Why? 

Hic…

Why?

H-hic.

Why now? Why again?!

I wailed within my mind, too afraid to do so outwardly. My mind was a mess, attempting to find some reasoning to my own pointless questioning. One more marker, one more loved one soon to be gone.

Auntie…

I was currently sitting on my knees, burying my face into Sarah's blood soaked legs. They were still warm, but I couldn't feel the beat of her heart. 

"There's nothing we can do, Kiyomi… there's nothing we can do…"

Papa spoke, his voice strained as his own condition failed to improve. I turned my head as I sat up, holding my hands out to my sides.

"Why can't you just heal her like before?! You've healed her and Mama plenty! Why not now?"

My voice was now riddled with the sounds of congestion as the once absent tears were welling forth. Papa remained silent, refusing to look back to me. He was holding onto Goro's saddle as if it was the only thing keeping him from falling.

"We need to move…"

His deflection sending a shock of fear and disbelief down my spine.

Were we going to leave her? She still breathed, her chest just barely rising and falling as her body persisted. Turning back to her, I thought of my own words.

Please don't leave me…

"I-"

Sadness persisted within me, the events to pass within the last few months hurt. This only served to make the pain worse, but I couldn't go against Papa. Not right now, unless I wanted us to face odds we had no hope of overcoming. I'd witnessed what happened to my siblings, I could hope for no different treatment myself. After a moment, I placed the knife Sarah handed me into her lap. Unwilling to let go, I found myself still looking at her. She was alive, but barely so.

"But…"

Father sighed, or more accurately, wheezed. Immediately after, he spoke slowly and concisely.

"She has no mana left…"

He breathed between each pause for air.

"Her wounds are great, Kiyomi… We can't do anything for her… my own mana is running short."

Running Short? But he isn't like me or Mama. He should have mana by now.

"Papa?"

I was unable to turn and face him once more, staring at Sarah as she lay slumped against a tree. Each shallow exhale was followed by droplets of blood forming on her lips. Her arm still bled, slowly, but it bled. She seemed pale, and gray streaks not present in the morning littered the braid she kept her hair in.

Can we truly do nothing?

Just as I was blind within my circle of being unable to let go, I heard Papa struggle to mount Goro. Not a second later, I felt Goro's draconic maw press against the back of my head. He was biting the hem of my clothes and lifting me as if I were a pup.

"Papa, no! I don't wanna leave her! Auntie! Auntie, wake up! Please!"

Goro turned his head as I swung, thrashing about and screaming whilst he handed me off to Papa. 

"Auntie! Sar-sar! No! No! I don't wanna! We can't!"

"Goro, move!"

Papa wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close as Goro began running as fast as he could manage. I struggled to fight, so much so that it must have been a great feat for Papa to maintain his hold. Auntie Sarah soon was out of sight and I somehow wailed louder. My wailing turned to crying as time passed, even Papa managing to shudder as he breathed. His silent lapses in his facade serving as a lone harmonizer with my own grief.

"At least, she will not be pursued… Should she survive… Know that well… Her chances are better without us."

_____________________________________

Those were Papa's words as my wails gave way to momentary whimpers, and eventually returning silence. Goro ran and ran, trees continued to blur as the drake did the best he could as Papa urged him onward. Interspersed words as if he were asking someone beside us a question broke apart the blur.

"This way?"

Once.

"It's getting worse… are you sure?"

Another.

"Fuck off! What do you think I've been trying to do?"

Once again.

"Please… just… a little further…"

He continued time after time, his voice growing weaker, his words strained as if each breath were a laboring task. 

"Is there nothing you can do?"

Eventually growing to delirium as the night came. The howls of wolves and other creatures echoed in the night. The roar of a Skullker echoed in the distance. The chirps of crickets littered the backdrop as if they were rain pattering against a window. And amongst it all, I found myself asleep once more. The next I could remember, I awoke to birds chirping and elk bellowing. Wind buffeted through the trees alongside the occasional wheeze that escaped Goro from the constant movement. The drake was faithful, a mount that father received in his childhood as an egg. A beast that father raised, and loved alongside. The beast tread onward for his master, for Papa. Even now, at a walking pace Goro persisted from how linked they seemed. It was a lone amazement to me that Papa never had Goro stop.

"Pa-paaa."

