Amaterasu smiled down at her daughter. The sulky face of Simone Lennox, better known as Ace, looked back. Her icy blue eyes were dark with unhappiness, and Amaterasu had to sigh.
"Dear, I know you don't wish to go with your father, but you must. I need to clean up the house, and I can't do it with you running around," she explained softly. Folding her arms and stamping one foot, Ace pouted some more.
"But Mommy, Father has such /boring/ work. I don't want to go with him. I promise I'll stay out of the way," the little three-year-old cried. Amaterasu merely shook her head and put Ace's hat on the little girl.
"I'm sorry, my dear, but no. And his work isn't that boring," Amaterasu whispered. Ace kept pouting and knocked the black cap off her head.
"I don't want to wear this," she declared, pointing at the hat. Amaterasu looked at Ace.
"But it's so cold out there!" protested Amaterasu, knowing that she would probably lose the fight with her young daughter.
"Mommy, it's spring. It's bad that you're making me wear a jacket. I don't want a hat. Especially that one."
Amaterasu sighed and picked up the hat. Ace stared defiantly up at her mother, and Amaterasu had to roll her eyes.
"You're so stubborn, my little one. You'd make a good politician."
Gabriel Lennox chose to enter the room at that time, and he glared at his wife.
"Amaterasu, no daughter of mine is going into politics. She will marry and have children. Thta's as far as her career will go," the angry old man bellowed. Amaterasu shrank under her husbands anger, but held her ground.
"She has a right to choose, Gabriel," she said gently. Gabriel snorted at her and grabbed Ace's hand roughly.
"Come along, Simone. I'm already late because of you," he growled. Ace cried out and grabbed Amaterasu's skirt.
"Mommy! Don't make me go!" she howled. Amaterasu pried Ace's fingers off of her skirt and kissed her daughter of the forehead.
"I'll see you when you get home, my lovely. Be good, please," the Japanese woman whispered. Ace started to scream.
"Mommy! He's hurting me! I want to stay with you!" she yelled. Gabriel leaned down and picked up the struggling girl and tossed her over his shoulder. Amaterasu put a hand to her mouth.
"I love you, Simone! Be a good girl for your father, all right?" she called after them. Ace continued to scream, kicking and hitting with all her might.
*******************************
Gabriel glared at the sulking girl next to him. Ace's bottom lip stuck out, and her arms were crossed in angry defiance. Gabriel hurried her to a chair in his office and then sat down to do his paperwork. He became aware of Ace humming loudly, and glanced up at her.
"Simone, be quiet," he snapped. Ace just hummed louder.
"Simone, be quiet now," he repeated. Ace started to sing the tune out loud. Gabriel stood up and walked over to his daughter.
"Simone, shut your mouth and be quiet right now, or I will punish you right here!" he barked. Ace stopped singing, instead choosing to clap her hands together in the rhythem the song had been going. Gabriel snarled viciously, loosing his temper, and grabbed her hands. Ace cried out.
"Father, you're hurting me!" she whimpered. Gabriel let go of her hands and thrust her down in a laying position.
"Go to sleep, you fool."
"It's not nap time."
"I don't care. Go to sleep."
"No."
Gabriel stared in shock. Had Ace just told him no? It didn't seem possible. No one ever argued with Gabriel. Even Amaterasu had never said no to him.
"What did you say?" he ground out. Ace lifted her head high in the air.
"Are you hard of hearing? I said no," she replied. Gabriel stared at her again, surprised she had said such a complicated sentence (for a three-year-old) and because he had just been insulted and defied by a little girl. And his daughter, at that.
Smacking her soundly on the head, Gabriel returned to his work. The humming began just a minute later.
***********************************
Ace ran out from her father's arms as soon as they were home. She wanted to go find her mommy, and tell her what had happened at her father's work.
She had stolen a wand from one of the other works, and had used it to hit her father in the face with sparks before he had managed to catch her. He had spanked her in front of the entire office, much to her dismay, but he had gotten his payback when she stomped on his foot.
So, essentially, she had been a good girl.
Not finding her mommy anywhere in the house, Ace decided she had to be working in the garden. The problem was that the garden was all over the back yard, and the little girl's legs were tired from all the running she had done.
But the desperation of wanting her mother kept her going, and Ace wandered around in the backyard, looking for her mommy's familiar gray dress.
All the female Lennox's were required to wear gray dresses. Amaterasu's came down to her mid calf. It was just a boring fabric, but it was amazingly soft, and Ace loved to curl up in her mommy's lap.
