Authors Notes:
Yeeah. I'm not dead lol. I'm SO SORRY. It's been months. ; ;
:swigs root beer:
In the current events of Neptune's Tears, I have a new online shop for my Cosplay things!
www. cosplaypropsetc . ecrater . com (Without the spaces!) Please check it out, and if there's something not there that you would like to see, please leave a suggestion. :)
I wrote most of this chapter listening to the Piano version of FFXII '1000 Word's.'
Hope to wrap this up real soon, but I have a new job, and it's very mentally taxing, so it's difficult. (bah I quit.. jobless again :sigh: )
I'm hoping writing will help let me vent out my emotions a little since I haven't been able to reflect them on paper lately. Although I'm afraid this chapter is becoming as stale as my mood lately. lol. Enjoy.
Thank you all immensely from the bottom of my heart!
Hey, you know I just realized there's some songs that are just a perfect for a soundtrack for this story XD; Id you'd like the list of songs that I used, or listened to that belong with this story, message/email me and Ill find a way to send them to you 3
- - - - - - - -
Cathleen - Part II
Michiru had raced by the cathedral where the viewing was being held on her way to work. Despite herself her feet slowed and she stood outside the overwhelmingly large and impressionable building. Her breath came out in short white pants in the misty chilled air. She felt her eyes sting and she swatted at a stray tear.
She couldn't enter..
Michiru hated churches, for reasons she didn't understand fully. She thought from the outside that they were beautiful; it was what was going on inside them that she loathed. Lies, convictions, fear, and hatred.
She shook her head stepping away, and nearly fell backward as her foot slipped on the parking lot curb. A young musician had been on his break since playing in Anigusta's name since dawn, noticed and caught her arm. Setting her upright, his smile reached her through long straggly brown hair that was past his shoulders and fell over his eyes a bit.
Once making sure she was unharmed, he returned to his seat -on the hood of a very fancy sports car- and scratched at his whiskery chin; She wondered whose car it was, for it seemed so familiar with it's shiny yellow color and leather interior...
He was talking to her, and she blinked and looked over.
"Hey.. it's okay.. Anigusta knows you love her." He didn't like churches either.
Michiru glanced around seeing a few of the younger alley members like herself gathered in a quiet circle holding steaming coffee cups and candles that flickered from the wet moisture. Their heads were bowed in prayer or for warmth, she didn't know; Michiru guessed it was for both.
"The only reason they had a service in the church was because of her family; isn't that ironic?" The disgruntled musician rubbed his arms and glared at the large wooden doors.
"Really?" Michiru answered quietly feeling numb and touched at the same time, he seemed to understand; they all did.
"Yeah; they didn't want anything to do with her when she was alive.. Did they?" His calloused thumb brushed a string on his guitar as he continued.
"Anigusta always told us she wanted to go like one of those ancient royalties in the times of King Author; On a boat filled with wild flowers, pushed off to rest eternally to drift to sea.. She wanted to arrive to the Isle of Avalon, but.." He laughed a little and rubbed at his eyes, unashamed of his sadness. Michiru distractedly was surprised; unaware the young man had eyes behind all that hair.
"I doubt the shores here would have taken her that far though.. Crazy old lady. Bless her."
Michiru smiled a little and wiped again at her eyes. Glancing at her watch, she realized it was pretty late now. She would have called out but it was her last day on such short notice. And working at the cafe when everyone else would be there too, well, it was the least she could do.
She swallowed and looked back at the Church, catching a glimpse of a tall man in a black suit; their blonde hair glinted dully in the chilly light. For a moment her heart leapt, and then she scowled and walked off briskly again in the direction of the Cafe; once again swearing at the ghosts in her life.
- - - - - - -
Earlier that morning...
The drive back into Artist Alley had been distracted and bleak.
