Crescentia's Story
I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters from the Mange Series or anime…but I do own this storyline, any other characters outside of the original works of the Sailor Moon franchise, and any other fictional environment outside of the original Sailor Moon.
Chapter 16 – Rejin Herosa
She woke up to the moon shining through the billowing curtain onto their faces. Raizen must have opened the windows after she fell asleep. She looked at his shadowed face cast by the moonlight and her heart sang. She'd woken because of hunger, but seeing his face, her hunger pains seemed to have disappeared.
She touched his face softly, wanting to touch him but not wake him. She couldn't see the time but knew it had to be around 7 am. They hadn't fallen asleep until late, him later than her. She wanted him to get some rest. She smiled as she stared at him, her fingers ghosting over his face. Without warning, his eyes opened, staring right at her. Her breath caught, his dark eyes from the night replaced with his normal liquid gold. She smiled sheepishly at being caught but she did not remove her hand.
"Hi," she whispered.
He leaned forward and took her mouth in a kiss, his body pressing into hers. He cradled her face, loving her in all the ways he could.
"You didn't learn your lesson from last night." she gasped. He smiled.
"You'll take care of me," he replied confidently to her. She blushed, remembering exactly how she'd "taken care" of him.
"I will," she told him, melting his already liquid heart.
"I'm crazy about you, you know that?" he said, looking at her seriously. She smiled and his heart rate rose to a deafening roar. She tilted her head forward and met his lips in a heart-aching kiss.
"Why did you run away from me last night?" Serena asked him. The sun was definitely up but the curtains were drawn and the lights were off. The two laid on their sides in the darkness, facing each other underneath the covers. His left hand was tossed over her to caress her back as the two stared at each other.
"You really don't know?" he asked.
"Was it to avoid what we ended up doing?" she asked him with a small smile. He snorted at her, knowing full well she was messing with him.
"What we did Sweetheart, was just foreplay. What I wanted to do to you hasn't been done since the time of cavemen." Having not expected this response, she flushed bright red, earning a chuckle from him. He leaned in and kissed her again. When he pulled away, he touched her lips, wanting so much more.
"Why can't I stop kissing you?" he murmured, running his thumb over her lips.
"Because it's too early in our….in this."
"In our what?" he asked, wanting her to name what they shared. She stayed quiet for a minute, not sure she could say what he wanted to hear.
"You never asked me," she answered quietly. He furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Asked you what?" he asked.
"You wouldn't touch me, make love to me until you asked me. Yesterday you ran away because you didn't want to take me in the moment of passion. You wanted to wait until you can ask me when we aren't under the spell of lust and need. You felt that was the most responsible and respectful thing you can do for me." She said to him. While he agreed with her assessment of last night's situation, he couldn't really understand what she was getting at, especially since she was smiling.
"You've told me time and again that you want, that you love me, that you need me, that you'd die without me," she said, still smiling, confusing the poor man all the more.
"While all that is true, there's a point in there somewhere right?" he asked, still not grasping the direction of her thoughts.
"You haven't asked me," she said.
"Asked you what, Love?" he asked.
"Asked me what you want me to be to you," she answered.
"But I…," he thought about it but he couldn't really remember a time he'd specifically asked her to become his girlfriend. He'd asked her to give him a chance, to become his, but had he specified what exactly he wanted?
He sighed.
He pulled her to him, leaning over her to rest his forehead to hers.
"You are right. I am so sorry," he said, encircling one of her pert breasts. She wasn't big, she wasn't small...she was perfect, just perfect.
"Let me…" he began as he pulled off the blanket … "rectify my mistake." he didn't push his cock inside her but he pressed his bulging member so hard against her clit, he might as well have been inside her. She felt all of him as he pushed her legs apart and laid fully over her. His long, hard shaft laid on the lips of her vagina, pressing down, teasing her, warming her. His mouth covered hers, taking into himself her essence. When he stopped to let them both breathe, his body was awakened to the heat of the previous night.
"I'm losing my mind because of you," he tells her.
