DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 180
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 17:51:44 GMT
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Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Jun 20, 2022 15:03:26 GMT
 ━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━ May 30th
THE RAIN MADE A gentle pitter-patter noise on the windows; it was soothing this time. It didn’t make her think of Tanner—it wasn’t a violent storm like the one that knocked out the power. It was soft, relaxing, and for some reason, it made her think of that particular quote from some random movie. She didn’t know why it suddenly popped into her mind now, out of any possible time, but it made her think of Petyr. He was up there, with somebody she had to believe in, being looked after. He should’ve been here, with his parents, but there wasn’t any use in wishing for that anymore. This wouldn’t change.
The shower competed with the rain, drowning out the pitter-patter until she stood in front of the mirror, hair wrapped in a towel with another circled around her body. Destiny glanced at the moisturizer she’d shifted here from her own place, and considered it for a moment before deciding she was too tired. Staring at her reflection had her breathing deeply, drawing in one particularly thoughtful breath and letting her features shift. The dark circles disappeared from under her eyes, and the body hidden beneath the towel adapted and changed. She kept it concealed most of the time, but had fully relaxed under the warm water, and it was time for something better—something that looked healthier. Something that didn’t remind her she’d gone through all the necessary hardships and didn’t get a baby out of it.
It’d been just over a month, but she wasn’t back to normal yet. The swelling of her midsection disappeared with the glamour, though, along with all the scars—originating from Tanner or not—and everything tightened, taking away any sign that she’d been pregnant at all. It felt better like this. Maybe nobody at work—when she went back—would say anything. They’d take it as a sign to shut their mouths and gossip to each other about it. She could only hope.
Drifting back into the bedroom, Destiny smiled at Berlioz from where he raised his head at her, curled up on the floor with a sweater that must’ve fallen off the bed. She tried to be tidy, especially since this wasn’t her home, but things hadn’t been normal for a while. Berlioz’s presence here was another indicator of that. Or maybe the fact that he was here meant this was a new sort of normal, like one day this could be her home, too.
Destiny hung up both towels and paraded around with a hairbrush in one hand, a little more confident now that she’d fixed everything, and eventually climbed into bed, nestling up to Grey’s side. She wanted to talk about tearing his sister to shreds or anybody else who might’ve been a helpful sacrifice, but the weather kept her docile. If they had a little fireplace, everything would be perfect.
“I was about to ask if you’ve ever seen V for Vendetta, but then I realized we’ve never watched it together.” Destiny laughed softly, brushing her hair back and away from her face in slow, careful strokes. “There’s just… at one point, they’re like ‘God is in the rain.’ It probably has a bunch of other meanings, but when it started raining…” She shrugged, giving him a smile that genuinely was somewhat happy, but mostly looked like she was holding back tears again. They’d had a million mundane conversations since it happened, but it always started to feel like Petyr was the only thing they talked about anymore. And that wasn’t a bad thing, Destiny was just so exhausted. Apart from all that, though, they were finally able to admit their love out loud. Destiny made sure to work it in everywhere so it became natural and didn’t grow like an awkward w-ed between them.
“It’s weird, y’know, ‘cause we were never religious growing up. I mean, apart from the darach-y, druid stuff. I always thought that there was probably something greater than me, but more like… the universe or karma or whatever. Like you get back what you give out. But now, it’s like… I‘ve just been granted proof of God’s existence without dying, and I have to make sure that I believe, because that’s so much better than thinking he went nowhere.”
Destiny placed the brush on the nightstand and snuggled a little closer to Grey’s warmth, trying to fight the intrusive thought that he might somehow be disappointed that they still couldn’t sleep together. As if either of them had been in the mood at all. “Did you die briefly when I found you? What was it like? Or was it too quick?” Until she’d learned about the trick stitched into him, Destiny had been under the impression that she was the one who brought him back. If she had that ability, though, she would’ve been able to save their son.
