"I'm not the one who stopped believing in you," Hvergelmir said, folding her hands back together. "You are. You gave up believing in yourself a long time ago -- and every decision you've made since then's been a reflection of that, hasn't it?"
Perhaps she didn't know Persephone very well -- but even with her memories mostly scattered to the wind, the Dark Mirror senshi was convinced she was useless, she got people killed, and all she did with responsibility was fail the people she cared about. That was still the core of her self-image, then: a person who might as well do what she wanted because she had nothing to offer the world anyway.
It was an unbearably painful thought. It was the exact kind of thought that had driven Aquarius to exile herself to space for months on end, no matter how much Hvergelmir begged or how often she waited at the gate on the Surrounding, hoping Aquarius would set herself free from the shackles she'd chosen to place on herself. Persephone had given up on herself as surely as Aquarius had, and decided it didn't really matter where she'd ended up; the only difference was, Persephone had chosen a better vacation spot.
"I won't stop trying to convince you," she promised, her voice starting to cool down and even out. "I'll never accept that someone is incapable of rising above their failures, or that they don't matter. I'll keep waiting until someday you can see that for yourself."
Then, one day, when you finally believe that your fight matters -- that it makes a difference -- we can talk about what you're fighting for.
Then the real work begins.
Noir Songbird
shall we wind to a wrap?
