Blackfeather Woods the end

song reference

After what felt like an eternity, she woke. Perhaps Blue was pecking at her skull. Perhaps one of her brothers was kicking at her gut.

Nevertheless, Maegi entered the clearing of Spiderlings' Glen.

She looked up. Dear God, she thought, there was no light. At least in Akashingo, you could see the sunrise. But it was pitch black, and she was snared here.

Here. Where'd she spent so many waking moments.

She began to panic, circling, panting. Relmyna, Moonshadow, Parvati— If she were human, she'd sweat.

The shadows of her brothers remained in the den, curled tight.

Would they emerge?

Her heart raced at the thought of ruling this forest once more. The shadowy paths, the labyrinths—the religion. Shivers rippled along all of her.

Not to be. It was empty, and not hers.

Not hers, not her destiny—

What was her destiny?

She was spinning hard and fast, lips parted, mouth foaming—what was she good for? What was Maegi good for? If not to succeed the legacy of a family gone to pieces?

She had children—

Gone.

She fell to the earth and wailed.

Gone.

And the grackle called, and landed atop her shoulder.

As Maegi spinned in the clearing of Spiderlings' Glen, she fell into seizures, unconscious seizures that racked her body from all directions. She fell unconscious. The last thing she perceived was her bird, accompanying her, claws on her flesh;

Miraak joined her.

There was a separation. She rose. She pressed against her mentor, three of their four eyes indigo.

And the crowd grew.

Miraak. Relmyna. Cassiopeia. And all their ilk. She separated herself from the ground and pressed her way into their embrace, laughing, crying, shouting.

Oh, her brothers. They remained faint and unknown. But Cicero lurked at the periphery and—

Her children!

All of her children!

The worms grew into whole wolves, pale and slinky like herself. Ninazu, Nirgali, she thought and galloped toward them, gathering them into her embrace and;

Anansi! The pale boy, successor to her brother Euron. She found him too and—Sobek. One day, he'd be reunited with his twin which—

Still lived.

Many children still lived. And she thought of them, and focused all her energy into loving them, hoping they'd feel it.

Miseria, Hypnos, Sakhmet, Prevost, Peregrine, Vesper, Blueberry— and those Sheogorath children be damned.

Everyone that had ever meant anything around her, like a funnel, circling her, wrapping her in their embrace.

She couldn't name names—

Except—

Mou. . .and he was not here, but a shadow. Lurking far off. She stretched her muzzle toward him. He didn't move. Perhaps he was scared.

Perhaps he'd come. . .

Maegi was rising. . .

It all dissolved into nothing. The souls of everyone she'd loved, and her own, cast into a whirlpool.

This was not the Void.

The was far greater.

This was eternity, and Maegi found herself cast into it with one final thought toward her mate—

"Until we meet again."

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The seizures ceased eventually, leaving the pale body still and cold upon the earth. No one could have known the torture that had befallen her except for a deep dive into her psyche;

And her psyche was long gone.

Maegi was gone, far above the shell she left in the place so beloved to her family.

An unwanted babe, a tortured woman.

She suffered no more.

The body was a husk, the soul far beyond us, and the story of Maegi Melonii ended, giving her sweet relief at least.

thank you for everything, Maegi <3

actively crying ;; i love you and maegi forever

Jakoul had followed at a distance.

They had slipped back easily into a Morta, not a second thought as the woodlands were crossed and the trail of Maegi weaved to and fro. Jakoul did not know why they were here. Only that she herself had returned a number of times too.

But she had been warned long ago.

Maegi was dying.

She did not think today was the day she would die, though.

Today was another day as any other in the small world of Jakoul. Although Maegi was also very much her whole world. These woods had molded her too. Gave her a backbone of iron and the charms of a serpent. She had seen greatness and tragedy in this place.

The latter came for her today as the trail of Maegi seemed to cease.

Her body the only thing left.

Jakoul stared blankly for a few moments. Another poppy seed haze, another tired moment where the woman simply needed a break. But there was no rise and fall to the sides or chest of Maegi. There was nothing that indicated the woman was truly here besides her body.

Jakoul blinked.

Creeping forward, her gut clenched tightly into her ribs. A low whine in her throat with the hopes that Maegi would respond. A mumbled drugged slew of words would be welcomed. Anything besides the sudden silence that swallowed the woods. Even the birds seemed stilled for a moment.

Only there was nothing still.

No amount of lowly whines or soft snips at tufts of fur seemed to stir the pale woman.

She knew very well that the time had come, but this was a thing she refused to believe. Curling herself around the cooling body and wracked with soft tremors as a sudden wave of sobbing escaped her. It blossomed and bloomed into an anguished cry as if her own soul had departed this plane as well. A sound unlike anything she had ever made in her entire life.

And when her throat felt too raw to continue, she cried no more. Only closed her eyes tightly as she remained in place.

Holding the body of Maegi Melonii tight.

Love Maegi. Always.

Mumbled again and again, until she could no longer do that either.