Chapter Nine: Of Love and Property
When she told Henry of her plans he responded exactly as expected. He was nothing if not predictable when it came down to matters of mothers and their destinies. Of course he wouldn't want her to leave. What else would Emma expect?
Packing her bags was a simple thing. In fact, it was the only simple part about this. She shared the morning with Mary Margaret. They had iced orange juice and fresh bagels with cream cheese on dainty little plates adorned around the edge in a flower print. They ate while Emma listened quietly to her friend's plans for the day and the new art project she was working on with her students. It was there last breakfast together and Emma said nothing. It didn't exceed torture until she got to school.
There was nothing that could prepare Emma. There was nothing that could prepare her son, so she just went through with it. It was much like ripping off a band-aid, only the band-aid didn't want to let go. It clung desperately to the skin much like Henry wouldn't let go of her.
"Please! Please don't go! Don't leave me!" Henry's tear-streaked face barreled into Emma's stomach. He held on tight, burrowing further into her. In some strange way he wished he was back in her womb. Then he would be reborn in a time when she wouldn't give him up. "You can't because I love you." It should matter that he was her son and she his mother. That love, that unbreakable bond should mean something. Shouldn't it?
Emma guided him to a discrete corner of the hallway and gripped his shoulders. "I'm not going to lie to you, Henry. I can't be around your mom anymore. You know what we're like; I don't have to get into details. You've seen the fights. I lost my job at one point because of her. Regina and I… that's oil and water. We would destroy each other whether we lived ten blocks away or 10,000. You would get caught in the middle and I can't have that. I'm making the same decision I made when you were born ten years ago. It's for your own good."
"No, it's not! How can it be when it means I can't be with you? I'm your son. We're supposed to be together not apart!"
Emma's eyes welled with acid tears. "Henry…"
"Just try. Okay? I know it's hard to be around her but maybe if you stick around this time she'll actually want you here." His eyes pleaded as he arrived at his last line of strategy. "I don't think she wants you to go."
Emma took in the reddened cheeks, his messy hair, the hiccups, anything that would distract her from the likelihood. A chuckle bubbled to the surface. "Now I know you've been drinking the Kool-Aid."
"Listen to me!" he screeched, turning the heads of two teachers walking by. He took in handfuls of her jacket with a familiar desperation that caused Emma's eyes to widen. "You can annoy her sometimes, but she likes you, Emma. Honestly. Just don't tell her or she'll kill me. The yelling is just her way of showing she cares. You… I think you scare her."
"Your mom has done more than yell at me." Emma cringed inwardly. She would rather not elaborate to her almost eleven-year-old son and scar his memory forever. "Regina's hurt me in a lot of ways, but then I've done the same to her. She has good reason to be afraid of me. I've hurt your mom, Henry. And I'm sorry for that. And I just can't look at her anymore without being reminded of what it has cost us."
"Me," Henry gathered. He sniffed, eyes downcast like the remaining pieces of his family were there on the ground. He hugged her once more.
Emma started to realize how young he really was. She remembered back when she asked him if he trusted her. He had paused, if only for a bare second. Did the kid even know what trust meant? What about love? Emma may be his biological mother, but did he realize the kind of blood parents that mistreat their kids and betray them at every turn? Emma did, maybe even Regina too, but Henry? He had grown up in a small town, a bubble of security and monotony, away from the jaws of reality.
She would have to do this quicker than either of them were comfortable with. Her cheeks were hot and wet and her vision was starting to see double, but she had to do this.
With a power she had never used on Henry, Emma wrenched the boy from her waist and as fast as her feet would carry she left with a brisk and wobbly, "I'm sorry."
Erik had a bitch of a time deciding what to do with the note. Emma had handed it over to him in confidence, asking for it to be delivered without as much as a peek into its contents. The scrap of thrice folded paper had been glaring at him ever since.
He was loyal to the mayor and would not see her ruined, but at the same time he was being given an order by the sheriff. If the matter contained in the note was harmful to the mayor then surely Emma would have informed the mayor in person. Surely.
"Everything alright, dear?"
"Entshuldigen sie!" he sputtered, straightening in his chair. "Pardon me, Madam. I will get back to work straight away." His hands fished about his desk as he made himself busy.
