Luna Silvereyes
A/N: My first Haibane Renmei story. I had another one, but I can't remember what happened to it. So I'll just have to rewrite it. I won't say exactly which characters are what, so you'll just have to read and see.
One
The door closed with a slight click. The rain came pouring down in sheets, drenching the frail body as it made its way through the trash-laden, dreary streets. It was so late at night. She was so tired, and longed to curl up in her bed and bury herself into her blanket, die to the world and never wake up again. Perhaps it was for the best. Perhaps no one would care. After all, sleep was her greatest companion in times of stress like she was undergoing right this minute. Besides, even in the gloomy mist caused by the warm rain, she knew where she was going.
She clutched her coat closer to her and glanced back at the place she'd come from. Worn, decrepit and crumbling, the old house stood as a mark for her wretched, lonely life.
Mother dead.
Father unknown.
Nobody but the aging old woman who spent every day wrapped in afghans by the old wooden stove. It had always been her job to keep that stove lit and burning for the old woman. She knew so many things, except for one vital necessity.
Love.
All her life, it had been everything and yet, nothing to her.
Deprived for so many years. One year of love hadn't been enough
when they decided to ransack her home and take away everything,
including the person she loved the most.
She felt warm tears slide from her eyes and mingle with the rain. It would be useless to wipe them away, so she ignored them.
What would the old woman do? Would she even notice?
She doubted it. She never noticed before. Why would she now?
As far as she knew, no one else would notice, either.
If only things were different. She had so much to give, and no one to give it to. No one saw her or remembered her. No one would care.
She'd tried everything. But fate hadn't been on her side.
At least, not until now.
She started to cry as she trudged along the empty street, soaking her through and through. Her shoes filled with water and her hair hung over her face, obscuring her vision. She longed to return, but it was too late even as she'd left the house. To go back now would be a mistake. But what if she was doing was also a mistake? What then?
She cried even harder at the thought of the old woman. She wished so much that she would wake up from her slumber before the stove and notice that she was gone. If that were the case, she'd come after her for certain and stop her from her mission; something she wanted so dearly. But the chances of that happening were very slim.
Her sobs were so vicious that they threatened to double her over right in the street. She struggled to pull herself together as she reached the point.
She looked up.
Through the gloom, she saw it. It was the passageway between her district and the next. She focused her eyes on one specific point along the railing and never took them away from it. Her grip on her coat lessened and it gradually slipped from her shoulders, bearing her pale skin to the merciless winds and rain.
She was scared.
No, she was terrified. She didn't want to do this, but she felt as though she were being pulled to that spot on the rail.
She paused when she thought she heard something behind her. But she shook it off, swallowing her pounding heart back into her chest. She placed a single hand on the railing and looked over. The mist kept her from seeing what lay below. She had no idea whether there was water or rocks. In any case, it didn't matter.
Her sobs ceased as her heart hammered in her chest and she felt like she was going to be sick. She tightened her grip on the slippery rail and flexed her arm, holding her body steady as she grasped the rail with her other hand. Keeping a firm hold, she swung her leg up over the railing until she was straddling it, facing back the way she came. As she brought her other leg over, twisting her arms backward, still holding onto the rail, she glanced back one more time at the road she'd left. She hesitated. She was sure she saw a fleck of white along the pavement. Her eyes narrowed in confusion and then she shrugged it off as nothing. She faced out into the horizon, steeling herself. This was the big moment. She couldn't turn back once she let go of the railing.
"Stop!"
She turned and her grip slipped for just a millisecond. She saw something hurrying toward her along the street. Her eyes went wide when she saw the streaming white hair and the mud-soaked afghans.
It was the old woman.
She'd woken up and noticed that she'd gone. And the old woman was clearly struggling on the slippery street.
She turned back to the gloomy horizon, trying to block out the old woman's cries for her to stop and climb back to safety.
But even as her resolve strengthened, it weakened and fresh tears burst forth, a wave of grief and relief spreading through her as she realized that the old woman had cared enough to come after her in this horrible weather.
Smiling, she twisted around, reaching out to the old woman as she approached. The old woman gently took her hand as she turned her body around, preparing to climb back over. Pure joy and relief showed in the old woman's eyes as she beamed at her.
"Oh, thank heaven." She whispered.
But as she lifted her leg up to climb over the rail, her right foot slipped over the edge and she felt her body suddenly become weightless. She heard a scream from somewhere as the old woman's hand slipped from her grasp.
Another scream, this one closer. It took her a second to realize that it was hers.
She'd slipped and as she tumbled down, down, she saw the old woman's face contorted in horror and grief, her hair blowing in the wind as she reached far over as though to pull her back from her fall.
The old woman grew further and further away and the wind rushed past her ears at an alarming pace. Her heart pounded furiously as instinct told her what was coming.
"No." was all she said before she slammed into the water's surface, the icy liquid rushing into her lungs and the momentum breaking her body on impact.
Darkness surrounded her and then….
There was nothing.
In the distance, she was sure she heard a bird crowing somewhere close by.
A/N: In this story, I'll leave you to figure out the plot and twists in here. After all, mystery and unanswered questions are what Haibane Renmei is all about.