Chapter 1
Home
Celine had left the park as the pastel purple had started to fade to the blue-black of a typical night sky.
Offering a meek apology when confronted by a worried Mayor and fretting bodyguard. They'd let her off with a warning, and uncle André had reminded her that Timeo was to shadow her 24/7 until their trial week began on Monday, before they let her go to her room.
Pleading a case of tiredness hastened that process considerably.
Once she was back in the safety of her room, Celine let Scaale out of her bag, surprised to see he'd barely eaten the whole day, but noted that the missing nuts were almonds, before closing the curtains and changing into her pyjamas.
"Ok, basic run down today, practical training tomorrow, salon and fashion shopping with Chloé on Saturday, so none of either. Sunday we can do half/half, and Monday's the first day of school, so I'll see what my schedule will allow me t…"
She would've continued, were it not for the chuckling Kwami that could no longer keep his mouth shut.
Celine huffed indignation, pouting while she waited for Scaale to reign in his tongue.
"You… hehehe, you sure like having things organised, don't cha kid?"
It wasn't phrased like a question, but Celine defended herself regardless.
"Well, it's not like I get a lot of free time and I doubt people other than me, and Ladybug and Chat Noir, are allowed to see you…"
Again, she was cut off, but, at least he wasn't laughing this time.
"Look, I'm going to be with you all the time anyway, so, whenever you get a spare moment we can study and train. I'm pretty small and fast too, so as long as I get a bit of warning, I'll be able to hide, before anyone sees me…" He trailed off, obviously having figured something out.
"You don't already KNOW who Ladybug and Chat Noir are, do you?"
This time is WAS a question, and it was one laced with all levels of worry.
Celine shook her head in answer, having since seated herself at her desk to better stay eye-level with her Kwami, though also replying verbally.
"No, No. My dreams have never shown them transforming, or de-transforming, or changing, or whatever it's called when they put on, or take off, their suits… And I get the feeling their miraculouses would shroud them enough so that I wouldn't be able to recognise them. Also… I've hardly met anyone in Paris yet. So, even if I saw their civilian forms, I wouldn't have anything to go off. Besides, I would never reveal them, even if I knew. Identity is an important shield when it comes to double lives, after all…"
Scaale stopped listening at that point. Something about her changing tone of voice had him skipping, like a scratched record player, over her mention of double lives.
She had some personal experience then. Maybe it was time to get to know his Chosen a bit better.
The more they knew about each other, the stronger their bond, and hence, Yiang's power.
About to address the issue, Scaale stops dead when he sees that Celine has since fallen asleep at her desk.
The keyboard pushed back haphazardly, so that her arms can pillow her head more comfortably. A smile tugs at his lips, as the teen snuggles deeper into her arms.
This was why he liked the young ones. Their innocence was seen as a weakness by many, but it just meant they tackled problems differently, more directly than others. They could be deceived, but they were also the only ones that offered genuine second chances.
Unsure of if it was chance, or intentional, the Kwami floated down to the fluffy black beanie that lay on Celine's desk.
If it wasn't obvious before, the fact that she'd bought a doll sized pillow and placed it just inside the cuddly hat ruled out any doubts.
Scaale sighed, knowing he'd set himself up for a heartache with this one, but when was it ever easy to outlive all your human friends as an immortal god? Scaale couldn't think of a justified answer to that question. So, he simply settled down to sleep, murmuring a soft;
"Goodnight kid."
before drifting off…
Celine awoke before the sky was even beginning to lighten. Her whole body felt sore, though the reason for that soon became apparent when she found she was still at her desk.
Stretching gingerly, the 14-year-old grimaced as she felt, and heard, a number of her joints pop back into place.
Seeing her Kwami shivering, despite the beanie bed that cocooned him, she carefully scooped the hat, and Kwami, into her hands and took them to her bed.
Turning on the electric blanket, Celine quietly slipped under the silken covers.
Placing the shivering Kwami next to her, so that her body blocked anyone from seeing him from the door of her room, Celine let sleep envelope her once more.
The next time she awoke, rested and awake, the sky was thick with clouds. White and grey patches of gaseous cotton blocking out the blue of the sky and making for a rather blinding type of daylight. Closing the curtains with a grimace, Celine fought the urge to crawl right back under her warm covers.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." Scaale chirped next to her.
