Rain [Writing Prompt]

[rogueinladysclothing]

The fight for Winter was a spectacular failure on her part. She had fought a losing battle from the start for the most selfish and primal of reasons.

She didn't want to be alone.

But, as expected, Winter had faded when the fight ended and Spring could immediately be felt in the Nexus. She hid herself away, then, turned off her phone, ignored the outside world. Spring had surely come, but she couldn't admit the season had begun until an important day had come and passed.

March 23rd. Her birthday.

It was a mercifully quiet day, one spent staring out her window at the gentle rain falling outside whenever she wasn't leafing through magical texts. The rain washed away the remaining snow from the courtyard, brought out laughs and smiles as children ran through it in brightly colored coats and boots. It hurt terribly to watch the parents run after their children, to see families and friends huddling close under large umbrellas as they rushed about. She looked at the overturned family portrait on the table on the far end of her room, her heart aching when she thought about the smiling faces that hid just out of view. How she longed to be with them right now, to be home with them to celebrate what until now had been one of her favorite days of the year. But now... now it was the one day of the year she wished she could erase from every calendar across the multiverse.

When she woke the next morning from her dreamless sleep, she turned her phone back on. No messages. It wasn't surprising - rarely anyone contacted her and she expected even that small amount of contact to trickle off after her show of allegiance to Winter. And so she moved on from it with a shrug of her shoulders and no further thoughts on the matter. Things would settle out, just as they always had, with time.

Life was steady, easy for the next few weeks. She had a routine that was easy to follow and she could change around to accommodate stopping somewhere for an extended period of time. Reading, a walk through the seedier parts of the Nexus to practice her stealth, a practice session on the edge of the Wilds with all of her weapons, and ending with a cup of tea before bed to prevent her from dreaming. It was easy to pretend she was content, that this lifestyle was enough. And for a time? It was.

Then, one night, she fell asleep with her nose in a book before she could drink the tea to prevent her from dreaming. But rather than seeing the nightmares or terrible visions of all the things she had missed out on in life, she relived her best memories with her friends in the Nexus. Smiles, laughter, true connections with people who cared about her. It brought tears to her eyes, but she found that, for once, she didn't mind. When she woke, she smiled and rubbed at her eyes, feeling better than she had in months.

Outside her window, a slow, steady rain fell. Ignoring the obvious flaw in the plan, she climbed out of her window and into the yew tree just outside of it in her night gown, reveling in the feeling of the water on her face. A silvery laugh fell from her lips as she felt the most profound freedom. Freedom from her fear of the night. Freedom from the sorrow and loneliness she'd been holding on to since she held left her world behind. Freedom to move on.

Later, while she recovered from the small outing in her room, she replaced her family's portrait on the wall. The pain when she looked at it was still there, but it somehow felt less.

Somehow... it simply felt like it was time.