Hotaru
My head's a burial ground of your memory
Steel against stone as the dagger drops helps Hotaru navigate the dark enough to throw her arms around Kiada, clinging tight. The physical differences are immediately obvious; temperate skin, no heartbeat. It doesn't matter one bit to the Valkyrie. It hadn't bothered her with Rexanna, it doesn't bother her now with Nate. All that matter is that Kiada is alive. Perhaps other people will not see her that way, but it's all Hotaru could ask for. "I thought I lost you forever," she breathes as her body seems to finally come to terms with the physical existence of her niece once more, and then the tears come all at once. Silent as any mother's, refusing to burden Kiada with her grief, but her small frame trembles all the same as she presses Kiada close to her breast. One hand comes to cup Kiada's dark head, pressing a kiss against her crown with lips that tremble, wet with tears. "I've missed you more than words could ever say. I love you, my sweet. I'm so, so sorry I failed you." For it may not have been her grasping reach that had fallen short, but she had watched all the same as the girl had perished in the fires. So she clings all the tighter, because there's nowhere safer Hotaru can think to keep the girl than within her own arms.
