A/N: We're starting this up! Why so early? Cause I believe that I'm going to have the most fun on this book out of all of them. It's more than likely I am. Note that whenever I italicize, I'm saying stuff in a different language. It's primarily going to be French.
"Just once... If you feel as if you can manage it, can you visit? I don't want to have to say goodbye."
The words rang inside my head like a constant echo down a cave as I distractedly ate my food where I sat. Today was as good a time was any. Especially since it was her birthday.
"Dad, you ok?" Harry asked, halting in his eating and looking up at me. I looked at my food a little while longer. I pretended like I didn't hear him until I made up my mind.
"I'm going to France today," I said, pushing my plate away from me.
"May I ask why?" Harry asked.
"You'll find out why. You can come with me. Sirius, I don't know if the French authorities are wary of you, so it might be best if you stay here," I told the man in question. But it was more of an excuse for him not to to come rather than a reason why he shouldn't come.
"Ah, that's ok. Go on and have yourself a good time," Sirius said, waving a good natured hand before a grin crossed his face. "Are you visiting some exotic hottie that you know?"
"I'm certainly visiting someone," I said evenly, standing up from my seat and walking off. Harry quickly followed behind me as I moved to get into my jet.
"Who are you visiting?" he asked. I climbed inside the first seat of my jet and he climbed into the second available seat.
"You'll see," I told him without emotion just before the hatch doors closed. The moment we took off towards the destination I had in mind, my thoughts immediately became occupied. It had been years since we last met. Not since after Gwen.
I closed my eyes tightly. It may have sounded pathetic, but the very thought of her was bringing bad memories up again. But just like my parents, I figured the best way to get over what happened was to actually deal with it instead of running from it like I used to always do when it came to personal problems.
The trip was silent, but cause of my jet's fast speed, it took barely any time at all. Even considering we were in the same continent. Hopefully they hadn't already departed from where they lived.
When I landed in their front yard, the very same guards that I had posted in front of the house were extremely surprised to see a jet that seemed to move at the speed of sound, but quieter than the air around us land in front of them.
I hopped out of the jet and stood up straight. The guards took one look at me and looked extremely surprised. But the surprise quickly turned into respectful bows.
"Mr. Morgan. I never thought we'd see you around here again," one of them said in French as I walked up to him.
"To be honest, neither did I. But I'm here to see Mom and Dad. Or at least the closest things to them that I have in this world," I told the guard. He nodded.
"You caught them a few minutes early. Vigilante or no, we're always glad to have you here," the man said, leading me towards the mansion that I had landed in front of. Though when it came to the vast size of it, palace was a more accurate description. The French President lived good.
As the guard was leading us towards the mansion's front doors, I noticed that Harry was looking at me with a state of shock.
"Yes?" I questioned.
"These people know who you are?" he asked, gesturing to the guards posted all over the place.
"The very few that do. This bunch are the only ones that I can truly trust. They were my squadron when I was defending the French President. I had become close to them in that meanwhile. There's a lot of stuff that happened to me that you wouldn't expect. Hell, a lot of it is stuff I didn't expect when I first got into this business. But this visit has been long overdue," I told him. Harry nodded and didn't press further. He knew things would come to light gradually and wanted to take it one step at a time. I definitely respected that.
I walked inside the doors of the mansion and looked all around the vast main hall. Everything was exactly as I remembered it. Down to the last detail. And that's super accurate when you've got a dude with eidetic memory doing the analyzing.
I walked into the living room and saw that two people were sitting on the couch, dressed in black and talking in voices that were almost whispers, but were not quite. It's not a situation of wanting to keep their conversation quiet. It was just the emotions in the air at the time affecting their voices.
"Almost ready to leave?" the woman asked.
"Shortly," the man said in a gruff tone.
"I certainly hope you have room for two more?" I asked suddenly. Though my voice didn't come out as confident as I would've liked. It was more like a croak.
The two of them turned to face me and I could see shock instantly resister on their faces. I walked up in front of the couch and I was instantly tackled by the woman. I hugged her tightly. As much as she was a painful reminder of Gwen, I couldn't deny that I missed her. Her and Armand.
"You came," she said.
"I never thought I would. But I did. It was cowardly of me to run, I know that. But..."
"You don't have to apologize for anything, mon fils. What happened hurt you deeply. I know that," she said before backing up from the hug long enough to put her hands on my face and get a good look at me. "Still as handsome as ever."
"Thank you. You maintained your beauty as well. You look just like her too," I said with a small smile. Though it was slightly watery.
