The Dark Flower (Azriel x OC)

4. Human Weaknesses (Persephone)

The villagers yanked their children back, staring at Persephone with unrestrained fear. They'd always made jokes about how strange the blind girl was, but until now, they'd thought her as completely and utterly human. 

"How'd she do that?" Hissed someone behind her. 

"It's unnatural!" shouted someone else. 

"Fae!" another cried out. "She's one of the fae!" 

Percy let out a low whimper as she tried to determine where they were all coming from. It sounded as if they surrounded her... dozens of them. She wasn't even sure what it was that she'd done wrong, but she knew that she wasn't one of the fae. That just wasn't possible. She had a mama and a papa and they were both very normal and neither of them had pointy ears and neither did she. 

Something hard cracked against the side of her head, sending Percy tumbling to the ground. Sharp pain lashed across her brow and the warmth of her blood slowly trailed down her cheek, dripping against the dirt. Something else smacked the ground just on her left... then another on her right. Rocks... they were throwing rocks at her. 

"Papa!" Percy screamed. "Papa!" 

Her body curled up in on itself as she the rocks assaulted her, crying as the sharp edged broke through her skin. 

Then, just as quickly as it had started, it was over. She could hear someone yelling... someone angry. 

"What is the meaning of this!"  Papa shouted, his voice holding a violent edge that Percy had never heard from him before. 

Hands touched her and she flinched back, swatting at them until she recognized them as her papa's. "Hush, sweet girl," he soothed as he pulled her into his arms, cradling her to his chest. His hands shook slightly as they prodded against a particularly painful spot on her brow that had her whimpering. 

"She's a child!" he shouted at the crowd fiercely. "A blind child! What could she possibly do to you?"  

The world was silent around them save for Percy's quiet, fearful sniffling. "Cowards!" he shouted, a promise of revenge in his words. "The whole lot of you are nothing but cowards."

The crunching of gravel signalled someone stepping forward. "That's not your daughter, Percival." Percy recognized the voice as one of the shopkeepers. An old man who had always given her sweets and had been nothing but kind up until now. "She's a changeling!"

Papa's breath caught in his throat as his arms tightened around her. Percy's lip quivered as she burrowed her head into his shoulder. "I'm not, Papa," she sobbed. "I'm not!" 

"Hush, Percy," he said in a carefully controlled voice. "I know that you're no changeling." 

"She's deceived you!" another  voice called out.