kalon (noun) - a beauty that is more than skin deep

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ now playing ; i don't wanna know by goldhouse + mokita 

ECHO WAS REALLY TIRED
OF ALL HER PLANS FAILING

This plan meant something, it wasn't something Echo could just fuck up and expect Cue to fix - no, this was her plan. And it was going to work. 

Either that, or Echo was going to die trying.

Run.

Echo's lungs burned with every step. Chest screaming. Soul blazing. But she couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop because Asia was in there, and Echo was ready to fight like hell to get her back. It was dark, and scary, and Echo hated being here, but she wasn't ready to watch her family fall apart again. She didn't think she'd ever really be ready for that to happen again.

Run.

You're never really ready for these things though. Not ever. It sorta just happens anyway. Echo wasn't ready then, when her family was oh so unfairly ripped away from her. It's happened twice now. Once, in the fall of Greece, when she'd gained more than a few scars up her skin - scars that Joon had called beautiful only moments ago . . .

Run.

Despite the weight of the darkness, and the fear that was quickly beginning to overrun her thoughts, deep in the pit of her stomach, something stirred. Warmth bloomed upwards against her abdomen, quickly chasing away the bitter cold that had begun to sting her skin. Echo didn't know if it was just the thought of someone in particular, or the re-ignited determination that she'd rapidly been gaining with every vibration she felt in the earth beneath her.

Run.

The second time, it was only at the fault of her own. Echo knew that. Cue had warned her. She'd decided against her better judgment - her husband, in that life, he was sweet, and charming, and much too charismatic for his own good. Echo truly hadn't planned on falling in love, but you don't really plan on that kind of thing. To be fair, Echo hadn't planned much on this either. Again, she felt that pulse, this time dipping into earth, sending a reverberation across the ground around her. For a brief moment, she saw angry briars, contorted, dying trees, light up with starlight, before vanishing back into the pit of darkness from whence they came. Everything felt so angry, twisted, violent thoughts dredged up from the ground, slipping against her skin as she narrowly dodged a branch that would have knocked her breathless.

Run.

That voice, not her own, but something familiar. The bitter taste of nostalgia sat against her tongue, and deep, in the bottom of her heart, she felt fear began to rise. Because it wasn't her voice at all - no, it was Asia's. Not entirely like her's, it sounded hollow. Empty. Broken

Run.

Scared.

Run.

A chant that was sung into silence, into this abyss that had manifested around not just her friend, but her sister, her family. Echo couldn't just abandon her. Not like everybody else had.

Run.

Was her plan perfect? No. Was she a little bit of a failure? Maybe. Did that mean she was going to stop? Absolutely not. Anastasia Amara was a lot of things. Confident, beautiful, a russian princess if Echo had ever seen one, passionate, loving (even if she tried to hide it), talented. Anastasia Amara is a lot of things. She, however, is not someone Echo is willing to let go of again.

Run.

The voice sounded more desperate now, and that panic, that fear, that Echo had been so desperately trying to keep down, was beginning to rise. She could feel it. The scent of it was overpowering, all-consuming, and lethal. It dragged claws down her wings, ripping at every miniscule anxiety that she'd fought long and hard to keep hidden. That void of darkness had encompassed her in an instant, and the calls of her friends were silenced the moment she passed over. There was nothing here - nothing but emptiness, agony, despair, death. Invisible creatures tugged at her wings, pain shocking her to the ground, encompassing her in the inevitable.

Run.

The earth felt empty, like she was moving through syrup. Inky blackness had enveloped her entirely, the only thing beside her was her racing thoughts, and the muted sound of her own heavy breathing. It hurt. It hurt to breathe, to move, to do anything at all.

Run.

Echo couldn't breathe.

Run.

That panic rose into her throat, caught in her chest as anxiety began to take over. She couldn't breathe. Her wings hung behind her, limp, dragging against dark earth as unknown monstrosities raked through them. Flesh and bone split against her back, as telepathic talons dug into everything they managed to grab on to, desperate to slow her down.

The thing about Echo Dreakos, though?

She was pretty fucking desperate too.

Because it didn't matter what tried to stop her, Echo had a plan, and this time, it wasn't going to fail. This time, she was going to fly. This was her family, this was her home, this was her salvation.

