“look what i found!”

despite it all, the excitement in cherry’s voice is what makes willow’s heart sink into their stomach, her paws hesitant as she turns to face them. cherry drops a parcel of fabric to the ground between them, and bats it open with their paws to reveal a brilliantly glowing rainbow crystal, small but heavy with a strange aura. “i think it’s from the glowbug caves, isn’t that neat? i found it in the river—”

“get that out of the house.”

willow’s voice is so quiet she can barely hear herself. cherry’s ear twitches anyway. “hey, i found it fair and square! it’s tiny, it can’t do anything!”

“you said it’s from the glowbug caves,” she insists, “the magic ones? it doesn’t matter how big it is, it could hurt someone.”

their ears flatten, tail lashing in irritation. “i carried it all the way home and it was just fine. it’s just a little bit of magic- and it’s covered in fabric, see? i followed all your stupid suggestions about it, and you’re still not happy? i just want a pretty, wonderful thing! one thing!”

“don’t you care about mom?”

“mom isn’t even here! don’t you care about me?”

willow hisses, blinking rapidly as her vision goes blurry. she catches the fabric in her claws and tosses the whole thing out the front door, ignoring the angry yowl from cherry. “i care about you so much, which is- which is why- get it out, get it out before you lose an eye, or worse—”

cherry isn’t listening to her anymore. they’re hovering just beyond the doorway, back turned. between their front paws is the crystal, covered in mud from last night’s rain, the fabric lost to the winds. it doesn’t look like much, like this. it doesn’t look like something that could kill. willow swallows, guilt and fear and anger curdling in her stomach.

“i just wanted to show you,” they whisper.

“you know i don’t- you already know i don’t want to see that stuff…”

“i did everything you yelled at me for before!”

they still aren’t listening. they never do. willow digs her claws into the wood and resists the urge to snap at them; it wouldn’t matter if she did. cherry picks up the crystal between their teeth and leaves.

they don’t look back. she closes the door behind them.