Wings

Domestic Bliss

Maria Cadenzavna Eve's face hit the carpet, the impact nothing compared to the pain of the vicious slap that had sent her falling. Sitting up, she held one hand over her cheek and looked up at her assailant. Doctor Ver Eve. Her husband. Father of her children. Respected member of the community. Abuser. His face was twisted into a cruel grin; a face shown only to his dear wife. No one else knew the true face of the beloved "Dr. Ver".

In his hand was a sheaf of crumpled paper. "I thought we'd discussed this, Maria." His voice was surprisingly measured. "Your job is to clean the house and raise our daughters. You don't need to think of anything else. Especially not things this frivolous" Holding up the completed forms, he ostentatiously ripped them apart, then let the fall in a rain around the woman still kneeling on the floor. "Get that cleaned up. I'm heading to the office and the girls will be down soon." He knelt and took her chin in his hands, his grip firm, bordering on painful. "We wouldn't want them to see you like this, would we?" He smiled, his face transforming into the kind mask he showed the world. He then kissed her roughly. She didn't react, but he didn't seem to care anymore.

Throwing Maria down, he stood back up. "I will probably be home late tonight. Make sure my dinner is ready." He paused, waiting.

"Yes...dear."

Ver turned and headed for the door, not sparing a glance back as Maria began to pick up the torn pieces of paper. Neither adult noticed the flash of orange hair from behind the doorway on the other side of the room.

Serena Cadenzavna Eve, eldest daughter of the Eve family, was not at all surprised by what she'd just witnessed. The first time she'd seen her father hit her mother, she'd be shocked. She hadn't understood what she'd seen. Then she saw it again. And again. Neither of them knew she'd seen them, it only happened at times when they believed Serena and her sisters weren't around.

The first time, she'd thought her mother had done something wrong. That had to be the explanation. While her father had never hit Serena, she'd been punished. The more times it happened, the more she realized that something else was going on. She was certain that trying to talk to her mother about it would do no good, at least not yet. Furthermore she needed to be certain her father didn't find out that she knew what was going on. Instead she decided to bid her time, until she could obtain proof of what was happening and find the right person to report it to. She had a few candidates in mind, but none whom she both knew well enough to trust and whom she believed would be capable of stopping her father.

She'd come down a bit early for breakfast when she'd almost walked in on this morning's event. There was no way she could make it back to the stairs without being seen by her parents and she'd left her cell phone on her desk. This would have been the perfect moment to make a recording as evidence. The worst part however was that she knew what her father had torn up. Those papers were her mother's application to a flight school.

Many years before, so long ago that Serena was surprised she even still remembered, she'd talked to her mother about flying. They had been out in a park, just the two of them. Well the two of them and her soon to be sisters, still growing inside her mother. Climbing a hill, Serena and her mother had looked down across the city. Up above the crystal clear blue sky extended in all directions. What was said that day was lost to Serena, but she remembered the feelings. Of her mother's desire to fly. To escape the bounds of gravity. To have wings of her own.

When Serena saw the completed application, sitting on the counter in the kitchen, that day had come flooding back into her memory. She was sure that even then her mother had been suffering under her father's hand. Serena hoped that her mother would finally gain wings of her own.

Seeing her father rip it before her mother's eyes had almost been too much for Serena. She very nearly had come around the corner and confronted the both of them. The only thing that stopped her was fear. The fear that she would fail, and become just like her mother. Beaten and afraid. She couldn't let that happen, she needed to find a way to help her mother. Top stop this from happening.

A racket from the stairs drew her attention. Her sisters were arriving. They were the other reason she couldn't let this continue. They didn't know. They must not ever know. Serena would bear this burden herself.

Maria heard the sound of the twin's descent as clearly as Serena had. She'd gathered the ripped up application and thrown it away. Checking her cheek in a hallway mirror, the redness had already vanished, so no worries there. She just needed to keep it together long enough for the girl's to head to school. In the kitchen, she found Serena already there, laying out the plates and bowls. The Eve's preferred a western style breakfast. Maria wasn't Japanese at all, she'd moved to Japan with her family when she was just a child. Her husband was half-Japanese, though he appeared as western as she did.

Her eldest daughter resembled Maria. Her eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue, her long wavy hair more orange than Maria's pink. Still, it was unquestionable that they were mother and daughter. Maria's gaze met Serena's, the barely teenage girl's cyan eyes were as deep as the ocean. Maria nearly took a step back. It was as if her daughter could see everything about her. Maria mentally brushed the thought away. Serena always had a serious look, it was just how she was.

"Good morning, Mother." The same greeting as always. Nothing unusual.

"Good morning, Serena." The same response. Mother and daughter looked at each other, both wanting to say something more, but neither knowing how.

"MOMMY!" A blonde-haired missile struck Maria, arms wrapping around her waist. Maria looked down at her youngest daughter, Kirika Akatsuki Eve. Brilliant green eyes were framed with short, spiky blonde hair. Kirika resembled Ver's father, or so she'd been told. She hugged Kirika back.

"Good morning, Kirika." She bent down and kissed the girl on the forehead, then pushed her towards the table. "Go sit down. Your sister is preparing breakfast." Indeed, Serena had already poured a bowl of the outrageously sugary cereal Kirika preferred. Kirika pulled herself into a chair, doused it with milk and began shoveling it into her mouth.