"I'm not doing any better," she confessed, her breasts rising and falling with her every breath.
"I don't want you to be my girlfriend," he said sometime later.
"No?" she arched a brow at him. Not at all offended.
"I want more. I want you to become my wife."
"Are you proposing to me right now?" she asked, her heart hammering.
He looked into her eyes and answered with only the truth.
"Yes Sweet girl. I want you to marry me. I want forever with you." Serna just stared at him, not sure how to take this turn of events.
"You are ...serious?" she asked. He smiled at her.
"Yes, Love. I am dead serious. I wish I'd prepared a more romantic setting than this but…"
"You don't even have a ring!" she said, a little panicky.
"Actually I do," he said.
Serena blinked up at him….stunned. He reached past her head under the pillow and pulled out a ring box. A black ring box, no design, no embellishment.
"With how quickly I fell for you, I wanted to be prepared when the time came to propose," he said, smiling at her.
She just stared at him wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He stared down at her for a long minute.
"Do you not want to marry me?" he asked, watching her closely. Serena swallowed hard, her heart hammering.
"I want to," she whispered, surprising even herself. She didn't take the words back, it was the truth after all. She'd marry this crazy gorgeous man in a heartbeat.
He grinned at her.
"Remember that when I go on my knees and ask you for the privilege of becoming your husband." He said, she blinked up at him.
"What?" she asked, confusion clouding her face. His grin got wider as he opened the ring box.
Inside the box, there was no ring.
Serena's jaw drop, then she colored twelfth shades of red. He laughed.
"YOU!" Serena exclaimed in mortification. She shoved him off and buried her embarrassed face in the blanket.
Raizen laughed the whole time.
He tried to get back on her but she wrestled him. They wrestled playfully, Serena's mortification turning to mischief as she tried to throw him off. She was once again surprised by Raizen's strength. Granted Raizen was a well-built man but SHE was SAILOR MOTHERFUCKING MOON, she'd thrown off bigger people than Raizen. The fact that he could keep up with her and successfully disengage her several times affirmed in her mind that something wasn't quite normal about him. Eventually, though, she won when he landed on his butt on the floor. Having not anticipated that, she looked down at him and him up at her, surprised.
"My sisters better not find out about this," he muttered.
It was Serena's turn to laugh helplessly.
When he finally got himself back on the bed, the sun was up high but was being blocked by his blackout curtains. Even so, he covered them with the blanket again as they laid side to side facing each other again. They knew they really had to talk, talk about Serena disappearing but Raizen was just happy to have her back.
"Please, don't do that again," he said, his eyes showing her the pain he'd felt. She knew exactly what he was talking about.
"I'm sorry...I…" she sighed. "It's not easy to go from being hated to being loved."
His heart ached for her. He reached out unconsciously to soothe her with his fingers trailing her cheeks.
"What can I do to make this easier for you?" He asked, his voice soft and low and kind.
Serena just looked at him, saw how different this man was and an odd thought struck her.
'This man is more like Endymion than Darien is.'
She pushed the thought back, wanting to stay in the moment.
"Space and time. Sometimes, I just need to go away to think, to hear my own voice." She said. He studied her eyes, looking for...something. After a minute or so, he spoke.
"I will give you all the space and time you need and in return, you need to promise me something."
"What?"
"Don't just disappear. Tell me when you need space. I promise I won't be offended. Tell me you need an hour to yourself, a day, a week. If you tell me that, I can worry less. I can give you the space you want knowing that in an hour, a day, or week or whatever, that you will talk to me. You'll return to me. Not knowing your whereabouts, not knowing if you will return to me was so painful Serena. I searched for you every day. I was so sick with worry." he confessed, his anxiety over her disappearance apparent on his face with his recollection.
Now it was her turn to soothe him. She reached over and caressed his face.
"I will try," she whispered but he heard her. "I've gone two years without having to tell anyone my whereabouts. Nobody ever bothered to look for me. I've gotten used to being alone, told myself that I will be alone much of my life if not all my life. I didn't expect you. You upended the narrow path I planned to tread, changed what had become my normal. I got scared."
