[private] of the shackles and the dream

[elio]

elio

some say I should learn to cry but I only learned how to fight
and I know everything must die but nothing fades like the light

Time heals the physical remains of Elio's encounter with his estranged family, but it only deepens the rot of the emotional wounds. A sore jaw and occasional stuttering is all that he has left to deal with his body's pain.

Lio's mind, though - that is stuck in the anxiety loop of the memory of the second his father snapped his jaw.

His thoughts are sticky and weighed down by the dark sludge of muddy heartbreak and fear. He wrestles in it: the filth, a repulsive mudpit filled with trauma and regret. When Elio sees his reflection, it's easy to imagine his sleek golden fur is matted by blood and natured.

It's easy to imagine he is a victim and a monster, because it's easier than facing reality.

Wolfbane will kill me. Celina will kill me.

A pause - that stutter that usually trips up his tongue now skips in his mind, then -

Wolfbane will kill me. Celina will kill me.

His jaw breaks again. Elio cries out again. Blood spills again.

Fire Wing.

Lio snaps his neck around, startled gray eyes settling on the adolescent figure of Nashua. The crash of the ocean is now more than a faded ringing in his ears. His breath hitches with the overwhelmingness of it all.

But that instinct to protect all of those in his father's path wins, and the pegasus is able to focus enough to think more about Nash's traumatized than his own.

"I will do my best to always be here when you need me," Elio quietly promises, feeling his heart squeeze. He knows that the coming months will be spent grappling with the curse and his own pain, but he cannot stop himself from promising. "I'm lucky to be here, Nash," he murmurs as an afterthought, meeting the boy's gaze for only a beat before turning back to the sea.

"Taiga feels different, these days."

@[Nashua] sorry for the wait D: