Henheart's Universe

Her last nudge proved however to be too much for the precarious perch of Cirdan on his sword. The scabbard of Requiem slipped on the stone floor and out from under him, allowing Cirdan to slump leisurely over to one side. His cigar stub rolled away on the floor as his shoulder met the stone and the bottle he was clenching also spilled over onto the floor. The air filled with the strong scent of ethanol where before only the smell of tobacco smoke and mustiness were present.

Frozen in shock, Maki-chan watched as the little scene unfolded, her hands held where she had last nudged him. Her whole being filled with dread as a heavy stone of grief bore down on her chest. Maki-chan didn't need to be a doctor or medical expert to realize that it was too late.

"Oh ... no ...!" were the only words that Maki was able to mutter. As she slumped down onto her knees and sat on the floor, Maki began to sob quietly.

Over the last two years, Maki-chan had found a number of corpses in various places throughout Castle Henheart, More often than not, she never knew the identity of those who had died or why. Maki-chan's Mistress, Lady Washu Hakubi had a habit of throwing wild parties with her guests at Castle Henheart and very often these extravegant entertainments resulted in unfortunate outcomes. Maki-chan was forbidden by her mistress from participating or even showing herself at her mistress' parties so Maki-chan didn't really know for sure what went on. All she ever concerned herself with was cleaning up the mess afterwards, and this at times meant the proper disposal of corpses.

This was however, the first time that Maki-chan had ever seen one of them pass away in her presence. Quickly, she pulled a handkerchief from her apron pocket and dried her tears, but it couldn't wipe away the tremendous feeling of guilt that was now filling her up.

"This is all my fault, I should have come here and cleaned the dungeons sooner. If I had, then I would have found you here before it was too late ..." she quietly lamented at the now inanimate Cirdan on the floor. "Now I will be forever haunted by your ghost Mr. Carnesir."

When Lady Washu had departed more than two years ago, she had laid off all of the other domestic staff and charged Maki-chan with upkeep of the entire property. Since there were never any visitors it wasn't very difficult for Maki-chan to do her work, however with more than four hundred rooms, Castle Henheart was a large place for her to keep after. Since her mistress could return from hiatus at any time, Maki-chan was always sure that the upper residential and living areas were her first priority. Other places like storage rooms and the dungeons Maki-chan would clean as she found time for them, and such was the case for the dungeon room she had found Cirdan in. The only room that Maki-chan never cleaned or even entered was Lady Washu's laboratory. Maki-chan knew where it was, but she was deathly afraid to even lay a hand on the door handle lest some horror from within escape and kill her.

So because she hadn't given the dungeons a higher priority on her cleaning list, Maki-chan now blamed herself for allowing Cirdan to go unnoticed for so long. For a long time she just sat there and watched the body, sort of hoping that some miracle would wake him up, but Maki was too much of a realist to have such hopes for very long. Soon she got up and knew that there was still work for her to do, that Cirdan still deserved the honor of a decent burial.

Eventually Maki-chan's sweeping reached the darkest corner of the room and as she swept a piece of crumpled, yellow newspaper, her broom stopped against a heavy object.

"Hmm?" she wondered out loud and went to pick up her candle. Placing it near the object Maki-chan saw that the object was a mouldy leather boot with a hole in the sole. However, what was more startling was that the boot was still attached to a foot."

"Ewww ..." she winced in disgust.

"I knew that I'd waited too long to clean this place up, but ..." Maki-chan paused "... why does this corpse smell like tobacco instead of rotting flesh?" she asked the corpse curiously.

Barely discernable from death, the young man's hand clenched a bottle of clear liquid sitting on the floor while a thin trail of smoke gently wafted from the large stogie dangling precariously from his lips. On his chin, several weeks of beard growth obscured his features so that Maki-chan didn't quite recognize him at first. However, the large sword strapped to his back gave away his identity ... as well as prevented him from completely slumping over onto the floor.

"Cirdan? Is that you? How long have you been here?" Maki-chan asked in astonishment, but the only reply was the dusty silence of the castle itself. She wasn't even sure if Cirdan was actually conscious and could hear her words.

"Erm ... hmm ..." She mused a bit perplexed. He was certainly too heavy for Maki-chan to pick up and carry, but she didn't want to leave him here either. Undoubtedly he needed a good meal and a bath, but at least the meal was something that she could bring to him easily.

"Umm, I'll go get you something for dinner. It will take a few minutes ..." Maki-chan almost said "don't go anywhere" but realized soon enough that that request wasn't necessary.

"I'll be right back" she promised and walked away carrying a sack of trash in one hand and her trusty candleholder in the other.

The party long over, silence permeates every nook and cranny of Castle Henheart. Every nook and cranny except one. There, a solitary figure wearing a white apron and a kerchief tied on her head - Maki-chan - quietly sweeps the floor clear of plastic beer cups and cigarette butts. In dim candlelight she works, making no sound other than the soft, rhythmic "whoosh" noise of the bristles of her broom on the stone floor.

I usually get more interesting responses from Hammiess. XD

Fo' sizzle?