Cordelia's hands caressed the pinkish petals of her newest acquisition. She had ordered the flower's seeds from a small village in northern Africa, and in a matter of instants she had given life to a piece of heaven, guiding its leaved to grow towards the glass ceiling and making the flower blossom in between her fingers. She took a deep breath, smiling from the sweet scent that emanated from the ceramic vase.

"I never understood your obsession in making things grow" a murmur came from a dark corner of the greenhouse. Cordelia was not surprised, she once more was a fool to believe Fiona had parted for good, by the Axeman's axe. Fiona had never parted, she was everywhere "When you were a little girl you would never leave the garden, even if you killed more plants than was able to make them flourish" Fiona laughed a sad and dark laugh "I guess I didn't take good care of you either"

"Why are you here?" Cordelia didn't take her eyes off the flower before her, she felt scared, as if she was again a little girl trying to walk off the path traced by her mother, and not the mighty Supreme, a powerful witch. Fiona stepped out of the shadows, the decaying body had but a fragile breath of life.

"I am fading" she spoke as if that was a revolting thing to say, her mouth twisting in disgust "I don't want to…" she paused "Die leaving that behind me"

"Leaving what?" Cordelia found herself clenching her hands into fists under the wooden table.

"All I did to you" for a split second, her oscillating voice made her sound like she was about to break down in tears, but she quickly regained her composure, as she always did "I am so, so…"

"And what makes you think I care?" Cordelia's voice was like a storm, resonating on the glass walls, embodying a security and even a hint of cruelty she never had found within herself until then. She liked the feeling of it, she wrapped her tongue around its sweet taste.

"Cordelia, I'm dying" Fiona sounded incredulous, even scared, as if she was the impotent little girl.

"I know" Cordelia answered abruptly. Even being who she was, she couldn't find any compassion inside her heart then, she shivered, thinking for a moment that the only thing that kept her from becoming her mother was her compassion, and sensing her heart empty of it terrified her. But she needed to be relentless sometimes, and she couldn't live in fear of becoming Fiona, she had already been afraid for too long. It took much more than just curtly to become her mother, and Cordelia would never be that.

"Your old world died" Cordelia said, "Why can't you just die with it?". That was not cruelty, it was courage.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Fiona looked like a shadow, standing between life and death, lingering among ghosts. She seemed even weaker than before, if that was even possible.

"Why did you do everything you did to me?!" Cordelia shouted, hitting the table with her both palms, making her vase tremble.

"Because" Fiona raised her chin, always seeking superiority, seeking to rise above everything she considered ugly and dull, and that meant everything that was good. Cordelia knew Fiona was trying to rise above her. Not again.

"Because I am your mother" Fiona fell down on the floor, lifeless, after finishing what she chose to be her last words, a declaration of war, one she couldn't fight anymore. But she needed to show her teeth one last time, that she needed.

Cordelia got back to her flower, ignoring the body on the floor, but at the same time aware of it. She wondered if that feeling would ever go away. Now the petals were caressing her fingers, nourished by them, growing and glowing while receiving life from hands that had just taken one.