Souls Reconnecting PV Mey

Location: North Yorkshire, England | Meyra's house

Meyra has been expecting this day for so long, the day she knew some sort of normalcy would be restored into her life, the day she could some how use as a balm to everything that had been turned upside down in her life, to help her forget how her family's portraits had been torn and stained and...lacking in color.

Her days had been empty, her smiles became a polite stance never reaching to her eyes. Green, hazel eyes that lost their natural light, when they witnessed horrors she never had dreamed of, not even during her most tenebrous nightmares. But even if lately her life had lacked color, she did her best to make it come alive in her eyes again. How she used to look at her home and see rainbows and fairies in each corner, waiting for her to just come and play, instead of looking around and see memories of that night. It was difficult, perhaps impossible...but she would try.

So her room was even messier than it always was. Mey was not very kin to organization, although this was something about herself that she most wanted to change. But sometimes it seemed that just by her existence in a room everything was turned upside down in a blink. As everyone entering now in her bedroom could witness. The white-painted walls could barely be seen behind the canvas, posters and pieces of parchments with doodles scattered around. Ink was everywhere, brushes and glass jars with clean and tainted water.

"Meyra Lancaster..." the warm, calm voice of Rodney Lancaster, her dad, came in as he slowly opened the door, "Dear Merlin...look at this room!" He said, still calm, but with an under tone of disapproval, "Dear, I remember hearing your mother telling you to clean this..." He made quick circular moves with his hand, gesturing towards the entire room, "bedroom, if I can still call it that!" He finished with a raised eyebrow and a twitch at the corner of his lips that barely hid his smile.

Mey was finishing packing at the last minute, -obviously!- and closing her night blue trunk when her father walked into her room. She was now looking up at him with a guilty, pleading expression. She had meant to clean everything, let it all neat and organised, - as she was sure Jun's room would look like - but, she had lost herself drawing her favourite place in that house, the soft green grass under the comforting shade of the old willow tree, a place she would be seeing for the last time, as her parents told her they would be moving soon. Away from painful memories, away from the shadow that seemed to stay lingering inside that place. A sighed escaped from her, she would so going to have to hear her mother scolding until she would find a place inside that train, "I..." She started to speak, trying to find a good excuse to tell her father, her shoulders slumped in resignation.

"Common now," Rodney interrupted, fully aware that there was no time to waste, they needed to go, the clock wouldn't stop and wait for them, just as the Hogwarts Express wouldn't wait either. The tall, lean man, placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder and gently guided her out of the room. A wave of his wand, and Meyra's bedroom was instantly tidy and everything put in the right order. "Thanks..." Meyra told her father, a rare and shy smile lighting up her delicate features. "I really just don't have the patience to hear you and your mother arguing all the way to King's Cross Station." He simply told her, "But, miss Lancaster, this was an exception." Rodney said, with a pointed look, that told Meyra he was being serious and not at all happy with the situation. "Poor house elves, they're going to need a raise." He muttered after turning his back on Mey and starting down the stairs.


Location: King's Cross Station | Platform 9¾

"Did you packed all your robes and uniforms?" Harumi asked her daughter as the Lancaster family walked down the platform in hurried steps. Hoshi playing with his toy – a small beater on top of his broom – on Rodney's lap. His legs were still too small to keep up with the pace of the others. "Yes mom." Meyra responded to her mother with what felt like her tenth 'yes, mom.'. "And your wand? Do you have your wand? It was on the top shelf of your desk." Harumi continued, her dark-coal eyes darting from one place to the other as if searching for something....someone. It was needed a colossal effort now, for Meyra to not roll her eyes at her mother, "Yes, mom." She repeated, even her voice sounded like a monotone. "Stop saying 'yes, mom.' Please!" Harumi told her in a slightly harsh voice.

"I was just..." Meyra began, but her voice became muted, as if it had dried up in her throat, too weak to come out of her mouth. Her green eyes shone with the warmth of the tears of joy that gathered there, as she saw the person she missed most. It was at that moment, the moment her world would slide and put everything in its rightful place, the moment Meyra had been waiting for so long to happen. "Jun..." Meyra said in a whisper, as hope was forming inside her chest. Hope that slightly vanished as she saw the stern expression on her aunt Reina's face. Her little heart started to pound, she could feel its fast rhythm in her ears, in her stomach...everywhere. Like a metronome, counting the seconds and placing a compass at that moment. She had been eagerly waiting to see her cousin and aunt again, but now that the time had come, she felt like she wasn't ready, she wasn't ready for that expression on her beloved aunt's face.

