sun, through snow || vbs au (updates weekly!)

009 || the problem with being preserved

❃.✮:▹ pov: the spare ◃:✮.❃

I walked down the corridor at a leisurely pace, hunting for the noise of a distraught person who just realised all his friends, family and anyone he'd ever known were dead.

I looked through every door I could open for him, because apparently I was now responsible for what he did, not that I minded that much. An and Kohane didn't have the best experience with him, so it's kind of by default.

I continued along the carpet, until I stopped at a door with a window out into a courtyard. I could see it slightly open, which meant it didn't close properly, or a person had come through. And sure enough, I heard sniffles coming faintly from there. I felt really bad for the poor guy, though I wouldn't have much to cry about, due to my lack of friends.

I stepped out into the courtyard and looked out to the snow-covered grounds. The area was sprinkled with snow on the trees and the ground, covering something I'd assume were the traces of a path. In summer, or when there were gardeners here, there would have been beautiful flowers blooming here.

I had never seen a flower, but I'd heard of their beauty, and seen paintings of them. Their vibrant colours were like nothing we saw in this winter. Even trees were a rare sight now.

I followed the path, keeping my ears trained on the sobbing I could hear getting closer and closer. Swords lay in the ground, separated from their previous user. I felt kind of sad looking at their rusting hilts. They would have belonged to a soldier here.

And then I saw something more disturbing. A decomposing carcass lay in front of me, it's bone showing through the white and blue armour it wore. I felt sick. I looked away, feeling a bitter taste down the back of my throat. The lifeless, hollow eye sockets and the slightly red tinge of the flesh it still had on it... No doubt the person died in battle.

It was semi-buried in the snow. I tried not to look at it as I walked past. The sobs were growing slightly louder with each step. My stomach felt unsettled as I walked towards a brown building.

From the look of it, the building was once a stable. The decaying wood didn't give me much hints though. Maybe it was a large shed? I didn't mind though. The sobbing was coming from around there. I still felt sick.

Walking through the snow, my feet leaving prints, I checked inside the stables. The sobbing definitely wasn't coming from there. I looked around and saw the edge of the woods... and the noise seemed to be getting further and further away now. I sighed and started walking quicker.

I followed him into the wood, gaining on him until I could almost see the back of his coat. I wanted to run up to him, but I decided he'd stop soon. And he did. I slowed down my striding as I heard the sobs intensify. Finally, I saw him.

His back was to me, and he seemed to be crying over some... shrine. "What do I do now..." He was whispering. I didn't want to interrupt him. But again, I felt like it was best that he didn't run away and starve.

"Akito?" I said in the softest, gentlest voice I could muster. He turned around to look at me, and I realised his eyes were surrounded by red and covered in tears. He'd been crying a lot. "Are you okay?" I asked. He shook his head.

I decided the best thing I could do right now was sit beside him. So I knelt down in the snow. "Who's this shrine to?" I asked. I didn't remember they believed in ancestor spirits back then.

"My mother." Akito said, his breath coming out as steam because of the weather. Another tear rolled down his face. I see a painting, faded by the weather, on the snow-covered shrine. I can barely make out her face.

"Here. I'll uncover it so you can pray properly." I get up, wiping the snow off the stone slab. It had clearly had some kind of inscription in it, but was too faded to make out. I wipe the snow off the top, then the painting.