LEGENDS: The Fall (Season, #3) ✔️

Her Struggles

"Where was the sounds,
when she was still on the ground?
Holding the anonymous cup,
there was nothing at all,
just her lurking in the void of nothingness."

***

Standing in front of the huge crowd, she should be proud. She's holding the cup of success, it's the announcement of thier arrival. But she's void, vacuumed, she's so empty. Celestial Beryl couldn't be more lost that moment, she's so fragile, broken, her life sings melancholic words.

She doesn't know if her threnodies are reaching her mom, and it's killing her. The fact that their barriers is so wide and her dirges could no longer pass through it breaks her.

Isa pa sa mga problema niya ay nakita ng Archduke ang pagbagsak niya. Yes, she's struggling big time because her breakdown should be a secret but it isn't anymore. He heard her mom's clandestine, their fracases was too loud and it was enough for one person to over hear what's going on with her chaotic life.

Of course she lied, 'di niya pwedeng sabihin sa Archduke lahat. Mabuti na nga lang at hindi nito narinig ang lahat, kundi ay mas malalagay sa alanganin ang buhay n'ya. Kung nagsasabi man ito ng totoo na hindi nito narinig ang lahat. Sa bagay na iyon ay hindi pa siya sigurado, hindi niya matukoy kung nagsasabi ng totoo ang Archduke, baka mamaya ay nakita pala nito ang lahat mas lalo siyang malalagay sa peligro.

Nagsimula nang magsalita ang mga dalubhasa sa seremonya, ngunit lutang na lutang parin siya. No one knows what she's going through aside from the Archduke. No one knows how she's battling the raging storm inside her, the people had no idea how messy her life is at the moment. No one knows how done she is with everything.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are gathered here to welcome the two survivors of the training. The last nobles of this batch."

The voices turned into a background sound of her thoughts. Wala na siyang maunawaan sa dami ng nasa isip niya.

Suddenly, she wants to tear up. But she composed herself because she's in public and crying is banned. Her heart is clenching, there are so many memories flashing back in her head. She adored how she was once the softest back there in Peakbrook, she reminisces it all. How she was once the most innocent person in the Abyss. The perfect definition of purity and innocence, but never had freedom.

She was supposed to live like a normal kid, like what every human child would do. But she ended working at a very young age instead of playing. And it did not actually matter since she really wanted to help her mom, but it came out to be out of her line. She never experienced how it is to play outside, to mix with other people, to be acquainted with anyone aside Gustavo and her mom.

How does it feel to play like a normal kid?

"It's clear to everyone how difficult it is to pass the trainings, but this year, two managed to survive."

Ang gusto niya lang naman ay maglaro maliban sa tumugtog, gusto niya lang naman sanang makipaghalubilo sa ibang bata. Ngunit ni minsan, hindi niya iyon naranasan. At such a very young age, she was caged in a responsibility. Her music that was supposed to be her happiness lured her to a duty, and it came to the point that she's just playing music to heal, for money and not because she wills it.

She wanted to meet humans, but the first time meeting one wasn't any form of good. She was threatened. She was played, and she found herself trapped amidst the sovereigns of the other Kingdom and the Prince of Abyss. It's far from romantic movies, it's scary, there were fresh bloods scattered in the forest along the cadavers of people who's just trying to live with a job. How could they think of duels instead of being friends? Those sovereigns are full of craps, and the Archduke is not an exemption.

She was fooled.

She was bullied on her first day in the Academy. She remember the day when she was sent flying just because she walked through the nobles, the highest rank of students in the Academy. It's shameful, she was never happy with that kind of welcome. It's so embarrassing, if she could go back in time she would hang herself in humiliation. She's such a disgrace.

"Today, we're going to witness the official seal of the remaining nobles."

It's given that her beauty is exceptional, she always hear that. Her features are amazing, her uneven eyes gives justice to people's adoration and admiration towards her. And never she had thought that her beauty would lead her to a disaster. It was the first time she felt gross of herself. For fuck's sake she was just trying to be a good student, a good kid not be called a disgrace. But life never treated her so well, and that disaster happened.

She was harassed sexually, physically, verbally at a very young age, and she was accused of seducing the mentor who harassed her. Imagine the pain of a kid who's about to get raped and then accused of seducing? Imagine a victim getting blamed? It's too much, it was too painful that she just want to choke to death.

She was tortured in the dimension of his mentor alone, she still doesn't know how to fight that time. Imagine the pain of forcing oneself to fight when she still don't even know how to? She was depth zero that time, and awakening her body abruptly made an impact to her. She just suddenly found herself holding at the hang of her sanity, her beast controlling her, and it never felt good. Because she never want to hurt anyone---she just want to live peacefully. But again, the firmaments forbids her so.

"Be it known that this ceremony will give them the official role to lead, and also obey. From this day on, the both of them are hereby given the responsibility to take the most difficult missions."

She was treated like a weak one for not recovering fast. Weak, weakling, weak bitch. The nobles called her weak for not retrieving herself after the harassment.

'She was just harassed... what a weak bitch...'

They slapped it in her face several times, but no, she rejects every single discouragements coming from them now. She might not have spoken back then to save herself, but she's different now.

She's not weak at all.

She realized it herself right at the moment... she's not weak, despite everything she's not weak. She's strong because she handled those things. She's brave, and courageous... because even if she's fragile, she managed to survive. She was harassed, and harassment is not just harassment.

It is what it is!

And it could kill a person. But she survived and had overcome that struggle. She was devastated, she was broken, she bleed, she almost lost her life, she was so defenseless, but she managed to survive! Therefore, she's strong!