There was no light.
The only sensation she felt was floating on sothing dark and thick. She didn’t know what death felt like, but this should be it. Cold, lonely, numb and weightless.
She was gone.
But she didn’t want to be.
She had felt the mont all her senses logged off, and she was dragged into the darkness. And she had felt the mont when sothing else had moved inside of her.
Sothing laughing through her teeth that she couldn’t control. Soone moving her limbs, a dark energy flowing through her veins.
The sa thing she had tried to lock within her all her life.
She had died, giving it the opportunity to erge. And whatever it was doing right now, it felt wrong.
Theodora was tired. In his darkness, she didn’t have to worry about anything. She didn’t have to worry about when Cain would find her, or when soone else would find out who she really is. She felt nothing.
Yet, sothing kept pulling her. Sothing kept tugging at her chest - her wolf? Her will? She had no idea.
Then, she heard a voice. It sounded like a yell from afar, desperate and panicked, "...Hellcat," along with scraps of claws.
Hezekiah?
The na was a spark.
Fire cracked through the void where her soul should be, burning away the numbness just enough for her to feel a little more. Her fingers subtly twitched and her heart gave the stuttering imitation of a heartbeat.
Theo forced herself up, swimming through nothing. Sothing else wore her skin. Sothing she didn’t approve of.
Theo ca across a solid slick door, and placed her hand on it. It pulsed like a living organ, breathing and even speaking.
She placed her ear over it softly, and the distant voice she heard was no longer so distant..."...Two Wolves with Demonic energy...,"
She pulled back for a second. What the hell was going on out there? Whatever the case, she needed to destroy this door first. But she couldn’t feel Seraphina inside her - Hell, she barely felt anything.
She wouldn’t be able to break this door as she was right now.
"You should have stayed dead," A voice whispered behind her.
Theodora whirled around, and found a reflection of herself looking back at her. A reflection of a shattered mirror carrying her own face.
But it was too pale, too still, had dark eyes that forced her to step back and her veins were pulsing with red and dark energy, spread through her entire body.
"What are you?!" Theo demanded.
The reflection smiled slowly, like it had been waiting centuries for her to ask.
"What am I?" She smirked, "That’s a bit far-fetched, isn’t it?"
Theo backed up until the living door pressed sickeningly against her spine, "I’m not doing this with you. Get the hell out of my body and out of my head!"
"Oh, this isn’t your head," The reflection drifted closer, making no sound with its steps, "And you’re not in your body,"
Theo stiffened, then she glared, "You’re the thing wearing out there,"
"That’s one way to put it," The reflection replied, then tilted its head, "But I prefer to think of it as... borrowing what was abandoned,"
Theo lunged forward and slamd her fist into its chest, but her hand passed through like smoke. She paused, watching as the impact sent a ripple through the creature’s form.
It laughed softly, quite amused, "As reactive as always,"
"Let out," Theo snapped, "You borrowed my body and now I want it back. Now!"
"You can’t break that door," It still looked amused, and made a lazy gesture toward the throbbing entrance, "Not like this. You’re barely a whisper right now. A soul without claws,"
Theo gritted her teeth, "I don’t need claws. I need control,"
"Control?" The reflection’s eyes glead, "You died, didn’t you? You can’t take control again,"
Theo paced back and forth, her fists trembling. She could hear the distant noise of fighting. She could hear a wolf growling and a sinister laughter, "Why did you take my body? What do you want?"
"I want what’s mine," It whispered.
Theo stord forward angrily, "You aren’t . You’re just so parasite, so thing I still haven’t gotten a way to get rid of!"
"Funny," The reflection said quietly, "How often you say ’thing’ when you an ’truth.’"
Theo froze.
The reflection drifted behind her, it’s cold fingers trailing near her shoulder without touching, "You’ve spent your whole life locking doors in your mind," it murmured, "You’ve Pretended you didn’t hear the whispers in your own blood. With the help of your wolf, you’ve mastered the art of ignoring them completely, like they don’t exist anymore,"
"Stop talking!" Theodora snapped.
She chuckled softly, "Pretending you didn’t feel . I an, the Pendant can hold back my powers and my speech, but it can’t hold back my--"
Theo turned sharply, "I said stop...!"
But the Reflection didn’t, "You keep calling sothing separate," It whispered, "A curse. A Monster, a demon..."
"I don’t want you,"
"Yes," The reflection breathed, "You do,"
Theo’s stomach twisted, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Because you’re afraid,"
"I have to go," she whispered.
"You can’t," the reflection said gently, "Not until you understand."
"Understand what?"
The reflection stepped in front of her again, then it placed its palm slowly against her cheek. It was the first heightened sensation she felt since she found herself trapped here, and the touch burned with cold, sinking into her like ink.
And in its eyes - the ones that only gave off darkness and chills, she saw it.
Her anger.
Her shadows.
Her fear.
Her power unmasked.
And then, the reflection smiled.
"I’m not in your body, Theodora," The Reflection said,
"I am your body,"
Theo’s lips parted to say sothing, but nothing ca out. An eye twitched and her hands turned into fists next to her.
"You didn’t lock away," Its voice was soft and rciless, "You locked yourself away,"
"Shut up!!"
And then, she whispered the final blow, "You and I are the sa person, Theodora,"
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