I was calling to him meekly as If I were a tot again. The sun was rising, signaling the state of early morning as the fog had yet to settle. 

"Yes dear?"

I shifted awkwardly within Papa's arms, now aware that at some point he cradled me across the saddle using his thighs as cushions and his one arm to hold my head to his chest.

"Should we take a break?" 

I asked, looking at his arms as the veins were slowly darkening.

"For Goro?"

He asked, looking down to me.

"Papa's been holding me for a while too."

I slowly sat myself up, my clothes snagging on the saddle as I scooted up. I took my weight from Papa's arms and leaned my head into his chest, refusing to look back up. 

Papa is cold… 

I saw the same darkness in his veins reaching up his neck when he looked down at me. I wanted to pretend I was just seeing things at this rate.

"I don't think I can afford… to- not yet-"

Without warning, Papa's words became desperate as he suddenly became weak. Just as I managed to look back up he'd fainted and his weight began sagging to the side.

"Papa, hang on! Don't-"

I grabbed onto Papa's sleeves to try and keep him upright, but my strength was no where near enough to hold him. He fell to the ground, myself falling beside him. Wyrms tooth tore free from Goro's saddle alongside us as I reached for it as a brace.

"Ah!"

Papa fell to the grass, grunting loudly as he landed with a thud. I fell next to him, landing on a branch and snapping it under my weight. Wyrm's tooth smacked the ground just after, it's landing sounding like a cast iron pot was thrown to the ground. 

"Ow! Ow- crap! Goro, stop! Goro!"

The drake was so out of it himself that he continued trudging along, oblivious to us falling until I'd yelled his name. His head raised looking each way before turning directly to meet my eyes. 

"Goro, come!"

I waved to Goro, ensuring he turned around before attending to Papa. With Goro slowly stopping in the grass I turned around.

"Pa- Papa!"

The sight that greeted me when I turned around was something that scared me to my core.

It got worse? I couldn't see it before, could I?

He didn't move, looking to the sky as he wheezed with each breath. His skin was pale and littered with darkened veins and arteries. Whatever affected him earlier was spreading quickly. His wound was still mostly present as well. His gambison was wet and his shirt underneath stained all the way through. 

Gruu-

Goro murmured as he approached. 

"Ngh- ah- ah-"

Papa gasped as his body shifted underneath the push. Wincing from the pain, it looked as if it took all his strength gth to keep his eyes open alone.

"Kiyo-... Kiyomi."

?!

I leaned in as Papa spoke, the shock of the moment still overwhelming me. 

"Grab the tooth…"

 

He squeezed his words out quietly.

The sword? But he's-

"Kiyomi, grab it."

His words were firm as they were when he was attempting to be strict. They seemed uncharacteristically desperate in the moment.

Just do as Papa says, it'll be okay.

I grabbed Wyrms tooth from where it lay, dragging it towards us. 

"Give me- ah- give me your hand-"

"Papa, don't worry about the sword. You should heal yourself!"

"Give it. Hold Wyrm's tooth as you do."

It must have taken all of Papa's strength in that moment for him to raise both his hands. They were cold to the touch, and as mana soon poured forth they became nearly snow white. The weak flow of mana crackled as the carvings and runes on Wyrms tooth glowed within my hands. Only after roughly a minute did it cease.

"I can't feel them any- ah- it's done atleast."

As Papa spoke with a hint of relief, his arms dropped to his sides. I'd dropped Wyrm's tooth at this point and leaned over him.

I can see it… this is a dream… right?

It was written on the wall, but I didn't want to accept reality. Papa was going through the same final moments my siblings did, though I was so grief stricken I couldn't bear the thought. In the need to hang on, I stared at him. I was unmoving.

"What did you just do?"

"…"

"What did you do, Papa?"

I asked in a demanding tone, knowing the mana I'd seen a moment earlier.

"I transferred… the seal."

"You said it would be okay… why isn't Papa healing?"

"I"

"The trail is leading this way! Stupid bastards bleeding everywhere! Look for the Drake, he'll have to be nearby!"

A set of voices yelling into the forest pierced the air.

"Shit…"

Papa muttered.

"Go-ro-"

Papa called to Goro, weakly raising an arm. Goro placed his head under Papa's palm in response to his master reaching out.

