damsel in distressin’

’Redrum is sorry. he should’ve been there sooner.’ El shakes her head, so fervently it surprises even her. “no,” she insists, voice firm - if a little tearful. “no, Red you were right on time. you were perfect.” she cranes her neck to look him in the face, seeking those familiar eyes, so dear to her they may as well be her own. “you are perfect.” with shaky hands she tries to pull his face down, to press brief, open-mouthed kisses to his mouth. nothing particularly sensual or greedy, just seeking to ground herself, to anchor herself to him and the twin potter of their heartbeats. “Red,” El sniffles, “e-everything has been so awful, lately. it’s all f-fallen a-apart.” it spills from her like poison, quick and clumsy, like she’ll never get it out if she doesn’t speak it all in this singular moment. “Ashen f-fell, and Daddy’s sick, and i haven’t…i haven’t seen my f-family in so l-long. and i’m frightened.”

she’d have been too proud to admit such a thing as a pup, too ashamed of to admit to such weakness. but cold and hunger and grief have hollowed her out and worn her down, leaving something smooth and vulnerable where once she was rough and unyielding. maybe it’s pathetic. she feels pathetic. but adrenaline is still shaking through her, and the pain is setting in, and fuck it all, she wants to be as blatantly selfish as she’d been in her youth. it comes natural to her, it’s in her nature. it’s the ugliest parts of her stripped bare. deep down, she knows best how to take and give nothing in return. “i wanna go home with you. Red, I wanna…i wanna live with you. for good.” her bottom lip quivers as she fixes him with those big doe-eyes, the kind she’d levied at him so often when they were children. “please, Red, take me home with you.”

"Elara Klein"