August 22nd, 1948
Revilla
The Rivera household was quieter than it had ever been.
Jazmin sat alone on the couch, her eyes following the flames in the fireplace as they rose and fell in an endless rhythm. The crackling fire should have made the house feel warm, yet the silence surrounding it had long since swallowed whatever comfort it once offered.
The past five months had changed everything.
Karlos had been recovered from the outskirts of Revilla, though the ordeal had left scars that reached far beyond the wounds he had suffered in captivity. Mey remained unconscious despite the healers' best efforts; the war had continued to spread across the nation, and every report arriving from the front served as another reminder that Kyra was no longer fighting beside them.
She was Shroud.
Even now, Jazmin still struggled to reconcile those two names.
The revelation had been only one of many wounds left behind by the Battle of Revilla. Everyone had carried something away from that day, whether it was physical injuries, grief, guilt, or questions that had yet to be answered. For Jazmin, one of the hardest things to accept had been watching the people she loved struggle with the consequences long after the fighting had ended.
Cody had carried his own anger home with him.
When he learned what Ken Drick had done to Meika, Jazmin had seen a side of her husband she rarely witnessed. His anger had been so absolute that, for one terrifying moment, she thought he might forget they had once called the same man a friend. Ken Drick had accepted every word without argument because he knew he deserved them.
Five months later, necessity had forced the two men back into the same room. Cody still spoke to the President whenever duty required it, though the easy friendship they once shared had been replaced by guarded professionalism. Whether he had forgiven Ken Drick or simply chosen to set aside his resentment for Meika's sake, Jazmin couldn't tell. Knowing Cody, if forgiveness had come at all, he would never announce it. He would simply carry on and let his actions speak for him.
She, however, wasn't nearly as charitable.
As far as she was concerned, Ken Drick still owed their niece an apology he had yet to give, and she intended to remind him of that fact whenever necessary.
Her gaze drifted toward the staircase.
The end of the semester had come and gone, but instead of spending time with her newfound friends, Meika had spent more and more of her time studying. Jazmin became even more concerned when she began finding books from Cody's library in her niece's room, many of them covering subjects far beyond what Meika was expected to study in her year.
Every morning had become much the same. Jazmin would sit and wait, hoping Meika would eventually come downstairs, yet some days it felt like another battle just to coax her out of her room.
Just as she began to wonder whether today would be any different, the quiet creak of the staircase broke the silence.
A moment later, Meika descended with the same measured pace she had adopted over the past five months, her gaze fixed on the floor as she made her way toward the kitchen. There was no urgency in her movements and no sign that she had noticed Jazmin watching her. She simply walked past the living room without a word, dressed and ready for the day but carrying the same quiet exhaustion that had become impossible to ignore.
A faint smile crossed Jazmin's face.
It wasn't because Meika looked better; she didn't.
It was because she had come downstairs at all.
There had been mornings when Meika never left her room until late in the afternoon, and others when Jazmin had needed to coax her into eating even a single meal. Compared to those days, seeing her niece make her way to the kitchen on her own felt like a small victory, one Jazmin had learned to appreciate no matter how insignificant it seemed.
"Good morning, sweetheart," Jazmin called gently.
"Morning..." Meika replied, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Did you sleep well, dear?"
Meika pulled out a chair and sat at the table, staring at the wooden surface for a moment before answering.
"I slept."
It wasn't the answer Jazmin had asked for, but it was the one she had come to expect. Meika rarely admitted when the nightmares returned, just as she rarely spoke about the battle anymore. Every conversation seemed to stop after only a few words, as though she had built invisible walls around herself that no one could quite reach.
Jazmin carried two plates to the table before taking the seat opposite her. The aroma of freshly cooked breakfast filled the kitchen, but it did little to soften the quiet that had settled over the room.
"You should eat while it's still warm."
Meika gave a small nod.
"Thank you."
As she reached for her teacup, the silver pendant resting against her collarbone caught the morning light. Jazmin's eyes lingered on it for a moment.
She recognized it immediately.
It was the pendant she had given Meika before the Blue Sapphire concert, a simple gift that had once been little more than an accessory. Before the Battle of Revilla, Meika had worn it only occasionally, usually after Jazmin teased her that it matched whatever she happened to be wearing.
Now it never left her.
Whether she was asleep, sitting beside Mey's hospital bed, or quietly wandering the house, the pendant was always there. More than once, Jazmin had caught her unconsciously wrapping her fingers around it whenever her thoughts drifted somewhere painful, as though the small piece of silver had become an anchor keeping her from being swept away by everything she was carrying.
The realization brought equal measures of comfort and heartache.
Jazmin watched her niece absentmindedly pick at her breakfast before deciding to steer the conversation somewhere ordinary.
"Summer break ends next week."
"I know."
"Have you thought about going back?"
"I have to."
The answer came without hesitation, though it carried none of the reluctant humor Jazmin had once associated with the end of summer.
Last semester had been the first time Meika truly began opening herself to the people around her. It had taken months before she stopped keeping to herself, but little by little she had started coming home with stories about classmates who invited her to lunch, conversations that stretched beyond the classroom, and friendships that had seemed impossible only a year earlier.
Jazmin still remembered how happy that had made her.
"You were excited about going back after the holidays," she said with a faint smile. "You'd only just started making friends."
Meika's eyes remained fixed on her plate.