She pictured Leah’s skinny neck between her hands again.
GREY MADDOX |  |
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GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 170
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 19, 2024 20:19:32 GMT
|
Post by GREY MADDOX on Jun 25, 2022 16:05:25 GMT
 May 30th Most of the light had gone from the sky, including the moon, but there was still a pearlescence to the clouds as he stood at the terrace doors. The moon would break back through, bathing the place in silvery light, when the rain finally stopped. Stars punching back through, anything that looked like heaven up there gone. Grey let out a small sound, resting his brow against the coolness of the glass as his night manager continued to yammer away about tomorrow’s breakfast orders. The small stuff he’d handed off to Cat and the rest of the stuff after had started to creep back in. He let out a breath that steamed up the glass, as he imagined the glass was steaming in the bathroom. The sound of the shower still hissed through the apartment under the quiet rattle of rain against the glass. ”Cat’ll handle it tomorrow. If there’s any issues with the delivery, let her know by six…” Grey’s lips quirked faintly before his face fell back into those strained lines that felt permanent now. ”I know she’ll chew you out for it, but it’s better than having ticked off guests calling for the chef’s head … alright … I’ll see you in the morning.” Late in the morning. Pulling away from the glass finally, a chill still seeming to slick his skin in contrast with the fire in his gut that never guttered these days, Grey thumbed the phone off. A year ago he was down at the desk by 8 every morning, the schedule the same strict one that’d started to stick when he was the poor bastard pulling all the early shifts at the front desk. A businessman’s hour’s, not a grieving father’s. Petyr would’ve shattered that routine in a few months, midnight feeds and the back and forth – temporary, just until they figured out how all of this was gonna go as the three of them – between his place and Destiny’s. Would’ve. The bedroom was already dimly lit, just the bedside lamps filling the area around the bed with a warm glow. The retreat, the cave, what should’ve been a nest before Leah had destroyed it. Grey stooped as he crossed the room, running the backs of his fingers along the dip in Berlioz’s head as he passed the dog. ”You and me both, buddy,” he breathed softly, catching sight of Destiny’s sweater under him. Looking for some comfort when that air of something not being right still filled the apartment. Both of them watchful of her, wanting to do something to mend the hole torn right through them. Tossing the covers back on his side, they’d rapidly settled into that division here – hers, his, theirs, all tangling up with the two of them retreating inside the four walls, like this was the castle they should’ve stayed behind the defences of to protect Petyr. Grey sank down on the sheets, sitting up against the headboard for a moment. Fingertips dug into his eyes, his thumbs finding his temples. His reflection in the window minutes before had revealed the shadows arcing dark under them, the lines of strain that had etched their way around his eyes and mouth. A roadmap of loss and grief he’d never felt so keenly before. He sighed, slipped deeper and drifted as he waited for the sound of the shower to cut off. Petyr was safe, the guy – Cory – had promised Destiny as much, but it didn’t stop the knots from slithering tight in his gut. He should’ve been safe with his parents and his aunt should’ve stayed in her grave, rotting the way his own father had, as generations of Maddoxes had done long before what should’ve been their time. Gritty eyes slipped shut, an arm tucked beneath his head as he stared up at the ceiling. He cursed, curling onto his side. Restless, he felt his nerves fizz and pop under his skin. It only settled when it was the two of them here, something shared, something soothed when he held her, like the grief could only bleed away when they were together. The shower shut off, minutes passing before those quiet footsteps padded into the room. He turned, his head propped back on an arm as he watched her. Little lines sprung up between Grey’s brows. He’d the same signs that were etched on his own skin on hers, but they were gone. The curve of a stomach that no longer held their son, no shadows haunting her eyes, there was that pink glow of life he knew wasn’t flushing through his own system yet. Easing the sheets up with the back of her knuckles he held her slide in. Grey dipped his head, his lips skimming the curve of one damp bicep as she brushed her hair. His breath huffed warm against Destiny’s skin at her question. ’s a pretty good benchmark … no,” he breathed against her skin. His throat went thick at the quote though, the smile pushed out to echo hers