"Reina." Rodney finally broke the silence, as they reached towards Jun and Reina. He nodded politely, his expression grave and solemn. Hoshi, still in his arms, playing loudly and happily, in an act that seemed so unnatural, a stark contrast to the feeling that enveloped those around him. Harumi looked like a statue, her expression and posture revealing her proud and elegant manner, but the sadness in her eyes pierced the soul. Rodney came closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it lightly in an encouraging gesture. As if the gesture had awakened something within her mother, Harumi swallowed hard before slowly bowing her head, "Reina, Jun," She greeted, fixing her eyes on her sister-in-law again, as she straightened up, "Is good to see you both again." Harumi said. But so much words were lacking, so much was left to say.

Meyra looked from her mother, to her aunt and then towards her cousin. Wishing things could just be as they were before. Before, she would have run towards Jun, she would have hugged her in a tight embrace, she would have smiled broadly, happy and unafraid. Why it had to be like this now? It felt so wrong, everything since that night was wrong...she just wanted for it to start to feel right again, she just hoped they could be a family again. She knew things were broken, but she would not accept that they couldn't be fixed again, that she couldn't be fixed again.

@Jun Mayumi Mochizuki & @Colin McCoire

LOCATION | Platform 93/4 DATE | 1 September 2024 INTERACTING | @Meyra Lancaster

“ Hold my Hand ” 00:45⠀─── ◉ ───────⠀03:45

x | OUTFIT #e63b7a | DIALOGUE @Colin McCoire | MENTIONING

Jun‘s eyes watered as they met the warm green pair of eyes she had missed for so long now. The eyes that had given her a last moment of peace before their world fell apart. Her heart clenched in her chest, the muscles growing tighter and tighter as her family came closer. Oh Merlin she wanted to run. Run away from the upcoming emotion and the unrevealing expression on her aunts face. It was like a statue, unfamiliar and hiding pain, surely. Jun’s gaze held Mey‘s steadily, afraid her best friend would disappear if she looked away.

When her step uncle broke the silence, a shudder of what felt like needless stabbing into her ran down her back. She missed them all. Their voices, their faces, being with them. Jun had to suck up her emotions to not break down then and there. A small but fleeting smile spread across her face as she watched Hoshi play in Rodney‘s arm. Her little cousin had gotten so big the past year. Her mothers hand now settled onto her right shoulder, squeezing tightly and yet in a comforting manner.

„Rhodney… Harumi,“ she pressed from her lips, her expression turning to polite, hiding any feelings bubbling underneath. Even the burning pain of seeing her husband’s features represented in his sister, the woman Reina would have called her closest friend a year ago. Family. „Meyra, Hoshi, you’ve gotten so tall,“ she smiled, a hard porcelain smile, „Likewise, it is good to see you all again.“ Reina wished her Husband was putting his loving hand on her back, encouraging her to loose these awful feelings and be family again. Be normal again. But he couldn’t and they wouldn’t just go back to how it used to be. They could not. And it broke her smile into a similar statue like expression as Harumi, her broken heart beginning to be put back together.

Jun observed the interaction by the grown ups, containing her emotions and racing thoughts. She counted to 100 hundred as they spoke, concentrating on anything but the flashbacks darkening the edges of her mind and threatening to close in on her. Her therapist taught her this, to concentrate and control through focus. „How have you been?“ Reina managed to ask, not sure what to expect. The haunting thought of her family always only being a few minutes away by broom, but no way to visit them because their bond shattered on that cursed night. She couldn’t imagine they had been much better than Jun and her, in a large empty house, desperately trying to act as if everything was normal when it wasn’t. As if she didn’t have to hear her daughter scream in the basement every month.

Jun‘s eyes snapped back open, she hadn’t even noticed she closed them. Her eyes landed on the ground, a small spider running past their feet and into a dark corner. Then she looked up, searching for her missing piece and finding it in Mey. Finally she gathered enough courage, her now dry lips opening but no sound coming out. She swallowed, closing her eyes again for a split second and then opening them again. „Hi..“ her voice failed her, only a whisper escaping her lips. I missed you, she wanted to say but only shut her mouth again, wishing for her fathers presence.

It all sounded foul. Everything seemed fake. It was unfair, unnatural...it was pain. Raw and contained pain. It was hurting her heart, it was hurting all of their hearts. Why must they keep pretending they hate each other? That they blame each other for what happened? Whose fault was it really? Haven't they all lost that nigh? A brother, an uncle, a husband, a father? Do they also needed to lose each other? She and Jun lost part of themselves...wasn't that enough? Was this some twisted game of pretending? Or were they just not able to see through grievance and must eradicate any sign of love that remained? Weren't they family? Didn't they share more than just blood?...