Despite the festival, the sudden downpour made the tourists scatter like bugs for shelter. Haruka couldn't help but imagine the tourists drifting away from the alley on a make shift ark from all the rain. The idea made her mouth twitch into a bit of a smile; and then the slight throb of pain which followed, reminded her of the night before. She glanced at her self in the mirror and her shiner from the punch could be seen even in the dim sunlight. The shower helped a bit but still, she couldn't help but believe she looked like death wormed over.
As she had drove, the roads were remarkably empty and silent; save a few swirling flyers which had been caught in the rain.
The storm was nearly directly over the alley itself; Haruka could see it from the city limits as she sped closer. It was as though the Alley reflected on the loss of it's former Queen.
All morning, her mind raced across memories brittle and warped; aged for their time. They played over and over, skipping and crackling from the hand of time like a warped record; scratched and unloved for years and years.
While she had been writing the letter to Anigusta, Haruka had been leaning on the grand piano for a make shift desk. Tears had blurred her vision but with every word that her hand conveyed; her cramped writing finally began to loosen. It was a sort of therapy she supposed, as her essence - her soul - began to shake loose. Defrosting just a bit more; As it had always been with Anigusta.
Even with all of Haruka's walls and defenses, the older woman would pet Haruka's boyish hair and smile to her, while Haruka would silently cry in her open hands. Perhaps it was her own pride that had kept Haruka away from the caring older woman for so long. Maybe it had been Haruka's own fear of being wrong about Morgan, from the fact of Anigusta's obvious cold rejection of her. It had been as though Anigusta had known all along, and Haruka hadn't wanted for her to be right.
Maybe she thought by running away, she could've made it all right; but she had been wrong..
For a long moment, Haruka's pen paused in mid air as her eyes shifted unfocused over the glossy surface of the Baby grand's top.
For the first time in over a year, Haruka's fingertips brushed the keys as her body heavily slid down onto the hard bench and she touched uncertainly.
She felt like she was twelve again, awkward and clumsy; sitting in the sunny, musty parlor of Anigusta's small apartment. She could hear all the clocks collected from around the world; all ticking and chiming, all in different time zones.
Haruka's mouth twitched into a smile as she recalled Lady's words to her stiffness during one Piano lesson:
"Child, it will be midnight in China by the time you start playing!" Somewhere in the back ground a clock chimed, quarter till the hour.
A woman in a starched light blue dress stood almost as stiffly at the back of the room. Her hair was pale blonde and neatly dressed; metal bobby pins reflected from the light through the open window.
Scowling slightly, she glanced uninterested and impatient outside of the two story window at the slow pass of the occasional car or alley cat.
Haruka's body would almost shift uncomfortably under the weight of the woman's thick foreboding presence. Anigusta understood and straightened a little, smiling to the distraction that kept the notes locked within her pupil.
"Mrs. Tenou, I'm sure your daughter appreciates your support, but if there's somewhere you need to be right now, we'll be okay from here." Anigusta winked a little to Haruka, who exhaled, a little relieved, not even aware she had been holding her breath all that time.
The woman glanced at the tiny women's wrist watch on her thin arm and looked almost relived; This was her husband's idea and her own spending money which she was wasting: For the child's fingers were dumb and stumbled all morning.
"Well, alright; I did have a hair appointment in about fifteen minutes. If you don't mind running the lesson a little later than usual... You'll be paid of course." She added as she looked up from fishing around in her purse for the address of the salon.
Anigusta smiled holding up her tanned, glittering hands.
"Not at all Mrs. Tenou; it's my pleasure. I'll see to it Haruka gets home. Go and enjoy yourself." She smiled escorting the woman out and opening the door for her.
"Oh my no, it would be too much trouble-" The woman replied, casting a nervous glance at her daughter who looked back blankly and waved to her goodbye.
"Nonsense! Now, don't worry, she'll be back for supper. Go on now."
Haruka's mother thinned her lips and glanced at her daughter for a final warning.
"Now, you be good for Miss. Cathleen! Don't you give her trouble; I want you home for dinner by five O'clock, no excuses, hear me?"