just a little strained at the edges. If there was a heaven and angels and everything else Leah’s friend had sworn to then God had to be in more than the rain. His fingers trailed the wet strands on her pillow, the cool back against his skin as he listened. Even in his craziest rants Malcolm had never believed in any of that. Fate didn’t exist, it was human action, druid action that had caused everything. Maybe that should’ve seen his own thoughts in the complete opposite direction but it never had. ”Hey,” he said quietly as she set the brush aside and curled back in. Grey slipped his arm around her waist, nestled his head close on the clouds of pillows so he could look into Destiny’s eyes. ”He never would’ve been nowhere. No matter what, he’d have been here.” He wasn’t a man made for sentiment, or even warm reminiscence most of the time, but he set his hand in the middle of her chest now. ”We avoided the church at all costs, Malcolm couldn’t stand all that after .. my mum … he’s wrong though. I guess we all were.” Maybe there was something else to blame out there for all that had happened, but personal choice had still caused all of this. Personal choice to go after the pack when he’d read Malcolm’s ravings, personal choice not to continue looking for the druids, the wrong personal choice to sacrifice a man who had turned out to be innocent. Personal choice to screw up and bring another sacrifice back here when he should’ve known. Personal choice to go after the wolflet for a pay day he hadn’t needed. Thinking back, Grey shook his head lightly as his fingers found the tumble of hair curling down her back. ”I did, but it wasn’t anything like they say. You know? The white light, the pearly gates…” The fiery pits of hell. Maybe it would’ve come if he’d hovered there much longer. ”It’s like standing outside of yourself. You can see everything around, see everyone. I saw you, wondered why the hell anyone would wanna rush in and try and save some burned up bugger in the street. Glad you did though. Did you ever wonder why you did?” No, he thought, she wouldn’t have done. Not Destiny, that light filled a good heart that had probably given him too many chances. If she hadn’t … maybe things would’ve been different now. |
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DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 180
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 17:51:44 GMT
|
Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Jul 1, 2022 22:00:32 GMT
━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
No, it was bad enough when she started spiralling that way before, she had to stop now. Sometimes, she thought she had to be strong for Grey, or for Petyr and maybe even herself. Life had to go on, even if it felt like it never would.
Even if she felt empty. And not just emotionally, but physically. The glamour didn’t erase the fact that suddenly their baby wasn’t there anymore, and she wasn’t distracted enough with dirty diapers not to notice it. There was no movement; she couldn’t press her palm to her belly and feel him under the surface, couldn’t talk to him and know he was listening.
But Grey was right. Destiny’s smile was still sad, but not as forced, the familiar feeling of tears pricking her eyes. It seemed to happen every five minutes now; her eye sockets felt hollowed out, but it didn’t stop. She curled her fingers around his, holding him there against her chest until they shifted only slightly. Destiny let him go so she could press her own hand against his chest, inching closer as he touched her hair, listening intently like his story was the only thing that mattered. Maybe it was for now, though it wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
She swallowed, about to reference it to what she now knew about reapers and give them another bit of hope, but she held it in until Grey was done. And then she wanted to answer him, because remembering the day they met felt like a hundred years ago and just yesterday all at once.
Destiny would’ve liked to say their chance (or fated) meeting was a time when she acted out of the ordinary—as if she knew something was different from the start, and felt that romance movie-esque “pull” towards Grey like she could see their life a year in the future—but it wasn’t, and she didn’t. Destiny would’ve helped anybody in that situation, and she wondered if that made it even sweeter—knowing took the fun out of everything, didn’t it?
It would’ve taken the fun out of planning for Petyr and imagining creating a family with Grey, and no matter how much she would’ve liked to avoid the pain they felt now, she still couldn’t give any of it up. They bonded with a baby that was still forever theirs, and they’d progressed more (and faster) in their relationship than they likely would’ve without him. They were still parents, even if it didn’t work out the same way everybody else’s story did.
