/ * ARE WE NOT ALL THINGS ?
asphuxia:
The first thing she notices is the emptiness of the air, the stillness of it; Eir realises that the relentless tap of his hands has dulled. Now the silence that sits between them makes its true weight known— all until her question bids him turn towards her, finally. Pale eyes meet his own, searching for a kinship in the return of that hollow gaze. Death wonders if Elysium can see it reflected upon him. It feels like…
Eventually, he answers— and his tone gives Eir pause. There is a gentle hope within her, wishing he might say more; but a huff follows after the admission, and once more Elysium turns away. A sigh keeps itself tucked behind her teeth and beneath her tongue, trusting only patience to see her through.
“… Some see death as deliverance,” she answers quietly, resting against the cool iron of the bars. How many times has she repeated those words, clinging onto the fragile truths within? It was no small admittance that Eir had once been of this mind, seeking a fleeting peace at the light’s end— and perhaps a part of her yet continued to believe it. Each word that falls from her lips is carefully placed. “… an end to endless suffering. A final destination to all that is. Do you not wish for it?”
Something dark flashes within her eyes, silver and scarce as starlight. Eir looks away, her next words nearly as swallowed as the setting sun upon the ocean’s horizon. “… Forgive me. It is not my place to ask you that. I only thought…” you reminded me of someone.
Again, silence.
It’s indecision that keeps Elysium’s mouth shut, but he’s content for the cold shoulder he’s given the imperial researcher until now to be its facade. An end to endless suffering. Yes, he did want that, and yet-- He stares at the ceiling in silence. Each word whispered still echoes against the steel plating and stretches the space between him and the bars with illusory distance. He doesn’t say anything. His fingers have stopped tapping.
There had to be something more.
“Even as a child, I knew nothing but stone walls,” Elysium says at last after Eir yields before the frigid silence. “The empire promised to put an end to the nobility’s hoarding and free the children held captive by greed, but I have seen nothing but the same people in different masks. Yet... it was only after my capture did I meet individuals who told me that there was something more beyond the walls. Something strong enough to keep them alive, and to drive them to struggle against the odds. You and that other woman in Issyk are just two of the people I have met who have not let themselves be broken.” Pale eyes steal a sidelong glance toward the door of the cell where Eir still sits. “I have long wondered how freedom tastes, if it can be so motivating...”










