AND SO THE GARDEN IN MY HEART BLOSSOMS

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Part 2: Of Families

In the nether hours of the morning, Rena hears voices.

"I wish you'd remember," says the voice, mournful and pleading. "I wish you'd remember. I wish you'd remember."

The tone changes. "No, I don't. I wish you'd never remember us." There's a sound like a shuffle, and then Rena feels the whisper of a breath on her forehead - the kiss of an angel. "When will you wake up, Rena?"

She wakes up in the morning, in her own bed, but the voices are gone.


Rena realizes something is terribly wrong when she draws the curtains and the window is open.

"Rienne?" She asks out loud. "Raven?"

Raven is out, she reasons. He often leaves the house in the morning to take a walk and compose his thoughts. He'll probably be out for a while - Rena checks the clock to see the hour hand at eight, which means he won't be back for an hour.

But the fact that Rienne hasn't responded is worrying. Rena closes her eyes and sends her magic out, probing through the house, and doesn't find her little form.

What's even more alarming is that the inner sanctum that Rena designed herself is open, and when she sends her magic in, the ethereal signature of her most precious treasure is gone, to be replaced by one that feels all too similar to her own.

Fury lights up in Rena's heart as she probes the house again, finding more and more demonic magic lingering in the crevices. "Chloe," she seethes, cutting off her magic. "How could I have been so blind?"

She raises her arm, and in her hand manifests her weapon of choice - an elegant recurve bow, strung by the finest magic thread that only appears at her fingers' command. "To the demon stronghold," she tells the winds, and they bring her there in all her rage.

No one stops her as she marches into Chloe's tower, throwing open doors and tossing tables aside in her rage. "What have you done with my daughter?" She yells, snarls. "And what have you done to my Edan?"

"He was never yours to begin with," Chloe's voice cackles from a higher story. "And neither was the girl. She'll make a pretty bride for my son, once I give him the form he needs."

Rena knows that Chloe's punishment for releasing Sult was that her children would never have living bodies, only functioning souls. She's going to put her demonic spawn in Edan's body, she realizes in horror. Gripping her bow tighter, she summons the winds around her and throws herself into battle against the demon tower.

A demon soldier runs at her, but she whirls around, throwing a spirit of the wind in their way and sending them flying. All around her, the environment is hostile, the drapery glazed in gold and rich purple unlike the clean white and greens of Elysion. She grabs for a door handle, misses, and instead flicks her hand out to shatter the wood of the door with a blast of wind.

A gasp escapes her lips as she looks into the room. Edan's body is lying prone on a bed, surrounded by clerics and spirits of the Moon El. Fragments of the soul of Chloe's son float above him, waiting to become integrated with the body that rightfully belongs to Edan.

In another corner, Rienne is shut in a cage, silently trembling but unable to scream against the gag. Guards surround her cage, and Chloe herself is seated above the girl's head. "Nice of you to join us for the finale," she drawls sarcastically. "But Edan was never yours to begin with. I really don't know why you've been hiding him all these years - he should have died long, long ago."

Rena snaps in that moment.

Reaching out, she gathers wind in her palm and sharply tugs. The last gasp of air leaves the lungs of Chloe's clerics and guards, rendering them unconscious instantly. A wave of bodies falls to the ground as Rena wraps pure ether force around Edan's form, dispelling the alien soul form and transporting him back to the inner sanctum in her home.

The problem of freeing Rienne still stands, though. There's no way Chloe will just hand the young girl over, not without a fight. But she's every bit Rena's daughter now, and Rena doesn't deserve to be called Mother by Rienne if she isn't going to stand up and protect her.

"You've got some nerve, coming to Elysion," she spits. "Did Ran send you, since I've forbidden him from visiting me? Or are you still spiteful from the events of a hundred thousand years ago?"

