Shattered

A ragged scream tore from a throat that had been sleeping only moments before. Bowen breathed heavily, her ribcage heaving with each staggered breath. Tej woke and tried to comfort her, but there was only one person that could comfort Bowen in the state that she was in. Peeling away from the giant feline, the small woman pushed open the wooden door and crept down the hall towards where her brother and Briar slept.

It was difficult to breathe and Bowen hesitated outside their door for a long, long while as though she was some child about to beg her parents for comfort after a bad dream, though she knew that she'd be told to go back to bed. In fact, that was exactly why the russet and snow fae was in such a state. She'd dreamed about her mother for the first time. Staggering breaths continued to rush from the small fae and she began to feel as though she would fall unconscious. There had been such disdain in her mother's eye. Such disappointment. Remembering the look and what was said, a sob pulled from Bowen and she placed her forehead against the wood of Artorias and Briar's door, still not knocking or begging entrance.

Bowen sank to the floor, curling herself in as tight of a ball as she could manage and she cried. It was somewhat silent at first, but as she replayed the scene in her minds eye, her cries became louder until she was gasping for breath. No doubt she would wake the entire castle by now, but she simply couldn't stop. The dream had ripped her chest open leaving her heart exposed. She hurt so much mentally that she had begun to hurt physically as well. There was so much pain in her chest and stomach that Bowen was fairly certain that she was going to die.

A lot of the anxieties that the caramel fae had been trying to tamp down had risen to the surface during that dream. The ghost of her mother hadn't tried to dissuade her relationship with Artorias, but she had very much expressed her disappointment in Bowen's lack of control. Essentially, Artorias had enough to worry about without dealing with her issues as well. Resin had told her that she needed to be strong, if not for herself, for her brother. Bowen... just didn't know how. So here she was, doing the exact opposite as her mother had told her. She was outside of Art's door, a crying, sobbing mess, once again wishing that he would be able to pick up the pieces and put her back together.

"Bowen"