type of year, but… carrying along with it a hinted sorrow, as if it were speaking to her. Daringly, the nurse approached the window and peered down. Sure enough…

“V…VER!!!”

Ver’s body was askew; blood splattered upon the ground like a painting done only in red. Wadanohara couldn’t even make out the demon’s body from this high up. She fell to her knees and buried her face into her hands… she had failed Meikai’s wish. Another one had departed due to a selfish act of suicide… but what if Ver was depressed? Wadanohara didn’t know her that well, but maybe there was a story behind her acts; not just Memoca’s passing.

“I’m… such a failure… I’ve failed so many times… why do they all continue to trust me…? I can’t keep them alive for longer than a day after their comrades have perished… I can’t stop them… do my words not work…? Is my magic not… working…? I don’t want to use magic on them… they would be making decisions based off of magic; not their true feelings. I… I can never stop them… I’m such a fool… I’m a horrible, horrible witch… a horrible nurse… a horrible… wife…”

Samekichi could be heard walking through the halls, before those footsteps disappeared into the area past the big gold doors. What she wasn’t aware of was the fact that he had gone outside and politely buried the demon girl’s body next to Idate; where a rose still stood. After managing to dig a hole wide enough, he disposed of her body in there and put all the dirt back in. Giving his respects for a quick moment, the shark quickly retreated back inside…

Only to miss the bountiful pink roses that began sprouting out of the ground from around her head in the shape of a crown.