day 22 - in battle, side-by-side
By the time it began to resemble her dreams, it was too late. Mary backed up, unable to turn away as she watched Momo die before them. Seto was the only other one left standing, and a dull feeling in her mind reminded her that this was always how it was.
Not this time. Mary seized his arm, her wide eyes still on the gory scene in front of them.
"L-let's go!" she whimpered, pulling on his sleeve, trying to turn him around to face her. Only when she stopped yanking did she notice the tremors in his arm, and leaned forward to see his face. Seto was staring at the still forms on the ground. She pulled on his arm again, and he finally reacted, turning to look over his shoulder at her with eyes filled with tears.
"Kido and Kano—" he managed, his voice raspy, and Mary fought the urge to cry for the other members of her assumed family. It didn't matter. They had to escape. But Seto wouldn't budge.
Then Seto's face changed, an expression of terror crossing his face, and he pushed her away.
With a cry, Mary crumpled to the floor, more surprised than hurt. He'd never pushed her before, never hurt her. Though she was so much smaller than him, or maybe because of it, he'd always treated her like she was moments away from shattering.
When she looked back up at him, though, she saw why. A dark shape like a shadow wrapped around his ankle, and as she watched it climbed higher. Rather than try to escape it, he pivoted on that foot, and faced the yellow-eyed figure that was approaching him now.
"Please escape," he said, and his voice shook, fear showing through it clear as day.
Mary couldn't move. She knew how this ended. She'd seen it. And even if she didn't, there was no way she was escaping to a world without him.
Even as Kuroha's hands closed around Seto's throat, Mary fought to find the ability she knew she had, the one that could fix everything. Seto shuddered and choked in front of her and still she couldn't find it.
It was only when his body went limp that she found it, whether through luck or despair, and she screamed. The world folded shut around her and for a moment she wondered if it had just been a dream after all.
