Keane’s words sounded far away as if I was falling down a deep hole and he stood high above me. “My mother will be pleased. I’ll contact my parents and we’ll sort out details once they arrive. I apologize, but I must be going now.”

Something touched my chin. I was yanked out of the pit and thrown in front of Keane’s eyes, the drab green making me nauseous. His hand guided my face so that I was looking straight at him. “Don’t you worry. Once your mine, you never have to fret over a thing. No need to go out and fight monsters or stress over trivial things. You’ll be by my side, and I promise you that I’ll make sure your life goes easy and seamlessly.” He pressed his lips to my forehead, the contact burning like acid. He pulled away and left, the door shutting softly behind him.

The world was cold. The air was chilling my lungs, making them brittle enough to shatter with each breath. My skin froze, numbing, becoming unfeeling. Everything inside crumbled away except for a screaming inside my head. It screamed and screamed, it’s meaning incomprehensible and full of pain. I felt it consuming me.

“You may leave now.”

My father’s casual dismissal struck a chord. My whole body feeling hollow, I lifted my eyes to him. My father was reading a file on his desk as if a major revelation hadn’t just been heaped on my shoulders.

“F-father…”

He looked at me, annoyed at my presence. “What is it?”

My tongue was refusing to function. I caught my breath several times before I could string the word together coherently. “What wedding were you guys talking about?”

My father seemed genuinely confused for a moment before clarity caught up. “I guess your sisters hadn’t informed you like I asked. You’re going to marry Keane within the week.”

The scream grew, pounding at my skull, begging to slip past my lips. “W-why…”

“His family is practically royalty within Atlas. At that function we attended a few months ago, you caught the eye of Keane and his family. They contacted us and offered a unison, and then a merger of each family’s capital. We agreed and have been making preparations since.”

Months. For months. They’ve been planning this, planning to marry me off to a stranger, for months. Pemphredo would be pleased to get rid of me. Deino and Enyo must have been waiting, stringing this out until the realization came crashing down on top of me. I’m not surprised that they would throw me away for their own gain, but my father…

“I’m fifteen…” My pathetic argument was barely a whisper, an insufficient muttering.

Nonetheless, my father heard me. He waved the issue away like an insect in the air. “With my permission, you’re allowed to enter matrimony without going against the law. The matter was resolved without any obstructions.”

“...I don’t want to…”

My father stilled. He set the file down, focusing his attention solely on me. His eyes bore into mine, searing my head. “What did you say?”

I was breaking. Composure I’d learned to master for years was splintering. I couldn’t keep my mask on. Not for this. Not this way. “I don’t want this. Please don’t make me do this.”

“That’s enough. You’re doing this for my family. It’s for all of our benefit.”

“What about me?” Tears were flowing down my cheeks, spilling on the floor. I have to believe there is still a chance. He has to listen! “I don’t want this! I don't want to marry him! What about school and being a Huntress?”

“Ridiculous dreams!” My father spat back. He rose from his chair, knocking some of his file askew. “The fact that you’re training to be a Huntress is one of the attractions the Chartreuse family saw in you. They like that their family will have the addition of a fighter to pass on to their descendants. By no means will you go out in the field. You'll have a title, nothing else.”

This can’t be happening! I’m being sold off! They want me to be a centerpiece in a display! “I’ve dreamed of being a Huntress my whole life, just like Mother. She wouldn't let me be bought off and kept as a prize!”

I’d crossed the line. Since the day she was laid to rest, my father and I had never spoken of my mother. We never reflected on the past or how her absence must have hurt us. It was a forbidden subject, one left in the dirt with her. I cried in silence. I grieved in my old room without anyone to console me. I left him, just as he shut me out. Even now, after she’s been gone for so long, Mother has to make him see.

It was several long, exaggerated seconds that my father stood silent, his eyes somewhere far off. I thought it had worked. By some miracle, the memory of mother had reached him and brought him to sense. Then his eyes dilated and his face contorted in anger. “I don’t care what she would have thought!” He bellowed so loud that my ears rang. “It doesn’t matter whatever stupid decision your mother would have made. That woman is not a part of this!” He stomped out from behind his desk, completely upturning a pile of his files in his fit. I couldn’t move as he got closer, his teeth clenched in rage. When he was staring down at me, he declared “You are getting married to Keane and that’s final! This marriage isn’t for you! It’s for Pem! For our daughters! For me! Not for you!”