"They're probably wondering where you've been."
"I'm sure they are."
The reply was polite, but empty.
Jazmin searched her niece's face for some sign of anticipation or curiosity, yet found only the same distant expression she had worn for months. It wasn't that Meika refused to talk; she simply never offered more than necessary, and every conversation seemed to fade away before it had the chance to become anything more.
Sensing she wouldn't get any further, Jazmin let the subject rest.
"You'll be visiting Mey afterward?"
Meika nodded.
"I always do."
"You've hardly missed a day."
A faint silence settled between them before Meika finally answered.
"I don't want him waking up alone."
The quiet sincerity in her voice caught Jazmin off guard.
Every day had become almost identical. Meika would leave for the hospital after breakfast, spend hours sitting beside Mey's bed, and remain there until the nurses gently reminded her that visiting hours were over. Only then would she return home, retreat to her room, and repeat the same routine the following morning.
It wasn't living.
It was waiting.
As Jazmin reached for her own cup, her eyes drifted toward the folded newspaper resting on the counter. The front page carried another report from the western front, detailing renewed Confederate offensives and mounting Federal casualties.
Meika noticed it too.
Her eyes lingered on the headline for only a heartbeat before her fingers instinctively found the pendant resting against her collarbone. They curled around it so naturally that she seemed unaware she was doing it, holding it for several silent seconds before letting it slip from her grasp and lowering her gaze back to the table.
Jazmin followed the movement without saying a word.
She had seen that same reaction whenever the war found its way into the house. Meika never commented on the reports, never asked questions, and never spoke Dwayne's name, yet something hardened behind her eyes whenever the conflict reached into her quiet little world.
It disappeared almost as quickly as it came.
Without a word, Jazmin reached across the table and gently rested a hand over Meika's.
For a brief moment, Meika stiffened beneath the touch before the tension slowly left her shoulders. She turned her hand over and gave Jazmin's a faint squeeze, saying nothing as the morning silence settled comfortably around them once again.
________________
The hospital was crowded when she arrived. Inside her satchel were her sketchpad and a book on Soul Magic, its pages already marked with several folded corners from the hours she had spent studying it. Another book rested beneath it, its cover worn from being carried around so often, though Meika had made a habit of keeping it hidden whenever anyone asked what she had been reading.
She moved through the familiar corridors without acknowledging the medics and orderlies passing around her. She had made this journey so many times over the past five months that she no longer needed to think about where she was going, and her feet carried her toward Mey's room almost automatically.
As she approached the doorway, she heard Shannah speaking inside.
"Mey, please come back. She needs you."
Meika stopped for a moment, her expression becoming unreadable as she listened.
"You've been asleep for five months," Shannah continued, her voice quieter now. "She's still coming here every day, and I don't know how much longer she can keep doing this."
Meika lowered her eyes before stepping into the room.
Shannah looked up from beside Mey's bed and quickly wiped beneath one of her eyes before offering Meika a small smile.
"Oh, you're here."
"I usually am," Meika replied.
There was a faint dryness to her voice that made Shannah pause, although Meika's expression softened almost immediately.
"Sorry," Meika added. "That sounded colder than I meant it to."
Shannah shook her head. "You don't have to apologize."
Meika set her satchel beside the chair and looked toward Mey. He hadn't changed much since the last time she had seen him, and somehow that was both comforting and unbearable. His breathing remained steady, his eyes closed as though he were simply sleeping, and for a moment Meika found herself wondering whether he would open them if she said his name loudly enough.
She pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down.
"How is he today?"
"The same."
Meika nodded as though she had expected nothing else.
Shannah watched her for a moment before looking toward the satchel.
"Still studying?"
Meika glanced at the bag and gave a small shrug.
"A little."
"You've been studying a lot lately."
"I've had time."
The answer was simple enough that Shannah didn't press her.
Meika opened her sketchpad and flipped through several pages. There were drawings of the Academy, streets around Revilla, hospital corridors, and faces she had seen during the past few months. She stopped on a half-finished portrait of Mey and studied it for a moment.
"You're getting better," Shannah said.
Meika looked down at the drawing.
"I'd hope so. I've had five months to practice."
The corner of Shannah's mouth lifted.
"There she is."
Meika looked at her.
"What?"
"That sounded like you."
A faint smile touched Meika's lips.
"I haven't gone anywhere."
Shannah's expression softened, but she didn't answer.
Meika returned her attention to the drawing, though after a few moments she closed the sketchpad and placed it on her lap. Instead, she reached for Mey's hand, her fingers resting lightly against his.
"You know," she murmured, looking at him, "you've gotten away with sleeping through an awful lot of conversations."
Shannah let out a quiet laugh. Meika smiled faintly before her expression settled again.
"It's getting annoying."
She squeezed his hand gently, then leaned back in the chair.
"But I'll keep coming anyway."
Shannah gave her a small smile as she stood, deciding to give Meika and Mey some privacy. With a quiet sigh, she left the room and gently closed the door behind her, leaving Meika alone beside the bed.
Meika continued holding Mey's hand for a moment before reaching into her satchel and taking out her uncle's book. The worn cover rested heavily in her hands, its pages filled with notes and passages she had spent countless hours studying over the past few months.
She opened it to the section she had marked the night before and settled back into the chair, keeping one hand around Mey's while the other turned the pages.
To be Continued