Cranagan City Outskirts: Residential Districts
2058 hours.
It was a quaint little place, sandwiched in the middle of other similar places in the row of houses that occupied this side of the street, so conforming, and so typical. An unassuming and simple ranch bungalow, dark and seemingly unoccupied, its appearance illuminated only by the nearby streetlamp.
Inside that house, that light was all Gwen required, sitting by the edge of her humble bed in her small, silent room, watching the rain continue to pour outside...
A soft sniffle broke the silence, and her attention was captured by her charge, her young friend whose head laid on her lap. The girl with silky long black hair, and her soft, sleeping face, with an almost angelic expression, seemingly unknown to the worries of this world.
Except for the stain of tears that ran down her cheeks.
Another sniffle and Gwen responded with a slow, gentle stroke of her petite hands through the girl’s hair.
Even in sleep, the pain still lingered.
And Gwen’s empathies found it unbearably difficult to witness.
To see Mai so hurt, so miserable, so broken, to see one of her dearest friend’s anguish to this degree. A tortured soul who can only shed her agonies through her warm, salty tears.
Her heart suffered as much as Mai’s suffered. And Mai’s pain was her own as well.
A burden she gladly carried, a pain she suffered unconditionally, if this was required of her to ease her friend’s distress, no matter how seemingly fruitless or futile.
For if there was one thing she could not stand to see exist in this world, it was pain in a friend’s soul.
Especially pain caused by the acts of another.
“… Remi no… baka…” Mai murmured. Slowly, sadly, the subconscious revelation of a sad girl unconscious.
“I know.” Gwen replied softly, even though her words would not reach their intended recipient. Words that hung in the cool, damp air, claiming the silence for herself, as she thought about certain coincidences.
It was a good thing Gwen had been here when she did, called back here to Midchilda by an anonymous note, she had been preparing herself for what was presumably another mission by her employers. Pending their forthcoming orders, she had made herself comfortable here.
No, this place was already that, here in this small ranch bungalow along Pine Street, one of many such similar houses along this street, a common bungalow amongst uncountable others like it. And yet for her, this place was most than just a run-of-the-mill house.
Once, this was home.
This was a most familiar place to her; for three years she had lived here along with the other significant people in her life – her sisters by fate, Iris, Natalia and Ashelyn, and other companions from her current employers, most notably Cyrille. This simple house was a shelter from the turmoil and stress of the missions they undertook, the assignments they endured. It was an oasis of souls, where their bodies found rest, and their minds eased of all their troubles and worries. Amidst the confusion and uncertainty, here in this humble refuge did all of them find the most valuable, yet most fleeting of all human needs: Peace.
Here in this house, they were neither mere experiments nor employers. Neither weapons, nor servants to a higher power.
They were themselves. They were friends. They were sisters.
Most of all, they were family.
Though they no longer resided under its roof, the safehouse was still there, available, with its doors ever willing to provide them a shelter when in need.
All of them. Including Mai.
‘I wanted to see you.’
She recalled Mai’s words as she comforted her on the alleyway under the pouring rain, holding her by those cold shoulders, leading her destitute heart into refuge.
Gwen could not imagine what would’ve happened to Mai had she not been there. Had she not been here in this circumstance, walking out in the rain to grab some supplies for her own extended stay. Would Mai have been left alone, drenched in the cold, bitter rain, waiting for solace that would never come? A soul abandoned in the wet asphalt alley, consumed by the emptiness of the night? Cowering in anguish and despair?
None of that mattered now. She could only be glad that fate had not dealt them a more severe hand.
She was here, here for the weeping girl on her lap, the anguished soul of a sister in need.
In need of care, in need of protection. In need of counsel, and in need of-
*Brrrrrrrrrr*
- Nourishment.
The young redhead could only manage a wan smile at her hungry charge, as she gently lifted Mai’s head off her lap and unto a pillow, lest she disturb the young maiden’s sleep.
She softly stroked her friend’s hair once again.
“I won’t take long Mai.” She whispered in her ear.
And left her with a kiss on the forehead for reassurance.
“I’ll be right back.”