After Events of Stitches and Secrets:

I sighed as I lumbered reluctantly into Dr. Mantis’ office. We still hadn’t had much progress since the week I hospitalized her. She was still optimistic, but I could tell her patience was wearing thin since I refused to cooperate. She acknowledged me when I sat down, wasting no time.

“I’m glad you’re back for another session,” sighed Dr. Mantis, settling into her chair across from me with a clipboard. I hated how this was still required every week. “Now, can we go over the three rules we made?”

“Three rules…” I said, tapping my foot and shrugging. “Sorry doc, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The three rules we made about things you wouldn’t do, Gryft?”

“Sorry doc, I had a mission just this week, and I must’ve hit my head.”

“Alright then, rule one was no killing. Any of that happen on your daytrip?”

“It was a night trip, actually,” I corrected. She rolled her eyes with a smile at my sarcasm. It looked to lighten her mood, but she still wanted an answer. “Gentle as a lamb,” I said, throwing my hands up. “Promise.”

“Mhm, of course.” She wrote something on her clipboard. “Let’s go to rule two, work on establishing close relationships. How’s that going?”

“Doc, I’m everyone’s friend.”

“Of course. And can you remember rule three?”

“Ah, rule three…” I groaned. “Remind me again.”

“That she was your fault.”

“What?” I asked, furrowing my brow in confusion and leaning forward. “Sorry Doc, what did you say?”

“I said that you would take responsibility for your actions,” Mantis said, scribbling something down really quickly. “You need to listen better. No more hurting people and leaving them to bleed.”

“Oh,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure they all got medical attention.”

“Good, good. Anything you want to say before we start?”

“No,” I said, glancing aside. “Just get it over with.”

“Alright.”

Doctor Mantis put her clipboard down and walked over to me. She put both her hands on my head and said some words before I could feel the magic working on me. In moments, I faded from consciousness, and into my own world.

*   *   *   *   *

We were in my mindspace, and the doctor wasn’t doing her usual mental magic thing for once. Instead, she was waiting patiently.

“Aren’t you going to try and do your mind-invading stuff?” I asked with a sigh.

“Not this time,” she said, shaking her head. “This time, you take us. Do you mind starting with your recent mission?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

So I led Dr. Mantis through the memories of my recent mission in the abandoned hospital with Moon the medic, Adam the science experiment, and all the artificial carvations. When we got to the part where we entered the lab, I froze the memory and looked at the woman in the lab. The one they called Dr. Roslin.

“Is there something wrong, Gryft?” Mantis asked. “Your memory paused.”

“It’s probably nothing, but…” I looked closer at the woman. Then something struck me. Something painful. I knew her; I always had. I turned back to my therapist. “Dr. Mantis… may I interrupt this memory to look for something else?” Doctor Mantis smiled.

“At your leisure, Gryft. You’ve always been at the wheel.”

“You would like me to believe that,” I mumbled as I changed scenery. 

My stepsister and I were sitting on the edge of The Village, looking down at The Living from the edge of the cloudy terrain. It wasn’t encouraged to hang out there unless you had wings, which I did. Mina didn’t, but she never was afraid.  At this point, Mina was in her mid 20s. 

“This was the spot we would sit together,” I said to the doctor. “We weren’t the closest at first, but when she aged up, we bonded a good deal… Probably the only one who wasn’t freaked out by me and my appearance and magic.”

“Would you say you were more attached to your sister than mother?” Mantis asked.

“I don’t know about that,” I said, shaking my head. “But I know my sister was one of the luckiest half-carvations to exist. She had no magic at all, but a few years before this memory, she realized she got the immortality associated with us.  She wouldn’t age, but she could die easier than any of us… Like a normal human.”

At that, we both just watched the memory unfold in front of us silently.

“I want to go see that Temple everyone talks about,” Mina said. “Everyone talks about how amazing it is.”

“I dunno,” I said, kicking my hanging legs. “It’s just a building, right?”

“Apparently it’s more than a building. It’s like a god.”

“I don’t believe in gods,” I said boldly. 

“Can’t you do magic and stuff though?”

“Yeah, but that’s real.”

“Of course…”

“Gods and monsters are just stupid things that humans made up. They’re not real.”

