that day even the sun was afraid of you and the weight you carried
He shouldn’t be surprised that Mazikeen had died before—that she had died multiple times. She seems the type to try it. The type who doesn’t protect herself when she should. Who runs toward the thing that she should be running away from. It’s why they’ve crossed paths so many times now, he thinks, with no small amount of bitterness. He had done his best to drive her away from the very first interaction when it could have evolved into something more—when she had extended her hand and he had bitten it instead.
But she hadn’t stayed away and he guesses that he hadn’t either.
Maybe he’s as inclined to death as her.
But he keeps all these thoughts hidden away, tucked away from even himself. He shoves them down in the darkest corners of his soul to never examine—instead looking at her with his sharp golden eyes, his fury barely reined in but starting to come back under his control once more. He focuses on what she says about his mother, about his brother, and he white-knuckle holds onto that as a focal point.
“My mom saves a lot of people,” he says with a tight-lipped smile. “Even when she doesn’t realize that she’s doing it.” It was both his most and least favorite thing about her. Her heart, being his most. The way that she never saw just how angelic she was—even when she was mopping up the mess left behind by everyone in her life—being his least. He’s not certain he’d ever stop trying to show it to her.
But instead he gives a shrug, a casual motion that does nothing to ease the tension on his stance, in the shadows that writhe around his legs, licking up like dark flames. “I grew up in Hyaline,” he says, his heart racing but the pulse beginning to slow down. “Back when my dad pretend he ran it.” It was never a kingdom for Atrox, he knows. More a piece of land he stuck a flag in and called home. So Firion had never minded when Atrox had handed it over to the shifters—he was long gone by then anyway.
“Thank you, by the way,” he manages finally. Nearly choking on the words, his gold eyes intense.
“For saving my brother.”
He frowns, clearing his throat.
“For dying to do it.”
so you saluted every ghost you've ever prayed to and then buried it where bones are buried
@[Mazikeen]