Work Text:
Cassi steps out of the church and joins Amira on a bench. She looks up at the starry night sky, and as she does Everytime she stargazes. She thinks of her mother, and the usual stab of grief washes over her. She was exhausted and overwhelmed by all that has happened during these past months. It felt as if she was a snapped thread away from breaking.
Amira was a nice distraction, the older woman seemed to run hot which was comforting compared to the biting cold nipping at Cassi’s skin. She plops her head down on the other’s shoulder, and a few seconds later, she felt a weight on her head as Amira rests her head atop her own. The two women stay like that for a while, just watching the sky for a time.
Amira breaks the peaceful silence after a bit. “I’ll protect you and Cat when the dragons come.” She mentions.
“Dragons?”
“Oh, you’re talking about those weird prophetic vision things…” Cassi hums, before zoning out, getting lost in her head once more. She picks up some of what Amira says. She seemed to be explaining what she saw in her vision.
“I know a safe place, we can go to Isar’s cave.” Amira claims.
“Your…boyfriend?…” Cassi confirms, still a bit unsure what the warlock’s relation to her patron was exactly.
“Yes!” Amira nods. “I’m sure he would allow it, just don’t touch his things.” She lightly warns.
“Right, yeah, I won’t touch his stuff.” Cassi nods. Her mind then shifts back to her own vision. She goes back and forth on sharing it with the other. But before she can choose not to her mouth moves faster than she can stop it.
“There was…a fire in mine…” She almost stops herself there but when she glances at Amira, she saw the almost gentle look she gave her. “Fine, guess it’s time to talk about that then…” She thinks, internally. That look made her feel like she could talk about it.
“A rather familiar fire…” She chokes up slightly, taking a few shaky breaths to collect herself.
“You don’t have to speak about it if you.” Amira says softly. Cassi shakes her head.
“No, no, I want to talk about it. I should talk about it…” She takes a moment to breathe and collect her chaotic thoughts at least a little.
“About sixteen years ago, I think?…yeah sixteen.” She starts, making sure she remembers the timeline correctly.
“My parents…our home…it-they…it-it caught ablaze one night…” She wipes at her watery eyes. She can’t cry now. She doesn’t hear Amira mutter a soft “I’m sorry.” She breathes more unsteadily.
“And then it felt as if-…I swear they were embracing me from behind but when I turned around they-they weren’t there…” She begins to breathe hard like one does after running for a long while. She then realizes, something it seemed that Amira’s vision didn’t reference her past at all. But maybe she was wrong…
“Did-did your vision have anything from your past?…” She questions the other.
“No…” Amira shakes her head. That bothered Cassi greatly.
“I did see my own death though.” Amira adds, carefully. Cassi was frustrated with all this, everything that’s happened and it likely didn’t help that she’s overwhelmed. But she stands from the bench, and gestures dramatically as she spoke, or well more like shouted really.
“I saw both you and Cat die! And-and I’m pretty sure Devin did it!” She began to ramble.
“Cat was stabbed by this feather knife-…sword thing! And-and bled out!” She spirals more as she continues.
“And you-you got stabbed with like twelve feathers, and then a bigger one sliced you in half!” Amira puts a light hand on her shoulder, but Cassi barely notices and hits her off with her wild gesturing.
“And then I saw Devin b-but it wasn’t the Devin we’ve seen but I know it was him. He-he looked like this pretty red eyed girl with like auburn hair. And-and she was being nice! And went to hug me b-but then she-…he turned into this horrid fleshy amalgamation with the gods we met in Sinders inside it like trapped tormented souls and-and the goddess who gave us these visions, whatever her name was! Sh-she was in it also!”
She was hyperventilating now, and Amira places her hand back on her shoulder, the other placed just below her collar bone. “You need to breathe, hun…” She says in an almost motherly manner.
“I am breathing!!” Cassi shouts back.
“Can you take a deep breath?…” Amira gently tries. Cassi makes an almost whimper like sound as the world crumbles around her. She steps back and stumbles fall on her rear into the snow, which was odd because she felt hot, too hot. She felt too hot, the kind of hot you feel when just slightly too close to a fire…no, no, no…not fire. Not-not the fire…
She can’t be here, she can’t, she can’t. She curls herself into a ball as smoke burns her nose and eyes, burying her face in her knees and wrapping her tail around her legs tightly. It’s too hot, the smoke is suffocating, and her parent’s screams were haunting.
Then suddenly, something ice cold, hits her chest, below her collarbone where Amira’s hand was earlier. And the shock of the cold, startles her making her fall back, and lands on something soft but her limbs and head hit the snow. That’s probably what hit her…
The world slowly falls back into place. She breathes shakily and her body trembled but her head felt more clear. She can tell Amira was crouched next to her, as she stares at the stars above. But she also oddly felt her mother’s presence in place of the other. Which was interesting because Amira was nothing like her mother, it was almost funny. And on her other side, she felt her father’s presence.
She lifts her head slightly off the snowy ground. And to her surprise. She saw them. But they were transparent, almost seeming to blend in with the snow. They smiled at her warmly, and looked…proud. She blinks as she thought she saw a halo like glow around their heads. She plops her head back down, and stares at the stars again with a tiny smile. A few tears slide down her cheeks.
Her parents were dead, she knew that since she was five…but maybe they weren’t as gone as she thought they were. They were watching her, they’ve been watching her, their proud expressions showed that. Maybe she wasn’t as okay as she thought, and maybe that was okay. She could trust these women that she had met in that tavern. She could protect them and they could protect her…that was a comforting thought.
Maybe, just maybe things would be a bit easier for now…She considers as she watches the stars above, and faintly hears her moms voice pointing out the constellations and telling her the stories behind them…She was safe, right now. She could rest, just for a bit…