Wind Beneath My Wings
Did I ever tell you you're my hero?
You're everything I wish I could be.
I could fly higher than an eagle,
Cause you are the wind beneath my wings.
A crack of thunder shook the room, a flash of lightning following and bathing the place in a blue light. Florian clutched the blankets to his chest and scooted closer to Kuro, who paid him little mind, too focused on her current game of cards with Guy and Luke. Anise groaned in exasperation, her chin in her hands as she stared out the window at the rain.
"I can't believe it's still raining!" she whined.
"It's only been a few hours, Anise," Tear said from her spot across the room, looking through one of Kuro's sketchbooks.
"I want it to stooooooop!"
"Me too!" Florian chimed in, the frightened boy jumping as Kuro suddenly threw down her cards and whooped.
"Twenty-one, I win!" she cheered, scrabbling for the small pile of gald at the center of the small circle they were sitting in. Guy and Luke sighed and dropped their cards.
"You are fourteen," Guy chimed in slight disbelief. "You should not be this good at gambling!"
"That's the way the cookie crumbles!"
Another crack of thunder sounded out, and Anise whined again.
"Stupid raaaaaiiiiin…!"
"Knowing Engeve, this storm'll last clear through the night," Kuro chimed, collecting the cards and shuffling them in her hands. "Whining about it ain't gonna make it go away. Now step away from the window and get your little ass over here and play some cards." Anise gave the brunette a glare, but obeyed nonetheless, trekking over to the bed and settling down beside the green-haired replica. "And wipe that look off your face. We'll head outside and screw around all day once the rain quits, okay? The festival doesn't start until sunset tomorrow anyway. Now who's playing this round? I sense another win in my future!"
xXx
Quite a few card games later, the group had finally turned in for the night. The bed was fixed, sleeping bags were rolled out on the floor, and pillows were thrown at each other. One big pillow fight after that, the kids had all crawled into the bed and the 'adults' curled up on their sleeping mats on the floor. Outside, the storm raged on.
Early in the morning, when it was still dark outside, a particularly loud clap of thunder cracked, shaking the room ever so slightly and rattling the decorations on the walls. Florian lay still as a slab of stone under the covers as he listened, green eyes wide with fear as Kuro and Anise snoozed away easily on either side of him. He hated thunder. It was so loud and scary! They'd come out to Engeve for the annual spring flower festival, not for a thunderstorm!
The one-and-a-half year old replica shook like a leaf as another – but thankfully much smaller – boom of noise echoed in the room, and debated whether or not to wake one of the girls beside him. Anise got really mad whenever he woke her up; she'd console him, of course, but boy, was she rough the next morning! 'Maybe I should wake Kimmy…?' Kuro usually didn't mind if he ever woke her up, usually he cuddled up with her and they both went back to sleep. Plus, the brunette was a very warm person; she always knew how to make him feel better. But this wasn't the usual nightmare or case of insomnia; would she be mad if he woke her up just because he was scared of a little thunder?
Another crack, another jolt from the boy. But this wasn't a little thunder!
Florian was just about to muster up the courage to reach out and tap Kuro awake, when a shifting came from the side said girl slept on. He froze as the brunette shuffled around under the covers before eventually sitting up. He could see her silhouette thanks to the glow of the nightlight plugged into the wall beside them – so he had a fear of the dark too. So what? – and watched as she ran a hand through her hair and mumbled a curse under her breath. She sat there for a while before slowly and carefully sliding out of bed. Florian blinked in confusion. What was she doing?
He moved like he was adjusting position in his sleep, shifting his head further up on the pillow so he could still see her. It proved more difficult, as the dim light didn't quite reach that area of the room, but he could see her skirting around, digging through things and pulling stuff out. She soon made her way over to the door, her hand on the knob when she paused. Florian could picture her glancing over her shoulder, making sure no one would catch her as she creaked open the door and stepped out, the slab of wood closing with a soft thud behind her.
A second later, Florian wiggled his way out of bed, slipped on his shoes and jacket, and followed after her.
He took the stairs down to the lobby of the inn two at a time as quickly as he could without tripping, and managed to make it downstairs just as Kuro left the building. He blinked in confusion. Why would Kimmy be going out in this weather? He jumped the last few steps and, with a deep breath, continued after her.
The storm raged across the landscape of the small town, water pummeling down from the clouds and wind whipping across his cheeks. Distant rumblings were heard, but nothing too bad was going on. Engeve had little to no street lamps, but a lot of houses and buildings had lights still turned on and candles burning in the windows, and the replica could see his friend trekking through the muddy streets, passing by it all. He scurried after her, his shoes squishing in the mud as he went.
