[P] YOU.

[Only]

  

“ polarized, divisive drowning in strife ”

You.


Her.


"Florentine."  


She laughs.


He scowls.


The night horse cannot balance his reactions to the girl's sudden presence.  Of all the times and the places and the things, it has to be here.  Right here.  Of all the monsters inside the borderlands of Novus, this one, Stephen, has to be the one to greet her just beyond the walls of the capitol.  When she hugs him, he wishes he could stab her to death and be done with it.  He wishes he could crush her head against a wall and force Only to be even more hopeless than he already is.  It is Florentine's fault that they are here.  It is her fault that Winona got lost in the first place.  It is her fault that Only suddenly has a conscience - one so strong that not even Stephen can defy it.  Why?  Because of Only's stupid feelings.  Because Only cares so much for her.  Because she doesn't deserve it even though she does. 


Florentine is the wedge that has been driven between Only and Stephen, she is the only one that Only will fight Stephen for.  This monster can't stand looking at her flower hair or smelling her sweet peachy fresh flowers.  He wants to poke out her eyes so she cannot cast her spell over Only.  Hugging her now is with great effort.  She is as soft as his belly scales, and warm, and her smell is so lovely that he's never forgotten it after meeting her in the swamp.  Only regrets that day for so many reasons, because someone died because of it.  Someone who didn't deserve to be brought down like the endless numbers of victims who suffered at Stephen's hands.  Only to be buried by Only's hands.


"If I were you, I wouldn't let that kind of a weakness show."  His eyes, steady as they are, gaze over her shoulder towards the wing.  She is not him, however, and she has an army of followers who find her beloved enough to throw themselves upon swords for her.  That part makes Stephen's skin itch.  How easy would it be to bully her, to victimize her, to break her down so she never wanted to talk to Only again.  Get rid of his friends and he'd be much more easy to control.  He knows this because Only knows this.  Because Only refuses to destroy Florentine.


She pities you.  She loves you like a child loves a sad clown -- that is called pity. Stephen throws back at Only who struggles in his dark world underneath the floorboards of Stephen's consciousness.  She will never fully come to trust you.  When I am through with her -- she will hate you.


"Where have you been?  What have you been doing? Are you still with Candyboy?  I hear he's no longer here." Stephen is the first one to lean away from her, to shift his weight so casually the way he has talked down to her.  He is not Only.  Only is very far away from here and beneath it all, upside down in the water and looking into the deep dark of the ocean.  Stephen can feel the pathetic snot-nosed brat reaching up-up-up to grab the escape latch, to pull it open and trap Stephen on the inside but his grasp is not long enough, strong enough, even though it certainly is desperate enough.  She doesn't deserve his stupid comments.  She doesn't deserve to be talked to by some idiot who thinks its easy to hurt her.  Look at her -- look at her, broken and still laughing. 


How dare you Stephen.  How dare you do this.


The sweet midnight boy is not here.  The que cards are empty -- there is nothing here that she knows.  Only, hopeless, helpless, hapless, screams through the black slivers in Stephen's eyes at her.   Can she see him?  Probably not.  Stephen shakes his hair out, all of Turhan's blood soaked feathers curl around him like they did with the elder, a grim mane.  Some of Turhan's teeth even dangle in broken pieces from shorter strands in his hair -- the bastard went back to the body and took a trophy. He likes to tell Only about how exciting the chase had been.  He likes to tell Only about how much the man screamed for his Goddess to protect him and she did not.  


A knowing grin misshapes Only's tender expression, it is a perverse and haunting sort of smile that belongs to Stephen alone.  This Other moves differently, breathes differently, and is so much more hostile than he ever needs to be.  "You haven't seen my knife since the last time I saw you, have you?" 

O N L Y
technically I still exist, but not in my mind

 

@Florentine   I chose to omit Only taking control...Flora deserves to know the other half at long last. uwu