April 23rd
Branwen Territory
12:34 AM
"Okay, Lily," Emmett said, looking at the ten-year-old who was practically giddy in excitement while Emmeline was next to him, biting her lip. Emmett gave her a look of concern before he shifted his gaze back to their younger daughter though he could still feel that something was seriously bothering her. "I know you really want to learn how to use your semblance, but first we need to unlock your aura. So...do you want me or mommy to help you access it?"
Lily looked to both of her parents, her deep brown eyes wide, before she looked to Emmett. "Can you do it?"
Emmett shifted to face his wife who was trying to steady herself though she was swaying slightly and avoiding his eyes. "Emmy? Is something -"
"Nothing," Emmeline said, tears forming in her eyes. "It's nothing. We'll all...talk later. Have fun you two, okay? I'm going to check on Eddie."
Even though she didn't leave the townhouse, Emmett, Lily, and Sam watched her in concern as she ran towards the door to the third floor and all but slammed it behind her. A part of him wanted to go after her and try and figure out what was wrong, but he stopped when he looked back to Lily. He decided to instead give Emmeline space, knowing that sometimes she got emotional when she was stressed. Chewing at the inside of his cheek for a moment before raking his fingers through his hair, Emmett bent down to his daughter's height and the ten-year-old only continued to smile all the more brightly. Her sister smirked, feeling superior for having unlocked her own aura at seven (even though this had been an accident after she rode down the stairs on a mattress following their move from an apartment to the townhouse and caused her to crash into the Christmas tree). Emmett pulled Lily into a hug before sitting down cross legged in front of her while she mirrored him. Emmett tried to push away his worry for Emmeline and their son though he couldn't. His thoughts always made his way back around to his wife. Sighing heavily, Emmett glanced at his sword next to Emmeline's rifle by the door before meeting his daughter's curious gaze.
"Uh, daddy?" Lily began hesitantly. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Emmett told her, not wanting to upset her with his concern for her mother. "Okay, so Sam and you know how we have psychic abilities, right?"
Lily nodded slowly, a little confused and sharing an odd look with Sam.
"Well, you have visions," Lily said. "And I pick up imprints of memory on people's things while Sam can feel people's energies."
"Exactly," Emmett said, smiling slightly and she began to bounce a little in place again. "And you know how mommy and I have access to our auras and semblances, right?"
Lily smiled and began to speak excitedly. "Well, your aura is silver and mommy's is pale pink, although I'm not sure what mommy's semblance is! I've never seen her do it…but...that'd be pretty cool! I wonder if she uses it to get those idiots on the council to shut up?"
"Alright, first things first," Emmett began, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "One, for god's sake, you and Sam shouldn't repeat the things I say about the council because I know that you've both heard me call the council 'a bunch of idiots' to your mother before. Second, do you know what your semblance is?"
"Yeah," Sam said, excited that she knew. "It's glyphs like you, aunt Willow, and Winter have because I'm a Schnee! I...uh…" Rubbing her arm in embarrassment, Sam blinked a few times before going on. "I mean, I'm a Ciel-Schnee!"
"That's right," Emmett said, ruffling her hair. "You're both my daughters, and you're also your mothers'. So… in order to actually have access to your semblance you need to unlock your aura because your aura is what drives your semblance. Basically, your semblance will be the same as mine, but your aura color won't be the same as mine or your mother's, necessarily, because your aura represents you and when it's activated it emits a faint glow around you. It protects you...but only so much. And it's important if you want to join the Atlas Military like mommy or if you want to be a huntress like me."
"Or me," Sam put in with a sing-song voice. "I'm going to be a huntress!"
Lily stuck out her tongue. "You've got six more years!"
"And you've got seven!" Sam sassed back.
"Girls," Emmett said sharply, sending them both a pointed look. "Please no fighting, right now."
"So…" Lily said, tilting her head slight. "How do we do that? Unlock it, you know?"
Emmett laughed. "You know?"
Lily smirked. "What?"
"Just close your eyes," Emmett told her, standing up as she remained seated on the ground and none of them noticed the door to the third floor opening slightly as Emmeline watched with tears in her eyes. "Concentrate on being stable and relaxed and I should be able to do this fairly quickly. Hopefully."
Lily nodded faintly and closed her eyes as he had said and thought about the butterflies thry had seen earlier in the week in that small town just outside of the City Of Vale where the Ironwood-Goodwitch's lived and how graceful they had been. Her thoughts slowly wandered to the time they had spent climbing over fences with some of Caitlin and Ivy's friends and the fun it had been to mess with Jake, who ended up getting his 'revenge' by pushing Ivy into the pool. Then it had led to Ivy tackling her little brother and punching him in the face while Sam and Caitlin had started bouncing on the trampoline - giggling as they bounced each other and their friends before laying under the sunset on the bouncy surface. Feeling a sudden chill that reminded her of water running down her body, Lily opened her eyes and saw Emmett sitting on the edge of the couch with his scroll in hand. When she looked down, she saw color that was rippling over her.