Raizen felt real physical pain from the tears trailing down her cheeks.
"Serena…"
"Please listen," she said softly and he nodded.
He watched her in silence, giving her the space she needed to collect her thoughts. He wanted to reach over, cover her body with his and pester her face with kisses but he refrained. He knew this was the time to listen and to understand so he never makes the mistake of chastising her again.
"When I was six years old, my uncle, Rejin Herosa, died protecting me." Serena closed her eyes, the pain from that night eleven and half years ago resurrecting itself. Raizen stilled, Serena's pain manifesting as if it was his own. He saw the struggle on her face, the searing pain of losing someone who meant the world to you.
"We had a half-day at school, mom had gone out of town and dad was ar work. I was supposed to wait for my uncle to come pick me up," she said, her voice shaking, her lips trembling from the effort to not cry.
"As I was waiting, I saw one of my classmates, Hana, get into a car. I don't know how I knew, I just knew something wasn't quite right. It was her uncle picking her up. I was a very trusting person up until about two years ago. I believed there is goodness in everybody, that there is no wrong that can't be forgiven. It wasn't that I was naive, I just recognized that humans were inherently flawed and so grace is necessary when dealing with people. I never looked at people suspiciously even when everyone else did. So it came as a surprise to me and to everyone when I didn't like Hana's uncle from the moment I met him six months prior to that day he came to pick her up. When he came, he smiled and waved at everyone as usual. He didn't do anything overtly different from what he normally did, but I couldn't shake off a sensation of dread. Usually, when I was around him, it felt like ants were crawling on my skin. That day, I felt like lightning was electrocuting my system.
"As the door to the car was closing, I ran to the van and asked Hana to walk home with me. But she refused and got mad at me because she knew I didn't like her uncle. Since I couldn't force her to walk home with me, I asked for a ride home instead even though I knew my uncle was literally just around the corner. Something was telling me to prevent Hana from getting into the car alone with her uncle. Instead of taking us straight home, he took us to get food, ice cream, and toys. He completely disregarded my repeated requests to be dropped home. Hana was too happy being bribed that by the time he agreed to take us home, she was asleep and I was so very exhausted. I nodded off and on and didn't pay attention to where we were heading until the car stopped. What followed is typical of kidnappings. Gag, hands tied and tossed into a dark room. What wasn't typical was that there were nine girls similarly disabled in the room we were being kept in, ranging from age three to eight."
Raizen's stomach churned as Serena recounted her childhood nightmare. A dawning sensation of horror at his deduction of what might have happened to his princess. Someone had the audacity to kidnap his princess at such a young age and other young children. Behind the horror rose a fury he'd never felt before. Someone was going to pay. He didn't know who, but someone would pay.
Serena watched Raizen's face, saw his horror and fury, and despite the pain she was feeling at the recounting of the kidnapping, she felt calm and strangely enough, relieved. He was mad but not at her. He was mad on her behalf. She knew if he ever got his hands around the people responsible for the kidnapping, they'd be really sorry. She smiled and the tears dissipated. She reached over to caress Raizen's face, soothing his anger into simmering ashes.
Not able to take it any longer, he pulled her on top of him and held her tightly. He wished he could go back in time and protect his young princess. He wished he could erase all the nightmares she suffered.
He wished he could erase some people from existence.
"I love you." He said simply, not feeling talkative but wanting her to know how strong he thought she was. Serena snuggled deeper, wishing their bodies could merge so she can sink into him and become one body with this incredible man who took her pain as his own and loved her through it all.
They laid there for a while in silence. He took the silence to compose himself, to let go of the anger so he could listen to the entirety of the story unfolding. She gave him silence because she knew he was struggling.
"Tell me." He said hoarsely after he oriented himself into calmness. He rubbed her back with one hand and massaged her scalp with the other. With her head resting on his chest, she closed her eyes and continued her morbid tale.
