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Hecate was now a grown woman and Pandora was absolutely lost on what to do from now on. She was a mother.... That was it. That was the extent of her life, parenting. She had raised Apollo, a boy who had once been troubled and now was happily loved and even helping around with Hecate. Then she birthed two children and once again she had accepted the role of being a mother.

Or... Perhaps she hadn't at first. She was unable to forgive herself for such an action... Abandoning her bowls to be raised by Remedy and Apollo and vanishing into the night, having become something similar to their birth father. And then Bane was stolen... Which was her fault. It always had been. If she hasn't left perhaps she could have stopped Scorch? Perhaps she could have saved Bane from the monster that was his father... Perhaps Apollo and Hecate could have their brother.

But it was thanks to Fracta that she even stepped back up and claimed Hecate. Pandora had become a doting mother, protective due to previous circumstances and fierce for her daughter. Now, Hecate was an adult and didn't need her mothers protection. Pandora didn't know what to do with herself anymore. She certainly couldn't adopt another child, she was ashamed of her previous failures and frightened to bring yet another child into her home...

So, she had taken to nervously baking and cleaning constantly. Sometimes she would settle down with Hecate and Fracta to watch a movie, other times she'd be lost within her panicked chores. It was clear the woman was working herself to the bone, crushing at anything that tried to claim her back into being "normal" again. She needed help, she was too afraid to seek it.

Glancing up when a familiar voice surprised her, Pandora couldn't stop her strange white smile from appearing, her shadows shifting and shivering around her form when the happy expression became a frown. Her eyes flicked to view the baked goods, ears twitching and shadows lingering where they used to me before following. Hm? It wasn't that much... Was it?

"Hm? I... Hecate is going to Nobody's house. I was baking sweets for The Tra'veil family." Everyone knew Pandora and Nyx Tra'veil were close friends, so when Nyx's daughter, Near, adopted a little girl around the same time Hecate popped from her bowl it was only natural the two families had their newest members play together. Nobody and Hecate, even as adults, often hung out together. This was the perfect excuse for Pandora to bake a storm... Though honestly she didn't need an excuse.

"B-besides. Brie and Nyx want more kids and I was baking them some good luck pastries..." The shadowy woman shrugged sheepishly, tail flicking lazily as she went back to pulling muffins out of the oven.

She froze when Fracta hugged her, focusing hard on her nightmare shadows. She had recently learned how to suppress the ability to cause absolute terror to anyone near her or touching her, though it hurt. She wasn't even sure if Fracta was immune like Apollo or not...

"Fracta... You know it's dangerous to touch me." The woman whispered, quiet and hoarse. She set the muffins down, having been about to see if they were ready before suddenly taken away from her duties by the hug and emotions that followed. Fracta had always been like that, and each time Pandora could feel her heart skip a beat and mind go blank. Fracta was different, though Pandora was not about to admit anything. No. She knew better than to entertain her emotions. Besides.... She was this strange, mutated, cursed being. What use could she be more than a friend?

"I'm alright. Just.... Just fretting. You know, as I do."

Pandora froze. She couldn't breathe as the other spoke, eyes slowly becoming slits as panic began to settle. What nonsense was she talking about? What was Fracta uttering from her lips? What madness was spewing from her? Love? How could she foolishly declare such an emotion that Pandora was forbidden from embracing? Didn't Fracta know who and what Pandora was? She was a demon, a creature unable to touch without causing terror itself. A woman whose mere presence caused discomfort and a frightened quicken of the heart. Was Fracta immune now? Was the consistent exposure protecting her? Or was it making her so mad that she was sputtering such damned nonsense?

Panic reached the unstable woman. Pandora was always teetering on the slim line of insanity. Love? And how did Pandora feel? She.... Fracta had been there, always. Even when Pandora sent tables sweeping and curled within herself merely because she saw a shadow flicker. Even when she'd wake her daughter in the night by grabbing Hecate in utter paranoia and cry, rocking her startled child until either Fracta or Apollo pried her arms off the child. Pandora was not only a sin, but a disaster. Yet, who was there when the broken woman needed a hand? Who curled fingers around her palm when she reached out desperately for something to anchor her to this world?

But she was forbidden to accept such emotions.

"You're delirious." Pandora choked out finally, her hands having reached to her ears and clamped over them, body hunching into herself. "Love? What has poisoned you to say such misplaced feelings?" Her heart was pounding, screaming. It wanted, needed and ached. But she wasn't a fool. She wasn't a child wishing to be told she could exist normally. She knew better by now.

Her head raised to view Fracta, shaking quickly as she stepped back. "I am not a creature someone loves. You know this. I'm a sin, a misfortune." A mistake. She was a mistake. Her only purpose was to raise Apollo and Hecate, and now that both deeds were done what more was she? She was a failure in the regards that even her duty to protect children had failed when Bane was stolen away. She was a mistake by the terror she produced. She was a sin for merely existing, and here this wonderful woman was proclaiming her love?

It wasn't allowed!