ᴡᴍᴍᴀᴘ: ᴏɴᴇꜱʜᴏᴛꜱ

To your farewell.

CW/TW: blood, canon-typical violence, injury, pain, death.

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───── ❝ ʙɪʀᴛʜ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴜꜱ. ❞ ─────

He frowns, lines showing between his eyebrows, a slight indication of his age which never showed itself in the normal day-to-day routine, and he rubs his thumb over hers, trying to soothe her from whatever was making her hesitate.

"Something the matter, Athanasia?"

She startles before staring uneasily out the window and she shakes her head, "It's...it's nothing, daddy. I guess it was just my imagination."

She should have said something else. She should have said what she thought she saw. What she knew she saw.

That black wisp of cloud- that glint of red in its midst, the hazy fog that seemed to cloud her judgment for a second longer than she would have ever liked.

Maybe if she had...her father would have been more on guard.

More watchful. More cautious. But peace makes even the wariest of war gods at ease with their newfound calm.

They should never have let go of their suspicions.

The black magic had taken hold of her father's body, a mindless sack of meat bound to his older brother's will- to kill his only living descendant.

Her.

His own imperial mana was sealed by the barrier that bound the two in its all-encompassing transparency, the sliver of hope that she could wake him with her voice slowly fading away as everything she threw at him bounced off.

"Daddy, please- come back to me, don't do this! Please, it's me! It's Athy!"

She runs around, avoiding his hands poised to grab her around the throat, his eyes as blank as the lake, but she keeps tossing sentences at him, hoping, praying- one would work.

"It's your daughter, Athanasia! So, stop! Stop this, daddy! Can you hear me?" She wills her mana to come to the surface but she claws at reserves that were blocked, and in her moment of pause, he catches up to her.

"Ugh!" He slammed her up against the barrier wall, snarling as his grip grew tight around her throat as she's lifted up into the air.

She hesitates at scratching his hands and arms, it was still her father- even if his body was trying to kill her against his will.

It wasn't like he wanted to kill her.

She strains for his hair, and manages to grab a fistful before yanking it to the side as hard as she could before screaming directly at his face, "Wake up, daddy! We can still fight this! You're not alone!"

Claude freezes, his hands lessening strength in his hands just as her dagger slips from its sheathe where it was clasped on her leg.

Both pairs of eyes move to where it landed before snapping back to each other in a split second,