JUDGEMENT ~ GG SELECTION

    Seelie felt the shard dig into their chest– not like a knife, but like a starving creature clawing its way through their flesh. 

    Its maw opened as its teeth pierced Seelie’s phylakardia.

    The world shattered in slow motion. 

    Seelie only caught the looks of horror and confusion on Myr and Eclipse’s faces– the rest of the Ghostlights still too lost to the Music– before all they saw was white.

    It was starlight– thousands upon thousands of stars burning as Seelie plummeted. The wind whipped past them, stoking the fire that scorched their fur. As they fell through the sky, the Music rose to meet them. It is everything, quarks and atoms, the universe's building blocks dancing in harmony.

    Thankfully, the ground broke Seelie’s fall before they could burn up like a comet. 

    Seelie croaked as the air burst from their lungs. They lay there, staring up at the eternal sky above them with its sea of swaying stars.

    Even down on earth, Seelie could feel their cooking heat. Just how close were they?– 

    The sky fluttered as stars folded in on themselves in mirrored pairs. For a moment, there was only the spotlight of the moon before the stars unfolded, countless eyes pinning Seelie down like a bug to the stage. 

    The sky twisted before bending down, its insectoid wings buzzing as they fanned over Seelie until all they could hear was the orchestra’s roar. 

    And with the conductor’s baton impaled through them, all Seelie could do was listen. Listen to the tune as their ears bled and air bubbled in their chest, leaving them with no words to beg for silence. ‘For mercy. The tears streaming from their brown eye garnered no reply from the indifferent sky. 

    There was only the Music. 

    And Seelie could feel it bubbling within them, swirling in the air leaking from their lungs. The tune boiled within their chest like an overfilled pot as it tried to burst out from under their skin. 

    Seelie opened their mouth and screamed.

    They ran. 

    They didn’t know how, but their body still had a form with feet good enough to flee. They ripped themself out of the ground and ran from the burning noise. It was like dumping a bucket of ice water over themself, from everything to nothing– not even the warmth of their kardia. 

    Seelie was… empty. A hole in the world– they could only feel the outline of themself, the edges of their feet against the ground.

    But they ran anyway. Nothing was better than Everything. ‘Better than letting the Music consume them. 

    It took them a long while of running before Seelie realized they had no clue where they were running to. If there even was anywhere to go.

    And, being a stubborn bastard, it took them a while longer to realize they were lost.

    It was as if that thought summoned it. 

    The sky cracked into existence with the boom of lightning. Seelie stumbled, tripping over the reformed ground and crashing into a mud puddle. The rain pummeled down hard enough to bruise Seelie’s already battered skin. Usually, they would’ve welcomed it, let it soothe their gills after a long day spent in the dry air.

    But this rain didn’t soothe– it burned like citrus juice in a paper cut. 

    Seelie curled into the smallest target possible from the acid rain. Their skin sizzled with the familiar buzz of too much as they cried out, “Stop– STOP STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP–”

    The rain stopped. 

    Seelie blinked, gasping in confusion– with how their day had been going, they weren’t expecting that request to be answered. There was no more rain pummelling them, just the occasional drip of something thicker falling to the ground next to them. 

    A shadow fell over Seelie, blocking out the light of the damning moon.

    “...Stop..?” it whispered, its voice soft, curious, but all-encompassing. It curled around Seelie like a persistent draft. 

    Seelie blinked. They looked up.

    And up. 

    Above them, a strange creature loomed. 

    It had skin as pale as marble, with puncture-like cracks running along each side of its flank, spilling an endless supply of that thick black substance. It was statue-still and could easily be mistaken for one, but the skin on its shoulders and thighs swirled into strange smoke. Similarly, its tail and mane swirled into red smoke, disappearing into the stormy sky. 

    It stared down at Seelie– at least, they thought it was. A dark mask covered its face and eyes, curling into a hooked beak and long horns. Its teeth were knife-sharp and on full display, with no lips to hide them. 

    But, even without lips, Seelie got the impression it was frowning at them.

    “Stop..?” it whispered again.

    And again, Seelie blinked. They knew that tone: questioning without having the words to ask. It was almost comforting to hear it here, wherever ‘here’ was. 

    Seelie shook their head. “No, I’m alright now,” they reassured the strange statue, even as their body and voice shook. “I’m alright– I just need a minute.”