"Whoa…" Lily said, lifting her arm as the color continued to ripple over her. "Wicked…"
"Hmm…" Emmett said, looking up before smiling. "See, you did it."
"No," Lily insisted. "You did. You said -"
"I pushed you towards it and made it easier because you've been trying for months," Emmett told her and she stared at him, not understanding. "You just need a little bit of a push, but you did that on your own. That was your power, not mine."
"Oh…" Lily said as the color faded into her. "Okay…"
"Something on your mind, Sam?" Emmett asked, glancing to his older daughter, who was sitting next to her sister, looking rather pitiful. Sliding down and leaning against the couch while they turned to face him, he sighed. "You just seemed a little lost in thought, that's all."
"I was fine," Sam said though she knew she had been pushing back something that one of the girls in her classes had said the previous day. "I just don't like being in year five, that's all."
Emmett looked almost amused. "Because Caity and Ivy are year sixes?"
Sam shook her head and Emmett's heart sunk, knowing that whatever she could say wasn't going to be good.
"No," Sam said weakly, and Lysithea eyed her sister. "Girls are mean."
"What do you mean by that?" Emmett asked her gently and she hesitated. "Sam, you, Lily, and your baby brother don't...or in his case, won't…have to ever be afraid to tell me or mommy anything. We'll love you no matter what."
Tears rising in her eyes, Sam sniffled. "One of the girls in my classes says that since you and mommy fight so much that you two are going to get divorced."
Emmett stared at her in shock before shaking his head. "No, absolutely not. That's not going to happen."
Lily swallowed hard. "Are you sure?"
Emmett nodded. "Look, even though Emmy and I fight, I love her so much and I can't bear the thought of losing her and I hate watching her suffer. Your mother and I are not getting divorced, ever, okay? I promise."
"Mommy's really strong," Lily said, looking at Emmett with her eyes drifting into her thoughts. "I mean, she's General Ciel."
"She's even stronger than you know," Emmett told them, shaking his head when they looked at him as if they were about to inquire as to what that meant. "No, not now. Maybe when you're older, okay? There's just some things you're not ready to hear."
Sam nodded, biting her lip as she continued to fight back tears.
"Was I…" Sam began quietly, feeling awkward for even asking the question and also being scared by it. "Was I a mistake?"
"Hell no!" Emmett exclaimed in horror at the thought. "Samie, what the fuck could have even put that idea in your head?"
Sam said nothing and merely stared at her hands while Lily awkwardly embraced her sister.
"It was Jacques…" Lily told him, having overheard his argument with Emmett the previous day with her sister. "He was shouting at you and he said that...that...that Sam and I were a...mis..mis..mistake…"
"You heard that?" Emmett asked, incredulous but also feeling guilty. "Oh, girls, I'm sorry, That wasn't something I would have wanted you to hear because Jacques is a...a dick. Don't repeat that word, by the way, or at least not in front of your classmates. I'd really rather not have to defend the two of you because you both said something stupid."
From where she was listening by the door, Emmeline found herself wanting to cry again although her girls' next question only hurt more. Not because they were convinced they were what they were asking, but the fact that they were asking it to begin with. It was Emmett's response, though, that led to her crying again. His love for her was so obvious and she wanted nothing more than to curl into his arms and for him to hold her and kiss her, reminding her of the fact even more without having to directly spell it out. Some of her favorite moments were the ones in which it was just the two of them and, glancing at and fiddling with her wedding ring, Emmeline only felt that more so. Truth be told, she was still at odds with herself more often than not.
"So we weren't a mistake?" Sam asked quietly.
"Oh god no. Of course you weren't a mistake," Emmett shook his head and. "Look, the truth is that Emmy and I hadn't expected her to get pregnant with you or Lily but we will never consider you two a mistake. I love your mother more than anything else and...okay so actually I love you two, your brother, and your mother more than anything else because y'all are my kids and she's my wife. We were scared, and we weren't sure we'd be good enough but we've loved all three of you from the start. Okay? You weren't expected, but you're never going to be considered a mistake, not to us. Jacques is an ass, he really is."
"Oh…" Sam said, listening intently.
Lily smiled. "You know how mommy knows about our powers?"
Emmett nodded. "Yeah, why?"
Lily smirked. "When did you tell her about them?"
"You're not going to believe me," Emmett told them with a chuckle. "I told her the night we got engaged because she asked me. She had had a rough day with the council, and she was stressed with work. She was scared...and I blame myself for that because she had figured out that I hadn't been joking about being a psychic. I felt guilty about not telling her, so I explained my visions to her before…"
"Before what?" Sam asked, her head bobbing.
Phrasing his thoughts carefully, forcing himself to remember that his daughters were only ten and eleven, Emmett sighed. "Before we got married and had you two and your brother. You know, one of the things that scared me most when you two were born was the thought of you kids being psychics and me not being able to help you with it."
"But you do help me with it," Lily pointed out and Emmett smiled weakly at her child simplicity. "I mean, you were the one that explained it!"
"I was still scared," Emmett told her. "And that probably had something to do with the fact that, a, I had never had a kid before and, b, didn't want to screw things up."