"You press yourself much too hard." Regina chuckled and moved around his desk to confront him with an impish grin. "I was not reprimanding you. I just came out here because I was concerned. You've been quiet all morning. I've grown quite accustomed to your monologues."
"My monologues?" His puzzled expression turned wide. "Oh! My… oh, well I do like to talk myself through certain processes. A recollection method I learned from my father. He was a professor… the hours gave him high blood pressure and self-talk calmed his nerves. Oh! Why am I rambling on this way? I'm sorry if the habit disturbs you. I will stop at once."
"There's no need for apology. I've caught my son talking out loud on occasion. I think it helps him with his homework."
"Yes, I'm afraid he gets that from me. I am horrible at censoring myself during our German speaking lessons."
"Which I am entirely grateful for. It is good for Henry to be surrounded by responsible adults and to receive a well-rounded education. To have both at the same time puts a mother at ease."
Erik's cheeks colored and he bowed his head several times. "You are too kind, Madam." The note caught his eye and he licked his lips nervously. "Uhm, the sheriff came in today. Before you arrived, that is."
"Oh?"
The sudden wringing of hands drew his attention and he wondered if this was such a good idea. True, his concern for his boss exceeded that of normal standards, but Regina wasn't exactly a normal mayor was she? She had an intellect and shrewdness no politician could match. Her capacity for love (that of her son) was immeasurable. She did what others didn't have the stomach to do. She felt more than anyone and concealed those feelings with a tenacity that probably hurt her more than helped her. She was a courageous woman. But could she handle it? Whatever lied in Emma's written words?
"Yes," he said, scratching chin. "I, ah…. I have it right here."
She took it without a word or flicker of emotion across her face. Her eyes danced across the folded paper as she proceeded to return to her office.
Chair rolling, Erik leant forward in time to catch the closing door and Regina behind it. She was positively beheld by the note.
She fell into her chair with no memory of having done so. Regina imagined what the note would say. She thought about it for most of the day and only a few made the cut. Breathing out a sigh she checked them off like items on a list. There was, I'm a rude, uncivilized ass. Can I buy you coffee? Then there was the single line, a simple yet meaningful, I miss you, which really got her heart going. She turned the other potentials over in her mind, sampling them on her tongue, but none could compare with the even more outlandish, I'm sorry.
Apologies were not Emma's style, but then neither was slipping the mayor a note like they were in elementary school. This bizarre behavior coupled with the sheriff's absence the past week caused Regina to further revert from her work. Staring out her window seemed to be all she ever did lately. She knew Erik worried about her and had been hurt by her distance. He had been taking on a lot more work in addition to his responsibilities as her executive assistant. He went about it as if she didn't notice but she did. Already he had all but taken on the primary duties of mayor in her semi-pseudo-mental absence. If he were any other person she wouldn't have been so appreciative.
With a smile Regina dared to imagine what her office would be like if something were to happen to her. She smiled because Erik would make a marvelous mayor. Everyone loved him and respected him as he loved and respected in return. He possessed the instincts and understanding necessary to grapple with the day in and day out trials of running a town. If she were an ordinary citizen, working a mediocre job, and living in a small one bedroom apartment with a cat, Regina Mills wouldn't think twice before casting her ballot for Erik Eli Larsen. Regina wouldn't go so far as to say he could exceed her achievements as mayor, but he would make her very proud indeed.
Regina directed her stare back out the window. Her thoughts returned to the note in her hand. Since it got there the edges had wilted and the integrity of the paper had blotted her sweaty palm. Maybe now it was time to read it. What could Emma have to say? What was so important (or unimportant) that it had to be transcribed instead of delivered in person? Her mind turned over the possibilities again. Still, none of her imaginings could match with the words scrawled across the paper.
Meet me at the place where this all started.
Emma
Regina opened her mouth in a mute gasp. Her eyes fell closed and ancient history flashed before her eyes. An abandoned plan came in images of a babbling brook and sunlight spearing through a woodland canopy. Then there was Emma and herself starting something that would end in a hand-written note. Regina's eyes fluttered open to the bright sunlight of afternoon. Hope filled her gaze. It was all she saw, all she could believe in.