Her daughter wearing a pair of boy's jeans (hand-me-down's from her cousins) and a red and white striped tee-shirt, nodded silently and offered a flick of her mouth in a sort of grumpy smile. Her mother sighed and left, somehow reassured at last.
Anigusta hid her knowing smile and shut the door, letting out a long deep sigh of relief.
"Good grief child, no wonder you couldn't play!" She walked over to the window and pushed it open letting in the warm spring air. "She was sucking all the soul out of this room!"
Haruka said nothing but continued to look down at her hands in her lap; her mother's attitude and presence had been weighing her down like soggy bread thrown to ducks in a pond. Anigusta sat once again beside the girl, who seemed to tense from the nearness but relaxed. Although Anigusta had been her teacher for years and years, lately, she hadn't even known herself. And so it was as though she was a stranger to everyone all over again.
The older woman combed her knowing fingers through the golden blond uneven locks that was Haruka's hair. Once long and beautiful, it was sheared off in places and uneven.
"Your Mamma was going to take you in today to fix your hair, wasn't she?" The wise woman remarked reaching into a table drawer beside the piano, the top of which was covered in various shades of embroidery thread. Haruka swallowed and nodded a little, her eyes stormy and unsure.
"Haruka, it's okay now; you can talk to me.. She's gone, Honey."
Haruka turned and looked at her, eyes flaring from emotions that were eating her up inside; new, frightening, horrible emotions.
"Oh yeah, how do I know? I know you both talk to each other about me all the time! I hear you both!" she snapped defensively and bristled inching further from the woman stubbornly. Anigusta only smiled and held the shears in her hands, the drawer beside the piano was still open and a fumbling moth crawled free from it's previous prison.
"It's true, I know it. But Haruka, I'm on your side. Child, who do you think got you any chance with these lessons at all? Your mother.. is a kind woman at heart, but sometimes she lets her mind control the matter at hand." Anigusta stood and placed her hand on Haruka's shoulder. Haruka was watching the twittering weakness of the moth, who clung to the edge of the drawer fighting a sudden gust of spring wind from the open window. Anigusta followed her eyes understanding.
"I know how you feel, Haruka..."
Haruka hardened her eyes. "No you don't... No you don't!" She was trembling.
"But I do young one.."
"I'm not so young anymore!.. I'm.. not a child anymore.. I'm.. I'm.. a.."
Haruka tried to groped for the right word, but the terminology died in her throat. She swallowed, the confusion and turmoil so strong in her eyes, it made Anigusta's heart want to break.
"You are a perfectly talented, capable young adult, Haruka. Who has the whole world before you.. " Anigusta said powerfully almost heart broken by the strong bitter confusion in a girl so young.
She knelt in front of the trembling girl whose eye's flashed, warning danger.
"But I know you're scared right now. I know there's something you can't understand raging in your soul right now, but one day it will all make sense.."
"Mother says its a phase.." Haruka muttered, her fingers pressed on the keys as she spoke. "She said soon I'll like dresses again.. and we'll talk about boys together." Anigusta's eyes rose, and her face reddened as though that was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard.
"Don't you worry about your Momma, I'm on your side Haruka; I'll make her understand."
Standing again, Anigusta moved behind the young girl again and took up her hair, beginning to snip it further.
"Wha..What are you doing!" Haruka exclaimed, watching the rest of her shoulder length locks fall down to curl into limp piles at her waist and on the glossy floor.
"I'm fixing your hair child! You can't go around in those clothes, with uneven hair all wild like that.." Haruka shivered feeling the smooth back end off the scissors blades slide against her neck as Anigusta trimmed her hair shorter then she ever comprehended.
With each lock gone, Haruka's soul opened up a little bit more; she felt lighter and freer; but scared to death.
"What will Father say.."
Anigusta smiled a little and patted the girls head affectionately before trimming around the ears and the bangs.
"Don't you worry about that.. You will be loved. You know that don't you?"
