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thirteen years later-
𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐀𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄with startling suddenness, breathless, teary-eyed and drenched in her own sweat as the sound of a woman's agonized scream reverberated off the walls of her skull. Though the sun of Vanaheim had yet to rise, the young woman lay wide awake, tangled in her sodden sheets as she desperately fought to regain her breath. All the while struggling to forget the terror her subconscious had so evilly imagined, her ears still pounding from the imagined voice's shrill scream.
Her opal eyes wide with child-like fright dashed madly around the empty room in which she slept, scanning every corner for any sign of danger. Per usual, she found none. It seemed the only threat came from her subconscious.
Peeling the white linen sheets from her body Serena sat up stiffly against her headboard in silence, the only ambiance being that of her still slightly labored breathing and the pounding of her own heart in her ears. After a moment, she released a heavy sigh and tossed her legs over the side of her bed, basking in the coolness of the wooden floorboards beneath her feet.
The young woman gripped her head in her hands and released a muffled cry, warm tears trailing the contour of her face as they fell from her tired eyes. She couldn't hold it in any longer. As sobs racked her body she fought to keep her wailing cries to a minimum, afraid of waking her brother in the room beside hers.
It wasn't unusual for Serena to be the first one awake in her household, though the reason for her earliness wasn't very usual- at least not to an outside eye.
Standing to her feet the young woman silently padded her way over towards her makeshift vanity, which was truly just a writing desk with a mirror propped against the wall. Assessing her features Serena couldn't help but gawk at the dark rings that had begun to form under her eyes, it was a telling sign of her nightmare making a resurgence in her life as it often did every once in a while before disappearing into obscurity once more.
"What a pitiful woman." She muttered darkly, her eyes trailing her chapped and slightly cracking lips as they formed the words. Though she knew it to be wrong, Serena couldn't help the loathsome thoughts she held for herself at that moment- or at any moment if she were being truthful. And as she sat there gazing at her puffy-eyed, red-nosed complexion she couldn't help but realize why it was she had yet to find a suitor. "Perhaps Viktor is right." She added bitterly under her breath.
In defeat, the woman rested her head in her arms and allowed the last of her tears to trickle slowly from her tired eyes. She was tired, so terribly tired. But she didn't dare to sleep. The fear of the unknown keeping her awake until she saw the first glimpse of sunlight... and along with it heard the shrill calling of her name followed by a loud incessant rapping on her door.