"Even though my mouth was gagged and my hands tied, I still made enough of a fuss that one of the kidnappers smacked me to the wall and I blacked out." She stopped. Raizen's body tensed up when she mentioned being smacked to the wall and a growl of pure menace rose from his throat. Serena lifted herself up to look at him and the fire of hatred in his eyes caused her breath to catch. She'd never seen someone so mad. When her uncle had come to her rescue, he'd been too worried to show anger. He was never given the chance to. She wondered if he would have been just as angry as Raizen after she'd been rescued. She would never know. She decided to continue the tale, it wasn't going to get any easier but she would never get it all out if she kept stopping at his every impulse.
She placed her head back down on his chest and continued on.
"When I woke up, it was in the middle of the night. Everyone was sleeping. My hands were still tied but the gag was gone. Guess they thought they'd scared me enough that I wouldn't scream or anything. I was aware enough at this point to be careful. So I stayed quiet, pretended to still be knocked out as I listened in on their plans for us. They were going to sell us overseas to different clients for various purposes. Hana's uncle made sure to emphasize how they couldn't sell me until he'd had his fill of me." Remembering the lusty sneer in her kidnapper's voice made Serena feel like puking even after all the years that had passed. Raizen laid still, willing his mind away from the cold rage that nothing but the blood of that filthy bastard would dissuade. Pulling herself back into the present, Serena continued her tale.
"In my heart of hearts, I knew my uncle and family would search the world for me but I didn't know how they were going to find us. One of us had to escape to bring help. But I also knew if escape was not possible, the one who attempted might be in big trouble. So I had to find a way to escape myself. I thought all night, trying to find a way I could create enough distraction to get out. There was only one exit and that was through the door we were locked behind with the kidnappers on the other side. Luckily for us, we were in a cabin. Cabin meant woods and woods burn. I remembered how my uncle always used two stones to start fires every time we went camping. The floor was cement so I figured it can act as one of the stones I needed but how to get a second stone. I started crying loudly which brought in the kidnappers who demanded I shut up. I kept crying and screaming that I needed to use the bathroom. The female of the group got angry enough at the ruckus I was making, she dragged me into the woods so I could use the bathroom. I picked up two stones then, and when I was locked again in the room with the other girls who'd gone back to sleep after my ruckus, I somehow managed to light the cabin on fire. It was a slow process that took way too long but eventually the blaze set in with smoke filling the cabin. The girls began coughing and panicking and once again our kidnappers were alerted. As they tried to round us up and out of the room, I broke out in a sprint, hoping they didn't see me. Unfortunately, I didn't account for the rain. Sometime between my return from gathering the stones and trying to light the cabin on fire, it had begun to rain. " Serena stopped, the haunting memory overwhelming her.
Looking back through her memories now, she realized that her powers may have activated long before Luna found her. Too many circumstances in her kidnapping had worked out in a way that in real life would not have been plausible. An instinct in her had warned her of Hana's uncle from the moment she met him, that same instinct had told her to stick to Hana that particular day even though the uncle had come to pick up Hana before on numerous occasions. The fire in the cabin should not have been possible with the random rocks she'd picked up, not all stones create fire. Her will had activated the silver crystal to start the fire. Her will had also directed her uncle and the police to their location. What would have happened if she'd been a normal girl with no powers? She shuddered to think of what would have happened to her and those poor girls.
Raizen rubbed her back gently, knowing the retelling was probably just as hard as living through the event itself. A cold resolve settled in him as Serena told the story. If those bastards were alive, they were going to wish they had never been born.
Serena folded her hands underneath her chin to regard Raizen. He returned her gaze, their eyes communicating far more than their lips ever could.
"Do you want me to continue?" she whispers to him. He thought for a minute. He knew she was hungry but maybe this was also the first time she was sharing her past with someone. What did she need more? Food or a listening ear?
"Aren't you hungry?" He asked, deciding to give her the choice. The mention of hunger brought Serena's attention back to her aching belly and on cue, her stomach growled. She colored bright red, hiding her face in his chest as he chuckled.
