Soul Bonded [Claude De Alger Obelia x reader ]

85. A Past Full Of Scars

Everything was hazy and painful like he was caught up in a dream he couldn't wake up from.

No, not a dream. A nightmare. A hellish nightmare.

Claude thrashed around.

No matter how much he struggled, his body felt like it was submerged under cold water, refusing to surface as his lungs tightened from lack of air.

His consciousness was trapped in the flesh that resembled him but was starkly different.

He felt every emotion keenly like it was his own yet he wasn't in control of any actions done by the body he was entrapped into.

Only his consciousness resided in it, forcing him to see it all in complete helplessness, unable to divert his eyes from the horror. Unable to protest, unable to do anything.

He simply went through the motion like taking a stroll down his mind where all his memories were tucked away, hidden deep within. Some were familiar but a large part of it was foreign to him.

Scornful stares. Disgusted countenance. Betrayal of closed ones. Castaway. Complete rejection.

It was familiar yet...

Where is she?

There was no sweet memory of a girl he remembered. No relief from constant torment at her gentle tiny hands that soothed his wounds and offered him unconditional kindness.

As time followed trapped within the body, she never appeared. Not once.

He felt more jaded and cold. Apathetic to everything and everyone. More detached.

It wasn't until he betrothed Penelope, that he met her.

Joy and anticipation rushed through his veins. Finally, his eyes followed her in mild intrigue and discomfort, finally, he could meet her. If he could, he would've sighed in relief. Reduced to merely a passive bystander watching everything, he could only relish in emotion that was fully his.

...Something was wrong.

His feets carried him in the dark hallway, stopping in front of a lone trembling figure hunched over he caught from tumbling.

Instead of a brazen reckless girl who danced at her beat, eyes twinkling with mischief and never unwavering grin, he met with a sight that painfully twisted his heart.

She was you. At least looked like you.

She had an air of fragility, of loneliness. Delicate as glass-like she would break at mere caress. Dull eyes lined up with tears that stared at him in surprise and wariness.

But no disgust or scorn like he was used to by everyone.

Her flinch didn't go unnoticed by him. It only served to make the twisted pain in his heart worse, now laced with fury.

What happened to you?

He wanted to ask but couldn't.

Just then images violently invaded his mind. And he was plunged into a storm of memories that dragged him into a spiral of unknown.

And another subconscious took over.

Who are you? Why ...am I feeling this way?

He thought he'd forget her. Like every other person, he chose to.

And yet, his eyes sought hers in the crowd, his heart always yearning for something he couldn't understand.

Was it because he saw a kindred spirit in her?

Or was it because she reminded him so much of the person he was before? Of the person, he had become. The pain, the sadness, the rejection, the bitterness, everything so deeply resonates in him, he wants to protect her so he could provide little solace to himself and his stolen childhood.