antares vallanso; d5 [cbd3] ~ fin

You awake from nightmares and there's a new appreciation for the air you breathe on your fingertips.

You lightly rub your temples, trying to numb the pounding in your and the churning in your stomach. You always get that when you see them, Mother or Minos. People say you have her eyes, a light shade of green, but your stature is more like your father's. Minus the withdrawal and the scars on his skin. Dark hair and strong jawline; let it never be said that your constitution is weak.

Your mother left when you were sixteen and you don't know why to this day, your father only told you to be quiet when you inquired as to why she left and your brother never told you. She was simply your mother one day, and then she wasn't. You never wear your heart on sleeve so no one knows the nightmares beneath your skin.

You never knew Minos, not until Justice Fray slit his throat with your axe. One minute he breathed and you remembered the day your parents allowed him to stay -- then he was a burning star no longer.

So you never complain about what you've lost and when you do, you only need to remember her empty place at the dinner table and the sound of his cannon fire echoing through that cave.

You're forever grateful for the function to breathe.