"Stupid stomach," Serena grumbled.
"Your stomach is very smart. It's telling you that you need nutrients to live." Raizen responded teasingly. She stuck her tongue out at him which made him laugh all the more.
"I am hungry, but I feel like I need to get this off my chest." She said to him, a lost look on her face. His heart ached for this young woman.
"Ok," he whispers to her, running his hands down her back again. Serena closed her eyes, enjoying the back rub.
"I was barely fifteen yards from the cabin when I heard Hana's uncle calling my name. I heard something about shooting but I didn't pay attention. I just wanted to get to help as quickly as possible, so I kept running. I heard my name and I looked up to see my uncle running towards me. I couldn't help the tears from the relief I felt. The tears blinded me and I stumbled down just as I heard a loud thunder-like clap. I looked up to see my uncle's body crumbling down beside me. There were so many lights around, people shouting, police shooting….it was so noisy but I didn't hear anything except the sound of the gun and my uncle's body lying beside me. Later I learned he'd thrown himself in the way of the bullet that had been aimed at me. I remember reaching for him, calling him. 'Uncle, uncle, let's go home.' And I remember screaming, 'don't take him. Don't take him." Tears poured down Serena's face, her body shaking with sobs.
Raizen reversed their position, bringing her underneath him as he held on tightly to her. He remembered how she'd reacted the first time he'd seen her when she was crossing the road. She'd mistaken the sounds of fireworks as thunder and ran blindingly into the street. It was only Henry's quick reflexes that had saved her from being run over by his car. He finally learned the source of her fear of thunder.
Serena sobbed in his arms for a short while, his reassuring presence holding her together. She'd never told anyone about this. In fact, her parents thought she'd forgotten about the whole incident. She had forgotten about it in fact, until she became Sailor Moon and the memories of her past life in the Silver Millennium had also awakened her memories of her dead uncle. But she'd remembered during the time Darien broke up with her the first time around because of his dreams. She'd been very distraught and cried a lot. Everyone had attributed her pain and sadness to Darien breaking up with her. True she'd been hurt over him breaking up with her, but it was the remembrance of her uncle that had caused her so much misery. She hadn't been able to share her memories with anyone, it had been too painful. She'd worked hard at trying to forget it all again.
After about twenty minutes, she calmed down and finished the rest of her tale.
"Uncle died that night. The girls and I survived. We survived. There were four adults in the kidnapping group, three men and one woman. The woman died that night from all the shootings but the three men ended up in federal prison. They are still there and they will be there for life. There had been other girls they'd kidnapped and sold around the world. It was a big deal back then but this town fought to keep the paparazzi from invading our town and our personal lives. We buried uncle at Higurashi Cemetery where generations of Tsukinos have been buried. During the burial, it started to rain. I was so out of it but I would not move, disbelief and grief rooted me before the grave. Everyone left except my family. Every time they tried to move me, I would scream so loud it terrified the. So they let me be. They let me stand there in the rain, to deal with my grief. But how could I accept that my beloved uncle died because of me?" she shook, remembering how cold she'd felt inside that day.
"This man who'd been by my side from the moment I was born. Who saw me through my first everything. The first time I lost a tooth, the first time I went to school, the first time I had a fight, the first word I spoke was a baby version of uncle. I hardly ever went a day without seeing him. My best Christmas and birthday gifts came from him. We sang together all the time, him playing the piano and me singing. In my young head, we were going to be together forever. He was my best friend, I loved him more than anyone. And now he was dead. Because of me. No matter how many times people said it wasn't my fault, I couldn't believe that. Why had I followed Hana? I should have waited!"
Raizen was gutted at the despair he saw in her. The blame she still carried.
"Sweetheart, you were only six years old. You saved eleven little girls including yourself! Your uncle's death wasn't your fault. Let the real criminals face that accusation, don't take it upon yourself. You didn't do anything wrong!" Raizen said passionately, holding her shaking body to his chest, soothing her, comforting her. He wished he could go back in time, he wished there was something he could do for her but he couldn't think of anything other than holding her. So he held her until she calmed down and fell asleep in his arms
Outside Raizen's room, eight females stood somberly, having heard the confession and trauma of the Princess they hoped to serve. When she went silent, they ascertained that she was speaking no more so they left.
They hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but by 10 am when the couple hadn't come downstairs for breakfast, they became worried. Laverna and Alethea had come up to call them to breakfast when they heard Raizen admonishing Serena not to disappear without telling him. They'd been about to leave the couple alone when Serena began her tale. Instinctively, Alethea opened a mind channel with the rest of the sisters so they could hear what the princess was saying.
They'd all come up then, listening. Though their eavesdropping may be reprehensible in the eyes of many, they were of the mind that they needed to know as much as they could about the woman they needed to convince for a second chance. What they heard, however, disturbed them as much as it did Raizen. This young girl had more emotional scars than someone her age should have. They would have to tread carefully so they don't become another painful memory in her arsenal of memories.
Serena slept in her hunger, the world of silence providing her momentary escape. Lying beside her, Raizen finally understood that a journey with her wasn't going to be easy sailing. There are going to be many nights of doubts, of fear, of unease, of anxiety and depression. There are going to be many days of tears, frustration, misunderstandings, and mistrust. There was no getting around that. They'll have to face the storm before they can enjoy the harvest. But even if those nights are more than the nights of happiness, he had no desire to be anywhere else but at the side of this precious woman.
He rose up and pulled the blanket to cover her. He needed to make sure there was food ready for her when she woke up. He exited his room, stretching at the door to get the kinks out of his body. He arrived downstairs to find his sisters sitting in the living room playing various board games. They looked up at him and without meaning to, he showed them the worries he shouldered. They got up and went to give him a hug except for Cassandra and Maeve who went to the kitchen to warm up food for him.
"Come eat Raizen, you must be famished," Maeve said, placing a tray of food on the island counter. Raizen went and sat on the stool chair in front of the island, his sisters gathering around him.
On the tray were small bowls of side dishes and a big bowl of tofu and vegetable soup. The side dishes comprised rice, salmon, and a variety of seasoned vegetables.
"Do…"
"We have food for when Serena wakes up," Cassandra assured him. He nodded. He ate silently and his sister let him be.
When he finished eating as much as he could which wasn't much considering he hadn't eaten breakfast and it was no 2 pm, he looked at Cassandra.
"I know you guys eavesdropped on us." He said, Cassandra gave him her best innocent look and he rolled his eyes at her antics.
"We didn't eavesdrop. We just listened undetected." Zander said, walking to sit beside him.
"Clearly I detected you." Raizen retorted.
"Well that's because you are not normal," Xander replied with a huge grin. Raizen just spoke his head, there was no winning with his sisters.
"She's been through a lot." He said instead.
"So it seems," Maeve replied thoughtfully.
"I don't know what you guys are up to…." He said, staring from face to face. Xander gave him a weary look.
"I just want her boobs." She replied sullenly.
"What makes you say that?" Maeve asked, ignoring Xander's perversity.
Raizen smiled ironically.
"Your interest in my woman has nothing to do with the fact that she's mine. You guys knew of her even before I met her. I don't know your connection to her or why you are so interested in her, you didn't move down here for me, you came because of her." To this, no one had a reply.
"Whatever your agendas are, please do not hurt her. She is very precious to me. Family or not, if I am forced to pick a side, I will choose her." He stated and they knew he was not bluffing.
"We don't expect you to choose any other," Cassandra replied, just as serious as him. They stared unsmiling at each other, both measuring what was at stake. Knowing he'd never win a staring contest with Cassie, Raizen broke into a wry smile and shook his head.
"What are you guys planning to do here?" he asked. Although he was glad to have his sisters' home, he wasn't sure what their plans were. Did they plan to stay a long time or was this just vacation? With his sisters, nothing is ever as it seems.
"What do you mean?" Maeve asked, looking confused.
"Are you here to stay? Are you just vacationing? Are you going to be working? Things like that."
