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So, this was it. Rippie wondered if there would have been more meaning to it if she had, well, lived. Maybe.

There wasn't any point in thinking about it now, because her heart was in her hand and it never looked so fragile. Against others it was probably just a flicker and nothing more, but that was all she had to give.

It hurts to be empty, but not as much as it probably hurt others. She was a minute detail in the darkness. Not a stream, but one single light left her red red red little heart.

Rippie cherished it for what it was, but there was nothing left for her to protect or hold onto now. And to have nothing left to lose was quite dangerous.

*** had had fun at the last prom, even though she had been completely new to the school and the only person she really knew had gotten glitter all over her. Sometime between then and now, *** had forgotten that it was okay to have fun for fun's sake. Even though her motivation for attending this prom had been to find the other Blues, she and Nukpana had never made it out of the main tent.

That had been okay, too.

((Main Blessing 5/5))

[ Main Blessing: 2/5 ]

She remembered long fields of wheat. Gold that stretched for miles and miles. Summer dresses, but nobody was happy about it. It was hot, too hot for anyone to reasonably bare.

But she was used to it. Tiny ******* ran amongst the fields, following the heels of a bigger boy. He was her hero. He was the only one she could rely on.

"Just a bit farther!"

"My feet hurt!"

"Wuss!"

She pursed her lips. She was NOT a wuss. "Chris, you're going too fast! What's so important?" The older cousin sighed, turned around and picked her up.

"Alright, c'mon little crybabb." The fields ended. She couldn't even remember why they'd been running now, she was too little.

The weight in his hands was gone. The wild rush to remove his heart had left Stew exhausted, too drained to register the ones who gathered around him, shaking him, calling to him...

He closed his eyes as he unraveled, his true name lost in the fog.

[ dead ]

[ Vengeful

okay, maybe a stretch]

Maybe it was her bubbling frustration, or she had finally grown just seriously irritated by that stupid little gnome and his stupid little laugh. But Maple grit her teeth and threw all her strength behind the next swing (perhaps even imagining she was hitting the little tender of the booth itself). But, she heard a most wonderful sound. There was a ding. And Maple nearly dropped her mallet in happiness but she did throw her arms around AJ in a very big hug.

"I d-did it!" She never wanted to do this game ever again after this now. "N-now I w-won you a p-prize!" It was his turn to pick, and hopefully he would do it soon so they could leave while she was on this high.

[Main Blessing 3/5]

"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. Sometimes listening is all anyone really needs." *** mumbled, a finger circling the saucer. "I guess... I realize that now. I've realized a lot of things in the past few weeks. Funny how you go looking for knowledge, but the things you really need to know won't hit you until you stop looking." The ghoul was quiet for a few moments. Almost unmoving. "Like how I should've never forced myself to live a life I didn't want."

Xiu's expression softened as *** continued, and she reached out to rest a hand on the other ghoul's shoulder. Though her voice was softer, there was a hint of optimistic encouragement in her tone. "I know this sounds kind of cliche but...what's done is done, right? Maybe there are things you regret about your past, but all you can do is look ahead and focus on the present and the future."

With a smile, Xiu leaned back in her seat. "Besides! Now you have us, and we'll support you along the way!"

It was the end of her, as the voice said, so what did it all matter? These memories as they slipped past, one by one, these voices that she could hear shouting a name, her name, her true name...what did they all matter?

She had made a choice based on what few memories she had possessed up until this moment. She had not chosen destruction, not chosen creation, those two forces that were opposite and opposing to each other, but had instead rested her choice solely on pride. Her pride. That sense that what she had done was fulfilling, that she was accomplished, that she had done what she had needed to do and had no reason to feel like she had not done it to her fullest capabilities. She was a woman who felt, through her few memories and through what she had been able to do here in this world, that she had much to be proud of.

Of course she had chosen pride. There was no other choice for her.

The memories continued to slip past, and it was tempting to reach out for them, to at least try and immerse herself in them one more time. It was even more tempting to try and discern that name that those voices were shouting, those figures who rushed towards her, but in the end, it was as she had thought at the beginning.

What did it all matter? She knew her name was not her own, but what did it matter? Soon she would be gone, soon she would fade away. She could feel it now, as the last bits of her memories were torn away from her, along with her heart. Feel it as her eyelids began to grow heavy, as the grey began to overwhelm her, as it it began to fade everything left in her mind.

And she faded away with it.