"Well, she maintained my personality," Armand said with a slightly defensive tone. I laughed lightly as I turned to face him.
"You were always the jealous type Papa. Though you acted a lot like her at times, and you could say that was the personality I fell in love with," I said before quickly pointing at him with a joking serious look on my face. "Uh, don't get any ideas. You're not my type."
Laughter rang out throughout the entire room, coming from four different voices. Of course, Harry's laughter is what prompted Angelique to address him.
"Well, well. Who is this handsome young man you have with you?" she asked, moving over to Harry.
"This is Harry. My adopted son. Though we are family in everything but blood. I can assure you of that," I told her with a prideful smile.
"I'm glad you found something else to love," Angelique said with a wide smile.
"Of course he loves me. How can you not love this face?" Harry said, pointing to his own face. I barked out a laugh among Angelique's and Armand's laughter.
"Don't push yourself too much kid. You'll find I have ways to do most things that I want to do," I told him. Harry gave me an innocent smile and Angelique and Armand smiled at him.
"I can see why you've grown fond of this child. It's hard not to like him. He's a lot like you. Though younger and a lot less rough around the edges," Armand said.
"Yup. I'm attempting to teach him everything I know. He'll be one bad son of a bitch when I'm done with him if you would pardon my french," I said with a deliberate grin.
"That was not French!" Angelique exclaimed.
"Depends on how you look at it," I said cheekily, making Armand and Harry laugh. Angelique swatted me on the back of my head like I was a child again, making me grin. That was a bit of my life I hadn't really been able to live to the fullest.
"Tu es impossible!" she exclaimed before her tone turned soft. "Are you ready to go?" The smile on my face faded almost instantly, but I steeled my nerves more than I ever have before.
"Yeah. I'm ready," I said softly. The two lead the way out of the door and guards followed the car we drove in. I looked down at the ground with my elbows on my knees as I was leaning forward with my legs parted. I knew once I got there, I was going to break down. But I didn't care. I had to get this deep feeling of failure out of me. It was in my mind, heart, and soul.
"Why are there so many guards following us?" Harry asked.
"Robert's insistence," Angelique said, saying my name in the French form. "After he left, he didn't want anything to happen to us. So the squad assigned to protect us during an incident a few years ago, he also trained while he was keeping us safe. They became our permanent legion of bodyguards. He pays them royally."
"If anything happened to you, the pain on me would be stacked several times more. I had to make sure you would be safe if I couldn't be there to protect you," I told them.
"We understand. We understood a long time ago why you did what you did," Armand said. I nodded solemnly before looking back down at the ground.
The car stopped after a few minutes. I stepped out with a hint of perspiration on the side of my face, nervous about what I was about to face within myself when I stepped out of these doors and stood before her grave. I was expecting the worst, cause I knew that the sight was going to hit me hard.
I walked with a heavy burden in my steps; my feet dragging a lot slower than normal. I was not looking forward to seeing her grave. Even all the death I had seen before didn't compare to this feeling. But then I felt a soft hand touch my shoulder.
"It's alright mon fils. We'll be here with you," Angelique said. I nodded and swallowed hard before walking forward at a slightly faster pace, Armand, Harry, and the guards trailing behind us. Even after all this years, I could still remember the exact place where her grave was. Of course, how could I forget?
Then we reached it. Now, instead of my feet feeling like they were made of lead, they felt like they were made of jelly and my feet buckled as I had to put an arm on the ground to stop myself from falling on the ground.
Gwendolyn Adele Moreau
July 13, 1973 - March 31, 1989
Beloved Daughter and Dearest Love
"Let your light shine bright even death. Now and forever."
I had a lot to do with how the gravestone turned out. The quote was mine. Because at the time, that's exactly what she was to me. My dearest love. A bright light amidst the chaos. A pure soul in a sinful graveyard.
"She was your love," Harry said in a subdued tone, putting a hand on my shoulder. I looked to the side and down on the ground as I could not bear to look at the tombstone anymore.
"The only one I had. There was just something about her that was... irresistible," I said, a memorable tone taking hold. "As beautiful and curious as her mother, but as stubborn and kind-hearted as her father." Her sharp scream pierced my thoughts in a flashback, and I gripped my head tightly. It was weird how my memories acted like a volatile bomb; ready to explode at any time. Unpredictable and violent.
"She loved you. I know that. I know you, and I'm sure if she did as well, there's no way she couldn't have," Harry said. Tears began to well in my eyes, but I smiled all the same.
