Characters::Tass and Britt
Word Count:: 702
@mythsandmonsters
The last time Tassos had seen her, she had been comatose, hooked up to more wires and machines than he could handle. Her stomach had been a mess of stitches, a machine doing all of her breathing for her. They weren’t sure she was going to make it, even with the mix of magic and up to date medical equipment.
It had been enough to make him hate himself. He should have pushed harder or dealt with the twins himself, but he had been too afraid that she would hate him. After all, Brittia had clung to the hopes of them changing far longer than anyone else and that had nearly been her downfall.
He hesitated, hand poised to knock, but he couldn’t bring himself to just follow through the motion for several long moments. What was he even supposed to say in this situation?
Finally, Tassos rapped on the door, three sharp sounds that made him wince. He wasn’t expecting this reunion to go over all that well, not when even Lyri could barely be around for more than twenty minutes.
The sound had Britt frowning hard. No one she knew actually knocked, except maybe Ash and she highly doubted he was stopping by. Those encounters usually resulted in arguments over her necromancy. Not that she minded, really, he was a decent enough person and he had helped out when she was hurt. She couldn’t say that about most people outside of her family and, even then, not everyone in her family was all that great either.
Still, Tassos had been the last person she had expected to see on her doorstep. Her jaw clenched as she stared at him, any words he might have spoken falling on deaf ears before she was punching him in the face.
The force was enough to have him stumbling backwards, blood beginning to drip from his nose as he tried to keep himself from falling over.
“What the hell was that for?!”
“You know what that was for, Tassos. You can fuck right back off to Narnia or Middle Earth or wherever the fucking you’ve been for the last, gee, I don’t know, decades,” the blonde snapped, arms crossed as she leaned in her doorway.
That hurt more than the punch and he hung his head, the bleeding slowing to a stop after only a few moments. He had always healed fast, even by their standards.
“Britt…I’m sorry,” he mumbled, unsure of what else to say.
“You’re sorry? For what, Tass? Ditching out while I was trying not to die? Or being the one to push on me giving up on the twins in the first place? Our son wouldn’t have done this,” she lifted her shirt, forcing the scars that littered her lower abdomen into view, “to me if he hadn’t felt like I had betrayed him. Do you know that I can’t physically carry any kids anymore? That the only reason my youngest exists is because Lyri was my surrogate? No, you fucking don’t, because you ran like a godsdamn coward while the rest of us had to clean up the messes.”
“I know! I know, okay? I know I messed up, Britt. I know I’m a coward! I’m reminded every time Lyri refuses to even let me touch her hand. I’m reminded every time our granddaughter smirks at me before flipping me off. I know I left when you needed me the most because I couldn’t handle it! I’ve never been as strong as you. I was scared and I didn’t know how to handle it,” he exclaimed, tossing his hands up in the air. It was better than giving into the threat of tears making his eyes burn.
“Messed up is an understatement, Tassos. I don’t even want to look at you right now.”
The pain as still too raw, the sense of abandonment too deep for her to be able to handle properly yet.
“Just leave, Tassos. I can’t deal with this yet.”
The words were punctuated by the door being shut in his face and he knew better than to push his luck.
“I am sorry,” he mumbled before making his way back to his father’s to hide.
ofviolentdeath 