Echo had lost a lot of things in her life. She'd lost her family, twice. Lost her lover. Lost her home, her children, her life, her friends. She'd lost pets, and friendship bracelets. Lost poetry books and old journals. Lost paint sets, matching pajama pants, and party games in college. She'd lost festival tickets, photo books, and old pictures that her friend group used to take with polaroid cameras. Lost letterman jackets, and those papers you got when your best friend bought you a star. Lost love letters, and the keys on a typewriter. She'd lost handmade dresses, and knitted hats. She'd lost things, and people, and time. She'd lost in all the ways an immortal could, when you live hundreds of lives.

Echo was tired of losing.

But one thing Echo would never lose, was her memory. So she remembered. Remembered her first puppy, a mix named Clover. Remembered the festival that was held in some small, forgotten town in south Colorado. Remembered football games, Christmas photos, and painting the stars. Remembered birthday parties, and letters sent to New York City. Remembered flights on a plane to Chicago, and tryouts for a soccer team. She remembered her family, her friends, her lover, her children. She remembered everything.

Because Echo always remembers.

And now, she would remember for Asia. Someone who she isn't ready to lose at all.

The silence thickened, but Echo stopped running. There was nothing around her but darkness. An inky grave that led her nowhere at all, but something about it, something about it told her to stop. A cold, bitter numbness had settled deep in her limbs, eating away at her slowly. Echo let out a heavy sounding, very labored breath, closing her eyes.

Anastasia was in front of her.

Wrapped in billowing voids, a multiverse of abyss and agony. Dark tentacles tangled with her limbs, mouth agape in a silent scream. Calling for someone, anyone, to come help her.

Echo choked on her next breath, feeling shadows slither down her throat, suffocating the very magic that resided deep, deep in her soul.

She let it.

Instead, she dropped to her knees, hands on the ground as darkness worked quickly to take over her. There was no pain anymore. Only a sickening numbness that had begun crawling up her back, into her essence.

This would work, this had to work.

After all, what other option was there?

Asia.

Echo couldn't bring herself to speak, closing her eyes as thick serpents of necrotic magic began worming their way towards her. She could barely bring herself to breathe, to focus on that, rather than the looming figure of death hanging over her head.

I know you can hear me.

It hurt, and finally, a choked sob escaped her chest, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. The cry was silent, muffled by the vast expanse of nothingness that surrounded her.

I will not leave you again, sister.

The ache in her chest deepend, stretching into the arcana that she knew and loved. Echo would have done anything, everything, and whatever was beyond that, to protect her sister in Greece from the fate that was destined for her.

I promise.

Echo forced herself up, pressing against that rich pressure of fear, sitting against her knees. Placing one hand onto the earth, and the other on her chest, Echo choked back another breath.

Maybe her last one.

And ripped into herself.

Everything she had. Every memory, every breath, every stupid, fucking, drop of magic that Echo had been able to maintain up to this point poured out of her. Blasts of light and starfire tore into the darkness, beams of sickly sweet euphoria eating away at every bit and piece of the agony that Asia had been taught to bear. Arcana, thick with tears, bled out, seeping into the ground and turning every serpent. Every snake. Every invisible, monstrous, unknown creature into nothing but dust. Rays of fire and heat and warmth sprayed from the earth, and violent clashed with violent. Echo gave everything she had, and some that she didn't, because she had promised. 

Because she wanted Asia to remember too.

And when it was done. When Echo had given everything, and then some, the darkness lifted, and silence once again filled the beach.

It was quiet. The stars above them shone in the navy sky, like they'd never gone anywhere in the first place. The waters were calm, and the tides of the sea swayed with quiet serenity. And in front of Echo, was the still body of Anastasia Amara, who remained that way, until her chest hitched, and then rose.

Echo still couldn't breathe.

It was too loud, and too quiet, all at the same time. She could hear the muffled screaming of her friends somewhere behind her, and the dull feeling of someone calling her name.

The wave of nausea hit her the same time Cue's voice did, ringing in her ears. She only heard him scream her name when she turned her head towards the water, and vomited up everything she had in her stomach until she was just dry heaving.

