Snowfall

An intro to Mercy's life. With some other family members making an appearance.

“Mercy, It’s almost seven, you need to get up and start helping me get dinner ready for tonight.”

I grumbled curses into my pillow and yawned, ignoring majority of what my mother had said. My second mother so to speak, the one that actually had me. Halcyon shifted in my doorway, her shadow catching the light so I was aware of her presence. With a heavy sigh I sat up, making sure the blanket didn’t slide off me because of how cold it was.

“I’m coming, mom.” I muttered and reached to the end of my bed to grab my Mass Effect hoodie.

It had become something of an inside joke for a few of us after Halcyon had gotten it for me. She always said Shepherd loved irony like that, so she would have gotten a kick out of it if she was here. Nobody knew where she had gone, just that she had up and disappeared one day without telling anyone goodbye. I knew it wasn’t the first time, I’d heard all the stories of her messes, but it still made my skin crawl a little. Haly always told me to keep an open mind, since Shepherd never did anything without a reason, and no matter what, she always come back. My mother and the rest of our family had been telling me that for almost eight years now.
I glanced over at my empty doorway, and I could hear faint bangs and scrapes from outside in the kitchen. So I pulled my hoodie on and swung out of bed, walking out into the hallway and noticing a thin layer of snow on the ground outside, the woods around our house were thick and dead, caught in the cold winters of rural Virginia. I could still see fading stars in the sky, like they were ornaments hanging from the gray branches over our house. It brought a smile to my face, the idea of winter and christmas, it was my favorite part of the year. I guess it was because of how people treated each other, how everyone was happy. I loved seeing people happy, one of the biggest differences between Shepherd and I. My mother had wanted bad people to die by her hand because it gave her power, made her the living devil. I did it so that other people could rest in peace, knowing the evil in the world was slowly dying.

“About time you woke up, kid.” Shadow’s gruff voice snapped my attention to him, and I blushed lightly at him calling me a kid. “You gonna help your mother and I or what? Not like Kai is much help.”

I glanced over to the couch and saw an arm pop up, raising a finger in his direction. “Not deaf, a*****e. I will come over there and find you.”

Shadow chuckled and went back to chopping vegetables to put in the crockpot. He was shirtless despite the cold, I rolled my eyes, he was such an idiot. I walked up beside him and started to move the food over, sneaking the occasional carrot or potato and gulping it down before they noticed. Hawk traipsed over after a few minutes and leaned down over my shoulder to smell the food, a smile playing over her face.

“Mmm, the only thing worth living for.” She purred and smirked at me, her unnaturally blue and white eyes gleaming like she could still see me. “Trust me, kiddo, food makes the world a better place.”

I laughed and tossed the last of the potatoes into the pot. “I thought you liked plenty of other things more than food.”

Shadow winked down at me since his sister wouldn’t see it. “She does, but none of them are appropriate for your age.”

Hawk barked with a laugh and turned to him with a smirk. “I remember doing my fair share of evil deeds when I was just a year older than her. Hell, I was old enough to kill people and get blown up.” She cleared part of the counter before jumping up to sit on it, her small form barely getting in the way. “I also remember you being a pretty big part of all that too.”

I kept myself from gagging as she traced a finger across his chest and purred up to him. “Why is this house so full of ridiculous siblings?”

Shadow ran his fingers through his sister’s hair and roller his eyes. “Don’t even start. Should we go see what Milo and Coal are up to right now?”

“God no.” I choked on a piece of celery that I had just taken a bite of. “Besides, they’re not real siblings anyway. They aren’t blood relatives.”

Hawk shrugged lamely but didn’t turn her attention my way. “Majority of this family isn’t related by blood but we still act like it. Either way, Shadow and I mess with each other, but I’d cut him into little pieces if he ever touched me.”

Shadow huffed with a breathy laugh and hooked his arm under Hawks’ to toss her over his shoulder, carrying her back to the couch and dropping her down onto the cushions. “Out of the kitchen, miss dangerous, you’re distracting us.”

I smiled and sat down on the floor, keeping my back against the cabinets while they kept preparing everything. My mothers lithe form darted around Shadow like he wasn’t even there, like they had some intricate pattern of moving so that they never crossed paths for more than a few seconds. Little details that pointed to what they had been at one time. I watched in awe at their constant recognition of what the other was going to do, like they could read each other's minds or something. I’d heard all the stories of what kind of nightmare Halcyon had used to be, one of the most frightening of everyone with the way she could move like a ghost. Shadow had been a brute, letting nothing stand in his way. He seemed so different now, softer, kinder, like he had grown accustomed to not being out in the world. I’d always admired him, the once dangerous man that had ripped people apart for endangering his family. He had aged so much in his thirty-four years that his hair had already begun to gray, and he carried himself with a sort of defiance that echoed what he had used to be.
Halcyon had become more graceful in her time away from killing. She’d become more of a memory of what she’d been once upon a time. I knew she didn’t even have a clue about me sneaking out some nights to do what they had done. A wave of guilt washed over me. What would she say if she knew? They all thought I was so different from them, the compassionate one, the one that just wanted everybody to be happy. I turned my attention away from Haly and Shadow’s dancing movements, finding no more comfort in the echoes of their past.

“I’m gonna go out for a bit.” I mumbled and stood up, walking over to the door to get my shoes.

“Don’t be out too long, kid.’ Shadow called over his shoulder, still caught up in what he was doing.

I nodded curtly and walked outside into the freezing snow, reaching back to close the door before seeing Hawk behind me. Her long unkempt white and brown hair hung in soft curls around her face, and she raised a finger to her lips to keep me quiet. I smiled a bit, Hawk and I got along better than anyone else in the house, so I didn’t mind her coming along with me. She shut the door behind her and grabbed my hand, pulling me forward into the snowy woods.