fiammetta
by fire be purged
She withered even as he watched her, the fire leaving her with a chest full of embers, still scalding but without the sparks of anger that fed them. All she felt was horror, horror at her own failure and Atlas' reaction to it, as if he could not bear to look at her. She met him with barbed accusations, although they weren't hurled with the energy for which she was famed. They were instead dropped upon him, as if she had stumbled and they had fallen, unbidden, from her lips. The monochrome male's features fell, collapsing like her heart, and yet he continued to strain at the borders that separated them, his muscles twitching with the effort of holding himself back. No doubt he hadn't expected a fight from her, and only fear of Tobias prevented him from leaping to destroy her himself.
Fiammetta hung her head with shame.
Thus, she did not see the boy's eyes grow sad or his brows furrow, did not notice how he lapsed into an all-consuming thought that had him surveying the landscape around her. She watched, instead, the cold dirt at her paws, feeling the crisp winter wind unhindered by trees, and shivered at the open expanse behind her. Somewhere on that undulating landscape, her enemies wandered free, and all because she was weak. Her mother had been right. Iskra had always told her what she was, a failure, a betrayer who took after her lying grandmother and demonic grandfather. It had hurt her then, when she had suckled beside her siblings, but that accusation had begun to feed her, fuelling her lust for revenge against the darkness that had borne her. That is, until she lost against Tobias. Now, the knowledge pained her as truth, and she shrunk from it as she shrunk from the male, only looking up with an offended expression when next he spoke.
His apology was wasted on her, for she did not see the regret in his expression. She only heard what she perceived to be his reality, and it struck her like a blow in the chest. When she spoke her voice was again husky with feeling, but her single eye had begun to burn dangerously, signalling the rekindling of her inner blaze, “I do not run because I am not afraid! I will never again move away from my destiny. This was meant, you see, and I will suffer it with dignity. Tobias and his black witch will fall yet, at my teeth,” and then, overcoming her initial displeased sentiments, she offered, “and yours.” It was her way of letting him know he was back on the team, if not entirely forgiven. The thought of facing what was to come alone scared her too greatly, and so she relented, giving Atlas a small vestige of her trust back. He had shown up, albeit a bit later than she had expected, and he was ready to fight with her.
For now, that was all she required from him.
No Home - No Family - 6YO - 22 in, 32 lbs