𝒾. 𝒪𝓃𝑒: broken shell

                                    

                                          


ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : neptune - sleeping at last
⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻


i. one: ❝Broken Shell❞

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Birmingham, England

In the bleak winter of 1919, five years had passed since the war's ominous shadow first descended upon the land, leaving in its wake a trail of shattered dreams and broken spirits. For Marianna James, it had been five long years since her beloved brother marched off to battle, his youthful fervor consumed by the merciless jaws of war.
Three agonizing years had slipped by since she received the fateful letter—a missive that bore the weight of her brother's final moments, etched in ink upon the parchment, each word a dagger to her already wounded soul. Mal, her steadfast protector, gunned down twenty-four times—the cruel symmetry of his demise echoing the age at which he had departed.
In the aftermath of tragedy, Marianna found herself cast adrift in a sea of sorrow, her world consumed by grief and despair. With her parents gone, she sought refuge in the care of her aunt, Tia, the widowed matriarch of her mother's dead brother, whose stoic presence offered a glimmer of solace amidst the storm.
But today, amid the bleakness of winter's embrace, a ray of hope pierced the gloom as Marianna awaited the return of Diego, Tia's son and the sole beacon of light in their darkened world. Like her brother and the Shelby boys before him, Diego had answered the call to arms, a decision that had thrust him into the maelstrom of battle.
The train station stood as a nexus of contrasting emotions, a microcosm of both despair and hope woven into the fabric of its bustling platform. Midst the throng of eager faces, the wives, sisters, and kin of soldiers who had defied the odds and emerged from the crucible of war alive radiated with jubilation. Yet, beneath the veneer of celebration lingered an undercurrent of apprehension—a collective fear that their loved ones, after enduring four long years of bloodshed, might return irrevocably changed, their spirits shattered by the horrors of battle.
"Mar, there's Pol," Tia murmured, her voice a gentle caress against Marianna's arm, as she directed her gaze towards Ada and Finn Shelby, their faces alight with anticipation. "Wouldn't you like to join them?"
Marianna offered a noncommittal shrug, her demeanor a stark reflection of the profound loss that weighed heavy upon her soul since Mal's passing. Bereft of her former vitality, she had retreated into a shell of herself, her once-bright hazel eyes now dimmed by sorrow and disillusionment.
Polly Gray's gaze softened as it fell upon the James woman, a pang of empathy coursing through her veins as she recognized the echoes of her own familial strife mirrored in the young woman's sorrowful countenance.
"How are you, Love?" Tia's inquiry was directed at Ada Shelby, the lone sister amidst a sea of brothers. Ada's fingers twisted nervously as she forced a smile, her mind consumed by the uncertainty that awaited her returning kin.