Everchanging (IC)

[Aoiroo]

Sunday, October 23rd, 11:48 AM

The pot of flowers she had brought laid broken on the sidewalk as she stepped out of the car. The scene before her resembled nothing she expected. The sirens echoed in the air as the building blazed red. There were already several heroes there, moving through the hospital, evacuating the attendants, but as Etain searched through the crowd. There was something very wrong.

She disappeared on the spot calling Custos to her side who lifted her from the crowd. She searched, and searched and searched, but he was no there. Which meant only one thing. The gargoyle took her up to the window that was closed and filled with smoke, she didn't bother being subtle, the gargoyle smashed through the window and smoke poured out the room. Though the scene of the unconcious boy choking in the smoke even unconcious didn't shock her, no what shocked her was the beatiful figure with pale yellow hair and tan skin sitting on the beds edge in a long gown, her eyes fixated on the figure seeing more then just that, the familiar glow of power so similiar to her own,

"Mother."

[Aoiroo]

The women stood unmoving from the bed's edge as the pillows began to catch fire,

"No!"

Etain ran forward but was blocked by a wall of shimmering magic that she recognized instantly. She looked over at the fae who raised her, her eyebrows raised,

"Stop! Let me get to him."

She stood up as the fire consumed the room on the other side of the sheild, Etain continued to scream,

"What are you doing?!"

"Letting nature take it's course."

She looked over at the boy,

"Really, this was something that should of happened long ago. That foolish deal has kept you bound here for too long."

[Aoiroo]

Etain turned from her mother to her companion,

"Break it down, hurry, he'll die."

The gargoyle nodded and backed away before moving down into a swoop. A second before he hit it though, the barrier dropped and he barrelled through plowing through the opposing wall. Just as quickly another barrier surrounded him ensnaring his wings. Etain tried to push forward but the same barrier from before stopped her in her tracks,

"Why are are you doing this?"

The fae looked at Etain, with a look she recalled as one of mixed irritation at the girls antics, many years of that look usually shut her up or shut her down, but Etain kept her gaze on the fae,

"Because he should die, like he would have that night without the intervention of medicine. What life does he have here anyway, sleeping always as nothing but a lump lost in his own mind."

Etain's eyebrows raised as she looked at Demetrius then her mother,

"The fire."

"Not my work, I cannot do anything to hurt mortals, but some mad pyro girl and her family thought that they would do well to extiminate the weak ends of society. They have already been dealt with by the locals of course, but this flame did take up this old building quite fast."

[Aoiroo]

"Psions,"

She said it as a whisper, she would deal with those arrogant mentalists. But this, this was more important.

"You glamoured the room, made it so no one would think to come here, would forgot this exists. Remove it, let him be saved, I will pay the price."

"No."

The fae looked at her with a frown her voice was sorrowful,

"You are far too kind for your own good dear child, binding yourself here, what life does he have?"

"Hope,"

Etain said the answer without any hesitation,

"There is always hope that he will awaken, no matter how long it takes."

"Enough,"

The tone this time was a more absolute one that made Etain hold her tongue,

"It has been nearly a year, you must come home before it is too late."

[Aoiroo]

"A year? So what does it matter if that much time,"

"The deadline is nearly here,"

Etain furrowed her brow,

"The deadline for what, the only thing in October is,"

Her eyes looked up as she stalked on the other side of the barrier,

"My birthday."

"Yes, you are nearly of age, and you need to choose. That is why you must come home."

Etain stepped away from the wall and looked at her mother, though the look was confusion,

My eighteenth birthdate, it is the deadline for me to choose and clearly she wants,

Stopped for a few seconds, her eyebrows rose as she looked at the fae and then suddenly she laughed, it was hard and cold,

"You want me to choose to be a fae? I chose when I was thirteen, to not be a halfling, what makes you think..."

"This world, the fragile fickle lives this mortals leaves I let you stay here to see. The hardship they bear for such a short time before they simply cease to exist."

[Aoiroo]

Etain wasn't stunned at the words, she just laughed, laughed harder and harder. It was cold and dark and her expression though beautiful gave no comfort to anybody who might of seen it.

Etain laughed harder,

"You think I was unaware before? That life was such a short thing for mortals, no, I know full well when I chose the first time and it has not changed."

This time it was the fae who looked confused, Cinquefoil had never seen this side of her daughter,

"You haven't, after all this pain, you still choose this life, you choose this punishment for yourself when you could live forever."

Etain couldn't stop laughing, she could barely answer, but Cinquefoil made herself heard regardless,

"So you want to die?"