Haruka blinked and sneezed from her own hair tickling her nose. When Anigusta was done, Haruka sprang up and ran over to the warping mirror leaning against the wall and ran her fingers through her hair working out the snipped pieces before she was satisfied. She stared for a long moment; Unsure eyes shyly peeking back at the beginnings of curves in boys clothes.
"You're handsome now."
Anigusta offered a smile and Haruka blushed a little and slowly walked back to the piano. The newly trimmed blonde sat down, and with a grin began to play a sort of jazzy light melody that she had been tinkering with for the past few days when her parents weren't home.
Anigusta stood off to the side, glancing out the window, letting the child free up a bit.
Even though the only sign that the older woman had been listening, was the slight bowing of her head to the beat, Haruka felt Anigusta's warmth spread through the room like sunlight, and fill even the cracks in the crumbling Victorian plaster.
-
Haruka blinked feeling an icy drop of rain hit her cheek, with startling force.
She had been standing in front of the cathedral deciding whether to enter or not; her weight shifting from one foot to another. A breath holding moment passed. And then it took only a second for Haruka to decide and cross the stone entryway.
Pacing around the reception area for almost twenty minutes gave her feet something to do and her mind time to wander before the sermon started. She waited her place in line, and then slowly walked forward. Her eyes took in an ironic scene before her.
Alley people on the right, and Anigusta's 'family' on the left.
Haruka felt the stares from the left of the room like a heavy weight. All the Alley members felt it and even though they turned together for comfort, their heads were held high.
Anigusta's true family..
Within minutes the rows and pews became packed as more and more Alley members flooded in to pay their respects.
Once it became so full that people were standing in the back, sitting on the floors or in corners, someone from the left of the room finally closed the doors, shutting out the rest with a annoyed scowl. It was painfully obvious then, how wonderful Anigusta had been for everyone in the Alley.
Haruka had took her place stiffly against a cold pew and leaned forward bowing her head, thumbs pressing the sides of her nose. Whether she was in pain or praying, no one could decide.
A voice from her right caught her attention, she sat up looking over, the words triggering a memory...
"Haruka, Where have you been?"
-
"Well? .. I was worried sick!"
The stiff little woman scowled as her daughter darted into the house and up the stairs; shutting the door against the questions and the stares.
"What did you do, Cathleen?" The woman trembled with anger, or fear or both.
"I apologize, I know it was not my place.."
"No, it certainly was not, was it?" Haruka's mother retorted and looked up the stairs where Haruka was brooding. She hadn't wanted to come home; Anigusta made her return, but the older woman did not have the heart to tell that to Haruka's worried parents; however confused and oppressing they were.
"I hope you will continue to let the child see me, she has an immense amount of talent-"
"We'll see; but after today I wouldn't be looking forward to it." Somewhere from inside the next room, piano notes died in the air and a wooden key guard slammed down to rest.
"I know what's best for my daughter! Do you understand?" Anigusta barely had time to register Haruka's father make his way tiredly up the stairs, slamming his own bedroom door in the wake of his wife's wrath.
Anigusta looked down a bit and bowed her head.
"I understand, but please for Haruka's sake, do not take out my actions on her-"
"We'll talk more later, I can't continue with this anymore tonight. Thank you for seeing my daughter home. Goodnight."
-
A pair of lonely scared eyes watched Anigusta as she made her way down the path in front of the house and smiled up at the window waving good bye.
The boyish figure above smiled and waved back; the bedroom door then opened and the blinds flicked shut after a tense moment.
Anigusta hardened her face and turned quickly getting into her antique car and speeding off toward the solstice of her Alley; Far away from the outskirts of the cold city.
-
"Haven't seen you around here in a while.. you alright?" The voice asked further in response to Haruka's lack thereof.
"Huh?.. Oh.. Yeah. Thanks.." Haruka managed a small smile and patted the suited woman's shoulder; a pretty woman on her arm smiling comfortingly back.
