brontide ( noun ) - the low rumble of distant thunder

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ now playing ; years of war by portor robinson ; breanne duren ; sean caskey

𝘐𝘛 𝘉𝘌𝘎𝘈𝘕 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘈𝘍𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘔𝘈𝘛𝘏
𝘖𝘍 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘙𝘐𝘊𝘈𝘕 𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘠𝘌𝘈𝘙.

It had been a cold day, approximately five months ago. Still winter in Florence, Italy, when rain often falls into the lively plaza's. Most often packed with American tourists. January. Both Echo and Cue had enjoyed the short time spent there in December, before their plan sprung into action.

Anastasia Amara. Still on Christmas Break from medical school in the states, it seemed. It was the perfect time for the grim reaper to suddenly strike.

Cue had planned it to the last detail, despite Echo's absolute desperate begging to allow her to create the plan this time. He hadn't been discouraging, but he had pointed out a number of flaws and unnecessary risks in her own plan that inevitably made her back down. One of these days though, one of these days, she was going to have a plan, and it was going to go right.

Today was not that day, most unfortunately for Echo. Still however, this was something new in their lives now. Someone new, to welcome to immortality, which wasn't as pleasurable as one would think. Course, by now, she's sure everyone's had the argument. Sooner or later they would, anyway. So they went with Cue's plan instead, which wasn't nearly as exciting as what she would have dreamed up, but it was reliable, steadfast, and admittedly - well, smart.

Echo was smart, but she was well aware she wasn't as wise as Cue was. He often told her that knowing that made her much wiser than she thought. Still, she wasn't sure she quite believed him all the way about that.

After all, it wasn't wisdom that led her to partake in a London season, to accept a proposal that really shouldn't have been hers to accept, and to have children that shouldn't have been hers to bear.

Still, Echo doesn't regret one minute of it all.

Something she also doesn't regret, is Anastasia. Reincarnation, if you will. Mostly because Anastasia reminds her a little too much of someone she lost long ago. Perhaps it's fate, or perhaps it's just her imagination running away from her once again. Either way, Anastasia is something she's always wanted, and hasn't had in a long, long time.

A sister.

It was odd enough to watch, because even though she despised Cue { or so she said }, she seemed to click with Echo right away, and finally, she didn't feel so . . . out of place. That being said, Anastasia was intimidating, and scary, and articulate, and smart, and absolutely terrifying when she wanted to be. And yet, Echo had never been scared of her. Not really. The fact was that Anastasia often made her grateful that she was on their side, and not standing against them. Not that she thought much anyone could stand against Cue and live, anyway.

Anastasia sure seemed determined to try.

But Echo knows. She knows that they don't hate each other nearly as much as they pretend to. Anastasia doesn't hate anyone, or much of anyone, no matter how often she claims the opposite. Especially to a particular male in their company.

She knows because Cue let Echo read Asia's obituary, even though he was supposed to do it. She knows because Cue sees how close they are to each other, and well, if Asia was going to fake her death, it might as well be beside somebody that cared about her.

Echo cried while reading it. And they weren't even fake tears.

She hated it.

Not because she had cried, because Echo is hardly ashamed of her tears. She'll let them fall frequently and unabashedly if need be. No. She hated it because hardly no one else had. There had been a deep sense of detachment from all of them, even her parents, and Echo despised that.

No one should leave mortality, with no one to mourn for them.

So Echo had mourned for her, with her, instead. She'd written poetry, and braided her hair, and cried in the quiet of night for Anastasia. Because if no one else would do it, then she would.

But Reincarnation is only the beginning after all.

Around a month later, Frederick Harrow was to be their chemistry. Well, Freddie was what he preferred, so Echo had stuck with that.

His family had attended the funeral at least. His mother had been there, shedding real tears, but Echo wasn't sure if it was for her son, or for the loss of the potential he had. His brother had looked bored, and Echo wasn't even sure if his father had bothered to show up; she'd become too irritated over the lack of empathy to let Freddie stay. Even then, her friend hadn't seemed all that surprised to see it.

That only upset her more.

It upset her worse now, if she thought on that day too much. She not only gained a friend, but a brother. Someone who enjoyed her company as much as she enjoyed theirs, and while Cue re-affirmed that that's not what real family was like most of the time, Echo didn't care much. He was her brother as much as she wanted him to be, and she'd fight with him till the ends of the earth need be.

Course, Echo would fight for all the immortals till the end if need be, except Cue maybe, but not for the reason you'd expect. But because Cue had made her promise long ago if he went down, if he was hurt, she was to get as far away as possible. She was the heir. That was her job.

She tried not to dwell on that too much.

Unlike Anastasia, Freddie and Cue's relationship reminded her of their own. In all honesty, that's what Cue was to her, a mentor. A friend too, sure, but he'd practically raised her. So it was a familial kind of mentorship going on there. Ana would probably call it something like nepotism, especially considering the wing thing she didn't seem to be able to let go.

Instead, Echo laughed with him, and talked with him, and firmly decided { proclaimed, in fact } that she was indeed his soul sister, but not in the song way, and that they might as well make the most of their time together because they had quite literally forever to go.

It helped some. At least, she hoped it had.

Like clockwork, the next month arrived, and in a half-disastrous plan to collect their Siren.

Park Ye-Joon.

Echo wasn't really even sure how to describe him. Handsome, certainly, but inevitably, as all attractive or semi-attractive men are, a flirt. Which, really, is just unfair. Echo thinks it's because they're pretty, so they can get away with it.

Cue told her that that couldn't be right, because he was called attractive all the time, and he didn't flirt with most anyone.

Echo responded with, "That's different. You don't like anyone."

Cue really couldn't argue with that, which only further proved her point.

