serpent and the poison flower / respira and delilah
Oct 31, 2016 21:13:42 GMT -7
Indi and ❅ Icy Dragon ✩ like this
Post by + ebonite + on Oct 31, 2016 21:13:42 GMT -7
respira
Respira had never been any good at personal relationships. Perhaps that was a given and perhaps it was not. She had never been bothered by it before. The one that had really opened her eyes to it was Castle. Their fight had been about that, had been about how she put her work first above everything else. She did not know what else that he expected from her. She was the Helkaer Commander. She had to keep busy, had to maintain everything, had to keep everything in line. And what's more than that - she liked it. She loved it. She wanted to do nothing more than it for the rest of her life. And so she would. She had condemned herself down this path. She would live out the rest of her days as Helkaer Commander and die before the position was taken from her. She would pass it on to a worthy candidate and make sure her blood stayed in the Brotherhood until the end of the Brotherhood. It was everything to her now. She was usually cynical about these kinds of things, but the Brotherhood was where everything lay for her. She needed it. And it also needed her.
Delilah coming home had been an unexpected turn of events. Respira had not been expecting her home. She had even been wondering if she should give up on Delilah ever coming back. Five months had passed. Five months her daughter had spent in that horrible place. There was no telling what had been done to her. Delilah had not had any marks on her when she'd come home. Her body was unmarred and unscarred. However, she was thin and gaunt. The muscle she had built up had wasted away. She looked as if she had not slept in months. Whatever Charm had done to her had fucked her sleep schedule - maybe permanently. All Delilah would say about it was they kept her awake. All of the time. And made her watch things. She would not even talk about what she had seen, but Respira could imagine.
Respira had thought that after all of that, Delilah would want to get back into training - to take revenge on Charm and show him that he hadn't beaten her. But she wouldn't. She refused to train. She refused to talk. She isolated herself, went away on her own. Sometimes Respira found her sleeping in some random place and sometimes she found her wide awake, staring at nothing. Respira wanted to help, but she didn't know how. And Delilah would not take it. She would not take the help. So, Respira had ignored her. That was, until now.
With Akroma disappeared, Delilah returned, and Grizmar in their possession, Respira saw now valid reason for keeping the Dark King alive. So, she gathered the Helkaer and each of them took turns beating Grizmar to a pulp before they collectively kicked and thrashed at him until he stopped moving. No doubt he died in agony. They'd then taken him to the Helkaer Ruins and burned his body with the aid of the Afterlife and displayed his charred bones at the entrance. Respira felt cold and numb at this point, as she lined the bones up with Vulcan, Duncan, and Sly. Then, she decided that they would march on Lachlan Breck and show the rest of the Darks as well as the other alliances just what they were capable of. No one was safe.
And she thought this was the perfect time to get Delilah to come out of her shell.
It was a bit difficult to find her, since she made it her priority not to be found, but Respira eventually did find her, at the edge of the territory. She was standing in the field of flowers, though their colors were fading and starting to shrivel due to the cooler temperatures.
"Delilah," she said.
Delilah looked over at her, but her eyes were impassive and unexpressive. She didn't look happy or sad or angry to see her mother. She just looked.
Respira tried to ignore this fact and continued on, "Grizmar is dead. It is time we marched on Lachlan Breck."
She might have not spoken at all for all of the reaction that Delilah gave. She continued to stare. It was a long pause before she responded. 'So do it.' She was dismissive and turned her back on Respira then, staring off in the other direction, her tail twitching lightly.
Respira fought back the annoyance that rose in her throat and walked up to Delilah, standing beside her. She was only a little bit shorter than Respira now, thanks to Castle's shorter height. She was full grown now. An adult - a mare, capable of starting a family, of going out on her own, of doing whatever she wanted. Instead, she chose to stay in Toxin Raj and mope. And not march on Lachlan Breck. This was her opportunity to get revenge. Respira could not comprehend why Delilah would not want to come.
"This is your chance to get revenge. To get better. Come on, Delilah, it's time you stopped moping." She said, trying to be comforting, though it had the exact opposite effect of what she had wanted.
Delilah whirled on her fast as a snake and Respira felt the nostalgia of their training days wash over her. Delilah had not touched training since she had gotten back, another thing that baffled Respira. Wouldn't she want to get stronger? To get better? To focus on something other than her bad experience?
'You don't know anything about what I went through, mother. You don't know anything at all.' Delilah was shaking as she hissed at Respira, her eyes full of rage such that Respira had never seen. She had said something terribly wrong. She did not know why but something had set Delilah off.
"No, I don't." Respira said. "Because you won't tell me. You won't let me help you. Let me help you." She said through gritted teeth. No, she didn't know how. But she wanted to try. She needed to try.
'You don't know how.' Delilah spat back, emphasizing each word. And she was right. 'Just leave me alone.' Delilah turned away again.
Respira felt angry again. "No." This time she stepped right in front of Delilah, forcing her daughter to look at her. Forcing her to see. To acknowledge. "You need to stop this. You're my daughter. You can't give up."
'You abandoned me.' Delilah said. 'You left me there for five months. You didn't fight for me. Grizmar was more important than I was. Keeping him was more important than saving me. You never even tried. You let me rot. You're not my mother.'
Respira's eyes flashed silver and with a growl she swiped at her daughter. A warning swipe. No one talked to her like that. Not her. Not her own daughter. "I tried-" Delilah cut her off with a swipe of her own - but this one was not a warning. Respira was not expecting it and it caught her hard in the jaw. 'You didn't try hard enough!' Delilah snarled. "I killed-" Again she was cut off but Delilah's snarl and another swipe that caught her in the chest. 'I don't care!'
Respira was stunned. None of her children had ever fought back like this. Never. She'd certainly hit her kids before - especially Mansion and Nightingale because of their attitudes, but they had never hit her back. And she had never been in this kind of a situation before. It was only by pure luck that she hadn't been before. Lanathia was dead long before Respira could get to her.
When Respira said nothing else, Delilah whirled around again and marched past her mother, growling, 'I'll do this on my own. So leave me be.' She continued on.
Respira could only stare. What have I done?