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_____It had tried hard to rain most of the morning, but the moment it had let up and the sun had come back out, Corona had headed off towards the foggy forest of Esper Hollow with her usual supplies in tow. Though she hadn't been around for a few days, she hadn't worried as much because of Endymion and Rachias being there. Part of the reason she hadn't come around was because she hadn't wanted to see Rachias, imagining that the last thing her younger sister wanted to see was just one of several faces that had been assisting in putting an end to an even crazier sibling's life.
_____But eventually not visiting had eaten away at her enough and there was, working her way into the thick forest of Ethereal Eclipse, consistently aware of the sounds around her on the off chance that someone else decided to come along and spring an attack. Dealing with the woman in the hospital was well behind her now, but it had truly solidified how serious she needed to be about the decisions she was making. To sit on the side of the fence with Inferni meant that anyone could and would take a shot at her, regardless of who she was or who her parents were.
_____So as the camp site came up into view, she let those thoughts settle in the back of her mind and peered about, wondering if any of those who had faired well were still doing good. She wondered if Jasper was any better or if Laruku was making more sense of the world, but most of all she wondered if Ahren was fairing more or less the same. Corona didn't find him in the shed and things were too quiet in the shack for anyone to be in there. In fact, everything was pretty quiet, almost too quiet for her tastes as she settled in front of the camp fire, sitting on one of the logs-turned-bench and sighed.
_____Someone would be around eventually, if she waited.
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The fog had grown thick following the rainfall. This was, of course, a natural occurrence—but for Ahren, it was a mystical thing. It reminded him of Europe, and of the dank alleyways that were starting to slip back into his memories. The past two weeks had been curious. He had finished the cabin for himself and Laruku, and then remembered falling asleep. When he had woken from a dream, lost and now unfamiliar, he had been somewhere else. Sleepwalking was not a new occurrence for him, but it had not happened in months (that he had been aware of, at least).
A phrase, an idea, a familiar itch, that had come back with growing intensity. For the two weeks, he had begun setting fires again. They were never large (and would never be as large as Gabriel’s burning had been) and never lasted long. Still, at nights when sleep would not come and his mind tore at itself, he would do this thing. It calmed him in the same way the drugs did. He had started drinking again, though not as heavily, and not in such long periods of time. Enough that the ember-burn of the cigarettes was washed out of his mouth, replaced by fire-water, both of which had replaced long-gone women and the one man who even now was trying to disappear.
He had been coming back from one of these long nights, smelling of smoke and cigarettes and red-wine, and spotted a familiar figure in the campsite. “Howdy,” he said, grinning like a fool and wondering how long it had truly been since he had given her that necklace and chased her out of his life.
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[html] Time passed and eventually someone did turn up, and it was that someone who matched who she had been looking for from toe to tip. As Ahren emerged from the fog and thick forest, Corona could only meet his smile (or really, grin) with a partial one of her own. It was good that he was back up on his feet and hadn't gone cartwheeling back into whatever it was that he had sick with and despite appearances being deceiving on occasion, she could sumrise that he was feeling much better. “Hey,” she returned softly, “I can see you're feeling a lot better than before.” But the others? Well, who knew. One day, she imagined. One day or another. “How've things been?” [/html]
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The distemper had not been the first disease to strike his body. That had been madness, warping his brain and pushing him down the rabbit hole. Then it had been alcohol, and he had fallen so deep into that bottle he couldn’t get out. After that had been heroine, and the monkey and the dragon were on his back and in his veins and would be there forever. Those two he could fend off. Those two came back twice as vicious, and bit twice as hard each time. He kept smiling because if he didn’t smile he was afraid his face might crack and his troubles would pour forth like devils from a black mass.
“Que sera, sera,” he said, realizing it was not an answer in truth. “It’s been quiet,” he admitted, and sat next to her. In a practiced motion, he drew a cigarette, lit it, and inhaled. “People are leaving,” he said in the exhale, smoke pouring from his mouth. “I don’t think Esper Hollow is going to make it through the fall.” This was the first time he had spoken the idea aloud. Laurent had left long ago. Poe was a child who flew by the wind at her feet, and like the leaves, would be swept away. Jasper had gotten no better, and secretly, Ahren believed he was dying. A slow, drawn out death, trapped in a fantasy world within his own head. If this persisted, the blonde intended to save his son the only way he knew how. He hoped it would not come to that.
“Have you seen Laruku yet?”
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[html]What he said came as no real surprise to Corona. Packs were formed and fell apart more readily now than they had ever before. Whatever the glue had been years ago clearly not as the same solvent they had once had access to. Even though it made her a little sad to think that such an interesting place would be flying apart at the handle before too long, it troubled her even more that what few pieces of her family around would be out of a home. Faces to rely on, anyway. But the thoughts faded away when Ahren brought up Laruku. “No, I haven't seen him yet,” she answered readily with a shake of her head. “How is he?” Better or worse? Still the same? She didn't voice such things, but it was always there, hiding in the glimpses of her eyes or in her body language.[/html]
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“He’s blind,” Ahren said automatically, not hesitating to lie. There was no point. Taking a drag, he held his breath, then exhaled and dropped his head into his hands. He could hear the embers in the cigarette crackle as they burnt, and he felt something heavy on his back (an ape, grinning perhaps).
