The young mare didn't know what to expect. But she'd decided to put it all out there, to spill her feelings. She didn't want to rehash the pains that came from their mutual history, or even the other ghosts that Nephilim clung to so desperately as a way to punish himself forever. It was in the past and there was nothing he could do to change that. What she did know was that Nephilim was still in there, somewhere inside this hollowed shell of the stallion that stood in front of her now. He was there, deep down, and what Oswin needed her to do was to draw him out.
The silence that spanned between them was short-lived, but utterly intense. They breathed each other in during this quiet embrace, and suddenly Vita Nova was dizzy with feelings she'd hadn't felt since, well, since he left the first time. It was raw and all encompassing, and something she did not expect. She had hoped that time had healed the wounds of the lost love she'd experienced with Nephilim. She wanted so desperately to think she was over him, that she was past this, whatever "this" was, and that she could maturely return to him and focus on what mattered most: his children, his family. But that short embrace, the feeling of his rough skin against her soft muzzle, of his familiar musk in such close proximity, it drew it all back to the forefront. She was just a young filly again, he a young and healthy stallion. They were back in the Bay, exploring the mountains together for the first time. Oh, what a dream.
But then it ended. Vita Nova withdrew when she first felt him stir, abruptly and almost in shock. Her head shot up high over her withers and she backed away several steps. She swallowed hard as she began to fall back into reality. Her blue eyes stared at Nephilim now, and the tear stains on his gold-flecked face. She studied the look of pain that had hardened him and aged him. His beaten body. They could never go back. She reminded herself now. Too much damage had been done. She would do what she came here to do, but there was no future for her here. Not with Nephilim.
"Why are you doing this to yourself?" She asked him honestly, the melancholy she had for his situation heavy in her tone. "You can't change the past, but you're not dead Nephilim. Not yet. There's still a future out there where you can be happy with your family." She listened as he ambled on, listing all the barriers that were too great standing in his way. She kept her mouth shut for a long time, assessing his sad tale. "They love you so much. There is no existence you can dream up where they are happier or better off without you, no matter what you think. They should get a say so in this, instead of you just giving up for them." She retorts calmly and quietly. "If all of what say is true, then why do you continue to stay here, in this awful purgatory, not dead but lingering in your own misery and pain? What's stopping you from ending it all right now?"
Her words sound sinister and blunt, but her tone is still calm and even. Her eyes are wide and full of concern. "You could get better." She adds with the flick of her tail. "If not the Bay, then in the Prairie... with me." These last words surprise even herself, and suddenly her heart is racing. She buries her muzzle into the wild grasses again, shielding herself from Nephilim's view for a minute. Oh God, what am I doing? She thinks, she panics.
4 | Mare | Evaline x Valentine | Smoky Back Splash | 15 hh | © Vinyl |
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