A/N: Like I wrote in the previous chapter, I'll be extremely busy with my studies and trying to cope with myself during these dark times, which affects my time for studies, writing, and drawing. I think I may have another Helluva Boss story to write but I want to focus on this first or unless I have more time and peace of mind to write the other one.
P.S: I have thought of cameos from Helluva characters in the story, but is it weird if I add Hazbin? This suddenly pops into my mind.
"Alright, students. Remember to do today's homework and submit them to me by Next Monday, unless you want to spend lunchtime in class if you don't finish." Mrs. Mirabelle announced once hearing the bell ringing as the end of today's school, ignoring the students of Class E quickly grab their bags and belongings before walking and running out just to get out of school, knowing that they do not care about homework but want to go home and do who knows what.
Except for Terren and Puteri who express relief that not only that they do not share their classmates' impatience for the weekends and bad behavior to the school, but not a single one of them notice Keenie and Collin's presences to confirm that they indeed make themselves visible to only the two of them for offering them help with their predicaments. Like the teachers, the 'destined couple' can see that the two cherubs are also saddened that their class is troublesome to focus on anything but study for the final exams.
Just before Terren and Puteri pulled out their bags and proceed to walk out of the classroom with a polite farewell to their teacher, hoping to help cheer her up for today before planning to go either Terren's house or Puteri's with the cherubs, Puteri felt a pair of hands roughly grab her from behind to gasp in surprise and alert Terren, Keenie, Collin, and Mrs. Mirabelle to turn around in surprise and the five see Beverly hugging a startled Puteri with a smug grin while rubbing the side of her head against the blue-haired girl's, ignoring the frightened glare from the other while Terren snarled at the obsessed girl for seeing her best friend in pain. "Puteri! I know a family restaurant where we can go and have our first date! We should go there and I'll make the reservation!"
"Guys…I still have Puteri's Red Thread while Beverly doesn't, right?" Terren whispered to both Collin and Keenie, quiet enough to not let the teacher and other student hear and expose the cherubs to them as Collin fearfully watch Beverly continue to embrace Puteri like a crazed partner while Keenie glower at her before answering Terren in anger after seeing Beverly's hand does not have Puteri's Red Thread of Fate which is still connected with his, loud enough yet no one but the two students can hear them by their limited powers to hide. "Yes! At least it's you and not this rude girl! How dare she thinks she can have Puteri for herself and treat you and your awful class like that!"
"B…Beverly. I'm sorry…but Terren and I are planning to walk each other home." Puteri apologized while shakily flail her arms to escape from Beverly's painful embrace even when the latter stopped rubbing her head on her friend and look up to sneer her disgust at Terren standing in front of the two and scowl at Beverly when she mockingly brushes him off and looks at Puteri with false sadness when she callously enquires her best friend, not seeing Puteri looking at Terren fuming behind the girl while Collin and Keenie are horrified of the former and Mrs. Mirabelle watches with offense. "Why do you want that punk to go home with you? If you stick around with him, he'll turn you into a creep, or worse…he'll take you away from me! Not even his dear parents will stop him from being the troublesome delinquent he is!"
"T-T-Terren! P-Please calms down…" Collin pleaded and rub his soft hooves at Terren's head as he did earlier with Keenie slightly shake her hands on his shoulders from both cherubs feeling the boy twitching his wrath for the heartless assumptions by the yandere chick, especially when she snorts her cockiness from seeing his furious scowl directed at her, again roughly pull Puteri against her to wince her pain from the tight grip. "See? He's giving us his so-called Death Stare! You should ignore him like everyone else and let's go on our date!"
"Beverly, if I were you, I wouldn't anger Terren so much and stop hurting Puteri." Mrs. Mirabelle interjected with the three students and two invisible cherubs turning their attentions to the teacher remaining in the class and tidy her documents inside her case, her face scrunched in irritation for the awful girl's personality and words especially regarding Terren's parents. "Unless you want to have the extra weekend's worth of homework for talking bad about your classmates and scaring your best friend by not giving her space, I suggest you should kindly get out. I need to have a word with Terren and Puteri about their school performances…and trust me, it's VERY LONG and boring."