Suddenly, the mayor's mind was working. It had been months since she felt this motivated to move, this inspired to think. She quickly devised a strategy, one that the sheriff would not be immune to. Holes scattered through the plan, of course. No plan was perfect. An anxiety twisted her stomach. She would have to reveal things about herself, things that she hadn't surrendered in years for fear of that age old sting of defeat. Emma would be angry at her, possibly raving mad enough to stomp her way out of town, but deep down Regina knew she'd fail to follow through. It would be good for her. It would be good for them. Regina insisted upon it like she insisted on breathing.
Once the specifics of her plan were hammered out and when she managed a breath to steady her nerves Regina rose from her desk. Before leaving she scrutinized the jackets in her office closet. It was cool for a summer day, one of the last tides before the fall, so she made her selection wisely.
Outside her office Erik stood at the array of file cabinets, too consumed with the responsibilities of loyal assistant to notice her presence. The snap of her door closing caused his head to rise.
"Madam," he offered in his usual warmth, "may I get you something?"
"I'm fine," she replied before winding her arms around his shoulders. Erik's immense height had her rising to the tips of her toes to reach him, but the embrace was as successful as it was sincere.
Erik blinked, but did not speak. Apparently after all that deliberation he must have made a wise decision. His hands eventually found the mayor in a similar hug. When they parted he found himself sharing in her expression. "Good news?"
"Pardon?"
"The note, Madam. It can't have been nothing to provoke a smile such as that."
Regina smiled wider. "It is good news."
It was fifty steps off the beaten path, the same fifty steps taken before. The beech trees and aspens soared like spears, and their interweaving branches and leaves kept out most of the sun. Regina had yet to hear the lapping brook, but perhaps that was because the blood was pumping so hard in her ears. It had not been a trying walkabout through the forest, but she soon found herself breathing laboriously. She would not allow herself to blame it on excitement. If she were to depend on one outcome alone there would be no time to prepare for disaster. She could not risk losing everything just so she could engage in a premature celebration.
A fond smile came to her as she took in nature. It looked and smelled just like the last time she was there. Her jacket flapped in the breeze causing her to pull it tighter around her body. She blessed her intuition for the afternoon had grown much colder than forecasted. Over the pumping adrenaline rushing in her ears she made out the fluttering leaves, creaking branches, and the squawk of flying wildlife. It was isolated, private, and so perfect Regina couldn't stop the rapid pace of her heart.
"You came."
Regina stopped her progress in a leafy clearing surrounded by aspens. It looked vaguely familiar. The area could have just been another plot of forest if it hadn't ignited a heat in her groin. "You called on me," she asserted. She searched Emma's expression and found suspicion and bitterness, two things Regina had not counted on. "Of course I came."
Hands still shoved in the pockets of her brown leather jacket, Emma stared at a tree behind Regina. She hardly moved since the mayor arrived.
Regina shifted on her feet. "I remember you mentioning that business outdoors constituted as uncomfortable," she said with a grin and a cock of her head. Her eyes narrowed. "Now I am not so sure you were being honest."
"I wasn't lying. I just think this is a more private area to discuss things."
If Emma's wall had been a tangible thing it would have given Regina a bruise for how hard it knocked into her. Nothing was getting past her this time. Equally determined, Regina still had confidence in her plan.
After a deep inhale Emma let it out and met the woman's eye line. "Do you know why I asked you here?"
"How about you enlighten me?"
"Well, you can pop open the champagne… throw a party… whatever because you are one lucky lady. You're getting what you wanted all along and I'm not going to throw one of my famous tantrums."
"Just what do I have to celebrate?" Regina asked, a brow furrowed and a smirk superseded all caution in brightening her mood.
"I'm leaving Storybrooke. My bags are packed. The car's got a full tank. I'm gone. Satisfied?"
The joy melted from Regina's face. "You're leaving? How?"
"How? It's kind of simple, really. I hop my ass in the car and drive. I keep driving until the 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign is miles gone from the rear-view mirror."
Somewhere between "I'm leaving" and Emma's deathly serious glare Regina woke up from her nightmare only to realize it was her reality. Even after shaking the worries from her mind they still persisted in gnawing away like ravenous termites. "But you are not supposed to leave," she insisted, eyebrows pinching together. She took a step closer. "What about Henry? What about me?"
Emma's breath visibly hitched. "I already said my goodbyes." There was a waxy sheen to her eyes. It was telling proof of what she had put herself and her son through. "I am saying my goodbyes."