Destiny shrugged, giving him a small smile as she remembered it. The panic, how she rushed over and wished he wouldn’t be… dead. “No,” She said softly, “I think I would’ve helped anyone if I saw them like that. I was like, ‘holy shit, this dude looks like he’s been barbecued; he better be alive.’ I think I would’ve given anybody the shirt off my back in that moment.” Destiny lifted her hand to trace the backs of her knuckles from his eyebrow down to his cheekbone, recalling how soot had coated both of them by the end. “I was gonna risk potentially becoming an accessory after the fact for you, promising not to take you to the hospital and everything.” Destiny scoffed, remembering how idiotic that was or could’ve been, but she hadn’t worried about the risks then. Her only focus was helping Grey. “But I figured, ‘oh, he’s like me, so there’s probably a reasonable explanation for this.’” Rolling her eyes and smiling, Destiny shifted in to kiss him softly, letting her head flop to the pillow tiredly, only a few inches between them.
“But I think… I guess you don’t go to Heaven ‘til a reaper comes and gets you. He didn’t… automatically go; Cory had to take him. I guess nobody was called for you ‘cause you were already on your way back to me,” Her lips quivered with that familiar sensation again. He hadn’t been coming back to her, not specifically, not then, but… well, in a way, he was. Grey lived longer so they could do this━be together. Be a family.
Her fingers drifted up and into his hair, combing back the soft strands affectionately. The pads of her digits curled around the back of his ear and then drifted forward, cupping his cheek, her thumb slipping over his cheekbone. She remembered doing this before, admiring his eyes and imagining that Petyr’s would be the same. Now, though, she knew Petyr’s would never get this dark.
He looked so tired. Destiny wondered if he put on a different face when he left, just to ensure all seemed well on the outside. He… it made sense; he was the face of his company, and people would start to wonder if the owner was on something if he wandered around like this. She couldn’t judge him if he did, either, because she was doing it now. In what was supposed to be their safe space, their little hovel to crawl into in the days… weeks after Petyr’s death. She was hiding from Grey, even if that wasn’t her original intention.
“I don’t know how long we’re…” Destiny stopped, then started again. “... No, that sounds bad. I just… I feel like it’ll never get easier, and part of me doesn’t want it to, because I don’t want him to matter any less. But I guess… I guess I just feel bad. Like we’re supposed to have a time limit.” Hadn’t she worked through this? Didn’t Destiny know by now that she could take whatever she needed, whenever she needed it? “I’m so scared of going back out there. Like, really going.” Not the quick trips made for food or other necessities, where the main goal was getting back into bed as fast as possible. “Not just ‘cause of her, but because… I know I shouldn’t give a shit what other people think, but what about when they start asking? What are we supposed to say?” She sighed shakily, wondering if this was somehow a disgrace to Petyr’s memory. It wasn’t, was it? It’d been over a month, which was more than enough time to grieve and get angry and think about all the horrible things she possibly could. Now they had to start preparing for the real world again, and Destiny was terrified.
