Work Text:
She feels…nothing.
She stands with head bowed, watching as the rain leaves dark streaks on the gravestone. There is a dull emptiness inside of her, a deep exhaustion seeping through her bones.
Now what?
She’s experienced pain before. And surely, she should expect to feel some pain. Or anger, perhaps, anger that the one for whom she has fought and struggled and clawed her way to perfection is no longer there to tell her that she has won him back. Resentment that he should leave before she should have a chance to prove herself.
But…
Nothing.
A cold wind gusts, driving the rain into her face. She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t move to wipe the raindrops from her cheeks.
There are no tears. Only raindrops.
She looks at the gravestone with tired eyes, wondering how, when the one who monument it is had meant so much to her, she could feel nothing.
She crouches, her fingers fumbling at the collar of her shirt. Metal glitters as she catches hold of the chain around her neck and yanks. It snaps easily. Carefully, gently, she lowers it to the ground in front of the gravestone. The thick golden band looped on the chain swings back and forth before settling into the damp grass.
“I am what you made me,” she whispers. “So why did you leave?”
She puts her fingers to her lips, kissing them, before pressing them against the cold words carved into the gravestone.
“Will I never be enough for you, Daddy?”
There is no reply. There will never be a reply.
She stands, anger twisting her face. “You were all I had left to live for, Navy. And now you’re gone, and I’m so hollow. And I can’t – I can’t – ”
She sobs, covering her face with her hands. Her shoulders heave. She stands there for a long time despite the rain, which is pelting down harder than ever.
Her hair and clothes are soaked when she finally takes her hands away. She sighs, taking a deep shuddering breath.
“Good-bye, sir.”
She bows stiffly. And then she turns, walking back the way she came from, away from the rain-streaked gravestone. Away from the slender silver chain coiled at its base, and the shining golden band.
She doesn’t look back.
She doesn’t know where she is going next.