Hope://Sorrow <<WeNeverShouldHaveTriedToLeave>>

There was so little joy in their world that neither could imagine losing the one good thing they had - each other. So it only took a few seconds for Yuki to agree.

They would run away that night. It didn’t matter where. It didn’t matter how. They would flee.

In the quiet darkness of the snowy evening, they formulated their plan. When the lights went out, they would pretend to sleep. Miu knew the routes and timing of the caregivers. At 3 am, there would be an opening. That was when they would escape. The furthest left window in the common room had a faulty alarm sensor that was never repaired. It would give them the secrecy they needed to leave.

There was barely anything to pack. All they needed were clothes, whatever random yen they’d stowed away, the necessary toiletries, and Hana.

Lights turned off. Silence consumed the orphanage as doors were locked and the alarm was activated. Minutes later, the familiar clacking of heels on linoleum tile echoed softly down the hall, signifying that the patrol had begun. All Miu and Yuki had to do now was hold their nerves and wait.

When the time came, Miu slid from her bed and lifted her backpack from beside the bed. She moved without a sound as she drifted to the door and set out to reach the other wing. Yuki’s canes would make too much noise, so she was going to have to carry him. Adrenaline rushed through her veins like a river current as she rounded the corner to reach the boys’ side.

Yuki’s room was nearby. She had one more minute to wait before he opened the door. From the other side of the wall, she could hear the faintest taps, letting her know he was up and preparing. Miu wished Yuki’s gifted peacoat was real as she pulled her double jackets close for warmth and looked out the hall window at the increasing snowfall. Even now, she could see her breath while she was inside. Seconds later, the door opened, and Yuki was there.

Neither spoke. In a single motion, Yuki had placed the backpack and crutches over his chest, and Miu was hoisting him into her arms with a quiet grunt. With that, they were off.

Steady, cautious footsteps led them towards the common room. They had roughly three more minutes before the caregiver’s route returned them to the area. Reaching the entrance of the common area gave Miu and Yuki a surprise that almost caused Miu to drop Yuki.

Standing before them was Taki.

Miu’s fingers dug into Yuki’s leg as they looked at their former bully. He seemed surprised to see them. It might be ending now. They were likely about to be caught, and it would be by his hands. But then his eyes turned somber. A subtle nod told them he seemed to understand and had no more fight left in him. Yuki noticed Taki’s eyes were red and glassy as he looked at the two of them.

Without saying anything, Taki made his way to the window and softly cracked it.

Miu hesitated, but then dared to be appreciative.

As she approached the window, Taki stepped back and met their gaze one last time.

“I’ll close it behind you. Good luck,” he whispered.

“Goodbye, Taki. Thank you,” Yuki replied.

“T-thank you,” Miu muttered in shock as she hoisted Yuki and herself out into the cold.

True to his word, Taki closed the window behind them and walked out of sight. Yuki watched his shadow disappear as the frigid air enveloped them. Miu shivered and lowered Yuki to the ground. They had made it outside. The first phase of their escape plan was complete.

Above them, the sky seemed to be faintly glowing, but Miu didn’t notice. Only Yuki seemed to catch the strange haze that coated the clouds.

Even the taste of his breathing felt different.

“What?” Miu asked when she saw his perplexed face.

“Something feels strange, doesn’t it?” Yuki asked as he pointed to the sky with one of his canes.

“Maybe it’s light pollution? Or nerves?” Miu responded as she shook for warmth.

Strange pulses moved across the clouds, and Yuki swore the falling snow flickered. Something was wrong.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to confirm the gate is still unguarded. I’ll be back in less than a minute. Stay hidden behind this bush,” Miu ordered.

Tremors shook Yuki’s body as he nodded in understanding.

Miu left and began to run ahead. Yuki remained behind, feeling the cold of his crutches pressing against his shaking palms.

Another flicker of light emanated from the clouds, and the snow did truly begin to glow for a moment. It faded as quickly as it arrived, but Yuki swore he heard strange chimes in the wind as the light shone.

Up ahead, Miu confirmed they were alone. The guardbox was empty, as it had been since last year’s round of budget cuts. They were clear. Against every logical reasoning, Miu dared to feel hope for the briefest of moments as she turned to return to Yuki. But now she could see the sky was truly pulsing. And the snow had stopped falling.

Indeed, it was hanging in the air, suspended indefinitely in an eerie levitation. Seeing these strange phenomena sent a new type of trembling through Miu’s already shaking body. This felt wrong. Something was wrong. And Yuki was right. Every cold breath she took had an unfamiliar, unnatural taste and scent. Whatever was happening, it unsettled her and drove her to run full speed back to Yuki, who was standing there waiting. They had to leave this place.

“I don’t like this,” Miu muttered without meaning to.

But she didn’t. Now she could also hear the chimes building on the wind.

“What is that?” Yuki asked as Miu tried to pick him up.

Her shaking hands struggled for a grip, and she lowered him back to the ground briefly.

“I don’t know. I don’t like this,” she repeated.

