Work Text:
The skin had long since lost its luster,
a dingy shade of beige now,
with darker spots.
She held it to her chest,
wondering what she'd been like,
what it had been like to give up everything,
to become something she wasn't.
She remembered them fighting,
her mother begging to leave,
to go back,
to bring Millicent with her.
It had never happened,
she'd died a year later,
she remembered them saying it was
some sickness,
one that couldn't be cured.
Now,
holding this skin in her hands,
a part of her wondered if it had been
heartbreak,
or...
something darker,
something that had broken when
she'd learned she'd never return home.
She pulled it back,
her hands shaking,
looking at it,
at each individual strand of fur,
wondering if this cloak,
this skin had caused her mother's death,
in a way.
It would fit her,
a small voice whispered in her ear.
It could fit her,
she could...
put it on...
but then...
what would she be?
This was her mother's skin,
but she didn't have one of her own,
no,
she'd been born wholly human,
or at least,
that was what she'd been told.
No one was watching,
save her reflection as she took the skin,
wrapping it around her shoulders.
She didn't think this would work,
wouldn't do anything,
save be a kind of ugly fur shawl,
but then,
she felt a warmth,
something she could only describe as love,
as belonging.
The room seemed to rise around her,
her body shrinking as she watched herself
become one with the skin,
take on a seal form,
shining skin,
freckled with spots.
She raised a flipper,
joy surging through her body.