When his only reply was a combination of a sigh and groan and Celine pulled the covers back over her head, a muscle twitched in his temple, before he continued.
"Come on. Up and at 'em kid, I've got plans for today, and I get the feeling we won't get a lot of sunshine the next few days, so get going… It's your first day in uniform, and I'm sure you'd rather your first practical experience be on a dry day."
That had her scrambling out of bed alright. Quickly making the bed, changing, brushing her hair into a high ponytail, and taking a seat at her desk as she awaited further instruction.
Scaale chuckled at her eagerness, remembering only too well how unsure she'd been about transforming yesterday.
'Looks like she's a good balance for me after all.' Scaale thinks with a grin.
He knew she'd still want a quick run-down of how the transformation worked, but he was sure she'd be flying around the city effortlessly within the next few hours. She was an ideal balance of thought and action compromises, though her subconscious tendency was slightly more towards action. Since his inclined more to thought, he didn't see a problem though.
Similarities and differences balanced to an equilibrium that allowed two entities to behave as one, harmonized being.
THAT was who Yiang was.
"Ok kid, I'll give you a brief run down, and then you'll be on your own."
At her nodded consent, and expectant look, Scaale continued his explanation.
"There're five basic things that you have to know before you transform.
First. Say "Transformer Moi" to transform.
Second. You have a special super power called "Équilibre" which allows you to either; enhance another miraculous holder's power, or, cleanse an akuma.
Third. If you activate your super power, you'll be forced to de-transform five minutes later.
Fourth. Every Yiang has a customised weapon that the magic creates from what I know
about you. The more I know, the stronger your power, and the easier your weapon will be to wield.
And fifth. If, for whatever reason, you deem it safer to appear civilian at any given moment. Saying "De-transformer Moi" forces you to de-transform…
Oh…"
Scaale grins when he sees Celine already preparing to call on her transformation.
"and since you get your power from me…"
No longer focusing on Scaale's voice, Celine calls upon her transformation,
"Scaale. Transformer Moi!"
only hearing the last of his words, just before he's absorbed into his miraculous hair clip.
"I'll be inside the miraculous, and unable to talk to you while you're transfoooorrmmed…"
Celine's eyes widen considerably when her brain registers those words, but, with the transformation already called for, she can only trust her instincts, as the magic rushes over, and through, her body.
Having squeezed her eyes shut at the light that she started radiating while the transformation took place; her body seeming to move of its own accord, Celine has to do a double-take when she sees herself in the mirror.
The first female Yiang.
She immediately noticed that her hair was no longer a pale blonde, but silvery white. Pulled into the ponytail she'd had it in before transforming, a sparkling, black hair tie now keeps her hair tied back…
Then there were the ears to consider. The same silvery white as her hair, and in the form of horse ears, or would they be Pegasus ears in her case? Either way, her human ears no longer existed, and seemed to have been replaced by animal ears.
Lovely.
The hair clip had also taken on a new appearance, a complete yin yang circle.
Her body was covered in a latex-type suit. The suit was opaque black, a perfect complement to the black, feathered wings on her back. Turning around, Celine observed two white dots in the centre of either of her wings. The white gloves and boots, both inlaid with horseshoes, meant that her kicks and punches would carry quite an impact force. A black mask that covered part of her face… And a weapon strapped at her side.
There was no strap keeping it in place, a type of magic magnet then.
The black handle fit snugly in her grip, and when she flicked it out, a ribbon, not unlike the one she used in her gymnastics competitions, unfurled in a cascade of shimmering, rainbow colours, which shared a striking similarity with Scaale's eyes.
Celine could just imagine Scaale, diving through the contents of her shopping bags in an attempt to get to know her better.
Observing how she interacted with strangers, and people she met in stores and on the streets. Noticing the little quirks that only she possessed. How her tongue would run along the edges of her teeth when she was lost in thought, or how she bit her lower lip when she was uncertain or nervous. Piecing together her character from the actions and words he believed to be genuine, which they thankfully were, most of the time.
Aware that her transformation would wear off eventually, even if she didn't activate her superpower. Celine took a deep breath, flicked her wrist to practise a few experimental swirls of her extendable ribbon, and moved to open the doors that led out to the balcony…
A cold gust of air made her cheeks redden slightly, but also confirmed her thoughts that the suit was wind and water proof.
