HOTARU
Her answering smile is sad, a grief far older and heavier than Atlas’ loss like a yawning pit in the very heart of her. There’s no answer that needs to be given, he can read it in her face long before her emotions tell him. It’s why she’s so damn scared of this moment. Of hearing what he has to say. Motherhood is all she has ever wanted, and yet each time it has been cursed with tragedy. He pulls her close, and she burrows into him, chest feeling tight with a tsunami of emotions she can’t parse. Pregnancy hormones are a bitch, but Remi is warm and steady beneath the surface outside chill that clings to his clothes, and his embrace gives steel to her quaking form. Pulling away isn’t her choice, but she bears it for him. This moment is entirely his and Hotaru is merely at the mercy of it.
As he looks into her eyes her heart scarcely seems to beat but each time it does it hammers in her chest like it’s gasping for air. She hasn’t allowed herself to hope at all, so the intense surety of his answer buckles her knees, making her sway closer. His beaming smile is benediction, and her own is distinctly watery in answer. “Seren is very keen on calling me aunty Ru. She was the first person to find out,” she semi-answers, trying to find her footing. “It’s going to be hard,” she warns tremulously, nervous to truly scare him off but unwilling to leave it unspoken. But there is a relief that flows across his magic, a heartbreaking gratitude that she won’t have to do this alone. More alone than she has ever been before when it comes to raising a baby. “I don’t want to cause a wedge in your family. I won’t ask to be included myself, or for you to introduce the baby to Mateo or Ronin. I want to make this as easy on you as possible.” It feels wrong to explain this when celebration feels like the correct response, but it needs to be said with their convoluted ties.
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
