Chapter Text
She waited…
And Waited.
And waited.
…He wouldn´t come back, would he?
She thought to herself, looking through the hotel´s window. Three days had passed since she´d see him for the last time, he was gone while she slept, the only trace of his existence being an old coat, a bracelet and some pictures she managed to sneak during their travels.
She wasn´t so naive in this regard, he had plans, objectives she sworn to help him accomplish, it was hard to blame him as he never promised anything to her, she hurt herself.
But she still hoped he could be her forever.
Now, there she was, with nothing but the things she got in this little adventure, she could sell her camera, but doubted the money would be enough to pay for the room, the truth was that she had a debt now for the days she was there, waiting for something, anything, but she lacked the funds and the strenght to even try.
A knock sounded.
“...Yes?”
“You still there, miss?” one of the employees, she tried her best to not look nor sound as disapointed as she felt “Can i clean up the room?”
“Y-yes, of course!” She got up, her hands trying to soothe the wrinkles on her clothes as she opened the door.
The hotel was small, a family business, barely could be called an hotel, only a couple of rooms. The already elderly couple ran the place while their children, and even some grandkids, helped maintaining it. The place wasn´t doing great, as noticeable by the low price, but it was good enough for what they planned.
Or for what he planned, she didn´t quite know.
While she walked away, waving to the girl at the door, she couldn´t help but wonder, strenght wasn´t one of her best attributes by any means, after all, he only brought her due to her stuborness. With her lack of fighting skills, it wouldn´t be a surprise if he simply got tired, maybe she became a liability, a weakling he couldn´t deal with anymore, what she could offer wasn´t enough, it hasn´t been for a while, and she knew that when he stopped asking questions, it was a matter of time.
After everything they went through, after what they shared…
She fell, he didn´t, and that´s okay, it was her mistake after all, falling for a man driven by the need of power. Maybe she was enough, she though once, maybe her love could melt the ice, heal the wounds he tried so hard to never show, she tought she could heal him. He wasn´t ready to heal, or maybe he simply didn´t want to, he never asked anything from her that wasn´t purely what she could offer
knowledge.
Working as an archivist at Fortuna´s Great Library, she knew the basics, it was useful for a while, she couldn´t pinpoint where she just stoped being worth staying around.
“Would you like to do the checkout, miss?”
“I…” She didn´t want to go back to Fortuna, she could blame herself, even him, for the situation, but at least she could taste a life far from that place, she could wait for him a bit more, she could try to stay, maybe even for herself, she could manage doing it alone. “...I mean, could i stay here a bit longer? I can´t pay right now, just… Allow me to-”
“You know that if you stay, this debt will only grow, right?”
“Let me help here, let me find a job, i just…” She said, softly, maybe her expression gave her away, maybe her shaking hands.
“And the person with you?”
“He… Left” that seemed to do it, the person, an older woman, looked at her as if seeing right through. She averted her eyes, uncomfortable.
“I understand, you can stay as long as you help, and try to find a job to pay properly, please”
“I´m… Thank you.”
Weeks passed, she was getting along with the big family, not having one of her own, it was a nice experience after everything she went through, the older woman, Helen, she found out later, sometimes looked at her with pity, it didn´t sit well, but she knew to not tell anyone about it. The others speculated, the theories varied from her running from home to simply wanting to start a life as she was indeed in her early twenties.
“Ella?”
“Hm”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, why?”
“You kinda green” in fact, she probably was, as she did lie, she wasn´t alright and hasn´t been for the last couple days, but she refused to aknowlegde it, it could be just food poisoning after all, and she wasn´t in the right mind to dwel in other alternatives, as she knew
He did give her a farewell, a good one, even more than once, if she recalls correctly.
This wasn´t the right place, they weren´t the right people, maybe in another world, but not in this. Why entertain the thought of something that could never be, it´s only food poisoning.
It will be only food poisoning…
“Cornella!”
It wasn´t only food poisoning.
She woke up in bed, the bed she´d been using the last month or so. She got a small working room, with a bed, a clothes rack and a desk, wasn´t a lot but it was quite nice, she organized her belongings in the given space, it became home like none she knew before.
Someone was poking her, why was someone poking her? She´s sleeping, if she´s there then work should only start in a couple more hours. As she slowly recovered her senses, the soreness in her body made alarms ring in her head, the recollection of what happened caughting up to her.