The sight pained Haruka so she slouched again and kept her eyes to the front. The cryptic words and prayers flowed over the stone walls like pattering rain for what seemed like hours.
Her eyes unfocused through most of it, until finally the mood began to shift from still to action. People began to talk softly, standing, crying, walking up to pay their respects to the closed coffin. Haruka darkly watched them for a long moment, thinking how Anigusta hated closed spaces and was probably watching them all from some higher place, and flicking off whoever decided to put her body in that cramped casket.
Haruka allowed a tiny smile and stood stiffly, her legs dull and achy from disuse.
Walking up to the casket, Haruka stared into a black and white photo of a young college woman in dress clothes holding some books. Writing below the picture lead her to believe it was post-Alley Cathleen; Such bright eyes, such a forced smile..
Did Anigusta have a mentor who broke her free as she had once done for Haruka when she was younger?
Placing her hand on the coffin, it's surface was smooth and surprisingly warm. It felt so impersonal to Haruka; even a séance would have been more right, she thought.
Well, there really wasn't much left that she could do now, so reaching her hand into her suit jacket pocket, she pulled out the crème envelope from before.
Looking at it, Haruka slipped it through the crack of the coffin; It's contents now lost forever to anyone in this plane of life. (And perhaps that was why Haruka allowed it.)
She tried very hard to swallow her guilt for not having the courage to look into Anigusta's face one last time.
But somehow the older woman's face from her memory was enough; The tanned gypsy with the glittering bangles, mysterious eyes and a melancholy disposition.
Haruka rested her palm against the coffin for a moment before turning with a pained expression and walking from the front of the room. As she turned, her eyes roamed over the people, and stopped one on in particular.
An elderly gentlemen..
No; an elderly woman in a moth eaten suit that appeared even older then its owner.
A full bloomed lily was in the breast pocket.
Haruka stood there for a moment, watching the woman who looked so broken and yet so defiant.
A younger man standing next to the woman looked over at Haruka and seemed to recognize her. He almost bowed in her direction until a woman standing just behind him grabbed his arm and whispered something in his ear. He blushed and looked away, embarrassment coloring his cheeks, no longer able to look in Haruka's direction.
Obviously he did not know about the huge fall out between herself and Morgan, till now.
Haruka looked to the woman who had informed him and realized it was Morgan's older sister; the younger man was her son.
And so the older woman in the suit... were those tears of Miya's for real?
Miya Anderson looked to Haruka; a glimmer of days long ago made her faded green eyes glimmer just a moment. The gaze made Haruka shiver even though her heavy suit jacket.
In all her years of courting Morgan, she never once met her mother, Miya. Morgan was a father's girl and hated her mother for reasons Haruka did not understand, until now.
The weight of this -of Miya's true devotion- and the idea that it was Miya's mistake that had caused so many years of anguish..
It took such strength to show her face here at the Alley after what had happened. Of course everyone knew, but she had enough guts to face it and admit to everyone here today, everyone who loved Anigusta when she couldn't; that she needed forgiveness.
A few alley members watched from a distance, before tentatively approaching and shaking Miya's hand. They offered a smile of shared condolence before leaving.
Seeing this parallel so boldly between herself and Miya, hit Haruka like a weight to her stomach.
What was worse was that Miya faced it.. It took time, but she did it.
Could Haruka?
Frozen with compilation, Miya watched Haruka. And in those faded green eyes, Haruka saw herself staring right back.
Feeling slightly light headed, she offered a slight nod to the woman who was almost like a legend and quickly turned. Making her way to the large wooden doors again, Haruka felt almost claustrophobic from being in the cathedral for so long.
Once outside she took in a few good gulp full's of chilly midmorning air, haven't noticing the kids from that morning until the scruffy musician from earlier had his butt parked on the hood of her sports car.
"Hey, kid, do you mind?" She asked caught somewhere between surprise and anger.
The guitar played looked over and nonchalantly stood.
"Fancy city cars don't belong here.. You should leave."
