P r o l o g u e
The air was warm, a sure sign that summer still blessed even the bleakest corners of Ecruteak City. Yet, at night a cool breeze seemed to hold the ancient town in its embrace, and the streets remained empty save for the occasional shadowy figure that was slowly making its way home after engaging in the pleasures of the local pub.
To many that had the misfortune of arrive in Ecruteak in the dead of night, the town seemed quite abandoned. The darkened homes that stood in the shadows of the Tin Tower and the charred remains of its sibling structure looked to be little more than lifeless reminders of the activity that was present when sunlight burned brightly through the gnarled trees that encircled the town in their ancient hold.
Ecruteak appeared warm and welcoming during the day, when its entirety cast an image of the cheerful simplicity of old, but at night, the town was as silent and foreboding as the graveyard that stood partially shadowed in the town's farthest expanse. The ancient stones that jutted from the ground gave the appearance of a maw full of uneven teeth past the rusted, black gates that swung so loosely upon their hinges. The old cemetery was one that had been present since Ecruteak's conception, ever present, and ever watchful as its inhabitants grew, and with them, the eyes that fixed the town with an undying, ethereal stare.
While the initial impression was that the graveyard had been long forgotten considering the disrepair it had fallen into, fresh flowers were still laid upon certain graves, their lush colours of life a vivid contrast against the dead earth. Still others had gifts and trinkets draped upon the crumbling stones that marked the final resting places of the dead. It was anything but forgotten.
The eternal silence that permeated the air was shattered as pale, bony fingers clasped upon one of the gates, its hinges screeching in tired protest as the thin figure pushed its way into the secluded place. It staggered, holding onto the gates for balance before it continued onward.
The figure's clothing showed clear signs that the owner was relatively well-off. They bore no tears of wear upon the warm cloth, and the glint of jewelry on the figure's wrists and around their neck was visible in the pale, cold moonlight that managed to shine through the shadows of the overhanging trees. Yet they didn't seem out of place amongst the rows of tombstones. Their raven black hair was limp and lifeless, and the way they stood showed obvious signs of weakness even as they left the entrance to approach one of the larger grave markers.
The figure leaned heavily against the stone, tilting its head back to reveal the smooth features of a woman. The moonlight illuminated what may have, at one point, been a fair face, yet now her grey eyes were dull, and seemed to be almost unfocused in their dark sockets as her cracked lips parted in a silent moan. She hugged something tightly to her chest, the bundle of cloth seemingly limp in her arms as she suddenly released a pain-ridden shriek to the dark skies above. Murkrow and Hoothoot burst into the air with a thundering din of their own frantically beating wings, though she seemed oblivious; oblivious to the creatures of the night that stirred around her, and oblivious to the movement that came from the bundle at her chest.
The woman slowly slid to her knees, her shoulders shuddering with silent cries as she placed the bundle she held at the foot of the stone. Her bony fingers slowly traced the edges of the blanket before she began to pull them away, revealing the soft, pale features of a young girl. She let her fingertips brush the girl's face, and the young child, in response, opened her own pale grey eyes as she wrapped her small fingers around those of the woman's.
"My child..." the woman moaned, not even aware that the small, blessed creature was trying to gain her attention. The woman's eyes saw past whatever movement the young girl had; blinded by the images of sickly delusion. "Why... why did you leave me... why..."
The young girl did nothing in response save for squeeze her mother's finger more tightly, her large eyes filling with confusion as she heard the woman's voice crack with sorrow and despair rather than the soothing tones she wished for.
The woman stood up, deaf to the sudden cry the child offered as her skeletal hands were pulled from the girl's grasp. The raven-haired woman's voice was barely more than a spiteful hiss as she cast a furious glare around the graveyard. "There! Is that what you wished, to claim my beloved for your own? To have a child walk amongst this place? Why? WHY?" Her voice raised in pitch as she grabbed at a tombstone, trying vainly to break it beneath her sickly form. She fell limply against it, her muscles barely able to support her thin frame.
The child started to struggle to remove her cloth encasing, crying with clear confusion at her mother's actions. She wanted to go to her, to comfort her, to do something. Even though she could barely recognize a human being save for the soft tones of their voice, she knew something was wrong.
Yet, the woman was already staggering away, using the tombstones to aide her passage before she finally locked her hands around the gate once more and looked once more over her shoulder. All the woman saw behind her was the delusional limp form of her dead child, and the pale, ghastly forms that were already beginning to surround it to claim one more to rest forever among the eroding graves.
The woman screeched again, shrieking her sorrow as she ran, her entire body lurching with every movement, and her steps unsteady and barely able to support what little weight she had left on her bones.
The child was left behind.
As her mother's howls faded from the air, the child finally allowed her own cries to pierce the air, her small hands wiping vainly at her eyes as she realized she was completely alone in the cold, unfamiliar place.
Even as she cried, the temperature seemed to drop even further, and icy chill piercing the blankets she was wrapped in and, for a moment, causing her cries to cease. She opened her eyes and looked up, gazing through the blur of her own tears as the translucent lights that seemed to dance above her. Slowly, she reached upward, her curiosity temporarily causing her sorrow to dissipate, and slowly, in return, spectral fingers closed around it.
[ authour's note ]
I do know some aspects already probably need explained =3 Some things will be revealed in the next chapter, but mainly concerning the actions of her mother seeing it may or may not be clear.
Her mother was delusional from sickness, and as a result, began to imagine seeing things. That is what happened here, in that her mother saw Rui as dead, and, in her sick state, took her to the graveyard and left her there believing that some spiritual entity had claimed her daughter's life. Of course, obviously, Rui was still very much alive, but her mother couldn't see that in her delusional state. Hopefully that cleared some things up xD