Mama Who Bore Me; hc_bingo
Title: Mama Who Bore Me
Fandom: Rune Factory (4)
Prompt: Gaslighting
Medium: Fic
Wordcount: 990
Rating: PG
Warnings: Child abuse/gaslighting
Summary: Frey had issues to deal with. The first step is acknowledging it.
AN: This is based off what I've found on gaslighting. The recovery part might not be accurate. (Also, title comes from the song of the same title from Spring Awakening.)
“Why do you keep lying?!” Her mother looked distraught, and the others around her were whispering to each other about how Frey gave her mother trouble too often.
She could feel the glares, and she shrunk into herself. She avoided looking at the people staring and focused on her hands.
‘I won’t cry here,’ she told herself.
Ventuswill had managed to restore her memories, but Frey didn’t want to tell her that. So she looked directly at Ventuswill and told her that it didn’t work.
She didn’t want to remember her mother, with a cutting smile and sharp words, and how she’d corner Frey and tell her to stop lying when she was telling the truth. Frey assumed it was the truth.
“No one likes her,” her mother told her father one night. Frey had snuck down to get a glass of water when she heard her mother and father whispering to each other.
“Now, dear, let’s not be like that. Frey is likable.”
“You don’t have to deal with her all day!” her mother hissed. “She keeps touching things she’s not supposed to!”
Frey snapped out of it. She shook her head and started her search for Arthur. She just needed the airship to drop her off in front of Maya Road-the bridge had been destroyed by the Sechs’ soldier-and Arthur was the only person who could give her permission to take the airship out there.
“Of course,” he told her when she explained the situation and asked if she could go out there.
Frey paused for a second before she continued on. With her mother, she would’ve had to plead her case and then, it wasn’t certain if her mother would give in. It was stunning that someone had allowed her to do what she wanted without an ulterior motive.
Ventuswill had accepted her into Selphia because she was an Earthmate who could save her older friends. Ventuswill might like her now, but she had originally taken Frey in to do her bidding.
The other townspeople didn’t know her well enough to use her. Or maybe they lived their own peaceful life without needing to manipulate others into doing work for them. But Frey didn’t talk to them that often, so there was nothing there to feel.
She ignored that small blossoming feeling in her chest that felt something like love. Frey didn’t know how to convey this unusual feeling-it wasn’t quite like love, but it didn’t feel like the friendly feelings she felt for Ventuswill and the other villagers.
When she returned from the Sechs Territory to visit Arthur once more, she thought about how he had seemed genuinely concerned for her. The other townspeople also seemed concerned for her wellbeing, but Arthur’s concern stuck with her.
Frey considered telling him to take care of himself, as Jones often asked her to do, but she didn’t. Instead, she smiled at him and thanked him. She noticed his cheeks were slightly pink before he turned away and offered to take her to the Floating Empire.
“You did well today,” her mother said in a rare act of kindness.
It was unnerving. “Thank you,” Frey replied. She held her stuffed Pomme-Pomme close to her chest, and she watched her mother float around the kitchen. Her mother seemed to be in a good mood.
Frey woke from her daze a few days later. Ventuswill had died to save Selphia, and Frey didn’t know what to think of that. She cared for Ventuswill, but she also resented that Ventuswill used her to do her bidding.
Her mother might have been smiling and laughing, but Frey knew that she was in trouble. She could feel the embarrassment creeping up, but she was grateful that her mother didn’t want to make a scene.
“Frey.”
She looked up to see Arthur was sitting across from her. He had a pile of paperwork on the table, but he was eating.
“Arthur.”
He considered his words for a moment before asking, “Are you doing well?”
Frey’s response was immediate. “I’m doing well.” It might have been a lie, but it could have also been true. She still felt weird about anyone asking about her wellbeing.
“The town is doing well, even without Ventuswill,” he commented.
“Isn’t that great,” she asked with a smile. Frey could easily talk about this-she could tell stories about how Xiao Pai and Lin Fa had given her a discount for baths or how Kiel had managed to help Bado sell turnip purses.
“It feels a bit sad to tell the capital that, but I needed to.” His smile looked melancholic.
“But we’re able to heal,” she argued. “We can move on from her death.”
This stunned Arthur for a moment. “Well, yes,” he started, “but she was a part of the town, and the people still mourn her death in their own way.”
“How do you mourn for her,” she asked bluntly. She needed to know the answer to that.
“I accepted she was gone.”
For Frey, the answer made sense. But it still left her feeling a bit unsatisfied.
“Stop telling these terrible lies,” her mother whimpered. Her eyes were filled with tears.
Frey couldn’t stop thinking about how she needed to know about Arthur. She wanted to know how to forgive someone.
But maybe Arthur’s way of mourning could apply here. Maybe she could accept that her mother was a terrible person who had a terrible impact on her. Maybe she could even forgive her one day.
She didn’t think so, but anything could happen. Frey didn’t think she would ever meet a Native Dragon-like Ventuswill-or that she would save anyone from danger.
Being away from everyone helped. No one here knew of her past.
Frey accepted that she was damaged. Now it was time for her to start healing herself from the past. And the townspeople might be the key to that.