Her own dress was not so nice. It was course fabric, and it came down to her knee. It smelled funny, and hurt her skin. Being only three, she also had to wear Mary Janes, which prevented her from running very fast or very far.
Spotting a butterfly, Ace smiled happily and followed it, running as fast as she could without tripping. The pretty blues and greens on the butterfuly attracted her, and her eyes stayed fixed on it.
Suddenly, she tripped over something very long. Her stockings ripped as she went down, and Ace gasped. Her father would murder her if he found out that she had torn her stockings. Now she really had to find her mommy, so she could repair them.
Rolling over to see what she had tripped over, Ace gasped again in surprise.
Amaterasu's blank eyes stared back at her, a pale hand closed and holding a vile. Ace backed up slowly, and then with the naivety of a three-year-old, Ace went up to her mommy's body.
"Hi mommy! Father and I are back. I was a good girl, just like I said I would be," she said cheerfully. Crawling over to her mommy, she looked her in the eyes.
"I need you to fix my stockings, mommy. When I tripped over you, I got them ripped. Why were you laying on the ground?" asked Ace. Curling up on her mommy's waist, she snuggled up against the soft fabric. Breathing deeply, she smelled the fresh scent and smiled.
"Father will tell you I was bad, mommy, but I was much better than I usually was. I took someone's wand and hit father with it. He wasn't happy, and hit me in front of everyone. But I got away, mommy, by stomping on his foot. Then he got so angry he took me home. Aren't you proud of me, mommy?" she asked, trying to get a reaction from her beloved mommy.
Amaterasu didn't move, didn't answer, just stard at Ace with the gaze of a dead woman. But the young one didn't notice.
"Do you know what we're having for supper tonight, mommy? I hope we're having fish. We haven't had that in a long while. Will you come in, mommy?" she pressed. But then, when Ace looked at her mommy, something hit her.
"Mommy?" Ace whispered, her eyes filling with tears. She knew, then, that her mommy wasn't alive anymore.
Backing away, Ace started to cry. And then, for the second time that day, she started to scream.
Moments later, Gabriel came out of the large house and smacked Ace.
"Will you be quiet, girl! You ruined my work day, must you ruin my relaxation?" he yelled. Ace stared up at her father, and pointed wordlessly at her mommy. Gabriel blinked, and then picked up Ace.
"Amaterasu..." he muttered. Ace buried her face into her father's neck. The older man held his daughter, and stared at the body of his dead wife.
****************************
Gabriel took Ace inside and set her down on the counter. Ace sniffled and rubbed her eyes.
"We must never speak of this, Simone. Your mother did not die," he told her seriously. Ace brightened instantly.
"Mommy's not dead?" she questioned. Gabriel winced, and shook his head.
"Mommy is dead, Simone. But we can't tell anyone that. We must tell them that she went back to Japan, that she didn't love us anymore," he explained. Ace shook her head.
"But mommy did love us, father. She wouldn't leave."
Gabriel glared at Ace, and she looked away.
"Well, that is what we must tell people. We'll have a private burial tomorrow. I've contacted your cousin, Mary. She'll be taking you for a little while," the old man told Ace. Looking at Gabriel, Ace wanted to cry again. But she didn't.
"Father, may I have mommy's dress?" she asked hopefully. Gabriel snapped around and stared at his daughter. His eyes flickered hesitantly, and then he nodded slowly.
"I suppose you may."
********************************
When Gabriel said private burial, he had meant it. Amaterasu had been weighted down and tossed into the ocean. Ace had started to cry again as she watched her mommy's lifeless body sink down into the depths. Mary Lennox, her thirteen-year-old cousin, had started at Amaterasu sinking, and then snatched Ace's hand.
"Come along, Ace. We'll be gong now," the cold girl said. Ace stared up at her cousin in surprise.
"Where are we going?"
"My home in France. I attend school at Beauxbatons, and want you close by," Mary said quietly. Ace was confused, and stared at her feet.
"You still go to school?" Ace questioned. Mary looked sharply at her younger cousin, and then softened.
"Yes, Ace. My parents died a long time ago. When I was five or so. I have taken care of myself since then, and so your father decided it would be best if you lived with me for a little while, so he can take care of things," explained Mary. Ace started to drag her feet a bit, not wanting to leave Denmark.
"How long will I live with you?"
Mary shook her head. "I'm not sure. For a little while."
"I miss mommy," whispered Ace. Mary sighed and picked up her cousin.
"I know, Ace, but we must move on. She's dead. She isn't coming back. Not for you, not for anyone," snapped Mary.
Ace started to cry all over again.