    The statue seemed surprised, cocking its head to the side. “Alright… need... minute. Alright…” it replied, though Seelie could hear the skepticism in its voice. It seemed just as confused about all this as Seelie was, but still, it bent down, folding its long limbs under itself so it could nose at Seelie’s bruised and battered form. 

    Thankfully, it didn’t poke at the shard impaled in their chest.

    Though it prodded at them like a worried Den Caretaker– unlike one, it backed off at Seelie’s grumbling (at the way their tail curled in on itself, the creature’s heavy breaths against their soaked fur bordering on too much.) 

    It raised its head, tilting it to the side. Its mouth fell open as if about to speak again, but it just hung there. The statue huffed, looking annoyed at itself– a remarkable expression to pull off without a face.

    “Alright…”

    Realization lit up Seelie’s eyes with another crack of lightning.

    “Oh,” Seelie whispered– reverently, hopefully, begging– with a smile. They raised a paw– pausing to wince as it pulled at their chest wound– and rested it against the statue’s beak. “You’re like me.”

    The statue froze in confusion. “...Like me..?”

    They hummed, their paw falling from the statue’s face to lay in the mud. “You can only speak with the words others give you– because no words describe your mind. You do your best, but they don’t fit you. You want them to– you try, but nobody–

    “Listens to you,” Seelie and the statue said together (the statue a breath behind them). 

    Their smiles were sad, but Seelie couldn’t help the flare of hope caught in their throat as the statue leaned forward. “You’re like me…” it whispered, its drafty voice warm as it curled around Seelie.

    Seelie laughed brightly before they were cut off by their own pained wheeze. “Yes, I am. You’re not alone. 

    “It’s lovely to meet you despite the circumstances. People call me Seelie. It doesn’t fit, but it works.”

    “People call me…” the statue hummed with a clack of its beak. After a pause, it sighed, shaking its head as it turned its eyeless gaze back to Seelie. “...No words. …Lovely to meet you. …Despite the circumstances..?” It seemed confused, sniffing Seelie again as if trying to find these mysterious ‘circumstances.’

    But still, it took care not to press against the shard. It was so kind; Seelie hated to break the news to it. 

    “Well, I’m sorry to say, I think I’m dying.” 

    The statue reared back with a crack of lightning, its smoky mane and tail whipping about in a sudden gale.

    Seelie yelped as the acid rain began pummeling them again. They curled in on themself, their tail thumping against the ground–

    But barely a moment later, and without a word from Seelie, the statue was back, leaning over them, blocking the rain. It whined, curling one of its claws over Seelie’s back. “...Sorry…”

    “No, it’s not your fault,” Seelie croaked, raising a shaking hand to their chest, to the shard buried within. They could still feel it squirming, clawing deeper with its sharp, jagged edges. It didn’t care about their flesh, disregarding the pale blue blood spilling onto their paw, only digging into their kardia. 

    They could sense it chipping under the chisel– but the shards stayed solid, didn’t start bubbling and leaking out of their chest, nor exploding and ripping them open. The pieces of their kardia rang from the impact of the shard, slowly but surely filling their chest with Music.

    Seelie could feel the Music digging into their head, chiselling away at their mind. 

    Maybe it wouldn’t kill their body. 

    But it wouldn’t be Seelie who sang at the end of this song. 

    They whined, folding their ears tight to their head, even though they knew it didn’t block out the Music. All they could do was raise their voice, even as their lungs protested, trying to make themself heard above it. “It’s not your fault– It’s not my Music. It’s so loud, I–” 

    Seelie coughed, hacking up notes and measures onto the ground. The bars cut against their tongue, blue blood staining their teeth before drying into a dark brown. 

    The statue’s claw curled around them, rubbing up and down their back, staining it as well. The statue held Seelie as they cried, not saying anything, not adding to the cacophony of noise. It simply kept them close and safe from the rain as it looked up to the sky.

    Storm clouds rolled above the two, blocking everything except a sliver of the moon. It should’ve been pitch black, but the clouds were bright with red light pollution. 

    But now, the sky was sick with stars. 

    They broke out across the clouds like boils, pulsing and flaring with light. ‘A million spotlights swerving around to fix their gaze on the statue, and the folk curled in its claws. 

    The statue growled. “No… it’s not your… music.”

