What we build is broken

Mortis listened to what his son had to say, and he leaned forward, cupping a paw very slightly around Oleander’s shoulder. Not smothering him, not a full hug. He knew his children, and he knew that Oleander needed to be in control of touch and affection. He rocked back and forth, holding his boy like that when the tears started. His own heart was breaking, because he knew how Oleander felt. He wanted her back too. It was all he wanted, and every day without her was harder, until he found he had lost his way entirely.

He rubbed Ollie’s forehead and whispered soft noises to the boy, letting him let it out. He didn’t try to approach the Vesper conversation until his son had felt everything he needed to. When it seemed the tears would slow, he leaned back a little and looked at Oleander’s vibrant green eyes. “She doesn't believe you, Ollie. Not because she doesn't want to, but because she cant.” He didn’t know this girl. He didn’t know what she had gone through, or what it had done to her. But he could guess, and he would use those guesses to try and help to guide his son.

“Because if she does, then everything she’s been through, everything that happened to her didn’t have to happen. Because the world isn’t set in stone, there isn’t just master and slave. Even if you can convince her that she won’t be treated that way here, she’s going to be second guessing it for a long time. She’ll have moments where she regresses. She’s traumatised, Oleander. She’s been in survival mode her whole life, if you pull her out of that you don’t know what could happen. She could have panic attacks, or ptsd. And all of that is okay as well, because it’s the start to the path of healing. Taking on someone this damaged is an incredibly hard job. It’s okay if you don’t want to do it. But you have to be all in, or all out. Because your a healer, and you can’t help a patient halfway.” Patient. Not slave, because those beliefs belong to his father, to Basilisk. Not to Mortis, or Halo, and not to their children.


"Mortis Fatalis"