To Grieve and Be Built Again
Silver had been in a catatonic state for a few hours after the last of her tears finally dried on her face. This whole situation felt far too surreal for her to think it was reality. She was curled up against the base of a large oak tree with her knees bent against her chest as if they were protecting her very heart—what was left of it. Her feet were planted firmly against the damp earth upon which she sat. Her back felt each crevice, bump, and rough edge of the bark pressing into her spine. Silver relished in the feeling. It gave her something to focus on other than the constant onslaught of her brain trying to force her to remember what she lost not even six mere hours previously.
Terra was a distance away gathering what was left of the survivors and helping treat the injured. He glanced over at Silver every now and then to make sure she was at least in the same spot. As much as he would love to go and comfort her, he still needed to get everyone else in order. He also needed to find a new base of operations and find a way to resupply all the things they lost in the fire. For right now though, setting up a relative campsite seems like the best way to go.
"Kole!" Said teen came running up to Terra at the sound of his name. His brown hair was short with his part to the side. Tattoos littered his arms as sleeves, though no one could really make out what each tattoo was as they all blended together forming some maze type map on both arms. He was built, mostly from lifting heavy objects, and towered over quite a few people. He may seem like the type of person that would be the "bully" but he was actually a big softie at his core. He always made sure to snag extra sweets and candy for the children in the organization to brighten their day.
"Yes sir!"
"I want you to gather what is left of your division to gather and scrounge up any supplies that you can find. Whether from the remains of the base or from the wilderness. Get what you can." Terra ordered sternly. This was no time to be messing around. It was imperative that things got done to ensure the survival of their people.
"Understood, sir!" With those instructions, Kole ran off yelling for the remaining Supply Division members to follow through with the orders. Terra turned to a maintenance member near him and told him to find and inform Cassandara, the division head, that he needed her and her division to help set up makeshift tents and shelter for everyone. The maintenance member nodded his head and ran off in search of the wacky Head.
"Quinn!" Terra yelled, looking around for the said person.
"Right here!" A young seventeen year old woman with brown hair in a side swept pixie cut that brushed just under her cheekbones with a part on the side. There was a scar that cut through her left eye brow and a tattoo on the left side of her neck and stopping at the base of her ear behind the lobe depicting a small simple black phoenix with its wings above its head. Its long tail feathers delicately curled down to her collar bone. On her right arm, she has a tattoo sleeve of a skull with a crown on the outside of her upper arm near her shoulder. All the way down to her wrist and just barely past while somewhat surrounding the skull are black roses with thorns.
Terra motioned Quinn to follow him towards a much more secluded spot where they were away from hearshot but in eye sight of Silver so Terra could keep an eye on her.
"I need you to set up a patrol around the perimeter. I'm on a need to know basis. No one else is to be told other than my sister." He said quietly, barely moving his lips.
"I assume there is a reason, sir?" Quinn followed his lead on hardly moving her lips at all and being as quiet as possible.
"You assume correctly. Our base was hidden
away and we made sure no one else knew about it. No one should have known where to look other than our own people." Terra looked the most serious he's ever been. A deep fire of rage burned in his single brown eye.
"You think there is a traitor."
"I know there is one. Finding them is a different story."
"You wish to seek revenge?" Quinn asked with uncertainty.
Terra had paused for a brief moment to consider her words before giving her an answer. "No. Revenge, as much as I want it, is not mine. However, I will bring the bastard who caused this to justice. For Cascius."
"Yes sir." Quinn walked away and started ordering her people to get into their squads and start patrolling the temporary campground. Terra then proceeded to walk over to the tree that Silver was sitting under and sat down next to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and brought her closer to him. Instinctively, she relaxed into his hug and curled up to fit her body snuggly against his for more emotional comfort.
Terra brought his other hand up and began running his fingers through Silver's hair to help keep her calm. They both sat there quietly remembering their lost friend. Silver found her mind drifting to when she would sing Cascius to sleep when his nightmares got really bad. He would lay his head on her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair.
"Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow
Bless you with love for the road that you go."
The back of her fingers graced the edges of Cascius's ear coupled with her signing lulled him into a more peaceful rest.
"May you sail far to the far fields of fortune
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your
feet
And may you need never to banish misfortune
May you find kindness in all that you meet."
His eyes slowly closed as he drifted off to the smooth quiet tones of Silver's voice. Not once did Cascius wake after that till morning.
Terra remembered sparring with Cascius.
"Aw Terra, are you jealous that I am more nimble than you are?" Cascius teased after he won a sparring match against Terra.
"How could I be jealous? I was merely distracted today." Terra scowled.
"Distracted?"
"Yeah. Of your ugly mug." He said smugly.
"Oh, how you wound me!" Cascius pressed a hand to his chest as he pretended to act out his own death.
"You're jealous cuz I'm better looking, Cas." Terra stated plainly.
"Psh! Am not! Silver!" Cascius shot up into a seated position and turned toward the mentioned scarlet headed girl that was hemming a pair of pants. She looked at the two boys exasperatedly while she set her work down on her lap and crossed her arms over her still flat chest.
"What is the matter with you two now?" She sighed.
"Who's better looking?" Cascius blurted out. Silver's eyes widened at such an abrupt question and promptly froze.
"Uh, uh, uh," each word got higher in pitch the more frantic she became trying to come up with an answer. "No comment!" She finally screamed and ran off into another area of the warehouse.
The playful taunting and the crazy eccentric challenges that managed to always get Silver pulled into them. Their last set of antics got Silver chased up a tree and involved one of the patrol dogs that were all killed in the attack. His name was Hades. His heart ached and he clenched his eyes shut to stop the tears he knew he was close to shedding. He could feel the tingling itch behind his nose.
Lost in their memories, the two siblings didn't notice when Mason, an old friend of theirs, came up to them. He placed his hand on Terra's shoulder, startling the young boy and in turn jostling Silver.
"The dead are ready to be buried." He spoke solemnly. Terra sighed and rose to his feet. He leaned down and planted a kiss upon his sister's head as she continued to lean back on the tree behind her.
"C'mon, let's go put them all to their final rest." He held out a hand for her to grab. Silver slowly raised her eyes to look at the hand in front of her face blankly. Her eyes drifted off to the side contemplating if she even had the strength to watch them be buried.
(She couldn't watch. She didn't want to watch. She couldn't bear to see his body ohgodsheseeshisdeathagain)
She got up anyway.
There were many bodies that couldn't be buried because their bodies were never able to be recovered. Cascius's body was among that number. The Scarlet Siblings didn't know how to feel about that. They still made a grave for him regardless.
Silver felt tears sting harshly at her eyes and wished desperately that no one could see the tears clinging to her eyes. 'Don't cry,' She repeated to herself. 'You are not allowed to cry. So don't you even start.' She yelled it. She screamed it. She scolded it inside her head. The phrase was repeated until it was burned into her brain just as the tears burned at her eyes and her nose stung at her overwhelming emotions.
The heavens opened up mysteriously as it was a clear afternoon and gently rained upon the people standing around the graves. Silver looked at the stone in front of her one last time. Her brother's lone eye stared at her as she turned her head back towards the stone. He felt the burning in his chest as he witnessed his little sister in so much emotional pain. He saw that she was trying her best to hide it for the sake of their people.
After an hour or two, the newly made graveyard was empty save for the two as everyone went to set up a place to sleep for the night.
"We should get into some shelter before either of us get sick. It's still raining." Terra gently spoke to Silver. He placed an arm around her in a hug she didn't reciprocate. She Just stood there and took a deep breath and then released it in one big moment of hopeful stress relief. It did nothing for her.
Terra sighed in resignation and let her be. He placed a hand atop the gravestone in front of them and walked off back to camp to finish any final arrangements.
Standing in the rain, staring quietly at the gravestone she said her last goodbyes.