GREY MADDOX |  |
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GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 170
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 19, 2024 20:19:32 GMT
|
Post by GREY MADDOX on Jul 7, 2022 22:08:36 GMT
May 30th Destiny might have glamoured the slowly shrinking bump away, but Grey was sure he could almost feel it there between them. The vacuum left by a loss he wasn’t sure either one of them was ever recover from. The cracks in their hearts permanent, shattering the place that had been filled with such hope and promise at the idea that their child was going to live free of all of this. Grey’s fingers shifted slowly on Destiny’s chest, light as a feather there, tracing the skin like he could feel those cracks beneath the magically repaired surface. Before he would’ve slid his hand down, tracing the dip all the way to that swelling bulge, feeling the shift of life within. Their son growing, living, the first of Destiny’s babies to get that far, closer to being here than he was to his conception. The promise growing until … His hand flattened again, the burning travelling like a wildfire between red rimmed eyes and his sinuses, trying to build in his throat until it burst out. Another tsunami of grief, coming in what felt like endless waves since Destiny had told him in the hospital that Petyr was gone. Slowly eroding the cliffs of his certainty over how things were going to change. Hollowed out at the base, the impression of his son in his arms slowly disappearing until Grey wasn’t sure he could recall each tiny feature correctly. A stamp that faded with each of those waves, no matter how hard he tried to recapture it. Would Petyr’s memory eventually by like one of those old gravestones in the cemetery back home? All detail eroded by time until the only people who could decipher any of it were those whose loved ones were buried there, the ones who still tried to hold on to the memory of them. Would anyone have known the detail of him if Leah had succeeded that first time? Would there have been flowers on his grave a dozen years from now? No, the pack wouldn’t have even bothered to mark the spot. The only people who would do had come in the wake of that first spell of violence. Cat, Destiny, Petyr if Leah hadn’t snatched the one untouched light away from them. Feeling that hollow start to tear afresh, like a wound reopening at the thought, Grey inched closer. His fingers anchoring him in the cool kiss of her hair, words scooped out of that hollow, an admission that probably wouldn’t bring much reassurance. His eyes flicked to her throat, that subtle shift of muscle as she swallowed, up over her jaw, the cheeks unmarked by the tears they’d both cried endlessly, to the eyes that had been so full of concern when he’d taken his first breath that day. Looking down at him, filling with a wonder as he’d sat up. Crinkles appeared at the corner of his mouth, nudging aside those lines of exhaustion. There’d been a purity to the light in her then, even now. After everything that had happened none of them had been able to erase it. ”You’re a good person. It was your heart. Wanting to step in and do something.” The laugh felt rusty, so low in the dim light that he wasn’t sure it had emerged at all. ”Oh really?” That had been another surprise, her leading him to her bathroom, hands spreading the soot before they’d smoothed it all away, leaving skin clean and scented with soap to map again in her bedroom. He tilted his head slightly, nudging at that hand with his cheekbone as his eyes narrowed faintly, more of those lines erased, changed. ”About as reasonable as it could get for ending up dead – temporarily – in the street. After you tried healing me, I knew you weren’t going to run.” Was attempted murder a reasonable excuse? Until Leah had come for Destiny in the name of retribution it had seemed it. Now, he wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Except for this. Them. What had survived the worst. Grey touched his tongue to his upper lip as Destiny drew out of the kiss and rested her head closer to his. Leah hadn’t managed to take this too. He hadn’t questioned what had happened then, just revelled in the fact that the resurrection bag had worked. Cory probably couldn’t explained it all, but for now it felt like not knowing all the details was protecting them somehow. ”It wasn’t my time,” Grey said hoarsely. Like all of this was planned out somehow, like the universe had never intended to let them keep Petyr. Another crack shot through his chest at that, another wave rolling in that had him sucking in a breath before he pressed his lips to hers again, needing something to chase it back from the shore, stopping the quiver with that need for all of this to scar over before there was nothing left. Destiny’s touch was gentle, skimming through his hair, over his ear, his cheek. Like she was mapping out what was left. Stubble, rough enough to prickle but soft enough not to grate against that shower fresh skin, brushed her palm as he shook his head. ”There’s no time limit on this. It’s not gonna go from this to healed in a day. You don’t get an allowance on grief.” You didn’t put aside the child you’d lost because you’d grieved enough. It wasn’t the way it worked. People started