Dead Empress Backwater I gave a second chance to Cupid

For @Eros <3

She just couldn't catch a break. It was one miserable event one after another, stacking up like a trembling house of cards, and the wind had finally pushed it over. @Vayko leaving was a sucker punch right through her body, and it felt as if the air had been squeezed from her lungs and she couldn't inhale it back in. They were supposed to get through everything together. Their last conversation would not stop replaying in her mind, and she wondered if there was anything she could have said to make him stay. With her. Their children. Their family.

It was just all too much for her to handle, and she found herself crumpled in a ball somewhere near the creek. Clover had already cried out all her tears, and now all that remained was a gaping hole in her heart and a dead weight on her chest.

She just felt... empty.

HANDLE YOUR OWN WHEN YOU BECOME A MAN

Eros was livid. Not just with the timing, not just that @Vayko had practically ran the second he'd realized @Vanadis and her truth had returned, confirming to the young leader that he had always been guilty; he had also abandoned Clover and their children, Eros' mother and his siblings, without so much as goodbye. At least @Archer'd had his excuses for what he'd done, had thought himself in love. Vayko had run from the easiest life a wolf could know simply because he was a coward. He didn't know how anyone could make that better for Ma and the kids. Eros wanted to think they were better off, but who could end up happy about their husband or father running out on them? Regardless of what good the future might hold, this wound would scar, permanently aching. Eros found Clover along the bank and settled in next to her, fitting around the curve of her huddled form and draping his head and throat overtop her shoulders. He wanted to talk, but what was there to say? 'I'm sorry' was nothing compared to what she'd just lost.

BECOME A MAN WHEN YOU HANDLE YOUR OWN

(This post was last modified: Mar 10, 2024, 08:01 AM by Eros.)

She hadn't heard Eros approach but the warmth his body provided was welcomed, staving off the physical coldness of the air, but doing nothing for the emptiness in her heart. Clover had yet to hold a conversation with anyone else after Vayko told her he was leaving, secluding herself so they wouldn't see her in such a distraught state. She had always felt the need to be the strong one, to keep everyone together and feeling optimistic.

But she didn't have the energy to put up a facade, especially when everyone would know she was hurting inside anyway.

"I don't know what to do," she said quietly. It wasn't the first time she had no idea how to move forward, but it was the first instance where she felt completely hopeless and unable to make a decision. What was the point if her heart had been stolen from her in the most cruel way, by a choice rather than the world snatching it away. Her eyes squeezed shut, a small part of her hoping desperately that it had all just been a nightmare, and when she opened her eyes again everything would be alright.

HANDLE YOUR OWN WHEN YOU BECOME A MAN

His heart hurt deeply for her, and he had to fight back a whimper of his own. Eros still didn't understand how she'd ever come to grow so fond of Vayko, where she'd even found the time through all of his fickleness, but that didn't change it. Questioning his importance now would just be salt in the wound. "You don't have to do anything," he answered softly, picking up his head to begin grooming her crown in the same comforting way she had his many times in his life. "You aren't the one who broke things, it's not your job to fix them." As much as she might want to, it was no longer her responsibility to keep cleaning up after Vayko. Even when it came to the kids, there was nothing she could do to fill the hole he'd created. She could only keep her own relationship with them strong, be the parent that didn't give up. "Just... don't you leave too, okay?" He almost murmured the words as he lowered his face into the fur of her nape again, feeling maybe they were too selfish.

BECOME A MAN WHEN YOU HANDLE YOUR OWN

(This post was last modified: Mar 10, 2024, 08:17 AM by Eros.)

His soothing words were like rain drops falling on a frozen lake, unable to penetrate beneath the ice into the depths below where they needed to reach. Her entire life was dedicated to fixing others, not just physically but mentally and emotionally where she could. To suddenly flip everything upside down was unimaginable. Sitting aside while she physically recovered had been one thing as she was still able to offer assistance and instructions.

"Who else will?" If she didn't fix what was broken then what was she supposed to do, let everything fall apart? But she also didn't know how to fix this. Where could she even start? The kids had to know, or maybe someone had already told them. Everything had blurred together, and the concept of time and place seemed very far away.

Eros' next words had her eyes opening. Leave? She could never do that. They were her family; this was her home. So many had already left them, some having come back only to leave yet again. Clover could not do that to them. After all, where would she even go?

"I won't." That was a promise she had made all those years back, and there was nothing that could make her waver.

She fell silent again, staring at a snow-covered rock with a glassy-eyed expression. "The kids... do they know?" Her voice quivered as she spoke, imagining the devastation on their faces at finding out their father had just left them behind.

HANDLE YOUR OWN WHEN YOU BECOME A MAN

'Who else will?' Eros frowned a moment, temporarily lost, before he realized what the divergence here was. He was compartmentalizing, while this was the shattering of Clover's entire world. Vayko hadn't just been a piece of it, he'd interwoven himself through every single part. When he'd ripped himself away, it had all come apart. A new surge of anger and vitriol for the man was felt boiling in his gut, but he didn't let it out, wouldn't even allow a breath of steam to escape him. He walked a tightrope out of respect for what was left of his mom's heart. "Yes," he answered her secondary question, hesitance to his voice. It wasn't a fun thing to remember, and he wasn't sure he'd done the job well at all. Still, as soon as he himself had been informed, he'd sought out Clove and the children all. It had been @Euna, @Khalon, @Torriana and Tuwile that'd run into first, and when he realized they hadn't a clue, he'd dropped the news. There was not a single piece of him that had entertained the notion of keeping it from them, even for a second. To do so would have felt like a deep betrayal. "They still have their family," he tried to comfort her again, tried to lessen the weight even just a touch, "they have you, and each other, and me and Ollie. Their Grandpa, and Dad, and the rest of the pack..." Losing @Vanadis had cut him deeply when it happened, but it hadn't been the end of his world. He felt confident it would be the same for his younger siblings, for they had all the same supports in place to get through it as he'd had.

BECOME A MAN WHEN YOU HANDLE YOUR OWN