Abraham and Vevina got up from where they had been sitting and started to walk down the walkway of the restaurant, towards the main entrance. When they had first entered, they couldn't help but gawk at the richness and elaborateness of the surroundings, but now everything around them was as bleak to them as their future now seemed. They didn't care where they were or how elaborate the surroundings were. All they wanted was their children.
They soon spotted the dark haired woman sitting at one of the tables in a secluded corner of the restaurant with the Twins seated around her. They were all laughing and giggling and eating ice cream out of china bowls. The couple stood and stared at their children while they continued to talk and laugh with the woman. They seemed so happy; just a couple of kids eating ice cream and carrying on a conversation with a new friend. Vevina sorrowfully hid her face in Abraham's coat. She hated the thought of even going over there to take back her children. She wanted so much to just leave them there and pause that moment so they could live happily forever. It wasn't going to happen though. She and Abraham would have to take their children back and eventually give them over to the Merovingian.
"The Merovingian said that when we were ready to leave we were to come to you to get our children back and for you to show us to our room at the chateau." Abraham calmly said as he and Vevina walked up to the table.
"Mummy! Daddy!" both Twins shouted in glee at seeing their parents. "This is Prissyphonee. She's our new friend!"
Persephone giggled at the Twins' pronunciation of her name.
"No, it's purr-seh-phone-ee." She corrected.
"Yeah! That's it!" the Twins smiled wide at her and then turned to their parents.
Both Abraham and Vevina smiled.
"Won't you have a seat?" Persephone motioned at the two empty chairs setting around the table.
Abraham and Vevina looked at each other at hearing the kind invitation. They nodded and seated themselves.
"You have two lovely children here." Persephone ran her hand over Two's hair. "It's a shame that circumstances have to be as they are."
Abraham and his wife continued to watch Persephone in silence.
"You don't have to be afraid of me." Perse eyed the couple's blank faces. "I'm not like him."
"I beg your pardon?" Abraham quickly snapped out of his staring.
"My husband, the Merovingian, I'm not like him, so you don't have to be afraid of me." Perse continued to stroke Two's soft hair. "If you want to know the truth, I can't stand him."
"Then why did you marry him?" Vevina just had to ask the question. Persephone remained silent for some time before she could muster the nerve to speak again.
"For the simple reason everyone marries. I loved him." Perse stared out of the window that was behind the Twins' chair. "And I once thought that he loved me."
The young Exile couple listened intently to Perse's story while the Twins continued eating their ice cream.
"It was just one of his fiendish tricks." Perse turned back around toward the couple. "He forced me to his side because he said that he loved me and needed me. He doesn't love me now and as far as I'm concerned, he never did. He's in love with every woman he sees. I know because I've seen the way he looks at the women that come into this restaurant. I pity any woman who may fall into his grasp in the future."
"Why not divorce him?" Abraham suggested. "You have every right to, with him treating you like that."
Perse shook her head and almost laughed. "Do you think I'm crazy? You don't divorce someone like the Merovingian. You just put up with him." Perse looked down at the table. "I feel that one day it's going to go too far though. When it does, I'll have my fun. Our relationship has already started deteriorating. It's been slow, but I can feel and tell."
Vevina could see tears in Persephone's eyes as she struggled to continue on.
"I would give anything to be released from him; to strip him of his powers." Perse raised her hand to wipe some of the tears that managed to trickle down her cheek. "All he's done is use me, just like he's done every Exile that's come into his possession."
Abraham and Vevina silently eyed each other. Both of them were thinking the same thing. Maybe it would have been the best thing if they had just allowed themselves to be deleted after all.
"But, strange as it may seem, I still love him. I've always loved him. From the moment he first came to me, I've loved him." Perse picked up a glass and fingered it. "I just wish he'd love me back."
"We had no idea that the Merovingian was like that." Abraham barely got out. "Do you think we did right by coming here?"
"If you want to live, you did right. I just wish there was some other way."
"That makes two of us." Abraham sighed. Vevina held up three fingers and smiled at her husband.
"I guess I need to take you to your room at the chateau then." Persephone said, getting up from her chair.
The Exile family walked into the Great Hall while Persephone led the way. The Twins trotted along beside their parents and gazed around them at all of the elaborate decorations. There were weapons and shields hanging on the walls, some of which were axes, lances, spears, spiked ball and chains and other weaponry from different time periods. There were also a great many marble statues dotted around, making it look more Greek than medieval, which was the appearance the weapons gave.
