my darling can you hear it? something's lurking in the leaves
I can feel its preying eyes on us from somewhere in the trees
I can feel its preying eyes on us from somewhere in the trees
Her presence alone is a balm. To not be alone in this moment. If she had been, the silence would have been too loud, too painfully obvious that there is no other soul at the opposite side of her tether. Gratitude isn’t a word large enough for what Hotaru feels when Seren softly accepts the task handed to her. Hotaru can’t bear to move away, but she presses her hands to her ears like a child, folding into herself and focusing on the thrumming stutter of her heartbeat in her ears so that she doesn’t have to hear the awful snap.
It feels like the worst kind of betrayal to have been incapable of doing it herself, but even the muted sound makes bile rise immediately in her throat. Willpower alone keeps what’s likely only stomach acid at this rate from finding its way out of her body.
Slowly removing her hands and ignoring the way they shake, she gently retrieves the dark spiral from Seren. It is then held immediately to her breast, the cold edges molding into her skin to leave red marks behind as proof that she had tried to somehow meld them together anew. “He deserved a better bonded than me,” her voice warbles. There is no self-pity there, only surety that Atlas had been too good for her. Weakly she uses the back of her hand to feebly wipe the tears from her sticky cheeks. Hotaru feels gross all over, down to the marrow, but there’s nothing she can do about it. “Thank you,” she whispers instead, reaching for Seren with the hand that does not still clutch Atlas’ horn to her skin. “I don’t know what to do without him.” It’s a painful admission. “I’ve never raised a child alone before. I always at least had Alice.” And that had made all the difference, with the men she’d dared to love seemingly cursed to leave her. Or perhaps it was the other way around - she was the one cursed to be left and forgotten.
A hand presses over her navel, and her fingers tighten around the horn. She is utterly alone.
It feels like the worst kind of betrayal to have been incapable of doing it herself, but even the muted sound makes bile rise immediately in her throat. Willpower alone keeps what’s likely only stomach acid at this rate from finding its way out of her body.
Slowly removing her hands and ignoring the way they shake, she gently retrieves the dark spiral from Seren. It is then held immediately to her breast, the cold edges molding into her skin to leave red marks behind as proof that she had tried to somehow meld them together anew. “He deserved a better bonded than me,” her voice warbles. There is no self-pity there, only surety that Atlas had been too good for her. Weakly she uses the back of her hand to feebly wipe the tears from her sticky cheeks. Hotaru feels gross all over, down to the marrow, but there’s nothing she can do about it. “Thank you,” she whispers instead, reaching for Seren with the hand that does not still clutch Atlas’ horn to her skin. “I don’t know what to do without him.” It’s a painful admission. “I’ve never raised a child alone before. I always at least had Alice.” And that had made all the difference, with the men she’d dared to love seemingly cursed to leave her. Or perhaps it was the other way around - she was the one cursed to be left and forgotten.
A hand presses over her navel, and her fingers tighten around the horn. She is utterly alone.
my dear don't let it catch you - all that's left to do is run
Hotaru