Puteri, Terren, Keenie, and Collin first stare at Mrs. Mirabelle with fear showing on the latter for seeing the teacher glaring at the flabbergasted bully before the latter to see her expressing surprise and anger for the threat, looking back at Terren and Puteri for a few times before she slowly removes her hands off the other and proceeds to stomp out of the classroom, sticking her nose in the air with a loud scoff towards Terren until she exited the class.
The four sighed their relief for the escape yet Keenie and Collin may have a tinge of concern for sensing that the teacher lied to a student to push her away, even though she was demanding to go out on a date against Puteri's wishes of returning to her house, before Terren loudly sigh his agitation for his classmates and calm down with a faintly playful smile towards the teacher, not seeing Puteri staring at him with concern while Keenie and Collin also sigh their relief. "Thanks, Teach."
"You're welcome, Terren. I can tell that you two want to be friends, so I want to give this opportunity a go." Mrs. Mirabelle responded with an energetic smile and a thumbs-up as Terren and Puteri nodded back with a nervous smile and start walking towards the doors with two invisible cherubs flying and following them, although the sound of the teacher starting another sentence alerted the two to stopped near the exit and stare back at the adult with dim surprise when Mrs. Mirabelle gives Terren a sad smile. "Although …it won't hurt to call me Mum when school's over for a change, even in front of your friends or at home. Hopefully, you'll call Siris Dad too…"
Puteri, Keenie, and Collin faced Terren with curiosity mixing in the puzzlement for both the revealed relationship between Terren and their teacher as son and mother, and his reaction when seeing the boy first looking down with a sad sneer on his face before his lips curl up in a small but visibly certain smile when he responds to his mother with a soft nod. "…Sure, Mum. But I prefer to call you guys at home than at school. You guys don't mind if it's okay I'll visit Puteri's house often and vice versa, right?"
Initially blinked her eyes in bafflement at the proposition, Mrs. Mirabelle's face softened with amusement, and nodded with delight before giving another thumbs up from both hands. "Of course you can. You both can visit each other as long as you like, as long as you both have done your work, come home in time for lunch or dinner, and no funny business."
Terren shook his head with the same smile from the last part with Puteri glancing back at his face with a curious frown on her face before Mrs. Mirabelle watches the two students walking out of the class, waiting a bit until she confirms that those two have left the hallway before the school. Once that she believed that they have left, Mrs. Mirabelle stares at the ceiling with her mouth open wide in a happy smile and start swinging her fisted arms up and down to silently celebrate her happiness of Terren both calling her a mother and having a friend for once, even if it's secret from the other students, and with the beautiful girl of Class E.
She was celebrating her happiness to herself, she did not notice someone almost walks past Class E until a voice informing Mirabelle from outside alarmed her to glare at the door and one of the school janitors standing there and smiling at her shocked reaction underneath his cap. "I take it from seeing you happy, Lucy, Terren called you Mum?"
"That, and he's got a friend, and it's our neighbors' daughter and school's popular girl! Sooner or later, our new baby boy will have a girlfriend, Siris!" Lucy Mirabelle cheered and runs towards her husband with her hands grabbing her case bag as her revealed husband chuckled and slowly pull his cap up to reveal his green eyes and brown spikes underneath his hat. "Calm down, woman. They're still kids, so their educations' important than dating. What's also important, to us…is to make sure we'll be the parents Terren needs and deserves."
"Terren, why didn't you tell us that your mother's also your class teacher? You could have asked her to stop your awful classmates from bullying your other schoolmates and flirting with Puteri during classes." Keenie exclaimed her surprise of earlier as the cherubs' small height makes them easy to sit and hang on Puteri and Terren's schoolbags while the two exited Redwood Academy for today and walk around the town, taking a detour by walking through the shopping districts to make sure none of the other students from their school would notice the Water Princess walking home with her delinquent classmate, and spend a bit more of time of talking with their new friends.
Although, just like the school, Terren cannot help but look around in annoyance from seeing other boys from different schools and even men older than them staring at Puteri with the same flirtatious smirks as the boys from their school and jealously towards Terren for walking with her, his nerves strike more than usual to sneer at anyone that dared try to walk close to them, frightening the men to lose their confidence of trying to flirt with Puteri when seeing Terren's agitated stares. Even Collin is terrified when he looks up from his bag and notices the boy did not answer Keenie's question.
