You will live as you live in any world…with difficulty, and grief.
► deathless ││ Accepting ◄
It is not easy to hear, not easy to feel or accept. The words are not soft or comforting but cold and blunted. They cause a stirring of anger, and defeat, within her mind. How heavy did the world become with loss? How much more could she bare, if any at all? If one listened closely, they could hear the snapping of vertebrae, the cracking of her ribs while they carved their names into the bone.
His voice does not sooth this pain. His touch does not save her. Worn fingers cannot brush the tears from her cheeks for they sear into her flesh with rage. There is a storm brewing in her veins that he cannot stop, but only watch. Only watch the mask she has only just formed crack and crumble into dust. Only watch her calloused hands tremble as nails dig into her face to try and hold it together. Only see the way air forces itself out of her lungs, and barely fills them once more. There is no words, no touch, that will quell the raging storm inside her.
The tongue that let loose pleads to let this end, to trade her life for theirs, wags no words now only sobs. The lips once soft and smooth now bleed after sharp teeth tear them open to stop the sobs. The wonder and kindness that once filled those emerald eyes is replaced by the storm. She knows he watches her, knows that she asked for his advice, begged for the answer; “How can I live with this?”
Live with the guilt of her clans blood on her hands. Live with the purge of an alienage. Live with the death and blood that stained her, dripping off her skin and soaking her for ages. It sinks in slowly, carefully embedding itself in her flesh, the curve of her cheek, just how she would live: CHAINED TO THE INQUISITION & GASPING FOR AIR UNDER BLOOD.
It is not a realization that calms her, nor helps the pain of names carving into her ribs. It only allows her to see the iron clapped around her wrists & throat. The chains that bind her to drown under the blood that floods these lungs. It is a realization that she has nothing beyond these stones and it is her fault. The anger boils her blood. The weighted grief cracks her bones. And the guilt makes her want to scream. But it no longer forms features in her skin, no longer twists her features. Perhaps it is the first time such emotions have made a storm that forms the new mask on her face.
Moving her knees to her chest, her arms around her legs. The emerald eyes still let tears fall, but they are no longer showing the storm. Burying her head into her arms, she hides from his gaze.
Her voice is distant, strained, and colder than she means. Perhaps something for the best.