All this questions, fell down in a cascade of cold, sharp realisation, through Meyra's mind. She wanted to scream them at those around her. She wanted them to listen. She wanted them to change. She wanted them to obey to her pleading heart. She wanted them to STOP! Stop pretending they don't care for each other, that they have nothing to do with each other. That, that awful night would turn them apart forever, that there was no hope. But hope was something natural for the young Lancaster, hope was as much part of her as all the rage the boiled inside her chest at that moment. And she also found herself pretending, swallowing all those indignant feelings, holding back the tears that threatened to appear, making the green in her eyes shine brighter, like emeralds drowning in a lake of sorrows.

"How have you been?" Her aunt asked. And Meyra knew it was a polite question. She knew, beyond that question were layers and layers of things left to say. "How do you think?" Harumi asked losing part of her rigid composure and slightly starting to tremble. She held her own hands in front of her belly and Meyra saw her mother's knuckles turn white at the way she squeezed even tighter, in an effort to keep her feelings under control. Harumi has always been the rebellious soul, the one that always followed her heart over social expectations. "Harumi..." Rodney's calming voice came as a murmur that he spoke to his wife's ear. As if sensing his father's change of tone, Hoshi stopped playing with his toy and looked at his mother with sad, questioning eyes. Then his gaze shifted and he realised who his mother was talking to, "Jun!!" He said, a bright, innocent smile crossing his face, "Auntyyy!!" he added, giving aunt Reina a small wave with his hand, the movement making him drop his toy that landed at Jun's feet.

Meyra didn't know if it was the tension that surrounded them, or the sound of Hoshi's toy falling at her feet, that made Jun finally open her warm brown eyes and look at her. "Hi" She heard her best friend say, in a weak, whispered voice. "Hi Jun." Meyra replied, almost choking in her own words, feeling a knot in her throat after restraining herself from saying everything she wanted to say. But she couldn't, she wouldn't stay in that side of that invisible wall of ice that separated them. That wall needed to be broken. And so she did it herself, she took it upon herself to do it, crossing the distance that separated her from Jun and pulling her best friend into her arms. Giving form to the answer of all those questions that were hurting her. Hurting them. "I've missed you so, so much." She told her in a whisper, and her tears would no longer be held back, her heart would no longer be restrained in that terrible grip of sadness. Screw all pretence...

@Jun Mayumi Mochizuki & @Colin McCoire

LOCATION | Platform 93/4 DATE | 1 September 2024 INTERACTING | @Meyra Lancaster

“ Hold my Hand ” 00:45⠀─── ◉ ───────⠀03:45

x | OUTFIT #e63b7a | DIALOGUE @Colin McCoire | MENTIONING

Harumi‘s voice presenting an answer to her Mothers polite question send shivers down Jun’s back and suddenly she was incredibly cold. She crossed her arms over her stomach, clinging on to the material of her sweater and leaning back ever so slightly, into the grip her Mother had on her shoulder. Oh Merlin, couldn’t that awful nausea finally disappear? The air around them felt suffocating.

And oh how it burned for Reina to see two people so close to her, so in love, when hers had been ripped away from her. To see little mannerisms of her husband in her sister in law, in her friend. She saw them in Jun too, in everything she did and the way she talked. Reina only saw her best friend and it was just as hard for her to not cry and hug her friend, as it was for Jun in that moment.

The young Japanese girl had been trying to focus elsewhere, to not let her emotions overtake her, until she heard her little cousin’s voice, like a dagger in her heart. Her eyes glazed over as she looked at him, his little face lighting up with a smile, even though his toy had just landed by her feet. Jun smiled back, not able to see anything anymore, but finally opening her eyes and pulling on every fiber of her being to not start sobbing then and there. „Hello Hoshi, haven’t you grown?“ she heard her mother say in a weak voice, her hand shaking on Jun’s shoulder.

Jun bend down to pick up the toy, gently brushing the dirt off and handing it back to Hoshi, not able to bring a single word over her lips. When she finally did, it was to Mey. A broken Hi, not more than a whisper. It sounded desperate and felt worse. Like her throat was filled with thick honey, swallowing everything she wanted to say and glueing the letters together in a way that didn’t make sense anymore.

Finally, Mey spoke back and Jun’s chest burned, the tears now spilling over the edge and running down her cheeks like hot rain. A trembling sob escaped her lips and Jun slapped a hand over her mouth, feeling her knees go weak. In the next moment she thought she might not be able to stand any longer, when her best friend saved her, like she always did.

