Fam Away From Home

Everybody Knows That Everybody Dies

Astra could hear that thing the Doctor said. The brilliant, perfect thing.

"There's this moment when you're sure you're about to die and then... you're born"

Astra came to with a gasp. The next sound was shrill and terrified. Her throat felt immediately sore. Was she screaming?

Marcel came close to her- When had he got back?! The brunette tried to push away, but fell from the- Table??- she'd been placed on. The fall was hard, but the feeling of choking on her own blood still vibrated through her. The metallic slick still stuck in her throat. Everything was spinning and erratic until she found the will to crawl away. Her fingers dug into the ground as claws, dirt riding beneath her nails now and clinging to pale fingers. She was outside, then. They'd moved her. Who was they? The ground beneath her was cold and wet so therefore soft, but it was empty. Astra felt no connection to it and that alone nearly broke her.

Gasping and coughing to breathe and clear her throat, sobs wracked her as everything came crashing around her. She looked back over her shoulder. The humans were around the table- she'd decorated that- watching concernedly. Marcel restrained the alien with a hand on her arm. She spit out the last bit of blood lingering in her throat. "I told you to leave." She staggered to her feet, nearly stumbling before nearly falling, yanking the heels off. "It's not safe."

"Not safe's never been a problem before, eh?" Graham quipped.

The brunette's chest was heaving, not to mention drenched in her own coughed up blood from having her internal organs liquefied. What a fun death. Still, the glare she gave them was as unexpectedly firm as they could never anticipate. "We can kill you with a thought and now he's a vampire, capable of siphoning magic from his own death!" she nearly shouted in desperation, not taking in that they had no idea what she was talking about. She'd never told them much about her magic. They just knew it was handy at times, unhelpful at others. "He just killed me. In a single move, he just killed my entire coven. His entire family. My-..!" She stepped forward, nearly threatening, before retreating, looking like she was about to choke on her heart. She narrowed her eyes at them, watching with a monsoon of emotions roiling through her. "You think he's just gonna skip over our four because this isn't your fight?" Her filthy hand moved to hold her stomach, turning away from them again. She stepped toward the tent when Marcel grabbed her arm.

"That's suicide," he tried to dissuade.

She yanked back, not appreciating the feeling. "Then I suppose it's fitting I'm already dead."

The humans' breaths hitched.

She turned to continue, but the immortal was in front of her, holding up the vial, in a heartbeat.

"You don't have to stay that way," he tried to tempt her.

Astra's face hardened in its crumbling, stubbornly in pain. "No." She shoved his hand holding the vial aside. She walked around him, but he grabbed her arm, spinning her back to face him. She suddenly lunged forward, teeth bared, shoving him as hard as she could as she screamed. He pulled her in, sympathetic as she let out all her frustrations. Emotions she couldn't release normally because of how much magic she held inside herself. Therapeutic tears released and sobs wracked her once again.

Marcel held her, letting her hide in the embrace. "First death's always the worst," he promised.

She hadn't even reached the tears on her mother's death, her emotions devolving even further, about to enter full break-down when she pulled back, dragging herself together with shaking arms, hollow eyes, and tear-stained cheeks. Once her eyes met his, he could see the whole range of fire and he was quickly reminded of her parentage. Her arms found his shoulders and pushed him away. "Where is he?" she asked lowly, the blaze within her usually kind eyes held back by a sort of glass shielding her in these moments.