#castholy

CLOUD.

       ------- ? --- . -- --- ------- “ --- ”

static, hungry for every budding thought that ‘ttempts to break through mind’s soil----- cracked, dry. 

              parched.

       should’ve expected this. of course she’d be here.

                         right here, radiant, & cloud is breaking. 

rooted deep into our being- horror -‘til vines keep hostage every breath, form an anchor to the world that rots & withers depending on the moment. dust motes slide through the air with an ease envied. some land on her, perhaps--? & panic jolts through limbs-- gotta stop them!

gotta keep them from breaking the lie!

        most of our hallucinations aren’t nearly as lovely.ah, though- that remains to be seen. she is a hallucination, after all, & cloud’s mind is least its friend.

             “ ... ”

no point in speaking to it ( fingers splayed twitch toward her ) there is no point ( stumbling into step stp tp--- )

“ aerith--? ”      there’s not enough breath for volume. her, stuck like a burr in the throat / she, brilliant & lovely & so fucking alive-- is this a cruelty? or is it the sweetest kindness, to be lured by our own delusions into -

            ( a                  happiness )

                 they’re not always tangible.       this time, she is. shoulders, slender, so so familiar. sacrilege, this touch. but there are arms around him / scent in the nose -- ah.

          “ ---aerith- ” 

fake, unfair / he’s got his nose buried in curls brown / it shouldn’t be so familiar, the heady drug of a living pulse / arms ‘round him, tight--- 

sacrilege, but he’s always been into being wrong.

SEND ME 💋 FOR A KISS FROM MY MUSE | ACCEPTING

“Aeris… I-I think a lot about you, about us…” Prompto admitted with a NERVOUS smile crossing his features. He had always admired her for her optimism and for her emotional strength. She was a true ray of sunshine to him, and he wished to be the same for her, too. He had always thought she was out of his league, but since she had given him those charms, he thought that maybe it wasn’t entirely true.

caring sentence starters ⇒ accepting

Aqua gave out a long, painful exhale as she leaned against the wall. Her posture awkward as she showed the stranger just where the strike had cut her. It was a gash of darkness. A mass of poison and pain that pulsed violently whenever the bluebird moved. It wasn’t pretty and it was the near-fatal result of her own carelessness. Luckily, the heartless who attacked her was quickly destroyed before anything worse could happen.

All that was left was to clean up the mess it made.

“I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.” Aqua smiled lightly in the face of her pain. She was thankful for the company either way. There was something about this woman’s voice that soothed Aqua’s heart. “I should have been more prepared, but I’ve been travelling for a while. Perhaps I should have taken a quick rest somewhere while I had the chance.”

@castholy

lonely sentence starters@castholy

“I don’t deserve such kindness but…your company, is most welcome.” He said in a low tone as he opened his apartment door. “It’s been so long, since I’ve seen anyone..but, that’s my own fault. I tend to distance myself..” Punish himself more likely. He deserved everything he’d been going through. From the struggle of controlling his powers, to the darkness that had been drowning him. “You are welcome to come in and make yourself at home. There’s food and drinks in the refrigerator.” Luckily he’d gone to the store not, long before she came to his door.  “Please forgive me, if I seem … distracted.” 

The hero could not help but feel a little bashful, regardless All Might simply wanted to help and was thrilled that he could if even a little bit. Giving the young woman a pat on the shoulder, his trademark smile shimmering in the sunlight.

“It was my pleasure, you were in trouble and I couldn’t say no though these days it may be because I’m too stubborn to say no. Regardless, you’re safe now and that’s what matters.”They were interesting, although clearly young their demeanour and personality was almost motherly, like they had wisdom far beyond their years. But through all of it they radiated such a loving warmth, truly they had the purest of souls.

       he inhales sharply; the breath catches, knocked from his lungs. a physical ache grips his heart --- who’d have thought that could happen? that the sensation of his heart pulled in two directions at once would hurt like a punch? zack wants to beg her not to say these things, not to offer him the reality of a life beyond what he’s locked himself into. leaving soldier --- how could he?

“that’s what you want?”

he knows this. she’s made no secret of her disdain for shinra --- and soldier. ( ‘they fight, and they love it.’ isn’t that what she said? and hadn’t zack felt his heart drop, because she was right, because he’s everything monstrous the people whisper about soldier? zack, with his unnatural glowing eyes and all that borrowed power thrashing through his veins, had feared he had no place with this girl made of light and air and flowers. ) the slums are thick with despair and the seethe of bitterness toward shinra, choked by pollution and dark with the looming plate stealing away their light --- and zack’s tried, he’s tried, to turn a selfish blind eye and refuse to acknowledge to corruption of the company he’s given his life to, but the truth’s flaying through the denial. aeris has survived this pollution her entire life, coaxed her flowers to thrive through it anyway, and he’s known she’d say things like this eventually.

the bit that’s blindsiding him --- the thing that’s cracking open his heart --- is that look in her eyes when she tells him she doesn’t want him hurt anymore.

she’s been his sanctuary through the agony: safety when the sickness of angeal’s blood on his hands might’ve broken him; laughter and joy when the weight of the world on his shoulders began to crush him. he’s exposed her to all his pain, his wounds and cuts and broken bones, and she’s taken it without ever letting on how it hurts her to do so. something sharp and acidic like guilt twists his stomach.

“y’know, i...” his voice breaks; he clears his throat. “i think... if you’d said that to me when we first met, i’d have told you being in soldier was my dream.” it still is, but it’s begun to feel like one of those dreams that was a nightmare all along. he had it all mixed up in his head, had soldier raised on some grand heroic platform like being part of it was going to make him everything he’d wanted to be. “i thought ... i thought it’d make me a hero. it’s all i ever wanted.”

wanting something so desperately that he’s been capable of overlooking reality --- it’s an ache he’s not ready to accept. he’s not a hero; he’s a murderer. he’s found blood instead of glory.

“and then you...” he seems to lose his words for a moment and gestures helplessly, turning lost eyes on aeris. “you came along. and for the first time, i --- i wasn’t just dreaming of being a hero. it was you. but i don’t... i don’t know how to leave shinra. i... i don’t know how to give up. how to live another life. if they’d even let me.” it’s not as easy as handing in a resignation. not for a first-class soldier. not for someone privy to shinra’s secrets. either you serve ‘til you die, or you run and hope they never find you. 

shinra watches aeris already. how could zack leave them and expect to be allowed a life in peace with her? how could he ask her to fight just so he wouldn’t have to hurt anymore?

he reaches out a hand, hopes to hell she’ll take it. his smile’s a fragile, shaky thing. “what would we do? if i left.”