Jun returned the hug immediately, clinging to her best friend like she would disappear every moment, literally gripping onto her shirt. The following sob was silenced as she buried her face in her cousin’s shoulder, holding onto Mey. She was her lifeline in that moment, finally breathing in the familiar scent that she had fallen asleep to so many times, the scent of the person that brought her comfort like no other. Pine trees, warm cherries and cinnamon engulfed her surroundings and calmed her nerves.

She shook off all embarrassment and anxiety of how other people may perceive them, trying not to care whether anyone saw them. Everything was forgotten when she heard Mey say she missed her. „I missed you too, so so incredibly much.“ The honey in her throat made her words come out cut off, disturbed by the effort of not sobbing in between her words but the dark edges around her mind had finally been filled by light. It felt like a weight sized the curse they both had to deal with was falling off her chest and even though it wasn’t gone, at least they were now together again.

„It hurts, Mey, I miss him“ Jun croaked in her cousin’s shoulder, speaking of the entire last year and the events prior, that they had to endure. And there it was too, the words she hadn’t managed to speak to her Mother once. They barely talked about her Dad, if they could avoid it, both still pained and dealing with it unhealthily. „I‘m so glad you’re here.“ Her Mothers hand was no longer on her shoulder and while Jun couldn’t see, Reina’s eyes were filled with tears as she finally took a step forward and first took Harumi‘s hands, before whispering „Jun and I both missed you, all of you. So much.“

Meyra was aware of passersby rushing past her family, leaving a blur of movement and loud sounds behind and scattered throughout the platform. The place was crowded and full of life, but the six figures that faced each other as if in opposite sides of an invisible wall looked like they were frozen in time. It was if life had paused just for them, for that moment. It was like a ballad that has reached towards the calmest of its rhythms, waiting for the crescendo that would lead to a grand finale, to the so awaited conclusion. If any spectator was in fact observing them, then Meyra hoped they were being able to see the threads of hope, the threads that slowly pulled all the pieces back together. She hoped that they were noticing the unspoken words, that only those eyes were telling.

"Hello Hoshi, haven’t you grown?" her aunt's voice came as a whisper, a sound so foreign from the confident voice Mey was used to hear coming from her. That alone made her heart skip a beat, tightening with the pain those words carried, not what they meant, but how they sounded. Hoshi seemed to not notice the nuances of what that tone of voice sustained, and his smile only grew wider towards his aunt and cousin. "I'm this now." He proudly said, holding up four little fingers, remembering his birthday had not been long ago. When Jun retrieved his toy he immediately hold it in both hands, happy to have it back. "What do we say now Hoshi?" Rodney gently asked his son. "Thank you Jun." The little child said timidly, hugging Rodney and hiding his face between his father's neck and shoulder.

Perhaps it was the way her brother acted, how his innocence made him the wisest among them, that gave her the courage she needed, the push that finally made her take the phew steps that separated her from Jun. Mey let her heart speak louder and lead, as she enveloped her cousin with her arms, holding her close as if only that could make her feel whole. She saw Jun's tears, the way that strangled sob had escaped her lips and she could not made herself stay still and watch as her best friend seemed to be falling apart. She missed her. She missed their talks, the time they spent reading together, walking through the gardens, playing their music...even the times they were just being two silly little kids and ended up meeting their parents disapproval and scolding words. All that...she missed all that.

Meyra had no idea for how long they had been holding each other, sobbing and gripping each other's shirts, as if afraid something else would separate them. Never again, Mey hoped that she would never have to be away again. "I missed you too, so so incredibly much." Jun told her in return, her tears now soaking Mey's dark purple shirt, just as her's were soaking her cousin's. "I'm sorry." Mey said, slightly pulling away from their hug. She sniffed softly before continuing, "For everything..." Her voice was breaking again, but as she looked down she filled her heart once again with courage. When she looked at Jun again, her hazel eyes were full of understanding and compassion, "I know it hurts. I also miss him very much." She said nodding, letting her cousin know that her words were meaningful and she was not just saying them because it was the right thing to say, "I promise to never stay away again, okay?" Mey told Jun, her eyes still shining with tears. She let her gaze fall into Jun's shirt, seeing the stain her salty tears had left there, "Your shirt is ruined..." she commented, voice still sounding tearful, but she gave her cousin a tentative smile as she tried to wipe the wet fabric on Jun's shoulder with gentle movements using her shirt sleeve.