"Like you've got anything to say," Chloe yells, but Rena doesn't focus on her. She splits her mind in two, one side that pretends to be listening to the damn traitor, and the other weaving her wind magic. "You were the one who ruined my family! You were the driving force behind the verdict that killed my son!"

"And for good reason," Rena gasps. Keep her attention. "Because of you, I lost my mentor and best friend. You deserved to lose that much!"

Chloe laughs. "Mentor? Best friend?" She says mockingly. "Let's be honest here, Rena, there's a lot more colourful words you can use to describe what he was to you."

The wind tugs apart the final bonds holding Rienne down, and then the cage shatters.

Power flows in the girl's blood - while her mother may have been mortal, her father is the crown prince of Elianode. The glory of the destructive Sun El radiates from her hands, and under the stress of the unconfined young goddess, the cage barely stands a second before it splinters into a million tiny pieces.

Rienne, thank goodness, is smart enough to roll out of the way as Chloe crashes down, shrieking as her back hits the metal shards. Rena runs to her immediately, pulling the young girl aside into a corner. "Mother, I'm so sorry," Rienne wails, face already streaked with tears. "I thought she was you."

"That's okay, darling," she assures her. "It's my fault for allowing her to do that in the first place. Just stay here and call for your father, okay?"

With those words, she raises her bow again, and turns to face the incoming wave of demons.


This is like a battle of a hundred thousand years past, all over again. Like that battle, you are the only thing between a helpless person and a million demon spirits, and it is up to you to protect the people that you love but there's only so much that you can do and suddenly you're backed into a corner.

Elesis lies curled up behind you, having fought hand-to-hand against Sult but ultimately falling when his life-absorbing blade nicks her in the forehead. Her face lies in a pool of blood that continues to cascade down her head, and she teeters dangerously on the bridge between life and death.

You bend your knees and lift your sword, knocking aside a demon and then another and another, but there's no end to them. All you can do is shift to plunge your blade into another demon's wispy form, while trying (trying!) to breathe life back into Elesis. Her heart continues to beat, and it resonates through the cosmos, through her mother who can feel her suffering but cannot do anything to save her.

There's a scream as Chloe launches herself into the air, blade aimed straight at your heart. You throw Earthen magic at her, igniting it in a blast of wind as you jab your sword straight at her, but it's not enough. There's always more demons coming at you.

A blade catches against yours, and then you're virtually fighting over Elesis's body against Chloe. You're fast, but she's faster, and with every swing of your sword she retreats a few steps but dances back towards you.

"CHLOE!"

A sword comes flying through the air, and there's no time to parry, and you prepare yourself for the end-


Then the reality swerves across the ethereal plane, and it hits Rena head on. Suddenly she's not Lua anymore, the weapon in her hand is not Erendil, her blade, but Daybreak, her bow. The young girl trembling behind her is not Elesis, but Rienne.

And most importantly, the blade that holds back what could have been a fatal blow belongs not to Edan, but to Raven.

"Demon King Ran," he says coldly, pushing the other swordsman backwards. "I hope you understand that this is a dire issue."

Ran backtracks to stand beside Chloe. "I was merely coming to the aid of my wife," he says, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just as you've come to the aid of your... Fiancée."

Raven shakes his head and sheaths his blade once more. "Your wife has violated heavenly edict," he says. "She has trespassed into the home of Queen Rena of Elysion without permission, and stole the body of the great Master Edan, lord of the Silver Mountains."

His gaze narrows. "Furthermore, she has kidnapped Princess Rienne of Elianode," he says. "She has kidnapped my daughter. Pray tell me, King Ran, is this meant to be a declaration of war, or vengeance for a personal vendetta? Because I will wage war upon your kingdom until nothing remains, and if it was a personal vendetta, then I will execute her without hesitation."

The room goes quiet for a moment, the only sound remaining being Rienne's quiet sniffling. "I will have her punished," Ran decides, looking at Chloe. "Though I respect that she was trying to restore our family."

