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13th June, 1883

The One She Left Behind

by Maelie Arsenault

The HMS Ulysses cruises through the cloudy night sky far above Europa. In the passenger cabin, Maelie Arsenault shifts restlessly in her seat, head leaning against the window. After her argument with the crew about letting her off somewhere nearby she regretted leaving her scroll of feather fall at home. Looking around the cabin, most of the other passengers were asleep and the staff had settled into their posts for the night.
 
It had been several hours now since the message from Sareena about the fight with the detective and she eagerly awaited the dawn so she could use the Sending Stone again and hopefully book passage back home from Avalon sooner. With a sigh she gets up and pads towards the back. The deck was dark and cold, but she hoped that maybe the sky will be clear enough for her to stargaze, something that usually brought her some peace.
 
Being careful with the door, she slips out onto the deck quietly. The winds howled and even the elf’s hearing couldn’t distinguish the wind in the sky from the roar of the air elementals powering the nearby engines at the ship’s stern. The small aft deck was not a favourite of passengers, the noise of the engines preventing any of the enjoyable socializing the others seemed to want to do through the journey. Maelie had enjoyed a bit of time on the deck towards the bow, ecstatic that her motion sickness was far less an issue for air travel and had been sociable until the Sending Stone message.
 
Now, the loaner made her way to the safety railing, leaning against it. She looked around, hoping for some clear sky when she caught sight of some lights, not above, but below. Her heart jumped into her throat as a massive constellation of lights spread out under her as the clouds parted. In a heartbeat, she realized where she was flying over: Bellancourt.
 
Her eyes lit up, reflecting the light from below, as she gazed upon her home. The home she’d suffered in. The home she ran from. The home… where her sister still was. The home that, despite all that happened there, she had never stopped being homesick for.
 

I walked around my good intentions
And found that there were none
I blame my mother for the wasted years, we hardly talked
I never thought I would forget this pain
Then a phone call made me realize I'm wrong
 
And if I don't make it known that, I've loved you all along
Just like sunny days that we ignore
Because we're all dumb and jaded
And, and I hope to God I figure out what's wrong

 
She thought about her sister. The sister who had cared for her through all their mother’s abusive schemes. The sister who had held her hand as she bled on the cobblestones. The sister who had let go of that hand as Kallie and Mika had scooped her up and fled into the crowd with her. The sister who had picked up all her abandoned responsibilities. The sister who she had never so much as written a single letter to, so she’d know she was alive.
 
I walked around my room not thinking
Just sinking in this box
I blame myself for being too much, like somebody else
I never thought I would just bend this way
Then a phone call made me realize I'm wrong
 
And if I don't make it known that I've loved you all along
Just like sunny days that we ignore
Because we're all dumb and jaded
And, and I hope to God I figure out what's wrong

 
She swallowed the lump in her throat of all the guilt, all the unsaid things, and some part of her tried to push it all back down. She closed her eyes and shoved herself away from the railing hard, almost falling over. Wiping tears and trying to compose herself she turned to go back inside the cabin but…
 
And I hope to God I figure out what's wrong
And I hope to God I figure out what's wrong

 
…her feet turned around and she ran back to the railing.
 
She gripped it with the single strand of sense she held onto so that she wouldn’t go over as she started screaming. She told her sister that she loved her. She told her sister that she missed her. That she was sorry she’d left her and never come home. That she wanted to see her. To meet her family. She told her she was proud of all she’d done over the years. That no matter where she went in the world, she’d always listen for news from home. She had people she loved. People she wanted her to meet. That she still thought D’Artagnan was a horrible character.
 
If I don't make it known that, I've loved you all along
Just like sunny days that we ignore
Because we're all dumb and jaded
And I hope to God I figure out what's wrong

 
She screamed out nearly twenty years of memories she wished she could have shared with her sister until the lights of Bellancourt disappeared beneath the sea of clouds. Maelie stared back through the clouds until the winds blew away her words and tears. It took her a moment to differentiate the sobs from the shivers of the cold night and she prying her white-knuckled hands from the railing, she staggered back to the cabin to finally collapse into a dreamless sleep.
 
And if I don't make it known that, I've loved you all along
Just like sunny days that we ignore
Because we're all dumb and jaded
And, and I hope to God I figure out…

 
The HMR Ulysses sped onwards towards Avalon, never setting down in Montaigne much like Maelie.

Continue reading...

  1. The Last Rule
    November 27th, 1882, - Novandria
  2. The Den
  3. Am I losing?
  4. A Close Call
  5. Plans
  6. New Toys
  7. Mistakes were made
  8. Too close to home
  9. Not like you.
  10. This City is Mine.
    February 6th, 1883
  11. Aimless?
    March 5, 1883 - Novandria
  12. The Game Begins
    February 13th, 1883
  13. Too much like You
    March 13, 1883
  14. Safer in Shadows
    April 3, 1883
  15. New Beginnings
    April 7th, 1883
  16. Ready to Run
    April 17th, 1883
  17. Home
    April 25, 1883
  18. Can you steal a heart?
    May 8th, 1883
  19. Trouble
    11th of May, 1883
  20. Heartbreak
    14th of May, 1883
  21. Hunter or Prey?
    16th of May, 1883
  22. Guilt
    19th of May, 1883
  23. Untrustworthy
    21st of May, 1883
  24. Why am I like this?
    25th of May, 1883
  25. Worthy
    8th of June, 1883
  26. The One She Left Behind
    13th June, 1883
  27. Annnd it's back...
    July 1st, 1883
  28. Learning to Fly
    July 4th, 1883
  29. Thrill of the Hunt
    July 29th, 1883
  30. From the Embers
    21st of August, 1883 // 1867
  31. Mother Knows Best
    16th of September, 1883
  32. A Snake, a Star, and a Fox
    25th of September, 1883, Novandria
  33. It wasn't him.
    28th of September, 1883, Novandria
  34. The New Blade
    13th of September, 1883
  35. Something Good
    October 31, 1883 - Novandria
  36. The wound that won't close
    18th of December, 1883 - Novandria
  37. Promise
    25th of December, 1883 - Novandria
  38. Fallen through the cracks
    6th of January, 1884 - Novandria
  39. Day to Night
    7th of January, 1884
  40. What's Left to the Shadows
    22nd of January, 1884, Novandria
  41. The World without Colour
    18th of February, 1884, Bellancourt, Montaigne,
  42. Seventeen Roofs
    26th of February, Novandria, Eisen
  43. Crossing the Board
    4th of March, 1884, Novandria, Eisen
  44. New Freedom
    May 4th, 1884
  45. Saved
    5th of May, 1884/16th of July, 1858

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.042 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 01:07, Nov 15 2024