#celestial clockwork

When people are killed, they die.

That’s been the logic she’s known all her life.

And yet. . .

She’s pretty certain she’s alive. She’s swinging between consciousness but. . .  yeah, she’s pretty sure she’s alive.

She lifts her hands up to the sky, which has a strange purple hue to it, and her hands attempt to reach out to the clouds in the sky.

What a strange feeling. . .

She can still feel it coursing through her veins, pulsing and beating. The magic that bastard woke up in her . . . He said it was magic from a past life. If she was dead, it most certainly would have left her body by now.  But that pulse is proof that she’s alive.

Her arms limply fall to her side and she lets out a sigh, allowing weariness to consume her once again.

When she wakes up again, she’s in something . . .  Something in her tells her it’s not quite a house but it’s someone’s state of housing. Something of a magical nature. Following that is the realization that she’s been bandaged up. . . and stripped of her clothes in the process. Normally she would have screamed or made some big deal out of it — just like . . . Khrystie would have — but she still feels too tired and drained to do anything.

She rests her head on her pillow, hands flat on her stomach, and gazes out the window. The sun seems to be in the sky. . . but the strange color in the sky makes it hard to tell what time of day it is.

Hearing the door open, she looks away from the window and to the door to find. . . a

Um. . .

A hand?

Yeah. . . It most certainly was a giant gloved hand with a simplistic and cartoony face.

“You’re awake!” It greets. She blankly stares back at this. . . glove, unsure of what to say. It introduces itself as . . .Handude. A very. . . original name. It doesn’t have much to say, it simply checks over her condition before exiting the room, saying they have to fetch the master of the household.

Phantom.

What the hell kind of name is that. . .?

Well, that experience woke her up a little more and now she realizes there’s magic pumping all around her. She’s never felt such so much magic around her before. The worlds she’s lived in before were bare of magic. . . now it simply feels like there’s magic everywhere.

Was this what it was like for Khrystie? To be constantly aware and conscious of every living being and the magic they gave off? It’s too strange of a feeling. She’s really. . . underestimated her. . .

But that’s all she’s ever done, hasn’t she?

Assumed so much about her sister. Usually she’s simply assumed the worst — like that she was a dirty whore and that’s why she had so many children — and blamed her for things she had no fault in — it was never her fault that Lavender vanished — and assumed that Khrystie was so utterly was weak and useless. That was never the case. She was so powerful but she was holding back against her the whole time. . . because she loved her despite how shitty she was.

How could she be so blind to how nice her sister really was. . .?

“Are you awake?” She opens her eyes to see the presumed owner of this place. She’s pretty sure it’s a girl. . . who had to be as young as her.  Long messy brown curls, brown eyes framed with glasses and some freckles that stood out on her pale skin. She was dressed in all black; coat, pants and shoes.

Next to her was a guy in black clothes as well. The collar of his coat added a bit more color to him; pale purple, orange and navy. There was even blue on the stomach of his coat, a shape similar to a wave. Interestingly, he had a tanned complexion, gray eyes and shoulder length hot pink hair.

“Pink. . .” She mumbles before she could stop herself. The guy gave her a look but she didn’t quite register it, since she was thinking about dying her bangs a light pink color. They’ve been pale purple for a while. It would be nice to change things up.

“She seems to be conscious. . .” The boy mutters, somewhat annoyed. His companion smiles.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Sheryl. . .” She pauses.

Melody. . .?

No.

She’s completely shamed that name with her ignorance and stupidity. Khrystie was the only one who truly carried that name with pride and nobility. She can’t keep carrying that name anymore. . . She’ll need a new one for the new life she’s somehow living.

“Nolen. Sheryl Nolen.” The pink haired guy raised a brow, looking a bit doubtful. Sheryl is pretty sure the girl caught onto her lie but she didn’t seem to be bothered by it.  She simply nods her head.

“My name is Phantom,” She introduces herself. With a hand, she motions to her companion. “And this is Sean. He’s my Denizen.”

“Denizen?” Sheryl squints her eyes. That sounded vaguely familiar, but she’s not so sure why.

“Ah, well, that’s quite a story. . . We can talk about that at another time.” Phantom smiles, crossing her arms. “Why don’t we talk about you Sheryl, what were you doing on the side of the road?” Sheryl shrugs her shoulders uselessly.

“Dying, I guess. . .”

“Well, that would make sense given your injuries. . .” Phantom mumbles. “What were you fighting?”

“Fighting?” Sheryl blinks.

“You don’t your kind of injuries by sitting around and doing nothing. Ruptured organs, broken limbs and third degree burns. It’s a miracle you’re even alive!” Sheryl looks out the window once more, her tried fingers curl into a fist.

“I. . .I fucked up really badly. I was terrible to my older sister . . . I never tried to understand her. I assumed things about her and called her terrible things. . . worst of all, I put her and her entire family in danger by selling her out to some god like thing that had a vendetta against her. That thing could absorb people into its flesh and destroy so many civilizations in the matter of days. . .” Sheryl clutches the bedsheets in frustration. “It promised me it could get rid of her. . .and I stupidly thought, if she was gone, my real sister would comeback . . ."

“One of her husbands slapped some sense into me. . . and I tried to call off the attack against her but. . .that bastard lied to me. He was just full of bullshit. . .  He didn’t even know a damn thing about her. So what if she knew about Hamon. . . That shit couldn’t even kill him, much less hurt him. . . He just wanted her dead because she married the descendant of the person that defeated him over eighty years ago . . .”

“So, did this thing attack you for trying to stop him from attacking your sister?” Phantom asks. Her voice is firm and steady. It doesn’t seem mad, more pointed and concerned. At least that’s what the melody is telling Sheryl.

“I think so.” Sheryl sighs, her fists uncurls and she rests her hands upon her stomach. “I can’t really remember. . . It happened too fast. I just know it wasn’t my sister that attacked me. . . I can remember the anger on her face when that bastard hit me. . . After all the shit I put her through, she’s just. . . so concerned with me. I really don’t deserve a sister like her. . .”

“It doesn’t matter if you deserve her or not,” Phantom shrugs. “I think it’s pretty clear that she thought you were worth it. Your sister really loved you.”

Sheryl refuses to look into anyone’s eyes. Just out the window, with her expression that is nothing more than pain and grief. Phantom and Sean decide this is their cue to leave. She’s not quite sure what compelled her but Sheryl glanced back to the door just as Phantom closed the door behind her. . . and noticed a familiar pin attached to the bottom of the girl’s coat. It was the mon that belonged to her sister’s clan.

Somehow, someway, she ended up so far away from everything familiar. . . and yet she was found by one of her sister’s allies. . .