The sensation of sliding from the coal foe’s horns is...strange. It pulls the blood from her canvas like a magnet, pouring down her chocolate sides, thick and hot. Why was it still so hot against her own skin, her lifeblood? It did not feel so warm within her flesh, did it heat up at the notion of death? Such a ridiculous thought, all things considered. What is left of her brilliant mind- aside from the main portion screaming it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!- scoffs at such an idiotic thought. The tips leave her frame, scraping and pulling the skin as her hooves touch down on the bog more firmly than they had before. Her scream tapers, and she is oddly...silent. What does the exhalation of shrill sound and air do to fix her predicament, after all? Her knees crumble beneath a weight that is, at best, miniscule. The swamp welcomes her greedily, putrid waters sloshing up her sides. It takes her a long, long time before her vision clears slightly, her ears no longer ringing with the echoes of her own scream. There is a warmth that covers her shoulders, her belly. Head lolling, she shudders and a gasp claws down her throat, pretty blue eyes glossy and terrified. She doesn’t want to die. She doesn’t.

Your life was meaningless, Rowan. Why bother hanging around? You’ve done your duty, now stop whining and let go.

But she doesn’t want to. Few as they may be, she has loved ones here. Could she garner the strength to do that to them, even if she was a completely useless friend only meant to be there for when nobody else was, and left at the moment the others returned?

Against her will, her muscles are spasming, shuddering, seizing. Resplendence is speaking to her, and then screaming, screaming, screaming. It hurts her head, her heart, her very soul. To know she meant something, that she would be missed, had pale tears slipping from her glassy oceanic orbs. Blood is on her tongue, spatters in tiny droplets on her lips when she struggles to speak in the silence of Resplendence’s words, her sobs the only cadence she speaks to. “R-Res…” she chokes out, gurgles softly before swallowing the blood that lurches into her throat from the hole in her lungs. “Do-Don’t waste...your br-breath on me. I...I do-don’t want to di-d-die. But if it means y-you can...I-I love you, R-Res. Your l-life is more impor-portant than mine. Just...j-just stay…” her voice cracks and she coughs sharply, a spray of crimson mist upon her lips as her body convulses. Tears continue to fall down her cheeks, the only sign that she is scared, scared, so scared.

They don’t remain alone as Rowan weakly attempts to curl in return around Resplendence, the only soul who had ever understood the terror she experienced every day of her life, the hatred of herself, even the dismay of knowing how much of a freak she was. A youngling comes across them, stumbling, and Rowan casts her fading sapphires her way. Who is she? Why is she speaking as if she is already dead? Dying she may be, but...but she has to hang on. Just a little longer. Tell Resplendence how much she loves her, how much she means-!

An agonized moan meets her ears, and she frantically struggles, blood slipping faster down her pelt, afraid. Has he returned? Has he managed to harm Resplendence, the foal? I’ll never be able to be a mom. She has to stand, she has to get up! She has to protect them! Her fight is killed when someone, face blackened by the pain brought to her in attempting to defend those precious to her, drops to their knees in a sick version of prayer on the side that Resplendence does not occupy. She stops fighting, lets her vision clear, but before she can recognize the newcomer’s face, her vocals touch Rowan’s ears. Instantly, she knows who it is.

Sohalia.

How did she know? Why is she there? Is she hurt?

But, beneath all this panic, her heart burns with love. With gratitude. Whatever immortal somewhere in the vast expanse of the universe sent the beautiful maiden to her side as she died...she would forever thank them for allowing her this last goodbye, for letting her have the time, the possibility, to have her be there to comfort her when she left the mortal plane. “S-Sohalia…” she whimpered, a child blindly seeking it’s mothers touch. Rowan doesn’t question why or how she’s there. How she simply knew what was happening. Instead, she focuses on the pain in her sister’s voice, blearily opens her eyes. “I-I’m sorry, Soh...I’m so s-sorry...I-I guess I’ll...I’ll never give you a...a godchild, a niece or ne-nephew…” she laughed weakly, bitterly. Returning the soft touches as best she could, yearning for her, so happy in her last moments.