Haruka blinked outraged. "Excuse me; I've been in this alley since before you were even conceived.."
"Yeah right, Man, just go home. Quit polluting the alley with your superficial city attitude." He retorted and stalked off a bit, the kids now gathering and glaring in Haruka's direction.
The light from their candles made them glow softly like super natural beings, angels or ghosts; guides for Anigusta's soul almost.
And suddenly Haruka understood. Look who she had become, it was no wonder..
Her eyes flicked back at the cathedral, before she dug her hands into her pocket and dug out her keys.
The young Alley kid's eyes boar into her for a long moment as she tore from the parking lot and onto the route that would take her to the beach house; One last time.
- - - - - -
Michiru -pale faced and awkward- tugged on the cafe door for what she knew would be the last time. If the correct word for the current events were lucky -which she guilty felt were not- everyone was too preoccupied with what had been happening to notice her disposition or ask questions.
In fact the cafe was pretty quiet compared to how it had been booming the past few days.
Before she slipped into the shift she had just started to get the knack of, Michiru disappeared silently behind a waterfall of lightly clanking wooden beads.
The bamboo curtain lightly swung and tapped her back as she stood there staring into the tiny dim room which was the Manager's office; seeing a cup of cold green tea, a blank computer screen and a half uneaten scone.
"Where could she be.. She is usually always back here.." Michiru mused out loud to the empty room.
She was almost relieved not to face those stern garnet eyes, as she would explain her sudden leave of absence. As she turned to leave, the guilty feeling of butterflies twittered a dance in her stomach.
Michiru slipped out through the curtain once again and braced herself, for the day seemed never ending, and her exterior felt as thin as rice paper.
- - - - - -
Once back at the beach house, Haruka roughly peeled off her suit and pulled on some more casual clothes. She packed (more like threw) the rest of her things into the forgotten duffle bag that had been left on the floor; in an unceremonious way. Neglect to pack the girly items where Michiru had lined them on the shower, was intentional.
Haruka briskly walked through the hall and rooms, securing the windows and locking them tight. The house almost seemed to groan in protest.
"I shouldn't have returned." She mused out loud.
In her distant, stinging rage, Haruka had managed to clear out everything in less than two hours. The house seemed almost as empty and as untouched as before.
As Haruka went to pick up her keys from the small hall table, her eyes lingered on the pastel blue, 'Cafe Luna' muffin box from only the morning before last.
Whatever possibilities that could have come from that, was gone now; in the trash where it belonged.
Without a second glance Haruka turned to leave, the bass door knob clicking closed behind her with a final soft 'whoosh' of escaping air.
Haruka took the steps two at a time, tossing her duffle bag into the back seat and noticing the wrinkled jacket from a few days ago. She picked it up and put both her bag and the jacket in the trunk where they belonged, slamming it closed.
Taking a deep shaky sigh, Haruka reached into her pockets hoping to find a piece of mint gum to distract herself with while she drove the long drive back to the city.
However she had surprised herself, when in her coat pocket was a pearly white envelope with her name on it from one of the best F-1 sponsors she had as of yet.
With furrowed tired slate jade eyes, Haruka finally broke into her own letter, and read the tiny ornate scripting.
It was a contract; a lease for her life and soul to remain at the base of the steering wheel; until one of two things where to occur but both things resulted in the termination of the contract...
After a long moment with no sound except the light crinkling of the document in the wind and the rolling surf, Haruka reached into her pocket. Her fingers groped and wrapped around a pen. And as she tugged it free from her pocket, something tiny and forgotten slipped out as well, falling onto the gravel.
It rolled and laid face down; its surface lined with groves and tiny speckles of sand.
Haruka blinked at the noise and looked numbly at the clam shell at her feet.
"I don't believe in magic any more.." Haruka said out loud to it; her reasoning against picking it back up.
Finding her gum finally, she eased a piece into her mouth slowly; Opening the pen was the easy part. She pointed the tip down to the 'X'ed line at the bottom of the first page.