“I don’t know what the fuck to do,” he said plainly, and was amazed at the apathy he heard in his voice. There was only mild desperation, and even that was fading.
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“Blind,” she repeated softly, letting the word roll over her tongue and settle there. Even she couldn't resist hanging her head at the thought, wondering what kind of dark hole of hell that had to be. Without eyesight, anything worth enjoying visually was gone. She knew what it meant without even thinking about it. “There isn't anything that you can do about it, short of just helping him live,” she said, glancing over at him. She didn't know what exactly the details or meaning were between her father and Laruku, though she imagined that they were friends. Ahren had been in his pack and from what she had gathered from Rachias, they had escaped the fire together. Fast friendships were often made in situations like that. “But I doubt you'd even have to do that. Rachias would take care of him better than we probably could. She seems to live just to be with him.” Lord knew that she didn't want anything to do with Inferni now.
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You know what to do, a smaller voice said. Ahren heard it and his ears swiveled, but he could not find the source. The voice was his. Or, at least, it was similar to his. Ruddy-venetian eyes rose and focused on a non-specific point, darkening with his thoughts. When Corona spoke, he blinked and turned his head, focusing on her. That itch remained, that peculiar voice. He knew what to do.
“What happens when he dies, then?” You know. You’ve always known.
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His question left her in silence for a moment, really wondering what would prompt such a thing. She hadn't seen Laruku so maybe he was still sick. Maybe the blindness was just one more thing that the sickness had stolen away. “The same thing that happens when everyone else dies,” she finally said, shrugging her shoulders. She didn't know what to say or what he wanted to hear so she could tell him. She couldn't cure blindness and she couldn't cure death and those were two very real things she had accepted a long time ago. Well, at least the death part. Letting her blue-eyed gaze drop to the ground, she asked a question of her own. “Is he dying?” It seemed childish—of course they were all dying—but she wanted to know. How soon? How long until the inevitable end? Would Rachias blame them all for that too?
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A soft, hysterical little laugh escape Ahren. Dying? Laruku was dead. He had been dead much longer then anyone imagined. Dead since his steel-gray lover had left, since his mind had split in two, since he had broken apart at the seams. Then quite suddenly, he stopped laughing. He heard himself and wondered why he was laughing.
“I think so,” he offered, looking at his hands. The scar on his palm had cracked over the years of abuse. Thinking back on it, he didn’t remember why he had done such a thing.
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The laughing didn't go unnoticed by Corona, but she tried not to think anything of it. It had become something she just did when things seemed just the slightest bit wrong. Ignoring it didn't make it go away, but it bought her time to think of something else. Distraction. “You don't think it's the illness, do you?” she went on to ask, biting her bottom lip at the thought. If it was and Laruku was dying, what did that mean for him? For Jasper? For anyone else who may have been sick? She didn't want to think it was possible, but it was. That was the sad sorry truth about it all.
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Wrapup soon and do the new one?
It was an illness, of some sort. A disease in the mind, in the soul. The same damn disease that everyone here was fighting off, in their on way. Ahren was a self-medicating psychopath. He had seen the way and he knew it was not truth, but he believed it was for the best. This way, at least, he was safe. He could fight it off a little longer, before it claimed him as a casualty as well.
“No,” he offered flatly. For a moment or two more he was silent, and then looked to the fire.
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Sure thing.
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If not the illness, then she supposed he was giving up. He had after all, wanted to die for quite some time, or at least from what she had gathered. Corona had yet to come across some sort of reason or desire or to even be in a total state where she would have wanted to die. But then again, even if she had and had been capable of noticing it, she knew how to fix it. Death wasn't necessarily the answer. It seemed to breed more problems the further involved someone was to anyone else. She shuffled her foot in the silence between them, unsure of what more to say on the topic. So she changed it. “I brought a few things,” she said, fumbling through her pack and holding a couple of things out to him after a moment. “I figure it might help with pain that anyone's going through. Might make some of them rest easier.” Them being the (once) sick, of course.
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Even though she drew them away from the subject, Ahren clung to it with the stubborn desperation that belonged to addicts. There was nothing he could do (except for that one thing) and that was all that he could not believe in. Defying God, perhaps as he saw it, was a part of his nature. Flicking an ear towards the blonde girl, he turned his eyes to her and took the items, stuffed them into the bag on his hip. “Thanks. You did a lot for us,” he added. “Thank you.”
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*finally throws up an ending, dies.*
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“You don't have to thank me,” she said, rising up from where she had been sitting. “You've done plenty for me in the past, so I guess it's the least I could do. I wouldn't be a very good daughter, sibling, or a friend if I had just let you all suffer.” Family took care of family, simple as that. As it were, they were all connected by a long chain. Only as strong as their weakest link. “But I should be getting back now, I only came by to give you those things. I'm glad you're all getting better… or at least as much better as you can get.” What was happening to Laruku was unfortunate, but Corona didn't know what she could do for him. So quite simply, she avoided the idea altogether. Offering her father a warm smile as a way of bading him farewell, Corona headed off and back to Inferni.
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