Chapter 167 What have you done?
In the underworld, Severus felt uneasy with every passing second. He had been here talking about some things with Lythia and picking up the fruits which Lythia always gave him for Scarlet to eat. They were special fruits, grown by Lythia and only fed to female reapers. As soon as he felt that wave of turbulence in Scarlet, he knew that trouble had come. It was strong this time around, nothing like what he experienced when they were in the bathroom. The more she tried to hold her emotions in, the more they bubbled like a brew of porridge, which was desperate to escape it's confines.
"I must return." Severus said.
"Why?" Lythia was perplexed. "You were planning to spend the night here."
"It's my reaper, something is wrong with her, I can feel it all the way from here. Her emotions are surging like a raging tide. I am worried that something is going to go wrong, awfully wrong."
"Haven't you told her to turn them off?" Lythia asked the most obvious of questions.
"I don't think she can and it's too late anyway." he said gravely. "Maybe you should come with me in case I can't stop it.?Do you have any pure soul essence, a weepy grim reaper is better than an uncontrollable one."
Lythia smelled the air and sneered, "That idiot brother of mine!!!" she clenched her fist. "I told him not to do something stupid, why does no one ever listen to me? Come out brother, I know that you are here."
Under a tree blooming with white flowers, the old deity appeared. "I was wondering how long it would take you to notice me Lythia. Now before you blame me for Scarlet's condition please understand that I have taken on the mantle of being her master or teacher. I have not yet shared this wonderful news with her but my lessons have already started. Lesson one is in controlling her emotions. When she feels uncontrolled rage, the flame goes boom. when she is angry, the flame goes boom, when she?is irritated, the flame..."
"Yes, yes, boom we get it." Lythia was feeling extremely exasperated.
"I was going to say bubbly, not boom." The old deity laughed and jumped up, floating over Lythia's head while facing the sky in the underworld. "She must learn to detach her feelings from the flame and also accept who she is now. There is always a harmony between the reaper and their host body but she is rejecting it. She blocked the memories of the original host out and refers to her as 'she' while referring to herself as 'I'. Even though she is not responsible for the damage which was done by the host she now bears the responsibility for it. It's either she turns her human emotions completely off which means she will detach herself from that family in less than two weeks because they will come to mean nothing to her or she accepts who she is now and all will be sunny again."
"What did you do?" Lythia sked him. She was more worried and nervous than she was letting on. There was a a slight break in her voice and this made the old deity curious. What was Lythia hiding?
"I gave her some spiritual lotus wine, it won't harm her.?In a few days, she will be back to normal."
"A few days!!!"
"Why do you appear to be more concerned than you should be sister, he is also carrying away an unusual number of these spirit fruits." The old deity looked at the dozens of fruits Severus was packing away. "You are nourishing her as if you are taking care of...." The old deity broke off.?He looked at Lythia with shock, doubt and in his eyes were a plethora of questions veiled by disbelief.
"It is exactly what you are thinking brother, that's why I told you not to toy with her."
The old deity's face looked grim again and his?eyes turned red with anger. "Who did this?"
"I don't know and I don't care because it's good news for us, I will not stop you from teaching her but you should know your limits now. While you are over there, do carefully look at her husband as well."
Severus looked between the old deity and Lythia, they were speaking in veiled terms, not revealing what it was that they were discussing. He had been listening but he could hardly string together a sensible explanation.?One thing he was sure of however was that whatever it was, Scarlet was at the center of it.
"I am leaving now." Severus told them.
"Give her this," the old deity gave Severus something in a small crystal gourd. She will recover within one day after taking it. "
"What is it?" he looked at the crystal gourd curiously.
The old deity vanished but in the wind, Severus heard his voice say, "A hung over cure."
Turning his head to Lythia one last time, Severus looked into her eyes and asked, "Is there something I should know about my reaper?"
She shook her head and answered, "Not yet, just keep making sure that she eats the fruits for now. Two everyday for an entire month, then I will share everything with you."
When Severus appeared in Scarlet's private living room, he was met with a sight of total destruction.?The glass table had been shattered, the mattress had been set on fire, the art which had been hung on the walls was on the floor. More than a few clothes had been ripped apart and Scarlet had somehow managed to burn her own hair and cut it haphazardly at the same time.?It was long and short in different places, she was sitting dazedly in front of a mirror and that too was shattered. Her hands were bleeding, having been cut by the glass on the floor but she did not seem to have noticed.
What was in the lotus wine that the old deity tricked her into drinking?
"Scarlet." he barked at her. ๐r๐ฒ๐๐ e๐no๐๐ฒ๐ฅ.c๐ผm
She turned her head to the right, looked at him and laughed, "I don't look like her now. I am not her, I am not her." she repeated it twice.
"Snap out of it!!" she shouted at her. "Drink this."
"I am not her," she said again and she started to cry. "I hate her and I am tired of apologizing. Why do they have to keep reminding me of the things she did? I have never hurt a single person who did not deserve it. I sacrificed myself on earth by joining the soldiers to protect others, kill zombies and look for food and water so that we might all survive. I am a good person so why should I live in a filthy body like this? She did those things, not me, I am Su Yan."?She started clawing at the skin of her hands.
If anybody saw her this way, they would think that she was having a mental breakdown.?But Severus new what was happening to her, it was exactly as the old deity had said. She was still refusing to accept that she and Scarlet were all one now. In fact., she was Scarlet, there was no Su Yan anymore.
Severus knocked her over, opened her mouth and poured the contents of the crystal gourd down her throat. "You are Scarlet," he said, "Su Yan is dead and gone. You must accept her mistakes, you can't pick and choose which aspects of her life to accept and reject.?You are being a hypocrite for accepting her name, her husband, her child and all the love from her family but you draw the line at her past."
His words got through to her and she cried even more, "What do I do Severus? It hurts here."?She touched her heart. "Why does it hurt more than usual?"
"Because you had locked it away and now it has come to the surface like filth looking for an escape. You can't hide from it, grim reapers are seekers, they are not cowards that hide. So, find a way to soothe the pain while accepting everything about this host body until there is a perfect union between the soul and the body." All he could do was guide and teach her because their lives were intertwined.?"Cross your legs and close your eyes, it's time to meditate."