Twin One's eyes followed the outline of a huge M in the middle of the floor, and then proceeded to stare at the other designs around it until he was pulled along by his mother.
Persephone led the Exiles up one of twin staircases that made up the Great Hall's fabulous appearance, and led them down one of the hallways to the side. The place was huge. They walked for what seemed like a couple of hours until Perse stopped outside of a huge wooden door and unlocked it before entering in. It was a beautiful room, having a tall ceiling and a four-poster bed complete with rich wine colored curtains. The only light came in through a huge window across the room, on the other side of the bed. Other luxuries the room offered were a fireplace, soft carpet, gorgeous padded chairs and a chandelier, which hung over the middle of the room. At first the Exiles didn't know where their children were going to sleep, but as they walked into the room they spotted another bed, much smaller than the four-poster one, that lay hidden behind the huge wooden door.
"I hope you'll be comfortable here." Perse kindly said as she grabbed and took a sheet off the four-poster bed and turned to grab another one off one of the chairs behind her. She rolled them up in a ball and stuffed them under her arm. "The Merovingian isn't much on guests, sad to say, but he still tries to make what guests he has feel welcome and comfortable."
"I'm sure we'll manage." Vevina smiled. Perse turned her eyes towards the Twins and then back at Vevina and Abraham.
"I'll do all I can to help you." she whispered.
"We appreciate it." Vevina whispered back.
"If you don't mind my asking; why do you wish to help us? Why are you being so nice and kind? It's true that you aren't anything like your husband."
Persephone looked long and hard at Abraham and then turned her gaze to the Twins again. "Because I've always wanted to have a family of my own, like you have."
The Exiles stood in a solemn silence.
"I learned to give up those dreams long ago." Perse turned her watery eyes towards Abraham and Vevina. "The Merovingian doesn't just refuse to love and keep his promises; he also succeeds in taking your dreams away from you as well."
Vevina slowly turned to her children standing beside her.
"You're fortunate to have these little ones, and you're fortunate to have each other and each other's love. It's something I haven't experienced nor felt in awhile. It hurts so that I hunger for it."
"I'm sorry." Vevina whispered under her breath.
"Don't be, please." Perse wiped more tears from her cheek. "I want to help you as much as I can because you have what I've always dreamt of having. I envy you and admire you at the same time."
The Twins silently eyed Persephone as she continued wiping the tears from her eyes.
"No matter what happens, I'll make sure your children have the best care. I promise. If it means me taking them away from my husband's hold and caring for them myself, I'll do it."
Abraham and Vevina smiled and then Vevina slowly stepped up to Persephone and gave her a hug of thanks.
"You don't know what this means to me." she said, getting ready to cry too. "You don't know what it means to both of us."
Persephone drew away from Vevina and smiled. She turned and walked toward the room's entrance, shifting the ball of sheets under her arm.
"The bath is through that door." She pointed to her left. "If you need anything just press the button on the wall beside the bed and one of the servants will attend to you."
After that, Perse closed the door and disappeared down the hall. Vevina looked at her husband and then turned her attention back to the Twins.
"Mummy, what did she mean by that?" Two looked up into his mother's face with his big round silver eyes.
"She didn't mean anything by it." Vevina smiled sweetly at him and ran her fingers through his equally silver hair. "Now you and One run and get your toys out of the suitcases and play while your father and I freshen up."
At hearing this, they immediately ran for the suitcases by the bed and started dragging out what toys Vevina had grabbed for them when they were so quickly taken from their home. The woman sighed to herself as she watched them.
"You're only making it harder on yourself, you know that don't you?" Abraham walked up behind his wife. Vevina remained silent. "We're going to have to tell them tonight and talk all of this over because the Merovingian is going to expect an answer from us tomorrow morning. We can't keep him waiting. Goodness' knows what he'll do if we keep him waiting."
Vevina turned and started toward the bathroom without saying a single word about it. She turned to her husband and changed the subject.
"I'm going to soak in a hot bath. Do you want me to run you one after I'm done?"
"No thanks, dear. You know I don't bathe." Abraham smiled. Before Vevina could take another step, Abraham turned into a translucent, ghostly, greenish being and hovered a few minutes before materializing to his normal form. Vevina gasped and put her hand to her chest before glaring at her husband.
"I told you not to do that when I'm around!" she scolded. "You know it gives me the creeps."
"I'm sorry." Abraham smiled sheepishly. "I can't deny my instincts and what I am."