"Perhaps it's because the other students will use the secret as both his weakness and an advantage to bully him back. They will not hesitate to use someone's embarrassing secrets as a way to humiliate them, and my father says that they make themselves pathetic for doing that." Puteri assumed the possibility of Terren's secret with an uncertain scowl yet she did not see the boy giving a faint raspberry and snicker of hearing her paraphrasing her father's words, with Keenie also giggling her impishness for the sentence and seeing Terren smiling again just as Collin thought aloud with an anxious smile while rubbing his hand on Terren's wrist to calm him down from sneering at the other people wanting to take Puteri away from him. "But still, there's nothing wrong with having a teacher for a mother…"
"…Adopted mother." Terren spoke as Puteri, Keenie, and Collin faced the former in astonishment of seeing his face softened to look away in either sadness or a tint of anger after the four realized they stopped in front of a supermarket yet Terren paid no mind to the location to explain the truth of his secret regarding Mrs. Mirabelle. "Teach and her husband adopted me when I was 13…because they knew what my real parents did to me. Because I couldn't have the guts to call them Mum and Dad due to what happened, they told me to find the right time until I can call them my adopted parents…" before Terren softly moved his head and face the three with a sad smile the two cherubs can see gratitude to also smile their sympathy after he finished his sentence. "…Thanks to you guys, I want now to be the time to have parents again."
'Even if it's not blood-related, huh?... I'm sorry you have to feel pain, Terren.' Puteri mentally apologized with sorrow flashing on her face. Now, she understands that even someone who was feared and hated as a rough-headed bully is also someone hurt from a rough past.
"It's not too late, though. You both can still find a way to be happy with not just your families, but with new friends!" Collin assured after flying out of Terren's bag with Keenie following after her partner and hover in front of them before showing them their love by hugging each other with happiness, with Terren chuckling his amusement for the cherubs' way of consoling him of his past plight while Puteri first looks at the cherubs before Terren with the same blank frown that slowly shifted into satisfaction, that the both has something in common than what everyone misbelieved.
Then, Puteri noticed something outside the bakery shop beside the supermarket which captures her fancy as well as the others' surprise and confusion when the three watch Puteri walking past them and run towards the bakery, with Keenie's curiosity sparking the invisible sheep cherub to fly after Puteri, leaving Collin and Terren standing and look at each other dumbfounded for the girls' plan from seeing Puteri showing something to Keenie who then smiled happily at her for what is she holding.
"Collin, what are they doing?" Terren asked with a raised eyebrow and see Collin responding by shrugging his shoulders and shook his head as the two watches Puteri and Keenie walking and flying inside the bakery, knowing that no one but the other can see a floating angelic sheep mingling with the people, before they finally exited and walked back towards them with Keenie flying towards Collin and swiftly hug him, stopping the startled sheep cherub from asking when seeing his partner looking ecstatic of Puteri standing in front of Terren with her hands holding what she bought behind her back and see the confused sneer on his face before she slowly moves her hands and reveals to the other a small white box.
"Terren… I hope you like my gift for being the first friend I have, since ever." Puteri offered with a warm smile that instantly froze Terren to feel his heart stopped in wonder while both ignore both Keenie and Collin cheering happily of seeing a boy receiving a gift from his fated partner, noticing their Red Thread of Fate blinking multiple times even after Terren slowly open the white box to see a bar of the store's milk chocolate, his favorite, and two matching red pin-like badges shaped like a heart with one being a complete heart while the other one is a heartbreak. "The kind staff gave me those, when I told them it's for you."
'Why do I get the feeling they want Puteri to give me the heartbreak one, tho?' Terren thought with sarcasm but did not say and express it when he smiled his happiness at the first gift he got from none other than Puteri and acceptedly responded with Keenie and Collin almost crying their tears of joy while the former fan her hands in front of her face. "Thanks, Puteri. I love it…"
However, Terren immediately realized something about the gift which alarmed him in horror that surprises Puteri and the cherubs to glare back at the now appalled boy staring at his gifts with blushing cheeks, confusing the two as they wonder of what Terren is thinking…
'Wait a minute…isn't today Valentine's Day!? Puteri's bought me a Valentine Day's gift!?' Terren mentally screams in not happiness but also disbelief that he is the first to have a gift from the first person who sees him as not a delinquent but rather a normal person…who just so happens to be connected with the said first person's thread of fate…
"What a charming sight to see." A soothingly deep English voice of a man notified the four to snapped themselves out of Puteri giving Terren a gift that distracted him, and looks at their sides to see a person standing beside them after exiting from the supermarket with a bag of groceries held in both hands and a menacingly poised smile on his jaw when seeing Terren, and unknowingly Collin and Keenie, gawking their horror at this man's appearance while Puteri turns around to face the man with a faintly embarrassed scowl.
