A chartreuse hue flashed against the wall of the dark apartment, keeping in tempo with the low, looming baseline of the soulful narrative released from the record player in the corner of the room. At some point in her absence there must have been a power outage, not unusual given the standing of the neighborhood but nevertheless tedious in having to reset the alarm clock almost every time she returned home from a mission. Still in her active duty attire, too physically and emotionally exhausted to drag herself to the shower, Rei sat in a tattered mauve armchair next to the record player that whispered out the controlled anguish of the singer, not wanting to disturb her neighbors at God-knows what hour of the morning. Light from the streetlights below filtered through the fifth-floor window was the only source she had to see by as she poured another bourbon. Absent was the nagging of her partner, whose background in the medical field would have prompted him to nag her for this new habit despite his own familiarity with the pastime.
Absent were a lot of things, actually. A decade had changed more things than the now twenty-four year old could have imagined when she first arrived in Kumogakure. Few of them were the fault of the village, and for that she didn't regret the choice that brought them here. It had been more the little things along the path, and time slipping away without correcting them. Flipping through old letters from Dani and Maik that resided on the end table, alongside some she'd written and sent home in her own time away, she'd now lost track of how long it'd been since she'd seen either of them. The blame was equally hers, being constantly away on duty. In throwing herself into work and trying to keep her little family safe from the danger that haunted her dreams, she'd all but lost them in the process. Yet she'd kept going, hunting down any hint or clue she could find in relation to Maji, promising herself it would be worth it in the end and that things would change.
But ultimately, war would not change. Each time they caught wind of the kaibutsu's plans, she'd be met with another dead-end. While the Hunters were equally frustrated, she suspected even the Tría were beginning to question her approach. This trepidation had been compounded on the mission she'd just returned from, as she'd learned more about the mark that adorned her chest and the very real possibility that she was becoming a liability to the village. She was plagued by nightmares of the past, present and a possible future if she didn't do something about it. Meanwhile, whisperings of another confrontation with the church were ever in the streets of both the village and the towns surrounding it. Lightning Country was buzzing with possible enemies, both human and not. As she considered the possibilities of the coming decade, something awakened something in the Chuunin's now dull-grey eyes. If war broke out and she died this time, or she became what she feared as the influence of the King grew in her mind, what would she have to show for it? Would anyone know? Who would tell Maikeru, or Dani? Questions about whether or not they would even still care were quieted by her own fears and anxieties about their wellbeing.
Swirling the ice at the bottom of her glass, something stirred within Rei. As if awakening from a slumber, a hand reaching down and gripping her tight and raising her from perdition, new purpose filled her being. Leaning forward in her seat, she looked through the letters with greater intent. Light flickered in her eyes as she read each line, setting her beverage aside to reach for the lamp string as the instrumentation began to fade out and into another arrangement.
[MFT]
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