CURSED: FROM THE BEGINNING [D.M]

-(71) died by my hands

tw// sexual assault

•

ZILLIAH sits upon Ariel with Theseus behind her. his hands on the thestral's spine from either of her sides, locking her in there lest she should fall as they take off the ground. When she said that she wanted to go somewhere with him alone, he refused at first bringing up his concerns for her safety. But as she insisted upon it, he agreed to take her- but not to the mainland as it was swarming with Death Eaters who is waiting to get the slightest whiff of her scent.

"Then where?", she had asked. 

"You'll see soon enough", he had replied, sparking her curiosity.

They glide through the sky on top of Ariel, the sea barely a threat below them. The wind kisses her face, making her close her eyes and get a taste of what true freedom feels like as they soar through the endless sky. She opens her eyes to Ariel's squeaks of joy and lets out a laugh herself. She has never thought about how wonderful it is to have the ability to fly- to cut through the clouds- to make heaven your dancefloor. It all seems so surreal. And Zilliah suddenly finds herself wishing to be a bird.

"We're here", Theseus mumbles into her ear after a while, as Ariel starts to descend. When the clouds clear and she looks down, she sees a stranded island, clinging to its ruins desperately. There's a certain beauty to the wreckage it holds- like it was still fighting and still breathing despite a deep stab to the heart. It feels sort of familiar to her too- like she has seen this a thousand times before, just not in this way or in this form or even in this life. "Welcome home, Zilliah", he says. And she understands where they are. She understands this place because it has woven a thread of its own into her blood- forever.

Supernova.

•

"I've been here before", Zilliah says as she touches the oak tree that has completely burnt away. The whole island is dry and warm, not the slightest trace of life in it. Lilith's death, Theseus had said, was the cause for the decay of this place their ancestors used to call home. 

He chuckles. "No, you've not been here before, Zilliah."

She spins her head around to face him as he slants against Ariel's side, watching her. "No, I have", she says, her tone serious. "I know this place. Like- I don't know how but as I stand here, I'm getting flashes of swords and fights."

Theseus arches his eyebrow as he walks up to her. "That's impressive."

"How?"

"Because this place where we stand now was the old fencing field of our people."

Zilliah eyes him in disbelief.

"Maybe you have a gift of insight or something.."

She shakes her head, feeling like that's not it. She knows that it's not her magic that is giving her these memories that couldn't possibly be her own. It's her soul and her heart. It reverberates with every breath she takes. "I don't know", she tells him. "We can find out if we walk around for a while."

 But Theseus shakes his head and grabs her wrist, stopping her from turning back and walking away. "Why did you need to be alone with me?", he asks, his voice grave.

Her curiosity gets overridden by anxiety as she remembers what she's actually here for. A barrier draws up in her head, behind which she had tucked all those memories. No matter how much it frightens her to knock it down and spill the truth, she knows she has to. There is no other way around it. The truth needs to be acknowledged. Or in the depth of all the lies will she drown. "Theseus, I need to tell you something."