to heal around the pain, like a pearl building up in an oyster but it was still there, buried deep. Grey shook his head, his hand sliding from Destiny’s side to the flat plane of her stomach for a moment, his fingers flexing like they wanted to find that bump there. It ran up, over her ribs, settling at her jaw as he closed the gap. An inch apart on the pillow. ”When it’s time, we go out together, we face it all together, alright?” That world that still had the vacuum in it that Petyr would’ve filled, lined with a grief that wasn’t theirs alone. It bordered on other lives and it was the reactions to that which would prove who was on the right side of this – their side of this. Now his lip quivered, for a split second before he pressed them together. The tears burned hotter again, wanting to emerge as Grey brushed the tip of his thumb under Destiny’s eye – the skin smooth, unmarked by tears or sleeplessness. ”Our son died, we tell them we lost him. We lost the son we wanted more than anything. We show them how much it’s hurt us, how much it’s cost. How strong we are together, for us, for him.” He drew in a breath then and pressed his lips to her cheekbone, Destiny’s forehead, her lips. ”We let them see and when we’re ready, we finish what happened and we stop her from ever being able to touch us, or our family again.” Every mark, every scar left by that bitch a badge of honour that she’d see at her last. The scars that were revealed, down over his chest, his stomach as Grey let the last shreds of glamour fade, the ones he’d held there from the day Leah had failed to kill him. The day he thought he’d gotten rid of her forever. |
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DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 180
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 17:51:44 GMT
|
Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Jul 29, 2022 22:10:37 GMT
━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
She kissed him instead of crying any more, pouring her gratitude into it. She had someone. Either of them would’ve traded their lives for Petyr; Destiny knew that, but that wasn’t how it worked. They were together in this, drowned in their grief, but protected by their love.
No, it wasn’t his time. It shouldn’t have been Petyr’s, either, but Leah was capable of an evil Destiny didn’t think possible. In movies and books, maybe, but not in the real world, and certainly not in her immediate life. But she should’ve known. They drew their power from sacrifices, and though she liked to think she had standards, what did any of it matter? It was still murder.
Destiny needed his touch, his kiss, as bad as he seemed to need hers.
She didn’t want to live like this forever. Crying over the son they lost, broken, desperate for a hint of light in their lives. She and Grey were like little pieces of flotsam, wreckage left after the carnage, wishing they had a place. Only fitting together. Only afloat because of the love they shared and the tiny kisses that kept them connected.
Goosebumps rose over her skin as his hand went to her middle, satellite bumps crawling everywhere. He knew she was hiding from him, he knew it, and he was still searching for a piece of their son, for the life they were so set on just a few weeks ago. She’d lost children before, but it was always different. They were early on, a product of someone evil and never meant to be put in the situation she would’ve brought them into. Petyr was different. He was so close. She poured over her research now, that most premature babies his age lived, and she hated every fact, every miracle fucking story of mothers who had perfect little babies despite how early they were born.
Destiny started to say “Alright,” but it came out as a croak, a barely-there whisper that strained her throat. She nodded slowly. Together; they were together in this. She wasn’t alone.
Tanner would’ve never said anything like this. He never would’ve been there for her, not like Grey was, giving time and promises and love. He never would’ve wanted to face the outside world with her as a united front, to own their loss and what it meant to them. She thanked whatever it was that put Grey in her life━God, maybe━and she begged whoever was listening to never take him away. “I love you,” Destiny whispered against his lips, perhaps too soon, not the right moment━in the middle of his comforting speech━but she had to say it; he had to know.
“Together.” She repeated, finding his eyes, “We’ll do everything━get through everything━together, ‘cause he would’ve… I dunno…” She swallowed, eyes skittering to Grey’s mouth, “... I know we’re not perfect, but we would’ve been so good to him. So we should keep that for each other━for this, for us.” Gaze finding his again, Destiny hoped he knew what she meant. The hand not on his cheek found Grey’s other, fingers curling around his palm to squeeze it gently, showing all the strength she could possibly muster up at the moment.
Leah would get what she deserved. Anger coursed through Destiny in a warm wave, burning hot in her belly. They’d kill her a hundred times over for this, for taking their son. They’d rip her apart just as she’d done to them, though Destiny was sure anyone that hateful couldn’t love someone as much as they loved Petyr.
