Eclipse - Act 1 - The Healing

Prologue

The shrieking howl of a little girl's voice echoes across the small space of land in the middle of the Mistraalian Mountain Ranges.

"Mom! Moooooom!"

The desperate cries echo from her bedroom, terrified of something that scares her so deeply. The little girl hides under her sheet, her tiny hands clutching onto the edge of the bed sheet, as she stares at the source of her fear. Huge bright emerald eyes watch the dancing skeletons on her wall that give her the nightmares that frighten her so.

The door opens slightly, revealing the expanding column of artificial light mixing and cock-tailing with haunting lunar luminescence across her mahogany floorboards. Like clawed hands of creatures of Grimm, the shadows seem to scuttle towards the tiny girl with crimson red hair. But then there is a moment, a tearing feeling from her fear that is replaced with relief and hope as she spots a tall elegant woman stood in the doorway. She has long crimson hair too, thrown over her right shoulder in a thick woven mess of blood red. Hair messy from waking up in the middle of the night by the cries of the little girl, the late thirties woman rubs her eyes and she grumbles with a sigh.

She steps into her petrified daughter's room, her curvaceous Mistraalian figure wrapped in a silky violet dressing gown, she crouches down beside her daughter with a yawn. "What is it, my sweet?" She softly whispers, crouched down beside the bed of the little girl who looks at her over her sheets. She holds the covers of her bed right up against her nose from the fear of the very thing she is so scared of. Her mother gently pinches the tented patch of quilt where her dinky little toes had made.

The little red headed girl, with a messy tuft of rich red hair looks up with sparking green eyes; a shaky finger stretches out in order to point at the source of her fears.

"M-Monster!"

The mother sighs, smiling kindly to the little one. "Oh honey." She says, standing up and sitting on the edge of her bed, caressing her cheek with her hand. She bit her lip and shuffled close to her daughter's side, looping a warm arm around her shoulders, resting her mature face in her four year old daughter's hair. "Pyrrha, sweetheart...it's not a monster, baby. Look." She points out the window as she coos to her little girl, showing naught but trees and bushes that dance in the midnight breeze.

But no monsters.

Not even a howl from a Beowulf for miles.

The trees and bushes combined with the lunar glow formed the jagged shadows that looked like the body of a dark monster clawing towards her on the walls and floor. But the little girl named Pyrrha Nikos, however – is not as convinced as her mother.

Stubborn as ever.

"No mommy! Not the twee!" She throws the covers off her tiny body and she crawls over her mother's lap and she snuggles up against her mother's chest, pointing past the bushes, her hand shaking. Wearing an adorable bronze onesie, her mother gently wraps one arm around her daughter – almost protectively. Her mother follows the finger of her daughter and tracks it to see what scares her.

She is pointing to the Shattered Moon nestled in the black abyss dotted with stars above them all. "The moon! It's scawy!" Little Pyrrha coos, still not able to pronounce words properly yet. Her mother smiles as she looks down at her daughter on her lap, still pointing at the moon with a scared look on her face.

"Oh...my gentle little wing." She whispers as she lies down on her bed with her in her arms as she snuggles up beside her mother. Then she points up at the moon as she explains to Pyrrha. Looking away from the scary sight of the moon, she nuzzles her head close to her mother's chest to find comfort in her warm embrace, clutching onto her mother's silky night gown she wears. "The moon is nothing to be afraid of; it is a vigil over us while we sleep. It protects us from all manner of evil things." She assures with a smile, caressing her hair to calm her down.

Curious as ever, Pyrrha looks up at her mother. "From the Gwimm?" She asks her mother with bountiful eyes, her mother beamed down at her lovingly, pecking a soft kiss onto her daughter's head.

"Yes...from the Grimm. But also from many other things, like curses or monsters from other worlds. Never fear the Moon, Amica Mea." She tells her daughter, sounding as wise as ever.

"B-B-B-But it's big and bwight! It's bwoked too, mommy why is the moon bwoked?" She nervously asks, still struggling to pronounce words correctly due to only being on this world for only four years now.

Her mother smiles with a soft and delicate laugh. "Broken, honey." She chuckles lightly. "It's broken."

"Oooh...Bw-Bwoken?" Pyrrha looks at her mother for confirmation and her smile speaks volumes to her.

"Exactly." Another kiss to her hair as she congratulates her with a tickle, making her daughter giggle. Pyrrha remains close to her mother, still staring at the Shattered Moon, and so does her mother. "But...nobody's really sure why the Moon is broken. Only that we should be happy it is." She bites her lip, rubbing gentle circles into the tiny Nikos' hair that still sucks her thumb in her lap.

"Why momma? It's bad b-bec-it's bwoken." Pyrrha mumbles over her thumb, her warming mother gives her a gentle squeeze, looking up at the ceiling to watch the rotating nightlight project warming orange and pink stars onto the ceiling. A simplistic crescent moon with specks of broken fragments orbiting it. She worries her lip and her greener eyes flit down to her tiny babe in her lap.

"Two yellow Crescents will one day make the moon whole." She breathes a whisper before forcing a smile onto her face, fighting her own fears that battle within her soul. "Don't worry, my sweet. That's a story for when you're older. For now though, get some sleep." She lays her little bundle down on the bed and tucks her in, handing the infant her plushie bear and planting a soft kiss on her brow. "Sweet dreams my darling Pyrrha."

"Night mommy." Pyrrha whispers back, closing her eyes as her mother walks over to her window, looking out of it as she hugs her upper arms. She stares up at the Shattered Moon and bites her lip with trepidation flowing through her bloodstream, before shaking her head and drawing the blackout curtains, blocking out the lunar light.

Not just to spare her daughter of the fears.

But also herself.

She sighs heavily and looks down at her daughter softly as sleep began to claim the little girl, gently sucking her thumb as she drifts away.

"You'll do wonderful things when your older, my darling Pyrrha. Never fear the Shattered Moon, my dear..." She says as she walks out of the room with a gentle smile as she pulls the door shot with a gentle click.

A shaky exhale leaves her mouth as she finishes that statement.

"...Fear the Moon..."

"...Becoming Whole."