Labelles's Perfect Genetics Challenge: The End of the Labelles (Completed)

[mpart]

Hey guys! I'm having some issues with my game and there may even be MORE of a delay. Sadly EA has been really loving me lately.

After being disconnected twice someone finally told me EA wasn't going to help me so I naturally brought up the fact I was disconnected and no help was being given.

"To end this conversation smooth and properly kindly select the "END CHAT" button."

I was mocked.  I will be looking for answers! I'm really sorry about it guys!

[mpart]

UGH! James!!!!!

How could he say that about Solstice? What a jerk! Gwen is so much better off without him. It's time for her to rise and show the world what she's made of! Go tear down Bridgeport with you, Gwen!
She can do so much better. She WILL do so much better. I'm sure!

Oh, James.
that's all I have to say.

James the jerk, forever more referred to as JJ! He's just freaking lucky Gwen didn't kill him! I would have been so tempted!

Sent from my D2005 using Tapatalk

James honestly wrote his own self-destruction. Looking back, I can see the signs that this was coming I guess. It surprised me a lot. My characters tend to write themselves, I create them and then they go jumping off cliffs all by themselves. (Sometimes quite literally.) I have to say, I use to love James but the James now isn't the one I created I suppose. Thank you for the wonderful comments! I appreciate your guys feedback! The next chapter will deal heavily with the folklore LivvieLove and I have created so I hope it isn't too confusing. You may or may not be seeing old characters in a new light. I'm excited to hear what everyone thinks of it. 

[mpart]

My game is sort of fixed now! A lot of updates are coming that I'm excited about. This will be a chapter heavily dealing with the changes going on in the story. (The lore that includes gods, goddesses and the species existing in the realm.) Malice is the god of Darkness. He is signified as the first vampire and is in general, just an evil person. Calypso is the goddess of the Sea and deals with the majority of sirens. (There are two types of sirens but I haven’t gone into much detail about it.)  Nyx is the ex-goddess of the Moon. Fate is the goddess of Fate and Megan’s amazing mother. PM me if you have any questions! I hope I don’t overwhelm all of you! Livvielove is credited for creating Malice!
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Tragedy glanced over her shoulder as rain poured and lightning struck nearby trees. The sky darkened and she sighed. She clenched her fists to her side. She couldn’t stop shaking as she read the small piece of paper that held one simple sentence but one thousand lies and ten thousand secrets. Fate demanded her presence. Tragedy. Megan. Niccoli. Labelle. Names. All names that meant nothing in the end. Her father was no longer as powerful as he once was and she would have no choice but to listen to Fate’s demands. Not unless she wanted someone she cared about to be hurt. She picked herself up from the ground, forgetting how she collapsed onto it in the first place. She could do this. With a gesture of her hand the portal opened, leading into Fate’s realm. She walked into the portal, her head held high as her emotionless mask replaced her naive smile that fooled many. She hadn’t been Tragedy Niccoli for decades. Manipulative. Cold. Cruel. Powerful. He didn’t care who she appeared to be. He knew better. In the end he had been willing to make himself appear to be a monster to protect her from Fate.
"Are you insane, lady?" She chuckled. Looking back, she was insane. Her voice caught in her throat as she stared at one of the many sources of her nightmares. The ancient castle seemed to threaten any who dared stepped near it and was glaring down at Tragedy just as it had as a child.

She turned her gaze away as the last remains of her disguise faded away. Her neon dress turned to ashes as her black dress replaced it and her hair fell back into it's usual flawless curtain. Her skin darkened as she brushed away the last ashes of her neon dress. She managed a small smile. She had been able to trick and fool others for centuries on who she truly was. Nothing was as it seemed and people were fake. It was part of the game. You hardened yourself or you faltered under the pressure. You broke into millions of pieces and fellow players watched in glee. If you had a rough past or were stuck in a tough situation, it didn't matter. You picked yourself up and expected the worse from your fellow players. Everything was a game. Fate had taught her that much. She twisted her hand and the doors to the castle opened. Her high heels clicked against the creaking floor as followers of Fate ran away from her in fear. She looked to much like Fate. Click. Fate was up to something. Click. Tragedy knew how to play her mother's game and win. Her high heels suddenly stopped clicking against the old floors as Tragedy stopped at a simple door. Voices were coming from the room, hostile yet calm.



Fate was her usual self cruel and arrogant to the point of stupidity. Tragedy sighed. Everything was too perfect. It reminded her of Nyx, the goddess of the Moon. Before she realized it, her hands were raised and the door exploded into small pieces. Tragedy blinked, staring at her hands before hiding her emotions behind a smirk. "You summoned me, Fate?"
 Fate sneered. "It appears you are still a disappointment."
Tragedy grinned. "A disappointment? I thought I was worse than that." She bowed and objects flew off the shelf, shattering on the floor.
Fate stared at her nails, appearing to be bored. "Children." Tragedy for once, held her tongue and stood very stiffly.
She spoke very quietly,"I thought the warning from Thanatos was enough for you?"
Fate smirked, the same facial expression that Tragedy usually resorted to. "Oh please. You are one of mine." Fate grabbed Tragedy's hand, her magic lighting the tattoo up.
Tragedy rolled her eyes. "Are you done or are you going to waste even more of my time?" Fate's eyes narrowed into slits, deciding whether it was worth it or not to get rid of Tragedy for good. Tragedy's face turned into a cold smile. They both knew how that would end. She suddenly noticed someone else was in the same room. She grinned and stared at the strange woman. Wide yellow eyes, blue hair, and dark skin just like Tragedy had. Her grin faded as suspicion replaced it and she turned towards Fate. "What did you do?"



Fate sneered before Tragedy was stuck to a chair. Quite literally. She sighed and crossed her legs, it seemed as long as she stayed in the chair everything would be fine. Fate waved her hand and Tragedy seemed unable to speak. She glared at Fate. "What were you saying, Mania?" It was a simple sentence coated in venom. This woman had offended Fate in someway. If she could, she would have gave her a thumbs up.
The woman with blue hair, Mania, crossed her arms and gave Fate a level stare. "I'm here to deliver a final warning from my master." She let her eye grow more narrow. "Do. Not. Touch. Eveline." She punctuated each word. Her voice held hidden threats. She stood firm and unmoved by the powerful presence of Fate.



Fate smiled sweetly. "Why would I touch Majnun's precious Eveline?" The words were sugarcoated and every word ringed false. Tragedy had been involved in the world of the gods to know that Majnun, the god of Magic and Madness, was not to be messed with. Tragedy's eyes went wide. Fate had responded clearly. She knew Majnun's weakness and was prepared to use it to her best advantage. The next words that came out of her mouth added another layer to the threat. "How is Raveth doing?" The venom in Fate's voice could have destroyed worlds. Tragedy bit at her lip, trying not to tremble in Fate's, the goddess of Fate, presence. She had known the full extent of the woman's evil. No one had to explain it to her. Each time she tried to get out of the god's messes she was dragged back in.
Mania's eyes opened a bit wider before her glare narrowed in. "Leave my daughter out of this." She shook her head. "Do you think he's stupid?" The words were venomous. She crossed her arms then and straightened, taking a deep breath. "Fine, you can play dumb. I do not care. If Eveline is ever put in harms way it will be war." She smiled a dark smile. "So, play dumb, if you'd like - or be dumb as you are. I'm not one to judge." She shrugged slightly. "It matters not to me what you do. I'm just here to deliver your warning. If Eveline is harmed, then my master will answer with your blood being spilled." It took her only mere seconds to realize how this woman truly was. She was Majnun's high priestess, Mania. Majnun was the most powerful god at the time and threatening him was a promise of something worse than death. Tragedy tried to stand up and walk out of the room but couldn't.  Fate was powerful. She was cruel. She could kill someone with a glance if she wished, but she was not Majnun. Tragedy would rather risk Fate's rather than Majnun's. The only sign of Tragedy's rebellious behavior against Fate was the spark in her eyes. She was not loyal to her. She was loyal to Thanatos, the ex-god of Death. Tragedy watched as Mania seemed to note the behavior. Good.

Fate smiled kindly at Mania. Her body language indicated that she was innocent, that she was kind, she was no one to blame. "Of course not Mania. I would not dare think of causing dear Raveth any harm. Why would I dare harm Eveline?" Another lie. Another thousand secrets. Fate had found the high priestess's weakness and was taking full advantage of it. She was twisting words as easily as she did people to her will. Eveline would be harmed and Fate would toss Majnun's threat to the side. She was a fool. Suddenly Tragedy's voice was released. Fate was counting on her to say something. Something to prove her "loyalty" or she would be tortured. Tragedy was tempted to place her head in her hands and consider the options. She needed him. He would know what to do. Torture by Fate or torture by Majnun? Tragedy laughed, her laughter piercing the air.
"It is clear you are threatening her child Fate and you are playing dumb." Tragedy sighed. "Did you summon me for something relevant or did you just summon me because you need someone to torture?" This woman terrified her. Tragedy was tempted to close her eyes shut and coax away another hallucination. She didn't though. Instead she shifted her face back to a bored expression. She knew this game too well.

Mania snickered under her breath. "It seems even your own daughter has such faith in you." She rolled her eyes and then sighed, "be that way if you must. Torture your daughter for speaking the truth when I'm gone. It will not change the fact that Majnun will know. He always knows; and before he knows - I know." She gave her a satisfied smile. "You have your warning now. If Eveline is put anywhere close to danger, you will pay for it." With that Mania opened the portal and prepared to walk into it. "I wish your High Priestess the best of luck in the game of cards, Fate." She spat her name. "For she will need it to face off against my master and I." She turned and nodded to Tragedy then, a softness in her face that wasn't there before - perhaps a twinge of pity. "Tragedy." She spoke in farewell before she turned back to Fate and tipped her head. "You've been warned." With that she stepped into the portal and vanished from the room.

Tragedy opened her mouth to speak when she collapsed in pain. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. This was normal for her. Her father had tried to protect her from it, but Tragedy had a bad habit of getting herself in trouble. The pain was excruciating as Fate leaned down and placed two fingers on her forehead. Her memories were instantly scrambled and every horrid thing that she had experience came to surface. Agonizing screams escaped her lips as tears fell down. She clawed at her own head, trying to rid herself of the torture. Lights flickered and followers of Fate rushed by, acting as if Fate torturing someone for fun was normal. Fate started laughing. It wasn't usual. A single sob escaped from Tragedy as she curled in a protective ball. Fate's voice was sweet and gentle as she began talking. "I am powerful. You are mine. All of you are mine. I made sure Mercy saw what her father did without understanding. I made sure Alexander thought he was the reason for the curse and tried to kill Mercy. I made sure Mercy was driven to insanity. I had Gwen kidnapped. I had her killed. I had Solstice taken." Fate's grip tightened on Tragedy's wrist, her hand tracing the tattoo. "You are my daughter no matter what anyone says. You are Tragedy Niccoli. When I die, you die along with me. You doomed your children."



Tragedy looked back and it was all perfectly planned. She would have a line of powerful beings that would be inflicted with lives full of tragedy and would be bound to Fate, the goddess of Fate at the time, until generation ten rose. All their power were meant to go to Fate to make her more powerful, but something went wrong. Something always did. Only half of their power went to Fate. When the time came they would reclaim their power. The only way to kill Fate was to kill her daughter. Tragedy was always destined to be tied to her mother, always forced to come back to her. She would be forced to follow her into death to allow her descendants a moment of peace. Her mother cupped her head in her hands and smiled. "You will keep acting as if you know nothing child. You are nothing without me." Fate left the room, leaving Tragedy to whimper in pain. Megan. Tragedy. Labelle. Niccoli. Names that meant nothing. Names that meant everything. She would destroy Fate even if it killed her. She would destroy the woman that was suppose to be her mother. ======================================================================
Amelie leaned against the wall, a smile creeping onto her face. Everything was not what it seemed. The green girl tilted her head, trying to understand the man with blue hair and glowing eyes. After one moment of searching for her phone she found it and gave the man a giddy smile. She waved the man away and said her goodbyes. Apparently they had their job finished and were done. Amelie eyed the vial of vampire venom. Yes, everything was going to plan. The old man had finally croaked at the perfect time. The girl nearly skipped towards Amelie, unaware of waited her. Her smile faded as she listened to the voice message.



Her father had died of old age in her time away. What a shame. Amelie grinned. It seemed that the world was on her side for once. The girl shouldn't have been so happy to begin with. She had destroyed a woman's reputation for revenge. Not even revenge for herself but for Mercy, Amelie's aunt. It was one of her last requests to destroy the woman for what she had done. Amelie huffed under her breath. How did it benefit the girl? Charlie had died at the perfect time for the girl to realize she had to pay the price for everything.

The girl slowly collapsed to the ground, hugging the phone while sobbing. Pathetic. Maleficent, the new goddess of Death, would be getting a treat. Malice, Calypso and Fate had formed an alliance. Malice, the god of Darkness, had been kind. He had provided Fate, the goddess of Fate, a vial of vampire venom to give Maleficent, the new goddess of Death, a treat. The only reason Maleficent had been spared from death was because Fate had found her useful. She had threatened Maleficent to do her bidding or she would kill her friend Megan, Charlie's daughter. This would be a clear message to Maleficent. No matter how, no matter where, Maleficent was still hers. Fate had allowed Calypso, the goddess of the Sea, to use her sirens to kidnap Solstice and bring her to the lab. Amelie closed her eyes. Her daughters were the sirens that Calypso had been allowed to use to kidnap Solstice. Her daughters knew what they were doing. If they didn't do their job, they shouldn't bother to come home.



What was the lab for exactly? It was being used to create a new type of magic users that could be manipulated and could collect power. Solstice was only the first of many, the only first successful type but certainly not the last. Amelie walked over to the girl with a wicked grin on her face. The girl lifted her head up and tugged a stray hair behind her ear. Her eyes widened as she realized who Amelie was. "Malef-"
Amelie grinned."Don't speak. Don't scream. Stay." The girl whimpered and tried to move but failed.

