Beth listened quietly, tears slipping down her face in silence.
She lifted her head, looked at her sister's worried expression, then glanced at Calista and Leah across from her. Finally, she nodded firmly, her voice trembling with emotion.
"I understand. I'm sorry, Maggie. I made everyone worry. I… I won't do anything foolish again. I want to live."
Maggie carefully supported Beth as the two sisters leaned into each other by the fireplace.
Calista's gaze drifted, almost unconsciously, to Leah sitting beside her, posture straight, expression cool and composed.
Sister.
Weren't Maggie and Beth, in a way, just another version of Leah and herself?
Maggie was just like Leah.
A strong protector. When the family was shaken to its core and their father became lost in unrealistic hopes, it was Maggie who stepped up to manage the farm, shield her fragile younger sister, and hold together this small island of stability in a broken world.
She was resilient and decisive, holding up a sky for those behind her.
And Leah was no different.
As an experienced mercenary captain, she had always been the team's sharpest spear and strongest shield, and Calista's greatest support.
Leah instinctively placed herself between Calista and danger, using her strength to back every one of Calista's decisions without hesitation.
And Beth?
Calista looked at the pale girl and saw herself not long ago.
The version of herself who had just arrived in this world, thrown into the chaos of the walking dead.
Panicked, afraid, completely lost. She had only a vague understanding of the story, but none of the ability to match it. Like a vine desperate to cling to something solid, she had longed for someone to rely on.
Beth choosing to end her life after losing hope was one form of fragility. But hadn't she herself been fragile in her own way back then?
It was just expressed differently.
Fortunately, she had Leah.
Though her sister seemed cold and unyielding, she had never truly abandoned her.
During that hardest period of adjustment, Leah gave her the footing she needed to stand.
From dependence to independence, from something that needed support to the leader of Rock Fortress, Leah had always been there. Not gentle, perhaps, but undeniably effective. A catalyst that pushed her forward.
Now, watching Maggie gently encourage Beth, Calista understood her own feelings toward Leah more clearly than ever.
Her sister might appear cold, might act in the way of a mercenary, but the heart that protected her was no different from Maggie's.
"We'll be okay, Beth," Maggie said softly. "As long as we're together."
Those words quietly echoed what Calista had been thinking.
Sisters, in this broken world, were more than blood ties. They were each other's anchor and light in the dark.
She looked away, then happened to meet Leah's eyes. A soft, warm smile touched her lips.
Maybe, just like Leah had guided her, she could offer Beth a bit of strength. Help this girl, who had just crawled out of despair, find her own path.
"Beth," Calista said, her voice gentler than usual, "just staying alive is already a fight. And today, you chose to keep fighting. That alone takes courage. As for what comes next, take it one step at a time. You're not alone."
Beth lifted her tearful face at those words, and Maggie turned to look at Calista as well.
Calista took a quiet breath. She had decided to share something she had never told anyone before.
"Beth, you said you feel lonely and can't see a future, right?" Her voice was soft, carrying a distant, reflective tone.
"I understand. I really do. Because not long ago, I was just like you. Maybe even worse."
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze unfocused, as if looking back at the moment she first arrived in this unfamiliar world.
"When I woke up, I had nothing. My father… didn't care about me. My mother was gone. My whole world had turned upside down.
And I was completely powerless. I felt like something drifting on the water. One wave, and I could disappear without a trace."
There were things she could never say out loud. That she had been twenty-three, lost everything, and ended up in this real version of The Walking Dead world, becoming Calista, confused and adrift.
Her words struck a chord with Beth, who nodded hard. Maggie's expression softened with sympathy.
"Then," Calista said, turning to Leah, "I found out that I had a half-sister in this world. A sister I had never met, only heard of by name. Leah."
Leah's body tensed slightly. She stayed silent, but her fingers tightened faintly where they rested on her knees.
This was the first time Calista had spoken so openly about what she had felt at the beginning of their relationship.
"I was like someone drowning, desperate to grab onto anything that might save me." A faint, self-mocking smile touched her lips.
"I wanted to go to her no matter what. Not because we had any deep bond. We didn't even really know each other back then.
It was simply because I needed someone to rely on. I was afraid of facing everything alone. I needed someone strong to protect me, to make me feel… like I wasn't completely alone."
Her honesty cut deep, laying bare the most vulnerable part of her past.
That desperate need to cling to someone, to place all hope of survival on another person, was painfully real. It resonated with the same fragile place inside Beth.
"So, Beth," Calista said, looking at her again, her eyes steady and strong, "what you're feeling right now isn't strange, and it's nothing to be ashamed of.
Fear, confusion, wanting someone to lean on. That's the most natural reaction when someone is pushed to the edge. What matters is the choice we make in the end."
"I chose to reach out to Leah, even though I had no idea what would happen. And you," she paused, her voice softening further, "you chose to sit here with us today.
That's your choice. A choice to keep going, instead of shutting yourself away and giving up. That alone takes real courage."
The room fell quiet.
Tears welled up in Beth's eyes again, but this time they carried relief, and a faint spark of something new.
Maggie wrapped an arm tightly around her shoulders, gratitude filling her eyes as she looked at Calista.
Leah lowered her gaze slightly.
She had always known that Calista's sudden closeness back then had not been entirely simple.
As a seasoned mercenary, she was not naive. She could tell that Calista's eagerness had its own purpose.
But deep down, she valued family. She had seen the confusion in that girl, the way she had reached out, trying to hold on. So she accepted her somewhat clumsy attempt to get close.
But this was the first time she had heard it laid out so clearly.
Back then, she had been the only light Calista could see in the dark.
That weight of reliance wrapped around her heart, a heart long accustomed to killing, and softened it in a way she had not expected.
In that moment, through Calista's honesty, something deeper than ordinary friendship formed between the two pairs of sisters.
They were survivors of the apocalypse.
More than that, they were each other's support, something steady in a collapsing world.
...
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