moral of the story is, i will gut you if i need to
i will carve my way out
She has no way of knowing all the others that lie concealed and sinister beneath darkness and illusions. The destruction of the tower, the screaming, the shouting, it is a maelstrom of noise and sensation. The only grounding force is the tight grasp of Noah’s around her own, the snap of his command that bellows for all that it exists in her mind. Hotaru has never bent to the orders of men, but she can sense the shelter and protectiveness that radiates from him - encompassing all of Halo, and herself alongside. As such she finds that wind crests beneath her wings before she even registers following the inexorable shove of his command.
And when she realizes mid-flight that he is being targeted, the lioness inside snarls loud enough to make her wingbeats falter. The Valkyrie is howling, demanding she crest back to the Sentinel’s side to defend and protect at all costs, even against the man she loves - loved? - and the cherished woman she’d had to choose to abandon for Deimos’ sake. But they had not chosen to follow her, to strike her down. It is a puzzle with no clear picture, too many questions and hardly any answers. All she knows is this is an opening she cannot afford to squander.
Abandoning Noah is a betrayal of the highest order. It goes against her very nature. Surrender in the first place is a cowardice she can scarcely bear, being forced to flee without even making a stand merely an added agony.
Contrasting loyalties and urges shred her apart, but the beat of another heart inside her tie a knotted noose around her neck that drowns out all other noise. She must defend her unborn child first - above all else.
It doesn’t make turning her back any easier.
She does it anyway.
Hotaru flies as swiftly as her wings and the wind will carry her, and already she begins to plan.
- - -
Ru continues flying towards the mountains to leave Halo/the KQ!
And when she realizes mid-flight that he is being targeted, the lioness inside snarls loud enough to make her wingbeats falter. The Valkyrie is howling, demanding she crest back to the Sentinel’s side to defend and protect at all costs, even against the man she loves - loved? - and the cherished woman she’d had to choose to abandon for Deimos’ sake. But they had not chosen to follow her, to strike her down. It is a puzzle with no clear picture, too many questions and hardly any answers. All she knows is this is an opening she cannot afford to squander.
Abandoning Noah is a betrayal of the highest order. It goes against her very nature. Surrender in the first place is a cowardice she can scarcely bear, being forced to flee without even making a stand merely an added agony.
Contrasting loyalties and urges shred her apart, but the beat of another heart inside her tie a knotted noose around her neck that drowns out all other noise. She must defend her unborn child first - above all else.
It doesn’t make turning her back any easier.
She does it anyway.
Hotaru flies as swiftly as her wings and the wind will carry her, and already she begins to plan.
- - -
Ru continues flying towards the mountains to leave Halo/the KQ!
with only my teeth
HOTARU