"I know she did. And I loved her too. At first when she died, I tried to convince myself that what we had was a little fling. Just something that I wanted in the moment to distract myself so it would hurt less. Since it didn't take long for me to grow attracted to her, I figured it would be easier to convince myself. I failed. And I'm glad I didn't resort to that. It'd be a disrespect to her love, and I'm definitely not going to stand for that," I said firmly, gripping my right hand tightly. "But you try to live and love while living the life that I do, and you eventually learn the consequences."
"Bad things happen to good people. That's how the world works. But eventually you'll find your happy ending," Harry said.
"Well said. Your first step in that has to be about letting her go. Don't forget about her, but let her go," Armand said.
"And how am I suppose to do that?" I asked.
"For starters, find a woman that's compatible for you. Focus on her. Get to know her like you did Gwendolyn. Once you grow fond of her, you'll find that what you lost will hurt less and you'll truly be on the road to healing," Armand explained. "I knew you weren't happy for a long time because I knew you didn't know how to deal with your loss. As soon as you left, I knew it. I could smell it on you. But now you do. Now all you have to do is allow yourself to love again. Not family love, but spouse love."
I pondered his words in my head, and they rang through my head; bounced on the walls on my skull like an imaginary tennis match. I knew what he saying was right, but the biggest chance I had to possibly moving on was Tonks. And she was gone, without me knowing whether she was going to return. Regardless of that, I used the boots she had given me in the cowboy outfit I had made. Maybe I wasn't as good as letting go as I thought.
No other girl in the school was very special to me. Except perhaps the girls on the team and Hermione. Sure I had fun with them, but I never held no specific desire towards them. Not like the one that would lead to anything special.
"I'll keep looking. I'll at least promise you that much," I told him, making him nod.
"I know that's the most you can promise, and I don't blame you," Armand said. Then we all gathered in a horizontal line in front of Gwen's grave before we put our arms around each other's shoulders. Then Maman began singing a French tune she was very fond of. I closed my eyes and let the music flow through my ears as well as the tears streaming down my face. I didn't get as many tears as I was expecting, but I got an intense lost feeling and one of conflict. Which in its own way, was far worse. We remained quiet the rest of the visit here.
"You'll promise you'll visit again?" Angelique asked, giving me a hug. I returned the hug with a tight grip before looking her straight in the face.
"Whenever I get the chance to. Just stay safe out here. If anyone hurts you..."
"I already know what you'll do to them. Worse than any of the previous criminals you've dealt with. As we all know, you're good at making a mess and cleaning it up," Angelique said. I nodded before facing Armand.
"Thanks for the advice," I told him, holding a hand out. He shook it firmly before pulling me into a hug.
"You're always welcome. To think you would've been our son-in-law soon if that bastard hadn't killed her. I hope he's burning every second he's down there; feeling his flesh being melted off his body over and over and over again..."
"While being forced to be the devil's bitch at the same time. Forced to act like a little whore for him; desecrated and abused over and over and over again..." I growled, the anger in me rising swiftly.
"You two really need mental help," Angelique said, shaking her head.
"You disagree?" I questioned.
"Who said I disagreed? I just said you both needed mental help. I suppose I do too," Angelique said making me smile.
"The perfect family," Harry said, spreading his arms towards us. I turned towards him and ruffled his air. "Yeah, like my hair needs to be messed up more than it usually is."
"Get in the jet you little rascal," I said, pushing him towards the vehicle in question before registering the soldiers guarding the place. "Our motto! If no mercy is to be shown for us..."
"...no mercy is given to them!" the soldiers chanted, raising their rifles in the air with a prideful air. I smiled.
"So you still remember! Good! Practice those principles. Give the guilty no chance to do what they're doing again! Punish them accordingly! Make them pay!" I roared to them, making them cheer and fire their rifles in the air.
"You've got your own private army in various places around the world. You could likely take the world if you wanted to," Angelique said. I shrugged.
"Meh. I could buy if I wanted to instead of going through all that trouble. But I'll let them keep it," I said with a small smirk. Armand and Angelique smiled. I gave them one final hug before walking towards my jet. I climbed in, flew into the air, and went back towards Britain. Armand's advice rung through my head the entire trip. And so did the words that the Special Forces soldier told me my first year of training them. I was sure as hell going to find my happiness. To the end of the world if I had to.
A/N: That's that! I'm pushing more into my characters background as these stories progress. I'm not going to go into it too much more in this story, but just know that when I get to the 6th book, I'm really going to push it a little bit more. Actually, A LOT of things are going to be pushed in the 6th book. Believe me on that. I've got all of it planned out and I hope you'll all enjoy it.
