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the first thing Alcina noticed, was the distinct lack of... anything, really. the air around her didn't feel cold, but it didn't feel quite warm either. the bedding, she presumed by the feel of it alone, felt stiff under her numb body. there was no pain in any part of her body, though Alcina swears she distinctly remembers feeling her bones shatter inside her body. her nose scrunched, and before she could even start to pull herself to a sitting position, three smaller, and wailing, forms collided with her still laying form, effectively knocking the air from her weakened lungs.
though she instinctively tensed, her heart rate picking up, the very familiar scent of *home* gave her pause. as the three figures wriggled and grabbed at her dress, pressing their sobbing faces into her stomach and chest, Alcina raised her arms to encompass them, trembling as she brought them closer to herself.
it took massive amounts of self-control for the larger than life woman to not throw herself up and cradle who she now was almost certain to be her descesed daughters. squeezing her golden eyes shut once again, lowerlip trembling, Alcina Dimitrescu slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, pulling the figures into her lap to accommodate.
breathing in shakily, willing the tears that burned her eyes away, Alcina let them open, flicking her gaze downwards to finally look.
the sob that tore from her throat was loud. louder than she had anticipated, as it drew the gazes of all three girls up to her own.
Bela kneeled on the velvet comforter beside her, Cassandra laid across her left thigh, and Daniela pressed up against her stomach, face still craddled to her chest. Alcina, for a moment, wondered how she had gotten into bed, remebering the fall, the crash, the concrete and other debris that seered her skin before death.
ah, that was it. she was dead. swallowing, Alcina pushed the thought away for later, for now, all that mattered sat beside, and atop her.
"Oh, my sweet angels..." their mother all but sobbed out the words, her lip trembling far too much, but she couldn't stop it, especially not with the tears that silently broke from her eyes that only seemed to make it worse.
the sight of them, her daughters, her beautiful, smart, and loving daughters, was almost too much for the former, she supposed now, matriarch. pulling Bela, and Cassandra to be closer, almost squishing all three to be on her lap, Alcina lowered her head just to be closer to them, a large and unrestrained smile tearing across her face as she openly cried with them. the four women sobbed for a while. so long, they seemed to forget themselves. they sobbed for themselves, for their extended "family", for their loss, their castle, and most of all they sobbed to mourn. to mourn the deaths of one another, and the pain they all had felt.
eventually, after what felt like days of crying, the four of them slowly settled, wrapped up in one anothers arms, pressed so tightly together Alcina was almost nervous their bodies would fuse.
the large woman sighed contentedly, sniffling along with her daughters, she let herself start to relax. they were safe, she reminded herself. they were safe, and together again and nothing would tear them apart again. her chest squeezed with just the thought alone,
"My beautiful, beautiful babies..." Alcina murmuered, nuzzling against their heads, and planting a firm and lingering kiss to each girls head. she loved them. she loved them so much. breathing in their scent, Alcina couldn't help but to cradle them impossibly closer to her body, needing to feel them. needing to know she wasn't going to wake up, alone, on the cold concrete floor of the cellar she had fallen to. she couldn't live without them. Daniela's squirming threw Alcina from her own head, her golden gaze snapping down to glance at her youngest, taking note of how despite her squirming, Daniela didn't try to escape the grip, simply find a more comfortable spot, and it nearly brought Alcina to tears. with a deep inhale, and though it wasn't by much, Alcina allowed her grip to slightly loosen, letting her youngest settle more comfortably, softly chuckling at the contented purr that rumbled from the redheads chest.
"M-Mama..." Bela murmured, her fingers twisting and pulling gently on her mothers dress, bringing her.gaze from one daughter to the next. taking note of the tear stains on her dress, the former Matriarch found that she couldn't care any less in this moment. instead, Alcina slowly, and gently reached her trembling, gloveless hand to Bela's face, nodding silently in understanding. Bela pushed into the touch, shutting her own amber eyes as she nuzzled into her mothers hand, turning her face to almost hide in the offered limb. another purr, softer than her sisters, but still a purr none the less. it took everything in Alcina to not crush the three girls against her again.
"te iubesc, Te iubesc atat de mult..." Alcina choked on her soft spoken words, wide smile growing impossibly bigger, and her heart seemed to glow with the emotions running through her. it was slightly confusing, almost disorienting, but Alcina didn't give her mind any time to process the weird feeling the mix of emotions had spurred, especially not as her middle child finally spoke up.
"Mama..?" Cassandra whispered after a while, her pale, thin frame lay perfectly still atop Alcina, and if it weren't for her heartbeat, and scent, her mother would have mistaken her for a light blanket.
"Yes, inima mea..?" Alcina murmured back, gentle hand cradling the brunettes head, running her fingers gently through Cassandra's curly hair, something which seemed to ground the both of them slightly.
Cassandra's hands, previously tightened into white-knuckled fists, bunching her mothers dress beneath her painted nails, loosened with the action, but only a little.
"We missed you..." Cassandra whispered again, her pursed lips trembling with the urge to cry again.
sucking in a sharp breath and holding it, Alcina pleaded with herself to not cry. she didn't want to cry again. she wanted to smile, and laugh, and run through the halls playing games with her daughters again. Alcina, from the moment she had met them, had always wanted to live a happy, unrestrained life with her darling girls. however, Mother Miranda (not Mother, just Miranda now, Alcina mused) had made that difficult. but now...
"I missed all you too," Alcina cooed, her own chest rumbling with a quiet purr to match her daughters, Cassandra seeming to join in at somepoint as well. taking a deep, and settling breath, Alcina slowly propped her back up against the headboard of her bed, the pillows cushioning her nicely as she continued to hold her daughters close. she slid her eyes shut, and allowed herself to think.
she, and her darling daughters, were dead. that much was obious, and she pursed her lips as she truly thought about it. while unideal, she reminded herself that they were safe. safe from Miranda and her experimentation, safe from Heisenburg and his idiot inventions, safe from Ethan Winters, the never ending waves of Hunters, and other dangers of the world that threatened her family, and that thought is what allowed her to truly relax.
they may have lost, and died by the hands of that stupid man-thing, but now? now they were free. they were free, and safe, and honestly, Alcina is truly starting to wonder who really won in this situation.
sighing contentedly, Alcina shook the thoughts away for another time. for right now all she wants, and all she will ever need, are the three figures that lay, purring even as they drift to sleep atop her large frame, and while she would have loved for this outcome under vastly different circumstances, Alcina Dimitrescu felt completely safe and at home for the first time in her endless life.