Motherhood

With her final plea, Soeur's body began to glow. Angelic wings sprouted from her back as she started to rise off the ground. Suddenly, a heavenly light shown down on the first Maiden of Light. Soeur gave her twin daughters one last smile before a brilliant flash covered the room. When it cleared, she was gone. At long last, after nearly 200 years of waiting and despair, she was free to leave this world.

"Thank you…" her voice rang out, "Now I and the other villagers can rest in peace. Dominique, remember that you are loved by me and your sister; we do not despise your Dark nature. Prier, never be afraid to fight for what you believe in; it is what save the world after all. Croix…watch over my daughter for me. Never allow her to lose her kindness and love. And love her with all of your heart and soul."

"Goodbye…Mommy…" whispered Prier with childlike sorrow.

S...S

Ciel was sitting on Javelot's bed; clutching the girl's blanket. Sang had obviously seen her attempt to chase after her child and locked both her and Tonnerre in the Dark World. The Elementalist could only watch as Prier and Javelot fought; and the sisters were reunited after all this time. Despair began to wash over her; she'd just lost her child once again. How could she have let this happen?

The woman thought, 'I knew it would hurt, but just not how much. It shouldn't be as bad the second time around; especially since I'm a Demon now. Curse Prier Dark Slayer! She took away my only joy! And curse all humans! They took away my happiness when I lived in the land of Fatima!'

Ciel thought back over 225 years. In the southern deserts of Fatima there lived the Elementals; humans with a strong tie to one of the six powers: Fire, Ice, Wind, Thunder, Health, or Aid. They also wielded spears for melee combat. In those days, Ciel and Tonnerre were a young couple who had just been blessed with their firstborn daughter; Javelot. However, the Fatiman Dynasty saw them as witches, so one night their soldiers stormed the village. Flames had burned their home to the ground and those monsters killed everyone they found; from the oldest crone to even little Javelot who was a week old.

'Lady Sang rescued us then. Tonnerre and I were dying and she offered us a chance to become Demons and extract revenge on all who had hurt us. Then Lady Calamity gave us immortality. But she was sealed when we brought our new daughter home so Javelot's human body would continue to grow even as she stayed a Demon child. I could do nothing for her; now she's gone! I will get my revenge!'

Tonnerre saw his wife's depressed state. He vowed to murder Prier Dark Slayer for the pain she had caused them. Also Sang who had used Javelot to try and harm her human sister; the countering powers had shown the girl who she really was. Nobody messed with him and Ciel and lived very long.

S...S

As the team walked home, Angie was getting a ride on her Aunt Dominique's back. Dommie was feeling a lot better than she had right after the spell broke. She was also happy to spend some time with her sister's child. As a Demon, she had minimal happiness; it wasn't an emotion they tended to display. But now she could find her way into a family setting. There was her beloved twin, her niece, her future brother-in-law, Prier's foster brother, and all the wonderful friends they'd made along their adventures.

"Dominique," Culotte spoke up, "I was just wondering. Why did the Demons want to take you anyway? Did they desire your Dark powers like they did with Croix? Because I didn't sense pure bloodlust coming from Javelot. She appeared to have a family that she seemed to care about there."

"Ciel and Tonnerre…they saw her as their daughter. I don't know for sure, but I think their only child was murdered by humans long ago. I guess in me they saw a chance to start over. But they never asked me; only forced me to come along. I was lucky that Javelot rarely if ever had to fight; with no big war, Sang didn't seem to force her hand often. However, with their vendetta against my sister and their desire for Angie's powers, Sang obviously wanted a trump card. I'm thinking that she saw it as a win/win situation. If I won, she'd get what she wanted. But if Prier won, she'd find out that she'd slain her twin sister. That would weaken her resolve and make it easier for the Demons to kill her," Dominique replied.

Culotte told her, "Just lucky that Prier always follows her heart. I was doing some research following the final battle four years ago. Some scholars, a good number of them from churches, believe that the theoretical heart, the emotional area of the human brain, is where instincts are also contained. So that's why more often than not, when one follows their 'heart' they are able to find out the truth."

Dominique sweatdropped. "Too deep for me; never learned much about philosophy while in the Dark World. But you're quite impressive. I mean, for a sixteen year old boy you know an awful lot. My sister and I are four years older and we don't think like that. I don't even think my mother went that deeply into things. She tended to go with the flow; probably because of the unpredictability of twins."

Culotte blushed as he put his hand behind his head. "Well, considering the fact that Prier never thinks things through and Francois is obsessed with finding the perfect man, I had to step up. We'd be dead long ago if someone wasn't doing all the thinking for her. Especially…after we lost Sister Alouette. She was always giving the two of us good advice. And nobody can perform Miracles like she could."

"It sounds like you really cared for this woman," Dominique responded, "It always hurts when you lose someone that you love. I might not have as large a knowledge into human emotions, being raised in the Dark World and all, but I do remember my early years. I lost my mother in a great tragedy and had to deal with being apart from my big sister. Loneliness is something I'm really accustomed to; an emotion I understand better than the others. Don't let it get you down Culotte; I know you can make it through."

"Thanks Dominique. Nobody understands how I feel. Prier thinks I just had a little crush on Alouette. Unlike her, I can't just pick myself up and expect to feel better right away after tragedy. Though I still can rag on her about her two days of lovesickness after our trip into the past," Culotte then stated.

Dominique giggled a little. She was happy to have made a good friend in her first days back from imprisonment. Life would get better from here on out. But she didn't think that Culotte gave himself enough credit; he seemed to be doing quite well at getting through his pain. After all, he was bettering himself in order to make up for the loss of Alouette's strengths. That was truly an act of acceptance. And acceptance was the first step towards getting through a tough time. He just needed a little push now.

Teefa's Last Words...

Sky's bugging me cuz of this scene; she thinks it was really contrived. However, it just flowed like this; I wrote it while doing part of my 20 hour teacher observation for a class. Then again, Culotte does need a love interest in the future. So if you think it's stupid...blame Sky for giving me ideas while she was yelling at me...

Anyway...we had a lot of revelations in this chapter and some sweet moments between two new friends. But it won't stay like this; Prier is involved after all. Soon we should be back into the battles.