Echo
Set after S5, Spoilers for S5. How does one return from the death without feeling hollow?
This one shot is a response to the one word challenge from the group FanFiction Writers Unite on Facebook. The word is echos.
I have not actually seen the end of season 5.
At first glance nobody saw it. Neither would they see with a second or third glance. They didn't know. They didn't realize. The fake smiles. The numbness.
The celebration of the defeat of the Trix and Tritannus had been taking center stage. The fallout was not yet clear. And at this point she could not really fault them for that. Not after all these years of battling.
But Daphne could see it as she looked into the mirror. The eyes were often said to be the gateway to ones soul. She was numb and felt hollow. She remembered the curse and the eventual numbness of the coming death, taking her away. She knew that for her baby sister she had been there these past 5 years. But they did not see.
The spirit form had never been who she truly was. It was a hollow echo of herself, born out of the desire to help and protect her baby sister when she died. She had the memories from the spirit form, but they felt like faint echoes of a history she had not experienced. A movie she was watching, but was not a part of.
It was a piece of her that had been ripped away because of a dire need, something strong magic like love sometimes could cause. And even though she had the memories, that part of her, that echo, was gone forever. She was incomplete.
When Bloom had wished her back to life, there had not been put much thought into the formulation of it. It was a desire her baby sister had. She did not want to blame the young girl who in body was now technically older than her . But a part of her wished that it had been thought through more. That in her desire, she would have considered Daphne herself more. Because how did one return from the death without being hollow? How did one return without becoming an echo of your true self?
Death chipped away at the edges of your soul, leaving an empty shell…
"There you are."
The voice of Bloom pulled Daphne out of her own spiraling thoughts. Slightly startled the light blond haired 'woman' looked up. Her brown eyes were still dark and serious for a minute before she pulled back her guard up.
But Bloom saw it nonetheless. She hesitated before speaking. "Is everything okay, Daphne?"
Daphne mustered up somewhat of a smile. "Yes. I just needed to be on my own for a while." She gestured to the door opening where the crowd continued to party in various large rooms within the palace. "I am not used to these large groups anymore," she added to explain.
"Ah I understand that." Bloom's hesitation and slight insecurity disappeared instantly and she stepped closer to her sister, almost brightly beaming at the constant excitement still of having her sister with her finally. "I can sit with you here for a bit if you'd like." Blooms eyes were big and hopeful.
"That is okay Bloom," Daphne answered quickly. "I am okay now. We can go rejoin the celebration." The last thing she wanted right now was an extensive time alone with Bloom. Until she had figured out what exactly to do about how she felt (or the lack of some parts of herself), she would try and avoid it for now.
With that she left the quit mirrored room where the echoes of her thoughts still resounded, Bloom happily trailing behind her.