“Hey, you forget who’s half-”stupid human” here,” she laughed, giving me a shove. “I think some of them are based on carvations anyway.”

“Oh yeah? Like what.”

“Hm… let me think,” she sarcastically said, motioning to me. “How about the chimera?”

“Oh give me a more original example,” I smirked, giving her a tiny shove back. She giggled. “If you want to see The Temple, we can go this weekend then. I’ll fly you there.”

“You’d do that?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I would,” I nodded. 

“Oh thanks, bwothew,” she teased. I hated how she talked like a baby and just used random w’s in her words when teasing me.

“Oh shut it,” I laughed. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Ow cowm own bwothew, huwg me,” she said, giggling her head off while walking towards me.

“Get away from me,” I chuckled, giving her a shove. She kept pressing towards me, and I turned my head away in a full laugh. “Come on, I said get away!” I said in one last full-blown laugh, giving her one last shove.

When I turned my head back, I just saw Mina’s terrified face as she fell from the clouds. And from the outside, I could see my own face looking in disbelief. I didn’t think I had used that much strength at all, but she was still half-human. Still as frail as one. Still as vulnerable as one.

Without wasting time, I jumped off of the clouds and dived towards Mina. She was falling fast, but I thought I could be faster. I hoped I could catch her before she hit the Living. I dived faster than she could fall, and braced myself to catch her in my arms. Mina fell right into my arms, and I was glad, overjoyed, that I had saved her.

I descended onto the pavement below, concealing us in the shadows of an alleyway. I let out a sigh of relief before setting her down on a pile of trash. She would think it was funny when she woke up. Speaking of which, I started shaking her. I thought she fell unconscious when falling.

“Mina, come on, you’re safe,” I said, trying to urge her awake. She wasn’t waking up though, and I shook harder. “Mina. Come on, Mina.” I started shaking harder. “Mina, MINA!”

I put my head to her chest, and felt myself go cold. No breathing. No heartbeat. Nothing to signal life at all. I wouldn’t accept it though.

“Mina, wake up!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Mina, stop fooling around! MINA! Mina…”

My body slumped over and I began to sob uncontrollably over her lifeless body. In less than a few minutes, I had lost my stepsister, and the only person who I looked forward to seeing every day. Now I had nobody else but my sick mother…

“Hey, buddy!” shouted a man at the entrance of the alleyway. Four humans were at the front of the alleyway with weapons, just like Dr. Mantis saw before.

“Fella, you’re out pretty late!” said another.

“You looking for some trouble?” egged on a third. 

They walked closer, but I was shaking. It was the human side of her that killed her… If she was full carvatian she would’ve survived. They were right next to me now.

“Are you going to cry, or-“

The man never finished his sentence as I slashed his throat out, and heard the blood gurgle as he tried to scream. In almost as quick succession, I tore out the other men’s throats too, spraying a bloodbath into the alleyway. I held Dr. Mantis’ hand and closed my eyes, and the scene faded away.

“Gryft, your sister…” Dr. Mantis gasped. “It wasn’t your fault-”

“Don’t kid or comfort me,” I scowled. “I know it was my fault… everyone knew.”

The scene morphed to me back in The Village. This was the day before I stood before The Temple and was exiled from coming  back to my home. I was standing in front of a grave that I had marked for Mina. I refused to let her body rest down there with the humans, so I took it back and buried it myself in The Village.

“I’ll make it up to you, Mina,” I saw myself say, setting a bundle of flowers on her grave. “I promise I will.”

As my past self walked away, I was left looking at her grave, and quite sad. Doctor Mantis gave a gentle squeeze to my hand.

“We can stop for today if you’d like,” she offered. 

“What I suspected was true anyway,” I growled, bearing my teeth.

Back in the black void of my mindspace, a memory of Mina appeared before me, then Dr. Roslin beside her. I grimaced and looked at them both. The same red hair and green eyes, and wry smile. Dr. Mantis’ eyes widened as she saw the revelation that I had. That Mina was somehow the one doing experiments on carvations.

“Gryft, you mean-”

“I think now our session is over,” I said. 

Doctor Mantis sadly waved her hands, and I felt my mind clearing. At the same time, I felt lighter as my mind came back to my body. I felt… both unburdened, and like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. It was all so conflicting.