12-06-2017, 10:36 PM
“I suppose this may be hello again, won’t it, mother?”
Seirye smiled softly—her eyes taking in the pleasant, almost oblivious smile on Marielle’s face—and the sorceress reached out to gently take the woman’s hands and give them a small squeeze.
“Oh. Hello,” the woman replied, looking past Seirye as much as at her. The healer took a deep breath, trying to calm the rapid beating of her heart as she held her mother-in-law’s hands just a fraction tighter.
This may be it…
Even as the thought passed through her mind, the small smile remained on her lips as she leaned forward and gently pulled the older woman into an embrace—her arms wrapping around her mother-in-law’s shoulders as she sought out the hurt that wafted in and out of Marielle’s consciousness and coiled securely around her mind.
She felt Marielle shift as the woman slowly, almost automatically, returned the gesture.
Like a loose thread, the hurt began to unravel. The insanity. The pain. Fraying like an invisible ribbon. Seirye’s eyes closed partially as she held her mother-in-law tighter.
Let this be one last thing I can offer.
The healer shifted her head ever so slightly, keeping her husband in the periphery of her awareness as the ambient white glow of her eyes became mirrored in the eyes of the woman she held.
As much as she wished she could, she couldn’t slow her racing heart as the thread of insanity unraveled more quickly, words leaving her mouth in a hushed whisper as she magically willed them to form in Angelo’s mind. Fragments of her voice echoed gently like the ripples of a water droplet in a calm pool.
”Please smile for me.”
Her breath caught in her throat for a moment as she started to draw the remnants of the hurt into the fabric of her wasting body.
”Smile for the moments we shared. For the memories you and Auguste can still make. If anyone can change this world, Angelo, I know ‘tis you.”
She felt the grip of her fingers in the fabric of Marielle’s dress slacken slightly. Seirye attempted to reassert the strength of the embrace, but it almost seemed as if any ounce of the strength that she could still muster had started to slip through her fingers as if it were as ephemeral as mist.
”After all, you found a way to give me everything I had dared to dream of. In a world built upon despair, you gave me bliss. Love. A family that I was able to nurture for at least a little while. Our son brought happiness back to Vieri’s eyes.
“Every moment with you is a memory I cherish.”
Seirye winced, as small gasp on her breath as her body screamed. Her teeth clenching as the invisible threads she had pulled from Marielle pierced the essence of her very being, twisting and writhing like an angry snake as every nerve flared—angry and burning with ice.
“No matter what happens… I shall live forever with you.”
As the pain rose, she kept the cry in her throat at bay, the beginnings of glistening tears starting to trace a line down her pale features. In unison, her hands began to slide lower down Marielle’s back, the grip slowly slackening completely.
”I promise...”
And then the pain was gone—an ephemeral moment of peace as her vision swam before her, the edges fading into darkness.
”I promise, Angelo…
“I promise…
“I shall… always... love…”