His mind was almost as cruel as he thought the world to be.

It wasn’t enough that he had to Mutti, no. That would have been a kindness in its own way, to be able to leave it in the past. But he couldn’t do that. His heart earned to be by the sea, to dig his toes into the sand and breathe in briny air that smelled like home.

But he couldn’t do that.

He couldn’t face crossing into the Lagoon any more than he could bear to trudge into the Mire. There were memories of Mutti, of his family, and of him. Memories of his foolishness and his cowardice. Memories of his weakness and his fear. Memories best left to the dirt and dust. Even so, even though he despised what he was and resented what he should have been, he could not deny the call of the ocean.

It was a comfort, even now.

As he stood on the shore, the sound of the sea washed over him. The rhythmic crash of the waves, the gentle lapping against the sand, and the distant calls of seagulls created a soothing lullaby that nearly calmed his restless mind.

Nearly.

He turned away from the water. It would take more than the sound of waves to calm his disquiet. Something like—

Lena?

@Magdalena

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she walks along the coast often.

not only does the gentle swell and fall of the sea calm her blazing nerves, it also staves off the worst of the summer heat. maybe it brings back those good memories too, the ones by the seashore that magdalena can only wish she had more of. that feeling of wholeness now so foreign that she likely wouldn’t recognize her if it hit her in the face.

maybe that’s why she doesn’t recognize the voice that calls out to her at first. bi-colored eyes tear upwards towards the sound, a scowl already pulling across magdalena’s lips until her jaw is left slack instead. “arion?!” surely her brother was just a vision, a cruel trick of the eye in such sweltering heat. magdalena was dehydrated wasn’t she? surely this was a delirium-induced dream.

on their own accord, her feet begin to move towards him, with no concern of how crushing it would be when magdalena ran to him only to find that @Arion didn’t exist after all. that her brother was still gone. they had all been naught more than yearlings the last time all four of them had been together - the same day their mother had died - the same day their family had truly been shattered for the last time. she had looked for him, too, but arion’s wanderings had left any trace of his path frustratingly nonexistent.

as magdalena bounds into range, she aims to barrel right into him. though her forelegs are outstretched to embrace arion around the neck, her body is tensed as if ready to catch herself when the phantom disappeared from under her. she barely remembers what had brought her her in the first place, all though drowned by the roar of blood in her ears, almost as turbulent as the ocean beside them.

when had she gone in the water? why were her cheeks so wet and salty?

coding by daanyen | art by rabbit

There was a part of him that wanted to shy away from the swell of hope in his chest. Lena was… well, he didn’t know. In his heart of hearts, he imagined she and his siblings had left these cursed lands behind and were living somewhere nice and sandy, with an ocean that stretched to the horizon and free from all harm. It was a silly thought, really. If he could not leave after all this time, how could they?

But the closer she moved towards him, the less he was able to convince himself that this wasn’t real. And then barreled into him, her embrace the only thing that kept him from falling over. It was then he knew she was real, it was then he felt those damnable tears return. She was there. She was really there. There was a wave of relief followed by another of regret. Had she been looking for him all this time? Had she spent months thinking he was dead too?

He weeped into her shoulder — he’d been doing a lot of that as of late — and it was then he caught a whiff of home. He almost smiled, leaning his head back far enough to look at her though the curly wisps of mane in his face. Then the guilt came Lena… I’m sorry for everything, I really am— I-I should have come looking for you too— I should have stayed hidden, I just— I was so scared and then Mutti and— He continued to ramble, sniffling and fumbling as he tried to find the words to apologize.

None of this would have happened if he had just stayed put.

@Magdalena

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