Amelie eyed the vial of vampire venom. Malice, the god of darkness and everything that lurked in it it seemed, had provided Fate with a high vampire's venom. Amelie opened the vial and forced the girl to keep it down. It took only a few seconds for the girl to start whimpering nonstop. She was slowly dying. "Shut up." The girl did as she was told as Amelie had the girl drag herself out into the open, where if everything went to plan then Maleficent would find her little surprise. Amelie sighed and eyed the empty vial of vampire venom. What a shame. She was hoping she could have enjoyed killing her but it didn't seem like it was going to happen.



Amelie held tightly to the vial, walking up to the hospital where Clarissa should have arrived any moment. Clarissa was meant to replace Nyx, the goddess of the Moon. Nyx had been killed but had somehow been able to trap herself in multiple objects, waiting for the moment when she could reform and take revenge on the person that had killed her. Amelie was ordered to kill Clarissa and a potential new death keeper. Amelie hated everyone. She wanted revenge on her sister and her whole family. They had wronged her. Her father had broke her, blaming her for her sister's kidnapping. She was just a child. She didn't realize that the man was kidnapping Gwen. She was just a child and everyone seemed to forget that. Gwen had destroyed her father in his hunt to find her and had taken what ever good Amelie had left in her.

Amelie sighed as she stared at the hospital her cousin would be arriving at any moment. She had never understood why Fate had allowed Gladys and Stephen to be running the lab. The only thing actually keeping things productive there was Astra and she was always complaining about her dead husband.  Amelie didn’t care. They were all fools. Amelie was a highly manipulative person that enjoyed destroying other’s lives, but she wasn’t a fool. When Fate finally wanted her descendants to start having true power, Amelie would step up to teach them. Her sister was an excuse to sirens everywhere anyways. She had never truly learned how to use her powers. It was pathetic. Amelie stare thoughtfully at the hospital. There was an old saying that you died a hero or you lived long enough to see yourself become the villain. When Gladys and Stephen messed up Amelie would gladly put the organization back together again instead of killing off distant relatives. She had contemplated if her brother John would have become the villain if he had lived long enough. He was the one who created the first version of the chip. It was suppose to give him immunity from a siren’s voice, but in the end it failed. Failure was not an option. Amelie stared at the empty vial of vampire venom in her hand. The needle was safely hidden away needed to insert the venom into the body.  Failure was indeed, not an option.


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Megan's death was mentioned in my Another Labelle Story in Chapter 10, Part 2 - Parenthood. Majnun, Malice, and Mania are in LivvieLove's Reaper's Genetic Legacy Experiment. She deserves full credit for creating amazing characters! I'm sorry for the lack of screenshots, my game is working but it is very hard to maintain, causing me to not be able to play as much as I would like. It is hard to explain in some ways. I hope you enjoyed this update! Last but not least, I would like to show you all the wonderful castle I'm using for Fate's home. It is absolutely stunning! Thanks to the creator!





Overstuffed update finished!

[LivvieLove]

Poor Megan! That's a really difficult life that she had to live. I can't wait to unravel a little more about her!
Amelie makes me angry. She should die a nice, slow death.

I love how this chapter has two Megans in it and both apply for the "Poor Megan" bit I mentioned earlier.
Take your time with your computer.
Baby steps! XD

[mpart]

Poor Megan! That's a really difficult life that she had to live. I can't wait to unravel a little more about her!
Amelie makes me angry. She should die a nice, slow death.

I love how this chapter has two Megans in it and both apply for the "Poor Megan" bit I mentioned earlier.
Take your time with your computer.
Baby steps! XD

Megan isn't what she seems.  Yeah, it seems Fate doesn't like Megans. XD My computer hasn't crashed once this week! I'm so proud of it! Another crazy chapter coming your way!

[mpart]

This chapter has Livvielove's amazing Edward Reaper in it and all the dialogue for him is done by her. Please read her wonderful stories linked below the chapter list! So I thought Gwen needed a friend...she disagreed as she usually does. James who? You can find Edward's version of events here. Warning though, it is adorable.
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Gwen closed her eyes as the car moved forward. Her power screamed to be unleashed and Gwen finally caved into the temptation. She was immortal and young again. She had been able to choose an age to stay at forever and she had decided she wanted to start again. She wanted to start again without him and only her children. The car moved forward as the water was merciless against the object entering the water. She had everything that mattered out of the car anyways. Memories flashed before her eyes as the car was engulfed into the water.



James had given her an old radio for her birthday. He had allowed her out of his house in knowledge she would come back. He bought her a birthday cake for her birthday. He danced with her even if he didn’t recognize her. He left a note that tore her in two. He found her and they got married. He acted as his daughter’s existence had never mattered. All the good memories with him had been surrounded by darkness threatening to engulf her. At once he had been her light until he had faded into the darkness. Now she just had to find it in herself and her children. She finally stared at the car’s contents. Wedding photos, a bouquet of flowers James had given her, and that old radio that seemed to haunt her wherever she went. Closing her eyes she blasted open the door and stepped onto the beach, unharmed. Not even a drop of water remained on her. The last remaining contents of the car were soon engulfed into deadly water as Gwen gestured for the water to do her bidding.

Gwen toyed with her short hair and grinned. He would have hated what she looked like. He would have insisted it wasn’t her. It was her though because he had never allowed her to be her true self. Power wasn’t evil. Power was only evil in the hands of people who decided to twist it. She was a siren. It would always be a part of her. She couldn’t change it and she didn’t want to. It was who she was. She was the most powerful siren that had existed. For the first time in her lifetime, Gwen embraced her power. She was a siren that caused utter destruction wherever she was, but she had been loyal to those who mattered. Gwen smiled. Her life had just truly begun.


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After staring at the ocean for a while the adrenaline wore off and reality threatened to destroy Gwen again. Her daughter that she had never truly got to know was dead or something worse because of her. She was a terrible mother. She was never there for her children. She had been too busy chasing a love for a person that never had existed. Gwen picked up her high heels and walked towards the road. It started raining and Gwen was too exhausted to do anything about it. She was suppose to be powerful but she didn’t even have the power to save her daughter. She didn’t truly know her son either if she was honest with herself. Who or what was she mourning? Miss opportunities? Not treasuring every moment spent with her children? The rain picked up and Gwen was suddenly soaked.

She wanted to be. She deserved it. She deserved every minute of torture, every minute of heartbreak and betrayal. Her daughter had not deserved it. Gwen tucked a strand of soaked hair behind her ear. Her life was a mess. It had always been. No matter how hard she tried she could never have a normal life. A part of her didn’t want a normal life. Why did she try? She walked for hours it seemed. She was a monster and she didn’t care. Her daughter was gone and she had messed up royally. Who was her son? Did he really care about Solstice or was he just more obsessed with that girl named Aurora? Gwen clenched her hands into fists as she stared at the shady bar.



She was drenched and barefoot. Only a fool would trust her. She stepped into the bar, barefoot and soaked. This was her life. Had she ever escaped from Troy anyways? Gwen was tempted to laugh. Of course she would be drowning in self-pity when she had found the remains of her daughter. Even through everything, her makeup had somehow survived. The world threw everything at her and destroyed her daughter and her makeup survived. It seemed fair to Gwen. Clearly. She walked up to the counter, not caring about the whispers that followed her. Her beauty. She smiled politely at the man who had decided to shout about her beauty.

“Gouge your eyes out with your own fork.” The man’s eyes widened. The man, stunned, did as he was told until Gwen told him otherwise. She sighed. “Get out of here.” The man dropped his fork and ran out of the bar. Gwen laughed. She sat patiently as she waited for the bartender to acknowledge her presence and hummed to herself. Everyone in the bar seemed to automatically turn towards her. Gwen rolled her eyes as the bartender came running towards her.
“I’m calling the police.” Gwen laughed as the bartender dialed the number.
“Hang up the phone.” His eyes widened and he did as he was told. Gwen grinned. “Get me something.” The man’s feet betrayed him as he went to make the drink. She felt something stir in her gut. This was wrong. Gwen shrugged and waited patiently for her drink to be made. The man shakily sat the drink down and muttered under his breath.
“Get out of my bar.” Gwen smiled pleasantly at him.
“No, thank you.”



Gwen stared at the drink that she knew she wasn’t going to have and froze. Her reflection was different. Her neon hair was still there but her eyes weren’t. They appeared to be replaced by shards of glass, shattered by the weight of the world. Gwen took a deep breath. They were eyes of a cursed siren, but Gwen wasn’t cursed. Suddenly her eyes shifted back to normal as she stared nervously at her reflection. It wasn’t possible to shift from a cursed form and back. It just wasn’t. Gwen took a deep breath. She was seeing things. Sometimes when she used her power her eyes turned a dark blue but never had they shifted like this before. It was because she had never allowed her powers to be truly used. She was just playing a child’s game by siren’s standards back then. Now though? She shook her head and sighed.

She stared at the finger that should have had her wedding ring on it. It should have promised her happier times and made her a better person. The only thing that piece of jewelry did for her was realize just how terrible of a person she was. Her daughter was dead and it was her fault. Guilt was eating at her and Gwen was just watching as it devoured her. Suddenly her phone started ringing nonstop. Gwen picked up the phone and stared at it. How had it survived? It was James. It was always James. Gwen stared at the phone, desperate to hear the man she loved. The man that would have died for his daughter and would have told her everything was going to be okay. He was clearly not the man Gwen had thought she had married.

A strange man walked into the bar, not even noticing how quiet and terrified everyone was except Gwen. Gwen was tempted to laugh. How could these people be terrified of her when she didn’t even know herself? His eyebrows knitted in confusion and he shrugged. He sat right next to Gwen, pushing his luck. Gwen smirked. He certainly wouldn’t be the first person she killed and he wouldn’t be the last. The man turned and noted Gwen's smirk, he raised an eyebrow slightly but shrugged, indifferent. He turned and put a bill on the counter.
"Hit me with a rum and coke, minus the coke." His voice was worn and he cleared his throat before pulling out his vibrating phone. He stared at it for a long minute before adding, "and a glass of water, please?" He added. The bartender was still giving Gwen glares as he slowly gathered the stranger's order. Once the glass of water was set down, the stranger carefully took his phone that was still going off and submerged it. "That's better." He grumbled.



Gwen stared at the stranger, confused by the turn of events. She stared at her phone and her hand before grabbing the glass of water and submerging her own phone. She sighed before putting her head in her hands.
 “Maybe he will shut up now.” She snapped at one of the men at the bar still. “Get my shoes from outside.” He stared at her with big eyes.
“Only if you sing again.” Gwen smiled sweetly.
“Now.” The man did as he was told, walking outside and tossing her shoes at her. Gwen caught them with a smirk. “Such a gentleman.” She stared at her glass, unable to take a drink. “Well, at least you are honest.” She muttered under her breath,”I should have sold that stupid car and that ring.” The stranger next to her grinned then, looking at her with amused eyes.
"I don't know about you, but I would've kept the car regardless." He shrugged lightly. "I sold my baby for my ex. Worst decision I ever made." Gwen was tempted to snap at the stranger but didn’t have the energy to. Instead she sighed.
“It was a beautiful model and I drove it into the ocean with the rest of ex’s stuff. I should have killed him before I killed the car.” She frowned. “Getting married was one of the worse decisions of my life. I thought it would fix everything but instead, it just added to the chaos.” Gwen stared at the phone as it started ringing again. Her eyes widened. “He bought me a waterproof phone. You have got to be kidding me.”



The man looked at the phone with annoyance. He stuck his fingers into the water and fished it out before yanking the battery out of the back and placing it back on the counter for her.
"What a sad end. At least your car went out nobly. My poor baby got left in someone else's grubby hands." He frowned then and pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before drinking down his glass. "Perhaps... the only more noble death for such a fine beast would be to tie your ex up inside the car before driving it into the water." Gwen laughed.
“Thank you.” She frowned. “Maybe I ov-” Gwen bit her tongue as the glasses in the bar rumbled and the rain got heavier outside. That man was suppose to be her daughter’s father. She sighed. She was suppose to be her mother too though. Who was she to judge? She was so confused and she felt more lost than ever. She had always believed he was the light at the end of the tunnel but in the end, he was just part of the surrounding darkness. Could she truly trust anyone at this point?

She smiled darkly as something changed in her. “He should have been driving the car off a cliff and then told us to move on.” She shook her head. “I don’t know whether to hate him or love him.” She tilted her head. Why was she telling this all to a stranger? She studied him closely. He was attractive but usually Gwen didn’t pour her heart out to anyone, no matter who they were or what they looked like. Suspicion crept up in her voice. “Who are you?” The man looked at her with a relaxed stare and slouched back in the chair.
"You do both." He paused. "You hate and love them because it's all you can be capable of doing. Doesn't matter who else they sleep with, or how much they ask you to give up... you can never just hate them - but after all they've put you through, you can't just love them anymore either. Then, once you've established that," he pointed to her glass then. "You take a huge drink and you pretend you're ok, because people need you to carry on even when you're falling apart." He let out a long breath and raised his glass in a light way to ask the bartender for another. He looked back at Gwen and held out his hand. "Name's Edward." He smiled warmly at her. "Most call me Ed, but you can really call me whatever you'd like."



Gwen smiled a little and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you Ed.” Gwen laughed. “I’m infamous for falling apart.” She stared at the counter blankly. “I think I messed up badly this time though and that is a lot coming from me I guess.” She frowned. “I have known you for roughly five minutes and I already like you more than some people I have known for years.” She shook her head. “That woman, whatever she did, was an idiot.” Edward looked her over once and chuckled.
"Was it my irresistible charm or my natural good looks?" He joked but shook his head. "You have a name, stranger?" Gwen snapped at him.
“Probably because you had a glass of water nearby and figured out how to turn off my phone.” She thought quietly for a moment. What should she tell him? Her real name or one of her fake ones? She sighed. It wasn’t like she was in disguise anyways. She spoke quietly. “Gwen.”