Florian kept expecting the girl to stop and turn down a new street, or walk up to a building, but Kuro's path just kept going forward. Soon, they left the main district of the town behind, and the lights were fading away, and it was getting darker and darker and harder and harder to see. Florian's heart jumped in his throat. What would he do if he lost track of Kimmy? It was dark and wet and cold and he knew he couldn't navigate his way back to the inn on his own; not in the dark and not this far away. He didn't know the town that well! That cold feeling known as fear curled up in his stomach, and he found himself moving faster and faster until he was practically running. He couldn't lose track of her, if he did he'd be lost! Lost out here until morning, out here all by himself in the dark with the thunder and the lightning and–
"Who's there?!" The sudden shout startled him so much that he stumbled and fell on his bottom right there in the mud. A sob escaped him. He was scared, so scared…
A light flickered in his face. "What the…? Florian! What are you doing out here?!" And suddenly he could see her, and he launched himself at the brunette, clinging to her waist and half-sobbing, half-laughing against her.
"Kimmy! Kimmy I got so scared! I thought I was gonna be lost out here! I thought–… I thought–…!"
"Sheesh Florian, calm down!" Kuro's voice floated into his ears, and it sounded a whole lot more beautiful than it normally did. "Everything's fine, okay? You aren't lost." She pried one of his hands off her jacket and pressed something cool and solid into his palm. He shined the flashlight's glow up at her face, seeing strands of her dark hair sticking to her cheeks and forehead from the rain. "What're you doing out here, you little idiot?" Kuro didn't look mad, but she was definitely not happy.
"F-Following you…"
"Yeah, I figured that much." She crouched down to his level. "It's pouring out here; you're soaked to the bone."
"But so are you! Kimmy, why'd you come out here? Luke's gonna be mad–"
"No!" Kuro broke in, setting her hands on the younger's shoulders. "You can't tell Luke, okay?" Florian blinked. Not tell Luke?
"You tell Luke everything…"
"I know, I know, it's just…" Her sentence trailed off, and she sighed. "Look, we're already out here, and it should be nearby. Come along with me and I'll take you back in five minutes, okay?"
"But where are we going?"
"Just trust me, kiddo. Now keep a good grip on that light and let's go." Kuro took one of his hands, and he held the flashlight in the other, the bright beam guiding them as they traveled on through the rain. But the brunette beside him walked as if she didn't need the light, as if she already knew where she was going and the best way to get again, Kuro was born in Engeve… No, that couldn't be it. She only lived here until she was three… What could be so important that Kimmy had the way there memorized?
For a long while, the only sounds Florian heard was the rumbling of thunder and the squish squish squish of their shoes in the mud. He wondered if they were out of the town, Engeve behind them as they trekked through the woods. Monsters were in the woods though. Did Kuro have her sword? He couldn't remember. What if they got attacked? What if–
Out of nowhere, Kuro stopped. Florian stumbled to a stop beside her, gazing up at her. "Kimmy?"
"Give me the flashlight." The green-haired boy blinked, then handed the object over. Kuro shined it in front of them, and Florian saw a house. A small, modest-sized, but cozy-looking house, with a porch and quaint little steps and a candle burning in each window; two at the bottom and one at the top.
"…Kimmy? Where are we?" There was a long stretch of silence.
"My house."
Florian blinked. Her house…? "So…this is the house you lived in as a baby?"
"Yeah."
"And with your mom and dad until you were three?"
"Uh-huh."
Kimmy's house. This came as a surprise to Florian. In his eyes, Kuro didn't have a house. She had a room in the manor, a room in the cathedral, a room at any inn on Auldrant because she didn't stay in one place.
This didn't look like a house Kuro Kimkuthian would live in.
"Why are we here, Kimmy? Why'd you come back home?"
"It's not home anymore." Florian, tipped his head slowly.
"Not home…?"
"No. It's someone else's home now." A strong gust of wind blew by. The porch creaked. The shutters ruffled. One of the candle flames flickered, signaling that that particular window had not been closed all the way.
Someone else's home.
"C'mon Florian. We should head back before you get sick."
"But… Kimmy…" She set her hands back on his shoulders and turned him around.
"Let's go." She pushed on him, and he was forced to start moving forward, guided by the girl behind him.
It was silent for a good, long while, and Florian didn't speak again until the soft glow of candles and dots of the streetlights of Engeve filtered into view once more.
"Kimmy? Why did you go back to that house?"
She drew in a breath.
"Because I couldn't bring myself to go back to the tombstone."
Beneath their feet, the mud went squish squish squish.
In Loving Memory Of
Daunita E. D.
September 17, 1934 -
March 9, 2014
Love and miss you always, Grandma.
Rest easy in paradise.