-20 Years Later-
Dalia slowly made her way into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea, she stood waiting for the kettle to boil, daydreaming while looking out the window. Her life had took a rather dark turn 20 years ago when her husband had died tragically in a violent car crash, and her daughter almost died if it wasn't for their bloodline and Hades striking a bargain for Dalia's soul, Anna would be dead and Dalia would most likely have gone crazy or killed herself. so they made the best of a bad situation.
Dalia was happy to die at any point knowing her Anna was always safe. They had found not only could she not feel pain but no amount of strength or speed could penetrate her skin, Anna had tried many times as a teenager to hurt herself, not to truly hurt herself but she was just curious if she was truly immortal, luckily so far she hadn't stopped ageing. So Dalia was able to watch her little girl grow into the wonderful woman she was becoming. She took after her mother with long dark hair and dark green and brown eyes lighter and darker depending on her mood, and skin as pale as snow, she was ageing slowly so looked more in her early twenties but still she grew and matured, so Dalia was happy.
It was Anna's 29th birthday a week ago, which unfortunately brings back awful memories for Anna, sometimes she has terrible nightmares where she wakes up screaming bloody murder. When she realises it was only a dream she calms quickly and goes through to her mums room to tell her she's okay. Sometimes just to get a good nights rest around this time of year Anna sleeps in the bed with her mother as if she's a child again and her mother can chase away the bad dreams.
For her birthday she took her mother out dancing and they had a wonderful time pretending the rest of the world didn't exist. It was them against the world. They danced the night away forgetting everything else, the past, the future, they stood basking in the present. It was such a wonderful cherished memory both Anna and Dalia would hold dear forever.
The kettle had finally boiled and caused Dalia to wake up from her day dream, at that moment Anna was walking down the path to the house and waved as she saw her mum in the window. Anna lived with her mother still at the family cottage, but spent a lot of her time at the public library for research purposes, she was a writer and liked to find inspiration in her daily life, then research the hell out of it. Once she knew every single thing about her obsession at the time, she began to write about it. Whether it be about pennies or local lore or sleeping patterns, any subject could take her fancy, and she'd write about it until she'd wrung out every single minuscule detail she'd had in mind, then and only then could she relax. It was a gift and a curse, at least it paid. Not that she had any need of money owing to the fact that she was the last in her family and would inherit a lot of money. She still liked to earn a living, just like her mum.
Anna had tried to live under the radar for a long time, keeping her abilities, that she barely understood, quiet.
Anna found out and lived with the knowledge that she had been gifted life by Hades, god of the underworld, when she was just 9 years old. At ten she was climbing a tree and fell from a great height with no injury, she stood up brushed herself off and climbed back up the tree. This is when they found out about her unbreakable body and mind. Hades took the saying 'nothing would hurt her' quite literally. At 12 Anna was invited to a classmates birthday party and the birthday girl was cruel and threw a drink over Anna when she accidentally fell into her. Anna only retaliated by shoving the girl, however with Anna's irregular amount of strength this made the girl go flying through the glass back door, causing the room to burst into chaos, Anna just stood in shock at the consequences of her actions and through the chaos Dalia pulled Anna out of the room and back to the car where they could drive home. Anna blubbered that she was sorry and couldn't stop crying her apologies. This is when they found out about her inhuman strength.
Once home Dalia held Anna close and told her "My beautiful daughter do not be afraid, you are special, you know this. but you must be careful dear girl your abilities can do such wonderful things but also come with responsibility. You must know actions have consequences, and for you my love, more than for others." She kissed her little girls forehead, who was listening intently to her words. "yes mummy, i will be better next time." Anna had determination in her eyes.
She took her mothers words to heart and for years there were no more incidents.
When Anna was 17 she was at a house party, having a good time with her small group of friends, dancing and drinking, with the rest of the world blocked from her mind. Although Anna had unimaginable power she could still come apart under the influence of alcohol, a boy she knew in her class whispered he wasn't feeling well and his head wobbled,his eyes closing and opening slowly as if he was woozy, he leaned on Anna proclaiming he needed some air or he was going to faint. Anna thought she should look after him and took him out for some fresh air. They went towards the woods at the edge of the property and sat by a large willow tree that hung so low it almost covered them from view.