He chuckled, "hey, I'll take what I can get." He gave her a good-natured grin. "For what it's worth, Gwen, it sounds to me like you're better off without your ex, much like I'm better off without mine." He looked down at his phone and sighed. "Unfortunately, my ex refuses to let me be free." He pursed his lips slightly. "That witch is going to drag me under and suffocate me."  Gwen sighed.
 “I’m not sure I am.” She laughed and her eyes narrowed. “Is she a siren?” Edward looked at her with his brows furrowed.
"A who-ha?" He chuckled. "If you mean like the kind that makes noise, then yes. She makes a lot of noise - none of it pleasant, and it often leaves me alarmed." He gave her a wily grin. "I'm pretty sure that's not the kind you meant."

Gwen laughed and stared at his eyes. They were a deep, royal purple that some people could get lost in. She shrugged. She wasn’t one of those people. She grinned. “I will show you.” Suddenly the rain stopped at her command and she muttered a command under her breath to one of the strangers still at the bar,”Come here.” His eyes glazed over and he took hesitant steps. He stared at her dreamily.
“What can I do for you?” Gwen smiled sweetly as she thought over it.  She pointed at Edward.
“Tell him what you think of me.” The man sighed. “Our goddess is the most beautiful in the realm. Bowing to her will is a gift itself and some say you can even hear her-” Gwen frowned and stopped the man before he continued. “That is enough. I release you.” The man stared wide eyed at Gwen before walking out of the bar, nearly running. Gwen smiled darkly. “There.”

Edward looked at her for a minute, his eyes dancing around the bar as he took it in and then he shrugged lightly. "My ex was definitely not a siren then... but she did have the ability to nag me into doing anything. Does that count for anything?" Gwen laughed lightly and then sighed.
"That just means she was a highly manipulative woman." She frowned. "I never thought anyone saw me as a goddess. The more you learn." She shrugged.
Edward pursed his lips, "this is one of those traps isn't it? Hm, I'll bite." He grinned at her, his eyes filled with teasing. "You're beautiful, witty, powerful, determined... yeah, that's arguably a goddess." He took another sip from his drink. "You can hit me now. I'm ready for it."

Gwen sighed, unconvinced. "It wasn't a trap, at least it wasn't SUPPOSE to be a trap. You created a trap all by yourself and walked into it. I can do a little magic trick. That doesn't make me special. You have just seem to meet me on one of the days I'm actually nearly a decent being."  She stared at him, noting his mischievous smile and his laid back attitude. Suddenly she was comparing him to James. He was charming no doubt and seemed to know when to say all the right things. It just made Gwen wonder how long it would take to see him take his mask off. A part of her was terrified he wasn’t wearing a mask and that he was actually a decent person.He snapped his fingers then and sighed.
"Well drat." He shrugged then. "Ah well, I was never the brains in the family." He smiled at her again then.
"Also, Gwen-" He paused on her name, sounding it out. "You're far too hard on yourself. Clearly you're more than just a decent person. You've been letting a stranger talk to you for half the night - and you didn't even hit him when he made a trap and walked into it all by himself."



"You are right. I made it through half of the night without killing you. I deserve a reward." Gwen sighed. "I kill every decent person I meet or I cause their destruction somehow. Right now, I should be at a hotel with my kids and I'm sitting here, torturing a bartender for nothing but pure enjoyment." Edward looked at her with understanding in his eyes.
 "I should be out trying to get my kids back from their crazy mother, yet... here I am too. If you're such a bad person, what does that make me?" He paused then and held up his hand - "wait... no. Don't answer that." He smiled and laughed a bit. "We can't take care of our kids if we're falling apart ourselves, Gwen. I'm a firm believer in that you shouldn't set yourself on fire to keep other people warm."

Gwen laughed. "My aunt is a very firm believer that you need to set yourself on fire." Gwen shared her head. "She is something else." She stared at the counter and spoke softly. "No Ed, you aren't a bad person. A bad person is someone running away from their son after they just saw what maybe the remains of their daughter."Edward raised his eyebrows and nodded, "she sounds like an interesting lady." He paused and then frowned harshly before his eyes fell onto her seriously. He bit his cheek and looked at the bar counter.
"Did... did I hear you right... that your ex ran off after seeing the remains of your daughter?" Gwen bit her lip, wondering how to start explaining what had happened.
"We were driving and my daughter was missing when we saw a car that was ours that was surrounded by blood and showed signs of a fire. So much blood, I just, lost it. He stood there telling us to move forward so I tossed my ring at him and stole his car."

Edward had been taking a drink and he nearly spit it out, he placed his glass back down on the counter a little rougher than normal.
"You’re… you’re joking, right?" He glared at Gwen then. "What kind of monster sees evidence of his kid's death and does nothing?" He shook his head. "You tossed your ring at him? You should've tossed a broken bottle." He gritted his teeth and then sighed. "'Move forward? "I'm sorry. I know it's not my place to judge, but... you have to understand. I have... I have three girls - and if any one of them... watcher, any ONE of their friends... I just couldn't..." He gripped his glass and frowned. Gwen sat silently, puzzling over what he had said.
"I thought I was being the foolish one. I was always doing something wrong. There was a girl in my house acting as if she was my daughter and my ex told me how terrible I was for wanting to get information out of her. Then my son acts as if he cares more about his little 'girlfriend' than his sister but hey, who am I to judge because I wasn't around for the majority of my children's life? Now I'm here when I should be at a hotel with my three children that are somehow still alive and I'm doing nothing but drowning in self-pity."

"Gwen." Edward spoke her name until she turned to look at him. "Don't buy into it." His voice was softer. "Don't buy into the crap that you're not a good mom, or that you're not doing things right because you're not doing what everyone else is doing. We all do things our own way - and there's no such thing as a perfect parent." He frowned. "My wife-" He stopped suddenly and cleared his throat awkwardly. "My ex wife." He corrected. "Walked all over me, cheated on me with two men, and then broke up with me in a screaming match in front of our girls. I did a million things wrong in that relationship, but I'm only human." He looked at her intensely. "You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of someone else. You know who taught me that? My mom. You know how?" He looked at her and she shook her head slightly. "My dad died when I was five. Shot in the back." He gestured with his thumb and gritted his teeth. "My mom fell apart. She fell apart but tried to pretend that everything was ok... and in the end she couldn't keep it up. She melted down and wasn't there any longer." He bit his cheeks. "My mom is a great lady - Gwen - she really is... but she never took that time to heal for herself and my sister and I suffered for it. Don't ever feel guilty for taking time to heal yourself - because as I've learned... no one else is going to take care of you once you're an adult. You've got to look out for yourself as much as everyone else around you. If you have to break - then break. Pick yourself back up and put yourself back together before trying to carry someone else though, otherwise they're just going to watch you break over and over again and struggle to even help yourself." He looked at her with sadness in his eyes. "You've got so much strength left in you Gwen... I can see it, but take it from me - your kids will be happier if you're taking the time you need for you."

Gwen took a deep breath and stared at Edward. She suddenly noticed how soft his features were and how his eyes held kindness she had never seen ever. It was honest, it was true. She suddenly had to resist the urge to kiss him. She had just broke things off with James. She couldn't randomly kiss someone she had just met. The thing was though, he had listened to her like no one else had before. Maybe she was crazy and he was crazy for listening to her but Gwen had done plenty of stupid things. What was one more? She suddenly leaned over to him and gently pressed her lips to his. His eyes went wide momentarily as he registered the fact Gwen was kissing him. She was afraid he would pull away and be revolted by her. He shrugged slightly and closed his eyes, returning the kiss gently.



Gwen’s eyes went wide as she figured out what she was doing. Was she twisting him to her will? In a heartbeat is seemed, she had already forgotten about James. Shouldn’t she be a little worried about that? She just wanted to forget everything. Maybe, just maybe, if she hadn’t just got out of a marriage that was doomed from the start and her daughter hadn’t just died then she could forget everything. At the same time, she wanted to break. Not this way though. She couldn’t drag him down with her. Logic told her to but her heart had a way of arguing with logic it seemed. She didn’t want to be the first one to pull from the kiss. She had to though but she desperately didn’t want to. What if this man just pitied her? She needed to pull away. Did she have the strength to though? She felt herself melt into the kiss, not having a care in the world. Suddenly she mustered some weak strength and pulled away with a twinge of regret. Her heart was screaming no.

Edward kept his eyes closed a few moments after Gwen pulled away. His eyes fluttered open and he couldn't stop the cheeky grin that pulled on his lips. "Wow." It was all he could manage. He raised his eyebrows slightly. "Can't say I saw that one coming." He chuckled lightly, trying to gather his bearings. "I'm not sure what I said that caused that, but could you fill me in so I can say it again?" Gwen sighed.
"You are making it VERY hard not to kiss you again." She smiled thoughtfully. "Maybe it is because you are thoughtful, kind, and you are willing to actually listen. I feel sorry for the stupid woman that gave you up. She clearly had no idea what she was missing."



Edward's grin only grew. "Well... I mean... I certainly wouldn't object to another kiss." He cleared his throat and straightened himself. "Of course, I would never push a lady for one." He then wiggled his eyebrows at her. "If I didn't already know your ex was a psychotic monster, I would tell you that he was a fool too." He paused then. "Nope, he's definitely a fool. The way you kiss..." He looked at her with a question brewing in his eyes. "Are you sure this guy had more than one braincell?" Gwen rolled her eyes. "What have I done?" She smiled genuinely at him. "Thank you. That means a lot." She laughed.
 "I never knew I was a good kisser." She shrugged. Somehow he had found a way to get her to melt and feel better about who she was. In one night he had done what James didn't do in decades. It made her wonder how much she had truly missed. If she had it her way she would continue talking to Edward for who knows how long? Gwen was baffled. She didn't consider herself someone who let her walls down often. She had never kissed anyone but James before and she had never felt that way with him. Everything had seemed forced, but for her? This was natural. It was terrifying. It was something else.

"What have you done?" Edward pursed his lips and shrugged.
"Well, you told me some of the problems you were struggling with and then you gave me a dizzying," He raised his eyebrows and grinned, "wonderful kiss and now we're sitting at a bar and I'm really pressing my luck to see if you'll kiss me again." He smiled sheepishly. "Is it working?" Gwen sighed tiredly. It seemed every time she fought to be good it didn’t work. “Yes.” She pressed her lips to his, not as terrified as before but something else. She was...happy? Did she deserve happiness? Edward grinned happily into the kiss before pulling Gwen closer to him. She found herself melting as he kissed her. It made her wonder how much she had missed when she was with James. For once in her life, she hadn’t felt forced to feel one certain way or another and she could be herself. Whoever that was.

[LivvieLove]

(Puts head into hands gently) What have we done, my dear?
Now you're going to have another baby to worry about...

(Sighs) I have no regrets.
They're far too adorable. Thanks for giving my pirate some happiness in all the darkness. <3

[mpart]

(Puts head into hands gently) What have we done, my dear?
Now you're going to have another baby to worry about...

(Sighs) I have no regrets.
They're far too adorable. Thanks for giving my pirate some happiness in all the darkness. <3

I thought Gwen needed a friend. They disagreed as they usually do. Gwen can't have another child. She just can't. She can't do that to me. Well, she nearly gave me a heart attack in game but that is a story for another day. They really are too adorable. Thank you for giving Gwen some happiness, I think she would have lost it by now if it wasn't for Ed. She might even still but I'm hoping she can recover from everything. 

[mpart]

All of Edward, Jonathon, and Joey's dialogue is done by Livvielove. Please check out part one to know what the first part was from Edward's point of view! 

========================================================
Gwen walked into the hotel room, noting the light peeking its way through the curtain. She sighed, feeling heavy with regrets but somehow, lighter. It would be a shame she would never meet Edward again. It was for the best though. She didn’t need to get another good person killed. Why did her heart feel so heavy though? Gwen laughed lightly. He had just been a good person. She just needed a reminder there were still good people out there. People who hadn’t been destroyed by the world and forced to bend to it’s will. The guilt was clawing at Gwen. She needed to get her priorities straight. She needed to do it for her daughter.
 Gwen spoke softly,”Eric?” It wasn’t a command, Gwen knew that much. It was just a question.



Gwen heard some shifting from the other room. Eric walked into the room, surprisingly calm.
“Yeah mom?” His eyebrows raised in surprise. “You look younger.” Gwen shifted uneasily.
“Yeah. It is a long story. I’m sorry for leaving you-” Eric waved her apology away.
“Nah. It is fine.” Gwen frowned and spoke softly,”You know that isn’t okay.” Eric shrugged.
 “It isn’t the first time mom.” Gwen said nothing and took a deep breath. It isn’t the first time mom. A pang of regret it her, nearly suffocating her as she drowned in guilt. Eric studied her, a mixture of coldness and curiosity creeping onto his face.
“What about your sister Eric?” Gwen gritted her teeth as she was tempted to breakdown, again. Eric stared at her quizzically.
“What about her?”



Gwen stared in horror at her son. He just needed to stop talking. He really needed to stop talking. Doubt crept into her mind.
“What about that thing you were working on to find Solstice, to help her?” Eric laughed.
“I tore it up. It was a lost cause. You said it yourself, she was either dead or something worse. Why would I spend time searching for her if you wouldn’t do it either?” Gwen felt tears run down her face.
“Eric you know that-” Eric shrugged.
 “-Of course it isn’t. Dad would be the one to search for her, not you. You are too busy crying about everything.” Gwen closed her eyes.
“Stop.” Eric smirked.
 “Do you know much you have missed of her life? Even if she was still alive she wouldn’t want to be near you. She probably thought death was an escape.” If you have to break, then break.