"I saw the light fade from the sky," She sang. The rain gentled more in its pouring just as her voice had a gentle scottish lilt. "On the wind I heard a sigh. Many snowflakes cover my fallen brothers. I will say this last goodbye."
Evening had rolled around, all the Gray Knights were curled up in what bedspreads and bedding they had or could make and all the enemy bodies that were dragged out of the ruins were put in a pile to be burned throughout the night. Temporary shelters made from pieces of debris or tents were pitched up for the night. After Terra made sure everyone was fed, he had the enemy bodies set alight.
"Night is now falling, so ends this day. The road is now calling and I must away. Over hill and under tree through lands where never light has shone by silver streams that run down to the sea."
Silver looked up to the sky and let the rain gently pelt her face. She finally turned around and started making her way back to camp. As she trudged through the now muddy ground, a single solitary tear slid down her cheek burning a trail as it went down and splashed against a nearby fallen red rose.
The rain came to a stop and the dark skies cleared of their darkened gloom. Silver continued to move on back towards a shelter by the tree she was sitting under earlier that day that Terra had set up for them.
Under cloud, beneath the stars
Over snow one winter's morn
Terra opened his arms once Silver was close enough in range to see him in her partial clouded daze.
I turn at last to paths that lead home
Silver steps into her brother's warm embrace and holds him as tightly as he holds her. An unspoken promise between each other that they will always be by each other's side. A promise of never leaving the other alone.
And though where the road then takes me
I cannot tell
They release from their hug. Terra stretches an arm out towards the tent opening and beckons Silver inside where the warmth of a small controlled fire in the center lights the inside with its caressing heat.
We came all this way
But now comes the day
To bid you farewell
The two settled down in some blankets that the supply division managed to scrounge up for their leaders that had lost a dear and close friend.
Many places I have been
Many sorrow I have seen
But I don't regret, nor will I forget
All who took that road with me
Silver and Terra stared at each other as the fire flickered and danced.
"I love you." Silver whispered. She didn't want to ever let those words go unsaid. Not when so much is at risk all the time. Her eyes were opened to the danger her life is now constantly in. She'll do better.
She'll hunt down the ones who have done them wrong so that they can't kill anymore innocents. She knew exactly what needed to be done. Some rules and laws are just going to have to be broken in order to protect as many people as she could. She told herself she isn't going to care much on how it's done this time. Screw social and political ideologies. Screw social expectations. She promised herself right then and there as she bored a hole in the tent wall with her stare in determination.
She promised to Cascius that she would live a free life. She promised she'd live as if she could really and truly die at any given moment. She promised that she would protect her brother with everything she had. She will do whatever needs to be done to make sure he lives and survives. She won't lose another person close to her again. She'll lie, cheat, steal, spy, blackmail you name it. She'll do it all if she has to.
(She promised herself she'd even kill in order to protect him)
Night is now falling
So ends this day
The road is now calling and I must away
Over hill and under tree
Through lands where never light has shone
By silver streams that run down to the sea
"I love you too, sis." Terra whispered back to her. After the first hoot of an owl, Terra and Silver fell asleep. When they awoke the next morning, Terra watched as Silver got up with a purpose. None of yesterday's problems seemed to be holding her down. It was like she came to some type of revelation last night.
To these memories I will hold
With your blessing I will go
To turn at last to paths that lead home
Silver went to work making things happen. She was having everyone pack up camp.
"Come on, let's get a move on!" She was going to have the organization relocate to another place. A place that's easier to defend. A place that is sturdier and can't be burned down.
And though where the road then takes me
I cannot tell
We came all this way
But now comes the day
To bid you farewell
Silver had everything packed and everyone moving out to a new location by mid-morning. She gave Terra directions to the new possible location from the information she gathered and collected from the intel division. Silver took the very back of the last of the organization. She paused in her steps and turned to face the fresh graveyard and looked at one single gravestone.
I bid you all a very fond farewell.