Colin, the boy from her class, breathed deeply, inhaling loudly as if he was coming back to his senses and leaned on Anna's shoulder thanking her for taking care of him.
"Anna, you know me right...from Science class?" Anna laughed and replied "of course i know you, Colin."
"Anna, your so lovely, thank you so much for looking after me i wish i could repay you, your so sweet, and kind and beautiful..."
As he spoke Colin lifted his head and and tilted his lips to Anna's giving her a gentle kiss on the lips that lasted just a few seconds before Anna's brain caught up with her. She pulled away, blushing, that was her first kiss. It was sweet and something she would remember fondly...she thought.
"Colin, if you're feeling better we should head back to the party, maybe one of your friends could take you home, just to be on the safe side."
Colin's eyes lit up in anger. "I kiss you and all you want to do is get me away from you, what am i not good enough for virgin Anna!"
Anna stood sharply in shock. What the Hell? Colin stood before she could walk away ,his woozy drunk act a thing of the past, and shoved her hard against a tree. Digging his arm into her ribs so she couldn't easily escape, his other arm grabbed her chin and in a grip that would bruise anyone else, and he yanked Anna's head back so that he could give her a thorough kiss, Anna wanted to get away, but due to shock her system hadn't quite registered her entire emotions just yet. Colin forced Anna's head around aggressively, so her face was pushed into the tree bark and whispered in her ear all the dirty things he wanted to do to her, and as soon as the pill he'd slipped into her drink began to take affect, he'd drag her body deep into the woods and get started.
As Colin chuckled in her ear Anna broke out of her shock and before he could get back to her lips, pushed him away. Colin fell hard to the floor and was so disorientated it allowed Anna enough time to run back to the party. She ran inside the house and made it to a bathroom, which she locked, then began being sick to purge the night from her body. The alcohol was accepted in to her body with her actions, it was her choice and although it wasn't good for her it couldn't truly harm her, her body would absorb and diminish the affects before it could harm her. However the drugs she was given were not with her consent and would harm her by paralysing her so the body had to cleanse, either quickly through being sick or slowly by dissolving it within and battling inside. Being sick was the easy choice for Anna's body as she was in a situation where she could safely do so. And so she was sick again and again until the pills ,undissolved, were purged. She then quietly crying to herself brought out her phone and called her mum to pick her up.
Dalia rushed to pick up Anna hearing the trouble in her voice, something had happened and she would get to the bottom of it. Once she arrived at the house party she ran up the stairs directly to the bathroom where Anna said it would be and knocked whispering "sweetie it's me let me in, let me in my love..." Anna slowly and carefully opened the door and her mother gently pushed her in and locked the door so they could speak privately. Dalia fell to her knees seeing Anna's broken expression. "What happened?" she demanded. Anna broke at the strength in her mother's voice, allowing her to share her burden, she had never kept anything back from her mum before and wasn't to start now, so she told her mum everything.
Her mother listened patiently. Then gave her another life lesson, "My sweet daughter, this is wrong, what that disgusting male did to you is wrong. We spoke once about the consequences of your actions dear, and how you could use your powers for good yes?" Anna nodded confused at where her mother was going with this.
"So do others' actions have consequences, and should you need to use your powers to protect yourself by hurting someone. That is right, that is good, do you understand my love?"
Anna's face began to clear as she understood her mothers' words. She nodded "should I use my powers against him, stop him from hurting anyone else?" Anna asked innocently, but she was still young and Dalia did not want her to have to hold these burdens just yet. "No pet, i'll handle this one, but if you watch, you will learn." Dalia brushed the hair off of Dalia's forehead and kissed it gently. "I will protect you." So they walked out hand in hand, down the steps and out the front door and stood just slightly off to the side. Dalia asked his name and Anna whispered "Colin Dorse, he's in my class." Dalia nodded and began Colin's punishment.
First she whispered words that brought Colin out of the house, a spell that makes you need nature. He burst out of the house and dropped to the floor by the grassy area of the front garden running his hands through the mud. Once Dalia had confirmed this was the boy from Anna she whispered strong words that would change his future. She was angry and wanted justice for the experience that would sit in the back of her daughters mind for the rest of her long life.
