It was quiet. The distant chants of angry villagers were long gone. The bright red hues of their torches, now dirtying the snow with their ashes. Her head was pounding as she moved, looking for where Cale laid. As she shuffled in the snow, it grew in a blackish-red hue. 

She winced as she took an inhale. Her lungs felt as if they were being punctured. A ragged breath squeezing out a cough as blood sat on her ivory skin. Her eyes felt heavy, but she needed to find Cale. She needed to assure that he was safe.

If she wasn’t going to live, at least Cale had to. Her ragged breath continued to squeeze at her lungs as she tried to push herself up against the snow. Her body screamed in agony as she tried to raise herself once again. 

The soft crunching under her as she scanned the surrounding area for Cale. In the far distance, she recognized a familiar red hue. Her eyes widened as she scrambled up, a mix between crawling and scraping her body against the cold, hard ground. 

She tried to call his name, only to get a gross gurgling of the blood shooting up from her throat. She hacked, spitting the blood into the snow as she continued to inch closer to him. As she inched closer, she could see that they had cut off his beautiful locks. 

Cale prized himself on his beauty, and those monsters had cut off his beautiful hair that he prized so much. Warmth began to streak her cheeks. Tears that couldn’t stop themselves flowed freely as she looked on at her brother. The once beautiful man was now sullied and laid there like a discarded handkerchief.

“Cale….”

She weakly reached out for him. His voice ringing in the back of her mind.

“Ellie~ My beautiful sister…”

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She was finally next to him as she cupped his face. Tears touched his cheeks as his skin was stained with blood and ashes. She whimpered as she stroked his face. How could he, who was always the stronger one out of the two of them, submit to such a terrible fate. She ignored the pain as she knelt down, pressing her forehead against his.

“Cale…. Please… Open your eyes.”

In her memories, she always admired Cale. He was her older brother, yet he doted on her with more than enough attention from their parents combined. He was everything to her. The hours that they would spend together. Him playing with her hair and dolling her up. She was too shy and bashful to say anything, but she always admired how he had an eye to pick things for their beauty. She could hear their laughter. His cheeks rosy and warm from laughing so hard.

His skin was as cold as the snow that laid below them. She pet his hair, cut and shred to a mismatched length. Where did they go wrong? She knew they were no saints. Yet, perhaps because they had done nothing as well, this was the penance for their actions. Then again, they were also born of demons. Born to one of the cruelest demons in existence as well as the Duke of the land. Now, that was all burned to the ground. She, the only one still alive after their loss. 

Perhaps if she had done things differently. Maybe if she had noticed the signs that were pointing her in different directions. Perhaps if she had…. No. The true reason of their suffering was their father. If she could go back and ruin that man, she would. Rip him to shreds herself and then run away with Cale. Perhaps, once they got away, she could even live a life that she wanted. 

She held Cale close to her as she remembered a faint lullaby, humming it weakly as she could feel herself starting to fade. She adjusted herself to lay beside her brother as she weakly hummed towards him, petting his face and hair. Her own body had begun to grow cold now as she felt her eyelids grow heavy. 

“Let’s think of this as a nap. Like how we used to when we were children…”

Her eyelids closed. The falling snow around them, gripping to them and stealing whatever warmth remained.

In her last moments of consciousness, she could hear Cale calling for her again.

“Ellliiieee~ Ellllliiiieeee~ Come on. Let’s go have a picnic.”

Yes. A picnic sounded delightful. She followed the voice as everything turned black. Her last thoughts creeping as she grasped Cale’s hand.

“I want… to see Cale smile one last time. I want… revenge for what I have lost… Even if I don’t have a soul, I would do anything for one last chance.”