Chapter Four: The Three Perfections
* Landing upon the roof, Serena folded her dark wings back and, upon hearing the whistling of a patrolman, hastily stuffed them into a magically tweaked trench coat, wincing as a couple of feathers came off in her hands. That done, she started making her way down off of the roof, berating her lack of foresight. Circles of light characteristic of flashlights danced in bored circles on the well-kept lawn as another man laughed at the whistling one and started singing along to "The Eensy Weensy Spider".
She rolled her eyes at the sheer stupidity of the men and scooted to the edge of the roof, glancing apprehensively down at the drain pipe that ran to the ground. Ironically, despite being able to fly, Serena absolutely detested and feared heights.
The lights danced away around the corner of the house, and she testily reached over to nudge the pipe, making sure it was attached to the side of the house and firmly. Biting her lip, she moved until her legs hung off of the roof and her upper body supported her dangling weight. Her legs wrapped firmly around the pipe, and she gave a short sigh of relief before slowly shimmying down, mindful of the windows close to her left side. Hitting the ground, she allowed a moment to collect herself and glanced up at where she had been, three stories too high.
Voices to her right reached her ears, faint but measurably increasing in volume, still on the spider song.
"The eensy weensy spider went up the waterspout."
The eensy weensy Serena went down the drain pipe.
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Duo sighed and tapped the desk, rather bored. His violet eyes were cold but enchanting as he surveyed the estate's grounds from the window in front of him, noting the shadows of the night and missing Serena horribly.
It truly wasn't fair that Serena always got the favor, the choicest slice of the kill. As much as he tried to console himself, Duo hated being beaten by a girl, even if that girl was his sister. In fact, he hated it almost as much as weakness.
He disliked how the White Witch allowed Serena's close relationship with Hotaru to slide while he was allowed absolutely no access to the youngest member of their family. Not that he wanted any, of course. Hotaru was weak and sickly, traits that he had been taught very early on in life to shun. He looked down upon Hotaru and was severely annoyed that Serena cared for her so much. The girl should have been put out of her misery long ago.
But Mother believed in mercy. Mother believed in all things good and kind and pure. It was the one trait that Mother hadn't managed to engrain in his character; the one trait that Serena had over him.
And he hated that.
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"Quatre, you must stop doing that!" Iria Winner sighed irritated as she opened the front door and stepped in. Her indigo eyes met Quatre's sky blue ones, and she felt her heart soften. There was no way she could scold him now.
"Doing what?" She shot him a look and headed towards the kitchen. He followed.
"How many times have I told you to stop leaving the door unlocked at night?"
"But there's nothing wrong with it!" Quatre blinked at her- so naïvely that she almost slapped her forehead out of frustration.
It had always been her and her sisters' duty to protect their little brother, the Winner heir, the miracle child. All twenty-nine of them had banded together after their Mother and Father's deaths and took turns taking care of Quatre, but she and Quatre had become particularly close.
They had coddled him and spoiled him. In fact, if Quatre hadn't met the Maguanacs, he would never have grown up. Not that she or any of her sisters would have minded. But even after the baby of the family had matured and became a charming and respectable political and business figure, she and all twenty-eight of her sisters still sheltered him. Iria sighed.
And here was the proof of Quatre's overly protected life. "Yes there is a problem with that! Especially since you have a habit of shouting 'come in!' to whoever knocks!" She groaned and poured herself a cup of apple juice.
Quatre merely smiled. He loved his sisters, all of them, truly and selflessly, but at times, they all could be so aggravating. He hated it when they commented on his actions and the people he hanged around. He hated it when they showed up at the door without announcing themselves and snooped around in his room. And he absolutely hated it when they picked favorites out of the women who wanted to marry him.
But couldn't they understand that man was by nature good? Couldn't they understand that he had every belief that God planned everything out and if he should die then he would?
"I'm getting a security system for you the instant I find time."
"I have the Maguanacs."
Iria dwelled upon this for a moment and had to toss in the towel. The argument had always come down to this and always ended with Quatre winning because she simply couldn't find any possible way that the Maguanacs might fail. Knowing Rashid and his style… It just wasn't something that would ever happen. Ever.
A delicate knock sounded at the door. Quatre smiled and shouted, "Come in!"
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There were many things that the White Witch absolutely loathed, but it all boiled down to one word: imperfection. She raged over it night after night and had battled with it ever since she was a child.
Relena Peacecraft had abhorred her sandy hair and boring blue eyes. She had disliked her imperfect parents and unsatisfying schoolmates. But the instant she had found the key to becoming something better, greater - something perfect - she had reached for it. And got it.
As the White Witch, nothing was impossible and everything was hers. She had cloaked herself in an aura of sun-spun hair and electric blue eyes. She had easily gotten rid of her parents. And she had managed to get a hold of one perfect child: Serena.
Even the name spoke of perfection. Serena was all her dreams personified, an impossibility made possible. Serena was the flawless work she had dreamt of for so very long.
But it had taken her long, long, years of tinkering with magic and science. Serena became both genetically and magically altered. It wasn't easy working past the effects of Serena's alcoholic mother, but it had been done. She had went there and beyond.
Duo Maxwell had been another orphan she had chanced upon in the streets, a mess of filthy hair and bright violet eyes. She had only decided to keep him in order to keep as a companion for Serena. Still, at first the violet eyes had almost swayed her into making him her pet project. But Duo was impatient, loud, foolhardy, and, unfortunately, the list went on.
Hotaru Tomoe wasn't ever meant to have been anything. The girl only proved to be useful as a guinea pig. A lab rat at the most. Relena twisted her perfect mouth to the side as if she had tasted something bad. She hated to think about anything imperfect.
To the White Witch, there were only three perfect things in the world: her magic, Serena… And Hiiro Yui.
She already possessed two. And she was going to possess all three. *
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