#i beat my fist against the floor every single day for miranda she was like an angel to me

[jeyneofpoole]

my black sails phase was comparatively brief next to everything else i’ve got going on but i do actually miss it like a limb. wait no

[nightwishesworld]

True Colors Snippet

So I wasn’t going to do this since the fic won’t be ready until next week at the earliest, but I’m super excited about this and want to give you guys a little sneak peek. It is a Mother Miranda x fem oc (aka Izabela)

If you guys want I can link her character bio so you can see what she’s all about? Let me know

Warning: Lots of angst! Gagging and suggests blood and violence if you look close enough but I won’t make you read the details here.

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“Don’t you dare talk about my children like that,” Izabela barked. “Each and every one of them is a treasure, of course, how would you know that? I’m the one that raised them! I’m the one that took care of them every single day and made sure they were loved! All you’ve ever done is reject them all their lives.”

“Because they are not children! They are experiments who have long since lost their purpose in our lives.”

“Yours perhaps, but never mine. I will always need my children.”

“Which is why I still keep them around.”

Izabela stopped. The way Miranda said that so calmly made her uncomfortable. How cold has this woman become? She shook her head, letting her rage consume her again. “Don’t act like you’re doing me a favor, Miranda. Whether you like it or not they are a part of our family.”

“Was there ever a family to begin with?”

She was gawking at this point. Miranda seeming completely unfazed by her own statement only fueled her rage. “You and I certainly were! Though I’m not surprised you don’t remember. It has been centuries since you’ve looked at me without needing me to run your stupid errands for you or do your dirty work. Gods, I can’t even remember when you last told me you love me.”

Miranda said nothing. She could see tears start to form in her Sparrow’s eyes. It pains Miranda to know she’s the reason they’re there, and she hates it. Her feelings for the younger woman should not be affecting her like this anymore, not after everything they’ve put each other through. But she can’t help it, even after choosing those failures over her, she still loves Izabela.

“You’re a mother. Your children are supposed to tell you how much they love you. Or do they not tell you anymore?” Miranda tsked. “It’s about time you noticed.”

“Of course they tell me. They love me more than they’ll ever love you!”

Miranda gave her a smug grin. “Then why is it my attention they crave and not yours? If they truly love you the way you say they do then shouldn’t you be enough?”

Izabela didn’t give her the satisfaction of responding. Truthfully she didn’t know if she could find the words to even say anything. Not being enough to satisfy her kids’ needs has always been one of her greatest fears and it gnawed at the back of her head every day. And Miranda knew it. 

“Do you really think, after everything you’ve put them through, they could still love you?”

Shut up shut up shut up!

“They look to me now because they see now what a burden you are to be around. Dead weight on their shoulders.”

Izabela slammed her fist against the wall. “Liar!”

Anyone other than Miranda wouldn’t have been able to see the heartbreak in Izabela’s eyes. She puts on a brave face, but they have known each other far too long for something as simple as masking her emotions to work. Miranda knew damn well her words were sticking, she could see it plain as day in Izabela’s glassy eyes.

“They see you for what you truly are, a used up old breeder with no reason to be here; a pawn. A single chess piece in my game to bring Eva home. You are nothing to them.”

Just watching the woman walk away so arrogantly made Izabela’s blood boil. Then she did something she’s never done before.

“A selfish bitch like you doesn’t deserve to be a mother!”

Izabela regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. Her heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach when she saw the seething rage on Miranda’s face as she turned around. She strode back to Izabela, reaching out for her with her metallic bird-like talons and wrapped them around her neck.

The sharp tips of her talons pierced Izabela’s skin, drawing blood to drip down her neck like beads of sweat. She grabbed Miranda’s hands and tried desperately to pull them off of her, but it only made her grip tighten more. 

“It seems you’ve gotten bold in your years of solitude and have forgotten your place.”

“My place?” Izabela gasped. “We are equals. We run this show together, remember? You’d still be in your cave turning people into lycans if it weren’t for me.”

“You have long since outlived your usefulness. You’re worthless to me now.” The words spilled from Miranda’s lips before she could censor herself. But it was too late to turn back now. Even if she just made the only woman she’s ever loved cry her eyes out. 

“I thought you loved me,” Izabela cried.

“I do, Sparrow.” Is what Miranda wanted to say. But instead she swallowed her tongue and grimaced. 

Miranda’s silence was enough of an answer. Izabela’s eternal heart stopped beating. After nearly a millennium of pain and denial it finally shattered; turned to dust inside the void of her chest. She is completely numb now. No amount of pain or happiness could sew her heartstrings back together again.

When Miranda said “A punishment is in order,” Izabela didn’t bat an eye. 

She let Miranda drag her by her hair down to the lower chambers of The Stronghold. Their lycans and lackeys looked at them curiously, but Izabela could hardly bring herself to care. She knew she deserved what’s to come. Miranda has a reputation to hold up after all, can’t have followers see her not punish someone who speaks against her.

Izabela must have disassociated during their walk because the next thing she knows she’s being pushed to the ground in the middle of one of the ceremonial rooms. It used to be a torture chamber before she and Miranda moved in and spruced the place up. They left most of the shackles hanging from the walls and a few spiked chairs to keep the malevolent atmosphere, but the room is largely unused nowadays.

She heard Miranda walk back to the other side of the room and told Izabela not to move. All Izabela could do was stare down at the ground. The rustling sounds of metal captured her attention, but only for a moment, not enough to make her move though. Miranda knelt in front of her and took a hold of her wrists. Cold iron shackles clamped around her wrists and Miranda attached the other end of the small chain to a half circle hook in the stone floor. Her clothing from the waist up is cut off so there is no buffer between her and Miranda. Pointed metal claws tipped her chin up just enough so the two were looking at one another and forced Izabela’s mouth open.

“You deserve this, my Sparrow.”

Miranda carefully removes her stole from her shoulders and wraps it in a tight ball around her fingers until it’s small enough to fit in Izabela’s mouth. The ends of the stole are left hanging so Miranda takes them and ties them in a tight knot behind Izabela’s head, properly gagging her. She ran a hand up and down Izabela’s smooth back a few times and felt goosebumps cover her creamy skin.