Midas came first. She couldn't have expected anything less. He always seemed to catch her in her darkest hours. The times when she didn't want to be seen but felt like she really needed the comfort, when she felt like she needed to know she wasn't completely alone. He was like a knight in shining armour, shedding light on her paranoia and allowing her a few chances to feel normal.

Alas, it is the snow crunching that pulls her head up, turns her around, and has her start to emerge from the shallow depths she had started to trudge into. She had only done it to remind herself she was alive. To keep herself from spiraling even further gone. Yet, his disapproving words are what pulled her from the depths until she arrived at his side with the sound of other hooves approaching quickly. The winged frame dances at the edge until Seele is up against the bank - eyes locking with those of her half-sister's in the distance.

"Amara," she whispers, steadying herself between the three of them. A struggle to appear strong coursed through her veins.They didn't deserve to see her like this. She reaches out for the young one, the one who she called a daughter. The one who had grown so much taller than her. The one who was just as malnourished and broken. She kicked herself on the inside. If she had been here Amara wouldn't have withered away the way she was. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have left..." she chokes, emotions she should never have been able to feel hang in the air like a disease. It's not right, but it's there. The grief. The guilt. The pain.

Sides heave, ribs still showing, obviously, as she looks toward Reizend. "... Sister?" she questions, heart breaking. Yellow eyes search for some kind of recognition in the only one who might truly understand this pain, this torture, of her own soul. "How could you not tell me... how could you not tell me I had a family..." she shudders, she breaks. Her limbs are trembling, body recognizing the chill before her mind can even willingly take it in. And so she clings to Midas. She clings to the only one who had ever seen her break.

I try to keep her present. I try to keep the haze from entering her gaze. But it's so difficult. We don't have the energy to continually put up this fight. You had family, though, Seele. You had family in Amara and Midas... and even in Reizend before you recognized her as a sister... Please know you weren't alone... I plead with her, but I doubt it works for now she's talking aloud to my own silent pleas. "It's not the same, mother. It's not. I had blood... I had a bond that should have been there!" her voice rises in a heated battle of anguish.

Please. My dear. Think these thoughts, don't shout them. You will concern those around you more! I beg, and she only starts to cry. The shadows are closing in, and her paranoia is rising.

But her head shakes, and even with the slight paranoia mingling with the dark haze of her illness she pulls her attention toward Amara. "I should have been here. I should have protected you... Has the darkness been eating your soul too? Your mind? Please. You can't always be strong... but you have to at times." she says, struggling to explain the darkness in her own mind without really explaining it. To offer some kind of solace for the young one who has to be in a panic.

Could they understand? Would they accept such a shattered version of who she used to be?