Gwen gritted her teeth. “Eric Labelle you better shut your mouth-” Eric laughed. “
Or what?” She clenched her hands into fists and her fingernails dug into her skin until it started bleeding.
 Her voice was full of venom,”Go sit in your room and I expect an apology by the end of the day.” His eyes glazed over as he followed her command. His hands twitched, the only thing showing his rebellion. The gesture said everything. I hate you. You weren’t there for me. You never were. Gwen sunk to the ground, exhausted after he had left. She couldn’t even parent. She was overwhelmed and she didn’t know what to do.



She was done. She was done being nice to everyone when all they ever did was tell her how terrible of a person she was. If they all wanted a monster she was more than happy to give them one. Gwen got to her feet and walked towards the table that had her phone on it. James had thought of everything. He always did. He covered every lie up with a polite smile and a compliment. Gwen laughed silently to herself. She needed to get this divorce over with. Gwen dialed his number and waited impatiently. 
“What do you want Gwen?”  Gwen snapped at the person on the other side of the phone.
“I want you to be at Bridgeport by tomorrow and I want to get this divorce over with.” Gwen heard a sigh on the other end of the phone.
“Maybe next week.” Gwen laughed.
“You are coming tomorrow free will or no free will.”



James chuckled. “Are you really threatening me Gwen? That is cute.”  Gwen smiled darkly.
“Are you really that stupid? That wasn’t a threat, that was a promise. Show up tomorrow or I will gladly show you what a real monster is.” Gwen hanged up the phone, fuming from the conversation. Did everyone really believe she was that weak? Her phone rang once, then twice as Gwen closed her eyes and allowed her a moment of peace. Finally the ringing consumed her as she finally looked at who was calling her. James, of course. Gwen gritted her teeth and kept her mouth shut to not upset Calloway and Matt. Where was James?

Gwen finally got aggravated enough and picked up the phone.
“Call me again. I dare you. Do it. The moment you show up to Bridgeport I will gladly have you claw your own eyes out as I laugh. Show up tomorrow or I will drag you to Bridgeport and then kill-” “
...I take it this is a bad time?" The voice chuckled into the phone. Gwen sighed. 
"Sorry Ed, it just seems as though everyone is trying to kill me today." She chuckled darkly. She was relieved to hear his voice again though she thought it was probably because she had been dealing with James and Eric whining all day.
"Well then, I pity them. It seems they have awakened the wrath of the mighty Gwen." He paused and laughed again. "Were you really going to have him claw his own eyes out?"

Gwen laughed. "After I finally get this divorce over with then I was considering it."
"I personally think spoons are better for that kind of stuff, but hey, to each his own." He paused. "I was going to ask if you were feeling better, but I think I'll keep that question to myself. I like my eyes in my head." Gwen laughed again, a smile creeping onto her face. She shrugged.
"I guess it could have been worse. I won't be stuck in a horrible marriage and I can start over I guess."
"That's a lot of guessing." Edward mused into the phone. "You know what you need? A celebration. Once you get those papers signed you should go out and treat yourself." Gwen rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to be stuck serving a goddess." She thought quietly over the words. Something wasn't right with that deal. Fate was..too happy to make it.

"Yes, you should serve a goddess. We established you are one last night, didn't we?" He joked but the laughter fell away.
"Did you really sign yourself into service with one, or were you joking with me?"  Gwen laughed lightly.
"I'm not a goddess." She frowned. "I wasn't joking. It is a very long story."
"Oh! What a strange coincidence! I have ears. And time." He paused. "And a drink... and a seat here right next to me at wherever might be most convenient for a non-goddess goddess to tell me long stories. What a small world?" She could hear him smiling into the phone. Gwen grinned and sighed.
"I still don't understand why you listen to me in the first place but this non-goddess goddess would love to tell you a long story."



His response was immediate.
"Where does this non-goddess goddess want to meet, then?" There was warmth and teasing in his voice. Gwen laughed lightly.
"This non-goddess goddess is not sure." She had never been on a date before. Ever. It was new for her, it was astounding. His voice was gentle and warm.
"I know a quiet place off the outskirts of the big city. It's quieter - the better to hear great, long tales for; and it has great food... Oh! Another strange coincidence... the food is free for all non-goddess goddesses named Gwen so long as they show up with one Edward - and hey, I think I can fill that requirement for you. What do you know!" Gwen chuckled and spoke warmly.
"The non-goddess goddess named Gwen would be more than happy to go there and meet Edward." She rolled her eyes, a wide grin somehow managing to make it's way onto her face.

"Fantastic!" He chuckled. "What time works best for the non-goddess goddess named Gwen?" He pushed his luck - as he always did. Something Gwen liked about him it seemed. "Would a hour be too soon?" Gwen sighed. It wouldn't be soon enough.
"That would be perfect."
"When you get there we can try submerging your phone in water again. Persistence is key." He chuckled. "I'll see you then, Gwen." Gwen laughed.
"Exactly. Goodbye Edward." She hung up the phone, a wide grin on her face. Even with all the chaos around her she was..happy.

Horror engulfed her as she realized she had never been on a date and she had no idea what to do on one. What did she wear? What did she do? What did she eat? Gwen shook her head. Why was she so worried? This was ridiculous. She had no one to call to ask how this ‘dating’ thing went and she had no idea what to do. She sighed. She could do this. She smiled as she realized the solution to this problem. She just needed to ask two of the most important guys in her life. As if her thoughts summoned them, Calloway and Matt crawled into the living room. Gwen smiled and shook her head. She laughed.
“It seems you two have to help me figure this ‘dating’ thing out.”

Matt frowned as Calloway crawled over to Gwen and tugged on her dress. She smiled at him.
“Too casual?” Gwen went to the small room she shared with the twins and stared at the new wardrobe she had bought, unable to figure out what to wear. She shook her head as she remembered she had been on a date before, or what she assumed was a date. It never had counted though in her mind. She hadn’t truly known who she was. She sighed. It seemed the older she got, the more confused she was about who she was. Calloway and Matt crawled into the room, judging each dress Gwen held up.
“How about this one?” Calloway would put his head in his hands and Matt would frown if they didn’t like the dress. After five dresses Gwen was getting aggravated.
“Okay you two, what about this one?” Calloway tugged on the dress signaling his approval and Matt didn’t frown. Gwen laughed lightly.
“I love you two.”



Gwen kissed each of their foreheads, causing Matt to giggle, which he rarely did, and Calloway to smile.  Gwen did her hair in a simple bun and quietly walked towards Eric in another room.
“Eric?” She spoke quietly. Eric stared at the wall, not replying. She sighed.
“Do you have anything to say to me, Eric?” Eric met her with his cold eyes that were so much like his father’s, even though they were grandmother’s eyes. Gwen shifted uncomfortably. She had never truly got the chance to be close to her mother and right when some form a relationship was forming, Ann died. It didn’t mean that she didn’t love her and didn’t want Gwen to be there for her, she just couldn’t talk to her without it seeming unnatural. She wondered if that was how Solstice had felt.

Eric sighed. “If I had anything to say I would have been released by now, wouldn’t I have?” Gwen sighed and gritted her teeth.
“I know this is probably just a phase Eric because your sister just-disappeared but you need to realize I will be treated with respect.” Eric grinned darkly.
“Okay mom. This is just a phase.” He paused. “I want to live with dad.” Gwen snapped at him.
“We can discuss that later.” She sighed again. “I’m calling a babysitter so you can cool down and not have to worry about babysitting.” She spoke softly. “I know this isn’t the person you want to be. I release you.” Eric stared at the wall, not replying to her.

Gwen walked out of the room, feeling drained yet again. She dialed a babysitter’s number and left a few instructions for them and her phone number incase anything went wrong. She caught a taxi at the entrance to the hotel, already fascinated by the city and everything in it. Her fingers tapped to the beat of the song in the cab as she resisted the temptation to hum again. Too many bad things happened when she started singing. She arrived at the small diner quietly laughing to herself. The food smelled amazing and it was at the edge of the city. She smiled to herself. It was perfect in her mind though she started worrying she had dressed too formally.

“Wow. You look amazing, Gwen.” His voice was warm and came from behind her, as did a bouquet of purple flowers. “I hope this isn’t too forward or formal, but purple flowers apparently represent mystery, charm, and elegance. Three things, of which, you are.” Edward offered her the bouquet and shrugged lightly. “My niece is kind of an expert in plants these days… I might have phoned in for help on that one.” Gwen shook her head. "
I never thought you would call me." She smiled softly at him. "It was a nice surprise." She laughed. "I have never been to a diner before."



“I’m full of nice surprises, apparently.” He grinned at her and offered her his arm. “Never been to a diner before? My, my. You’ve been missing out!” He shook his head. “Not really, most diners aren’t that great, but Jonathon’s place is something else. He and I are friends and we go back a bit. Hopefully you like it.”  Gwen grinned, taking his arm.
"It appears you are." She smiled softly, admiring her flowers. "It appears I have missed a lot of things."
“It’s never too late to try out some new things!” He escorted her into the front door of the diner where a man looked up from behind the counter and grinned at him.
“Eddie? By the gods! Last thing I heard of you was you up and moved to the Hollow with your sister!” The man looked rough around the edges with grease-stains in his shirt and a nametag that said ‘Jonathon.’ Edward rolled his eyes and scowled.
“Paperwork brings me back. Jo couldn’t possibly make this easy.” Jonathon shook his head.
“Yikes man, I heard. What a taffer.” He shook his head. “Clearly you’re not wanting to talk about Jojo tonight though, you’ve got a lovely looking gal on your arms, you dog.” Edward laughed.
“She’s gorgeous isn’t she? Gwen, this is Jonathon. He and I go back. Jonathon, this is the lovely Gwen and we’re going to steal your best, corner booth.” Jonathon gave her a big smile.
“Lovely Gwen indeed. Why you hanging out with this loser, love?”

Gwen felt herself relaxing in the diner and how no one appeared to be wearing a mask. It was a simple place that smelled amazing and Gwen grinned as 'Jonathon’ kept talking. She frowned slightly when he called Ed a loser. She chuckled lightly.
"It appears my definition of loser and your’s is not the same." She felt the need to comment on how amazing everything was in the cozy diner. "The food smells amazing." Jonathon gave her a wide grin.
“Darn straight! We only cook the best here!” Jonathon reached over and banged on the bell a few times before calling back. “RIGHT, JOEY?” A young man poked his head out of the hole in the wall, flour on his face.
“What is it, you lout? I’m working!”
“Eddie’s here! He brought himself a girl this time too.” Jonathon pointed.
Joey whistled,“crikey, Ed… where’d you pick up that beauty? Is she blind-er-something? You could do a lot better than that ol’ man.”
 Edward shook his head and chuckled, “you guys are terrible.”
“That’s why you come back, right?” Joey called. “Hey, how’s Lala? I miss her pretty voice around here. Now I have to deal with Danny singing all by himself and boy is that a trainwreck if you ever heard it.” A voice called from the back of the kitchen.
“You got a problem with my singing?!” Joey turned his head and shooed him, “nah, go back to your dishes, Danny.”

“The girls are good. Lala is babysitting again and Elle is… with her mom.” Edward said with a sigh. “I’ll tell Lala you send your love though. She’ll probably be by to see you taffers soon.” He looked at Gwen and motioned for her to follow him to one of the back booths. “It’s not much, but it’s just like home!” He gave her a wide smile. “Don’t mind those guys, they’re a little crude, but they’re the most genuine people you could ever meet - they took care of my Lala after some idiot at school stood her up for a date and we’ve been friends since then.” Gwen shook her head and chuckled.
"Are you officially old now Ed?" A small smile crept onto her face. "I don't think  his singing could be that bad." Gwen grinned. "This was more than my home. It is perfect." She frowned. "Why would someone do that?" She shook her head. "If Eric ever did something like that he would probably be standing out in the rain while apologizing over and over to the poor girl.

”I am officially ‘old.’ I’m an old man and my girls remind me of it every, single day.” He chuckled. “Lala says his singing is wonderful apparently… but that’s my Lala for you. Nothing ever dampens her spirits - especially not some silly boy. Her sister, Elle, is…” He frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know what to do with her. She was the one who set up the date that stood up Lala.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I never raised her to be so mean, but her mom only encourages it, and now Elle hates my guts more than anything, and my ex is taking her fury out on Lala… and May…” He held up his hands and frowned. “You didn’t come all the way out here to listen to me talk about my shoddy ex.” He looked at her with warm eyes. “And I would much rather hear that long story you told me about on the phone. Something about working for a goddess?”
"Are you officially old Ed? What does that make me then?" She frowned and her eyes grew dark. "I hate people who poison their children like that. It isn't right. I hope Elle finds her way out of her mother's web of lies." She shook her head, not caring if she had been rude. She had a hatred for people like that which would be with her for the rest of her life, no matter how long or short it was. She stared at the table. "It is an extremely long story that has more downs than ups."



“What does that make you? Beautiful. That’s what it makes you.” He winked at her. “Women get more beautiful as they get older and men just get old.” He chuckled. “I thank you for your kind words. My ex… poison is a kind way of wording things, isn’t it? But I’m not going to talk bad about the mother of my children.” He said with a sigh through gritted teeth. “At least, that’s what I tell myself.” He shrugged and folded his hands in front of him. “I’m going to follow the wisdom of my daughter and tell you that every story has more ups than downs - you just haven’t seen them yet.” He smiled at her. “Feel free to start wherever you want. I typically prefer the beginning for stories though, it would be much less confusing for me.”

Gwen grinned. "Technically I'm officially immortal so I do not age." Gwen frowned and gritted her teeth. "I generally don't talk bad about people unless I intend for them to die. I guess it is good you want to keep her alive." She chuckled slightly as she tried to remember where to start. "Ugh. It  is a mess. I think I should start where my life just spiraled out of control which is strange because I guess the story really starts when I was five. I was kidnapped from my home by my children's grandfather." She paused, making sure not to overwhelm him with all the information. "I met, um, my ex where I was convinced I was a monster from an early age and trapped inside a house with my ex and his father, that was convinced I didn't deserve to live." Edward’s eyebrows were raised and he pursed his lips slightly. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand briefly. His eyes were a cross between intense and confused and saddened.
“You can’t just leave me hanging on that part. Kidnapped when you were five. Strongly powered through life despite the odds. Quietly underplay your strengths to everyone around you. Please, continue.”