They all turned to look at Cassandra as if she had all the answers. She stayed quiet for a minute then pulled up a stool to sit in front of Raizen on the kitchen side of the island.
"How much of who you are and who we are do you know?" She asked, startling the others.
Without flinching, Raizen replied.
"You're not my blood sisters that's for sure."
Cassandra nodded even as the others looked worried.
"I don't exactly know or understand our connection but I do believe you mean to help me or at least, you do not mean me any harm."
She nodded again.
"There's more to you guys than meets the eye. You know things I don't. I don't believe you guys are hiding things because you want to but because you believe you have to."
Once again she nodded.
"Rune didn't come to me by accident. He's a key player in all of this. And he is connected to Serena somehow. Rune who never lets anyone come close, never lets anyone outside this family touch him, has taken a liking to Serena in a way that suggests familiarity of a different kind. And he's no ordinary eagle. At first, I thought it was just his coloring that was unusual but that bird is way too smart, way to perceptive and intuitive to be ordinary." He went silent to let the sisters process his words.
"Anything else?" Cassie asked, looking intently at him as if she was expecting something.
"I don't think I ended up here by accident either. Serena and I were meant to meet. My attachment to her is too strong, too abnormal. I don't really understand it. But…"
"But?" Xander asked softly.
Raizen sighed, running his hand through his head.
"I don't know. It's like she's my soul or something. I feel everything so much more with her. Too intense. When she's in pain, I can't breathe. When she's crying I feel like gutting out my own heart. Her suffering feels like my own both physically and emotionally. I have this intense need to protect her, to shield her, hide her from the world. I'm so possessive of her, it's a little scary. I don't recall ever feeling like this and yet it feels like these feelings have always been there. It feels like I have always loved her." He said, doing his best to describe the emotions that at times clog his lungs and makes breathing a real concern. He looked down at his fingers, realizing his hand was shaking.
Xander rose from his seat and pulled Raizen into a hug.
"It's alright. What you are feeling is not unusual," she said to Raizen. He snorts in return.
"Really." Xander defended.
"You love her as you do because that is what she needs." Everyone turned to the silent teenager.
"What do you mean Hera?" Raizen asked, his attention undivided. Whatever she had to say, he wanted to hear it. Hera hardly speaks. She'd always been the silent supporter in their family. But every now and then, she'd say something. When she does speak, it's almost as if she was uttering a prophetic saying. For one so young, she'd always possessed a pearl of uncanny wisdom that has proven true time and again. He'd learned to listen whenever she spoke.
"Serena. No other way of love will make sense to her." Hera said.
"You mean like her love language?" Alethea asked, her burrowed furrowed in concentration.
"What love language?" Raizen asked, confused.
"Some dude wrote a book about how to communicate love to your partner. As if we didn't already know this." Laverna said, rolling her eyes.
"A book?" Raizen said, looking dismayed.
"Basically, Chapman wrote a book saying love is expressed and experienced five different ways. Words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch." Rhea explained helpfully. The young teenage girl had unusual pink hair and purple eyes. Standing beside her was an exact copy, her twin sister.
"He just forgot to mention all the other forms of ways love can be expressed and experienced. He also hadn't taken into account the emotional state of a damaged moon princess." Thea, the other twin added derisively. Cassandra threw her a warning look.
Raizen blinked, perplexed by the inconsistent conversation.
"What does this book have to do with the fairytale of the moon princess?" He asked.
"Nothing really," Alethea answered him. He blinked and she smiled. He sighed.
"You guys are so confusing." He said in exasperation.
"I suspect that Serena needs the kind of love you are offering. She wants to be needed, wanted. She wants someone who can't live a day without her, someone who can understand her without her always voicing things out. Someone who can appreciate her without asking her to change so much. More importantly, she's gone without for so long that affection is something she needs and craves. What you may see as possessiveness is the exact thing she needs to feel belonged, wanted, needed, and loved. It will not surprise me if she becomes just as possessive of you. She's someone who loves with all her being, I suspect that's why things didn't work out so well with her and her ex. She gave all of herself to someone who gave her little in return. He starved her. You need to nourish her and don't think too much about whether or not your way of love is right or wrong. If it feeds her soul and makes her happy, no one other than the two of you has the right to decide what is right and what is wrong in your relationship." Hera said, holding his gaze throughout her little speech. And when she was done, she got up and left the room.