Her hand was shaky and reluctant to sign for reasons she couldn't comprehend. Furrowing her brows, she scribed her signature and flipped the page to sign the next spot, gritting her teeth.
She didn't understand what the problem was; this was her life long dream. Yes, this was her gambling her future away, but damn, that didn't matter anymore!
She didn't know she was so sentimental until now; Was that the reason?
Even If she lived, or if she died; It didn't matter. Not now... Not anymore.
Opening the driver's door, the third page was flipped open laying upright, the pen resting on top with its cap haphazardly off.
Black ink began to collect and crept its way through the fibers of the paper, like tiny dark veins; consuming the words.
Haruka made her way down the tiny wooden make shift steps to the beach. Her foot steps were staggered and heavy. As the wind blew, they disappeared behind her as though this moment had no concept of time.
"Dammit!" She hissed out loud and kicked at the waves, salty icy water soaking the legs of her pants. "Damn you!.." She kicked again, and picked up handfuls of pebbles and stones pitching them as hard and as fast she could into the slate grey water. The water churned threateningly as though getting defensive.
She threw until her arms felt weak and her voice was sore.
Haruka was never really sure who she was yelling at but somehow it made her feel justified. Whether or not she was yelling at Anigusta, or Michiru, it didn't matter.
Both were gone from her life now; there was nothing she could do.
As Haruka regained her breathing, her head was down, and so she had no idea how agitated the surf had become from her retorts.
The water rushed her and dragged her down; sand collapsing underneath her staggering feet.
A wave crashed over her head; water filled her mouth. She held her breath and tried not to panic as the water flipped her around like a rag doll.
Once she had an opening to try, Haruka groped for balance; the sand was slipping from underneath as she tried to stand.
Another wave, but this time she had enough sense to close her mouth.
Haruka really had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like forever. In all the races she had been in, she was never more frightened.
Finally the weakened blonde crawled out, stumbling over her heavy feet. Her body was heavy and tingling numb from the assault of icy water and rough sand. She managed to run the last few long steps onto dry sand. She flopped down heavily and coughed, hating the taste of the salt water. She spat out sandy grit from her mouth and swore lowly.
"Gods.." She breathed and coughed at the same time. She was too shaken to feel irritated at how her clothes stuck plastered to her skin and weighed her down.
"Serves me right.. I suppose." Haruka laid back, already sandy so it didn't matter and draped her arm over her forehead.
"I could have died." She mused quietly to the now more passive water, which teased her toes as though a warning. Drawing her knees up, Haruka suppressed a sob; none the less hot tears slipped down her cheeks.
'What in the hell am I doing?.. Fighting with the water like an idiot..'
She closed her fist to draw the back of her hand over her face, when something smooth and round in her fingers made her freeze.
Blinking, Haruka slowly sat up and stared at a perfectly white clam shell with round ridges not grooves like the first one Michiru had given her.
Haruka managed to stand, slowly, her palm gripping the shell and stared at it for a moment; Even the wind had changed.
She felt.. different. Tired, sore, weak; definitely. But she felt.. changed, new.
The ocean had taken her in, pounded her, roughened her and then smoothed her out; literally spat her out. She was new; humbled, shocked, awed. Though her skin was raw and pink, open and oozing from the burning treatment, that wasn't the only thing that had been stubbornly forced open.
Broken and healed, Haruka couldn't give a damn any longer; nor did she care to. She laughed, loud and throatily; The tears rinsed away the grit of sand.
The blonde began to walk, not really looking at where she was going; Only concentrating on the rebirth happening in her soul.
Only looking at the tiny little physicality of her change resting within her palm.
--------
TO BE CONTINUED! (And I mean it! lol. Honestly, I DEEPLY APOLOGISE, for the loooong wait!
ONE MORE FINAL CHAPTER COMING UP! Plus a mini little finale ;) BE PAITENT!
Thank you, I love you all!