Gwen chuckled lightly. "I just wanted to make sure to give you the chance to walk out if needed." She laughed. "After years of staying in the house I was allowed out because apparently my ex's father wasn't home so I showed up at my parent's house and watched as my cousin I barely knew stormed out because she had just found out she was adopted. That is another story though. She showed up at the beach and tried to talk to me so being the wonderful child I was I told her to go drown herself and she did. We left town after that and I went to school and assumed a fake identity." She shook her head. "It never occurred to me to just run away, the majority of my life I had lived with these people so I thought everything was normal, or what I assumed was normal. After years of searching for me my father found me and killed me." She shrugged, continuing. "I met a crazy person named Fate and two people I assumed were my grandparents when she made me a deal. I would be allowed to live and forget everything in my past if I was willing to pay the price." Gwen shook her head and spoke softly. "The price was that my daughter would be taken from me in the worse way possible. I never thought I would have children. I never imagined it. It was just a stupid deal. The woman didn't even look the same as she does now" She ended up putting her head in her hands, unable to comprehend what Solstice went through in her last moments.

Edward reached over and put his hand delicately on her shoulder. “We were all young once, Gwen. We all did and said stupid things that we never thought we would mean. You can’t keep holding your head down and blaming yourself for a mistake you made years ago.” He shook his head and let out a slow breath. “It sounds like this world has really put you through fire just to get to where you are today. I know it’s not much but… I’m sorry.” He looked at her with sadness in his purple eyes. “If this is too much, you don’t have to keep going.”  Gwen smiled sadly.
"I have just never really had said any of this out loud. I guess it feels good to say it to someone who isn't judging me for it." She smiled warmly at him and sighed. "At this rate I'm going to end up kissing you again Ed." She chuckled.

"Anyways, I nearly lost my mind trying to figure out who I was and met my ex ...again. It was like something was trying to push us together. It all felt forced in the end. Anyways, I figured out who I was when I became pregnant with Eric and Solstice...as a teenager. We moved a lot for awhile as I tried to be a parent and failed miserably so I went searching for their father and went back to the place I died. He left a note for me claiming I was a terrible being and that I was a monster and that I was going to kill him in the future or something like that. I lost it, forgot my children and went to Bridgeport where I killed a lot of people. I nearly killed my cousin's daughter who just made me lose my mind to protect herself. I got my 'sanity' back and found my ex. I married him and had two more children with him. Everything was going fine until I learned Eric's friend Aurora and my daughter were actually sirens disguised as them and my daughter had..died. I learned who my ex really was so I tossed my ring at him and went to Bridgeport." She shrugged. "I'm now going into servitude to the woman that may or may not torture my family for power because, well, I don't know why. I just feel like I have to, you know? I can't describe it."

Edward leaned back in his chair and stared at her skeptically. “You went through all of that pain alone?” He shook his head. “That’s… terrible.” His eyes looked at her intensely. “Are you ok? And I don’t mean right now… I just mean… in general. No one should ever have to go through that alone.” He smiled at her gently. “The world has a way of breaking people in the worst ways sometimes, but for what it’s worth… you’ve got to be one of the strongest and the most beautiful women I’ve ever met - and I’ve met a lot of women in my life.” He chuckled darkly, “including women pretending to be men to get by.” Gwen smiled.
"I guess I have just lived my whole life waiting for the next terrible thing to happen and seeing if I would survive it. I'm just happy I made it this far truthfully." She frowned. "I forgot, I killed my brother, John. I didn't know I killed him until later. I had no idea I had killed him really." She stared quizzically at the wall. "Looking back I think I suffered from stockholm syndrome." She shrugged and smiled softly at him. "Thank you Ed." She tilted her head. "That sounds like an interesting story."

“He leaned across the table, closing a bit of the istance between them with his eyes locked on hers. “That’s hardly a way to live. You deserve to be free and happy - not hiding and  waiting for something to happen to you. You should celebrate how far you’ve come and slam the door on your past. While I know those things made you into the Gwen I got to meet last night, it’s just not worth it to dwell upon the past like that. All that matters is you’re a beautiful, powerful woman and you don’t need anyone else there to hold your hand. You raised your kids - you put up with the shoddy monster you call an ex, and at the end of the day you’ve more than done everything you could - you did even better. Tell the world to shove off when it comes knocking next time, because you’re you and you’re strong and the world should be very afraid of those facts.” Gwen grinned, unable to process why after when he had heard everything she had done, he still was willing to put up with her. He had her darkest secrets and not judged her. Gwen closed the rest of the distance between them and crushed her lips to his, she wasn't sure if that was something people did at diners but didn't care.

Edward’s eyes went wide very briefly before they closed slowly. The moment was interrupted by loud clanging and cheering as Jonathon and Joey beat on some pots and pans while raving at them. Edward ignored them, as he always did, but when he and Gwen pulled away he couldn’t resist chuckling.
“Hey, Eddie, do we look like this kind of establishment to you?!” Jonathon shook his head with a grin. Edward rolled his eyes.
“Take off, you hosers!”
“Hey doll! Save some for me!” Joey called out from the kitchen and Jonathon turned around a whacked him with the budget book he was holding. None of the other diner-goers even paid them any mind, it was as if this were a regular occurrence - which it probably was. Gwen's eyes widened the moment she heard them start talking. She wasn't sure if she should just smile or if she should use her voice to make one of them do something embarrassing. She tried the first one and smiled.

Edward rolled his eyes at them and grinned at her. “Don’t mind them, they’re loonies. Absolutely bonkers.” He said the last part loudly and glared at him. Joey stuck his head out from the food window and crossed his eyes at Edward. “I’m sorry if they’re bothering you… they mean well… most of the time.” Gwen laughed. “
They aren’t bothering me. They seem like good people.” Gwen grinned, not even bothering to reflect on what she had said to him. She hadn’t known why she had not broke from the weight of everything and hadn’t bothered to worry about it. It wasn’t natural but something was making her wake up everyday and not worry about the past. It wasn’t natural. Gwen just assumed it had something to do with her being a siren. “Do you have any interesting stories yourself about crazy relatives or anything?” Gwen said teasingly.



Edward nearly spit out his drink before he chuckled. “Compared to your story? You don’t want to hear mine. Boring stuff. My dad died when I was five, my mom snapped under the pressure. My sister had to pretend to be a guy… we fought a couple wars. I killed a few important people and had to flee a country. My sister was granted some voodoo magical stuff and we resurrected my dad with my long-lived great, great grandmother” He paused and pointed at her, with humor in his eyes. “-who was awesome, by the way.” He shrugged. “I worked under Queen C in good ol’ Isla Paradiso, my sister married the son of some god and my niece is blind.” He rested his head against his hand and raised his eyebrows. “Oh, and I’m going through a divorce. See. Boring.” He leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms slightly, laughter bubbling up in his throat. Gwen blinked, trying her best to process everything. She searched for the right words to say.
"Wars? A god? Queen C?" Ed laughed and the day only seemed to get better and better. The food was amazing as Gwen had expected and Ed and her talked for hours before going to there homes. Gwen felt lighter after talking to Ed and couldn’t help but feel happy for what was to come. She didn’t know that her son was being controlled by Aurora with a voodoo doll or that she would be the cause of the destruction of Bridgeport.
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On that note I will leave you with an adorable photo of Calloway and Matt.

[mpart]

Livvielove wrote all of Lala's amazing dialogue and she gets full credit for her character. As always, please read her amazing story! Read Lala's version of events during Eric's part here!
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Aurora laughed lightly as everything came into place. She stared at the doll and laughed. No one had truly known how powerful Eric was. They couldn’t know. She didn’t even know. Whatever magic they had thought he had was all a lie. It was all her magic. She wiped a tear away as she thought about how powerful she truly was. She jerked her head up as she noticed how her connection to Eric was getting more and more severed each day. He was doing strange things she hadn’t ordered him to do. He revealed that the sirens were disguised as Solstice and her. How he had been able to tell so easily she would never know. He tried ‘fixing’ the chip by guessing and trying to improve it for Solstice when he had found her. He had even tried to find the lab. Aurora laughed again as Eric’s mood suddenly shifted. She stared at the doll with a grin. He was worried about his mommy. She hadn’t taken Solstice’s ‘death’ well and he hadn’t either. She frowned. Her connection had been cut for a while when Eric had discovered the accident. He was getting closer and closer to something that would destroy her connection to him all together. She didn’t like being away from the doll much but she had to be occasionally. 



Aurora heard Gwen talking through the doll as Eric tried to rush to see if she was okay. This wouldn’t do. She made him walk slower and care a little less about her well-being. “Eric?” The woman spoke softly as Eric pushed himself to his feet.
Aurora whispered a few words to the doll. She doesn’t care about you. She was too busy looking for James to care about you and Solstice. You owe her nothing.  Aurora could feel hatred and anger racing through his mind that clearly wasn’t his. He was her puppet that she had grown fond of and he was useful until he wasn’t.
“Yeah, mom?” Suddenly Aurora was jerked back into seeing things from Eric’s point of view through the doll. It was strange. It meant that a powerful magic source was near that wasn’t him. Gwen looked different and seemed to radiate even more power before. She hadn’t ever truly acknowledged how powerful she was and it made her pathetic. She probably had sense the sirens at her home but had ignored them in favor of doubting herself and her senses. Her appearance had changed and she seemed younger somehow. It meant that Fate’s plan had worked and she was on her way to becoming a powerful priestess of hers. Aurora had to resist a grin that was coming onto her face. The war between the gods would start with a bang, not a whimper. Fate, Calypso, and Malice were planning on going to war with Majnun and putting him in his place once and for all. He was not the most powerful god and he needed to finally know.
 Aurora chuckled to herself. “You look younger.” Suddenly her eyes widened as Eric repeated what she had said. She felt a wave of confusion go through him as she was tempted to scream at her puppet. He was such an ignorant child. Gwen answered quickly, too quickly for Aurora’s taste.

“Yeah. It is a long story. I’m sorry for leaving you-”
Aurora answered quickly. No she isn’t Eric. She just wished she had left you with Eric. Don’t worry though, I’m here for you Eric. Tell her it isn’t unusual for her to leave you alone. Eric struggled with the command coming into his mind causing Aurora to sigh. He was too good. He followed through, instantly regretting it but listening.
“Nah. It is fine.”
Gwen spoke next. “You know it isn’t right Eric.” Aurora rolled her eyes as Eric shrugged and responded back to her. A mother’s love blah, blah, blah.
“It isn’t the first time mom.” Aurora smiled as Eric studied Gwen with a mixture of coldness and curiosity creeping onto his face. He was trying to figure out if she was forcing his words to come out of his mouth or who was. Aurora pushed that thought away. He was too smart sometimes for someone so dumb.
“What about your sister Eric?” Aurora clenched her hands into fists. It was always about that annoying girl, wasn’t it? She was infuriated. She smiled sweetly and whispered a few words quickly to Eric.
Repeat after me Eric. She has wronged you. He tried resisting saying the words as Aurora whispered them into his mind but he failed. Every terrible thing Aurora could think for Eric to say.
“What about her?” Aurora gritted her teeth as Eric resisted her commands, again. She had to repeat them to him. It seemed what was causing the issue was getting closer and closer to him.
“What about that thing you were working on to find Solstice, to help her?” Eric laughed as Aurora did. He stopped resisting and just screamed at her in his thoughts. She replied with a comment of her own.
You will thank me for this later Eric. You don’t need her.
“I tore it up. It was a lost cause. You said it yourself, she was either dead or something worse. Why would I spend time searching for her if you wouldn’t do it either?” Aurora felt relief flood through her as she remembered how she had forced Eric to shred the blueprints. He could have ruined everything they had planned for Solstice. Solstice was never meant to replace Calypso as Calypso was running this whole operation. She had acted ‘trapped’ in the lab even though she wasn’t. She could go whenever she wished. Everyone here was a follower of her. They had never meant to kill magic users at all, they just wanted to improve them for the army that would be needed to defeat Majnun. Their magic would be modified with the chip that would allow others to command what the magic user did. Solstice was going to be the first of many to receive the chip and be programmed to do one thing. Kill all magic users that did not submit. They would have a power addiction causing them to kill every magic user in the room they were in. A power addiction was usually self-inflicted by the user but it wouldn’t be this time. A power addiction usually caused the magic user to crave power above everything else and kill however necessary to get it.



They were nasty creatures that usually needed to be put down. Most of them were death-keepers after all. Aurora hadn’t known much about death-keepers herself but knew they all needed to die. They would follow Maleficent in the end. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt hatred consume her. That was a subject for another day. The plan at the lab was to break Solstice and send her back to her family programmed to kill them all. She was the first of many to come after all. She would most likely die killing her family as the chip only allowed the user so much time before it became self-destructive and the power addiction finally killed the user. Solstice was originally meant to be Fate’s heiress before she was kidnapped and Fate had mocked her as a child about it because she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Something happened, something Aurora was never allowed to know, that had caused the book of Fate to not allow Solstice have children for Fate’s lineage. It was strange and it wasn’t explained. Solstice would never be able to have children which enraged Fate and caused her to torture her and give her to Calypso to allow what she did as she wished. How did the Legends tie into this?  Aurora smiled thoughtfully at the doll as Eric successfully completed their commands. The Legends were all descended from Calypso and unlike Fate’s line, loyal to her. She left the doll hesitantly behind as Stephen called for her to go talk to Solstice. They were testing something new out. If she had known that the connection would snap because one normal girl that would change Eric’s world she would have never left the doll but she could never change what the book of Fate had in store.


