and never could I have known

the taste of heaven,

had I not swallowed

pieces of hell first.

~ebn

***

Daisy stayed there for hours. Whispering to the man whose soul had been broken. She wouldn't leave. Would never leave.

Even as she looked in his eyes and knew it was to late- she vowed to be with him. Vowed that whatever power and will she had with the moon she would use to regain his lost soul.

She cried out into the night, screaming and tortured as the son she never knew and the love she lost looked out the windows at her.

Screaming and screaming her pain for her mother the moon to see.

The weeks went by.

Yet Jay became no better.

A curse.

This was a curse.

Atlas avoided her.

To her astonishment and confused horror, she saw pictures of her mother around the house. Memories that her mother had created that she never would. Heard the whispers that she had passed away just a few months ago, after Atlas's 21st birthday.

She avoided the pack. The familiar faces that greeted her. The angry eyes of Grace as a young girl, apparently her son's Beta, dragged her away. She ignored them all, focusing only on Jay.

And she stayed in the painful suffering.

Until one day.

One day she heard the moon surround her in gentleness as she cried out to her.

Why do you cry?

You broke him. You broke me.

You made the choice though. You made the choice to leave.

No choice really. I had to. Needed to.

No. Everyone has a choice. You chose the easy one. The one that had less suffering in the present, but more than you wanted in the future.

How do I stop it. How do I help him.

Another choice. Another choice has to be made.

What choice.

Give it up. Give up your power that you hoard and covet. Give up your power that you use as a crutch to defend your actions against. Give it back to me, and I will set what is wrong, right.

-Daisy paused, staring up at the moon.

You are so obsessed, so absorbed in my gift, that you choose it over him?

I cannot have both?

- She felt the moon growl within her ear, like the protective mother wolf she was.

A choice. What do you choose.

Daisy looked up at the fullness of her mother. She pressed her hand to her chest, taking in the feeling of her within. What would it be like to not have her? What would it be like to not be able to heal and help others. A choice? One soul in exchange for the thousands she could save. A selfish choice.

Him. I choose him.

Do not think of this as goodbye my child. I will always be watching over you.

Daisy gasped and screamed. She screamed in agony and withered upon the ground in pain as she felt the holy presence of the moon rip away from her very soul. From her very core.

A choice.

Tears freely fell down her face. Was it worth it? Was all this suffering really worth it?

She panted upon the ground, gasping and moaning as the burning sensation coursed through her like fire set to her flesh.

Suddenly the hell stopped when a set of cool hands touched her.

And all her surroundings burst into life.

Everything she once knew and everything she had been dissolved around her as her whole body, her whole self, focused only and entirely upon where those hands rested.

"Daisy," his voice whispered into the night.

Breathless. She was breathless.

He helped her up, positioning her to look at him, all the while a new fire rained down her. A new set of flames consumed her as she felt his innocent touch upon her skin.

He gasped as he took in her blond hair and dark blue eyes.

Before he could say a word though she gasped herself, taking in his clear, strong gaze.

She threw herself around him, letting him hesitate, before clinging onto her.

"I'm never leaving. I'm never leaving." She whispered her promise over and over into the night, feeling as her words sent him into a shaking mess.

"Jay it's you. It's you. You're back."

He laughed then, a true laugh that had her laughing along with him at the absurdity of their life. The unusualness of the events that occurred to them and the trials they had gone through.

He looked at her and smiled down, "Welcome home my little Moon Child."

Until next time,

Loves,

/////WORLD_JOY_/////