Mariana:
We were twins, but I was the older one because I was born a few moments before her.
Seeing my little sister suffer like this in front of me shattered me.
There was a strange pain in my chest, and I finally broke down. I could not hold it in anymore. My sister, my little sister, was in so much pain.
"I am going to miss you too," Fauna said, crying.
"You should go there and start your life again with Haiden."
I spoke, rubbing my face with my hands. I did not want to make her cry, but I could not stop myself.
"You too. You will stay here and start your life, even though it feels so unfair," Fauna said, complaining softly about why we had to stay behind.
I knew she was being emotional.
"I will come to see you. Maybe in a year, maybe two, or maybe five. By then, we might even have families of our own. Make sure you tell your children about me," I said softly, still holding her hand.
Fauna tried to sit up. We did not want her to, but she was stubborn. So Haiden helped her.
She leaned against my shoulder and wrapped her arm around mine.
"Do you remember when we were kids and left alone at home, with only the warriors watching us to make sure we did not break any rules?" She was hiccupping too.
"You would always break the rules for me. Sometimes you got caught, sometimes you did not. I remember everything."
As Fauna spoke, I noticed her body growing colder.
My eyes lifted to Yorick, and I gave him a frightened look. Haiden had sat her down so that I could sit close to my sister now.
I wanted to cry as loudly as I could, but I held it back, just to give my sister some strength.
"You are like brothers," I said to Haiden.
I noticed the way they stood in front of each other, looking away awkwardly, trying to act like it was nothing more than a casual roommate association.
But from their body language, I could tell they would miss each other deeply.
"We are," Yorick was the one who admitted first, and then he turned to Haiden.
"Hey, forgive me for every time I have hurt you, or any fucked-up thing I did, even when I hurt Clementine," Yorick said to Haiden, who gave him a very broken smile.
"No, of course I forgive you. But if I did something wrong, which I probably did, then please forgive me," Haiden replied.
They both looked away and rubbed their eyes.
I did not like it at all. I wanted him to come back later, to surprise us and say that everything was fine.
But deep down, I knew that would not happen.
The realization had settled in. It was not going to be easy.
When those survivors attacked us earlier, I understood something.
If even one of them could turn this bitter, then what about the others?
What about the mainland? That was why we had to leave.
"You two are really crying." As soon as I said that, both of them looked at each other, then at me, and then they went back into their alpha mode, looking so arrogant.
"Huh, I don’t wanna hug him. Fine, we will miss each other, but not like that," Yorick said, pouting and looking so smug.
Then Haiden also nodded, rolling his eyes.
"And who would wanna cry for this douchebag? Not me," he said, dramatically raising his hands.
That is when Yorick looked at him with a hurt look on his face.
"Really? You wouldn’t?"
Yorick’s voice hinted at the pain he felt from their departure.
Well, now they were looking really like they wanted each other to admit that they would miss each other and even cry for each other.
"But you also said that you wouldn’t even hug me, that you wouldn’t even miss me," Haiden argued with him.
They confused me so much.
Did they really like each other’s friendship or not?
One moment, they are truly disgusted with each other, next moment, they are hurt that the other denied missing him.
"Hey, don’t just blame it on me. You said it too. You even rolled your eyes."
Yorick then suddenly slapped Haiden’s chest with the back of his hand.
Haiden placed his hand on his chest, almost like he was hurt, but I knew that was far from the truth.
"Okay, fine then. I will admit first. I had tears in my eyes because I did see you as my brother," Yorick snapped at him, and then he turned his face away.
It took Haiden a few seconds to respond.
"Fine, I had my eyes teary too, because I do think that you..." he paused and closed his eyes before he uttered, "that you are my brother too."
As he finished, both of them looked at each other.
My heart crumbled at the sight of it.
Their bond was very sacred because they had been through a lot together, so it was different for them.
"Wanna hug?" Haiden asked Yorick.
Yorick nodded casually, but the moment they embraced, they broke down.
"I am going to miss you, dude," Haiden said, his voice breaking first.
Then I realized that twenty minutes had passed, and the train had arrived. The sound of it broke their hug.
"Then I will leave now. I will leave you for your mission," Haiden said, gently punching Yorick’s shoulder.
"You too. Do not forget your mission once you get there. Do not get lost in love and everything else," Yorick replied, punching his shoulder lightly.
Suddenly, their eyes shifted to Fauna. I saw fear crawl onto Haiden’s face, and I knew they had to go.
"Come on, Fauna, please. The train is here," Haiden said, pulling her gently toward him.
I stopped him and cupped my sister’s face, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
"Goodbye, my little sister. We will meet again."
I stepped back.
Yorick came up behind me and pulled me into a hug, trying to comfort me.
Haiden lifted my sister and carried her into the train. Yorick reached out and scanned the card.
"Okay, dude. Goodbye. Hope this will be our last mission as Crusaders," Haiden yelled, and Yorick nodded, a big tear slipping down his eye.
"You too, Crusader," Yorick gulped hard before he could even get the words out of his mouth.
I gently touched his arm to support him, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
My eyes were fixed on my sister’s face, and I could tell that she was crying too.
We had practically lived every single day of our lives together, so it was going to be really hard not to see her again for so long.
We watched them through the window. That was our last sight of them.
A storm rose inside my chest. I had spent my whole life with my sister by my side.
To the point that we sometimes grew irritated with each other.
Now, as I watched her leave, I felt angry at myself. Had I ever said something careless? Had I ever wished we would not meet again?
Had that wish come true?
As the train moved and they disappeared from view, I turned and hugged Yorick, breaking down.
"I am going to miss her so much," I said, my voice breaking.
My knees gave out, but Yorick held me up.
"I know you will. I will too. But..."
He pulled back slightly and cupped my face.
"This is why we have to be more determined than ever to make this work," he said, looking into my eyes.
"I do not even want to take a break," I replied.
He nodded.
"Then we start today. Right now."
I saw the determination in his eyes. I wiped my tears and nodded.
"Let’s start."
He reached for my hand, and I took it. We began walking together.
After a while, I looked at him.
"I am not afraid of anything with you."
He squeezed my hand in response, silently acknowledging my words.
"How do we start?" I asked as we walked down the road and into the woods, going deeper and deeper.
As the North disappeared, so did we.
"Some monsters drink blood. Others feed on flesh," Yorick explained.
"I have a plan for some of them. We can let it flow through the water because going to each one and feeding them manually will take too much time. It will be almost impossible. Each one would take too long to die and decompose. We need to start everything at once."
As he explained, he pulled me closer into a hug, his voice softening.
"We will manage. Do not worry. I have files on the monsters from the North. I have not read them yet, but we will. Do not worry."
He was trying to calm me down.
"For some, we will have to spread the poison over them. Some will have to eat it. Some will have to drink it," Yorick added.
"Do not worry. Fauna will be fine too."
The moment he said that, I rested my head against his chest.
We kept walking together.