🩸 adira x atalia ( it's pretty bad )
🩸 my muse took a blow for yours and is bleeding
violence tw, blood tw, death tw
“Atty?” The war was raging around them, smoke and fog darkening the sky, spells lighting up the ruble like lightening, but Adira’s voice was clear as day.
It’d been years since they both graduated from Hogwarts and Adira had been the the biggest support system she ever could’ve been granted. With each day, she was working towards being a better woman, but it was difficult and she needed someone she could be herself around while still pushing her towards making the right decisions. In more ways than one, Adira had been her rock when Atalia had lost nearly all of her family besides Chryson.
Which was why the sight of Adira, back lit by flying spells and fire, and blood spreading across her shirt made her freeze. She watched as the woman started to falter, the shock beginning to move through her system, and all Atalia could do was scream. She threw a spell, knocking back the Death Eater they’d been fighting before running toward her. Sliding to the ground, her pant leg ripping open, skin tearing as she got caught on some ruble, but she didn’t have time to wince. Not while her arms were embracing Adira just before she hit the ground, cushioning her from any more damage.
“Adira--’Dira, no!” Atalia’s voice was as shaky as her hands as she tried to stop the bleeding that was beginning to spread faster. “No, no, no, stay with me, ‘Dira. This isn’t how you’re going out, you hear me?” Her eyes darted around--they were too out in the open, too vulnerable to any Death Eaters looking to get revenge on the Selwyn and Nott blood traitors.
Tears were beginning to prick the corners of her eyes, emotion starting to overwhelm the logical part of her brain, but she pushed through it. As best she could, Atalia pressed her hand to Adira’s abdomen and used as much strength as she could muster to drag them both behind a pillar to give them some cover while she started working on healing the other blonde.
“--hey, look at me.” She hadn’t realized it, but her tears were falling quickly, the drops hitting Adira’s shirt while the older girl took her face in her hands and forced her to look. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“Don’t say that, ‘Dira,” she said, quickly blinking her tears away and pulling her face away so she could keep working. “I told you, this isn’t how you’re going out. You don’t get to go out after taking that hit for me. You’re supposed to live a long life with Chryson. You’re supposed to be there for your kids--they need you, Chrys needs you, I need you--you are not dying!” With her hands still shaking, Atalia started slowing the bleeding, determined to fix this, to fix one thing in her life.
“Atty. Atty stop.” Adira’s voice sounded weak, but Atalia just continued to blink through her tears and mutter healing spell after healing spell as she prayed to a god she didn’t believe in.
“N-No.” She shook her head, focusing on the work at hand. “I’m the one that deserves this, ‘Dira. I’m the one that’s made the terrible decisions, I deserve the short life not--” her voice cracked-- “not you.”
“Stop.” The firmness in Adira’s tone startled her, the hands back on her cheeks making her look up again. “You don’t deserve that, Atty.”
“Neither do you.” She couldn’t stop the tears anymore, just letting them roll down her cheeks, no doubt cutting paths through the soot and blood already there. They sat there for a while, Atalia holding Adira in her lap while she silently wiped away the younger girl’s tears. “You just got your life back. I promised Levi I’d get you back safely. You and Chryson aren’t the only ones who get to be martyrs, you know.”
The joke was dark, just like all their jokes recently seemed to be, but Atalia still laughed, her hand combing through Adira’s hair. “Chryson’s gonna be so mad you didn’t let him pull the martyr card this time.” The mention of her brother made her freeze--what was she supposed to tell him? His wife stepping into the line of fire for her? As if sensing her thoughts, Adira took a shaky breath and spoke.
“He lost so much, Atty. He couldn’t lose you too.”
“And what about me, ‘Dira?” Sobs started shaking her shoulders. “I know it’s selfish, but I can’t lose you either.”
“You’ll be okay. You’ll have each other.”
The battle was over not long after, Atalia remaining there until her tears had dried and the commotion had died down. No one bothered her or tried to move Adira. Maybe they knew better than to bother Atalia, maybe no one knew at all, but the hushed whispers surrounding her fell on deaf ears as she stared at her wand on the ground in front of her, a bloody hand print wrapped around the useless piece of wood. Nothing stirred her from her protective stance until she heard Chryson’s voice floating toward her.