"You can't. This is not… Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you come to me? If something happened… if you…" Regina choked and fell a step forward just as Emma fell a step back, in retreat. That response in itself hurt her more than the actual news of leaving ever did. "I deserve to know why you are leaving." Regina could have patted herself on the back for how sturdy it sounded. If her heart wasn't breaking in a million pieces, that was.
While one heart was breaking another's control was spinning out. Emma could not – would not – keep her fury in check. She unleashed it on Regina with a snarling retort.
"Did you really think no one would get hurt in this?! That feelings would not be broken? I thought you were cold, Regina! Without feeling. I don't much care how you've changed but I… I have. I don't like myself when I'm around you. I don't recognize this person," she sneered, waving down at herself in disgust. "I feel nothing. I am empty. It's like you took everything about me and used it for your own sick pleasure. Now I'm the cold one," she jabbed a finger into her own chest, "the one without feeling. I'm… I'm just numb."
"Emma, I –"
"Is this what you wanted? Oh, stupid me. Of course this is what you wanted. It's been your plan since you met me: to break me inside and out. Guess what? You succeeded!"
"You cannot have known what I had in store for you," Regina defended meekly. She had thus far been so reticent she was scaring herself. "You can't have known because I hardly understood myself. I honestly cannot recall when I gave up, but I know beyond a shred of a doubt that I no longer harbor the ill will I once had for you. You have to know that, Emma."
"Christ, Regina. If you're queen of anything it's self-pity. You don't have to dumb yourself down to explain a simple emotion like hate to me. I'm more acquainted with it than you think."
Regina blinked her welling eyes. "I don't hate you."
"I wanted you so much." Emma shook her head, crestfallen. "I wanted you so damn bad that I lost my job. Not having that responsibility was the price I paid for needing to feel something with you. So you tell me, Madame Mayor. Have I suffered enough to your satisfaction? Did you want me parading on a stage for money? Is that who you think I am? Some home-wrecking slut who hasn't a shred of dignity?"
"Stop this," Regina intoned sternly. Her face hardened. "You are not listening to me. I am in no way pleased by this hurt you claim to have sustained in staying with me. How could I be? After everything?"
"Why stop now when it's just getting good, huh? This happened once before – you saying 'no' in a frantic situation. Can you recall who got the wrong end of that encounter?"
"That's in the past." Regina's palm cautioned insistently. Her eyes were pleading now as a last resort. She had no other option in convincing Emma. "We are different people now, Emma. You cannot hold a blackmail tape against me for the rest of my life. It is just not reasonable."
If the latter had went unspoken both would have been sure that Emma kept on retreating. But it was just too late to retract the statement. Once it came out it had her whirling around. Now it was Emma drawing forward but with a finger spearing out threateningly.
"Reasonable?! Don't talk to me about reasonable! The things you made me do to you…" Emma's mouth hung open dry of details too horrifying to commit to words. The implication dangled out in the open, saturating the ever-growing tension between them and silencing the victim of her corruption. "You were a willing participant and you goaded me into it. You begged me, Regina. Begged. What was I supposed to do?" The tears were flowing from her eyes. Her cheeks were crimson. Her throat was raw. She didn't want to scream. She just wanted to give herself up so the wind would float her somewhere else, some place where no one knew her name. "What was I supposed to do?" she implored heavily, palms splayed up towards the sky.
"I did not make you. I let you, remember?" Brunette lashes fell and clashed with the salty sting of shame. "You could have said no."
"But I didn't. Because I couldn't."
Finely trimmed brows rose slightly as did the tone of voice. "Then some part of you must have wanted it."
Emma's lips thinned out. She knew it to be true, but god damn Regina for saying it.
"Emma, you have to understand… I have never lived in a world where liking and warmth came easy. To me the absence of it is a small price to pay for the greater purpose. I strive to hold a town together. I work constantly to put my child through school, to feed him, to clothe him, to put a roof over his head. I know that you never had those things growing up, so you can comprehend how precious they are and how difficult they are to obtain." She took Emma's hand in hers. It came to both of their shock that the gesture was not thrown down. "I want things like everyone else. Nothing is forbidden in this world if you have the courage to desire it. There is beauty in coveting what we cannot have. If we don't pursue what is denied to us then society does not progress; we are immobile by our own fears. I want the same things as everyone else. If you don't believe that then you are far more ignorant than I give you credit for," she commented wryly, squeezing Emma's hand to soften the blow. "I just want them in different ways. I don't know how else to ask."
