Author's Note: This is a last chapter for "Everyday Life with Bubbles".
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Nobody could tell her what happened, or even really how it happened.
She just had to accept it, the way it was.
The blonde neko could feel the shredding of her palms as she laid yet another bundle of sticks against the pyre, being built in the middle of the city square. Her tail dragged in the dirt behind her, fallen and limp, as she stumbled away, to find and build another.
The palms of a whore had been conditioned for oils and massage, not for the rough items of the street. Her skin was torn, little white pieces pulling away from her palms, with tiny flecks of red. The sticks weren't even that thorny, just broken.
Dead, dried out, and broken, just like she was. Empty of meaning, empty of anything, because daring to understand and feel the truth of the matter, would be tantamount to suicide. She just... Couldn't.
Sana didn't know where anyone else was, and she didn't want to know. They had every right to cry and scream. They had the right to cry for their lives lost, in the fire yet to come. The cleansing flames that would burn away a name that was imprinted into the very spirit of the land.
They couldn't even give her the right kind of funeral.
There was no body to cremate.
She was far from the only nobody in the square. Cats from all across the city had come to pay their respects. Some leaving gifts for the lost, to burn along with the pyre. Bottles of milk, bangles, earrings. Anything that was precious to them, to show the pain they felt by losing her.
Sana sniffled, as the tears ran down her cheeks. Her sister had done her best not to be queen to these people, and they had loved her for it. Not just because she had provided them a shelter, when humanity had turned against them. The promise of Bubbles had been real safety. You didn't have to change who you were.
She had hardly been a Toofy. That one was an immortal legend, impossible to live up to. That one had been a true empress. Whereas Bubbles had been something more akin to a friend. She had been family, for anyone in need of one.
The catgirl fell to her knees, the dry sticks tumbling from her shaking hands, and she let out a trembling caterwaul of pain.
She'd known the woman for so short a time, and now she was gone. Everyone in Sana's life was gone. All of them, killed for hatred's sake, except that one fun woman who had named her sister, danced and sang with her in the rain. And now that one was... Gone.
She had dared to believe that their fates were intertwined. The secret motives of the gods, wrapped so tightly around the soul of her sistren, binding the two together, for whatever voidscape the future might bring in. They would fight it, back to back.
Erientyara's explanation didn't even make sense.
Bubbles had been getting healed, going through the pain of it, when the neko had started channelling and growling.
One minute she was there, her usual clumsy, pissy self.
The next, she simply wasn't.
The dragon hadn't seen or felt any spell. She hadn't felt the shifting of the world, to suggest that Luna or one of the gods had stepped in to teach the queen some manners. There had been no magic beyond that healing her broken tail.
Bubbles probably didn't even have a chance to know anything was happening, before she was... Gone.
Sana lifted one trembling hand to her mouth, and bit down into it. Her fangs sinking in, as she calmed her shattered heart. Trying to find a way out of the darkness reeling above her head. Proudly proclaiming that the worst was yet to come.
War and horror was guaranteed. The legacy of Bubbles would be found in her death, and the instability champing at the bit. Avician had been trying to teach the Elders some respect, and punish Phoenix for his coup, when Bubbles... When she... Sana couldn't admit she was dead.
Her sister was gone. But gone didn't necessarily mean... Forever.
Day of the Dead. She had that to dream on, for. Her sister might return, for just one day. Explain what had happened, and bed the entire harem of wives, husband, lovers and would-be bedded partners. Show them all just how much heart that the kitten always had to give.
Not that Bubbles had a single damn reason to include Sana in that, if she did come back. For one day, just the once.
Gentle, but rough, fingers gripped her hand and pulled it from her mouth. The stranger crouched in front of her as they drew a bandage around the hand, and tightly wrapped it. He didn't say anything to her. Grief was written across all of his features, as well.
The man offered no blame towards her for hurting herself. He just did his best to fix what had been done.
She swallowed nervously, and spoke raspily, "What's his name?"
"Jackie." He replied quietly, and then went to stand up.
She grabbed his wrist, golden eyes looking at him intently, "Did... Did you make her earrings?"
"The dice." He said in surprise, "You knew her, didn't you? Well, I can see her laughing about the loaded dice in a bar, too, I guess. But you met her."
"She called her sistren." Sana tried to sound confident, but more sounded like she was about to burst into tears, again. She stood up, and sniffled, "We escaped city, together. Sana was there when goddess first slept with Bubbles."
"The god stuff isn't bullshit?" He said in shock, "I... Wow. When I knew her, Bubbles was a virgin."
"Not because you and Veron weren't pushy about it." Sana managed some snark, and then sniggered, "Hearing that she ended up with several wives must have been a blow to the self-esteem."
He shook his head, "Not... Really. She likes women. I'm a guy. Obviously, things weren't going to work out if I don't have what she preferences."
Sana rolled her eyes, "She also fucked Edric. The tailor? He and she were... They were engaged. Oh gods. Oh, who gonna tell Edric? Oh gods, that's going to hurt."
"Well. I guess she just didn't like me that much." He said glumly.
