Rushed barefoot padding against the floor, a quick breath, two. It was another case of depression-crashes for her.
She had ran to the other side of her room for some water, a placebo for her body that needs no hydration.
Her eyes were pulsating wide, unable to focus on anything, beads of sweat trickling down her forehead despite the weather being quite cool.
As she took hold of the bottle of water, she crushed it in her grip, water spilling all over her, dripping from her chin onto her sleepwear.
The bottle was swigged down in one go, she placed it with a loud thud back onto her counter, leaning against said counter to catch herself before she drowned in her despair and did something wrong.
As her beating eyes slowed down to a halt and her breathing slowed ever so slightly, she leaned against the wall, and slid down to the ground and hugged her knees, her grip on herself would've exploded bodies had it not been on herself.
-"I can't.. do this.. I can't anymore.. I don't want to be who I am.. Please stop this.. Stop me.."
Her door crashed open as the worried squeaky voice of a girl rushed to her side.
-"Calli! Calli!"
She shook her slightly, her small hands gripping her shoulders as she tried to snap her back to the current.
"Look at me! Come on! It's okay! It's just another attack! Don't think about it!"
Mori Calliope, who had been suffering from panic attacks increasingly often as of late, had suffered another one today.
She had thought she surpassed such thoughts, but since that moment, that time she saw in front of her very eyes, someone wearing her merchandise being murdered and she herself having to reap her own fan's soul.
As Death's Apprentice, she defied the first law of reaping.
"Thou shalt not harbor strings of feelings."
It was the first commandment of reaping, it wasn't because those beings who exist to reap should hate all life, no.
It's because Death knows there is no pain greater than loss.
Mori Calliope could push it away as far as she wants, but it will always come back stronger.
Separation is a feeling one can never get used to. It hurts just as much as the first time.
"Calli.. I'm here.. please, don't lose it.."
The girl's comforting words were backed by her hold on Mori Calliope's shoulders turning into a hug, her arms looping around Calliope's neck as she nuzzled her head against Calliope's chest.
Mori Calliope's eyes finally managed to get a fully clear image, and she saw the one holding her, trying to anchor her to this reality.
-"Biboo.. D..did you.. feel it again..?"
-"Shut up.. don't talk, Calli. Just stay quiet and let me help..."
Koseki Bijou, also known as Biboo, the "Jewel of Emotions", living up to her namesake in this situation.
She could feel any and all emotions that emanate, resonate with them, manipulate them should the event demand it.
She helped soothe Mori Calliope's worn nerves almost immediately, her earlier restlessness replaced by a relaxing docility.
Mori could never thank Bijou enough for this, everytime she has these episodes she immediately feels her self loathing and comes running to her to stop her from doing anything rash.
"Same as last time...?"
Bijou spoke, her voice muffled by her face burying itself against Mori Calliope's chest.
-"It's never different. Those haunting memories never stop. The inevitable future will never alter. I don't want to do this anymore Bijou. I'm tired. I want to be.. I want to be human..!"
That earned her a slap on the face by Bijou, her tears evident as Mori realized her shirt had dampened.
Bijou shouted her lungs out in the face of Mori, giving her a piece of her mind.
-"NEVER SAY THAT! YOU.. YOU STUPID IGNORANT FOOL! YOU KNOW WE ALL LOOK UP TO YOU!"
Bijou despite not always being the most mature individual, knew what serious moments are. She knew the fact that behind the life of every person she treasures lays a locked closet waiting to burst open.
Mori Calliope's eyes didn't widen, she wasn't shocked. She was just absorbing this moment, opening her mind up to Bijou's words.
"If ever something happens to you.. me.. No.. All of HoloCorp would go up in flames for you. Things that should never happen that would disrupt the world itself would occur simply because everyone values you Calli! You heard me?! Don't you dare ever say you want to quit again!"
Bijou wiped her own tears, untangling herself from the embrace she held on Mori Calliope, she noticed the door she had kicked open was still that, wide open for anyone to have heard her empathetic outburst.
She didn't close it, Bijou WANTED people to see Mori's pain and say their own words that will one-hundred percent of the time reflect hers.
Bijou turned her gaze back down to Calliope as she stood up, and left the room. Her part was done, and it was time for Mori Calliope to do her thing.
It wasn't a bad idea, it was just who Mori Calliope is, she wasn't a fan of being held by the hands through everything. She was a firm believer in self progress.
The solemnity of the moment after Bijou left and kept the door hanging had Mori Calliope's brain in a spiral, a spiral of dots connecting.
Her mind went to the newest generation of HoloCorp, the solo acts that currently include only Iudex but will definitely expand.. She didn't want those who cannot potentially understand why something like that would happen to go through it.
So what does Mori Calliope do?
She persevered. As she always does. For life and for death. For the cycle of life.
Finally, her eyes begin melting to the truth of her existence.
And maybe she would soon find her meaning as Death's Apprentice, she wasn't the weapon, she was the unchanging destiny.
(Melt Session Story - End)
(Keep Forward Story - Unlocked)