The Breaking Of a Heart

Heart whisperer to the woman in her arms. A woman with light brown hair, pale skin, dead eyes, and half her skull missing from a self inflicted shotgun wound. 

“You were never alone…..”

Hearts voice cracked as she tried to speak through what felt like a throat filled with broken glass. This woman was her heart and soul. They met years prior at a small cafe Heart frequinted every morning. They talked, got to know each other, dated and moved in together. For once in her life Heart felt normal. She was Hearts humanity. 

Its an odd concept to feel normal when you're a mutant. Especially for Heart who spent most of her life in seclusion or as a Fox just wandering around. When she met Annie it wasn't planned. Heart was just enjoying her morning coffee and fake reading a newspaper to avoid conversations with anyone and this ball of energy just pops up and invades her bubble. Heart being polite just let her go on with herself. This became the normal routine for weeks and eventually Heart just started talking back. They seemed to hit it off but Heart knew the moment This woman found out she was a mutant it would have all stopped. Then it happened, she was asked on a date. 

“What…..” 

All Heart could stammer out at the time. Heart didn't date, she hardly lived outside the realm of coffee and violence.. Heart told Annie before things could go forward and be ruined, that she was a mutant. Even showed her the energy manipulation and Fox transformation. Annie didn't care. It was as if Annie just overlooked it all and kept talking to Heart as if she was a normal person. Later she explained to Heart that she wanted to know her for herself and being a mutant didn't matter anymore then what color shirt she wore that day. 

Heart was taken back. Usually people go crazy over the mutant aspect.  or she has to display a show of force. The Fox shapeshifting alone  was enough to attract attention and get away with stuff. But to be seen, as Heart and Heart alone, was almost freeing. That was the day she told Annie her Name. It was also the same day she met Annies parents for the first time and made an excellent autumn duck confit for dinner.

Annies parents welcomed her with open arms. They knew she was a mutant as well and again they didn't care. Saying the same thing Annie did “Doesn't matter to us as long as you're a good person and treat our daughter right”  Heart then explained she wasn't always a good person but she would never hurt Annie and would do everything in her power to protect her. Shortly after that dinner they moved into Annies little one bedroom flat. 

For years Heart lived like a normal being. Paid bills, got a job as a chef, drove a car, even made non mutant or superhero friends. Sure she watched the news and saw the avengers and xmen saving the world or whatever. But for her she was at peace watching reruns of bewitched on TV land snuggled under a blanket with Annies head on her shoulder. Annie's parents were school teachers and once they learned Heart had very little in the way of reading, or even schooling in general, they worked hard to teach her. They even asked how she could cook so well if she could hardly read. Heart didn't know she was just good at it, plus her powers let her see how things interacted and her sense of smell picked up the rest of the work. The day they got married was a quiet one. Annie wanted a beach wedding and Heart just went with it. Seeing her in a light blue dress waiting for her at the end of the aisle was breath taking. The ceremony was small and simple and for Heart it was as if her life finally came full circle. 

 It wasn't always peaceful though. Annie suffered from depression and some days it takes its toll on her. Heart did what she could to help. Got her to doctors appointments, helped her through her hospital stays, and kept track of her therapy sessions. Everything seemed to be going okay till it was very suddenly not. 

Heart was at the grocery store looking over leeks and fennel for a salad that evening. Holding a sizable leek she felt a sudden wave of emptiness mixed with a harsh plucking feeling. As if someone snapped a wire and what was left was quiet stillness. Instantly she knew something was wrong. Heart blinked home leaving the leek to crash to the floor and her shopping cart in the middle of produce. 

Her living room coming into view Heart knew by the heavy stillness and smell of blood in the air she wasn't going to like what she found. Walkin through the room and to the hallway she slowly crept. Her breathing became harder as she tried to swallow her rising tears. Opening their bedroom door, Heart broke at the sight. Annie lay back on their bed, blood splattered and mixed with other matter on the walls, a gun on the floor, red soaked into their sheets. 

Heart lurched forward and gently touched her for signs of life. Heart tried to scream but all that came out was a harsh croak of inaudible noises. Frantic, she forced energy into Annie trying to heal her wounds and bring her back. It was too late. She held Annie in her arms rocking back and forth. Whispering through her swollen throat 

“You were not alone…..you were never alone”

Moments passed before Heart left the room and went to the phone to call authorities then Annies parents. She was interviewed by police and was sent to stay with Annies parents. The coroner ruled her death a suicide. Heart was beside herself. All this power and she couldn't save the one thing she loved the most from herself. The pieces came together as well. No one knew about the shotgun or how she purchased it. Heart couldn't figure out how she missed all the signs that lead up to this. Why couldn't she just see Annie struggling? What did she miss? What could she have done to change the voices? Why couldnt she heal that part of her?  One thing was certain though. 

Annie ended it in a manner that she knew not even Heart could save her. And that killed their hearts more than any other conclusion that they came to. 

After the funeral Heart hugged the Parents a last time. “I'll be around but these emotions are too strong and i need time” They understood of course. Heart then left as a Fox and not a human. The Fox form lowered the emotional response to a minimum. Made it numb and hurt less. The parents of course saw the Fox nearly daily for months. Just keeping an eye on things here and there. They would talk and enjoy dinners together outside but the Fox would never walk back into their house or the flat she and Annie shared. It was just too much. Eventually the Fox stopped coming by the parents house and slowly Heart let herself disappear from the normal life she once knew. Now wandering in a numb haze just barely functioning to survive she carries on. Waiting for the fateful day of release that even she knows won't ever come. 

Two years go by. The fox still wanders the wilds. SHe adapted and changed and one day she decided to take on a bear. Just to see if the fox could die. The human Heart could not. Her powers dictated her survival and she survived multiple deaths. But the Fox had no powers so...in theory….she could die. 

The Fox found a bear eating some dead deer or what ever. She didnt care about what it was eating as she launched herself right at the bears head. Snatching its ear in her teeth only to be swung off and tossed aside. Now angry the bear came and grabbed the Fox, shook her violently before tossing her to the ground and crushing the fox under its paws. Instantly the Fox blacked out. Laying lifeless on the forest floor…...for two days. 

A gasp and the Fox was up. Dried blood caked on her coat as sore and tender muscles shook from being newly healed. “What the hell……” She always assumed she never had powers as a fox. Now she thought otherwise and she was angry about it. Her life was destroyed and her heart healed wrong. It no longer fit into the normalcy she once felt.  She didnt fit into the normalcy of humanity. She didnt want to be crowded or touched or emotionally attached. Why should she be? She had all this power and failed to save what meant the most to her.  So why should she even bother? And now since she cant end it as a fox why does she need self preservation? 

Learning her powers were still active in Fox form was interesting. For months she made it a point to learn how to use them to her advantage. The Fox could blink anyplace and steal food or goods or just avoid being captured. Open any doors, vanish without a trace, heal any wound. And terrorize any person for funsies. Slowly she tried to introduce herself back into society but everything seemed so raw and painful being human. So she avoided it as much as possible.

The Fox eventually made her way back to Annies parents home. She watched from the yard as they seemed to carry on in their day. But even they changed. They seemed lonely and their energy defeated. Up until the Mother saw the Fox. She clasped her hands over her mouth and ran outside. The Fox ran towards her and leaped into her arms. The Mother she trusted, she was warm and welcoming and loving, like she always had been. The Fox made it home at last.