Pulling from the kiss that ended up wet from her tears, Destiny lifted her hand and rubbed at her cheeks, feeling the low thrum of something skitter through them. Her eyes jumped down, watching the scars blossom across his otherwise unblemished torso. They didn’t make him any less beautiful, but she had never seen them before━seen him like this. Naked, open, completely unshielded.
Slowly, Destiny shifted from his hold and pushed at the mattress to sit up, one hand pressed to his side as if to see more clearly. Grey had told her the story, that Leah killed their father and then went for him, and he’d risen out of it victorious━though it certainly didn’t seem like it now. She was a werewolf, he’d said. She got her claws in me.
Destiny blinked away the tears that clouded her vision, gliding her fingertips over the scars, down his chest and lower, tracing the lines she’d never seen before. Discovering him all over again. “I’m sorry,” She whimpered, because even though it was before she’d known him, it still hurt. The scars didn’t make him any less beautiful to her, nothing superficial could change their love, but that was just it. Destiny wanted to protect him, love him, and make sure history never repeated itself. “She’ll never hurt you again; I promise. I won’t let her touch you,” Bending to press her lips to the centre of his chest, Destiny left tears there━smudged butterfly kisses on his scars.
“And I’m sorry for hiding from you.” She added, letting her glamour fade just as he had. His hands had sought the swollen expanse that was so empty she could feel it, and he’d only found the mask she’d put up, but it was there now. The shadows under her eyes maching his own, and the scars she’d never shown him all appeared from underneath. Scars Tanner had put there, mostly his claim, a single word etched into her skin over and over, but some were from wielded objects. They spanned over her body, concentrated on her torso, but extended to Destiny’s thighs and arms, too. She’d been through treatments to remove them━leaving some more faded than others━but nothing worked as well as their shared ability.
Her palms slid over her stomach, finding the most obvious, loudest proclamation near her hip bone, tracing the letters with her finger. Tanner had reworked what he’d begun the last time she’d seen him, years after he’d done it all in the first place.
She wanted to be as naked and unshielded as Grey was. They’d gone through hell and back, lost their child, and they’d done it all as a pair. They’d survive this together, too.
GREY MADDOX | |
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GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 170
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 19, 2024 20:19:32 GMT
|
Post by GREY MADDOX on Aug 1, 2022 19:17:58 GMT
May 30th Sound – happy, sad, so grief stricken it felt like that black cloud that surrounded them, choked them was never going to vanish – pushed at the walls they’d put up around themselves. Tiny hammers that threatened to crack but never did. Maybe they needed to, maybe that was the only way out. God, he didn’t want to forget Petyr or push any of the few memories he had of his son aside, but he wanted to see that light fill Destiny again. He wanted to hear her laugh, wanted to see her smile, not feel those little sobs that swept everything else away. Grey swallowed hard, his thumb running over the column of Destiny’s throat. That first night it had been all light. She’d filled him with it, a glow he’d never felt, not even when Malcolm had tried shoving power at him like force was going to lodge it bone deep in him somehow. Now the world was dim, like it had been reduced to black and white by the tragedy Leah had shoved at them the same way. Colour flickered at the edges as they kissed, like a spark to relight that fire but there wasn’t enough of either one of them left for it to catch yet. Grey tried to drink it in, to feel it bring that glow to the light they’d made together, the one just as dim, a shadow of who Petyr should’ve been. They’d never lose what sparks remained. Time wouldn’t erase them or their son. For as long as he breathed – and beyond now that he knew there was somewhere, even if it wasn’t with them – he would hold on to them like fireflies caught in his chest, in Destiny’s too. With his hand sliding to her stomach he imagined those sparks still there, floating around in the empty space that had shielded their son for as long as possible. No matter what she’d done Leah hadn’t been able to snuff them all. She could change the surface, etch more scars but the part within was always something she was blind to and that was going to be