[M4] Horizon (America)

[shibrogane]

By the time America makes it home, the sun's gone high in the sky. The door to her little camper hangs wide open.

She has guests.

Sitting at the table is Heliodora, a bloody gash at her throat, dark skin pale. Standing nearby is a stranger, their hands clasped behind their back. The shadows under Heliodora's eyes are dark: her hands and feet are nearly translucent.

"Hello," she says, "inheritrix."

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

The sight of the Sweet Pea is a balm and America has no idea how long she's been gone. Was it just a night? Was it weeks? It feels longer, longer even that those summer months, the length of it hazy with magic and weighted with an importance that still seems just beyond her scope. Walking out of the forest after saying her goodbyes, phone dead and Bitterberry unusually quiet, it feels good to be home and it feels like maybe the rest can wait in that moment.

She thinks, maybe a little a slow and irrational, that maybe the door was open because of some particularly clever raccoon, she doesn't think burglar or human intruder 'til third, fourth.

Standing in the doorway, America is still with shock for a long stretch and then she's reaching into her satchel, past inks and little jars and bright red lipstick until she manages to clumsily fish out a small first aid kit. "Um...here, I don't know who you think I am but you've got a..."

Bandages and neosporin and alcohol pads spill out all over the floor.

shxibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"You're America," says Heliodora. Her voice is a whisper. It has nothing identifiable about it: it's rough and hoarse, like the idea of words is being communicated. "I'm Heliodora. And I'm long past any help that could give me." She nods at the contents of the first aid kit.

The stranger laughs. Their voice is accented, even in just a bitter ha ha ha. But they don't say anything else and they certainly don't turn to face America. Their thumb and forefingers rub together like they long for something to hold.

"They needed a triangle," says Heliodora. "The sigil, I mean. It chose you."

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

"Oh..." America breathes out, mind catching up, the name Heliodora shining with familiarity and importance. One of the three teens, the special ones.

The dead ones.

"I'm sorry," she says and she's not one for meaningless apologies or even a huge amount of sympathy for the dead, and yet. There had been a moment, a few hours or maybe fifty years ago, where a crab had been somebody's friend and curiosity and generally a nice thing to exist, and then that same moment was replayed with its living existence already ended and there was a hole left behind because it's one thing to know things die, but it's a revelation of sorts, to know what might have been had they lived.

America's eyes glance toward the laughing stranger, but focus quickly back on Heliodora, who was...is nothing so simple as a crab along the shore. "The principals...did we do it right then? I put enough in?"

The confidence she'd been holding onto since leaping into that hole finally eased back, uncertainty creeping in when the chance of actually knowing was right in front of her.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"You did it all perfect," says Heliodora. "Better than we did, and we had so much more time than you did." She rises from the chair. There's not even a dent to show she was there. She folds America's hands in her own. "This world you're in is your world, now. You built it. You're one of the pillars of its reality, supported by all of those around you who gave their power too."

Heliodora looks down at their hands, held together. "There are consequences, too. Things that have changed. You and those who helped you have to take responsibility for the shapes that have been shifted, but I'm sure you'll do fine."

She smiles. It's unsettling over the matching smile beneath her chin. "I just wanted to meet you," she says. "To hold your hands in mine."

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America breathes out and there's relief, immense and immediate and easing every line of the girl. There's a small huff of laughter, not quite happy or sad, but maybe a little amazed. "Everything's got a cost," America nods, and that's only right. She's only ever taken responsibility for herself, really, and this was so much bigger that she grips at the dead girl's hand.

"I'll take whatever responsibility I gotta, we all will." She wouldn't doubt them, not right now after what they'd done. Let it try and sneak in later, outside the light of day. "Starting with Sunny, is she okay?" She can't, quite keep the desperation of that out of her voice and so she quickly adds, And you too...Miss Heliodora, I've only heard bits about you and it's all sorts sad. Is there anything I can do for you, even if it's too late, is there a better for you now?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I'm at peace," says Heliodora. She looks like it. "But as for Sunny... I don't know." She looks down, shamefaced. "She was never meant to exist. We didn't mean for her to happen. And now..."

"Shut up, Heliodora," says the stranger.

They step into the light.

"We're gonna talk, later, America," says the stranger.

Sunny looks a little... different... now.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

Whatever else America's been gearing up to ask goes right out the window as she flings herself at Sunny, a little different but incredibly welcome sight. "Later is okay!" The girl's practically bubbling over and her words can't find a stop or pause until her breath lets out,

"I'msogladyourerealthankyouI'msorrythankyouandI'msosogladyouhappened."

shibrogxane

 

[shibrogane]

Whatever bitterness Sonny was about to spew seems to have been cut off right the ******** then. She relaxes and pats America's back, a little smile on her face. "Okay," she says. "Okay."

Heliodora vanishes.

Sonny stays, patting America's back, smelling of cloves and burnt offerings.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

"Is it nice, here?" America eventually asks, voice muffled by an angular shoulder. Not perfect or solved or even her preferred status of awesome. It just needs to be nice right now. A place that could be home.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I guess," says Sonny. "I don't remember anything different."

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

"Oh..." America pulls back, searching the other's face and then towards where Heliodora had been, finally noticing the girl was gone. "Oh no..." she hadn't gotten say goodbye or thank her for her sacrifices or...

America's head drops, relief and the safety of home stripping the last of willful optimism and replacing it with bare honesty . "I'm selfish, I wanna know you're better off and happier and that we didn't ruin something for you, that we didn't take anything you didn't want to lose. But..." She lifts her head, eye shining because she still so damn happy Sunny was there but there was also

"If all you remember is this new world we all built, then we can't know, can we?" It came down to trust again, maybe.

shibrogaxne

 

[shibrogane]

"I don't remember anything different," says Sonny, "But if you want me to be happier, I can be."

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

With a huff, America begins, "Well of course I want-" She cuts off abruptly, turning cautious. "Are we...are we talking me wanting in the regular sense or in the magically willing it so sense?"

And wasnt that strange to separate the two? Particularly in a girl who tended to believe most people could be a bit happier, if they just willed themselves past the sadder parts of life.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Sonny shrugs. "Your wish is my command," she says. "If you want me to be happier, I will be. If you want me to be sadder, I'll be that, too."

lizbot