Location - Meisha's Parent's (Luke and Nina's) Tent
"I see. Thank you, Meisha, for sticking with our handful of a daughter. We are very pleased to have you join the family," Nina held Meisha's hand softly, her eyes locked into Meisha's, a soft but beautiful emotion of familiar bond bloomed within them.
"Thank you! I'm so happy!" The little girl who had once been deprived of this warmth that should've been the basic right of any child basked herself in this strange yet comforting warmth. She collapsed freely into Nina's offered hug, closing her eyes in revelry.
Above this beautiful moment, above the dark and cracked walls of the base, above the soot and supernaturally torn world, a blue light pulsated rhythmically above it all, like a strange and eerie observer of this world, like a god, albeit a strange one. It pulsated rhythmically but in a tone that felt alien in and of itself, it felt like a mixture of codes that seemed to govern and interfere on how this grim world would function.
"I know it's been a tiring journey for you and Nat. You should head in and get your rest. You'll need it for tomorrow and there is no rush since our talks do not need to be rushed" Luke commented as he beckoned the obviously tired girls to get their slumber and well deserved rest.
"Sure. Goodnight Mum, Dad. Come with me,M!" Natasha called out to Meisha as she stood up from her seat in the small campfire that was lit by her father. Meisha after hearing her name being called for, she got up from the fireplace and after bowing her head, her way of showing her respect, she jogged over to Natasha who led her into the tent for them to rest in their tent.
Time - Some Hours After Natasha and Meisha took to their rest
"Hey, Nat. You up already?" Luke asked as his daughter walked out of the tent, her hair disheveled and messy and her eyes still retaining sleep within them. Stretching and after taking a little stroll to sharpen herself. "Yeah, it felt like there was something that you wanted to say but couldn't because Meisha was there," Natasha commented as she took her place next to the fireplace that had now been relit and with changed woods but with ashes that told the tale of the end of the woods that were burnt before.
"Yeah, there is something that we both wanted to talk to you about, something that you may not like and which may cause a problem," Natasha's mother began slowly, her tone weighty with the seriousness of the coming discussion.
"Ok. Hit me with the point. I'm ready," Natasha said as she steadied herself for the conversation to be had. "It's about Meisha. Despite how I really don't want to say this, we can't take in Meisha because we can't provide enough for her and all of us," her father started it, quite heavy handed while not pulling back any of the punches.
"What? What are you saying Dad? I don't understand!" Natasha raised her voice, more out of confusion than of anger. She didn't understand what her parents were saying. She'd believed that once she and Meisha found her parents, everything would be smooth sailing, but now her father was saying they couldn't be together.
"The resources in the base are very limited due to the large capacity of the base and due to the poor land around and the constant threat of Xions, agriculture is basically at a dead end so we have to rely on the scarce animals that we are able to hunt and the occasional relief aid from Sanctuary, although we can't count on it due to the distance and the fact that anything could go wrong as the supplies are being transported to us," Natasha's father with his experience, explained to his daughter calmly and broke down the problem that they were challenged with for now.
"We thought of this so we only made provisions for you and calculated you alone but with you bringing Meisha, it has made our plan to derail and not function as efficiently as it was once proposed. I'm sorry, Nat." Her mother commented as she held the hands of Natasha, who by now was trembling in her mother's grasp.
In the darkness, a distance from where the conversation was taking place, Meisha who was awake due to Natasha being awake overheard this conversation. As the blue light continued to beat in the sky, the voices of the conversation travelled to her ears as she continued to listen to the conversation.
"We have only made preparations for you, Nat. And the resources in the base are scarce, so providing for your friend is impossible. I'm really sorry, daughter, you have to let go of Meisha," as this suggestion was made by Natasha's parents, a hand seemed to have grabbed the beating heart of Meisha and squeezed it within its grasp tightly.
With confusion and hurt, eyes constricted and with lips trembling, she covered her mouth to mute any sound from slipping out. 'I'm going to be abandoned...again? Why? What have I done that is so wrong? Were my parents right that I should have ended my life there? If I did that, I wouldn't have caused this problem for Meisha nor would I have inconvenienced anyone,' her thoughts spiralled out of control.
Her vision blurred as she replayed the scene of when her parents abandoned her so clearly that it seemed that she was reliving that hurtful day again. But she does accept it, accepts her cruel fate that she has been given in this world because after all, not everyone is destined to be happy and no matter how painful it may seem, there is nothing you can do if the world has determined your fate. She murmurs to herself "It's my fault. It's always me. I'm always the cause of the problems" as another voice, robotic, ancient and alien whispered in her ears words of temptation "Yes, you are worthless, you are nothing but a bad omen, no one wants you".