Letting out a breath she kept up her cold and cool smile as she looked the fae in the eye,

"Of course not."

[Aoiroo]

Etain stepped forward pressing a hand against the glamour as she did. She had her umbrella out and she hefted it on one hand,

"I want to live, a good long life, surrounded by those I love and love me back. I want to live, seeing the world and all the beautiful things it has to offer and to see it change unlike the world you raised me to see. But at the end of all that, I will die as death is part of the everchanging world I was brought too,"

She let out a breath,

"And I will not let it pass me by, I will see it, and I will die, just like my parents died."

"Your parents! I am your.."

"You are my mother, you raised me, but you also stole me, stole me from my blood and flesh while you were visiting the human realm like a mere trinket from your travels."

Etain unsheathed the sword and put a tip on her finger let a bead of blood form as it cut the skin,

"This blood, it is human, I was never one of you, no matter how you had raised me."

"Nonsense, we loved you. And those mortals, they could barely provide for you, they were poor and filthy you would have..."

"Become sick, died young in the filth and poverty that was the mortal realm for those who wandered the streets like animals. Yes, you have told me this, and it is a lovely story but it is irrelivant."

[Aoiroo]

Taking the blade she followed it with her finger, sliding gently so as not to cut herself but picking up the blood from the end and flicking it down off the silvery blade,

"I am grateful to you, I was raised to be afterall. Just like I was raised to be your daughter, to love you, to always look up to you until I was thirteen when I first had to choose and it was revealed to me that I even had human parents. But that was not important, that the disilation of time would ensure that I would never meet them, that seventy years had already passed by then and that they had long gone and passed."

She put her finger on the blades edge and spun it, before grabbing the edge,

"Let me through, mother."

"I will not, he will die, and you will live. Just like it was supposed to be."

"There is no supposed to about it, I was suppose to live and then die, and I still will, or else."

"Or else what, that blade is silver not iron, it cannot pierce the barrier."

"It does not have too,"

Taking the sword she quickly slid it in a smooth mother across her wrist, severing a vein. The blood welled in the clean wound and dripped out.

[Aoiroo]

"No!"

The barrier dropped as the fae rushed to Etain's side, her instincts telling her to protect the girl,

"Save him,"

"What?! You are."

"You cannot heal me, not without my permission not here. I am human and that magic directly manipulates me."

While she was distracted Etain pushed back and slashed her other wrist cleanly severing the artery,

"Stop!"

Etain smiled weakly as the color drained out of her face,

"Save him, take him to the ambulence, make sure he has treatment, only then will you have permission."

Cinquefoil looked at the girl with shocked eyes as she went to the still breathing boy,

"Why! Why are you sacrificing yourself, you will die, for what a human?"

Etain smiled as she continued to lose strengh,

"No, I will die for you."

She nearly collapsed onto the faes shoulder.

[Aoiroo]

"You will not, you will live, you will,"

Cinquefoil froze at the weakness in her daughters voice, at the fading sound of it,

"That is your punishment, for stealing me, because you love me you will suffer."

Cinquefoil raised up the girl,

"No, stay with me, stay,"

Etain smiled,

"I am going to remain mortal no matter what, that is your punishment to watch me die, just like a cut flower from the ground, the only question is when."

She pointed a weak and bloody finger at Demetrius,

"You have your terms, so choose, and always remember."

A tear ran down Etain's check as she said this,

"I love you, mommy."

That the last words Cinquefoil heard before Etain blacked out.

[Aoiroo]

When Etain awoke, she smelled something fragrent in the air. Looking around she found herself surrounded by purple and yellow violas. Sitting up, she saw her mother just a few feet away,

"So this is what you choose?"

Cinquefoil looked towards her with tears down her cheeks and a fist full of flowers in her hand as she turned away,

"Goodbye,"

4:38 PM

Etain opened her eyes for a second time, but this time the scent she smelled was a familiar cleaner. Looking around she saw her wrists were wrapped and her clothing was replaced with a hospital room. There was almost no one around, but she was changed and her clothing was bundled beside her in a thick bag, she moved for a second but fund that when she did, she felt something to her side. A pot of flowers, etain violas with a note attached,

I hope you are happy, even if I cannot be. I can no longer be your guide or your crutch, and Mr. Fidei will no longer know of our association

She paused for a second,

"Cynthia Fowler, should of caught that sooner."

I will always be watching, but I guess that will be all,

Love, You dearest Mother.

Etain looked at the note and reread it a few times, she took it quietly and tucked it under her pillow before sitting back and going back to sleep. She would ask about Demetrius soon, but she was still here, and her mother never did things half was so she had no doubt that he would be fine.