"Can I get an Amen?!" Xander said in a preacher's voice and everyone broke out laughing.
Raizen smiled, his doubts settled. He loved his Serena, so long as he didn't hurt her, he'd love her the only way he knew how and hopefully that would be enough.
He got up and turned to Cassie who was looking at him with amusement.
"I believe the love of my life is awake. May I take a bowl of food to her?" he asked. She shook her head.
"No."
"No?" He asked, eyes wide.
"Bring her down. I think you two still have some talking to do but she needs to get out of the room. She's been indoors all day. I will set up the backyard for you two. Bring her out for some fresh air." She said and he nodded happily.
He turned to go up the stairs.
"Oh and Raizen," He stopped and turned back to Cassandra, "we're here to make a life with you and your princess. We're here to protect and provide for the two of you. We just want to be part of your family. Forgive us if we gave you any other impression. We figured Serena could use some new, good, and faithful friends. That's why the girls have enrolled in her school. One of them will be with her at all times so she isn't alone. Maeve and I are opening a boutique and a little cafe downtown where the girls can help out after school, a place for them and Serena to hang out. And I think that it will be best for Xander to continue to teach your music class. You don't want anything that can compromise your relationship with Serena and put her in a difficult spot." The room went silent as Raizen processed Cassandra's words.
He grinned.
"You're my sisters. We're already family. We just need to convince or force Serena to join us." He said, his grin getting bigger. He turned and continued his path, whistling all the way. Had he turned back, he would have seen seven emotionally moved sisters, flustered and happy, a few tears shed in hope and joy.
"I don't know about you guys," Laverna said, her head bent but a small smile on her lips, "but I've found my reason to be. With everything I have, I am going to protect them. I'm going to pave a way for Crescentius and Crescentia to reunite. What was broken, I will restore, or die trying."
Alethea put her arms around her friend, a silent affirmation and agreement.
"That's why we're all here. Don't ever forget that. We must all be alert because when the storm hits, we must be ready to fight back or we will lose the last vestige of hope we have."
From the shadows of the stairwell, Maeve's words reached the ears of the dark goddess and her eyes glowed a bloody red. And within the dept of the blood moon, crimson rain began to descend.
She smiled.
She was more than ready.
Vengeance had never tasted so sweet.
Please REVIEW. good or bad, short or long, any form of review to help me will be appreciated. I know some of you want to know what is happening from Darien and the girls' point of view, I promise I will get there. I have these chapters divided into a sort of segment to help guide me even though these characters keep hijacking my story.
I couldn't post this yesterday but at least I got it in today. I have to do some more work on chapter 17 so that's going to take some time. I hope in the meantime you enjoy this one. You have to give me some credit, I am trying LOL.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed chapter 15 for me. And everyone's encouragement as a response to the HELP me section. Knowing that after all this time, there are still faithful readers out there enjoying the story now as they did in the beginning is a great confidence booster for me. I hope to publish some of my own original works of later this year, real actual books on amazon. I will tell you more about it when I am sure of the plans.
Anyways, I have 2 questions for you guys.
1. Who is your favorite character in THIS story? I am just curious, it will not affect the continuation of this story. My favorite person is Xander for some strange reason. She makes me smile lol.
2. While writing these erotic chapters, I struggled with finding ways to call the female vagina. I mean, there are so many words to call the penis but it was a struggle trying to find graceful words for our lady bits. And strangely enough, I can't stand the word "pussy". It feels so gross to me lol. Please help. What other words have you come across used to refer to the female vagina? What words or descriptions do you know of that are used to reference vagina in a way that makes it sound romantic, elegant, and NOT gross or crass.
