09-25-2026, 11:27 AM
In so many ways, she had died the moment he had. Her twin. As though his vitality had seeped into her, sharing his life so she too could live. Then, it had been stolen, drawing everything from her until she had been little more than a wisp. A ghost pressing footprints in her wake, as though the world required proof she still existed.
She had always been foolish and weak, living for others rather than herself. One existence bleeding into another, until she no longer recognized that which tethered her to the land of the living. She couldn’t even say the moment she had stopped living, only that it had been inevitable, passing unnoticed just as her entire life had.
She never understood why her mother had chosen Rapture for a name, for she had only ever been a herald of grief and sorrow. She could count the moments of her life in tales of heartbreak and betrayal, each tear that fell only adding the the ocean of her past, dragging her under until she had no longer been able to find her way.
In the end, she hadn’t even recognized what she left behind. In the end, it had truly only been Rapture, finally freed of the burden life had shaped her into. It had been a kindness more than anything. After all, without a will to exist, what is left to keep the heart beating?
Kindness is such a fleeting thing. She would know that better than anyone. Even now, she is not meant to receive such a thing, because, as it turns out, life is not yet done with her. At first, she does not understand. There is only confusion, overshadowing the eternal sorrow wrapped around her very bones. As her vision clears, she gazes up, not daring to understand that which towers above her. She would rather exist in willful ignorance than wallow in the abyss of her sullied past.
But they whisper to her, clawing at memories she would rather stay buried, reminding her of the sordid life she had lived. It was his voice she recognized first. Longclaw. And despite the years, the thorns of grief still wrapped around her heart. Then, her parents, so disappointed in what she had become. In the many ways she had failed, never living up to their many aspirations. Levi’s voice wrapped around her, so warm at first before binding her in the chains of betrayal. She had always been a fool, but never more so than this. Because she had betrayed him not for love, but a naive dream she had known could never be even while she had dreamed it.
Her children were the one thing her existence had wrought she could never regret, but even they clamored. The whispers deafened her, dragging every secret into the light, drowning her in emotions she hadn’t been strong enough to manage, even in life.
She wept. A river of tears, washing her into the ocean she had left behind. She tumbled, the eddies and currents too powerful for her to find her way. She didn’t even try. She had never been strong enough, and even death could not erase that understanding.
The creature’s words were a life raft. Anyone else might have reached for it, but Rapture did not even try. Instead she simply stared at the figure towering above her, gaze blank and hollow, the memories of her past far too much for her to bear. She had always been a weak creature, a fact that was never more apparent than in that deathless moment, called forth by a creature as capricious as the concept of kindness.
She had always been foolish and weak, living for others rather than herself. One existence bleeding into another, until she no longer recognized that which tethered her to the land of the living. She couldn’t even say the moment she had stopped living, only that it had been inevitable, passing unnoticed just as her entire life had.
She never understood why her mother had chosen Rapture for a name, for she had only ever been a herald of grief and sorrow. She could count the moments of her life in tales of heartbreak and betrayal, each tear that fell only adding the the ocean of her past, dragging her under until she had no longer been able to find her way.
In the end, she hadn’t even recognized what she left behind. In the end, it had truly only been Rapture, finally freed of the burden life had shaped her into. It had been a kindness more than anything. After all, without a will to exist, what is left to keep the heart beating?
Kindness is such a fleeting thing. She would know that better than anyone. Even now, she is not meant to receive such a thing, because, as it turns out, life is not yet done with her. At first, she does not understand. There is only confusion, overshadowing the eternal sorrow wrapped around her very bones. As her vision clears, she gazes up, not daring to understand that which towers above her. She would rather exist in willful ignorance than wallow in the abyss of her sullied past.
But they whisper to her, clawing at memories she would rather stay buried, reminding her of the sordid life she had lived. It was his voice she recognized first. Longclaw. And despite the years, the thorns of grief still wrapped around her heart. Then, her parents, so disappointed in what she had become. In the many ways she had failed, never living up to their many aspirations. Levi’s voice wrapped around her, so warm at first before binding her in the chains of betrayal. She had always been a fool, but never more so than this. Because she had betrayed him not for love, but a naive dream she had known could never be even while she had dreamed it.
Her children were the one thing her existence had wrought she could never regret, but even they clamored. The whispers deafened her, dragging every secret into the light, drowning her in emotions she hadn’t been strong enough to manage, even in life.
She wept. A river of tears, washing her into the ocean she had left behind. She tumbled, the eddies and currents too powerful for her to find her way. She didn’t even try. She had never been strong enough, and even death could not erase that understanding.
The creature’s words were a life raft. Anyone else might have reached for it, but Rapture did not even try. Instead she simply stared at the figure towering above her, gaze blank and hollow, the memories of her past far too much for her to bear. She had always been a weak creature, a fact that was never more apparent than in that deathless moment, called forth by a creature as capricious as the concept of kindness.