Everything was...was becoming a bit numb. Fuzzy. Pleasant.

Only to be disturbed again, this time by another youth. There is no more fight in her, no more energy to struggle to her feet to protect. Her noble heart can only take so much, and she can feel the breaths getting harder to breathe in, the blood is everywhere, and she doesn’t want to look at it. Can’t, when she knows it’s hers. When she knows that the more she sees, the less time she has. The first plead of a word is unknown to her, too soft for ears that are slowly muting as her heart struggles valiantly for a steady rhythm. The rest are close enough, and soon there is little Skysong standing above her, muzzle dropping hesitantly over her features, and the tears are streaking down her face at a rate far faster than she anticipated. Seeing the precious child she’d practically raised, the one she had taught and loved unconditionally as if she’d been her blood mother, breaks her. She can act strong and brave for Sohalia and Resplendence, but she cannot when her eyes lock onto Skysong’s confused, sober, hurt expression.

Choking on her tears, her blood, she sobs. “Sky, oh Gods Sky, b-baby…” and her voice is agonized, heart breaking in two. She reaches her muzzle through the disgusting earth beneath her, tears cascading like a broken waterfall, and she is weak, weak, so weak because she loves her damn it, and she hasn’t seen her in so long, and why must her beloved niece watch her die, why must she be scarred? Damn it, why?!

“I-I love you baby, I love you, re-remember that...okay? F-Forever, and always. Even...even if I-I’m not here, okay?” Lyrics crack like shattered glass, scared to say it, scared to see her expression. The air is thick, and she’s so scared. Nobody was there on the other side to meet her. She didn’t want to be alone again. Oh please, Gods, don’t let her be alone again. Don’t let her return to that world of darkness and solitude, to that horrible abyss where her mind ripped her heart apart and laughed at the pieces. She didn’t want to be afraid. She didn’t want any of this.

But if it means they live…

Damn her fear. Damn her emotions! She would die a thousand deaths, a hundred times over, if it meant any of the three gathered around her lived! Let them live, let them prosper, and she would gaze over them from the other side, protect them, watch over their hearts and press kisses of blessing and love upon their brows.

It still hurt.

She gasps for breath, but she has so much to say, and she can’t leave with things left unsaid. Even if she can hardly see, hardly breathe, and officially unable to move. “Y-You are my everything, S-Sky,” she cried, voice as soft as it had always been, a cruel joke, a bitter reminder of her peaceful ways. “Y-You’re going t-to go places, baby. I..I wi-wish I could have...c-could have been with you m-more…” mercury slips down her cheeks, trying to move closer, but her legs are numb, her body is numb, and her mind is slowly slipping away into quietude as well. No, no, she needed more time! “You have to be b-brave, Res. H-Have to be strong, d-do what I couldn’t a-achieve. I-I love you so much.” Weakly she turned her eyes to the silhouette of her best friend, her sister. “You were a-always there, Soh. M-My everything. I’ll always b-be looking out f-for you. Be s-safe, my p-pretty girls,” she laughed weakly, blood trickling slow and thick down her lips, too weak to do anything about it. “Y-You all...changed my life...for the better...I’ll miss you…” Her voice faded, no longer trembling as she felt no more pain, lyrics going quiet, no longer straining to be heard and suffering because of it.

Everything is dark, dark, dark. She’s scared of the dark. But...but she’s not scared. She’s warm, and numb in the best of ways. And a voice speaks to her, one she hasn’t heard since she was but a babe. It’s full of warmth, of love, of patience and gentleness. Rowan, it croons, and she’s sobbing and running forth blindly to a soft glow, uncaring that she knows what this is and what lies at the end of this. Blindly she calls for her, the mother that had abandoned her, or had she? Rowan had never discovered her fate, but she doesn’t care, crystals falling from her eyes as she stumbles and…

Warmth.

It folds around her.

Mom, mom, mommy, she sobs. And quietly, lovingly, a voice answers back.

Welcome home, Rowan. I love you, baby.

---

Back with the trio huddled crying around her, her small frame drew one last breath, and a final tear escaped her lashes as her eyes closed and she smiled at last. She went still.