"Okay," Sam said, satisfied by the answer. "So then what?"
"Nothing," Lily said with a grin. "Mommy's awesome."
"I agree," Emmett said, kissing her forehead affectionately before ruffling her hair. "Girls, I'm going to go see if she's alright, okay? I just...you know how she gets sometimes."
"Yeah…" Sam said, hating it when her mother would start to cry or talk badly about herself. "I hope she and Eddie are okay…"
"Me too," Emmett said, heading towards the door to the third floor. "Just don't break anything, okay?"
"Okay," Sam said, laying herself out on the floor and staring at the ceiling.
Lily sighed. "Can I talk to mommy later?"
Emmett hesitated, but nodded. "If she's feeling better, then sure. Just...above everything else, remember that Emmy and I love the three of you more than anything."
Sam sat up briefly to nod before she half collapsed onto her back again.
"Okay," She said again while Lily began to look for a movie to shove into the DVD player.
Heading up the stairs and closing the door to the third floor, Emmett tried to steady himself because he wasn't quite sure what kind of mood Emmeline was going to be in. Hesitating on the landing after he closed the door, Emmett briefly considered giving her more time and playing a game of Twister with Sam and Lily but instead shook himself off and began to head up the stairs. Though he was moving slowly, he couldn't help but feel almost as if he was running though he passed that off to nerves because, more than once, he had accidently made things worse by bothering her when she was only wanting to be alone. At the same time, he had also learnt that it was best to not leave her alone for too long when she was upset because, after enough time passed, she would begin to grow irrationally self-loathing and those were the some of the worst moments for both of them. He glanced into his son's room and breathed a short sigh of relief when he saw his baby boy was soundly asleep. Then, biting his lip and stopping just before he placed a handle on the knob only to realize it was locked, Emmett hesitated before forcing himself to shake the door just a little before he began to speak as gently as could manage.
"Emmy?" Emmett asked through the door, tensing when he heard her sobs. Sighing heavily, he tried again. "Emmy, look, I love you and normally I would leave you alone but...Emmy, I know that you get self deprecative and I...I just want to make sure you're alright. Please open the door so I don't have to use a glyph…"
Several moments passed in silence before she slowly unlocked the door and stared at him while he pulled her in tightly and let her sob into him as he closed the door and sat down on their bed with her in his arms. "Emmy…" Emmett murmured as comfortingly as possible while stroking her long, thick, dark hair. "Emmy, what's wrong?"
"Why does she hate me?" Emmeline asked him, her voice barely audible. "I just...I know that I've been strict with her on some things, but it's only been to keep her and Sam safe from Cinder and all of them…and... and I don't know why she loves you more than me!"
Emmett stared at her before he caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Emmy, they don't love you less than me. They adore you, okay? After I unlocked Lily's aura...well all she and Sam wanted to do was talk about you. They love you so much, they admire you, and -"
"But Lily's always having you help her with things!" Emmeline protested through her tears and Emmett sighed, realizing that this wasn't what she was really upset about. "It's almost as if -"
"Emmy, I don't know if you heard anything I told them...but I meant everything I said," Emmett let his pale blue eyes linger on her deep brown ones before he kissed her passionately and held her head with one hand and his other rested on her back. "Emmy, I told them that even though we fight that I love you and that I know you love me and I also told her that I love all of you more than anything else. Okay? You're the most important people in my life and -"
Emmett Schnee awoke suddenly, a little upset and a little afraid. When he was more conscious, albeit only a little, he remembered where they were and was almost annoyed by it. He could hear rain beating down outside, and it smacked down against the heavy barriers above them. Emmett had never been more annoyed to be separated from the luxury of the kingdom of Atlas, but he was relieved just feeling his wife curled up tightly beside him, calmly asleep. For the life of him he couldn't understand why he had dreamed of the past but he then realized what Raven had kept berating him with since they had arrived. For a moment, he was paralyzed in fear that Raven could have possibly been right, only being drawn away from his thoughts by Emmeline suddenly shivering in the cold spring night.
"What's going on?" She murmured groggily.
"Nothing, darling," Emmett said, gently pulling another blanket over her. "You seem cold."
"Just a little," She sighed when he kissed her forehead. "Emmett, what's wrong?"
"I'm just mad at you-know-who," Emmett said irritably.
"For what she said?" Emmeline quietly suggested. "Damn, Emmett, I wouldn't put up with it…but we don't really have a choice right now. Not if we have to strike an alliance with them."
"Yeah, yeah," He muttered, still bitter with Raven. "Do you think she'll cave if we tell her that James intends to blast off all their hiding places anyways?"
Emmeline started laughing softly. "Emmett! Really, you want to go the route of 'fuck it'? I don't think that's conducive to what we're trying to do here."
"Fine, we can wait," Emmett said, holding her close and gently rubbing her back. "Sorry, honey, it's okay. I'll let you handle it. I guess I'm just…"
"It's okay to be upset," She said, curling into him. "Let's just hope we'll get some decent sleep…of what's left tonight, at any rate…"
Emmett chuckled despite himself. "Fair enough, Emmy, fair enough."