======================================================================

Eric tapped to the beat of the sound in his head. Something was missing. Aurora’s voice was no longer there telling him what to do, controlling him. He had never mentioned it in the fear that people would believe he was insane. Over the past years it had got even worse. Once Solstice had left it had intensified like never before. He was insane and he had a ridiculous fear that he would be locked up because of it or they wouldn’t take him seriously. Something was controlling him. Suddenly his mind snapped and he felt disconnected from reality. He needed to get out. He needed to find a way to apologize to his mother for what he had said to her. He wasn’t right. He was never right. He was so desperate to tell them that he hadn’t meant all of it but what would they think? He was just making an excuse up anyways. He ended up putting his head in his hands as he sat on the sofa and thought about what to do before Aurora’s voice came back and forced him to do something. Suddenly someone knocked on the door causing him to be pulled away from his thoughts. He hesitantly opened the door and peeked out of it before remembering to mask his feelings. He was insane anyways.



The girl with wide purple eyes went to grab a piece of paper as her foot seemed to catch her shoelaces that had gotten loose and she tumbled forward, knocking Eric down as she landed directly on top of him. Her bright purple eyes stared at his with embarrassment.
“I’m so sorry! I’m so...so sorry! Oh no!” She scrambled as she tried to pull herself off. “No! I’m making it worse! I’m sorry!” She pulled herself up slightly as her bright eyes met his. She was beautiful and her purple eyes had a depth to him that Aurora’s had never had. She seemed to radiate happiness and Eric found himself forgetting his insanity as he stared into her eyes for longer than was appropriate. He couldn’t figure out what to say. What if words that weren’t his came out? It was like being hit by a freight train. A startling stunning freight train that was coming straight to kill you. He paused in his thoughts that were his. Maybe that wasn’t something good to compare her to. Was she even real or was she a hallucination of sorts? Was his mind playing tricks on him? He had never had hallucinations before but he wouldn’t put it past his mind to create them. His eyes widened as he mumbled a few words that were his.
“Freight train.”



She quickly herself off of him and then floor as she scrambled to help Eric up. She must have felt pity for him because he was already acting like an idiot. He was usually so good with words around people or was he?
“I’m so, so sorry.” Her face continued to burn with embarrassment and Eric had to resist the urge to smile. She was adorable. He was awkward and crazy. She took a shaky breath and calmed slightly as she reached to dust his arms and shirt off of any dust she thought she had inflicted on him. She stopped dusting him off suddenly and stared at him with wide eyes, backing off immediately. Of course she would back away from him. He was not normal. She should keep her distance as much as she could. He might say something stupid...again. “Oh, these silly shoes always come untied at the worst possible minute…” She stared down at her shoes, most likely trying to avoid the creep standing before her. He cleared his throat and tried not to say something stupid.
“Sorry about that.” He paused. He needed to introduce himself without sounding awkward. Wasn’t the situation already awkward enough? “How can I help you?”


Her eyes went wide as she seemed to recall why she ran into a freak, “Oh! Silly me! Uhm…” She dug for something in her bag before pulling out a piece of paper. “I’m supposed to be babysitting. Oh what a fantastic start I’m off to.” She let out a small, nervous sigh as she fumbled to unfold the paper. She started counting on her fingers. One delicate finger would go up and her face would suddenly brighten. Her face heated up again as she realized he had been staring. Eric tried to look away, realizing he had just made things worse. She brought her hand up to her face and brushed loose strands of hair away nervously. “Calloway and Matt? Do I have the wrong room?” Eric sighed with relief as he figured out what she was here to babysit. She was real. The thought seemed to comfort him in a strange way. His eyes hardened as he thought of what he had said to his mother. She got a babysitter for the twins so he could ‘cool off’ from his episode of insanity. He needed to apologize to her the second he could if he was allowed to. He smiled thoughtfully.
“Nope. You have the wron-right room I mean.” Suspicion crept up in the back of his mind. Should he be inviting strangers anywhere near Calloway and Matt after everything has happened?  He was tempted to shrug. He shouldn’t be near them but he was everyday. He repeated the words.
“You have the right room.”

She bit her lip nervously. “I’m so sorry again for that…” She pointed to the doorway. “I just wanted to find the slip so I could figure out if I had the right room, then in my stroke of bad luck I dropped it… and then tripped… and then knocked you over… and… Oh I swear that’s not normal!” She waved her hands in front of her. “I am fully capable of watching children! I promise! I hope I haven’t soured your impression of me… I’m really, really sorry.” She tipped her head slightly. “I mean, at least it’s a great ice-breaker, right? Oh, and it’s good I fell into the right room!” She paused for thought. “And at least now I’ve officially done the most embarrassing thing of the day. I’ve fulfilled my embarrassing-things quota!” She smiled brightly before  her hand flew up to her face. “Oh! I’m sorry! I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Lakisha!” She curtseyed awkwardly. She blinked rapidly and bit her lip, “you can call me Lala, if you’d like… everyone does. I mean, not everyone… if you don’t know me you can’t call me that, but that’s because you wouldn’t know my name in the first place. It’s a bit silly, isn’t it? My dad came up with it one day and it just kind of stuck and I’ve gone by Lala ever since…” She laughed nervously before straightening. “Oh! What’s your name?” Not normal? He wasn’t normal. Eric laughed before shutting his mouth. He smiled slightly.
“Eric Labelle. Nice to meet you Lala?” No. He shouldn’t have worded that as a question. He was a mess already. “I can show you where the boys are if you like-” Suddenly Calloway and Matt crawled towards the doorway. Matt was frowning which was usual for him before he smiled at Lala. Eric tapped his fingers on his arm, his heartbeat racing as he waited for Aurora’s voice to return. Something was strange about Lala or was it just different because she seemed so positive and normal? He was tempted to shrug.



“Oh my gosh! You two are positively the most adorable children I’ve ever seen! You have neon hair!” She scooped up Matt who had smiled at her and hugged him tightly. “Oh my goodness! Just look at you two! Twin boys? How funny is that! I’m a twin too.” She poked Matt’s nose before slowly setting him down and kneeling with his twin. “Well, now I seem to have double the positive things to think about today!”  Eric chuckled lightly and almost started speaking before shutting his mouth. Matt buried his head in her hair, falling asleep as Calloway stared at his twin in a mixture of confusion and did Eric really see, embarrassment? He shook his head. Calloway was too strange sometimes.Matt yawned and pointed at Eric.
“Idwiot.” Calloway appeared to sigh as he placed his head in his hands.



Lala’s eyes opened wide in surprise before looking up at Eric. She shook her head firmly then. “Oh, no! That’s not a very nice thing to say, little one! Where did you learn to talk like that?” She frowned. Suddenly Lala started counting on her fingers again and Calloway saw her counting and reached out to grab her hands. Lala’s eyes widened again and she nearly jumped backing before smiling at Calloway. “Oh, don’t mind me and my silly counting. It’s important to remember not to call people idiots. That’s not a nice thing.” She told the boys. “That’s hurtful.” She slowly counted three more things on her fingers. Eric found himself frowning as he remembered how James had once been infuriated for no reason and had started insulting him when his mother hadn’t been there. He had of course done it in front of the twins. Matt’s eyes went wide as he realized he had somehow angered Lala. He pointed at Calloway who pointed at Matt who then pointed at himself.
“What?”
“What?”
Suddenly realization dawned on Calloway’s face.
“Jamez!”

Lala slowly stood up, her eyes staying mostly to the floor. “Children are like little sponges.” She pursed her lips slightly. “If it makes you feel any better my little sister called me ‘stupid’ after she heard my mother call me that. She didn’t mean it, and I don’t think this little one means it either.” She smiled sweet at the twins. She shook her head then and let out a long breath. “I’m so sorry. I’ve really just made a mess of everything today. I’m having an off day it seems, but it’s ok! One, the day isn’t over yet.” She delicately began counting on her fingers. “Two, how can I possibly have a bad day when I’m surrounded by adorable babies… and three, I like meeting new people.” She looked at Eric sweetly and then her eyes went wide with realization. “I just said that outloud, didn’t I?” Eric laughed before smiling at her warmly. “It seems so.” He tilted his head. “That is an interesting habit. Do you always count a lot?” He shaked his head. “Luckily James won’t be around them again. Ever.”
She fidgeted with her hands before moving her hands up to fiddle with her braid. “Count a lot?” Her cheeks started burning again. “Yes, I suppose I do. It’s a habit I picked up when I was younger. I… I make it my mission to say three positive things for every negative thing I think about.” She took in a shaky breath, waiting for his reaction. Eric grinned. “That is fascinating. Do you always find a way to find three positive things for every negative thing?” He stared at the door, wondering if he should leave or not. His mother had called for a babysitter for him to be able to cool off, not for him to randomly embarrass or do something stupid.
Lala let out of her breath, surprise filling her eyes. "You aren't going to laugh at me?" She smiled softly to herself then before looking at him with a bigger smile. Eric felt surprise cloud his eyes as he stared into hers. He tilted his head and stared at her curiously.
“Why would I laugh at you for that? I think that is amazing that you can find the good in everything not once, but three times.”
Lakisha laughed then, a nervous but relieved laugh. "Well it's kind of a silly thing, but it works for me. There's no such thing as a bad day in my books. There will always be more positive things in the world than negative. You just have to find them, you know?"  Eric grinned. 
“What do you call your less positive days then?” He didn’t want to offend her if he said her positive things were adorable but he found it fascinating. His family always seemed to live in darkness and for someone to find something positive in everything made him feel as if the world maybe wasn’t waiting to devour him after all. 

She paused, thinking. “You know, I don’t really think about it that way. This will sound really silly, but if I give it a name, I give it power… like, the power to exist. I don’t have  name for it because then I would be admitting that every day isn’t a good day, and they all are.” She giggled. “There will always be a bright side to every day, no matter how bad things may seem. Sometimes I think about the bad things and it just feels like I fall into a hole… like there’s just no sunlight left… but my dad told me that sometimes there is no sunlight. Somedays it’s cloudy or sometimes it’s nighttime… and in those days we have to remind ourselves of how warm the sun feels, and what the light looks like. The sun will always rise. Clouds will always dissipate. Nothing is forever except the sunshine.”   
Eric stared in awe of her before realized he had been staring too long. Far too long. How could someone be so positive all the time? He resisted the urge to suddenly kiss Lala. He had known her for how long? That wasn’t something you just did. He suddenly panicked. What did he do? Did he excuse himself from the situation and run away as fast as he could? Did he start a fire or something? He was good at speaking. He was good at twisting words to his will and this wasn’t different. If whatever was driving him insane wasn’t there then he could say anything he wished without messing something up. He needed to find out why she was positive all the time. That was a good start. Why would she kiss him anyways? He wasn’t anyone special. He needed to know more about her strangely. Everything was strange today.

 

“When did you become so positive Lal-Lakisha?” He asked gently, afraid that he would anger her. She giggled as he stumbled over his words and he worried he had messed up this time badl. 
 “Please, you can call me Lala. I insist!” She smiled brightly at him and sighed wistfully. He was tempted to sigh with relief when he had realized he hadn’t said something incredibly stupid.
 “When did I become so positive?” She giggled again. “Well, I wish I could tell you I was born that way, but…” She shrugged. “Well, when I was little, my twin decided to play a joke on me and scare me. She hid in the closet at home in our entryway and jumped out to surprise me… and boy did it work. I remember panicking because I didn’t expect it, yet I couldn’t scream even though I wanted to. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t… get air into my lungs. Turns out I had asthma and that triggered it. I thought…” She looked at him with big eyes. “I thought I was going to die.”  She took in a big breath and fidgeted more with her hands. “My dad came running in and freaked out. He carried me all the way to the hospital.” She laughed lightly, “we weren’t far, and traffic in Bridgeport at rush hour? Impossible.” She shook her head. “When we got there they took me away from my dad and I remember that made everything worse. I didn’t want to die without seeing my parents one more time. I remembered every bad thing that ever happened to me that I would never get to make up for: every bad grade, every ill-spoken word. Everything. They finally got me breathing through some kind of tube and let my dad and mom back in to see me.”  Eric stared at her with sadness in his eye as she spoke. He understood that if he could take back every ill-spoken word he had ever said to his mom or Solstice, he would. Lala shifted, fidgeting even more with her hands. Eric noted that it was something that just made her even more beautiful. She was just so human, she wasn’t trying to manipulate anyone or anything. “My mom was mad at my dad and they got into an argument because he left Rachelle alone to take me to the hospital. I remember feeling so horrible because… because it was all my fault that I stopped breathing. I made things worse. My mom left after the argument and my dad stayed with me all night. I felt so bad for keeping him up, but I couldn’t sleep with the tube in my throat. Everything was just horrible and part of me actually wanted them to take the tube out so I wouldn’t cause anymore problems any longer.”

Her hand came up and she idly rubbed her throat. “I couldn’t stop crying and my dad stayed up by my bed and told me every good thing he could think of. The sun would come up tomorrow. I looked good in my hospital gown with flowers on it. He didn’t want to go to work anyways. I didn’t have to go to school. He never stopped thinking of good things until suddenly the world didn’t seem so dark and scary anymore. The next day I could breathe on my own and my dad made me start listing all the good things I could think of. It was hard at first… but it got easier.” She twisted her fingers around her braid as she spoke before her eyes turned and met Eric’s and she smiled. “He did that every time I was hospitalized after that, and I’ve been doing it everyday ever since.” Eric was at a lost for words.
“Your mom was mad because your father took you to the hospital because you couldn’t breathe?” Lala shifted on her feet.
“My mom is… very particular about getting things done a certain way.” She closed her eyes “She was just upset that Rachelle got left home alone. I… also don’t think she takes my asthma very seriously.” She bit her cheeks. “She… accidentally throws out my inhalers a lot.” Lakisha shrugged awkwardly. “She says she doesn’t mean it, and she really wants the best for me when she says she doesn’t think they help.” She paused. “She still comes to visit me in the hospital even though she doesn’t like it there!” She held up three delicate fingers and sighed with relief. Eric had to resist the urge to do something stupid. To say something stupid. In what world was it okay to not care when your child had nearly died? He closed his eyes as he tasted blood in his mouth. His father hadn’t cared about Solstice. Eric should have cared more. He should have done more for Solstice when she was nearly breaking down everyday after school for a reason he couldn’t fathom. He was the one who had given her the keys to the car that had killed her. He hadn’t cared at all. He knew that car wasn’t the best model and he had still had tossed the keys to her when she had asked to drive it. What was wrong with him? Suddenly he just felt the need to tell Lala, to tell anyone while could about his sister. How he regretted everything.