"Yes, you're right. I'm not needed and I'm only going to become a nuisance so isn't it better if I don't exist anymore?" she questioned the alien voice. "Yes, this is the best option, you should not exist anymore, then Natasha and everyone else would be happy," the alien voice answered her once more as it pushed her to her edge.
Her eyes, devoid of life or consciousness, reflected her answer. She stood from the ground mechanically as she began to head out of the base, a little step at a time robotically, like a person who had only one goal that they wish to complete, the goal to disappear from Natasha's and everyone else's life.
"Huh, I thought I heard something over there just now," Natasha commented as she glanced at the darkness where Meisha once stood. "Are you hearing things again, Nat? We should continue what we were talking about. What should we do about Meisha…"
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The girl walked outside of the base, her face emotionless and withered unlike she once was. It felt like an empty shell of who she was once before. As she walked in the direction where the Xion swarm that terrorized the base were, her determination to live was no more. No more did she dare the world to hold her back or try to stop her.
All she wished for was for the world to swallow her whole and erase her from this world. She wished the world to rid the world of her existence. She walked, her bare legs taking her to the place she wished to go.
Soon enough, she runs into the horde of Xions that shall take her life, that she hopes to close her final chapter in this life of pain, but as the Xions bare their hideous fangs and their huge monstrous bodies towering up against her, that small flicker, her will to survive and her determination that was her, that has held her all this time broke though as tears fell from her eyes.
"I don't want to die…I'm sorry for what I have done…I'll change and repent for what I have caused so please..someone, please save me..I'm sorry!" she begged with tears forming from her eyes. Her trance-like state, her robotic state was overpowered a bit by who she, Meisha as a person was. Someone who wished to live despite all the pain she had gone through all the time she had lived. She was not scared of death, not in itself but she dreaded the fact that she would lose the only light that she had had, her sister and her friend, her family, Natasha, the person who mattered more to her than her life.
Her smile, her warm embrace, her care for her, these little things that she has imprinted onto her life, she does not wish to see it get snuffed out so easily. Her voice echoed in her mind, "M," "Meisha," "Little sister." That voice broke through her trance and as she seemingly was about to break from her strange mental state due to what was wrought by the blue pulsating light, the light bloomed again as it wished to intensely try to snuff Meisha's will out.
"No..no…Help me..someone…" Meisha said as she cried for help, although her voice was low and almost becoming silent as her lips refused to move or make the noise that she wanted as her body slipped little by little from her control. With the little control and strength she had left, she called out her name, the name of "...Natasha..help me…"
Her eyes began to lose their luster and reverted back to their robotic state until she heard a voice, that same sweet and angelic voice, that same voice that tore up her darkness and bleak world. A voice she would recognise anywhere, Natasha's. Natasha ran into the horde calling out her name, her saviour. Meisha turned to the voice and soon Natasha walked next to her, hugging Meisha tightly as she cautioned, "What are you doing here, M? Why did you do something so dangerous and stupid?"
That small whisper, that little defiance carried through a distance, through her will reached her saviour, the person that would never abandon her even if the world did. Seeing her, Meisha's eyes regained their clarity as she hugged Natasha back while saying "Don't go, Nat. Please…You're my last family! Is it me? If it is, tell me and I'll change if I need to, so please don't leave me…Don't worry, I can change. I'm not a bad omen, it's not..my..fault".
"I'm not going to leave you silly. Besides, how can I leave my little sister to survive all alone by herself when she can't hunt properly? I'll never leave you. Remember the name we share, Niel? It means now and forever in my language. So we will always be together, now and forever. But you're the one who wants to leave me and die, M. That's unfair," Natasha commented as she used her body to shield her little sister from the swarm of Xions.
"Nat? What are you doing here? Why did you save me?!" Meisha, who had now regained a bit more clarity, questioned as she saw how Natasha shielded her from the Xions. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she looked at this scene. She never believed herself to be someone valuable enough for someone else to sacrifice themselves for but Natasha always does this. "I thought you hated me. I thought that I was useless and just an inconvenience so I wanted to kill myself."
"Not at all, Meisha. Don't say that. Remember what I said? When you need help or you need your older sister, just call me, anytime, and I'll come running. You called for me and I came for you didn't I?"
This word echoed in Meisha's mind and it seemed to have shattered the illusion and fictitious reality that she was in. The world she saw and she knew began to collapse with a smiling Natasha as she playfully scolded Meisha. "You're awake now, my crybaby sister. This is all fake, now go, to the real world where I'll always be waiting for you, and will always be your sister, M,"
She was pushed through the gaps of the cracking world with her sister Natasha smiling as she fell into the hole, eyes filled with warmth and love. As she fell through the crack of the illusion, her memories began to come back, an unaltered memory of what really happened that day. It began to play as a film through the dark space.
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