my held breath fills the room with blood
hurting in ways I can't describe
There is a restless, grieving thing inside her that wants to cry at seeing Flora struggle so clearly through her disbelief, but it is not in a good mother’s nature to be selfish. She has failed too direly in these final hours to shirk any further duties. This is all she has left to do anymore. So her gloved hands come up to gently hold the back of Flora’s neck, kneeling with her daughter on bloodstained snow as she tries to cup the remnants of her daughter’s life in her own broken hands.
A pair of twins, both left alone.
“I don’t know what your dad can do,” she admits, because the offered cost for Atlas alone had been so great.
But not one Hotaru wouldn’t pay for her son, admittedly.
“Only the Gods can bring him back, Flora. And I don’t know if they will. Okay? Honey, listen to me.” Gentle hands firm just enough to shake Flora by increments, heterochromatic gaze intense in their search for her daughter’s. “This is a dangerous road to walk, thinking this way. I don’t want that life for you.” One of guilt, blame, and the endless, fruitless search for reparations and redemption. The recovery of a soul that may never return. “But you’re a young woman now. If you want to preserve his body for now, I won’t say no. We can ask your dad. But honey I don’t know if there’s anything we can do.” For why wouldn’t any other grieving mother or sister have done it, if it were so easy?
Still, there is nothing Hotaru wouldn’t do for Flora. Even this, the forsaking of immediate funeral rites for her only son to buy her daughter more time.
A pair of twins, both left alone.
“I don’t know what your dad can do,” she admits, because the offered cost for Atlas alone had been so great.
But not one Hotaru wouldn’t pay for her son, admittedly.
“Only the Gods can bring him back, Flora. And I don’t know if they will. Okay? Honey, listen to me.” Gentle hands firm just enough to shake Flora by increments, heterochromatic gaze intense in their search for her daughter’s. “This is a dangerous road to walk, thinking this way. I don’t want that life for you.” One of guilt, blame, and the endless, fruitless search for reparations and redemption. The recovery of a soul that may never return. “But you’re a young woman now. If you want to preserve his body for now, I won’t say no. We can ask your dad. But honey I don’t know if there’s anything we can do.” For why wouldn’t any other grieving mother or sister have done it, if it were so easy?
Still, there is nothing Hotaru wouldn’t do for Flora. Even this, the forsaking of immediate funeral rites for her only son to buy her daughter more time.
my heart bends and breaks
so many, many times
HOTARU