"And so that makes it right to tear mine apart?" Rena snaps. There are tears in her eyes, and she's not sure what caused it. "I never should have let you take my appearance to begin with."

Chloe's eyes go wide. "Rena-"

She doesn't care. Blindly, Rena thrusts a hand towards her, taking back the spell that granted Chloe the freedom to look like her. "Return to what you once looked like," she orders, clasping the spell of her face in her hand.

And Chloe changes. As she dissolves into tears and screaming, her brilliant green eyes turn to a faded pink, and her skin turns dark, like the malice in her heart. "You can't!" She screams, tearing at her eyes. "You can't, Rena!" Blood drips down alongside her tears. "You can't!"

But Rena can, and Rena has. "I'm sorry. I can't let you keep it," she gasps, gripping onto Raven's shoulder. "Raven, let's go home."

They pull Rienne to her feet, and then Raven and Rena wrap their magic around themselves, and they return back to Elysion.

Rena locks herself in her room and cries for the rest of the day.


"Everything is okay," Raven says, running his palm soothingly over your shoulders to calm you down. "You're safe, Rena. Rienne is unhurt, Elesis is far from being hurt, and Edan is back in his cove. No one is hurt."

"I hurt Chloe," you wail, face buried in your hands. You will never lose that image of Chloe tearing her eyes out for your entire immortal life, the blood that splattered to the floor below and mingled with her tears. "She is still my cousin, and I hurt her."

"No, you didn't," Raven says softly. "You took back your possession, fair and square. She was the one who decided to harm herself."

You dissolve into screams, and Raven holds you in his embrace, stopping you from tearing your hair out. Your screams die down into weak sobs, and even that fades to shudders, heavy breathing that probably shakes the heavens.

"Don't worry, Rena," Raven murmurs, his arms still tightly wrapped around you, "I'll be here for you." He presses a gentle kiss to your cheek. "I know what it feels like, that crushing guilt that follows your mistakes. Right now, I'm here for you, and I'll be here for you for as long as you need."

His last words are the most haunting. "And I'll love you no matter what it takes to make you whole again."


"I'm sorry, on Chloe's behalf."

They don't even face each other in the garden where they stand. "It may be my fault for reminding her of our lack of family," Ran says. "But she had no right to harm yours."

Rena is silent for a while, from her place under the peach tree. "Please stay away from Elysion from now on," she says. "Regardless of what type of past we may have had, our futures have separated, and I hope they stay separated."

"I understand." Ran clearly is bursting with questions, but doesn't say anything. "Goodbye, Rena."

She is silent as he walks away, boarding a cloud to return to the demon stronghold. Sighing, she gets up and wanders through the garden, looking at her trees.


And then the wind blows, and you realize that the peach tree has finally blossomed in all in brilliance, scattering the petals everywhere, and the person standing underneath it with you is neither Ran nor Edan, but Raven.

The petals land in your hair and in his, and they line the ground upon which you tread, and Raven silently brushes a single petal off your robe. "They are beautiful flowers, are they not?" He says wistfully, watching as the errant petal tumbles out of his fingers and to the ground below.

"They are." Your voice is almost lifeless, devoid of all emotion. It almost hurts to talk, since you've been crying so much. You don't even know why.

Raven shifts beside you awkwardly, catching a fallen blossom in the breeze with a flick of his hand. "You know, the blossoming of the peach trees is said to hail in love anew," he says after a long stagnant silence.

You try your best to turn to him, but you're frozen in thought, eyes a million miles away thinking of Chloe and Ran and Edan. "I know," you offer weakly.

He comes to stand beside you, gently wrapping you in his embrace from behind, and you accept the warmth, because you're going to have to accept it anyways if you don't do it now.

It feels nice to have this warmth again, though.


Rienne cries with Rena for the most part of that first day, though the promise of candy from Aisha is able to lure her out later in the evening.

"Mother, the man that was there," she says, nose and eyes red, "he looked just like Father."

