Post by Tetsuko Shindou on Apr 9, 2019 3:22:25 GMT -4
I still remember... The day you died...
A loud thudding broke the silence of the cold Kashima night, startling Tetsuko.
Huddled by the side of her bed, she jolted from her half-sleep state, the phone in her hand almost flying free of it. Her eyes flickered about, looking about for the source of the sound, as she wiped away what moisture remained upon her cheeks. "Mom?" Her body sprung to life, her heart rate rising as she got to her feet. A soft, low moaning struck her ears, and Tetsuko was darting forth. Her eyes still adjusting to the late night darkness, her bare feet pounded across the old floors of the traditionally-built Kashima house.
A sliding door was flung open, the wide-eyed Tetsuko laying eyes on the sight before her.
The soft but frantic moans of her own mother, pained and terrified. With such little movement, she twitched and squirmed on the ground, beside the bed she'd clearly fallen off of.
Another one of her night terrors, no doubt.
"Mom!" Tetsuko cried out, lowering down to the crippled woman's body, quickly and smoothly placing a hand on her forehead, and another on one of her arms. The feeling still left in the appendages was weak, but enough to calm her. Years of experience had taught Tetsuko this. "Mom, it's OK... Shhh, shh... I'm here..." Her words, kind in nature, but hollow. Rehearsed. Practiced.
"T-T-T-Tetsuko?"
"Yes, I'm here Mom. It's OK. I'm gonna pick you up now."
"I-I... S-S..."
"It's OK."
With gentle and slow movements, Tetsuko picked her mother up from the ground, one arm supporting her legs and the other her back. Tetsuko's mother didn't hold back on, she didn't have the movement to do so, so the Shindou girl had to be very careful as she set the confused, still stammering woman back into bed.
"I-I'm s-sorry, T-T... T-Tetsuko..."
"It's OK."
It wasn't.
Tetsuko gentle lifted the covers over her mother, letting the woman's limited movement settle her into the bed, as she regained some sense of composure. As they began to drift again, lost their focus again. The terror subsided. The hollow form remained. "Goodnight, Mom." Resting her hand over her mother's forehead once more, Tetsuko slowly withdrew it, before stepping carefully out of the room. Leaving the broken women to find comfort in her rest.
It wasn't until after she closed the sliding door, that Tetsuko realized how much moisture had washed down her cheeks. It wasn't until then that she realized the lump in her throat, the weakness in her body. She slumped back against the door, dropping onto her backside as she buried her face in her hands, strongly suppressing quiet sobs.
She still remembered the day this husk appeared.
She still remembered the day she died.
"Why?"
The shock on Ueno's face. He was the first to find her body, to find her bloodied head against the ground.
"Mom..."
The rush to the hospital. The painful wait as the surgery went on.
"Why did you..."
The joy of learning that Miku Shindou, Tetsuko's mother, had survived the surgery.
"Why are you even..."
The horror of learning...
That 'alive' didn't mean 'unchanged'.
Her body crippled. Never would she hold a sword again. Her speech cracked, nevermore a strong, proud word from the former heiress to the Shindou family. Her mind fractured. Terrors. Depression. Lack of ability to focus, sensitivity to moderate light, every day Tetsuko found out a new way her mother was different, a new way her mother was damaged. The woman who strived for an immovable heart, no longer had such a goal within reach.
"Why did you even survive?"
Day by day, Tetsuko learned so much about this world, about the people in it. Some much she loved, yet that which had inspired her from the start... No longer existed in the now. Lost to the past, replaced by a shadow. So when she'd been told to fight for that honor, that pride that her mother had lost, Tetsuko had accepted in a moment. For what greater fight was there?
What greater fight, than that to restore the proud, strong mother she'd adored?
"It was never that easy, was it... You were already..."
She'd fought.
And fought.
Bled.
Hurt.
Fought.
Nothing had changed.
So stuck in the past, so fearful of a change for the worse, yet Tetsuko seemed unable to enact that very change herself. The faith within her, that she could honor her mother, wavered that night, after days of caring for the woman... Normally, it was her father's job, but he was predisposed, leaving her to bear this weight she so often avoided... Leaving her tears falling against the ground.
"You'd already... Died..."
A loss of faith, a lack of places to go, had left Tetsuko broken on that dark Kashima night. Wavering in her duties, without a soul to express her deepest shame to. Elise wasn't here, leaving her nowhere to turn... Who else even was there to bare these worries to? Who would she even dare admit this to?
To whom would she dare admit, that the mother of the proud and haughty Tetsuko Shindou... Was a brain-damaged cripple?
"Elise..."
Tetsuko needed her now more than over, on this night where the darkness had its way with the Shindou girl's heart. On this night where she doubted so much, on this night where she remembered with such dreadful clarity...
The day she died.
A loud thudding broke the silence of the cold Kashima night, startling Tetsuko.
Huddled by the side of her bed, she jolted from her half-sleep state, the phone in her hand almost flying free of it. Her eyes flickered about, looking about for the source of the sound, as she wiped away what moisture remained upon her cheeks. "Mom?" Her body sprung to life, her heart rate rising as she got to her feet. A soft, low moaning struck her ears, and Tetsuko was darting forth. Her eyes still adjusting to the late night darkness, her bare feet pounded across the old floors of the traditionally-built Kashima house.
A sliding door was flung open, the wide-eyed Tetsuko laying eyes on the sight before her.
The soft but frantic moans of her own mother, pained and terrified. With such little movement, she twitched and squirmed on the ground, beside the bed she'd clearly fallen off of.
Another one of her night terrors, no doubt.
"Mom!" Tetsuko cried out, lowering down to the crippled woman's body, quickly and smoothly placing a hand on her forehead, and another on one of her arms. The feeling still left in the appendages was weak, but enough to calm her. Years of experience had taught Tetsuko this. "Mom, it's OK... Shhh, shh... I'm here..." Her words, kind in nature, but hollow. Rehearsed. Practiced.
"T-T-T-Tetsuko?"
"Yes, I'm here Mom. It's OK. I'm gonna pick you up now."
"I-I... S-S..."
"It's OK."
With gentle and slow movements, Tetsuko picked her mother up from the ground, one arm supporting her legs and the other her back. Tetsuko's mother didn't hold back on, she didn't have the movement to do so, so the Shindou girl had to be very careful as she set the confused, still stammering woman back into bed.
"I-I'm s-sorry, T-T... T-Tetsuko..."
"It's OK."
It wasn't.
Tetsuko gentle lifted the covers over her mother, letting the woman's limited movement settle her into the bed, as she regained some sense of composure. As they began to drift again, lost their focus again. The terror subsided. The hollow form remained. "Goodnight, Mom." Resting her hand over her mother's forehead once more, Tetsuko slowly withdrew it, before stepping carefully out of the room. Leaving the broken women to find comfort in her rest.
It wasn't until after she closed the sliding door, that Tetsuko realized how much moisture had washed down her cheeks. It wasn't until then that she realized the lump in her throat, the weakness in her body. She slumped back against the door, dropping onto her backside as she buried her face in her hands, strongly suppressing quiet sobs.
She still remembered the day this husk appeared.
She still remembered the day she died.
"Why?"
The shock on Ueno's face. He was the first to find her body, to find her bloodied head against the ground.
"Mom..."
The rush to the hospital. The painful wait as the surgery went on.
"Why did you..."
The joy of learning that Miku Shindou, Tetsuko's mother, had survived the surgery.
"Why are you even..."
The horror of learning...
That 'alive' didn't mean 'unchanged'.
Her body crippled. Never would she hold a sword again. Her speech cracked, nevermore a strong, proud word from the former heiress to the Shindou family. Her mind fractured. Terrors. Depression. Lack of ability to focus, sensitivity to moderate light, every day Tetsuko found out a new way her mother was different, a new way her mother was damaged. The woman who strived for an immovable heart, no longer had such a goal within reach.
"Why did you even survive?"
Day by day, Tetsuko learned so much about this world, about the people in it. Some much she loved, yet that which had inspired her from the start... No longer existed in the now. Lost to the past, replaced by a shadow. So when she'd been told to fight for that honor, that pride that her mother had lost, Tetsuko had accepted in a moment. For what greater fight was there?
What greater fight, than that to restore the proud, strong mother she'd adored?
"It was never that easy, was it... You were already..."
She'd fought.
And fought.
Bled.
Hurt.
Fought.
Nothing had changed.
So stuck in the past, so fearful of a change for the worse, yet Tetsuko seemed unable to enact that very change herself. The faith within her, that she could honor her mother, wavered that night, after days of caring for the woman... Normally, it was her father's job, but he was predisposed, leaving her to bear this weight she so often avoided... Leaving her tears falling against the ground.
"You'd already... Died..."
A loss of faith, a lack of places to go, had left Tetsuko broken on that dark Kashima night. Wavering in her duties, without a soul to express her deepest shame to. Elise wasn't here, leaving her nowhere to turn... Who else even was there to bare these worries to? Who would she even dare admit this to?
To whom would she dare admit, that the mother of the proud and haughty Tetsuko Shindou... Was a brain-damaged cripple?
"Elise..."
Tetsuko needed her now more than over, on this night where the darkness had its way with the Shindou girl's heart. On this night where she doubted so much, on this night where she remembered with such dreadful clarity...
The day she died.
Made by Zeref of THQ
