Lily left no room for argument. The petite, generally docile woman dug her long nails into Adrionne’s wrist as she pressed a few sheets of folded paper into it. The young elezen couldn’t see what the object was as she fought to hold the distraught twins. Around them the hall echoed with bestial roars and wet screams.
“Run!” Lily commanded. Her voice had a chilling dual-harmonic quality to it and the air turned electric when she spoke.
As a duskwight native to the Black Shroud, a third-generation surface-dweller, Adrionne was immediately uncomfortable when she recognized that Lily was calling reluctant land spirits to herself, driving them against their instincts and will. Like so much else that was occurring in the chaos, this would not end well. Still, Adrionne was frightened. No amount of training prepared her for what was coming.
“No, Lily! You must come with me. Rataskr said—”
“He can’t do this alone. We banish it together, or not at all. My children will be free! Go!”
Adrionne was stubborn, but all fight died as Lily turned and charged into the fray. Beyond, the creature known as “the Patron” tore free of its vessel and belched a stream of caustic shadows over those who fought against him.
Over Adrionne’s family.
If not for the two squirming, inconsolable toddlers in her lean arms, she would have chased after Lily. However, she had been taught to honor one’s oaths and stick to plans. She was to escape with the twins, and although Lily would not join her, she could carry out at least that one task. Against her desire, she turned her back on the battle and rushed toward the Grimm dwelling.
“The vessel –" Anu howled behind her.
Adrionne looked over her shoulder in time to see the lalafel woman get impaled on a dagger. The elezen assassin, though wearing a thick mask, shot a blue-eyed glance at Adrionne before silently nodding his approval. That parental approval banished what remained of her apprehension, and Adrionne sprinted to the door and kicked it open.
Once inside, the young woman put the twins down and pushed several pieces of furniture in front of it. The plan was to make it seem as though they were barred inside, even if she intended to promptly escape with the twins. Unfortunately, with only one adult going with the twins, she would not be able to take the two bags with her. She skidded across the floor on her knees and tore the bags open, looking for anything vital.
“Maybe Lily and Rataskr would both survive and take the rest before meeting her at the manor house…” Adrionne thought to herself.
That thought, though, brought her to a stop. Her family would not let Rataskr survive. He was void-touched and could not be suffered an existence any longer. It had taken several firm voices in the family to save him for as long as they had. Adrionne glanced to the twins who were trying to pull the furniture away from the door while calling out to her.
“Entie! Help! Out! Go out!”
In response, she only redoubled her effort to find only the most important things in the bags. She found Rataskr’s letter and recalled the papers Lily had given her. One was an envelope like the letter Rataskr had used, and in neat script, it was addressed to Violetta and Valerian. The other sheet of paper was addressed to Adrionne. She debated the letter a moment, but ultimately decided that she had to read it before going any further.
“Dear Auntie,
I am sorry. I always knew what was coming Rataskr wouldn’t hear it, though. It distressed him too much. I am so sorry, dear. Today will devastate you, and I wish that I could walk with you from this place. However, Rataskr and I must banish the evil to give our children any hope of long lives. This will not end their battles, nor yours, but it will give you all the time you need to grow. I really cannot say more than that in writing. I can, however, tell you that I am so eternally grateful for your understanding and compassion, and the future still holds love and joy for you. What you mean to me and what you will mean to my children is of little consolation, I know, but that cannot change just how grateful I am to you.
Now, rather than trying to carry the bags of belongings we packed, I have smuggled a respectable stash of gil out to an ally with connections in Gridania. The information you need to claim that coin is at the bottom of this letter. Use that to replace what you cannot take with you. Please, though, take these letters, mine and Rataskr’s, so that my children might one day have some answers. I feel cruel making such a request, especially when you may not have nor find comfort in the answers you seek. Just know that, I tried. I spoke to your father. He knows everything that I know and he has still decided to undertake this fight. I hope he left you a letter at home.--”
Adrionne refused to read anymore. She angrily stuffed the paper in her pocket and then completely empty one bag and started stuffing it with clothes, a couple plushies, and the security blankets. She looked angrily at the letters from the Grimm parents, but rather than giving into petty fury, she shoved them down at the bottom and then picked up the bag and secured it to her quiver, so she could still draw her bow if necessary.
“Come on, you two,” she said softly.
The twins were wailing calls to their parents and didn’t pay any heed to Adrionne’s request. She stared at them a moment, trying to empathize with their distress. This brought her uncomfortably close to accepting Lily’s vague premonitions, though. With a frustrated grunt, she stomped over and picked up each of the toddlers. Their scratching, slapping protests were largely ignored. Even when they reached up to grab her earring or hair, she marched toward the pantry. She opened it clumsily with her foot just as someone started to beat on the door. She paused, wondering if it might be one of the Grimms.
