Chapter Seven – Sayo
The little girl (could he call her that, she looks about eight?) follows him obediently, if with complete confusion. Taiga calls the school in a daze, claiming the boys are sick. Madoka is just following because he doesn't know any better but Lark refuses to let go of the girl's hand. It had taken Taiga five minutes to convince his son of the girl's need for air and the ability to walk so Lark has settled for holding her hand, if pouting ever so slightly while doing so.
The girl hasn't made a sound, but there's so much, too much purple on her that there's no one else that she can be but there she is. She watches him intently, but her front teeth are worrying her bottom lip. For a moment, Taiga doubts.
But Lark is so certain, and Taiga wants to give his child something. So he'll humor him. That's all.
He ignore the thudding in his stomach.
They make it inside. Niko is laying on the couch, Vladi on his stomach with a pad of paper in her small hands. He has the pen cap in his mouth. Taiga, in normal conditions, would tell him how disgusting that looks, but he's too busy trying to breathe. Niko glances at him, puzzled.
"No school?"
Taiga shakes his head, tugs on air. The girl seems to understand anyway, because she lets Lark drag her in without any fuss. Come to think about it, she hasn't spoken, hasn't fussed. He has barely even looked at her. He makes himself. He makes himself turn and see her, preparing to swallow disappointment.
The hair's the same, but hers is longer. She is dressed in a thick looking turtleneck and her eyes are big and empty. They are still so empty. Her skin is bruised, like the spots on an apple. She watches him back, or rather, looks to the side of him. Looking will hurt her eyes, he thinks.
Niko lifts his head and pulls Vladimira into his lap. He catches sight of all of that purple. Taiga thinks his breath will catch but instead Niko frowns, puzzled. "Taiga, she's not Mirei."
"I..." Taiga catches himself, face flaming. He feels like a child. He knows that, no one can replace her, especially not a bruised child but even if she isn't those bruises and that silence are scary and telling and isn't that enough for him? "I'm not that desperate," he finishes.
Niko lifts one eyebrow and then looks at Lark, who is still too excited to let go. He looks prepared to argue too.
Taiga swallows. "She appeared out of nowhere like this Niko. The least I could do was bring her somewhere safe, right?"
Niko is quiet. Then something in his drawn face relaxes, and the resemblance to his dad disappears. He isn't sure why he notices it. "Yeah," he agrees. He moves off the bed, Vladimira surprisingly quiet in his grip. Not that she's ever been a particularly loud baby but you'd think with all of the fuss and excitement going on, she'd be clamoring for attention of her own. But instead, she isn't. She's holding on tight and boring into the silent girl's face. She doesn't move, just stares back and that awkward sick feeling comes back in Taiga's stomach.
Niko kneels. "What's your name?"
The girl stares. Her bottom lip starts to shake.
Taiga shivers on the inside and makes the smile come, drudges it up from the abyss that has become his intestines. "It's okay," he says, kneeling himself. "We're not going to hurt you." She is much too small. Was Mirei ever this small? He doesn't think so. She flinches. Her eyes wobble.
Then she starts to sob.
It takes a good few minutes for them to calm the girl down, a good few minutes more to convince her that the tea is not poisonous and the blanket is fluffy and safe. It had given Niko enough time to put Vladimira down for a nap before she started something and enough for Taiga to call basically everyone.
Lark hasn't left the girl's side even once.
They are curled together on the couch, Madoka asleep next to them like he also belongs in their private tiny circle. He has snuggled against her like he has been doing it all of his life and she seems comfortable enough, if stiff and constantly looking at Taiga. Taiga makes sure to smile every time until she looks away again.
He suddenly realizes how it must have felt for her.
Niko sits beside him at the table. He's quiet, thoughtful. Mama is out, the others have a few hours yet before they come back. Taiga watches them, watches the girl's eyes slip between open and shut, the television light flickering over her face. He can almost pinpoint the second she dozes off and the tea cup thumps softly onto the carpet. She jolts, shakes. He puts a finger to his lips and goes to clean it up. She's shaking again. He presses his hand gently over hers.
"It's okay," he says.
She shakes. "I need to go home."
It's the first words he's heard and their voices are even similar, damn it. "Where's home?" he tries.
She shakes her head and it would be comical if it weren't for the fact that she looks distinctly like a kicked purple puppy. "I was supposed to save him. I promised I would save him and I just made him worse, I made them worse. All I wanted was to say goodbye to, say I loved them, why am I so awful-"
Lark's grip tightened on her arm and she ignored it.
Taiga hesitates. Because he can't project, he is an adult as much as he tries to be and he can't project, he needs to grow up and love what he has and who he has. There are no second chances. But. But but but but but-
"Mirei?" he whispers.
Her eyes, which had been hidden by her child-chubby fingers, her swollen hands, look up at him, bleeding amethyst. "Not anymore."
The dam threatens to break and he can't stand it because it's got to be true, hasn't it? He wants to scream, to scream and shake her and break her so he can pick up the pieces and make the girl he loved again.
"Why?" he says instead. "Why did you do this?"
She looks at him, then at Lark, tears in her eyes. "I'm so tired, Taiga."
Hours pass.
Her name is Sayo now, apparently. Rina and Akiho both said it and that's a skeleton he doesn't think he can touch. Sayo is still a shaking, trembling mess. She needs to go home, she says, save her friend, save her father, save everyone, and they all hesitate to say that they don't know how to do that without Vitium. She seems to know anyway. She hasn't spoken since the last repeat of those words.
No one knows what to do. So they go about their day, like they normally would. As much as they can anyway.
Except Taiga. He can't sleep.
Akiho is curled pleasantly against his side. Somehow, of all of them, she knows how to make a person relax. Not even sexually. She is good with her voice, good with the simple presence of seeming completely in control. It's not working today, not even with the breeze of the fan.
So he leaves, goes to the couch where Sayo is asleep. Her face is finally relaxed in dreamland, and it makes the scars on her cheeks stand out in the light of the room… wait.
There shouldn't be any light. Taiga steps back, trying to hide.
The light, etheral blue, moves. It forms slow, taking shape with sluggish effort. A tall, muscular man was kneeling at the couch. His dark fingers brush her hair from her face.
"Oh, child," he whispers and Taiga can hear him from across the room in the ringing silence. "You silly thing, you absolute fool. You leave me with nothing but one of your smiles and your painful tackles, what am I going to do with you, my darling?"
The wistful love in his voice is so raw. Taiga wants it for himself and hates that.
The man looks up at him. "This time," he says. "I tried a different path. Please, Let it not end the same way."
Taiga stiffens. "What are you talking about?"
The man laughs. "Love weathers the storm, youngling. But only if it is strong enough to allow it."
Then he is gone, and Taiga is left in the dark.
Like, he realizes, he really always has been.