Her attention only diverted from Jun, when she noticed that her aunt was no longer behind her cousin, but instead, she had reached out to her mother. Meyra turned around, still gently holding Jun's hand, not wanting to let go, as if by doing so things would go back to the way they were. It was then that she saw Reina and Harumi looking at each other, Rodney taking a step back allowing the two women to have some space, and Hoshi continuing to hug his father now making small noises that threatened to be the beginning of a tantrum as if the little one was finally noticing the emotion radiating from the people around him and didn't know better how to react to it. Her aunt's eyes were full of tears and she held her mother's trembling hands in hers. Meyra had heard Reina's words while she was still holding Jun, but her mother hasn't replied yet, as if she had found herself unable to speak.

Meyra's green and amber eyes looked at her mother, trying to read the emotion written on the face that she knew as well as her own reflection. There was doubt, first, then it slowly turned into realisation, as if she had needed time to fully understand Reina's words and their weight. And if there had been a sudden shift in time, as if something vital had been unlocked, as if the clock of life had started its natural movement again, Harumi took another step, and like her daughters, both women found themselves in a tight embrace. "I am so sorry Reina." Harumi said, whispering into Reina's dark strands of silky hair, tears also sliding over her face, like caresses that soothed and served as a balm for everything that had been wrong. Not just between them, but everything that had been wrong in that family portrait. Those tears could never bring Saturo back to them, but in her heart, Meyra knew that her uncle was watching over them and that in that moment he would definitely be proud of the two women he had loved so much.

@Jun Mayumi Mochizuki & @Colin McCoire

LOCATION | Platform 93/4 DATE | 1 September 2024 INTERACTING | @Meyra Lancaster

“ Hold my Hand ” 00:45⠀─── ◉ ───────⠀03:45

x | OUTFIT #e63b7a | DIALOGUE @Colin McCoire | MENTIONING

Jun shook her head slightly, not understanding what Mey was apologizing for. None of this had been her fault. If anything, Jun was the one that needed to apologize. Merlin how she hoped Hoshi didn’t remember that night and the sight of blood pooling behind the door. It felt like daggers sticking into Jun‘s entire body when she thought about it, when images resurfaced. Her disobeying of staying where she was hidden and talking to her Dad instead, had killed him and caused Mey a curse that nobody could reverse. A curse that Jun couldn’t take from her, only know they were sharing one more thing.

„No.. I am sorry Mey. I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have..“ her voice broke off as Mey said she missed him too. Of course she missed him. He was her uncle and he was amazing. She missed her Dad and gaping hole he left could never be fixed. She wiped her tears away with the sleeves of her shirt, waving air into her face as if that could help the broken look she displayed. Merlin, hopefully everyone would be too distracted to see. Jun nodded at Mey‘s words, feeling as if she had just spoken the words she needed to hear to feel prepared to leave for Hogwarts.

A shaky chuckle escaped her as Mey pointed out the tear stain on her shirt, similar to the one she had left on Mey‘s dark purple one. „Yours too, good thing we’re changing into those robes later, huh?“ she smiled slightly, brushing over the tear stain on Mey‘s shoulder while wiping away the last of her own tears with her other hand. Her face was probably all puffy and red now, hopefully not too noticeable though. That hope was most likely shattered by the way her cold cheeks now felt warm.

When Mey‘s attention diverted from her to behind her, Jun finally noticed that her mother was no longer standing behind her and keeping her stern gaze on them. Instead, she stood with her aunt, staring at her with wet eyes and a composure that Jun long lost. Unaware of doing so, Jun held her breath as her gaze jumped between the two women and then to her uncle, who was holding Hoshi. She smiled at her uncle slightly, Hoshi clinging onto him. She had missed them all.

When her gaze fluttered back to her mother and aunt, Jun squeezed Mey‘s hand slightly. It was going to be okay.. right? It had to be okay. Then the tension finally broke. As her aunt stepped forward, her Mum placed her arms around her, closing her eyes as a singular tear rolled down her cheek. Jun let go the breath she was holding shakily, her mother never cried in front of her and to see this happening was somewhat healing in the context, a warm feeling of a family reunited spreading through her chest. Mumbled apologies could be heard coming from Reina into Harumi’s shoulder.

Everything in Jun told her that this was good. That familiar feeling of being safe had been long lost the past year. She had been so scared of her family hating her, of Mey resenting her. Nothing had happened in the way it was supposed to and the death of her father had broken the family in way more ways than loosing someone. Everything reminded her of him and they didn’t have the opportunity to be there for each other, instead Jun had felt utterly alone with guilt ripping her apart. Now they weren’t alone anymore.

„I fear we need to get these two on the train now,“ Reina whispered then, slowly stepping back from Harumi but not letting go of her hand. The train whistled as confirmation, Jun held onto Mey‘s hand a little tighter, her heart beating faster. Leaving now felt like the worst possible outcome after just being reunited. But Mey would be with her and that meant it would be okay. It would be okay.