Hotaru

She never should have left her alone.

Her lungs burn as she runs, a sudden fear clutching her heart when she had not found Raeru where they'd agreed to meet last. In the year they'd spent together, the child had grown, and she could easily take care of herself without Hotaru's mothering. Still, after everything that had happened with Arya, it had been made clear to her that evil would always strike when she least expected it. A yearling she may be, Hotaru's instincts had kicked in when the field had been empty of the young child. Though she'd never been close with Arah or her daughters, the memory of Confutatis was always lingering in the back of her mind. Hotaru always kept her daughters concealed, so that they could not be used against her. She would tear the world down to its roots if her babies were ever harmed, ever held captive as she had been. Though they were growing, she still found them to be children, and though she was reluctant to coddle them that was likely what she'd end up doing, so much had she seen in the world.

"Raeru!" she called, loud and bordering on frantic. Her limbs were warm with energy, with adrenaline, with fear she could not allow herself to succumb to. Land blurred beneath her as she scoured the earth for the missing child. Her eyes were magnetized to the horizon, where a shadowed group was standing. Could they perhaps have seen her? It was the most optimistic question she could create, because if they had done anything else, if they had taken her baby, she would kill them all. Nothing would stop her from tearing them apart, and setting the world on fire to ruin the earth she could never stand to live on again.

Only one form is familiar at first glance, and it is her daughter, being circled by an unfamiliar mare. "Raeru!" she called, limbs pumping harder as she raced for her daughter, distrust in her eyes. Still, they were in Basin lands...surely nobody would wish harm on her unicorn daughter? Slowing, she glanced distrustfully at the other two, only to realize that she knew the stallion. "d'Artagnan?" she spoke tentatively, moving slowly to Raeru's side.

Their words began to ring hollow in her ears, and her ears shifted to half-mast in discomfort. Assured that Raeru was not harmed, she subtly sidled closer. "You're her father?" she asked quietly, eyes settled on the stallion with the glass horns. Raeru knew that Hotaru was not her real mother; the she-wolf had never been dishonest with her in the year she'd spent raising her. It was only fair that she share their story, little as she desired to speak so much.

"I found her, in the Fields, half-dead. I nursed her, as I'd just had Arya. I couldn't find anybody who looked like her, whom I knew...I've raised her as my own this past year." There, it was put out there for them to dissect. Would they really hate her for saving the life of their daughter and sister? For keeping her safe, making her feel loved when she'd already lost so much? Hopefully d'Artagnan would remember her, young as she may have been when they'd first met.

"I...I'm sorry. If it had happened to me..." her eyes turned toward Raeru, and she gave a soft, loving smile. Shaking her head, her eyes turned serious as they lifted to d'Artagnan. "I know I'm not her mother...but I love her as my own." Please don't take her from me. How would Raeru even react to all this? To finally meeting a family she'd never known she had, as a yearling? Hotaru looked down at her, brow crinkling in concern. Where would this take all of them?

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Ugh that was gross and late I'm sorry

lady lazarus, i rise