“But I’m your daughter!” I screamed back, my voice breaking from the strain. It was the first time I had raised my voice in three years. My sobs mixed harshly with my shouts. “I’m your family! You’re my dad! You used to protect me, care about me, love me! I’m begging you, don’t do this to me!”

His fist collided with my face. Sparks exploded in my vision as my head snapped to my right. I stumbled back, my balance off. The punch wasn’t new. While he ignored me, even my father hadn’t gone without his blows. It was what came next, the words out of his mouth, that left me finally broken: “You’re no daughter of mine. Now, go.”

I think I ran, putting the door between me and him as quickly as I could. I don’t know what was guiding me, but my feet carried me through the halls, retracing the steps I had taken just a short time ago. I felt raw, like every bit of me had been ripped off and scrubbed with steel, until it was finally pieced back together in a sloppy mess. I wanted to come undone.

Memories rose unbidden. The time my father had lifted me on his shoulders so that I could reach my kite that was caught in the shrubbery. When he helped me make cupcakes for my mother’s birthday, which turned into a messy disaster. Showing me the different types of Dust and explaining how each is used. Picking me up after I had fallen and scraped my knee. Carrying me off to bed when I had fallen asleep in my mother’s arms. Walking through town, the two of them swung me between each step. Movies and stories. Good times filled with laughter. All three of us, together, our real family. My father, the man who used to love me more than anything in this world.

He’s gone.

Somehow, I believed that even a bit of his love had survived after all these years, after the taint of Pemphredo and her children. Father could rekindle that love eventually, apologize for everything, make the last few years vanish in a rush of love and liberation. We wouldn’t have Mother, but we would have each other and be happy in the end. Now, I knew that my dream was nothing more than misguided hope. My father had died with my mother.

“Well, well, there she is.”

In a daze, I hardly realized that Deino and Enyo had started following me. Now they stood in front of me, blocking the hall that would lead to my cabin. Their smirks seemed overly large today. “Little bride to be! How exciting for you!” Deino taunted.

“She gets to dress up for once,” Enyo added. “A special day just for her. How...lucky.”

“I bet she’s looking forward to being the wife of such a well-respected man who’s, what was it, eleven years older than her? Kinda gross, don’t you think?” Deino shrugged as she finished her mock with a smile.

Enyo played a sigh. “Did you forget, Deino? She’ll just be his little toy, a fake Huntress collected as a trophy. Whatever he does with her, it’ll never amount to anything meaningful.”

“What do you think?” Deino asked, redirecting their conversation to me. “Can you imagine what you’ll have to do to make him happy? How you’ll have to act? Day after day of being nothing higher than a showpiece?”

A cloud descended on my fractured mind. Deino‘s Semblance took hold. My pace quickened as images played in my head. The fears that I hadn’t had time to process came crashing together all at once. Keane’s expectation, how I was going to have to please him. The faces that’ll gawk at me as I’m paraded in front of them like cattle. The last choices of my life cut away, replaced with someone else’s perfection. Me breaking day after day.

I was crying, immense sobs ripped from my chest. I buried my fingers in my hair, pulling tight to erase the influence from my head. Deino was laughing at me while Enyo hummed. The purple-haired girl made a noise of displeasure in her throat. “I don’t know. I think she isn’t getting what ‘s about to happen. Maybe I could push her along. “ She raised her arm in the air. “Or who knows, maybe she’ll find something worse in store.” Enyo’s arm sliced the air, and her Semblance activated.

A wisp appeared in front of my face. The substance was milky but formless, something like ink in water. It was dark, almost black, but instead the darkest green I had ever seen. The wisp branched, coils of the inky material circling around my limps. The images in my head became sharper as loud whispers joined the mayhem. I wanted to shut my eyes and try to block everything out, but I couldn’t will my body to move anymore. When the wisp had ensnared me, the substance suddenly reformed. The ethereal quality was replaced with crushing bindings. And they squirmed, every one of them contracting and writhing over my skin. I wanted to vomit.

A tendril separated from the rest, maneuvering itself until it pointed directly at my eyes, almost touching my nose. It began to swell. The whispers became screams! The images blurred so quickly that they burned my mind! The grip of the limbs became so tight that I couldn’t draw a breath! The stray limb continued to grow, the end becoming bulbous until it seemed like it would burst. A split opened down the middle, the bulb starting to divide. With a tear, it ripped the rest of itself open, exposing razor teeth and a multitude of distorted eyes, all centered around a forked, slimy tongue.