Unlike an average man, this man is taller and muscular to be around 7 feet with a lean waist, a youth-looking handsome face, fair skin, and long, straight pale blue hair tied in a ponytail to his back with some of the strands hanging down and over his left shoulder, icy blue eyes with the skin around his eyes bearing a tint of black eyeshadow, and wears a skin-tight darker grey shirt with short sleeves and a turtleneck concealing his neck, black large pants and combat boots, a long and wide, bright blue jacket tied around his waist by the sleeves, white strips wrapping around his hands and wrists as fingerless gloves, and a katana blade inside a pale blue sheath held by the jacket.
"Ahhhh! Giant man! Puteri, get behind me! I'll deal with him…even if I die by his giant pecks!" Terren gasped his dismay as he did not see both Puteri and the man in front of them staring at him with little surprise looking similar to confusion while the other people walking past them ignore Terren instantly throw his free hand into a fist and hit the man in the stomach…only to mentally cry out his pain and stepped back with his hand holding his gifts resting on the other from the strong pain striking his knuckles while the unscathed man looks unamused with the same smile from earlier and a snort of displeasure.
"Holy shit! He's strong! He's like a giant, modern-dressed Tarzan with blue hair!" Terren remarked his shock and pain to the surprised Puteri and cherubs for his stunt.
"T-Terren, please don't curse!" Keenie reprimanded in horror masking the fear Collin also shares of both Terren cursing out his pain and the giant man's overwhelmingly dark presence even when he looks tamed, sensing that he has such darkness in his being and heart…like the Devil's. Hoping that he cannot see them with their invisibility spell still intact, Keenie and Collin silently glare at the man who also has the same shade as Puteri's hair first glance down at his muscled body where Terren rashly punches before back to them and smiled at Puteri with not the seduction others would see her, but the same empty smile as hers, collecting the cherubs' notice of the similarities between the two in appearance and personality. "…Your friend has spirit, despite his pitiful strength which he can improve himself through training. But I can see that his conviction for you is strong, Princess."
'W…Who is he? Does he know Puteri?' Terren wondered in disbelief while wincing in pain from his hands from the man's body strength, weakly glare at both him and Puteri to see her calming down to nervously nod back her response just as another voice called out from the woman exiting the supermarket with another plastic bag of groceries alerted the group with the man faintly looking over his right shoulder and smile at the woman now standing beside his side. "Evan, what's wrong? Oh, I see Puteri finished school for today."
At first glance, Terren, Keenie, and Collin see the woman is possibly around her twenties with her back-length hair bearing three colors in a gradient from black at her scalp to dark brown and cherry red at the ends, her chocolate brown eyes glow red from the light, fair or slightly pale skin, and wears a short-chained golden necklace around her neck and collarbone, shaped like both a key and the letter K, the top of the necklace and connect the chain, is a tiny but visible imperial topaz gemstone. For attire, she wears a silken, black dress past her knees baring her neck, collarbone, and shoulders, with ruffles from the ends as well as the darker grey-like cloth around her forearms and torso as sleeves to her shoulders, and black knee-high, heeled boots to show her height reaching to the man she called Evan's chest.
"Nothing worth concerning, Dij. Just a boy showing me not only he cares for our princess by accepting her gifts, but risking his life by trying to kill me for her sake. Why can't the other boys their age show this boldness, instead of boasting false promises only to end up as damsels in distress?" Evan assured his partner with a chuckle as Terren, Keenie, and Collin stare at Puteri looking at the two newcomers with nervousness and embarrassment from her blushing cheeks even when she spoke to the two. "I-I didn't know you and Mum were out shopping…Dad."
'Mum!? Dad!?' Terren and the cherubs mentally scream their horror of seeing Puteri's parents for the first time, more so to Terren as despite hearing everything they have done, since he also admires and respects them for what they did like superheroes…this is the first time he has ever seen Puteri's parents in the flesh. As for Keenie and Collin…they again felt their bodies shaken in fear from sensing Puteri's mother also have the excruciating dark sensation in her being and heart, but powerful than her husband even though she calmly spoke to her daughter with a smile while lifting her grocery bag and point at the other bags in Evan's hands with her other thumb. "Evan and I were buying stuff to have Western for dinner. You wanna introduce your friend to us or is he gonna slouch this whole time?"