"I know," Rena says, cradling the young girl in her arms. "His name is Edan."

"Was he dead?" Rienne asks. Her voice is full of a certain childhood innocence that reminds Rena all too much of Lua, the first Lua.

"He's sleeping," she says softly, putting a hand over Rienne's heart. "His soul is out there somewhere, wandering. I'm waiting for him to wake up."

Rienne's bottom lip trembles. "Mother, do you love him more than you love Father?" She asks. "Th-the bad woman said... She said..."

And that's the question Rena's been fearing all along. How can she just tell the girl that's supposed to become her stepdaughter that no, I don't love your father, I've been mourning someone I admire past mentorship for the past hundred thousand years, without breaking her heart?

"Edan was my friend," is what she actually says. "And he was a teacher to me, and to Miss Elesis. Someday, when he wakes up, I hope I can send you to become his student as well."

Rienne visibly brightens up at that. "Oh, that Edan! Miss Elesis told me about him," she says excitedly, bouncing on Rena's legs. "Miss Elesis says that he taught you to do martial arts!"

"That he did," Rena chuckles, smoothing down her dress. "Miss Elesis is now teaching his school, so until he wakes up, you can go train under her, okay?"

Rienne nods happily. "Yeah!"


Elesis herself comes to pick up Rienne from Elysion, carrying them back to the mountain in Ruben on a cloud. "Training means no more candy," she warns Rienne, before laughing out loud. "Aw, but you're going to be my youngest student. The others get treats when they do well. I've found that food is the best motivation."

"It is!" Rienne chortles, and they all laugh.

"I'll be over in a bit, okay?" Elesis says, and pats Rienne on the head before walking to where Rena and Raven are standing. Her expression instantly tells Rena she means business.

"You sure she's half mortal?" She asks, holding out her hand. It glows with traces of Rienne's life essence - too much for a mortal, even for a demigod. "Because her heavenly essence says otherwise."

"Yes, she's half mortal," Raven blurts before Rena can even think. "Don't worry about her. She's prone to explosions, so you gotta watch out."

In the blink of an eye, Elesis back to her happy, fiery self. "Alrighty, then," she says, taking a hop and a skip back to the cloud where Rienne is waiting. "Challenge accepted."

"Write to us when you can!" Rena calls as they fly away in the wind, and Rienne's little form fades from view. "She really has grown up so quickly, hasn't she."

Raven smiles weakly. "She has," he says quietly.


"Finally, one less problem to deal with."

Rena slaps Owen hard across the face, and the advisor goes flying across the room. "You will not talk about my future stepdaughter in that way," she snaps, glaring him down. "What would your prince say of you if he heard you speak of his daughter like that? Have some shame."

She turns around and leaves, fuming, ignoring the way that Raven stares in silent admiration from the doorway.


One day, not far from now, Rena will throw herself in a loveless marriage, with a man that reminds her only of the love she's lost, and the sweetest, most innocent stepdaughter that she can't bear to hurt.

She will not mind being married - a queen should have a king to balance her out, to kiss the wounds she has suffered in battle and to protect her family with her. What she will be very, very uncomfortable with is Raven's seeming devotion to her.

Why does he tell her such things, shower her with affection in his own sullen way, when it's so clear that he still longs for his long-gone mortal wife? Even when time after time she's shown that this marriage will only harm them?

Rena doesn't want to know. Maybe, someday, Raven will find the soul of his mortal wife again, and he'll live happily with her and leave Rena. That would be liberating, Rena supposes, or maybe much, much more confining.

(She doesn't want his affection. Not now.)


A/N: realization that today is monday hit me like a moose to the face

i did say i was gonna water down the plot and now it seems sort of empty but at the same time i really can't manage all the characters

also i've been working on a personal webcomic project lately so fic production is slow, i'm sorry

but who knows, maybe i'll finally finish that chapter of Aspect that i've been sleeping on for so long

~Marg