Her Curse...

18 ~ Yarrow

Apparently I messed up and this was supposed to be Hailey's POV but instead I wrote it in Grey's POV. Welp.

Also trigger warning: themes of suicide.

     "You had the same curse as me?" Hailey asked. Kira nodded at Zinnia and smiled softly. Zinnia nodded in reply, and looked at Hailey. "I was born with it, but it only surfaced when I was 16. I met my curse-breaker a few years of torture later. He was a lot like you, Grey, actually. Just depressed, and a whole lot shyer. I loved him, like you two love each other, but I never got a chance to tell him. He...he killed himself before I could." Tears were in her eyes by this point.
     "After he died, I slowly found my cursed side and my normal side merging, and I ended up like this. Your mom...she...I regret it. But she told me that if anything happened to her she wanted me to curse you. She wanted me to give you the same curse, so you could find someone to help you get over her and Silver. Someone to love you as they did. I'm sorry..." A tear ran down her scaled cheek, while Hailey and I were staring at her in surprise.
     "So it was you." Hailey said, hanging her head. "I listened to Marissa. I'm sorry. I didn't want to. I was the one...I put you through everything. And any hate I get is hate I deserve." Zinnia said.
     "But I didn't want you cursed forever, like me. So I...I put the condition on it that once a year was up, you and your...soulmate would wake up in the same area."
     "Soul...mate?" I asked quietly.
     "Yes, that's what she said." Kira said. "So...?" Hailey looked at me slowly. "I guess I didn't mention that."
      "Not to them." Kira said, beginning to pet the sleeping puppy in my arms. It'd been asleep for awhile. I hoped it was okay. "The curse-breaker is the cursed person's soulmate." Zinnia said. "I never imagined you would remind me so much of Tyler." Sadness flickered behind her eyes, and she moved her tail into her lap.
      "If that's what fate dictates.." Kira said, moving to hold Zinnia's hand. Zinnia smiled. It made me wonder what their relationship was. Zinnia appeared to be in her late teens or early 20's, and Kira seemed to be around the age of my sister. So it was possible that they were siblings, although they didn't look blood related.
      "Tell us more about him." Hailey said. "Ten years ago... - I'm 29 - it was around time for prom in high school, and he was a year younger than me. I was taking a year break before I went to college, and he was in his senior year in high school. We were pretty good friends, and he'd asked me to go to prom with him because he was afraid to go alone or ask out anyone else. So...I was going to. I'm not sure exactly what happened to finally push him to it, but he committed suicide that night by stabbing his heart."
      "Oh, God, I'm so sorry." Hailey said. I came over beside Zinnia alongside Hailey, and we both hugged her. The puppy was placed in Kira's lap. There were tears in Zinnia's eyes, but she seemed determined not to cry. Kira gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "His memories still live on, though." Kira said.
      Zinnia nodded. "I transferred them to a snake, and it searched for someone with the best Affinity. I met her in my dreams once, a few nights ago. She seems like a good person. And she told me you guys were coming."
     "What was her name?" I asked. It sounded like Naomi. She was the only person I knew who could contact people in their dreams, and sometimes Zoe said that she would talk about her own death. "Naomi."
      Hailey gasped softly, and looked at me as we pulled away. I screwed my eyes shut, trying to remember. "She did get bitten by a snake when we were 7. I...think I remember her calling out for someone after it happened. But I'm not sure. I wasn't super close with her at the time." I opened my eyes. "But the story rings a bell."
      "Who else was there?" Kira asked. "My younger sister, and I think Rachel."
      "I see." She grew thoughtful. But it didn't seem likely she knew either one of them, other than Rachel, because she was out of town so much, and could've come to Callo.
     Hailey touched my arm, drawing my attention, but didn't say anything, only smiled softly. Zinnia sighed, "I miss him. But at least I can help other people learn how to channel their magic in the millions of years I have left to live."
     "What do you mean millions of years?" Hailey asked. "Immortality. If you're born with the curse you become immortal after your counterpart dies. The only way you can then die is by having a child and passing on your curse to them."
     "So it's hereditary." I guessed. "Naomi said it was old, and not a lot of people got it. Is that what she meant?" Hailey asked.
     "My mother was the first to get it. She got it from a genetic defect that she had, and about when she was 30, she found out she stopped aging. Her curse was something different than mine, and she accidentally cursed the people around her. It's not really well known because she hid from the world so nobody got cursed. Until she fell in love and I was born. She...died after that. But I haven't cursed anyone except you, so because my mother didn't curse a lot of people and was technically thousands of years old, that's probably where Naomi got it from."
     "That...makes sense. But does that mean you curse other people accidentally or purposefully?" Hailey asked. "I can only do it on purpose."
     Hailey nodded, giving me a relieved look. I assumed she was worried if I would get cursed.
    "Mom actually helps to heal some of the people who get other curses." Kira said, looking down and stroking the wolf pup's fur. "Mom?" I asked. Maybe they could be siblings, but as Zinnia said, she was 29, so it was possible for her to have a child. But they didn't look related.
     "My sister Jade and I were adopted." She said, waving it off. "We're better off here than with whoever our parents are."
     "But isn't it nice to at least know where you come from?" Hailey asked, a bit angry. I put a hand on her shoulder; I knew where she was coming from. Her parents had died, and she almost killed herself for them. However, it was possible Kira's parents loved her like Hailey's parents had, but had died, and Kira showed her grief in indifference instead of sadness.
     "Maybe. But they left us. You have to understand that." Kira said. Or maybe I'm wrong. Zinnia put a hand on Hailey's other shoulder and her other on Kira's shoulder before Hailey could reply. "Everyone has some sort of familial issues. We have to respect that."
     I nodded. "Now's not the time to fight. We just broke Hailey's curse."
     It was at that moment that the wolf pup moved for the first time since it'd appeared. It shifted in Kira's arms, yawning and blinking open it's eyes. Then it leapt out of her arms towards Hailey. She giggled, even as Zinnia attempted to keep it from jumping on her.
      "Good boy." Hailey said, ruffling the pup's fur. "I think he likes you." I said, even though it was obvious. "Are you gonna name him?" Kira asked. Hailey nodded. "Awhile ago, Sora and I learned about the meaning of her name, and other names like hers. Grey, do you like the name Yuki?" She looked over at me for conformation, holding the pup as it struggled to lick her face. I nodded.
      "Yuki it is!"