First she decided he would be unable to conceive a baby, he did not deserve offspring. This was a painful process, it destroyed all the semen in his body, slowly and painfully until he was writhing in pain on the floor. Dalia then whispered her final punishment which would put any pain caused previous or future back on him, had he hurt anyone previously, he would feel their pain, had he planned anything horrible for someone he would feel the pain he planned to inflict, he was sick in the mind and so Dalia thought this should be reflected in his body, he would definitely think twice before acting from now on. Hopefully this would be enough. Once Colin had fainted from the pain Dalia asked Anna if she wanted the memory removed from his mind. Anna asked if there was a way to make his disinterested in her and Dalia thought of the spell that would do the trick, anytime Colin would begin thinking of Anna, he'd start to get a headache, and she took the memory of Anna from him; deciding he did not get the privilege of her daughter in his memory. Then, they simply went home. They settled on the sofa with ice cream and a movie and held each other close, allowing the other to just feel the comfort and love of their presence. This is when they found out about Anna's strength of mind, the girl bounced back and took the experience and turned it into a lesson learned, never again would she allow herself to be so vulnerable. She would train, to sharpen her wits, and tone her body. Her body may be strong but Anna did not feel strong, and so she trained her body to help her mind. She went to different lessons of Karate, Jujitsu and Kravmaga, and eventually this helped her live a healthier and more fulfilling life.
Dalia was so proud, at 29 years old her child had learned and grown and she wanted to celebrate her wonderful daughter, so they planned to go on a trip together. They were still undecided but there was no rush, Dalia wanted to visit New York and Anna wanted to visit Rome. They were talking about their trip on the way back from the library one day, Dalia met Anna there after she had finished her weekly book club meeting in a book shop nearby. They had walked in to town earlier and had to wait when the heavens opened up and it began to rain and thunder. Once it had calmed they began a slow stroll arm in arm giggling at each other, giving silly reasons why their trip would be best. "We could worship at the feet of the gods in Rome at The Pantheon." Anna exclaimed, "We could imitate The Statue of Liberty and take pictures, making it look like we're the same size, in New York." Dalia giggled. "We can throw coins in the Trevi fountain and stand by as we meet our true loves." Anna cackled, "We can look across the skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge and amaze at all the tall pointy buildings!" This had Anna almost falling over with laughter. And so they went back and forth playing their silly game to make each other laugh.
When suddenly Dalia was pulled into a nearby alleyway and shoved hard against the wall. Anna quickly followed in the arms of a thug. There were five grown men who smelled like cat piss and death. Anna pulled out of the first mans grip and shoved him away, he hit his head on the wall and collapsed to the ground. A second and third came at Anna from both sides, Anna ran at one and slid behind him as he went to grab her, shoving him so hard in to his buddy they both slammed into the wall and collapsed to the floor. The fourth came at Anna from behind grabbing her around the throat and holding her arms down. Anna knew by now she had no need to breath, so she focused on getting her arms free, she pulled so fast and hard out of the mans grip, he went flying and like his buddies landed in a heap on the ground.
Anna hadn't noticed the last offender had shoved her mother and ran away. Dalia lay in a heap on the ground where she had been thrown. Anna bent by her side and rolled her over, letting out a howl of anguish at the sharp metal sticking out of her mothers throat.
"No! no no no no...NO! Mum, mummy stay with me, don't close your eyes!" She shouted "Help! Somebody help me!" Dalia shushed Anna, brushing her hand across her cheek.
"My love, it's okay, i'm ready. I love you, you must live for me now dear. Do not be sad, live for me." Dalia whispered, blood slowly filling her mouth.
Anna screamed "I'M not ready! I'M not ready!" Dalia smiled "You are love, you are." And with those words her eyes closed for the last time, leaving Anna to live on earth, alone.
Anna screamed like a banshee, undeniable and overbearing then she began rocking Dalia's body back and forth, whispering sweet nothings in her ear, until the police arrived, and Dalia's body was taken away.