"Keep my pup safe… please, diversion… "

"Eh?"

"Goro, go."

"Papa we have to-"

Rooooaaaa-

With Papa's final say, Goro inhaled and mustered any energy he could. No longer the picture of an exhausted animal, Goro jumped over us and ran to the source of the voices.

"There it is!"

"Move faster, it's gonna get away!"

I looked on in disbelief as our mount abandoned us at Papa's delirious orders.

"Papa! We have to move you!"

I whispered in anger, my voice becoming uneven for some unseen reason.

"Stop playing and heal yourself!"

I clenched his shirt in my fists, loose strands of hair falling past my face as I stared down into his eyes.

"You're smart for your age Kiyomi… you already know… I'm not- walking… away."

Papa's brows furrowed, his face growing paler with each moment. 

"I used the last of my mana to link the sword to you. It's the last thing I could do. You need to run."

"Enough of the bullshit! I can't leave you, you're-"

"I'm a poor excuse for a father, making my daughter cry for me."

His lips curled at the edges and smiled weakly. His brows still furrowed, betraying his voice.

"You need to run. Find Solah…"

"Pa-pa…"

Tears welled up as I stared down at him, wanting so badly to ignore his words. I grabbed his hand and raised it to my cheek. I felt the cold of his palm and yet his presence even in that was a comfort I couldn't relinquish.

"Papa?"

The tears continued. My stomach suddenly became weightless when I noticed his chest failed to raise and even the meager twitches of his fingers stopped.

"Papa!"

I'd dropped his hand, moving back to his shirt and clenching on it. For some reason I thought to shake him as if he were faking it. Faking the sudden motionless state he'd taken on as his eyes lay still and half closed.

"Papa, wake up!"

I pulled his shirt, no response.

"Papa, please, I'm scared! Don't leave me, please!"

Amongst my words, at some point reason left me. I was bawling as I begged incoherently, whilst tears and snot flowed forth. My body felt light, and nauseated. A sudden sharp sensation of electricity lit my spine ablaze as my body and mind reeled in shock.

"Kiyomi-"

My begging stopped at the sound of his voice. I looked into his eyes as he spoke, holding onto each word as if it were his last.

"-run… Find her… She will help you find safety..."

My sobbing continued amongst his words. My eyes still burned and my vision blurred with my tears.

"Nwo- I."

I tried to speak as clearly as I could, only to be interrupted.

"Find her, and be well."

"Ah-"

Amongst it all, my crying ceased. I suddenly inhaled in an attempt to even out my breathing only to sniffle.

"Pa-pa, I-"

I love you… say it…

The words were there, and I wanted to say them. I knew what came to pass and I didn't say it. The words I never could say one last time to each one I witnessed. I love you. Three words I wanted to say so they found some comfort. Words I wanted him to say in that last moment. Things as they were, damn what his daughter wanted at the moment. Papa loved me, and cared more about my safety than my impulsive thoughts. This was his dying act as his final true breath escaped him.

Why?

I continued sniffling yet my eyes remained open and unable to blink. I was unable to turn away, or to close my eyes lest I be confronted by the sudden truth.

Why leave me?!

I closed my eyes slowly, lowering my head to my father's chest as I did. 

Why couldn't it have been me back then? Why did I have to watch this?

I clenched my teeth as I fought back each returning sob, my voice joining each stifled inhale. The feeling and sound of teeth grinding against teeth revolved in my head along with my own heart beat. The only thing to disturb this, was the sudden rush of blood and emotions that flooded my body. I pressed my head into father's chest and continued clenching. With one stifled, deep inhale, I screamed outward without raising my head. It was desperate and pained, defiance and anger filled its heart. But it was painful, born of the realization that fathers dying words needed to be taken seriously. The only other choice was ignoring them and making his death in vain. Of making everyone's deaths in vain. 

Run.

A foreign voice echoed within my head. It was that of a woman's. She was unfamiliar, but a strange sense of comfort washed forth from it.

Follow your instinct and run.

I know God's damnit!

My thoughts were solidified as I inhaled sharply once more and screamed out with all my anger and pain I could. My right hand instinctively reached out and grabbed Wyrm's tooth as I stood. The sight I ever saw of my father was his weak but loving smile, I couldn't bear to see anything else as I headed the advice the world pushed towards me.

I must run.