Wholesome ending. Also I have theory and questions.

Arknights talk:

So apparently Sora has a strange attachment to Texas, and I think it goes beyond Texas just saving her life.
Also if, like people suspect, she is Sankta, then technically her E2 art could also be her using illusionary Arts.
About my first point, though. After her second trust increase she said this: "You think I look upset? Um... it's because... Exusiai went on a mission with Texas today, right? If only I were as skilled as Exusiai, I could..."
Well, I know that we don't fully know Texas or Lappland's history, neither do we truly know the full lore behind Mostima, Exusiai, Exusiai's Sister, and Phoenix, but now I'm more interested.
Because if Sora is in love with Texas, that would get some shippers mad and I'm all for that drama.
However, because we are unaware of Texas and Lappland's backstory, if Sora is Lupo as she appears in her Base artwork then maybe she ties in somewhere in that story. But if she's Sankta (which can be backed up by the fact Executor mentioned a relative who was good at singing and the illusionary Arts) then it's possible she ties into Exusiai's story due to the fact she seems to be jealous of Exusiai in the aforementioned quote. Maybe it was just the quote, but I took it as she's jealous of Exusiai in general, and Exusiai being such a close friend of Texas could be one of the many reasons. Because jealousy usually stems from multiple things and not just one.

That's...that's it.

Chapter published - 09.22.2020
Yet to be edited for finals.

Later!
~Nevira