“My father, James, hadn’t cared about my sister when she had-” He fidgeted with his hands, a nervous habit that he had himself whenever Aurora had ordered him to do something. He was tempted to laugh. He sounded insane, he was insane. He stared down at the floor.  “Anyways, it is a big deal.”
Lala looked at him, her head tilting slightly. She bit her lip and tilted her head. “I would like to hug you, is that ok?” He smiled, baffled at what he did for her to want to hug him. Today was too strange. What was he suppose to say? What was he suppose to do? He shrugged, a gesture that seemed too strange to him now. “Sure.”
Lala smiled brightly, her smile seemed to spread to her whole face and she giggled. “Oh! Yay!” She moved to take a step forward and the very same shoe that tripped her earlier had it’s laces caught under her other shoe. She stumbled forward and caught herself on Eric’s arms, her eyes were wide and staring into his chest that her head leaned against. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe that I did this again! I’m so sorry!” Suddenly Eric had to resist the urge to ask permission to kiss her. Why did he want to kiss her so badly? This was just too strange.
He chuckled nervously. “It is okay. Don’t worry about it.” Lakisha sighed then and laughed.
“Oh, can we just pretend that I’m not making a total fool of myself today? That would be great.” She kept laughing as her cheeks heated up with embarrassment again.
Eric laughed and paused. Was he really going to do this? “Well, there is always three positive things for every negative thing out there.” He realized he hadn’t moved away from her. “You do this adorable thing where you fidget with your hands when you get embarrassed” He paused again. “You see the good in everything when others can’t and you seem to have the power to make everyday better.”



Lala’s eyes grew  wide as her cheeks burned. She started grinning widely. In a heartbeat she hugged him tighter while she laughed. “That just made my day so much brighter! You’re possibly one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. You don’t laugh at my silly counting… and you don’t hold my clumsiness against me - though I swear this isn’t normal… and-” She paused as she met his gaze and stared into his eyes. She took a deep breath. “You have beautiful eyes.” Eric didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t good at flirting or was he? Nope. He wasn’t good at flirting. At all. Should he kiss her? Would it be okay if he kissed her? Did it matter? He hesitantly leaned down to her height and pressed his lips to her’s.



Her eyes went wide before she slowly closed them and kissed him back. Suddenly Eric compared Lala to Aurora yet again. Why was he comparing amazing Lala to...Aurora? Kissing Aurora had felt forced and he felt as if he was kissing a venomous snake. Lala was so much sweeter than her. She hesitantly brought her fingers up and into his hair. Who was Aurora again? What was his name? What had he been worried about? He felt himself melting as she kissed him. It was like being hit by a freight train. A beautiful, chaotic cheerful freight train. It didn’t last long until Matt crawled over to Lala and tugged on her dress before pointing to his cheek.
“My twurn.”
Calloway crawled after him naturally and just sighed before ending up putting his head in his hands.



Lakisha started laughing sweetly as she took a deep breath. “Oh my, your turn now?” Her cheeks were turning redder and redder. “Ok!” She stooped down and picked up Matt into her arms, planting a kiss on both of his cheeks and then on his nose. She giggled and gave him a tight hug. Eric had to resist rolling his eyes and allowed a grin to come onto his face. Of course Matt would ask her to kiss him. Calloway stared at Matt in confusion as he hugged Lala back with his small arms.
“What?” Suddenly Calloway crawled over to Lakisha and tugged on her dress before pointing at his own cheek. Matt frowned at him.



“Oh? You too?” Lala was giggling. “Oh my…! I don’t think I’ve ever had so many boys wanting my attention.” She kept laughing as she slowly put the boy in her arms down in favor of Calloway, whom she pulled up and kissed equally. “My sister is usually the one who’s good with boys and… well… people.” She shrugged. “I just have my counting.” Matt pointed at Calloway.
“Boo.” He crossed his arms and his frown only seemed to get worse. Calloway stuck out his tongue at him and Eric had to resist the urge to burst out laughing. He grinned at Lala.
“I think Calloway and Matt disagree.”  Lakisha smiled at Eric before she averted her eyes bashfully.
“Are you sure they’re not just fighting over getting kisses? I go from kissing no boys to three in a short span… I can’t say I ever expected that.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh! That’s embarrassing. I think I talk too much. My sister says I talk too much, and I certainly believe her… like now. Now I’m definitely… talking too much.” Eric bursted out laughing.
“I think she is wrong.” He paused. “I like it when you talk.”

Lala was suddenly at a loss for words it seemed. She gripped at Calloway. “Did I just dream that, a minute ago? I can’t tell if I’m going crazy or not. I… I’m probably going crazy. Am I in shock or did that actually happen?” Eric laughed.
“Which part? The part where I kissed you or said I liked when you talked? Both of them happened.” He grinned. Suddenly Eric’s mother walked in, her face a mixture of emotions. She smiled when she saw Lala holding Calloway.
“Thanks for watching these two trouble makers.”  Matt smiled at her before she lifted him up. He yawned before falling asleep against her. She turned to him as he felt guilt and pain claw at him.
“I thought you would be walking around the city cooling off Eric.” She said softly.
Eric shrugged. “Nope.”
 Lala’s eyes went wide and she smiled brightly. "Oh! Are you Ms. Labelle? Wait, no, of course you are. It'd be silly of me if I didn't see the resemblance!"



 Gwen chuckled lightly before seeming to assess the situation. Her eyes hesitantly flickered between Lala and Eric before her face turned into a perfected smile. “Yep. Thank you so much for watching Calloway and Matt.” She opened up her back and fished for some money before handing some to Lala. She smiled softly. “I hope that is enough. Thank you again.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Lala’s eyes widened as she stared at the money.  Lala stuttered as she examined the money before her. "M-M-Ms. Labelle this is far too much... I couldn't possibly accept this much. The boys were perfect gentlemen, and Eric was so much help it was like I was hardly needed at all." She took a small bill from the stack and handed most of the money back. "I'm mostly happy getting paid in good company anyways."
Gwen tilted her head before examining the money Lala had given back.“I didn’t mean to offend you at all, Lakisha is that right? I can’t say thank you enough for watching them. Do you have a ride home? I’m not sure if I heard you correctly over the phone.”

Lala nodded, still smiling brightly. "No, please! You didn't offend me at all. I would just feel so guilty taking that much from you when babysitting for your boys hardly felt like work at all! I-" She stopped suddenly as her phone rang. "Oh! That's my dad! Uhm, it was nice to meet all of you." Her gaze lingered a little on Eric before she gave each of the twins a big smile. "Hopefully we'll meet again!" She waved and slowly ducked out of the door before reaching down and answering her phone. Eric and Gwen watched as Lala walked out of sight before
Gwen turned to Eric. She tilted her head slightly before smiling.
“Would you like to explain what that was to me?”
 Eric was surprised that he was able to talk without Aurora commanding him to do something.
“I’m so sorry for early mom.” Gwen took a deep breath before looking at Eric again.
“What was that Eric?” She spoke softly and quickly, her voice almost raised as a command. Eric laughed bitterly.
“You will think I’m insane.”
Gwen went to sit down on the couch and placed her head in her hands.
“Do you know how I met your father Eric?” Her voice shook with pain as she looked up at him. Eric stared at her, baffled.
“Didn’t you meet him at a park or something?”  Gwen laughed bitterly.
“No. I was kidnapped at the age of five by your grandfather. I met him when I was locked inside a room for years told I was a monster and I shouldn’t exist.” She sat up straight as an emotionless mask replaced her features. For one moment he had been able to see inside her mind. Eric didn’t know what to say.
“What?” He couldn’t find his words. “What happened to the person that kidnapped you?”
Eric was tempted to laugh. Was this some crazy joke. Surely hasn't family wasn’t that crazy.
Gwen replied coolly,”I killed him. Now what is that makes you ‘insane’ Eric?”
Eric shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know.” He knew it was a lie. He did know.
Gwen sighed. “Madness is everywhere it appears.” Matt and Calloway shared a look. One of them knew more about the future than they would like to share. They knew the answer to another’s destruction or redemption.

[LivvieLove]

Aww, poor Eric doesn't know what hit him.
Well, he does. A freight train named Lala.

I love Edward and Gwen. I have to say when I sent you over Edward I didn't think Lakisha would find someone good, but I'm glad she did too. Now they just need to work on keeping Aurora out of poor Eric's head.

[Magpie2012]

Too many feels. I really hope we end up with a little Labelle-Reaper, whether Ed and Gwen's or Lala and Eric's, I'm not fussy lol

both of your stories are just getting better and better. It's an honour to have you share them with us!

[mpart]

Aww, poor Eric doesn't know what hit him.
Well, he does. A freight train named Lala.

I love Edward and Gwen. I have to say when I sent you over Edward I didn't think Lakisha would find someone good, but I'm glad she did too. Now they just need to work on keeping Aurora out of poor Eric's head.

I can't say thank you enough for sending some happiness my characters ways. I'm hoping that they can all live happier lives full of mush. Oh well, I guess I have been converted.

Too many feels. I really hope we end up with a little Labelle-Reaper, whether Ed and Gwen's or Lala and Eric's, I'm not fussy lol

both of your stories are just getting better and better. It's an honour to have you share them with us!

Definitely. I NEED a Labelle-Reaper. That would just be too adorable. I honestly think that if Ed and Gwen had a kid right now it would completely shatter her. The more I write her the more I notice how fragile she is. She just needs some happiness. Hopefully that can happen. My characters have a tendency to write themselves. I can only guess what will happen in the future. It is so much fun really. Aww! That made my day! I just love writing my crazy Labelles and I remember being surprised when I had thirty views. Still am actually. Another crazy chapter coming your way! 

[mpart]

Sheogorath and the Stranger's dialogue is done by Livvielove. Her story is linked below the chapter list.  Find Sheogorath's version of events here.
======================================================

Solstice slowly remembered to breath as the veins untangled around her. Breath in. Kyle Legend was smirking. Breath out. She was going to die. Breath in.  Kyle faked concern, his perfect features twisting into something that he must have thought resembled concern. Solstice found herself tugging at the vines, screaming for help that was not going to come. She felt the vines suffocating her as they became tighter until she couldn’t breathe and her brain informed her it was shutting down in approximately 5.456789876542 seconds. Let it shutdown then. Let it shutdown forever and allow her to fade into the endless darkness. The vines kept tightening as Solstice was plunged into restless darkness. Her mind was forcing her to heal before she went to face the world again. It didn’t matter though. Thoughts rushed by as she was allowed to dream of happier times before her life had been caught up in a storm that was never ending.


=======================================================================

Solstice hesitantly walked down the steps and sighed. High school was a mess it seemed. Everyone’s thoughts were running wild and she couldn’t handle it. Every class period she had to excuse herself to not breakdown from taking in so much information. At the end of the day it left her feeling dizzy and exhausted. Aurora was digging through her bag for the latest lipstick and Eric was grinning as it was in plain sight but Aurora could not see it. “Stupid thing. I just bought a new one.” They barely acknowledged her presence and it was something Solstice knew wasn't unusual. They were her best friends and loved her in their own strange ways. Eric was trying to annoy Aurora to finally get her to notice him. It made Solstice sad. Love was confusing and illogical. It made no sense to Solstice and that made her furious.
Eric’s mischievous grin faded. “Have you heard from mom?” Solstice shaked her head. Eric smiled sadly. “Well, see you later Solstice.” Solstice rolled her eyes and shared a grin with her brother as she watched her brother and her best friend walked away. She found herself randomly walking down an alley and singing quietly to herself before turning suddenly and running down a familiar road to the dance studio. It wasn’t uncommon for her to disappear during the nights to dance. It was the only thing keeping her from breaking from the pressure. Her family avoided her, afraid to get close to her because they were worried something terrible would happen to her at any moment. She was treated as a toddler with no chance to have a voice if she wanted to. She didn’t talk because she could never truly express herself that way. Not in the way she wanted anyways. It was normal though for her family to be terrified of her. Every family had it’s problems. They were only trying their best. That was what mattered.

Why did she feel so angry then with everyone? Was it just because of her age? Why did she feel so strange when someone brought James up? She shook her head as she stared at her bag and smiled. Her family had never truly understood her passion for dancing. It was what kept her sane it seemed. If she could dance then what could go wrong? Her mind seemed to bring up dozens, thousands of possible outcomes as she stared at her bag and tried to push away her doubts. Dancing was what mattered. She quickly rushed to change before nearly running to the desolate room where she could dance alone in peace. The classical music seemed to soothe her as she focused on the twist and turns of the dance. She nearly seemed to perfect her pirouette and she hummed happily along to the music. She closed her eyes and just danced until every negative thought she had seen in someone’s thoughts disappeared.



Suddenly her list came to her mind. Her list of traits that she needed to find to actually go into a relationship. Aurora laughed at her for it but she didn’t understand why. Solstice bit her lip nervously. She ended up shutting her eyes as she focused on dancing. Dancing. She needed to dance. The thing was, some many of her family’s relationships had failed. Whether it was magic or something else entirely Solstice didn’t want to go through the heartbreak. She just wanted to find someone compatible to bring on the next generation if needed. Luckily she didn’t need to worry about that anytime soon. Everyone acted as if she was going to die at any moment, that she was a timebomb getting ready to explode. What if she was? What if they were right? Suddenly a faster paced song played on the radio and Solstice grinned as she laughed lightly.