"I can't give you what you want, Regina." They both watched as the pale hand slipped. Emma put distance between them, enough so she could breathe.
Regina stumbled forward, reaching out. "No. No, Emma…"
"What happened to smug Madame Mayor? I actually like her better. She was a damn good woman in a fight. She didn't give up so easily. She didn't take things lying down. There would be no excuse for disappointment if I told her she was in the right. I'm leaving and she's not even here to enjoy it." Emma's features scrunched in genuine longing. "What happened to her? What happened to smug, self-righteous Regina?"
"She wasn't in love with you!"
"And you are?" Emma chortled with a scorn that made Regina flinch. A part of her shattered at the sight of the twisting, angst-ridden face. Now Emma was tormenting Regina in an entirely different manner, one that was more harmful than any physical violation. "I can't love you like this."
"Then end it!" Her bellow startled the birds from their branches. "If you can't look at me or love me then kill me!"
She took the hands from Emma and placed them around her own neck and squeezed just enough. Emma's hands were the kind of warmth she dreamed of. They were calloused in some places and soft in others. She closed her eyes and wished for magic. If she had her powers, if she had the god damned courage, she would do it herself and spare Emma the guilt. Emma may resent her now, but she was too good to end a life. Regina was sorry for making her do it, but it would be her very last request, she reasoned. Then they would both be free.
"I love you," Regina practically moaned. "I keep falling into you with nothing and no one to save me from it – least of all me. Your absence will change nothing. You might be able to leave Storybrooke but I cannot be left behind like this. Please."
Emma's fingers tightened and then hesitated. She had granted Regina's every wish save one. Emma remembered the pangs felt that night she left the Mills mansion. A choice was made. It wasn't easy, but she followed through. What would result if that cycle was broken?
"I don't feel enough to grant your wish. I don't have it in me." Emma allowed herself to caress the woman's features with a kind gaze. "I did care for you. It may have turned into something more… later." She blinked it all away and shook her head. "In any case, it's too late for that. You have made me cruel and hard and I will make you feel it for the last time – as requested."
The loss of air had Regina coughing behind the tightening fingers. Her hands shook violently and she started to see spots, but she kept herself from grabbing on. Her whole body submitted to the attack, her feet stumbling back until her back was driven into the nearest tree. Just when she thought she would black out the pressure lifted from her wind pipe. Instinctively, she made a grand inhale that was smothered by a new assault.
Emma's kiss was hardly a kiss. Her mouth covered Regina's completely and moved savagely and without pity. The gesture didn't really convey anything, no love or remorse, no animosity or respect. It could only be as convoluted as their relationship.
The hand behind Regina's neck braced her into the kiss while the other still held at her throat. It was a threatening gesture, to leave her thumb over smooth cartilage and remind them both that she could end it all with just a press. But soon Emma lifted it and smoothed it across a chin possessively. Her grip lightened and would have provided a comfort if her lips on Regina hadn't let up.
When they gasped for air Regina filled her hands with bright, golden hair and brought the pink mouth back in. They kissed viciously, tugging at lips, sucking blood to the surface and even drawing some in the process. They clawed and hissed. While one begged for it the other took it. They were on unequal ground with no power struggle in play. This dance had been on repeat for as long as they allowed it. Though the status quo had changed they would fall back into routine once more.
Emma took Regina's hips and shoved them back. A cry sounded at the bark digging into her spine. It was clear from the fond expression on the mayor's face that it had not been a cry for help or a request to stop. Emma took the many indications from the woman's face and body language that this wasn't enough. Although how far she was expected to go this time Emma didn't care anymore.
Heaving her body into Regina's, Emma pressed her fully into the many imperfections and protrusions of the tree. She could feel the grinding hips against her and it was not subtle. Not a concern sprung to mind at how badly Regina was hurting herself. Instead Emma bided her time with the crimson, raw neck which she clamped her mouth to. Regina's fingers weaved tighter in her hair and her nails scraped along Emma's skull as if to spur her on. Emma tormented her with kisses, licking rough strokes and nipping along the tender red streaks. As usual, Regina let her and relished in it with victorious whimpers.
"My only fear was that I'd turn into you," Emma rasped against her collarbone. "And then I realized… this is who I am. You made me this way." She brought her mouth up and against Regina's lips. "And I let you twist me like you let me hurt you."