Maria realized she was short one daughter. "Mom." A soft voice came from behind her. Turning around she found her middle daughter. The elder twin to Kirika. Shirabe Tsukuyomi Eve was the only member of the Eve family to look Japanese. Her eyes were a deep pink, her long black hair tied up in a set of twintails. Despite being twins, Shirabe was the polar opposite of Kirika. The blonde was a never-ending bundle of energy, always bouncing around the room and looking for someone to talk to. Shirabe on the other hand was quiet and reserved, never taking the initiative herself. She could frequently be found hiding behind a doorway, cautiously peaking around, she even did that with Kirika. Hiding behind the blonde, holding on to her as if for safety. For all that, she was an incredibly kind girl who was very sensitive to the needs of others, even if she was bad at coming out with it verbally. Maria embraced her dark-haired daughter and gave her the same kiss on the forehead Kirika had received, then pushed her gently towards the table.

Shirabe sat down in front of her own bowl, filled with a much more reserved cereal than the sugar bombs Kirika was inhaling. Maria gestured for Serena to sit down and start eating, and took over from where her daughter had left off. She pulled the toast out of the toaster, placing a slice in front of each girl. She cut up some apples and distributed those slices as well. Finally she sat down at the table herself. Passing on the cereal and eating only plain toast and a few apple slices. Her appetite hadn't been very strong of late.

Sitting here, with the daughters she loved, chatting about school and their plans for the upcoming weekend, Maria could almost forget her reality. This is how she always imagined her life. She wanted this moment to extend forever. However before she knew it, reality came back. The girls pushed their chairs back, taking turns putting their dirty dishes in the dishwasher before heading upstairs to finish their preparations for school.

The girls tromped back upstairs; Maria loaded a few more things into the washer then closed it up and started its cycle. More tromping on the stairs indicated the girls were ready to leave. Maria wiped her hands and met them at the front door, grabbing the lunches she'd prepared for them earlier. Kirika and Shirabe were wearing their red elementary school backpacks, Kirika in a black and yellow outfit, Shirabe wearing pink and black. Serena was in her red and white sailor style middle-school uniform. Her school bag leaning against the wall as she pulled on her brown uniform shoes.

Maria handed each of the girl's their homemade lunch, packed in a bento box and wrapped in a cloth napkin. Green for Kirika, pink for Shirabe and white for Serena. As they headed out the door, Maria hugged them and kissed them on the forehead. Maria hesitated a moment with Serena. She'd felt that a wall had formed between her and her eldest daughter. Serena surprised her however by hugging her first. Maria bent and kissed her on the forehead as well.

"Be safe!" Her words chased after the trio as they walked (or ran in Kirika's case) out the door and towards the street. Maria saw that Serena's friend Chris was already waiting for them. The platinum haired girl gesturing for Serena to hurry up. Maria waved at her, but didn't get a response. The four girls ran down the street, Kirika leading the way. Picking up the newspaper lying in the driveway, Maria headed back inside.

She'd barely closed the front door when her control finally broke. Sinking to her knees, tears streamed from her eyes and her wailing voice filled the empty house.

Kazanari Chris, Serena's best friend, was in a mood. She'd been fidgety all morning, from the moment she met Serena and her sisters at the gate to her house. Now, when they were almost to the private middle school they both attended (and was in fact run by Chris's family), Serena was fed up.

"Chris." Serena grabbed the shorter girl by the arm. "What is going on? All morning you've been looking over your shoulder, as if you are trying to find something. It's getting annoying."

"It's nothing. Really." While Chris was normally a very friendly girl, if something she didn't want to talk about or deal with came up, she'd shut-down and start getting angry when pressed. Serena had known her for nearly five years now and wasn't going to let her get away with it. She had enough issues without her best friend completely flaking out on her.

"It's not nothing. Come on. Tell me." Grabbing Chris by the hand, she intertwined their fingers. She saw Chris's cheeks blush a bit and Serena realized she was feeling a bit heated as well. Pushing the distraction aside she repeated herself.

Chris did her best to look everywhere but at Serena, however in a battle of wills she had nothing on the taller orange haired girl. "Fine fine, I'll tell you." They were about a block from the school, but they were still fairly early. Chris pulled Serena around a corner. "My sister is coming home tonight." Serena blinked at her.

"Don't be dense! I've told you about her. She ran away before you moved here. Tsubasa. The singer." Serena resisted the urge to smack her forehead as her memory was jogged. Of course. Chris's older sister, Kazanari Tsubasa. She'd run away before her eighteenth birthday to become an idol. "She's coming home tonight. I don't know why." Chris stood on her toes to get closer to Serena's ear, her voice soft. "My parents were arguing about it last night. Apparently something happened." Serena twitched at the word 'argument', but surely it wasn't like what her parents did. She hoped.

"Aren't you happy to see her again? You told me how much you looked up to her." Serena squeezed the hand she still held on to.

"It scares me. I haven't seen her in so long. Something happened that my parents won't tell me about." Tears started to well up in Chris's eyes. The platinum haired girl could be remarkably fragile at times. Serena impulsively hugged her friend. Chris hugged her back. A moment later they separated. Both girls felt their cheeks flush. This wasn't the first time they'd hugged, but something was different now.

Serena shook it off. "It will be fine, trust me. Your parents love you, and they love your sister. Maybe she became homesick." Chris looked up, her eyes and cheeks were red, but she had a smile on her face. "Come on, we'll be late." Grabbing Chris by the hand Serena ran towards the school's gate. She had enough problems with her own parents, she really didn't want her best friend's life to start falling to pieces. And she definitely did not want to think about just how good it felt to hug her.

Neither girl noticed the front wheel of the blue and white motorcycle sticking out of the alley half a block away. A rider in blue and white leathers, their face covered by a blue helmet, watched them turn the corner before pulling out and riding off in the opposite direction.

-End Chapter 1-