Every snowflake they touched cracked and spread into indiscernible flecks of light. A gusting wind rose and began to howl through the air around them, but none of the snow moved in response. Clearly visible pulses of purple, blue, and bright red all began to drift through the clouds like waves. A steady drone built in the air.

Finally, Yuki was in Miu’s arms again. The unpleasantry of the moment drove her to run. She didn’t know why, but she was crying again.

“I don’t like this,” she said once more as she began to run as fast as her body allowed.

Yuki nodded in agreement as he looked up just in time to see flashes of blinding blue light tearing through the heavens.

The flashes exploded across the sky in concussive bursts, and thunder more powerful than any known explosion roared out. Miu couldn’t help but scream in terror. Even Yuki, who had seen the bursts, screamed out.

“What’s happening?!” Miu cried.

“I don’t know!!”

More explosions sounded out. Miu was nearly sprinting now. Something was wrong. All around them, the snow began to change. Every explosion sent flashes of light through every flake. Strange webs of energy appeared between each flake, coating the air in tiny threads of incandescent light. Then the snow reformed and turned to something like stone. Instead of powdery wetness, jagged shards hovered around them in scores of light.

As Miu ran, the new shards began to cut and tear at her body and clothes. Yuki yelled out in shock as the former snow clipped at his face and hands.

The explosions were shaking the ground now. The guardbox was just up ahead. They were almost free. But the world began to snap. Up above, the clouds were now surging and strobing with ethereal light. Miu’s tears froze on her face.

Then the snapping began.

Concussive explosions tore through space and time all around them, and new mass appeared. At first, it was nothing but wireframes of form. Then light appeared within. Then shapes hardened into reality. Enormous shards of crystal were appearing from thin air.

“MIU?!” Yuki screamed out as more and more shards began to shatter into existence.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!!!!” Miu cried out in terror as the clouds were outlined with halos of neon red and purple.

Brilliant blue bursts of lightning fired from above them, sending screams of cyan into the shaking soil. The earth began to unmake and remake itself. Quakes of fury snapped the ground into chunks that broke and realigned. Miu and Yuki couldn’t stop screaming. Another shift knocked Miu’s feet off balance, and they fell to the ground with a shout.

Miu turned just in time to absorb all of the impact, but she still dropped Yuki. Both screamed in horror as bursts of lightning landed all around them.

“YUKI?!!!!!” Miu screamed out.

By now, the chimes were sounding as quickly as automatic weapon fire. Deafening noise blended with blinding visuals. Yuki rolled over from Miu with a grunt as he tried to retrieve his crutches. Then the shard burst forth from beneath him.

It was larger than a house and arrived with the chaos of an uncontrolled freight train. There was a scream, and Yuki’s body flung through the air with a limpness usually reserved for Hana.

Miu could not even articulate a scream as she watched his body launch twenty feet into the air and land on the asphalt with a crunching thud.

“Yuki…” was all she could whisper.

The terror returned in full force, and now the scream was available.

“YUKI?!!!”

But he didn’t respond.

Small streaks of blood were now running down her face from all of the cuts. More and more shards began to shine and rip into the air around Miu as she forced herself to stand.

“YUKI I’M COMING!!” she screamed out, but the noise of the world unraveling was too much.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?!!!” Miu cried out to herself as she tried to run.

It felt as though the entirety of reality was standing on the edge of a supernova and was now being pulled into non-existence. Light and noise had arrived to remove every semblance of truth. Empty space was now full of shine and stone. The sky itself seemed to be ablaze.

None of that mattered in that moment, though. All Miu cared about was Yuki. Scrambled steps fought for footing as she tried to reach him. But then the shard arrived from nothingness, right where she was standing.

It happened instantly.

One moment, there was nothing. Then, the shard was there, forming itself from oblivion. But Miu was also there.

A chime sounded, but it was finally drowned out.

Miu’s blood-curdling scream was beyond any painful sound that should be made by a child.

Absolute agony howled through her body as a sensation beyond suffering burned through her left eye. It felt like every cell of her body was being scorched by a red-hot brand.

Miu’s screams continued as her legs tumbled backwards, away from the shard that was now half materialized. Horrified fingers clawed into her face as though trying to rip away the invading suffering.

“YUKI HELP!!! YUKI HELP ME!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!” Miu screamed from the depths of her soul.

But there was no answer.

The only human sound was her voice as she screamed again and again.

Blood ran along her jaw and cheek as a wound ripped open across the left side of her face. Somehow, she had touched the shard as it appeared. Or, it had touched her. It was nearly formed now, but Miu couldn’t see.

She was too busy digging her nails into her skin and pulling away in hope that she might rip out whatever madness was melting and snapping her face from its known structure.

“YUKI, PLEASE HELP ME?!!!!!”

Screams turned to hysterics as her legs finally buckled. More and more shards appeared and the sky continued to glow. Just as agony overtook Miu and ripped her consciousness away, a flash of neon blue flame ignited from within her left eye socket. Falling to the ground, Miu could see its otherworldly glow illuminating her jacket sleeves.

She collapsed with the world.

That was Christmas Day in the year that everything changed.