Ex Lacrima Remnant

#B-Side IX – Those left behind

That day, the sun was beautiful, dazzling even. It felt like a further sign of mockery, to Caro. In every movie, in every fictional work she was familiar with, it was always raining when the main characters visited the graves of their loved ones. It was such an ingrained trope in the fiction she consumed that she was put off by how reality actually went. Her little sister and the man who married her stared at Caro from the pictures stuck on the headstones. Ellen Frankberg. Jerome LeFou. Gone together, as together they lived. She would have liked to caress the smiling face of her Ellen, that little ray of sunshine that was born when she was already fifteen years old – now, dancing as a hologram with the man she loved, immutable, preserved for eternity. Unfortunately, her one hand was already completely booked. Small fingers wrapped around it, of an equally small hand. The hand of a child with red hair, very much like hers, long braids and deep, curious blue eyes.

“Aunt Caro…?”

“Yes?”

“Does your shoulder hurt a lot?”

“Oh, not anymore.”

Caro wore her best smile, bringing the little girl closer to her. The child hugged her all of a sudden, rubbed her head on Caro’s black tuxedo.

“It’s fine, auntie. You can tell it to Mimi. You don’t need to fake it.”

“I’m not faking it! Your aunt’s hella strong!”

“But you cried like me, at home! I thought adults were not allowed to cry!”

Caro sighed, let her minuscule hand go, patted her head.

“Hey, adults can cry too! We’re no machines, amirite?”

She was growing fond of that little gal, one that overcame grief faster than a rugged vet like her. It really was sweet for Mimi to care so much about her auntie. If anything, Caro felt like her niece was the one comforting her and not the opposite, which was kind of shameful. For a girl who lost both of her parents to a freak accident, that was quite unexpected. Said accident also cost her an arm – but that fucktard of her son claimed it was not the fault of the construction company and blamed her instead for driving her van too close to the demolition site. That’s what one gets when bringing up a child alone after a one-night stand, she pondered. Fortunately, Mimi was different. Contrary to her, Ellen knew how to educate a girl. Shame that she couldn’t do that anymore, from beyond the grave. Caro sighed, shook her head.

“I still need some time to bring our flat to livable conditions, sorry. Your idiot cousin moved out three years ago and left a mess, plus didn’t take care of a buncha stuff of his. Wanna go buy a new bed with me, later?”

“I’m already ten, aunt Caro! I can adapt!”

“I kno’, I kno’. You do be a fine lass, but you shouldn’t be forced to sleep on a hammock in the kitchen, right?”

Mimi glanced again at the dancing holograms, at the headstones with the pictures of her parents. She would have been in their car during their last trip, if she didn’t fall ill a couple days before. That fever that she so hated saved her life and condemned that of her mom and dad. She gritted her teeth, trying to suppress her sadness, trying not to cry again – not in front of aunt Caro, who was in the car with them. Aunt Caro needed her to be strong, because she was still shocked. So, she needed to help aunt Caro, as much as aunt Caro needed to help her.

“Last time mom asked me… what I wanted to be… I said a very stupid thing, auntie.”

“Oh, and that would be?”

“I said ‘I want to become a superhero of justice. One with superpowers and cool special moves.’”

Caro smirked, patted her head again.

“That’s a tall order for a half-pint like you.”

“But I love superheroes! I love when it looks like they’re losing the battle and then they go ‘this isn’t even my final form’, transform one more time and raze the baddies! I want to do that too!”

Caro brought Mimi closer, smiled at her brightly.

“As long as you’re not becoming a cop, I’ll help ya with all me might.”

“Why not a cop? Peacekeeper uniforms are so cool!”

“‘Cause fuck them, that’s why. Half the reasons our life’s a mess is because of them regime.”

“Aunt! You shouldn’t say bad words! Mom always told me…”

“Hush. Swearwords do be cool to let out some steam.”

“…so – huh – can I use them too?”

“‘Course you can.”

“Then…”

Mimi hopped like an excited bunny, took a long breath, opened her mouth, shouted out loud.

“Fuck the Corps!”

“Hell yeah, lass! Fuck the Corps!”

“Yes! Yes! Fuck the Corps!”

Other visitors of the graveyard turned around, located the source of those out-of-place utterances. They saw a woman in dark tuxedo, missing one arm, and a little kid in a short blue dress, jumping and pumping her fist while machine-gunning swearwords. Most of them simply gave a disapproving stare, before completely ignoring the weird duo. Some saw that as a sign of grief, one way to make it more bearable. One last person simply shook his head and walked away, grumbling something about the decay of society. But, to Caro, that didn’t mean anything. She rubbed Mimi’s hair, cracked a smile, before kneeling, rubbing her forehead against that of her disaster niece.

“Aye, you really are a fine squirt, Mimi. Now, let’s get some ice cream, yes?”

“Only if you pay for it!”

“Geez, you sure learned fast how the world works, didn’t ya?”

And they went away together, hand in hand, walking towards the main gate of the graveyard. Leaving all sadness behind.