A hand had set on her back, and Echo barely managed to look up to get the blurry vision of Cue in front of her. His eyes were half-widened, as if shocked by something, but his hand was steady as ever, and Echo couldn't help but be grateful for it. Slowly, he came more into focus, and Echo genuinely began hearing him again as he pulled her to her feet.

"Echo..."

"I know..." Echo's own voice, sounded foreign to her, distant, almost. "I shouldn't have done that." Echo raised her head slightly, seeing the others, They looked frozen, wide-eyed, staring directly at her.

No..not at her. They were staring behind her,

So Echo looked too, and quickly wished she wouldn't have done that.

My wings.

They weren't gone, but they might as well have been. Shredded. Strips of dark flesh and feathers hung off of them, holes with dark blood and black puss still dripping, streaking down whatever white had stuck. Echo could see through them, and another wave of sick panic shot through her stomach.

"No." It took her a moment to realize it was her voice. Panic throbbed up her throat, and she shook her head again, desperately, as if that would magically fix it. "No." Echo couldn't breathe again, yanking herself from Cue's hand, "No, no, no, no-"

"Echo-"

"No, Cue!" The bark in response was shaky at best, voice trembling, "I can't do it - I don't want to do it-" A sob then. It shattered whatever argument she attempted to create for herself. She couldn't.

Cue's gaze didn't leave her's, and even if Echo vaguely registered the step of Joon in her direction, she didn't break contact with him when he spoke. "Echo, I have to, they could be infected."

"I can't." Echo wasn't like Cue, she couldn't just rip her wings from her back. Not like this. Not like how she knew Cue would have to do.

"Echo." Cue stepped toward her, and Echo fought the urge to scramble away like a small child. "Echo, you took the darkness, I have too."

Echo couldn't do it, and yet, she knew she had too. Biting back the urge to openly sob once again, she nodded hesitantly, whispering back, more to herself than him. "I know."

A different voice spoke, familiar, and ridden with anxiety, spoke. "What are you going to do to her, Cue?" Joon's own speaking was soft, and Echo refused to look at him, despite feeling the intensity of his own gaze on her while she walked back towards Cue.

Cue motioned her to sit in front of him. Echo obediently did so, staring at the ground, bracing her hands against the sand, ready for the pain that was going to be racking her body in a moment. Cue's simple response was one that haunted her empty mind, even when she closed her eyes.

"I'm going to take her wings." Joon didn't have so much as a moment to question what, before Cue continued. "Look at them first Joon, don't yell at me." Echo kept her eyes shut. "They're infected, and whatever is eating them away is going to get to Echo if we don't take out the problem."

"You can't just take them Cue, there's gotta be another way-"

"There isn't." There was a moment of silence, and Echo felt Cue's broad hand set against the joint of her wing, connecting it to her back. "There isn't, and believe me, I've tried."

Echo knows. She knows there isn't any other way. She knows because she's seen Cue do it to himself. He had turned, gripped the base of his wing in his own hand, and ripped the limb from his own back like it was nothing special.

Cue had to do it twice, once for each wing.

Digging her hands into the sand, she inhaled a sharp breath, still wobbling with tears. "Can you do them both, Cue?"

"Both?"

"At the same time, I want them done at the same time."

There was a moment of silence, and briefly, Echo had the terrifying thought that he would deny her. Instead, she felt his other hand grip the base of her opposite wing, his knee now pressing against her back to keep her steady.

Echo felt her breath hitch, opening her eyes to stare at the ground, "Okay, I'm-"

"Echo." The voice was soft, and it took her a moment to realize it was Joon, kneeling in front of her. Echo didn't want to meet his eyes, but she felt cool hands cup her face, a thumb smoothing under her eye to wipe any excess tears away, and lift her head to meet his gaze anyway. He didn't say anything for a moment, just staring at her, then softly, only under his breath, "I'm here."

Echo felt emotion rise once again into her chest, but she closed her eyes again, leaning into his touch before nodding slightly. "Okay, Cue." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm ready."

Cue only spared her a brief nod, before readjusting his grip.

And then he pulled.

And Echo's scream could have cleaved the world in two.

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

ophelia !!

eleventh chapter done !

I also apologize for
this chapter <3

i genuinely don't have
much to say today 

[ what is a fond memory from your character ? ]

answers ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