Regina's eyes fluttered open to look at the woman she made. They began to sting and prickle until looking became too much. She turned away. She could not bear to see the absence of what her heart so desperately offered up. If a noble gesture could not be returned in a moment of necessity then she would not hope for the hopeless. She would not stare at its mocking grin no matter the glorious pain it would afford her. It was asking too much.
As if it were no bother, Emma pulled at the waistband of the mayor's slacks. Her fingers scraped against the bare skin of Regina's abdomen until they hit creeping wetness.
Regina uttered a deep moan. Emma entered her completely in one thrust that quickly became a series of gratifying heaves. There was no teasing in her touch. Emma was all intent and desire wrapped up in one tight, cruel package. Regina could no more stop her than she could quell the heat spreading through her own groin. A delectable buzz of excitement consumed her; much like the wanting of Emma Swan the yielding to one such woman conveyed a dangerous outcome. Fully prepared to take on the risks, Regina met the rough fingers with the consent of her hips. Broken moans warmed Emma's cheek as she tried to express her want for more: more of the sheriff's resentment, more of her anger. Regina would mine her dry of emotion in fated screams and mournful whimpers. She would take it all with her throbbing, wet sex and scraping red nails until…. Until when?
"Oh god," she groaned, not wanting to think about the end.
Emma opened her eyes and looked upon her mayor and soon-to-be ex-lover. She was beautiful. It didn't bother her that it had not been expressed. Regina wasn't the sentimental type – in that, they were similar.
"I loved you when you brought me here." Emma's pupils dilated to her hotly confessed sentiment. She nearly broke out into a relishing smirk when Regina's eyes matched. "That's why you stopped, wasn't it? You saw it in my eyes that day." Emma needed to hear it so bad. She pressed the heel of her hand harder. "Tell me."
Regina's mouth opened in a hearty moan of, "Yes!" Her breathing came in gasping fits as she strove to get the words out. "I thought I could not. I was afraid of it – of you."
Emma responded with a kiss. She bit deep into the trembling bottom lip. With one hand continuing its furious ministrations, the other crept from the small of Regina's back all the way up to her shoulder blades. The jacket and shirt rippled up over the intrusion, revealing a stark naked back to the forest air. When her fingers reached the muscles of a neck Emma dug in the tips and pushed her body full into Regina's.
Regina screamed as her bare spine chaffed against the tree. Now she felt a part of it all. To be so close to nature as to bleed on it put the breath back in gasping lungs. She tasted copper on her tongue just as the aspen tasted the rivulets of blood painting its ash white bark. She felt a part of a cycle: the tree claiming her and she claiming it in return. And then there was Emma taking without mercy or forethought. And it all transpired at the spur of the moment like a leaf spinning off its branch.
"Emma," she whimpered, crying tears into the crook of a neck. Her hands braced fiercely to the woman's shoulders.
"Almost," murmured Emma, half intent on leaving and half yearning to bury every last piece of what Regina made of her inside this woman. "Not yet."
Emma threw herself into her efforts. She knew the ache spreading through Regina's back only added to the thrusting assault on her sex. She knew from the moment of the first cries – one from a creaking tree and the other from the mayor – that Regina would come in moments. It was her way, and as requested of her in previous encounters, Emma would bridge that gap between pleasure and pain.
With a hurried scream Regina called out the name that had been in her thoughts and secretly on her lips for what seemed like forever. Aching and slick with blood and the evidence of her arousal, she stiffened. She closed her eyes and felt Emma bury herself inside her for what might be the last time. The feeling, the time, and the place burned into her memory, and she longed for it all before it was even over. Chest panting, Regina fell back as Emma pulled out.
Stumbling blindly in retreat, Emma cast a meandering view of their surroundings. She shook her hand out in the open air with a casualty that harkened back to the clearing of smeared lipstick.
"You know what it's like to have me – in whatever twisted way." Emma's voice was clear over the rippling brook yonder. So crystal clear it could have echoed through the forest and etched its words into every branch and trunk. Emma spared a glance at her ravished mistress. "And now you'll know what it's like to lose me."
Regina slid to the ground. She hardly flinched when the tree carved into her bloodied back. A black ocean of unconsciousness claimed her before she had a chance to say goodbye.
