you'll come back

Iolaire should have left her there. Deathbelle was hardly social around the rest of the pack, let alone a woman that she had once loved. Guilt filled her and weighed heavily on her shoulders. It didn’t cease as Io was suddenly there, her gentle arms wrapping around her neck as she pulled her close instead of pushing her away like she should. Belle couldn’t resist the warm pull of her once love. Iolaire brought their foreheads together and Deathbelle felt a strange relief. A lightness that overtook her, as if Io pulled the weight of her shame away like pulling back the curtains of a dark room.

Soft words were whispered against her muzzle as Iolaire reminded Deathbelle of a much different time. Before Hannibal, before Magnus, before Sirius had… Belle swallowed a lump in her throat, she had thought that so long ago she had cried her last tears. That these emotions are so far past her. She had thought that she had already been through all of the pain she could feel and then Iolaire spoke.

Belle shook her head lightly against Io as she apologized. There was no reason, they had both found their own paths and drifted apart. She had the Empire to worry about and Io had her wonderful husband to travel the world with. They had their own lives to see to, and even if it hurt to tell her goodbye she knew they had to walk the paths they had taken. And somehow those paths brought them back together now. Belle could feel how thin Iolaire was against her own tattered pelt, and it was obvious they were both worn down and weathered to their breaking points.

Iolaire spoke again, and all of the moments with Sirius returned to her. The bliss and happiness she’d had for those few weeks. The culmination of her life long desire and then when he’d taken it all away and promised her the rest of her life suffering from that loss. Seer did more than break her heart or simply hurt her. He destroyed her, life no longer felt worth living, and yet she struggled along, because he’d asked to see her live through this torture. He snuffed out her bright light when he rejected her, when he forgot about her.

Tears began to fall like rivulets down Deathbelle’s cheek. She had already cried her heart out for him and again she felt overwhelmed by it. She grit her teeth as her knees buckled and she fell to the grass in a helpless heap. She thought she had finally held her emotions at bay, but as she relived it everything came crashing back down on her shoulders like a tsunami. ”I had my happiness. Everything I’d ever wanted.. And then.” She couldn’t even say it. Reality hurt far too much. He crushed her and dug his heel in to finish the damage. By now Belle was sobbing, the emotions so carefully hid away to allow for her to function were revealed and they swiftly grabbed the broken woman and overwhelmed her.