For You {AU}
It all happened so quickly…Rain was pouring down on the small kingdom, the air being cooled as it drenched the rather large forest. All was quiet, for the most part, save for the quiet sound of someone crying.
She knew she shouldn’t have let him go with her. The oracle needed to find a herb for someone in her village, and the prince she cared so much for offered to join her to ensure her safety. It was what he always did, after all.
This time was much different. If she knew a fossegrim was around, she wouldn’t have let Shikimi go into the forest with her. Even if he had managed to defeat it, the very same prince’s body was lifeless, a fatal wound in his chest by one of the fossegrim’s sharp claws.
She may have gotten him back to the shrine’s entrance, she may have tried to heal him, but it was no use; he was gone. Koorime couldn’t keep her tears from flowing, mixing with the falling rain. How would she tell the royal family of this…? The princess would be absolutely devastated…
A figure manifested before the trembling oracle, a face normally calm now bearing a deep sorrow. The spirit floated down, almost as if she was sitting beside her oracle and her deceased descendant, a hand resting on Koorime’s shoulder.
“Koorime…Please, look at me.”
Koorime flinched at the sudden sound, head shooting up and her soaked hair sticking to her face, to see the guardian spirit herself beside her.
She had gone silent, but only for just a moment, soon her grief overcoming her again. Why couldn’t she have been the one to die…? “I…I-I’m so…so sorry…I…I…”
Spica silenced her again, a quiet shushing escaping her lips as a hand drew to her face. The spirit knew all too well, the pain Koorime was enduring, one that no one should have to go through but also that everyone will eventually face. Though, an oddity she could see; the Mana she’d given the prince was still with him…
“Listen to me, alright? Tell me…” the spirit soon spoke again, “Tell me…how much do you care about him?” True, Spica knew of the oracle’s feelings for Shikimi, but with what she thought of costing so much…she needed to be sure.
The dark haired girl tried her best to stifle her crying, not wanting the spirit to see her in such an upsetting state any longer. She needed to make her answer as clear as possible. “I…care about him more than I do myself, I-I’d do anything for him to be alright…”
That was all Spica needed.
“Then there is one thing I can do,” her face remained grave despite Koorime’s eyes brightening a little, “But there is a condition…You must sacrifice much to bring him back, something you’ll never be able to get back. Are you so sure you’re willing to give up whatever it takes?”
Give up…something she could never have again? If she did that, then Shikimi would be back, and the grief of his family mostly avoided…but what about her? Would she be alright? Koorime had to think, but her mind had already made itself up. She was devastated, and everyone else would be too if she didn’t do something…
“I…I am…”
~~~
Shikimi’s head pounded, his vision blurred as he tried to regain focus. He felt so weak, he was certain he would pass out again…but something felt different. The ground, he didn’t remember falling on the shrine’s floors, he and Koorime hadn’t been anywhere around it…
Wait, he was alive–? But, that fossegrim should have–
Shikimi immediately checked to see if the wound was healed, but it wasn’t there, though a terrible scar remained in its place. What exactly was going on…? And where was Koorime..?
Wait, was she alright-?! He needed to find her, if he had passed out then she might be hurt too, if she had brought him here! The prince, though unsteadily as ever, managed to get to his feet. Just how much blood had he lost…?
Shikimi stumbled into the shrine, which seemed empty…until he noticed a familiar dark-haired figure leaning against one of the pillars. A sense of relief soon came over the prince; Koorime seemed safe at least, but he still needed to be positive.
“Koorime, are you alright-?” he asked as he approached the oracle, “I’m sorry for being as reckless as I was, but I had to make sure you’d be safe…”
Odd, he got no response. Normally, she’d at least say something…Was she mad at him for being careless? Maybe she was tired-? Curiosity honestly got the best of him, walking around her so she was finally facing him.
He froze.
“K-Koorime…What happened-?!”
Koorime’s eyes…were completely white, so much that you couldn’t even see any sign of her pupils. She only looked up when Shikimi called her again, a hand placed on her shoulder, face wracked with worry and guilt.
Koorime remained silent, she wouldn’t be able to speak even if she wanted to. A shaky hand reached up to his own, and so she spelled out everything that happened, writing in the palm of his hand.
F - O - R Y - O - U
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