My vision blurred. I barely felt as my knees gave out, knocking against the marble floor. I couldn’t move! I couldn’t resist! I couldn’t push back the images that seared onto the back of my eyes! I couldn’t stop Enyo’s monster as it crushed my bones, ripping its mouth wider to devour my head. I couldn’t do anything! I’m helpless! I can’t stop them! I can’t protect myself! I can’t stop myself from being shipped off to a different continent, to be married to a greedy man! I’m useless…

My forehead slammed into the floor, the shock barely noticeable. I was screaming, the taste of salt coating my tongue. I screamed as my stepsisters’ Semblance tore me apart from the inside, their desire to torment me, destroy me, rip me down to the studs, unstoppable. And I have to let them.

It seemed like hours before it came to an end. The monster dissipated into a cloud before fading completely. The fog in my mind retreated, but the echo of their message remained clear as day. I was sprawled on the floor, my body having failed at some point. I was drained, completely spent of any will. I just wanted all of this to be over.

“I think that’s it for her, Deino.” Enyo’s voice cut through my haze, her smug tone scraping me against stone.

“Too bad. I was hoping our last time with her would’ve been a little more fun.” A sigh. “Oh well. I’m going to go try on dresses for the wedding. See you later.” Deino stepped over me, slamming her foot into my stomach as she did.

When her sister’s footsteps had faded, Enyo crouched down. I didn’t have the strength to raise my head. “You know, father hired a few servants to start working here the day after your wedding. Did he tell you that?” When I didn’t respond, Enyo continued. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure everything here works out. It’ll be like nothing has ever changed.” Enyo placed a hand on my head and ruffled my hair. “It was fun while it lasted. Have fun in Atlas, Mrs. Chartreuse.” Then Enyo was gone.

I don’t know how long I laid there. No thoughts went through my head. All I did was lay on the floor, empty, broken, pathetic. When the sun was low, I found myself trudging back to my cabin. I slouched into the corner with my blankets and curled into a ball, waiting for everything to just disappear.

Something bumped my foot. I ignored it. Something pecked my knee. I ignored it. Something tugged at my hair. I ignored it. I just wanted it to go away.

“Child, please look at me.”

I didn’t want to.

“I’m here for you. You know you can trust me.”

“You can’t help me,” I replied absently, my voice strange to me.

“Tell me what happened.”

“I can’t.”

Another nuzzle finally made me lift my head. Obsidian was sitting on my knees, watching me with his forever blank expression. His beak parted, unveiling the voice so soft and gentle that it hurt to hear. “Please.”

I told him. I told Obsidian, the Grimm who lit up my world, what had happened. I told him about Keane and my father, the wedding and its outcome. My stepsisters’ attack and Enyo’s parting message. About how my dreams had come crashing down around me. I cried. I yelled. I broke down again and again. Obsidian watched me, unjudging, as I spilled my guts to him. When it was over, I asked him a question.

“Is this my destiny? Am I supposed to be this person, the one others can string along without a second thought? Why do I have to be the one to suffer because of other people? Why can’t I choose?” My tears came anew, unblocked after hours of unfeeling.

Obsidian brushed them away by rubbing his head against my face, his soft feathers unable to comfort me. “It will be better, child. I can make everything better.”

“No, you can’t. You’re a Grimm! A creature no different than a bird! What can you do?”

Obsidian didn’t flinch from my bite. Instead, he kept his steady gaze on me. “This does not have to be your destiny. You can take control and twist it into anything you want. You carve your own path, making the future yours.”

“You can’t change destiny,” I said back, no longer having the stamina to argue. “You can’t change the path before you. You don’t get a choice. At least, I don’t.”

“I will give you back your choices,” Obsidian replied, his voice became a blanket that wrapped me in its gentle promises. “I will change it all so that you can be free. I will set you free.” He pressed his head against mine, a soft coo drifted from his beak. “Wait for me, little one. I’m on my way.”

My eyelids were becoming heavy. I was drifting away. “Wait...for you…”

Obsidian nestled in my lap, his feather finally becoming a comfort once more. “I’ll be here. Just hang on for a little bit longer.”