"GHKKK!!!"

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the [i]fuck?[/i] What is she supposed to do with her hands? Her body?! Does she look, does she not? What the fuck is [i]happening[/i] right now?

Bella hisses and vanishes in a flash to the other side of the spring. Her hands are shaking and her tail is fully bushed even soaked with water, and the reddish color on her cheeks has nothing to do with the heat of the water or the rocks. 

"S-s-so [i]this[/i] is why no one's allowed to see you bathe. You're a, a, a Mi--"

She claps her hand over her mouth to keep from finishing the thought. Is it really that strange? All her life, Bella had envisioned Artemis as a perfect being, something whole and separate from all things of the universe. The Hunt, wrapped in a moonlight suit and snappy gloves for pushing papers. The teeth hidden inside of ever system. But wasn't the whole made up of the parts all along? Each temple had an Assassin, and each Assassin was made in Her image. 

Vesper was the easiest one to see. But there was Bella in Artemis, too. And Beljani also. So why should it shock her that there was something of Mynx inside her, too? The mistake had always been assuming that the gods were perfect. They were not. [i]She[/i] was not. Bella startles when something bumps her elbows, but it's only her wine tray. She plucks the cup up again without looking, fills it to the brim, and brings it to her lips for a long, slow swallow. 

All the while her ear bends to follow the motions of the spring. She is not alone, in spite of everything. She is still joined by moonlight, dangerous in repose. Black and silver splashing in the little crests churned up by the waterfall, reaching for the same wine that the new caretaker of the dead was crutching on. Bella sniffs at the air, but it isn't really the same as it used to be. Hers are not a huntress' instincts anymore. What she smells is just The World, and her place in it besides. She has a right to walk Olympus. One given, one earned, and one taken. Slowly, she lets herself float back to where she'd been. Her back bumps into the Goddess of the Hunt's, but all she does is lift her cup again to drain what's left before she throws it away. And then she laughs.

"Right, yeah, of course. Thanks for being honest. I had this fear inside of me, that I was shackled by some destiny I couldn't live up to because I didn't earn it. But, ha! I actually didn't! And it doesn't even matter, because you're all kind of... dumb? Like you're all a bunch of stupid fuck ups, aren't you? That's great! I'll fit right in."

The grin falls off of her face. Bella flexes her claws, and then brings them up to her blindfold. The sharp tip slices through the holy shroud and the world explodes in color for her: the gray and green of the rocks, the clear black of the pool and the white of the mist, the pink of the tree blossoms drifting down to settle on the water with her. She does not turn around to behold Artemis. This is the furthest step she is willing to take. 

"I have no idea what you think about it," she says, "But you and I are partners now. The Hunt and the Underworld are meant to work with one another."

A shrug. She sinks into the water up to her neck and stares at the endless stars. Completely absent everywhere she looks is the ugly pink gash across the sky that had dominated so much of her life. Just the moon, or... [i]a[/i] moon or, however it worked now. It was a lot better than the sun, as far as company was concerned. 

She braces herself against the stones and find her courage to finish the thought.

"So I'll tell you this much for free. If you think you dropped Hope, then pick it back up. Dust it off. Desire, you called it. Yearning, grasping... no. You're confusing the only good thing in the universe for one of [i]his[/i] toys. Hope is how I let go, in the end. Hope is why the gun finally went off when he was standing in front of it. I'm sure with enough time I'll forget I ever saw it this way, but...

"I made it all the way to the end of that plan because I was clinging to your words. You promised me 'peace', do you remember? All I had was the hope that, if I just shattered myself enough times and managed to pull myself together just enough, that I'd... fuck, I don't know. I didn't know if that meant I'd get to die, or what. But the idea of [i]not[/i] made it so much easier to [i]do[/i]. Then I thought peace would actually be Gaia, and I clung even harder. And if that'd all been the old bastard's thread then all you'd have to show for it is more waiting for your easy fucking shot. Like, come on. You don't even believe it yourself, do you? 

"I won't take credit for any of it. I mean, all I did was die. But I couldn't even have done that right if I didn't believe that kid was following in behind me. I had faith. I hoped. That was the death of yearning. And that's why I'm telling you now, don't give up on it. Whether we agree on what a better world is, I don't really give a shit, but if your shot ever goes off and there's no vision behind it? I will be there. And I'll be the one to pluck the next idiot up from the ground to replace you. Looking forward to the show, sister."

"Don't disappoint me."

****

The air grew warmer with every passing day. The snow had long since melted, and grasses had begun to sprout up everywhere. The wind was alive with the scents of a thousand different unfurling blooms. Light came more easily in this season to the Land of the Dead than it had in an uncountable while. 

And Bella ignored it all, so she could watch the horizon. Her sandals alight on the tips of flowers without crushing a single one down. Her fur is whiter than the light now flooding her kingdom, before it disappears underneath the black skirt which rests at her knees. Three swords rattle in the belt around her waist, while glistening jeweled talons cover every one of her claws with wonder that would make a passerby wonder what she needed the blades for in the first place. Her belly too, is robed in white bound together with delicate golden buttons running up to her chest where a tight black halt top covers her breasts and hides her neck. Two long, black detached sleeves flutter in the wind and fill her world with the sounds of the bells she's woven through the decorative ribbons that helix up and down the fabric. 

Her blue-black hair dances behind her, though all the rest of her is still. Her ears bend forward, chasing the stars in place of her feet. She can hear plates being set and dishes hastily finished, with the cries of battle that can only belong to a kitchen mixed in for good measure. She can hear singing and laughter and dozens of stomping feet, either running or dancing or both. She hears another dance too, one with no feet at all. She can even hear a light clash of blades and a single, flustered 'goshies' drift across her favorite meadow. 

But none of that matters to her. All of it is for later. There are other sounds she is waiting to hear, and other sights she is waiting to see. It had been long. Difficult. [i]Weird.[/i] She'd clashed with every god and goddess in creation, and apologized to every single one. Sometimes she'd been apologized to, in turn. There had been adventures. So many more than she could have anticipated. So many pointless, mundane stories. Baubles to show off. Faces to reintroduce. 

The time was easy to fill, because there had been so much of it. But it was shrinking now, smaller and smaller, and all that Bella can do is stand and watch. To bend each of her senses toward that single spot on the edge of nothing and feel her heart grow warmer in her chest. All that time. All for this.

The light has come. The spring has come. And love has come, as well. Bella's face melts into a smile.

"Redana..."