Disclaimer: Not mine. We all know that.
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Neglect.
The wind was howling as it whipped past her, blowing her hair in her eyes. The rain splattering against her shivering skin. She fought on relentlessly, casting spells at whomever she could reach. She was covered with sweat that had mingled with the blood on her hands, and she could feel the salty tracks running down her cheeks.
It wasn't fair.
She could sense that they were losing, but she couldn't stop. Couldn't give up. Lives depended on her. She couldn't fail them. Not now.
She gritted her teeth as a spell grazed her skin, sending a rush of pain throughout her body. She fired a spell in the vague direction of whoever had fired it at her. She gave a slight cry of joy as a body fell, but this quickly turned to anger as she saw more spells being fired.
She didn't even flinch as another lost soul fell beside her.
And became a mere memory.
She ducked and weaved her way through the thick of spells, before collapsing besides the person she had seen fall. She vaguely recognised the redhead that was one of her best friend's brothers. She could only remember snapshots of when she had seen him, but she was almost certain that the majority of them were fabricated. She silently groaned in frustration.
She couldn't forget. She had to remember.
For who would remember those who are forgotten?
Her time of remembrance had cost her dear. She realised only too late as she saw a dash of red light come spinning towards her.
She fell.
--
When she awoke, the first thing she noticed was that she could hear nothing. Not a breeze rustled the leaves on the few remaining trees.
She got up groggily; her vision was blurred. She rested her hand against her hand and massaged her aching temples. Only then did she notice the sheer numbers of the fallen. They were still there.
She felt disgusted. Those who had given their lives up for the cause were simply discarded and forgotten about. They were simply ignored, as if ignoring them would make them go away.
The scent of decay flowed into her nostrils, and she heaved. The people surrounded her were no longer sacrifices. They were not sacrifices. They couldn't be. For sacrifices are looked after in death. She couldn't understand why they had been left alone.
And why the survivors who were barely breathing had been left to die.
She came across one such person. She didn't recognise them, but knew that she had to do what she could. She rolled them over and was horrified.
His rib bones were jutting out dangerously, as he hadn't had food for so long. His eyes were sunken, and his arms and legs so thin and frail that if you were simply to pick them up they would snap.
His pale skin was stretched over his bones. His fingernails so brittle that they were breaking off. His bloodstained top was hanging off of him slightly, but was still stuck to him with the amount of sweat he had produced.
She placed a hand on his forehead, and his breathing eased. She leant down and put a kiss on his forehead, before muttering one word so softly that it was carried away by her breath. A word so powerful, it would give him peace to move on to the next world, away from all this suffering.
"Sorry."
His breathing slowed, and became long and laboured, before he passed away. She cradled his head in her arms, rocking backwards and forwards slowly, as if to soothe his corpse.
She did not care who he was. She did not care whom he had been fighting for. She did not want to know. The only thing that she knew was that he did not die alone, from neglect.
And so she wept.
Great shuddering sobs, that moved her body from the force of them. Not just for him, but for everyone who had suffered from being ignored and from being neglected.
And so she wept.
For all the people who thought it just to leave the bodies rotting here, away from civilisation and help.
And so she wept.
For the loss of justice in the world. For all the suffering people who were barely breathing, and those who were heading that way.
How long had she been asleep for? Days… Weeks? Was she, too, destined to become like this? Alone, afraid, suffering. She loathed the people who did this, and promised to have revenge.
But for now, she could only help ease people past their suffering, to the world beyond. She pulled him closer to her, cradling him.
And
So
She
Wept.
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16/03/08