Joon is sweet. He's flirtatious, and giggly, and funny, and all-around he's a fantastic person to simply be around. Echo likes him, really, she does. There's just something about him that she can't quite place, and genuinely she's not even sure what it is. Like with the other immortals, Joon wasn't something like family to her, he was something else entirely.

Yes, of course a friend.

After all, what other explanation could there be? { don't answer that } , because anything other than a friend, is something she refuses to even consider.

Honestly, she's surprised he doesn't hate her more, especially considering it was her idea to kill him right then. She supposed that Cue never told him it was her idea, and to be fair, neither of them had known he was on a date.

A paintball date, nevertheless.

Nothing wrong with that of course, Echo actually thinks it's very inventive. She's never been on a date or anything like that. That being said, Echo hasn't really been on a date and enjoyed it since London in the 1800's , which is a whole other story in itself.

Joon is her friend.

Her friend, who watched his entire funeral, and had downright refused to leave until he and his family were the only one's there. They'd stayed in the back. Away from them all, Echo watched with her very own silver-lined eyes, as his eldest sister, maybe 18, fell to her knees before the gravesite, and cried.

They'd left then. Joon had seen enough.

It had made her heart shatter in a whole different way.

Later, Joon told her about his family, and he remembered them affectionately, Echo could tell. And for a moment, just a brief one, she doubted Cue's judgment.

She was aware that Cue hadn't exactly selected them specifically for this work. She knew that, but couldn't they have picked someone who had been loved a little less in life?

Because that pain, that she'd watched those poor siblings succumb too - Echo knew that pain. She'd known it for a long time, and it hurt.

It hurt to watch it happen all over again too.

Joon had been quiet, after that, and Echo found herself longing for her friend. The one who joked about everything, who knew all the card tricks in the world. The one who was charming, and charismatic, and admittedly witty.

She missed him.

So Echo decided then she didn't want to put him through that ever again, no matter what.

Period.

The following month, they received another apparent master of flirtation. This one, Cassian Mackintyre; their heartbreak. This one, it seemed, had fixated his adoring flirtation on Anastasia. At least, when she was in the room, anyway.

Similar to Joon, he flirted loosely with practically anyone, but it didn't take a Sherlock Holmes of any kind to see that he was determined to make Anastasia flustered, just once, since apparently he wasn't having any luck with Cue at all.

Sometimes, Echo seriously doubted anyone would.

Cassian was a classic dream-boy, the kind that isn't really supposed to exist, and be able to simultaneously manage a healthy relationship in sync. And yet, Cassian was confident, and romantic, and really deep down - a sweetheart.

Echo doesn't think he's cocky most of the time, maybe a little prideful, but really she just thinks he's insecure about himself.

She saw it in his face, when he watched his own funeral unfold before him.

He'd made jokes about it on the way, about how he'd better look good - and how he'd probably look better in ashes, than most of the people attending, but with each step closer to the actual ceremony, he grew quieter and quieter.

At all the funerals, it was only Echo, and the 'dead' immortal who attended. Although Cue offered to come with each time. She reassured him that she could handle it, and Cue wasn't the best people-person anyway.

He really couldn't argue with that.

Cassian hadn't uttered so much as a word, during that whole period. And yes, there were plenty of people that came to mourn him, to cry for him, but so many of them felt...fake. Like they had come because other people had come, and Cassian had been, for the lack of a better word, hot.

So they came. And they cried because they were expected to.

But Cassian hadn't been focused on any of that. Echo had watched as his eyes darted to the entrance every so often, and looked somehow more solemn with each empty word said. It had been so quiet, so unemotional, but full of tears in the same heartbeat. Cassian's mother had come, and so had his sister, even his half-estranged brother. They each sat with tears in their eyes, but Cassian was waiting for one person, who Echo now knew he'd desperately wanted to make amends with.

The one person who'd never even bothered to show up.

Cassian was back to normal by the time they'd gotten home, but it wasn't hard to see it was a front. And even now, that haunting, hurt look in his eyes. Something like agony. It still haunted her.

By the time they'd gotten around to collecting Amir, they were in desperate need of some rejuvenation,

Amir Kibe, AKA - crush, who was exactly what the island of Elysian needed. It was exactly what their small group had needed, in fact. Someone lively, and fun, and warm-hearted. Someone who didn't mind some of the antics going on, someone who was patient and tolerable and dedicated.

Amir Kibe was exactly what Echo had needed to wake up, and try some more. Yes, horrible things happened to good people, but that was a part of life - or - that was a part of immortality. She saw just that at the funeral of Amir. A small gathering of close friends and some extended family, but it hadn't been some sad, depressing moment that only worsened her spirits - it had been a tribute to his life, a true one.

An honest one.

And it had reminded Echo that yeah, life sucked sometimes, but it didn't all the time. Immortality highlighted the bad things, but it also gave more time and energy and effort to do anything you've ever wanted.

It had been hard on him, no doubt, Echo had seen that too.

After they had left, and had returned home to the island, Echo heard him crying as she walked past his own house, interlocked in the trails to each of their houses that led to the main lobby. She'd heard him, and through a dart of her own agony, a reminder that a loss - is still a loss, she walked on to her own.

The odd thing about each of those tragic, horrible days, where they stole someone's entire life from them, and replaced it with a new one.

It had rained.

As if the sky too, could mourn those lost to immortality.

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

ophelia !!

second chapter done !

it's a little rushed at the end so
sorry if it's not the best ^^

please don't forget to finish the opinions and love interests of your characters !!

and as for the question for today that [yes] you must answer !

[ what would your characters dream home / room look like ? what kind of decor or style would they pefer ? ]

answers ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