his sister’s downfall. The croak of agreement at his vow to stick together, to face it all as a couple, had Grey’s throat thickening. That burn in his eyes as he nodded back, his thumb working over the hinge of his jaw like he could massage that pain away. Grey tried to pour some of the light she’d given to him into that kiss, promises, that unshakable vow to stay right here. Love. It had worked its way to the surface as Destiny had continued to fill him with that light time and time again. He could feel it in his throat as he felt as much as heard Destiny whisper those words against his lips. ”Together, because we love each other.” Another echo, as though each hammered it home. The words that went to follow stuck in his throat, a log jam that threatened to send the tears rolling down his cheeks. ”We would’ve loved him, done everything could for him … him not being here won’t change that. All that we would’ve been for Petyr, we’ll still be.” Perfect was fucking overrated, a word clung to by people like Leah, believing they couldn’t be anything but. This was perfection, one tiny little grain of it he could hold onto like Destiny’s hand in that sea of wrong. Grey squeezed back, that word – us – held right there. Leah would never understand any of it, would never have any of this. She had been broken from the start, the worst parts of Malcolm festering in the womb of a woman who hadn’t tried to do better for her daughter. Now, instead of trying to patch those cracks in herself, Leah broke everybody else instead, tossing aside her toys when there was no life left. It took that sort of evil to kill a child, something so innocent, so free of the stains that might have mottled her parents like those sooty fingerprints. In time he and Destiny would brush them away, just the ones in their hearts remaining. Feeling her tears damp on his skin, Grey whispered words of re-emergence. Stepping out into the world that had somehow been irrevocably changed by the loss of their son, even if most wouldn’t know it had ever happened. The two of them, the bond they had unbroken despite Leah’s efforts, a wall against everything that would still come his way … with every mark of it borne with pride. The power to reveal rolled through him, through the still air of the bedroom. Grey knew exactly what they looked like, the runnels that had bled like waterfalls as he’d stumbled home through the dark streets towards the house. Healing slow despite all the power he tried to pour into them. Red fading to white over years, although never disappearing. Smooth silvered skin with ragged edges. He didn’t need to look down now, just at her as Destiny sat up. Her fingers were warm against his skin, settling at his side, seeming to bring up that fresh well of tears as he fingertips found them. ”Baby, you don’t have to,” he whispered hoarsely. His hand came up, fingers curling around hers like he could drink her pain away through them. ”She’ll never touch either one of us again. She hurt you once, I should’ve stopped it then, I’m sorry I didn’t.” If he had Leah would’ve been in the ground long before she could reach in through Destiny’s mind to twist everything, to take Petyr. His fingers curled around the back of Destiny’s neck as she bent to kiss his chest, the scars that were a symbol of his survival. Grey’s breath whispered out, his brows furrowing as he tried to tilt Destiny’s head up. ”You don’t have to apologise. Not to me, ever.” Even with the glamour in place, he knew. Some at least. The shadows under her eyes, the trails of tears, the flattening curve of a child stolen from them. And so much more. What spread over her skin broke his heart. Tanner didn’t know it yet but he was walking dead man. Grey’s fingers grazed over the marks he’d left on Destiny’s skin – her body, her arms, her thighs, that word. Not any more mate. Destiny had told him she was free of him when they’d gone to California, the attempt to force the opposite was still there though. Gripping her hips gently, Grey slid down the bed. Never again would Destiny be that to that man. The only person she belonged to was the one who loved her, as he belonged to her. ”I love you. Every inch, every part of you.” No matter what scars they bore, what damage they’d had to withstand. Grey pressed his lips to her stomach, whispering almost inaudible words of love that their son wouldn’t hear, but that he felt in his stomach anyway. Down. His thumb running over those lines. He gripped her hand gently, pressing his kiss to her palm before his lips found that word, changing, erasing, that last claim Tanner would ever have over her. |
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