Prompt: In your last moments you understand your father’s weird saying.

Damp muck crawled into the fibers on the back of her shirt as Melody’s labored breaths disappeared among the trees. Fifteen years. She had spent the better part of the past fifteen years breaking her back for the guild. Too many miles away from home, away for far too long, her childhood crush married with kids. What did it all get her? Restless nights in harsh environments, debt she has to pick up extra commissions for, and now her back is probably actually broken with Spirits know what beasts lurking around.

The sharp pain of a rock or branch dug into the middle of her back when she tried to shift her weight, her lungs swelling from the gasp. Even if her back isn’t broken, at least three ribs are. Silent tears traced the faint lines forming from lost years before pointlessly watering the pale moons scattered from her fall. They’d wither away in less than a day now that they’ve been plucked.

It didn’t matter how much she suffered from the pain or her financial losses, her wasted years came with experience that told her she couldn’t afford to let the forest know she was easy prey.

Melody clenched her fists in a desperate attempt to keep her thoughts in any semblance of order. A possible concussion was probably the worst news her strained senses could give her. Sure the damage she took and the money she sunk into this job weren’t great, but a head injury would expose her to avoidable situations that not even a novice would put herself through.

Faint buzzing captured her attention like a symphonic lullaby pulling her soul from her body. The low hum growing louder until something fuzzy brushed against her cheek and leaving behind a warm wetness with the unmistakable scent of copper. An emperor bee splattered with blood hovered around her face in a complex three dimensional dance that in any other circumstance would be beautiful.

Straining her neck with everything she could muster, she landed on the sight of the pale moon’s crystalline petals stained a diluted red in a puddle of deeper crimson.

“Of course.” She muttered. “After everything, this is how it ends.”

Melody let her tension melt away and relaxed into whatever was stabbing into her back, the dull pain replacing her survival skills as the only thing keeping her alert enough to enjoy the emperor bee’s dance.

The vision of a young girl exploring the forest with her father before he got sick flashed through her mind. “As subtle as a bee.” She chuckled while enjoying her personal show, occasionally repeating her father’s words in attempt to hold on long enough for the finale. “As subtle as a bee… as subtle as… a… b…”

A dim light filled her eyes as she broke out into a manic laughter and chanting the last two words. Her lips froze together in preparation for the next b, the light finally gone.