"H-Hai!" Terren hastily straightens up with Keenie and Collin fearfully follows suit, despite being invisible, as Puteri glance at the three now showing fear of her parents in perplexity while the latter two calmly smile their versions of amusement of Terren introducing himself to them, not seeing Dij looking down at his left hand. "I-I'm Terren Morgan! I'm the adopted son who lives next door as your neighbor and Puteri's classmate! I hope you both don't mind that I want to be her friend…but I know I'm gonna die from seeing her dad's gonna kill me for punching him by a misunderstanding!"
"Ahaha. You needn't fear, young man. I would do so if you're planning to take our daughter to yourself, like those other cretins her age to older as grandparents, who wants her body just for their benefits. It always happens which is why Dij and I sought to protect her, until I saw your determined spirit." Evan Kemp exclaimed his assurance and spare Terren's life as Puteri's family watch Terren blink his blue eyes in shock at the explanation to stare at Puteri moving a strand over her ear with a nervous frown before he responded in anger. "What!? That's sounds wrong! I would beat them up if they even try to play with women, including any of the boys from our school that wants Puteri!"
"T-T-Terren! Calm yourself! You're gonna anger her father if you say stuff like that!" Collin pleaded with him and Keenie frighteningly look at Terren now frozen in shock from his words yet Evan looks eerily pleased when he commented on the boy's strong words with a wide grin flaring his teeth and eyes that almost send Terren and the cherubs screaming their fear, the latter two hugged both sides of the student's body while Puteri clasps her hands on her mouth in disbelief and feel her mother lightly pat her back with a calm smirk. "Good! You are indeed a worthy boy, for our daughter! You should visit our home…and I'll whip you into shape!"
'No! Not the whip! Anything but whipping me to shape! At least, please don't kill me!' Terren mentally begged with Keenie and Collin feel his body shaking the same fear they are also expressing about Puteri's terrifying parents.
"Okay, the boys are getting along. How about the four of us…no, six of us walk back home together?" Dij proposed and attracted Evan from scaring Terren with his mad suggestion while the giant man realized his wife mentioned six instead of four to first glance at their daughter and friend also staring at her in puzzlement before knowing what did she mean when Puteri notified her mother with a concerned scowl while Terren first looks left and right before looking back to Dij. "Mom, I just noticed you're not wearing your glasses. Is your vision turning bad?"
Evan sniggered and almost drop the grocery bags off his hands from Puteri's assumption and Dij's face furrowing into a faintly annoyed smirk for believing she's blind without her glasses, bringing the patriarch to softly shake his head with the same smile and corrected Puteri while glancing at both her and Terren once he carefully stuffs his present box inside his bag. "I don't think that's what your mother meant, Princess."
"I'm talking about your OTHER two friends with you two right now." Puteri and Terren see Dij pointing a finger at whatever is behind them after informing them what she meant earlier, turning around to see Collin and Keenie staring at Dij with suspicion as well…
Bringing Terren and Puteri to glance back at the latter's parents and see them grinning at their slow reaction when the four slowly look back at each other before Evan and Dij a few times but with increasing surprise until the four finally understands what Dij meant to glare back at the mother and respond the same thing in befuddlement, although Evan heard Puteri and Terren's voices instead of their other two friends Dij revealed. "What!?"
"Mum, I didn't know you can also see Collin and Keenie….can you see the supernatural too, like me?" Puteri asked her mother in bewilderment once everyone has settled inside the former's house of their neighborhood named Rumble Grove, filled with nothing but double-story houses filling the hills of the mountain and an hour walk to Redwood Academy.
Accepting a mug of hot chocolate Evan made for the two children as a treat while Collin and Keenie have their drinks floating on air and closer to their sides after making themselves visible to Puteri's parents, Terren kept himself quiet by sipping his drink to hide his insecurities and fear of Evan on the couch with Puteri sitting next to him while the former stare at the giant man who already removed his shoes alongside the others when entering the house earlier before joining with his family and daughter's friend, taking a seat on the couch big enough to hold him and Dij sat on Evan's right with his arm resting under her back and pull her closer to him.
