“Sister Naveah?” The little girl whispered. “Is the sun up yet?”

Naveah stared down at her, compassionately stroking the little girl's hair as she let out a groveled sigh, filled with both pain and tiredness. “No, little sister. It is not. But I will wake you when it does so we can greet it both with warm smiles.”

Naveah attempted a smile, her jaw completely enveloped and lost to what had become of her lower mouth. She felt she made a smile, knowing how horrifying it might have looked to the little girl, Naveah smiled honestly.

The little girl smiled back and nestled more into her lap area to get warm from the dropping temperatures on this planet. She whispered, “Thank you, Sister Naveah. Thank the Emperor he sent you to be with me before my final moments on this world. Even if they aren't, I thank thee oh Emperor, for sparing me from death when my family wasn't so fortunate in your eyes. I'm so tired, Sister Naveah. So tired…”

The little girl dozed off, half-asleep, and her head slumped onto Naveah's warm belly. As the she fell deep into her sleep, Naveah continued to stoke the girl's hair once again, tears welling up in her eyes, her other \*\*\*eyes\*\*\* with putrid blood.

As the cold began to grow more and more, Naveah began to ponder her continued existence. Her body ravaged and corrupted, her fellow Sisters searching for her no doubt, and above all else, Chaos followers infested this once safe place that the Imperium had established centuries ago.

\*I can't keep lying to myself. Nor to this poor child, who sees me as her divine guardian. Despite all that has been done to my body, she sees me still as a Sister of Battle. Why? Why does she still see me as her guardian and not a Chaos abomination?! Why? Why give me hope when there is none for me, child?\*

“Why give me hope when there is none?” (Humbleknight14) [Warhammer 40k]