    Seelie curled into the shelter of the statue’s claws as it raised its head, grinding its teeth. “No. Seelie… not your… not my. Stop.”

    But the stars didn’t stop watching, and the wind whipped around them, carrying the clanging of chimes. 

    The statue had to bend down again, shielding Seelie from the rain as it slammed down at a new angle. Its beak brushed through Seelie’s matted fur as it whispered. “Seelie… listens. You… alright. ‘Lovely to meet you, despite the circumstances–” 

    “No.” 

    For a moment, Seelie worried their words were lost in the wind, drowned out by the storm and the chimes– that the statue wouldn’t listen to them.

    But the statue stilled immediately, backing off as Seelie turned to rest on their back. It watched patiently as Seelie hissed, waiting until they could force the words around the melody stuck in their throat.

    “I know what you’re going to do. I know what I would do– but please. Listen to me.”

    The statue cocked its head to the side. “I’m… listens…”

    And for once, Seelie believed those words. 

    Perhaps that’s why their own came so smoothly, despite their fluttering lungs, clogged throat, and the Music slowly invading their synapses. 

    “You don’t want to be a bother. You don’t want to hurt others, but it hurts you. It hurts to be alone, to be unheard, to have nobody understand you. 

    “But what do you think it feels like to be on the other side of that? To be someone who cares about you but can’t care for you because you don’t want to ‘bother them.’”

    Leaning above them, the statue froze. Only the smoke swirled in the gale as it watched Seelie from behind that dark, expressionless mask.

    Seelie turned to spit blood onto the grass before meeting the statue’s gaze. Their mismatched eyes softened as they croaked under the million spotlights. “Let them help. Please. Don’t leave them alone.”

    “...You…”

    “‘Are a massive hypocrite, but a self-aware one,” Seelie wheezed with a shudder, the chiming reverberating like a bell in their chest, the shard the knocker. They couldn’t hear their own thoughts over the Music, but they couldn’t leave the statue lost like them. “It doesn’t need to be me, but please, talk to someone–”

    “What… do... you want..?”

    The words didn’t spill from their lips; they spilled from their guts like someone had tied a rope to their intestines and pulled. 

    Understanding. Seelie’s truth rang heavy in the air, like electricity. It pulsed, pins and needles curling around their calloused hands in patterns and waves as if they were plucking the strings of their violin. 

    I don’t want to be left in the dark. I don’t want to be left alone again. 

    The statue hummed, the sound carrying above the whipping wind and the clanging bells. A tune Seelie recognized– the tune they’d been piecing together ever since the first meeting with the Conductor, the one they heard out of the corner of their eye when they were alone with their bow and instrument. 

    The Music that was only theirs. 

    “You’re like me…” the statue whispered, leaning down to press its beak to Seelie’s nose. Its claw curled along Seelie’s spine as it raised the other, gently resting it against the shard in Seelie’s chest.

    Seelie’s body went numb, empty, as the shard shimmered, the colour draining from it until it was pure marble white. 

    “Your… Music… my Music,” the statue hummed as the wind shifted and the rain began pelting Seelie again.

    They didn’t feel a thing.

    “Please. Don’t leave them alone.”

    And with the gentlest nudge of their claws, the statue plunged the shard into their chest.

    Seelie awoke the morning after the fight, opening their eyes to the white canvas of the medical tent. They blinked their mismatched eyes, turning their gaze to scan the faces leaning over them. 

    Icy was the closest, nearly nose-to-nose with them, radiating worry and a staccato tune. Trixie hovered behind him as Grey paced by the foot of their bed. Off to the side, Sí sat on Myr’s bed, grimacing as Myr used her to leverage himself up. Eclipse, meanwhile, just turned his head to give them a once-over. 

    Their body still pulsed, their soaked fur dripping with pins and needles, but Seelie managed a smile as their head fell to the side.

    Only to be met with an unexpected visitor. 

    Beside them, Haulani cocked his brow, his pinprick eyes landing on the soaked-through bandages wrapped around Seelie’s chest– wet not with blood but rain. He hummed, turning to look at the pale-white glass shard resting on the bedside table. 

    “Huh. ‘Funny thing, tests,” he chittered, stepping aside to give the shard a wide berth. “‘You keep hearing music?” 

    Seelie paused. 

    Before, with a great big grin, Seelie opened their mouth and sang to their Music.