── and i was never sure whether you were the lighthouse or the storm ──
The cry that her touch elicits is enough to break her clean in half, but the way that Echis repeats her own name like she doesn’t recognize it is enough to crumble her.
It makes her wonder how many times a child of hers has been broken and afraid, how many times they have needed her and she wasn’t there, because she never is. She is so used to being alone that she makes them learn to be alone, too, and she has never had to feel the weight of that guilt until this very moment. “Echis,” she repeats her name, softer this time, every syllable laced with sorrow and she tells her, “You aren’t lost anymore. You’re with me, and after this, we’ll go home, okay?”
She reaches for her again, but this time, it is with her healing. She is not as fast at it as some – not like Carnage; if he chooses to heal, at least – since she rarely heals anyone other than herself. She floods Echis with everything warm and golden, and eventually she reaches forward and is met with skin instead of muscle. She can feel a sigh of relief breathe from her chest, but there is still an unease gnawing at her because she wants to know why she ended up like this. “You have nothing to apologize for,” she murmurs as she steps closer, longing to draw her daughter tight to her chest but afraid of startling her or otherwise hurting her.
There is a brief moment of silence that she lets linger between them, before she touches her nose again to her neck, and asks her gently, cautiously, “Do you remember anything about the beach you were at?”
It makes her wonder how many times a child of hers has been broken and afraid, how many times they have needed her and she wasn’t there, because she never is. She is so used to being alone that she makes them learn to be alone, too, and she has never had to feel the weight of that guilt until this very moment. “Echis,” she repeats her name, softer this time, every syllable laced with sorrow and she tells her, “You aren’t lost anymore. You’re with me, and after this, we’ll go home, okay?”
She reaches for her again, but this time, it is with her healing. She is not as fast at it as some – not like Carnage; if he chooses to heal, at least – since she rarely heals anyone other than herself. She floods Echis with everything warm and golden, and eventually she reaches forward and is met with skin instead of muscle. She can feel a sigh of relief breathe from her chest, but there is still an unease gnawing at her because she wants to know why she ended up like this. “You have nothing to apologize for,” she murmurs as she steps closer, longing to draw her daughter tight to her chest but afraid of startling her or otherwise hurting her.
There is a brief moment of silence that she lets linger between them, before she touches her nose again to her neck, and asks her gently, cautiously, “Do you remember anything about the beach you were at?”
ryatah
@[echis]