She danced quickly and perfectly, occasionally doing a saute and a pirouette. She spun faster and faster, her laughter getting louder and louder until it filled the air. It was whimsical almost as if someone was singing. She closed her eyes as one of the lights flickered strangely. She loved this song, no she adored it. It was best when one had a partner to dance with but Solstice never would or at least she thought. Everyone was too afraid that if they did something wrong they may end up shattering her into millions of pieces like a porcelain doll.



She smiled thoughtfully to herself as the song took a dramatic twist. Maybe she should add that as one of her requirements. The other would have to dance with her. She shook her head. The point of it was to not get attached to them or anyone. She would hurt them if she did. She grinned as the song suddenly stopped and resisted doing a small bow as she stared at the shattered light. She gave it a quizzical look before shaking her head. 



She was tempted to exit the room quickly and quietly before she turned around and stared into bright yellow eyes. She took a step back and wiped the sweat off her face before staring at the face in front of her curiously. He seemed to be surprised that she could see him. He was wearing a face mask as his yellow eyes that seemed to hold thousands of answers widened. Solstice grinned before shifting uncomfortably. Did he just steal something and she hadn’t noticed? She shrugged before crossing her arms. She stared at his eyes for too long before words started coming out of her mouth.
“You don’t need a disguise or a face mask. That doesn’t matter really. You don’t need to hide anything.” She closed her mouth shut quickly before shaking her head. Why was she talking to random strangers now? Shouldn’t the smart thing to do is run in terror? Her eye’s widen as another light bulb shattered into millions of pieces above her. She suddenly focused her thoughts into getting into this stranger’s mind. Each time she tried to it seemed as if she hit an invisible wall and couldn’t get through. She stared at her feet, wondering what was wrong with her. She had been reading other’s mind all day and now she couldn’t read his? What was something wrong with her?


He tilted his head slightly, his gaze remaining on hers as he stepped forward cautiously, kicking away some of the shattered, light bulb remains. "You dance alone?" His voice was quiet and warm. Her eyes widened.
“I’m hearing voices in my head like Maleficent, aren’t I?” She shook her head and smiled softly. “At least you are hot. Wait. Could my mind make up something so hot?” She sighed. “Too bad you don’t exist in reality. You are perfection really. You haven’t insulted me for my singing or dancing or my lack of talking. Oh and you asked me about my dancing without insulting it.” She frowned. “Wait. I said that already.” She shook her head and stared at the floor again. “Looks aren’t everything it seems.” She stared at his eyes again and grinned. “Yes though you would know that, wouldn’t you? I can’t dance in front of people that are too afraid to watch me fall.” She shrugged.
He took another step forward and shook his head. "No, I certainly wouldn't insult you. You are... the very last person I would ever want to insult." 
She stared quizzically at him. “I am? Do you know me from somewhere? School?” She paused. She would know if she had met someone who seemed to have an immunity against her. “Where are you from?” She tilted her head and stared at him curiously. He was quiet for a long minute, his eyes were watching her carefully. He turned and snapped his fingers gracefully and suddenly the stereo came to life again, this time playing music with a strong beat underneath it. He closed his eyes and very slowly stepped into the rhythm. One of his hands reached up and tapped his chest to the early parts of the song before he jolted forward in time with the beat. He moved gracefully as if she weren't there. A lull came in the song and his eyes opened again, golden and directly on her. He held his hand out to her.
 "Dance with me, Solstice... please?"

Solstice’s eyes widened. “You don’t even know me and you want to dance with me?” She started noting everything wrong with her in those few moments. Her hair was a mess and she was sweaty. Was this an absurd dream? She shrugged. It must be. People just don’t show up out of this air wearing masks and asking to dance with you. She tucked a strand piece of hair behind her ear before stepping forward and  placing her hand in his delicately. In a heartbeat the stranger pulled her directly in front of him so her back was to his chest. His hands rested on her waist and they moved in time with the fast-paced music. Before Solstice could say anything else to him, he spun her around and shifted position. It was unlike any type of dance Solstice has ever practiced before.



He gripped one of her hands with his and the other he pulled to rest on his shoulder. His eyes were now staring deep into hers as they moved to the beat.  Solstice grinned as her laughter filled the air yet again. She must have fallen asleep at the dance studio and was now having a strange dream. A dream filled with a different type of dancing and someone that she would be willing to get attached to. A future where she wouldn’t have to worry when she was going to die or be tortured because she wasn’t the heir.



Solstice found herself getting the hang of the dance and wishing it never would end. It was crazy to think that someone would be willing to dance with her and not judge her for all the strange things she said. Maybe there was a future where she wouldn’t be shattered into millions of pieces and forgotten by everyone who once cared to notice. With one move he had destroyed every carefully placed wall she had between herself and the rest of the world. It was strange and fascinating at the same time. Solstice found herself tapping to the beat while dancing. She stared curiously at him again, fascinated.
“Are you afraid my eyes are suddenly going to change?” She said teasingly.
He shook his head. "No." He pulled her forward and his eyes locked on her. "I hope you never stop laughing."
Solstice laughed lightly. "I really don't usually laugh or talk this much at all. My apologies if it gets annoying after awhile." She paused. "If you are thinking about it from a logical perspective-" She stopped when she realized that wasn't what he wanted to hear. Instead she smiled sadly at him. "What is the lesson I need to learn in this dream? Give up dancing to keep my family safe? Don't get too attached to anyone? Do get attached to people?" She leaned her head on his chest. "Trust random strangers with gold eyes?"



His fingertip brushed a stray hair from her face as they stopped dancing. "Never give up hope. No matter what. Promise me that."
Solstice stared at him hesitantly "Hope? Hope in what?"
"Hope for a better future. Things will get better. I promise." He whispered. Solstice's eyes widened. He knew something he wasn't telling.
 "What if I accidentally break the promise? What if I try but it isn't enough?"
He took a step back, "remember your strength, and that you aren't alone, no matter how alone you may feel."  She took a step towards him.



"Not alone? What do you mean not alone?" Suddenly he was gone disappearing into the shadows he had came out of as the shattered bulbs suddenly pieced themselves back together and classical music started to play again as Solstice collapsed to the ground, reaching for someone she hadn't know existed. What strength? She shook her head before sighing. "I will try." Somehow that strange moment in time had been frozen in her mind forever and had been there to comfort her in one of her darkest moments.
=======================================================================

Her eyes jerked up as the vines loosened a boy looked at her in concern. He laughed. “Too much princess?”
Solstice stopped fighting from the vine’s grip as she took in Kyle. His hair was a mess and his cold blue eyes seemed to glare back at hers. Solstice voice was tired, just like she was it seemed. “Stop.” Kyle sighed and the vines dropped her. He walked out of the room, leaving Solstice trembling on the ground. She eyed the vines with suspicion as they slowly disappeared and she was allowed a moment of piece. She took a deep breath and ended up letting out a sob she hadn’t known she had been holding back.

An unlikely source walked into the room and hugged Solstice. Aurora. Solstice found herself sobbing into her shoulder, not caring that she was suppose to be mad at her anymore. Aurora looked up at Solstice with tired eyes and tears running down her face. Her mind raced with apologies and trembling hands, unable to hold Solstice tightly enough. “I-I’m so sorry Solstice. I-I didn’t mean any of it. I just-” Solstice hugged Aurora back tightly, not having to note the scars on her face or the tired eyes that held endless hours of torture. It was all an act. Her family had never taken her back. They had brought her back to manipulate her and torture her until she no longer resembled a human being. Solstice pushed Aurora back and sneered. Her mind and her magic were in perfect union, not caring about machine or magic but their target.



She knew it all along. She just hadn’t ever thought to trust the instinct. Every nice word, smile, and hug was fake. Aurora was fake.
Solstice hissed under her breath as a stab of pain coursed through her body as Aurora toyed with a remote. She smiled and wiped fake tears away from her face.
“It is funny what power can do.”
Solstice glared at Aurora. “I’m not as easily fooled by your mind games anymore Aurora.”
“Oh I know.” Aurora smiled thoughtfully as a another rack of pain shaked Solstice to the core.
“This is fun Sol. Maybe we can remove that glare from your face?” Solstice closed her eyes and gritted her teeth to keep from letting a sob out. “Are you done with your temper tantrum yet, Aurora?”



Aurora frowned. “It is always about what you  want Solstice, isn’t it? Boohoo I’m the freak. I’m a mind reader and I’m so sad because I come from a powerful family.”  Aurora smiled. “Ooh. I think I know what this button does. Doesn’t your brain shut down after a certain amount of pain so you don’t have to deal with what the rest of us do? Not anymore.” Solstice winced as her brain started spiraling out of control with error messages. Solstice pushed them away and took a deep breath, and hoped whatever Aurora had planned would be quick. Aurora saw Solstice’s fear and grinned. Well, what Aurora thought was fear. She felt adrenaline rushing through her veins as she prepared for the next round of unthinkable torture. She would not be broken. She would not be betrayed any longer. She would not be manipulated.

Aurora grinned and eyed the remote with giddiness. “Oh. I like this option.” Solstice closed her eyes and counted her sins hoping her family would forgive her for leaving them. Solstice knew what Aurora was eyeing hesitantly. It would be the option that would shut down Solstice’s magic and slowly kill her as her mind was shocked repeatedly. It didn't matter what happened next. Solstice didn’t know who she was anymore, she didn’t know what she stood for. She had been so determined to never be broken, but in doing so broke herself. She closed her eyes as she accepted her fate. Aurora was tracing the outline of the button, mocking Solstice like a child. It didn’t take Aurora long to get bored and finally push the button that would end Solstice’s wait for her destruction. The torture started off small like all explosions do. Error codes and thoughts threatened to consume her brain as her brain went silent for a minute, drenched in the comforting darkness of silence. Solstice’s mind had never been silent before and for a second it had been a relief. It had been a relief to finally accept her time in this world was over and to curl into a ball and accept death. She was broken. She was shattered.



She tried her best and it was time for her to leave the stage. Dancing endlessly in perfect rhythm until she fell, she faltered, and she was never allowed on the stage again. Then the agonizing, wretched pain came to swallow her whole. Someone was screaming and it didn’t sound human. Should a human ever be in that much agony? Someone was dying. Eric was dying. Solstice was dying. Everyone and everything was dying. Aurora was laughing. Emotionless faces were tying her down to a table and forcing her brain to be bound to them forever by a remote. She was crawling through the remains of a car as the heat danced on her skin. Fire. That was what it was called. Fire. Solstice was bleeding. Someone was making a mess of things and Solstice couldn’t fix the mess. Her mother was smiling at her again except her smile turned into a frown as she died. Solstice couldn’t reach her. She couldn’t save her as she was bound to the chains inside her mind. Fire was dancing on her skin as lightning crackled, destroying the room. Aurora’s screams joined in with Solstice’s families.

Something wasn’t working. Magic was destroying the room, the horrifying mirrors that held endless terrifying truths that threaten to kill everyone stuck inside of them. Why couldn’t they stay away from Solstice? Her magic was suppose to be off. Why wouldn’t it turn off? Dancing. Solstice was dancing as the heat and the sickening lightning turned her into a human torch. It was like being cut into a thousand pieces and then being forced to be put back together repeatedly again. She was shattered so why were they trying to fix her again and again? She watched as her family died, each one suffering a long death full of agonizing screams. Each of them disappeared into the comforting darkness that kept Solstice tied to the spot.



Something was begging for death. Solstice didn’t think it looked human but she couldn’t see. She couldn’t hear. No, she was wrong. Something was complaining about the mess Aurora had made. She felt a sharp pain in her rib cage that joined in the screams of the torture. Something kicked her. The blue one kicked her before leaving. Stephen. His eyes were ingrained into her mind, threatening to haunt her for the rest of her short life.  Lightning scars danced across her body as the room drifted into agonizing light to horrifying darkness. The begs for death were fading as the screaming was becoming quieter.



 Her body was on fire. Wait. She had said that already. The pain was excruciating. What was pain? Had she knew the meaning of pain. This wasn’t pain. Pain was when you got a small cut and whimpered a little. This wasn't a small cut. Something could no longer scream. The screaming in the room stopped and Solstice finally realized it had been her all along. Solstice’s voice was gone. Was that what her name was? It was just whimpering. Why was everyone trying to fix her? Why couldn’t she just stay shattered into a million pieces? The room exploded into a million pieces as light danced in Solstice’s eyes. Lightning struck her as the fire danced on her skin. Death was trying to claim her, but couldn’t.

She wanted to go back to the comforting darkness. She wanted to stay shattered. She knew herself there. She was broken. She was an orphan. She was an only child. She was scarred. Aurora was screaming bits of insanity. Maybe she was finally joining the emotionless faces that kept putting Solstice back together again. Let her be shattered. She was done being put back together again. Comforting hands picked her up as Solstice fell into agony once again. She wanted to stay shattered. She didn’t want to be helped. She summoned up enough strength to plead with the stranger threatening to pull her back into the wretched world again.



“Let me die. Please.”
“No.” That was the stranger’s finally response. No. Why wouldn’t he let her die?
Solstice ended up letting out a small sob in response. “Please.”
The stranger began singing. “Hush my little swallow, the winter seems so long. Curl up my little angel, and listen for spring’s song.”
Solstice found herself relaxing, against wanting to beg for the comforting darkness to come back. The strange continued to hum the rest of the song as Solstice found herself sinking into the darkness of agonizing rest. 

[Magpie2012]

And the plot thickens... Dun dun duuuuun... That was awesome! I loved reading it from Sheo's point of view and reading it from Solsti's was just as good! They're both so sure they're broken that they don't realize that the people around them are even more broken than they are! Yay for strangers with golden hair and golden eyes and masks!

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