"Yeah. Ever since I can remember, I have weird but effective secret powers involving the supernatural. Using five senses on anything out of the ordinary from the naked eye, having lucid dreams I can interact in, and even sense abnormal presences to confirm if the person's a human or not. Having these powers can make any situation easier." Dij answered with a faint smile of her revealed abilities as Terren looks at Puteri and the cherubs staring at Dij with wonder and amazement, finding himself smiling at seeing Puteri alive with her family instead of at school before he glances back at Dij when she then added her secret with a firm scowl. "…But even something awesome as having secret powers is a curse for those who want other people to be 'normal'."
"I understand how you feel, as even those from Heaven might also see people with secret abilities as a curse. But having them might not hurt, unless you know what you're doing with them." Keenie agreed with an uncertain smile with everyone first staring at the female cherub before Puteri glance at Evan with a curious scowl and touching her chin with a finger. "Dad, do you also have any of those powers too?"
"No, Princess. I agree with your mother that even if the people bore themselves by discriminating against those who secretly have powers, I too wish to have them. I won't be surprised if Dij added that she can also see your Red Threads of Fate, like how we found each other." Evan shook his head with his answer and the smile remains on his face since earlier as the four does not show displeased other than understanding, albeit Terren flinched in surprise at the mention of the Red Thread of Fate with Puteri expressing concern until Dij corrected her husband with a confident smirk. "…Evan. You're right about that…. The kids have each other's Red Thread of Fate."
After staring at his wife for a few minutes of silence, Evan glared back at Terren with his eyes narrowed and an ominously angry smirk that sent Terren sputtering the remaining hot chocolate out of his mouth without staining his school uniform in fear. "Are you sure you NOT one who wants to manipulate our daughter, like those brats who want her hand?"
"No! I'm not like those guys! Today's the first time I ever talk with Puteri! We're helping Collin and Keenie look for their friend and return them to Heaven! I'm not a playboy! Please don't kill me!" Terren pleaded with his arms wrapping around Collin and Keenie who also scream their fear of seeing Evan acting like a murderous overprotective father, even the cherubs can feel Evan releasing and increasing some sort of paralyzing spiritual energy from his system while Dij is unfazed to smile her discontent of Evan until Puteri objected her father's intention to hurt Terren for the misunderstanding. "Dad, please! I knew that Terren and I have our Red Thread ever since we met the first time he moved into the school, but he is not like the other boys. And what he said is the truth; we're helping the C.H.E.R.U.B return to Heaven by doing good deeds and redeem souls!"
Dij and Evan compose themselves to first stare at each other with a scowl showing their suspicion for their intentions before looking back at the four when the former enquired them of what she had in mind. "That would be understandable, but can I ask; does fighting people who want to commit crimes and hurt innocent people with violence, count as a sin?"
Collin and Keenie blinked their eyes in surprise at the question with Terren and Puteri staring at them with confusion of them trying to find the words to answer the possibly smart question, even Evan nod his agreement a few times.
"I…Well…m-maybe if the b-bad guys are r-r-really trying to use violence, I g-g-guess that it c-counts as a sin." Collin answered what he thought in mind to respond with Keenie patting his back with a hand and gives him a nervous smile while Puteri and Terren spin around and completely face Dij when she positions herself in the perfect posture while raising her legs on the couch to sit cross-legged and raise her head off Evan's arm, continue pondering for her question.
"Okay. That's what you believe, and I understand little of how Heaven's concept of sin work. I asked because I was thinking that during your time on Earth and having Terren and Puteri help you two look for your friend; what happens if there is something that requires them to fight back? For example, what if they were bullied by those who want to hurt Terren, just because they want Puteri as their girlfriend? Or a criminal act that humans committed like a robbery? Or worse, a terroristic act from the Dark Hell Market? If a human tries to fight someone else that terrifies them to protect others, does that count as a sin?"
Keenie and Collin gulped in fear to process their thoughts of the questions that may have either little or more sense of their plans for redemption, with Terren and Puteri again glance at each other before her parents and the cherubs, unable to hear Keenie mentally asking herself while grasping her clothed heart with her hands. 'I-I hate to admit it, but Puteri's mother's right! Humans are easily tempted to use violence, but they also fight others to protect them for justice! If Collin and I force Terren and Puteri to not use violence, we'll make them vulnerable and worse, dead! Oh Lord and Father! Can this be allowed?'
