A thin man or rather a boy forced to be a man was surrounded by dense trees as he ran with reckless abandon into the forest. His eyes darted around him especially behind as his ears were perked to see if he was still being chased. Out of nowhere the man fell crashing next to a pool of glistening water. There was urgency his mind screaming for him to get up and run but his heart was tired and the water felt familiar and calm. His eyes drifted along the water and he saw himself. The water blurred as a quiet wind rippled the surface of the water. Once again he looked at the transparent water and saw the moon shining behind him casting a shadowy silhouette which look like it was staring back at him. An angry expression flickered on his face and with more and more contempt entering his tired eyes, his hands shot out of his body piercing the water as of it was strangling the silhouettes neck.
"You.. fucking" he wailed and as his arms lost his strength he fell into the puddle. His hands weakly neared and felt his gaunt face stained with mud.
"I did everything… everything I could and still.. she was taken from me" his pitchy voice gained some semblance of strength but was lost at the end.
Slowly he sat back up again his grey t-shirt ripped from dog bites and scratches, his jeans stained with urine ambiguous if it was his or someone's else. He dazed listlessly to the cloudy sky. As if the gods took pity on him rain fell once again like always wiping away the stains off his body yet he still felt heavy as the sins ere still there. He had an inkling of hope as if this wasn't the end of his life or rather their life didn't end.
The pitter patter of the rain made him go into a trance allowing him peace as he remembered his calm but hectic life with her. All the memories of her sticking up for him when he had nothing and the times of jeopardy when all they had was each other. The expressions she made on the first date and when they met came to his mind and a smile adorned his cut wet lips.
Still under his delusion he once again gazed at the shimmering pool. A ripple appeared around his reflection and it slowly grew next into an all too familiar face. It was her. Her lustrous flowing black hair.Her delicate face with the haziest tint of red and cute button nose. Her black eyelashes long and eyes hazel. Her pearly white teeth, surely it was her. His eyes shown brightly as if memorising her face like it's the last time he will see her again. She was the one he would give anything for.
The innocent smile became tainted with insanity and his arm slowly lifted from his sides he reached out for her. His fingers delicately touched the surface water over her features as if he was touching her real self, scared to break this delicate illusion he knew he was under he tried to pull back but found it futile to do so. The girl in the depths of the water smiled softly and as if she was alive once again, came closer to him to the surface of the water.
"Once more." a voice that filled his entire being came from the girl.
"Then we can be together" she pulled him in deeper into the seemingly shallow puddle.
The man in simple bliss had no fear, no worry, and in her arms he felt complete once again. His increasingly thin body malnourished of love and care started to fade in the loving embrace.
"May we meet again.. My lion" the last words echoed in the man's soul as he was whisked away into the cycle of life once again.
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Somewhere in the world a women was giving birth. Sweat poured from her body drenching the hospital gowns she was in.
"ma'am you need to push" the nurse in light blue clothes said.
Her face twisted in anguish as she followed the nurses advice. She screamed as agonising and gut wrenching pain coursed throughout her body, and with that a cry was heard resonating with the anguish and tiredness the mother radiated.
"My little lion you finally came" the mother wheezed out. The nurses quickly grabbed the unnaturally still baby and gave it to her.
"Marcellius"she whispered into the babies ear.
"Marcellius Pridehart"
She then slowly drifted off into a long awaited slumber not recognising her baby growing colder in her arms.
The nurses hurriedly took the baby out of her arms and tried to resuscitate him, all actions with their advanced technology couldn't restart the heart even that of magic couldn't help in this situation.
Footsteps echoed in a dark alleyway. A dark maroon haired man was running through a street this part of town as it was faster to get to the hospital instead of waiting for the outbreak to be cleared and drive there instead. However he heard a cry although it was unnatural he felt an attraction to the sound as if it was beckoning him. He reached the origin and saw a baby with pale delicate shivering in a puddle of water.
The man would have walked by without batting an eye but as his wife was giving birth to his child he was feeling sentimental and took the baby in his arms. {It was a man eat man world and this baby was one of the lucky ones} he sighed out , while using his jacket as a blanket he wrapped the child and continued his mad sprint to the hospital.
He entered the private hospital nodded towards the receptionist and continued walking at a fast pace to the delivery section of the hospital. A sinking feeling appeared in the pit of his stomach as he walked into his wife's ward. A pretty nurse approached him and said shakily with barely concealed sadness in her eyes
"I'm sorry sir but the baby didn't make it we tried all we can. But your wife.. she survived, but she doesn't know that he's gone"
He stood there bewildered and with dread filling his core he almost sank to the floor but stopped himself as he was her pillar, her source of strength and can't show weakness. His entire world froze and the walls turned grey and it only continued when he turned his gaze down upon hearing the babies cooing. He cradled the baby and resolution flashed in his eyes he remembered where he was and nodded stiffly to the nurse dismissing her.
He tapped his wrist and strange numbers hovered over it and he dialled a few numbers and he uttered softly with a solemn quietness "I need a favour"
He slowly stepped into his wife room his steps echoing out his melancholy.