Fin's Claim

Clarity

Finian's POV

The breath is stuck in my chest as if I'm waiting for the silence to speak to me.

She makes no movement as I kneel at her side of the bed. Her face the only thing sticking out of the blankets that are cocooning her. Pulling the covers down, seeing my shirts surrounding her as if she is in a self-made nest.

"Victoria, why didn't you tell me?" Placing my head on her shoulder because she doesn't uncurl herself from the fetal position she's in.

She's been holding herself again because I wasn't here holding her.

"You were busy doing important things. Let's be honest you don't care." Sighing at her words while I take the knives out of her hands being careful not to touch the silver blades.

Tossing them in the corner, they land with a small thud. Another knife pulled out from underneath the pillow lands with the other ones. She has an arsenal of death that encircles her body. Each one of those knives places strategically for the just in case.

"I think maybe this was your whole plan, the perfect revenge. Get me to fall in love with you then leave me like a dirty piece of trash." She starts to cry, curling up more into herself a little rock of her body as her knees are tucked into her chest.

She looks exactly like that little pup with rotten teeth, holding herself in the night when no one would come to sooth away her hurt, her pain, her terror. She's reverting to what she knows and how she can help herself because no one is there to help her.

"You love me?" It takes a moment before I register her words, how could she possibly love someone like me? Victoria only cries harder and harder as if that delicate grip on sanity has been snapped. This makes my shoulders curl down; this pitiful sight is my cause.

"Don't cry, Victoria." Sitting on the bed pulling her on my lap. Holding, rocking her in my arms as if she is that small pup that just needs to be held. She comes apart in my arms, everything being released, all her past suppression at the forefront of her mind.

Twisting

Snapping

Breaking

Her cheek against my chest, tears soaking through my shirt. Not breaking my hold on her, letting her cries tell the story of her life.

"I hate you so much Fin." More of a tortured sob than words. Another round of crying, more than I think she has done in her entire life because she was trained that crying never brought any answers to her, it never fixed her problems.

"I hate you." Muffled sounds barely are spoken against my chest.

"I deserve it." That only makes her cry more.

She crumbles while I try to hold her together.

"Why Fin? Why did you stay away from me for so long?" Her questions I have no good answer for if I look at the big picture of things. Looking down at her face red with heat and hurt.

Clarity's perspective

"I was afraid. I decided to waste our time on other things that don't seem so important now." Nuzzling her closer, the smell of her is of deterioration, no longer that crisp breath of fresh air that cleanses my soul.

"I need you." Voice is rising as if on a tide coming in, emotions turbulent, tossing in the storm of her. Continuing to hold her against me, letting her spill out everything in words and thoughts.

"You left me; I can't shift anymore. I feel weak." Confessing her fears out.

"Why didn't you just call me and tell me all this?" Kissing her forehead lightly, the taste of her slightly off. My chest squeezing tight, hard to pull in a breath. My iron made female is slowly melting away one layer at a time.