Charlotte, Born Again

The dust made it impossible to breathe. Charlotte wanted to complain about the pain, but all she could manage were muffled moans.

She had used her left arm to protect themselves, but now it was trapped under the rubble. Even though her arm was made out of roots and branches, it hurt, and no matter what she tried, she couldn’t break herself free.

“Sybill… Zoe… Anyone?” she muttered.

No one answered.

“Please… let me know you’re okay…”

Again, no one answered.

“Please… Zoe… Someone…” A waterfall of tears streamed down her face. “I can’t lose anyone…”

The place fell completely silent. Only the ominous crunching of the rubble remained, which was about to crush her.

“Please… I can’t do this…”

Her voice cracked.

“I don’t want this anymore! Just let me go back to my town! Please…”

Her mouth shook.

“A-a n-nobody… This is me! This is me!”

Small bits of debris fall on her.

“Zoe! Please tell me at least I was able to protect you…” She paused. “I need to know…I protected someone…”

Complete silence.

“I did… my best…and no one will know me…” She sighed. “And that’s okay… I just need to know that you’re fine.”

Her eyes slowly closed.

“Please, anyone… Did I save anyone…?”

She muttered at last.

Cough, Cough.

She opened her eyes again.

“Is someone here?” An old voice said.

“I’m here!”

An old man stood in front of her, carrying a Magica Fireball in his hand.

“Oh, sweetie, are you okay?”

“Have you seen my friends?”

“So you've made some friends. I'm proud of you.”

“What?”

Charlotte's vision was still blurry, so she couldn't see the old man's face.

“I knew your smile would captivate many people, Charlotte.”

That voice sounded familiar to her.

“How do you know my name?”

“I was worried for you.”

“Why?”

“You were very young when I left you alone.”
“Stop playing with me.”

“But you've pulled through... I'm proud of you.”

“I’m still the same…”

Charlotte tried to get up, but her trapped arm prevented her from doing so.

“Yes, I know.”

“I’m selfish.”

“So do I.”

“I’m not a heroine…”

“Really? But even in this situation, you think of your friends first…”

“But I don't know for the right reasons.”

“Even so, you still do it... I'd like to scold you for always putting yourself last, but you've always been like that.”

“Selfish?”

“Yes, maybe, but also someone with a great heart for others.”

The voice began to fade away.

“Can I ask you one last thing, little one?”

“What is it?”

“Show off your smile to the world.”

Waaah, Waaah!

Charlotte woke up startled.


In the distance, someone cried. It was high-pitched, with occasional shouts that were, in turn, interrupted by occasional pauses filled with sobs and gasps.

“Please, someone help us!” Another voice shouted.

“Down here, there are children and elderly people!”

“Please, we need help!”

Despite being short of breath, Charlotte took a deep breath. Her left arm still hurt, but she mustered all her strength to speak.

“D-don’t worry… I-I’ll get you out of here.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m… Charlotte.”

“Please, help us…”

Charlotte tried to move her arm, but it was useless.

She tried again, but a sharp pain paralyzed her.

She began to pant through her mouth.

“Please… the rubble is about to collapse.”

Charlotte bit her uniform’s collar and chose to turn her head away.

She pulled with all her might, trying to break free.

She felt the pain, but forced herself to keep going.

Crunch.

She heard some of the roots and branches in her root-like arm snap. She didn't stop. She kept pushing herself. Tears involuntarily welled up in her eyes and mingled with the sweat running down her face.

Aghh.

She clenched her clothes tighter with her own teeth.

Charlotte pulled again, but this time it didn’t move. She tried and tried. It seemed that her arm was still stuck.

Despite her efforts, she had barely managed to pull it a little past her shoulders.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. More dust from the rubble fell again. She heard a scream in the distance, where people had previously called for help.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Please… help us.”

“We don’t want to die…”

The children's crying grew louder.

Charlotte took a deep breath.

She felt the roots and branches of her arm moving beneath the rubble. She closed her eyes. She focused all her attention on her arm. Every movement caused her great pain, but she pressed on.

The debris lifted.

