This Isn't The End [Solo]

This was it. . .

It was hardly believable that such a soul managed to make their way here on the brink of near extinction, clawing and trudging their way across the land to be where they are now. This was a place that the person cherished from the very beginning; a place where the person spent a great portion of their time and carried many memories and tales both good and bad.

A place where the person remembered everything they had thought been lost forever in the depths of time.

A body laid on the soft grass of the beauty known as Solemn Park, breathing slowly and heavily as it occasionally shuddered from the cold burning at their entire being. Goosebumps traveled along the surface of their skin, leaving them deathly pale with lips a sickening tint of gray. Locks of black hair were unkempt and loose, falling over the figure's shoulders and tickling the face as they lay motionless on the grass. Their violet orbs were nearly lifeless as they were focused on nothing but the sunset tint of the sky above. The figure was completely and purposely separate from other people, not wanting to strike fear or panic into their hearts from the current state she was in.

The woman dared in not going to the hospital.

She didn't return to the guild.

She didn't contact the person she held dearest, for her strength had left her entire being. . .

No, Shu was here in the place where all of this started - alone again. Despite the very thought causing tears to border such weakened eyes, the only sound the mage could utter was a rasp. The edge of death was a terrifying chill cascading up and down her spin, continuously begging her to lose consciousness. It was in these final moments that the maiden realized that from the moment she left the place she was staying at in the Mountain Village, there was no returning there. Shu knew she would have used every last bit of her strength to get to this place so that she could pass on in peace.

But the former waitress never realized just how lonely and scary it would be.

What she had left - the very illness eating away at her body - was something that couldn't be fixed. It was something that she remembered had been passed down from child to child in her lineage because of the magic she bore. The instability and inharmonious connection that the Furukawa members shared was something that caused generations of suffering for each individual, and a painful sense of loneliness that stuck with them with what seemed like an eternity no matter who was around them. It was in that thought - that realization of her father meeting the same fate she was about to - that tears gently flowed down the maiden's sides of her face.

It was such a saddening tale and fate to meet. It was something that Shu thought it nearly unbearable, but in a brief moment she was relieved with a sudden realization. Since there wasn't any child she bore at her young age, her lineage and family wouldn't continue to suffer. No one further on would have to suffer with their lives being cut short so painfully. . . More people instead could just continue to live on in happiness and clarity, but the thought only brought more tears to her eyes - silently crying as the maiden slowly began to lose focus.

At least. . . N-No one will. . . suffer anymore because o-of us. . .

Shu could only slowly struggle to keep her eyes open, failing miserably as her body was shutting down. Her breathing was steadily growing quiet and slow, her eyes losing all their color and focus. It was in those final moments that despite all the sadness, grief, and loneliness she experienced. . . a smile was on her face. That one smile that she bore last would be kept there as the tears that were once flowing from her eyes slowly came to a halt, nothing but the tiniest of droplets littering her cold skin.

It was in those moments of silence that a voice was heard; a very softspoken and warm voice that seemed to tickle the maiden's eardrums faintly. A soft, pale hand reached out from a blanket of light as the young woman opened her eyes - feeling lighter than ever before. Her body was bathing in the warmth as she instinctively reached out to grasp the smaller hand, eyes squinting as she was being slowly lifted up from her lifeless form still on the ground below to the skies above.

"I'm so sorry, Shu. . . You really did fight your hardest. You braved the toughest ordeals and made many people happy, but now I feel it's time you took a long rest in a place where you can be with the people you miss again."

The maiden closed her eyes as her voice grew more and more faint, the grip on the heavenly figure's hand growing weaker as she bore nothing but a warm smile on her face. "Wh-Whoever you are. . . M-May I ask you one favor?" The heavenly being hummed softly in response, their lips forming slowly into a smile as they focused on pushing the departed up towards the skies. Shu didn't dare move as she spoke, simply letting it transpire as she felt utter peace.

"May you please. . . watch over someone for me?"