Ursula could feel her mother circling her slowly. She forced her body to relax, recalling what Morgana had once read to her; resisting the inevitable will only hurt more.
Ursula decided that she wasn't going to resist. Mother would prefer that anyway. She preferred things go quickly and violently, without any trouble, but of course with that fair share of humor.
Crack! Ursula bit her lips in order to stop herself from screaming, the pain in one of her arms slowly taking over her shoulder and neck. On instinct, Ursula had squeezed her eyes shut, but Orluiowa spat,
"Keep your eyes open you fool! This isn't a surprise, remember another way to show a victim how weak and useless they are, is to break them while they are witnessing it! "
Ursula opened her eyes and looked down at her arm. Her elbow was jutting out the opposite way it was supposed to, the skin on her arm clearly about to rip to let the bone through.
"I'm sorry mother. It won't happen again. "
Ursula forced the last few words, knowing that she had no choice.
As a response, Orluiowa broke her other arm. This time Ursula was quick to look at her arm bend, then snap.
"This is how much I love you, dearest.."
Orluiowa proceeded to force Ursula's still-bent arms in front with of her, then seized her wrists and twisted them to form a perfect heart.
It took everything in Ursula's mind, soul, and willpower to stop herself from screaming in the agony she felt.
Orluiowa threw her head back and cackled so hard, if one looked close enough, barely visible specks of blood floated from her throat into the water surrounding her.
Ursula felt she was about to pass out. But she quickly was brought back to present when her mother punched her soft stomach, causing Ursula to puke into the broken heart that were her arms.
" You disgust me. If only you didn't eat so much, you would fit the exact image of your mother. But instead you chose to become a fat, bloated, ugly excuse of a daughter. "
Orluiowa screamed at Ursula, her face full of hatred,
" But, oh well. We all make mistakes. Although I must admit that I'm glad you were one of them. You are the bestest mistake I have ever made. You will make an excellent leader. "
Ursula kept her face straight, careful to not give away the immense amount of self-hatred and misery she was really feeling.
" Now," Orluiowa grinned, her sharp teeth gleaming evilly, said,
" we mustn't be too greedy. It's Morgana's turn now."
Morgana
Morgana looked wearily around her, searching for her mother in the blackness that was the dungeons. She wiggled around the rotting metal pole she was tied to, but found that the rope was perfectly tight to her skinny waist. Morgana observed her surroundings, but found nothing.
Mother had once said, Never lose sight of what is important. Well. Right now what was important was that fact that her mother was about to attack her from somewhere, and she had to be perfectly aware of where it was going to be.
Morgana didn't dare blink, aware that her stealthy mother could take advantage of even such a small act as a blink.
Morgana looked to her left, then right. As soon as her murky eyes shifted back to her left, Morgana found her right arm had been impaled with a sharp stone. Her mother was nowhere in sight. Morgana looked back down at her arm, but then looked up with realization too late, for her mother was already jabbing her throat with her knuckles.
Morgana didn't close her eyes or cry once. She had experienced far worse, and she knew that this wound was nothing compared to what her mother would do to her next. She knew she always left the best for last.
Morgana's knowledge proved true when her mother's hand reached from behind, and dug her sharp nails into her left eye.
Before Morgana knew it, she was staring at her own eyeball. She knew she was in shock, because she couldn't feel anything except the warm liquid trailing down her cheek, then trailing off from her pointy chin into the water.
This time she couldn't hold back the tears, her right eye poured thick globs of black, inky tears which floated around in the blood-filled water. Morgana let out a desperate whimper, which she stopped abruptly before it could turn into a sob.
"If you were more like Ursula you would perhaps remind me of myself. But unfortunately, you are more like your father, who is dumb, soft, weak, and useless. It's a shame that you weren't born with such powerful powers as mine or Ursula's. Maybe then you would have had even the slightest chance of making me proud of you. But no. It is not meant to be. All you can do is be a prefect punching bag. But, careful now. Don't flatter yourself, Ursula is my favorite punching bag. She is more full, which is of course also a shame."
"Why don't we have a mother-daughter bonding day? For starters, I'll tell you about a young cecaelia who was hoping for smart, fierce daughters to take over for her. Fortunately, the first daughter was perfect for the job, but then the second one was born. She was a nasty little thing I would have gotten rid of if she hadn't proved herself to have the slightest potential. Of course, she proved to be the disappointment I had thought her to be since she was born. But since she was already there, I didn't want to waste my time on her. I let her live. Some would confuse this with the atrocious thing called love, but really if it- sorry, I meant she, would die, I would most likely have Ursula hang it up on my bathroom as decoration. Of course she wouldn't deserve such a high honor, but being the generous being I am, all waste of space is allowed there. After all, what are bathrooms for?"
Orluiowa let out a throaty cackle, followed by a smug smirk.
Morgana looked her mother in the eyes the whole time, and didn't even blink. She couldn't give her mother the satisfaction of knowing she was tearing her apart, even if it was just her heart.
"Well dearest, it's time for me to go. I'll try to remember to get your aunt to come get you for dinner. Good job for not crying your eyes out. Well, at least the remaining one. "
Her mother laughed a carefree, cheerful laugh, as if her joke wasn't as macabre as it really was. She proceeded to give her eyeball a kiss, then shoved it in Morgana's mouth.
A few hours later
Morgana had passed out. She knew because she hadn't heard Ursula come down to the dungeon, she hadn't felt them carry her up to her bed, or felt her aunt heal her. She hadn't felt Ursula pop her eye back in then heal it, or felt a hand brush against her hair or cover her with a blanket. She woke up to find that dinner time was over. She was cast with a spell of dizziness, and fell back to sleep.