Boom, boom, bang!

The uproarious crowd rose their voices in sync with the vibrant pops of colors that lit up the night sky. The sudden eruption sent the night wildlife into a frenzy to get away, including the insects that sprang from the brush and whizzed past Yasashi’s ear with the buzzing of wings.

Amber wings.

The world fell away from him in that moment and the sound of the others muffled as though someone had taken his head and dunked it under water. With each pop of color, Yasashi felt his heart thud heavy in his chest as his mind reeled from the sudden break in reality as adrenaline surged through his veins. The loud pop of fireworks were no longer fireworks, but the boom of canons and the cries of what had once been delight were now screams of his ill-prepared comrades and the orders from his commanders.

Yasashi clenched his teeth squeezing his eyes shut as he struggled to find his bearings. Normally he was able to swallow these memories, keep them as shadows in the back of his mind. Those times had passed. He was no longer on the wall, he was in Elwynn, far away from the wall, far away from —

A grasshopper had spread its wings and buzzed past his ear and his entire body jolted upwards.

Mantid.

His ears were now perked and pupils shrunk in panic as his eyes darted about in his skull like that of a trapped animal. Each pop of color another round of canon fire, each shout belonging another comrade, and the smoke that crept into his nostrils from the display only sought to pull him deeper into his memories.

Suddenly, the Pandaren was staggering, the behemoth no doubt bumping into bodies on his way out, bodies his eyes no longer recognized as strangers but blurred faces he had once known, kin he had served with.

Why was this happening?

It had never been this bad before

Where was he?

He thought he was safe

He was safe, wasn’t he?

Were Soo-ha and Kimiko safe?

He didn’t understand

It wasn’t until the popping of color had faded and the shouts a dull ache in the background of his ears did Yasashi collapse to his knees and vomit. In reality, he was tucked safely against a large tree, but in his mind he was huddled within one of the guard towers, dirt now cold stone.

A pair of gentle paws pulling his head up into a welcoming lap caused Yasashi to flinch and his eyes darted up to the worried visage of Soo-ha.

Wait, Soo-ha couldn’t be here. She wasn’t there when the Mantid swarmed, right?

Yasashi’s brain struggled to juggle the conflicting information as he trembled in the much smaller Pandaren’s embrace. “S…Soo-ha, I…..” he gaped like a suffocating fish, fresh air burning in his lungs like the ashes had done that night. “I don’t….I don’t k-know where I am….”

Soo-ha stared at the male and as gently as she could, she cradled his face in her paws, touching their foreheads together as her eyes conveyed the words her occupied digits couldn’t. ‘You’re here with me.’

Gradually, the horrors of the past began to fall away from him like a melting shroud. The distant screams no longer his comrades, but those celebrating the summer holidays, accompanied by cricket song.

While he settled back into reality, a new emotion rose within Yasashi. Shame. He opened his muzzle as though to apologise, but Soo-ha would not hear of it and instead she pulled him into herself fully, embracing him.

It felt odd being on the receiving end of comfort, usually it was him helping her through periods like this or the looming terrors that sought to pursue her in her dreams. The next breath Yasashi took in was not smoke or blood, but the rich scent of aged parchment she carried and this was the smell he hung onto, the scent that he used to anchor himself.

And for the first time Soo-ha had seen, he wept.

( Wrote this story for my roleplay partner following a little weekly writing prompt a year or so ago! )

Soo-ha belongs to me!
Yasashi belongs to Fathorse / Pandaking
Beautiful art done by Val-Q