She was mid work, carrying supplies with the others when her body simply failed, she was feeling rather sick recently, more than ever, common colds weren´t as cruel as this, it was taking a toll on her, she knew what she needed to do to clean up the doubts louding her mind, but she didn´t want to, she didn´t want to remember, not when she was recovering, starting anew, not now.
She, Cornella, opened her eyes, two pairs were staring her down, although blurry to her, with worry.
“When you said you were sick we though that it was a fever, maybe coughing, but faiting?”
“I had it under control”
“Yeah, we can see” they looked at her, uninpressed “Please, go see a doctor or something before you die or pass it to someone eles”
“If it is contagious, please get our brother.”
“Rachel!”
“What? He´s being a pain in the-”
“Enough!”
“But- Debrah!” She laughed while Debrah dragged Rachel out of the room, the almost comic scene giving her a sense of confort and a minute to not think about her situation. She knew it wasn´t contagious, she was just… Not ready to know, not yet.
She could rationalize the sickness, and the soreness, even the humor changes, but the day she noticed a small bump, she knew she couldn´t pretend any longer
She went off mid work with the excuse of needing supplies in the kitchen, lying was easier than waiting for the test´s result, as she was hovering the piece of plastic that stood between her and what she has been denying.
When the result came, she didn´t feel surprise, not happiness nor anger, she felt nothing as she already knew. Taking off her glasses and cleaning it, as if it would change anything, for the first time since she was left behind, she allowed herself to cry.
Was it too late? Had she waited too long?
She had a choice to make, she couldn´t raise it by her own, not in the way she was living, what would this kid be? Cornella liked to believe she was smart enough, she knew the father wasn´t human, not fully at least. If not by the hair, she could say it was a fashion choice even tho he surely wasn´t the type to die his hair, then his inhuman strenght and abilities. They never truly talked about it, he had his demons, things that he never felt confortable telling her, and probably never would be, but she liked to think they were at least friends, if not something more, she trusted him and to some degree he trusted her too, enough to open up to her care. She believe she loved him, at least the parts he willingly shown to her, this thing, this kid at least didn´t come from a place of sorrow, it was consensual, it did happen, not as an one night stand, he wasn´t this type of person or so she chose to believe.
But he wasn´t there.
The matter was in her shaky hands, she couldn´t raise it there, she didn´t have a family, and if there were anyone, they probably wouldn´t be useful, the longer she stayed away from Fortuna, the more she wanted to see and learn outside from what they allowed her.
She had to choose.
Curse him for what he did, and curse her for still caring.
-
As more time passed, she was still firm in her decision, but undoubtly annoyed, this child would be very needy or a menace with no in between, maybe both. Cornella knew that a normal pregnancy was already a difficult and dangerous task, taking more towards her or towards the father would do little to soothe her, but she wondered if the exhaustion had something to do with it, even Deborah and Rachel were a bit scared for her, asking for Helen´s help, the elder lady had good advice, but nothing that could really make her feel like herself again.
Months went by, her achings getting worse with every passing day, she managed to still help the people who so gently let her stay, but it was getting harder as she couldn´t stand for long without backpains or due to her sore feet, working in the kitchen was banned from her tasks for the initial 3 months as she was a threat with her sickness to smells. She now helped with the guests files, easy enough to not cause any harm, but it was still something, she felt a bit useful, so it was enough.
The day arrived faster than antecipated. It came late, the night fell dark around them. The family was kind enough to help her, Helen, as experienced as she was, helped with the delivery.
She was in pain, her mind was hazy, she couldn´t really gater up what happened, the hours seemed to be days as the days seemed to be hours, she didn´t know if her blurry vision was due to her not finding her glasses or from the tears accumulating in her eyes.
She woke up to someone talking to her, softly, she couldn´t understand much, everything sounded muffled, she felt lightheaded as the owner of the voice guided her hands to something, it was warm, albeit squirming all around. When a crying sound pierced her ears, she realized.
Looking down, it was all scrunckly, a red thing with a good pair of lungs aparently, but it was hers.
Later, when everything was cleaned and she was rested, she absorbed his appearence, she couldn´t yet see the baby´s eyecolor, his slighly discolored arm was a reason for anxiety to her, Helen said it could be a birthmark, but she couldn´t shake the feeling of something being off, the tiny tuff of rebelious white hair was more alarming to the others than the arm, but not to her.
“I should´ve know he would take after you, shouldn´t I, Vergil?”