Death Waits for No One
Because even Cahills can't escape death.
note: Takes place before the final battle with the Vespers.
i. Amy Cahill is scared of death.
She had lost her parents at a very young age, and, ever since then, her loved ones had fallen like dominoes- one by one.
It is only a matter of time before death gets her too.
She has lived for sixteen years, but she feels that her time of death is rapidly approaching. She can practically hear her time running out- can practically see the hands of the clock or the sand of an hourglass pass her by. She has lost all of the composure she has once had, and time and death have lost all respect for her. They will not wait for her anymore, but she has found herself too tired and angry with the world to care.
Death has already kicked her off of its doorstep far too many times to count, and she is starting to think that it is mocking her. She has been far too close to her demise on countless occasions, but, somehow, she has found herself alive and well each and every time.
She is scared of death, but she finds herself too tired to live.
(And, sometimes, she likes to stand out in the rain and pretend she can be with the nonexistant stars.)
But, in a way, she assumes that nature rejects her as well- it always manages to rain harder when she steps outside, and she swears she sees stars flicker out.
Her brother worries about her daily, even though he himself is slowly crumbling and surrendering to the darkness. He smiles at her and tells her everything is okay and that everything will be alright, but she just shakes her head and tells him not to lie.
She has made countless mistakes and he has done many stupid things, and, sometimes, she thinks that they don't love each other as much as they used to.
But she still loves him nonetheless, and hopes that one day he will find it in his heart to forgive her.
He is the last person she wants to die, but she knows that his time is rapidly approaching as well. One day, they will find someone that they cannot escape from, and death will finally get so ticked off with them that it takes them right then and there.
(But, for now, she smiles and sobs and pretends that her brother will never die.)
ii. Sinead Starling wants to die.
Everyone has once said that she is beautiful and intelligent and much too devious to die, but, in reality, she is just too pathetic for death to take her.
No one likes traitors after all. (And, anyway, she isn't pretty enough to be a star.)
She has tried countless times to convince herself that she had done the right thing and that it didn't matter anymore, but it did and she cannot forget.
She still has physical scars from an explosion two years ago, and she desperately tries to hide the scar she can't get rid of on her heart.
But she is only human, and the darkness finds ways to go through the cracks in her light.
She is thinner than she once was, and her eyes are not as bright as they used to be, but she is still alive, and that alone is a miracle.
She needs to be alive after all- her brothers still need her.
One is blind and the other has constant headaches- she is the only one who just has scars. In a way, she is the lucky one- she is able to hide her imperfections from the imperfect world.
They are the stars that just wouldn't die.
(So, until their lights flicker out, she will grip their hands and pretend she wants to live.)
iii. Jonah Wizard knows that music will never die.
He runs his fingers along the ivory black and white keys, caressing them gently and smiling a smile that everyone had thought had already died. He had gotten the piano when he was just starting out his career, and has since then taken care of it more fondly than anything else he has ever had. It had been there when he had written his first smash hit, and it had been there when the last note had fallen flat. One day, when he dies, he knows that it will be worth more than anything else he owns, but he will not sell it, nor will he give it to anyone else. This piano is his and his alone- it would never be happy being played by anyone but him.
He loves the piano more than himself.
The music emitted from it was endless. No matter what happens, the music this piano makes will never die.
Closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of old times, he can faintly hear the sound of jazz and pop, mixed in with the music of Sinead's snarky voice and the delighted smiles of the others around him. Even though he has been surrounded by people for his whole life, he cannot help but feel utterly alone in this beautiful moment. (Because, in reality, they only love his music, not the man behind it.)
When he dies, he wants the music to be with him. He wants to remember the melodic sounds of the past and the cheers of his fans, because then he would know that he would smile and, in that moment, feel the love that he has always yearned for since his youth.
(So, in that moment in the present, he lets the music overtake him and believes that he will not die alone.)
iv. Hamilton Holt had once believed that the world could never kill him.
He has seen so much death and destruction and utter hate in his lifetime, and yet it seems so surrreal for the possibility of death to apply to him. He has lived through so much and has lived for so long, that he almost thought that death had skipped over him and forgotten he existed.
It was a nice thought, one that he has held on to in the most dire of situations. (Which pretty much means his whole life.)
When he had been younger, he had thought that he was invincible. He has once believed that he could take on the whole world, and that he could win.
He is older now, and the world has beaten him far too many times to count.
It has tossed him around and beaten him black and blue, and, no matter how many times he shoves the world back, it has always won in the end.
He has never stood a chance against the world.
It is strange for him- he has once been a kid with dreams that could rival anyone's, and once held a confidence that could have probably beaten the world's- but now he is just a teenager who has seen too much and lived too little.
The world is his enemy, and it would inevitably beat him.
(But, for now, he will just stand tall and convince himself that he will never die.)
v. Natalie Kabra didn't want to die.
She is young and beautiful and has more stars in her eyes than most, and even death could not help but be attracted to her. How else would one explain the countless near death experiences?
Underneath all of the glamour and the overwhelming pride and confidence, Natalie Kabra is scared of the inevitable, but she also has a heart of gold. Most people couldn't see it, because most did not look hard enough for it, but it was there, and she has almost missed seeing it herself. She has cared and loved and breathed in hope, and she is the most radiant out of everyone in the family.
(It is a shame that the golden girl will die before she reaches her prime.)
She wants to be useful to the others instead of just sitting in a cell, waiting for someone to rescue her. She is not a damsel in distress- she can take care of herself quite well. But she has gottten herself kidnapped so easily and so quickly, and she finds herself feeling ashamed for getting captured that way. She is Natalie Kabra- the beautiful girl who misses her mother and loves her brother much more than she lets on, and the girl with the heart of gold and the stars in her eyes that will never die out.
When she dies, she knows that she will have left a lasting impression on everyone. But a part of her wonders if she will just be forgotten right after she dies.
She is not used to being unloved.
The cell is lonely even with the other Cahills surrounding her, and it is dark and cold and the tension is threatening to swallow her up. But she stays strong because Natalie Kabra does not cry,and she dreams of sunsets and her brother's face in the hopes of keeping her sanity.
(She just hopes the sunsets will never die.)
Fin.
note: I wrote this in the hopes of getting over my writer's block, but it didn't really do anything...
I don't like this much, but I hope you all found yourself enjoying it more than I did. I wrote this in present tense, so it probably really sucks. I've never tried doing that before, so there are probably some mistakes here and there. Sorry about that. I'll go back and edit them later if I find anymore mistakes. I went over this three times, but there are probably still some mistakes in there...