Total Eclipse

Chapter 13

The guardian dragged her out, ignoring her hurried and weak breath, her hand starting on her wrist but ending with their fingers intertwined. Her face wasn't as brilliant as she thought, and the facade and illuminance were cracking, shards of marble from the ceilings and drips of diamonds like early spring snow, all falling upon Luz and the guardian. Words both echoed and screamed, a silence so painfully deafening that it slashed through your mind. The voices were sickeningly familiar yet so distant, as if they were spoken long ago in a dream that disappeared as she woke up.

"I remember you speaking of this heart of stone, but no. You do have a weak spot, don't you? Look at how soft you've gotten,"

"You're a fool. You truly thought those gentle touches, your few and little kindnesses, could make such a monster anything else, didn't you? We all know that part of you was destroyed long ago, you did it yourself,"

"Everyone knows what you think of her. Sickening. Revolting. They don't know any better and here you are, taking advantage of this unknown kindness,"

"They're disgusted by you. She is disgusted by you. You can see how those brown eyes flinch away at your touch. You need her, you know you do, it's pathetic. You need her so much and yet you know that they're all simply pitying you,"

"Everyone is in danger right now, and it's all your fault. You gave people one simple reason to trust you, and you've damned them all. Maybe the curse, the jinx... it was just you all along,"

"Look at the mess you dare to call yourself. They only pay attention to you because you're useful for them, for their agenda. If you weren't such a freak, they wouldn't dare to look twice,"

"You're a villain. A brute weapon waiting to be used, wanting to be used. Don't you think they don't deserve someone who's even somewhat close to their equal? Who shines as brightly without burning out?"

"They're all going to end up dead and covered with your ichor one day, and you'll be far too late to do a thing,"

"You're a parasite, a contaminant. You know that they're destined for bigger, brighter things than you could ever imagine, and you know in that twisted, sick  brain of yours, that none of them would never choose to take you with them, especially not her,"

The voice danced around the room like this was all a silly game. The voice rung and its octaves switched often, changing the persona it would take and the tone used to sugarcoat or sharpen the words. Sometimes Odalia, rarely Lilith or even Eda, often Amity herself... even sometimes Luz.

Luz didn't know what to do, she laughed to herself quietly upon such a relaization. Saying that was implying that she knew what she was doing most of the time, something that could not be further from the truth. So she did what she could do best, one of the things she knew how to do.

"It will be okay. Eventually,"

The room was almost silent once more, with nothing but a sharp ringing sound left in her ears. For a moment, she could see Amity as she is, not what she was.

She had built herself a life of satin and riches, velvet and the finest of literature, paints, and inks that stained the hands of the uncareful, a careful way of living in a script in gold foil. She sheltered herself with sharpened diamond and brick walls but left a little space to see the world with stained glass windows. She works with no end in sight, just for the hope that she'll shine and willingly burn as brightly as the constellations she mapped on her ceilings.

"It was so hard, and you didn't deserve any of it. You were... lost at sea, and you did whatever you could to reach land again. I know sometimes you still feel like you're drowning, but I want you to know, you didn't drown. I know your head feels stuck under this murky water, left with chipped nails and sand on that face, but it wasn't always like this, and it won't always stay like this,"