d'Artagnan

the

NightShade

For each sin he had committed was he to lose something? For every murder, betrayal and slip of the tongue was he to pay for each? Did all his family have a similar twisted fate because of him? It wasn’t fair! This wasn’t fair! If anyone should bleed the ground red it was him and only him; so why Aviya? She was four years old, edging into her prime and the hope of his hopeless world. His first daughter and the one who had followed him so closely that she was almost like a second shadow. Was this why she was dying now, because he was her father? The rest of his children had gone away, lived lives out of his sight and flourished in their independence. Yet, Aviya had lingered in the north and was the only one who had followed him closely. This time he was on time to the scene, but again he could do nothing but watch her tears roll from her mother’s eyes as the light slowly left them. Even as Enna moved in to try and save her d’Artagnan was a Doctor, he knew when it was too late and even then he wished it wasn’t true. That his knowledge was a lie and Enna could save her. He leant down and placed his sooty nose on her white one, smiling with tears in his eyes. "No, I’m sorry. Because I’m your father and I can’t save you" he said, pain etched into every crevice of his voice.

Then he did the only thing he could think of and, slowly, he began to eek his narcotic magic into her body. Attempting to lull it to sleep and numb it from the pain she was feeling. He couldn’t save her, but he could at least try sending her off in a dream rather than in deaths cold grip. "Go to sleep Aviya, your more capable mother is on the other side" he whispered in her ear and finally he raised his head feeling his body go numb. Even if he had his Mender magic he couldn’t have saved her, Enna had proven that, but if he was not so careless and joined the fight perhaps they would have reversed roles. Kou would be disappointed, he could almost feel the weight of her judgement from above and he wilted under it. She had known he was a monster and still loved him… But had she known he was a monster to this extent?

His mismatched eyes gazed, fathomless and lost, at her still body, as not one emotion appeared to become dominant and tears streaked forlornly down his red cheeks. There was anger and sadness and confusion and much more, but the greatest feeling was emptiness. The world he had dreamed of was dead at his feet and he itched to go with her, to follow her to the other side and leave this world that had nothing in it. He thought of Kou and how she had struggled to bring their first daughter into the world and how quickly she had taken it. Birth was hard, but death was easy. "I love you too" the shade’s voice cracked and Aramis howled a heart breaking cry.

Then all was silent.

The world kept spinning when d’Artagnan wanted it to stop.

Broken, he looked for Enna and gave her a small nod for her efforts before returning to Aviya. "Go back to the Basin, tell them what happened… I’ll stay here" he said, not sure if he was ever going to leave the Green Labyrinth. The Nightshade couldn’t quite muster the strength to walk away from her body, so he lingered near it, like a broken soul with nowhere to go.

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WTF TIME. ;~~~~~; 
-kicks d'art off a cliff- useless doctor

Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.