"If I may, I believe I have a suggestion…" Everyone faced Evan when he raised his other hand and snapped Keenie out of her thoughts with a startled gasp, allowing Collin to comfort her in an embrace when everyone listens to Evan wondering aloud a suitable plan for the four. "As much as I accept the use of violence to stop a criminal from hurting innocent people, how about if you four learn how to apprehend them to restrict them from hurting a soul? If Terren can train himself to use procedures to block and counterattack, even with my assistance like how I train Puteri to fight and defend in her youth, perhaps that will hopefully impress the heavens that the cherubs have done a good job."
"That's true. From what I already understand, fighting to kill is a major sin; which Evan and I have done a lot in the past before we decided to be a family. But fighting like soldiers to protect and restrict others from killing would be suitable for a redemption story, doesn't it?" Dij exclaimed with a nod of agreement of Evan's suggestion with Puteri, Terren, Collin, and Keenie slowly got their minds to understand the gist of the plan, with the latter two first look at each other with concern before the thought of using limited violence to protect slowly calms down to smile at Terren and Puteri, who also smiled back at them before Keenie quickly respond to the two parents with a determined smile. "I don't know how Heaven would see if this will work, but we'll show them! We'll do our job right, and nothing's gonna stop us! Not even the Dark Hell Market!"
"Excellent! Now, then. I believe it's time for our young guest to return home before his parents worry about his absence." Evan recommended with a proud smile for the cherubs' acceptance as the mention of young guest and return home, knowing that he means Terren, prompt the boy to look at his rubber watch with the new heart badges Puteri gave him pinned at the side and see the time to be almost 5, alarming both him and Keenie as the four decided in school that either Collin or Keenie can switch places between Puteri's house and Terren's whenever they like to stay and visit each other, and they agreed that Keenie can stay with Terren today while Collin can stay with Puteri.
"Oh, yeah! I gotta go! Thanks so much for allowing me to visit Puteri, Mr. and Mrs. Kemp." Terren gasped as he quickly climbs off the couch with his bag hanging on his shoulder after discarding the mug on the coffee table before he bid Puteri's parents farewell with his thanks, seeing Dij nodding back and wave with a smile before Puteri's family and Collin watch Terren and Keenie hurriedly walk and fly out of the house after the former grab his shoes, yet Puteri watches Terren immediately and gently open and close the door without wearing them on.
It was when Dij's voice commenting on her thoughts of Terren attracted Puteri back to face her parents now smiling or grinning at her. "Welp, now we know that Puteri's in good hands in school this year. At least it's not that obsessed girl classmate I keep hearing about from the other mothers."
"I agree. I would still like him to visit the house and see his training in physical combat." Evan approved and raise himself off the couch with his hand gently grab Dij's hand when she reaches for it and pull her off to stand beside him when Puteri, feeling the same lighter sensation returning in her heart, asked her parents with concern while Collin flying closer to her side and still stare at the couple with fear without Keenie consoling him. "W-Wait! You mean, you don't mind if I would be with Terren? Even if he may act like he's weak to you, Father?"
"I would be disappointed if he continues to show cowardice whenever I threaten him, but from seeing him for the first time until he left the house; I see that he has nothing but pure determination for your sake. Just like how I was when I met your mother, and how we both save each other from our initial fates." Evan revealed with a smile and walk towards Puteri to gently stroke his giant palm on her head, feeling her hands grasping on his before both hands broke apart when Evan and Dij, who lean forward to give a soft kiss on Puteri's forehead from her smile then walk towards the kitchen and leave Puteri with Collin who hovers in front of her face with his smile expressing his faith for their plans. "Gee, your parents are very nice. Scary but nice."
"I know. They may not look like it, but they're saved thousands from the Dark Hell Market even when they had me. Do you want to help me make dinner with them, or do you want to rest and look around the house?" Puteri explained with a smile whenever she tells and heard others knowing and meeting her parents for the first time, with the offer to help for dinner brought Collin to respond with a smile. "Oh! I love to help please!"
But as the two start to walk towards the kitchen and dining room and join her parents, Collin has one thing that immediately sticks inside his mind and concerns him to express sadness, until there is the perfect time to have its answer… 'Why would Puteri's parents have such darkness and corruption in their souls…but Puteri is normal?'