Thalia felt confused as her body wandered slowly through the mansion corridor. It was eerily silent, allowing only the echo of footsteps to fill the air. Nothing could be seen except shadows bearing smiles and eyes bleeding like thorned roses held in one's grasp.
"He was like that, too."
The voice echoed in her mind like a whisper that gently grazed, yet firmly pierced, and Thalia couldn't tell whether the shadow belonged to the night or the light, like herself. The wind brushed her face gently, its coldness like unseen fingers trying to erase a memory.
"Thank you for saving me."
That sentence pulled Thalia out of her unconsciousness, as though the world refused to let her sink too long into the darkness. Thalia awoke as morning dew clung to the leaves, like the whisper of a world not yet fully awakened. The morning sky spoke nothing, though it greeted with pale glimmers and cold air from the remnants of last night's drizzle that accompanied her dream.
Thalia gazed at Elric and Alaric sleeping beside her, like a picture of a happy family. She exhaled softly as her mind stitched together an imagination of, 'what if.'
Sometimes, a woman holds on to high pride when the thread of desire is severed and slips from her grasp.
"Mama?"
Thalia jolted at the sound of Elric, as though a corrupted reel of terrifying memories began to play, making the pulse in her neck ache. Thalia instinctively pulled her hand away just as Elric reached to touch her arm. Clutching her own limb, Thalia diverted her gaze like prey in the presence of a small predator.
Funny, isn't it?
The creak of the door was followed by retreating footsteps, and Elric watched the space where Thalia had vanished behind the door, hollowly. Elric curled up in the forced embrace of a still-sleeping Alaric.
"Again?"
Sometimes a slight movement is enough to rouse a body from its slumber. Alaric's hoarse voice, newly awakened by Elric's restless stirrings, served as a faint greeting. A small sob escaped, like a baby bat seeking attention after its mother had turned away.
Alaric pulled Elric into his arms and frowned as if disturbed by something invisible yet familiar. Elric tried to calm himself, even though the simple unease didn't change the lack of emotion on his face.
"Father."
Elric felt a flick to his forehead from Alaric's finger. It didn't hurt, but it was enough to drain all resistance from the small child's body, though faint sobs still lingered.
Sleep crept in like an unspoken spell, seeping from forehead to heavy eyelids. That tiny flick became the final seal to Elric's tangled emotions, lulling him into slumber in the embrace of the dawn.
Alaric sat upright from his sleeping position, his fingers combing back the hair that had fallen over his forehead. It was damp from a cold sweat and a strange thing for a being like him. In the faint glow of dewlight, with his forehead fully revealed, Alaric's chilling beauty seemed to need no light to shine.
Perhaps some women who admired Alaric would call Thalia a fool.
"Elric cried because of you."
Without warning, Alaric's voice broke through the air, sudden and sharp, as if the sentence had long waited to be spoken meant only for Thalia as she entered the room. Thalia turned away, indifferent to the rising waves of emotion.
"He was too much yesterday."
Thalia spoke as if unwilling to let Alaric blame her for her behavior toward their son. Alaric slowly stood, his shadow stretching with the morning light streaming through the window. Alaric's cold fingers touched Thalia's temple, then drifted to her forehead, as though tracing something lost.
The touch was neither gentle nor rough, but enough to silence whatever lay beneath the skin that served as a shield. Alaric frowned, withdrawing his hand slowly, letting the morning chill replace his touch.
"What?"
Their differing heights resembled a towering pine standing beside a trembling lily in the wind, though both grew from the same earth. Alaric touched the side of Thalia's face, feeling the smooth, soft skin beneath his fingers as they brushed her cheek.
Thalia's silence didn't come from feeling anything toward Alaric's touch, her imagination had replaced his face with Ashen's.
Ironic, isn't it?
Thalia flinched when thunder roared across the bright blue sky. Had it been dusk, with dim light and the lamps still unlit, perhaps Alaric's face would have seemed terrifying.
"Don't make Elric my excuse, Thalia."
Alaric's footsteps echoed, followed by the creak of the door slowly closing. Thalia turned her gaze to Elric, who slept soundly in the arms of morning. Elric smiled faintly in his sleep as Thalia brushed back his hair, as if recognizing his mother's touch.
Thalia frowned as her mind filled with fragments of scenes, echoing with every step she took like frames of a film unraveling in her head. Her nightgown, still clinging to her form, flowed with her hurried steps toward a heavy iron door that only now appeared in her sight. The movement and vision matched a sliver of memory so precisely, it made her head spin even the sight of Alaric standing before a woman behind iron bars, his hand brushing over an empty stomach as if guarding something hidden.
'Why does she look so much like her?'
A soft laugh from the woman echoed gently, like a beautiful melody. Her lovely face framed by tangled hair, her gaze clouded between reason and ruin, "She's coming."
"Is that so?"
Alaric's voice responded and he smiled for the last time because he killed her. The first thing Alaric did was stab her belly, her scream echoing through every crevice of the wall. Then Alaric burned her body, like the fabled punishment for witches in old folklore.
Thalia's lips parted slightly, trembling, her breath caught in her throat as her face turned pale at the horrifying scene. Thalia's eyes refused to blink, afraid to miss a single detail of what she now knew wasn't an illusion. Thalia's body froze as Alaric walked toward her, bending down until he nearly touched her ear and whispered something.
"She was like Ashen except I could throw her away and kill her."
Thalia slapped Alaric's cheek with a trembling hand, torn between fear and an uprising storm of feelings barely freed from the chains of terror. Alaric gripped Thalia's wrist tightly and brought it to his lips. Thalia's skin bore claw-like scratches from Alaric's own nails, drawing blood and his tongue tasting the tempting liquid.
"I won't kill Ashen."
That brought a flicker of comfort to Thalia's soul, though unease still lingered between warmth.
"That makes it more fun."
Alaric understood that love could breed foolishness in every creature that dared to pair logic with emotion. Alaric had experience in such things then looked at Thalia like an owl watching every movement of a creature within its sharpened senses.
Thalia, bound by chains of emotion, had a uniqueness but also a foolishness and Alaric let her drown in it. It wasn't that Alaric didn't care for her, he simply wanted it that way.
Besides, being trapped in the past can't be undone if one doesn't wish to be saved or to save, right?