14. Smile

The phantom Astrid smiled sadly; she had seen what she needed to see.

She had knelt outside the door crying, moaning, sobbing for an entire night. She wailed because of him; she wept because he had wounded her in some way she could not fathom. In honesty, he had wounded the mortal Astrid. She was the one who should be crying, but lay curled in a tight ball in her blankets instead, an unknown sadness draped over her.

Just as she did not know the true reason for her tears, the ethereal Astrid did not know that she was a lie told by the storm. A lie that would bring him to his knees, dead. But she cried, waiting for the ending she did not understand.

The night was nearing it's end when she heard the soft click, saw the dark doorknob turn ever so slightly, a motion so slow that her it pained her imaginary mind. Another click resounded in the stifling air as the doorknob turned back quickly. Something slumped to the floor with a dull thud on the other side of the door.

The phantom Astrid smiled sadly. He came for her; his heart heard her weeping and reached out to save her, his love. Inside, the mortal Astrid worried; she cried as she held the man she did not know she loved. But the ethereal Astrid smiled still, not because he was saved, but because he was prepared to die to save her.

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Yes, this is the same night as Misfortune, just from a different perspective. There's likely to be yet another one from the real Astrid's POV in the future.