“I̴ ̴w̸i̴l̸l̴ ̸h̷a̶v̷e̷ ̸t̴h̵e̸m̶!̷”
The person’s voice was warped by possession. It was a familiar sound, like the amateur usage of fresh, fleshy vocal cords. While the creature was likely still fighting for its foul approximation of life, it was sending the possessed dead to claim the very children that had sparked Rataskr’s betrayal. Surely the creature didn’t need a child vessel, it could find someone else to claim. This was about hurting the would-be betrayer.
Adrionne gave no answer, but also didn’t try to silence the twins. Instead, she wove just a bit of aether into the room, and bounced the twins’ calls around the space. The haunting, thrown voices would resonate for several minutes, giving her time to extract the two toddlers from the hellish compound. She dashed through the portal in the floor and landed roughly on her boots. The portal was tucked in an unnatural alcove, on the freedom side of a caved in tunnel. She could smell the rain and hear the thunder, but it did little to discourage her from rushing out of the tunnel. Both twins had fallen eerily silent, each becoming dead weight in her arms. She could only assume they were shocked from the transport via portal.
She only made it about 200 yalms before the earth shook beneath her feet. It was enough to drive her to her knee, but Adrionne was able to keep the twins safe during the fall. She let them go and turned back to the place they had just escaped. A cry of devastation tore through her as she stumbled to her feet. She staggered a few feet back the way they had come before dropping to her knees.
The once pristine grove of trees, a veil to disguise the subterranean compound, were all felled and laid broken over a vast network of sink holes. Smoke billowed from a central crater, and in the wake of the explosion, only the sound water rushing into the depression and the crackling sound of settling earth and lumber came from the site. There was no life emerging from the wreckage. Whatever had happened in the battle had been absolute, just as Lily had foretold.
Minutes ticked by and Adrionne’s tears flowed in hot juxtaposition to the rain that soaked her through to her bones. The shock was overwhelming, and once she was thoroughly numb, she crawled back to the twins. They were both unconscious, and she didn’t have the mental capacity to spare for questions like “why?” Instead, she reached out and gently patted their cheeks, silently and automatically encouraging them to awaken. In time, Valerian sputtered and opened his eyes. If Adrionne had had her wits about her, she might have noticed the pale blue irises were now scarlet in color, but she didn’t. She was registering very little. Valerian’s tears and wailing started again, but rather than fighting Adrionne, he got up and wrapped his small, thin arms around her. Violetta wasn’t far behind. Maybe Adrionne would have benefitted from sitting and crying with them, but instinct demanded motion. Action. She detangled herself from the weeping children and stood. She adjusted her things, and then reached out to each of the twins, taking their hands. Before she left, she turned to cast one more glance at the smoldering mass grave. She knew she should feel something, but so much was displaced by shock.
I think we first met in the comments to one of my stories and I thought of you as a poet then and still do -- the sort of person reinventing South American modernity (that cursed word for those of us who don't come from the Global North, lol) in arts and letters. I then developed a healthy respect for you as an expert in easy to make desserts, in dance music and in writing perfectly placed, heartbreaking words that did precise and elegant work in the fabric of the large and spacious dreamworlds of your stories.
Awww miss Hat, Rain thank you, for lack of a better word I'm 🥺
It was indeed one of your fics! And I remember it clearly because it was the same day I finished writing Exit Wounds :D so I allowed myself to get back to reading a bit, and I'm happy it was your lovely story about Yeong and Eun-sup growing up together.
I'm always happy to show you guys this side of the world. I think after years of visiting different fandoms, I never saw someone portraying people like me or the cities I've been to rightfully or accurately. So I was more than happy to take our protagonists, and my readers, to these confusing lands.
(And I know, I'm writing for a k-drama so it's kind of hard to engage with cultures that seem so foreign (in terms of geography), but Yeong gave me the perfect excuse ahaha).
As I told Viper, in the three fics I've written so far, I've tried to reconcile with literature I grew up reading but, since it's almost a forced exercise, I took for granted growing up. Hence, probably, the poetry of it.
(There's only so much García Márquez or Clarice Lispector you can read before you start feeling like solitude is your friend ahaha).
Oh! and the food! It was small torture writing at 2 am about Submarinos, brigadeiros, beijinhos (I even bought coconut milk to prepare them but I haven't yet), and paes de queijo.
I hope to continue taking you to these tiny pieces of the world in the future! Thank you for your ask :D
..,.,,,.TBH I still can't believe I actually managed to efficiently pull out the big tiddy goth gorl style and even find the courage to go out like that, like, for real AND without regrets. Wow.
