Miriam slowly woke up to complete darkness. Voices were mumbling all around her, but in her disorientation she struggled to make out any words. As her brain regained consciousness she managed to open her eyes, but still all she could see was darkness all around her.
A dark figure was standing with his back against her, but he was too far away, almost blending into the blackness around him.
As she took a hesitant step in his direction, her feet lost their footing beneath her, as if she had suddenly fallen off an invisible ledge.
Consumed by darkness she did not realize she had landed until she could hear footsteps in the distance, gradually coming closer. The sound of footsteps became louder and louder, slowly driving her mad. With the footsteps, the voices also became louder, until she could make out what they were saying. They were now so clear and loud they were impossible not to hear, and yet Miriam covered her ears in an attempt to do just that.
The footsteps had now completely stopped, making Miriam fearful of who was out there, and where they were. That was the only reason she decided to focus on the voices, frantically turning around trying to make out a figure, but around her was nothing but darkness.
“Can I ask why you aren’t yanking her little head off her little body?” a voice asked, rather close. The voice re-sounded in her head as an echo, making Miriam spin her head in the direction she had heard, but there was no one there. There was nothing there at all.
“We can’t always go carelessly ripping their heads off when we please,” another voice answered her. This voice was deeper, male, and it sounded oddly familiar, though Miriam could not pin-point where she had heard it before. It was as if the voice belonged to some distant, faint dream.
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” the female voice continued, in a teasing voice, now sounding so near Miriam snapped her head to the left, but seeing nothing but more darkness.
Miriam was about to cry in frustration and fear as she got to her feet and took a couple of steps backwards.
“She doesn’t mean anything,” the male voice said, dangerously close, as Miriam spun around, stopping right in front of the male figure. His long dark hair framed his face, making him look more than fearful, but his hair was not what caught her attention.
Miriam stood an inch before him, not even daring to breathe as she stared into his all too familiar pitch black eyes.
His gentle breath on her skin made her tingle, taking a deep breath only to take in his intoxicating scent. Everything about him seemed to lure her in, and the longer she stared into his dark eyes, the more she wanted to fall towards them, take that one last step and let their bodies touch, feel his skin on hers and taste his sweet lips on hers.
“Rin,” she whispered as she breathed in, her knees becoming weak as she stumbled her way towards him, taking that one last step that was between them, expecting to feel his soft skin under her fingertips, but there was nothing. Where Rin had stood only seconds before, now there was nothing but more darkness, surrounding her on every side.
“I don’t want to see you again,” his voice whispered from somewhere afar, and though his words should have left no impact on her whatsoever, she could not help but clutch her chest, realizing his words were true. She had never doubted this, and yet hearing it from his own lips left her with an immobilizing feeling of loneliness.
“Rin?” she called hesitantly into the darkness but there was no response.
She woke up shortly after, gasping as she looked towards Proteus.
He had let her sleep all night, and as much as she was grateful for his concern she wished he hadn’t… he wished he would have just woken her up…
...