Abraham stepped closer to his wife and placed his arms around her.
"I'm not asking you to do that. Just don't go into your instincts when I'm here in front of you." Vevina smiled. "I'm so glad that the children didn't inherit your… unique… instincts."
"How do you know they didn't?" Abraham smiled back. "They're still young. Give them time and one day they may discover powers they never even knew they had."
"Get away from me you tiger!" Vevina laughed and giggled as she playfully pushed her husband away and ran to the bathroom door. Abraham slowly started coming toward her again. "I'm warning you, mister." She laughed before disappearing into the bathroom and shutting the door. Abraham chuckled to himself as he retreated.
"And I'd better not see this door opening up when I'm in the tub!" Vevina shouted from inside.
"Don't worry, you won't!" Abraham shouted back. "You know I don't like water."
Abraham seated himself in one of the plump chairs and stared towards the Twins who were playing on and around the huge bed. He smiled to himself.
That night Vevina and Abraham settled the Twins down on their bed and tried to gather together what they were going to tell their children, and more importantly how they were going to tell them. The Twins were still too young to understand what all was going on, so it was going to be hard to try and explain to them everything that had taken place within the past few hours. Vevina asked her husband who was going to go first in telling the Twins and he finally accepted the responsibility after a few minutes of deciding. Abraham slowly walked up to the bed, where the Twins were sitting, and sat down on the edge. The Twins smiled at him with their innocent, happy kid smiles, making it harder for their father to tell them the sad news he had to say.
"One, Two." Abraham began. "There's something that your mother and I have to tell you."
"What is it, Daddy?" both twins said together.
"You understand why we're here, don't you?"
"It's so we won't have to be sent back to the Source." One said with a smile. "You've told us before that we might end up here one day."
"Alright. That's good that you understand that part." Abraham searched for his next words. "You know everything that's taken place since early this morning?"
The Twins nodded.
"Well, in everyone's life there comes times that are difficult to go through and difficult to understand and accept, but they usually happen for a reason. Your mother and I know that you're both too young to fully understand everything that's happened today. That's ok because you're kids and it's perfectly normal. And,"
Abraham's words caught in his throat before he could get them out. He turned a saddened face towards his wife. He didn't know if he would ever get the words out. With tears in his eyes, Abraham turned back to his sons.
"I just want you to not be afraid of what may happen in the next few days. Your mother and I both love you very much and we've done all we can to make sure you stay with us. But,"
"What is it, Daddy?" Two crawled across the bed and sat next to his father. Abraham embraced his son tightly and couldn't hold back the tears any longer. One came over to his father and brother when he saw the tears flow down his father's cheeks.
"It's ok, Daddy, we're here."
"What's wrong, Daddy?"
Vevina walked up to the bed. "What your father is trying to say is we're going to have to hand you over to the Merovingian in order for you to remain in the Matrix."
The Twins stared at their mother for a long time, more out of confusion than anything.
"You mean we won't get to stay with you and Daddy?"
Vevina sadly shook her head; trying to hold back the tears she knew were coming. It took awhile for the Twins to fully comprehend what was happening.
"We can still see each other, can't we?" Two asked. Vevina remained silent. Her silence was all it took to start the Twins crying.
"We don't wanna leave you and Daddy." They said through their sobs.
"And we don't want to give you up, sweeties." Vevina sat down on the bed. "But we love you. That's why we must. Your father and I don't want you to be sent back to the Source. That would be worse than this."
"Who knows? We may be together again one day in the future." Abraham smiled.
"Your father's right. This may only be temporary. But whatever happens we must not lose hope. We'll always be a family and you will always be our sons."
"At least we're still alive and will remain alive." Abraham added. "That's what matters. Life is a precious gift, whether human or program, and sometimes one must fight for it."
"Right now times are tough for everyone, so we must do all we can to make sure we survive through this war. One day we'll see peace, but until then we are to see to it that we'll live to see that day come." Vevina hugged her sons close to her. "So you shouldn't be afraid of what's to come. It's only natural to fear the things we don't understand and there's nothing wrong with that, but try not to fear. Just remember that we love you and will always love you. No matter what happens, you'll always be in our hearts."
The Twins and their parents embraced each other in one group hug. No one got very much sleep that night. Those moments were spent doing last things together because neither of them knew if they would ever see each other again. Neither of them knew what lay ahead of them, so those last few hours were precious. More precious than anyone could understand.