More and more.

Aghhh!

A couple of branches from her arm rose from the debris.

With one last effort, she pulled her arm out of there.

She looked at it closely. It was damaged. Some of the roots and branches that formed its arm were broken, twisted, or completely gone.

The ground rumbled again, and more pieces of rubble fell. They were getting bigger and bigger.

“Please… Help us!”

“Leave it to me!”

Charlotte, finally free, hurried toward the crying echoes. Feeling a little weak, she walked almost on tiptoe. The place was completely dark, and the dust made it even harder to see.

Then debris forced Charlotte to crawl along the ground. Her left arm was still sore, so she could only use her right arm to move.

The ground rumbled again.

The crying sounded closer and closer.

Unable to see what lay ahead, she pressed on. For a second, she felt her body slipping. Her right hand, which was stretched out in front of her, didn't touch the ground, only thin air.

A hole appeared in front of her, and with barely any time to react, she used her left arm to keep from falling.

She hung there, facing an abyss. She couldn't see anything. She tried closing and opening her eyes a couple of times, but nothing changed.

A chill ran down her spine after she saw that abyss.

She didn’t know what was in there. No sounds, no lights, nothing left down there. Just a simple hole waited to swallow her up and drag her into a deeper, more uncertain darkness. She knew she couldn’t fall in there.

The roots of her hand held her, but she felt them slipping away.

“Be careful, kid!” An elderly voice shouted from the other side of the hole. “Let us light the way for you.”

In seconds, a warm red light touched her back. It came from a torch.

Charlotte used all her strength and, using her arm for support, climbed again.

“I-I’ll get you out of here.”

“We’re trapped here, and there’s no way to go over there.”

The ground shook.

“There’s no time, kid… Please, help us.”

“I will.”

Charlotte peered into the abyss. The gap was too wide to jump across.

The whole place rumbled again. More debris fell.

“Please… kid”

Everyone's cries and pleas grew louder. They reached Charlotte's ears as if they were directed at her.

She looked at her arm.

Please, please, please, help me help them.

She knelt and rested her left arm on the edge.

Please.

The tree's roots and branches on her arm began to move. It hurt, but little by little her arm regenerated.

At the same time, three roots extended forward from the palm of her hand. From those three roots, shoots emerged that grew into strong branches.

Those same branches split into more branches that gradually intertwined with one another. Each new branch shoot was thicker and heavier.

These branches extended until they finally reached the people on the other side. From her arm, Charlotte formed a chain of roots and branches, building a sort of bridge.

“You can cross…”

“That doesn’t seem safe.”

“Please, I can’t hold it.”

“No…”

“Please… I know you’re afraid, but I promise I won’t let anyone fall.”

“But—”

“I swear…” Charlotte looked at them. “I swear everything is fine.”

With no other choice, everyone crossed carefully. The woman held up the torch to light the way. Some carried the children in their arms.

When Charlotte made sure everyone had crossed, the roots holding up the bridge slipped from her arm, causing the bridge she had built to collapse.

They retraced their steps along the path Charlotte had taken until they finally reached a dead end.

“Now what, kid?”

Charlotte scanned her surroundings until she found a spot among the rubble where the moonlight shone through.

“I’ll break through here. There’s light, which means it's close to the outside.”

“Are you insane?” An old woman complained to her.

“What do you mean?”

“You'll cause a collapse, and it will crush us all.”

“That's why I'll stay to support the structure.”

“If you stay, it’ll crush you!”

“That's fine. The important thing is to get them out of here.”

The old woman was speechless.

“I need you to act quickly.”

“You can’t do this, kid.”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of it.”

The woman listened to Charlotte's instructions and shared them with the others who were trapped. Some were skeptical, but they got ready without complaining.

“We’re ready.”

“Alright!”

Charlotte prepared her arm. It turned into thousands of sharp branches.

She took a deep breath.

She thrust it forward, and those branches shot out.

They immediately struck the debris and shattered it, clearing a path.

“Now!”

The place shook again, and more debris fell.

A cloud of smoke formed.

No one came out.