DEIMOS
He didn’t let go – not this time, not after all the other moments and seconds and intervals where he allowed others to cast themselves out of his orbit. They left for warmer fields. They departed for better worlds not punctured and pierced with greed, with avarice, somewhere they could grow beneath delight and radiance instead of caustic strife. They fled for lives away from him, the mountains, the ice, the snow – and he permitted them all. He never begged. He never pleaded. His iron detachment, his forged steel, pushed aside all his sentiments, all the reeling, disappointing, scathing ventures, and simply stood, unearthed and unholy, within the chilling winds and the desolate void, watching them escape his might, his goals, his ambitions, his protection, his cold, dark erosion. Wasn’t there a reason so many turned into the mist, into the falls, into the sand? Wasn’t it he that was lacking, pushing them aside, conforming, consigning himself to oblivion? While the Reaper had stayed in those twisted, gnarled valleys, in those bitter portions of rime, the rest of them blossomed, found their roots elsewhere, scattered away from dust and dirges. Then he died, and it was the only time he’d ever abandoned them.
But she stood, rancorous edges plucked, irritated, by his feral demand; but he was no king, not now, not again, no lord on his throne, no crown sliding down his devilish inclinations. Instead of hastening back to the skies once she was on her feet, instead of declaring some monstrosity, instead of barreling down into the feats of their weaknesses and strife, he opened up his wings and went to draw them around her. Not the same as human forms and figures: she was larger than him now, and the pain shooting through his spine and shoulders ensured his capacity was shortened, a hug, an embrace, as best he could manage under the blighted, pestilent circumstances. It wasn’t for long, but he wanted her to feel the strength rampaging through them, the might, the tenacity, and the obstinance curled and fanned in his blood – plumes of ferocity she shared. I just wanted you to know you were still strong.
"who's gonna let you?"
they asked. i said
"who's gonna stop me?"
