Post by MEG on Sept 12, 2023 10:46:30 GMT -5
●●●
i am the
monster
you
created
Piper's migraine had been building for weeks, but she was still not any closer to any sort of reprieve. For the first few, she had been so certain that it had been her Sight coming back to her, that it might give her the answers they needed to survive. Now, she simply was attributing it to her age.
There was no end in sight to the onslaught of Death. Their numbers had been dwindling for years at this point, and there was no sign of any reprieve. There had been multiple moments through the last few years where they had lost members to Death, if only for relief from the hardships of working against it. Too many good people had sacrificed themselves because Piper and the others had yet to find a solution.
Maybe there wasn't one left.
Piper had to maintain a sense of hope throughout it all, if only for her own sanity. There were still so many people that relied on her leadership, as faulty as it had become in the years since Death had taken over. There were too many people counting on her strength, and she refused to let it waver - publicly, at least. There were plenty who saw her true, tired face behind closed doors - people like Marianna, whom she repeatedly turned to in the middle of the night when sleep evaded her, when her guilty conscience loomed over her like her own, personal paralysis demon.
Still, the days continued to pass, and there was still work to be done.
Piper had taken to helping tend to the gardens with young Benny Preece in the mornings, picking pests off of the stalks and ensuring that the soil was properly watered. She'd grown fond of the young man in the years since the end of the world - he was smart and strong, well-meaning and driven even in the face of certain doom. It was both comforting and disheartening to see how much he'd blossomed as a young man in this world no longer meant for them.
"Benny, can you hand me those shears?" Piper asked, reaching her hand out. It was a quick gesture - the boy didn't even look in her direction as he passed them to her, holding onto the closed blades as he pressed the handle into her palm. She wasn't even sure if their skin had touched.
The vision came over her in an instant, the world falling away.
A trinity of hands - feminine in nature, bound together, shrouded in darkness.
Benny Preece's face swam into view overtop of them - not one, but two, mirrored but different. One slightly aged and ragged - one a vestige of the world previously lost to time.
A familiar wand.
A wedding ring.
A dragon scale.
A time turner.
A chest, locked away, fading into obscurity.
A time turner.
Piper's vision recovered, the blurry form of Benny hovering over her. She blinked once, twice, and then rolled, retching the contents of her breakfast into the watered soil. She felt Benny's hand on her back, rubbing small and gentle circles as he murmured in concern.
"Professor, are you all right? What happened?" And then, more tentatively. "What did you See?"
Piper wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, sitting up. Benny's hand came to her shoulder and she gently patted it, glancing up.
"Do you still have that Time Turner?"
There was no end in sight to the onslaught of Death. Their numbers had been dwindling for years at this point, and there was no sign of any reprieve. There had been multiple moments through the last few years where they had lost members to Death, if only for relief from the hardships of working against it. Too many good people had sacrificed themselves because Piper and the others had yet to find a solution.
Maybe there wasn't one left.
Piper had to maintain a sense of hope throughout it all, if only for her own sanity. There were still so many people that relied on her leadership, as faulty as it had become in the years since Death had taken over. There were too many people counting on her strength, and she refused to let it waver - publicly, at least. There were plenty who saw her true, tired face behind closed doors - people like Marianna, whom she repeatedly turned to in the middle of the night when sleep evaded her, when her guilty conscience loomed over her like her own, personal paralysis demon.
Still, the days continued to pass, and there was still work to be done.
Piper had taken to helping tend to the gardens with young Benny Preece in the mornings, picking pests off of the stalks and ensuring that the soil was properly watered. She'd grown fond of the young man in the years since the end of the world - he was smart and strong, well-meaning and driven even in the face of certain doom. It was both comforting and disheartening to see how much he'd blossomed as a young man in this world no longer meant for them.
"Benny, can you hand me those shears?" Piper asked, reaching her hand out. It was a quick gesture - the boy didn't even look in her direction as he passed them to her, holding onto the closed blades as he pressed the handle into her palm. She wasn't even sure if their skin had touched.
The vision came over her in an instant, the world falling away.
A trinity of hands - feminine in nature, bound together, shrouded in darkness.
Benny Preece's face swam into view overtop of them - not one, but two, mirrored but different. One slightly aged and ragged - one a vestige of the world previously lost to time.
A familiar wand.
A wedding ring.
A dragon scale.
A time turner.
A chest, locked away, fading into obscurity.
A time turner.
Piper's vision recovered, the blurry form of Benny hovering over her. She blinked once, twice, and then rolled, retching the contents of her breakfast into the watered soil. She felt Benny's hand on her back, rubbing small and gentle circles as he murmured in concern.
"Professor, are you all right? What happened?" And then, more tentatively. "What did you See?"
Piper wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, sitting up. Benny's hand came to her shoulder and she gently patted it, glancing up.
"Do you still have that Time Turner?"
MADE BY VEL OF GS