Cold Without Fire
written by & © copyright maureen "suzanami" mccullough, 2005. creative commons; some rights reserved. magic knight rayearth, all characters and canon concepts © copyright CLAMP/kodansha/etc. Nova is an awesome character.
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Hikaru!
My chest aches.
Hikaru!
My head is throbbing; I can feel my pulse beneath my scalp. It's rushing hard through my veins as I run through the dark.
Hikaru!
And as I scream and weep and run on filthy air, I realize how cold I am. Not from the air; Cephiro is hot and sticky and humid with unstable weather. But my insides are like liquid ice, sloshing inside of me.
HIKARU!
I trip over myself and fall to the cracked earth, tumbling wildly. The ground comes up to meet me very fast.
"Ungh!"
My body feels broken, clammy with sweat and blood. As I lay on my belly, the scent of blood filling my nostrils, I wonder wearily, Where is Hikaru? Everything is turning red and dark, the color of bloody wine, but I still cry.
"Poor child," a cool voice whispers in my ear. I try to jump up, but every nerve seems to snap and I cry out in pain. "Sad, lonely one," the voice coos again.
I am suddenly lifted into spindly arms; they are not warm like Hikaru, but they are all that's there. Hands stroke my tangled hair as my sight blurs and dims. "I will take care of you, my child. I will make it so that you are complete again someday."
As my senses dull, I think of Hikaru and miss her so.
But this person will do.