Practical, considering the Parisian weather in autumn.
Moving to the guard rail that separated her from a very long fall, Celine scanned around her, and saw a chimney, slightly lower than her current height, but perfect to wrap her ribbon around.
Yes, she knew that there were a pair of wings on her back, AND that she could control said wings as extensions of her body that felt like she'd been born with them.
But that didn't make the concept of FLYING, any less fear-inspiring.
A deep breath, and perfectly flicked throw later;
"Ok Celine. You can do this. It's just a jump. Like that trapeze course you did as a kid."
With her thoughts in order, Celine climbed over the guard rail, and gave her ribbon a careful pull…
She was almost instantly thrown off of the building, swinging to the next one, like Tarzan on a vine.
The scared scream slowly faded to disbelieving laughter as Yiang released the ribbon's hold on the chimney, and snapped it around its next hold, further propelling the new hero through the skies of Paris.
She'd had to physically bite her tongue to stop from exclaiming aloud again.
There were a few close calls, and, at one point, Yiang almost collided with a flock of pigeons, but otherwise, she was quickly getting the hang of her new ribbon.
Considering the daunting weather, Yiang also didn't have to worry about being spotted by any civilian, since most everyone was indoors.
"Ok." The young teen puffed.
She'd just landed on one of the Eifel Tower's support beams, and was enjoying the god's rays breaking through the ever-thickening cloud cover, as the afternoon made preparations to welcome the evening.
Chancing a glance at her back, she muttered;
"Suppose it's time to test you guys out, huh?"
And she couldn't have picked a better spot.
The Eifel Tower was a wind magnet, and standing outside, at her altitude, with her wingspan, she could've just walked off the edge, kept her wings spread, and continued walking on the air as though she was strolling through a park.
The wind made her ears hum. Their sound sensitivity heightened considerably, and making the new hero extra conscious of any sounds that could indicate an opening door, or a civilian in her immediate area.
As it was though, no-one seemed to be outside, and she took a leap of faith, kept her wings closed, and plummeted towards the ground, before snapping her wings open about three quarters of the way down.
The result was instantaneous.
The created updraft making her body take a sharp ninety-degree turn, so that she was gliding through the Champ de Mars. Easily evading any trees and lampposts, before stretching her conscious into her wings, and giving them a single flap… THAT'S where things took a turn for the worse.
"Whoa!"
The exclamation was appropriate.
In forgetting to coordinate her left and right wings, Yiang went into a, very sudden, sideways barrel roll, which sent her crashing into a nearby tree.
"Oh… Ouch."
The new hero groaned under her breath, quickly untangling her, currently somewhat oddly angled, limbs from the tree's branches, and dropping to the ground with as much grace as she could manage.
Once she was safely back on solid ground, Yiang took a quick look about. Breathing a sigh of relief that no-one was in seeing or hearing distance of her, the teen was also surprised to find that the fall had merely phased her, and that the tree only had a few broken twigs and rattled leaves to show for its earlier ordeal.
A sudden "beep" nearly startled Yiang out of her wits, until she realised that the sound came from her hair clip.
"… Why do I get the feeling I'll want to be out of sight when the fifth tone sounds?" Celine whispers to herself, quickly looking about for an adequate place to hide.
A short walk later shows the monochromatic hero sidle her way into a small side alley, shortly after a series of quiet "beep" sounds, a white light shines forth, and Celine Doux walks the rest of the way home, with a slightly faster pace than normal.
She'd opened her hair so that it fell down to her hips unrestrained, the black hair-tie having disappeared with her transformation; and, knowing the duel lives of heroes, Celine figured that a different hair style might help keep her secret identity safer.
The wind had picked up since she'd first left her room, and Celine was starting to regret her choice attire for the day. She was glad she'd thought ahead enough to wear leggings under her skirt nonetheless.
Scaale was tucked safely in her bag, and fishing out the rest of the almonds in the hotel's nut packet, while awaiting his Yiang's return home, and, what he knew to be, many questions that would follow their arrival.
How right he was.
Celine barely made it into the hotel lobby, before a crash of thunder had her jumping in fright, and the first pitter-patter of rain curtained the city.
Celine kept quiet the entire elevator ride up to her room, the perks of having an entire floor to yourself. The elevator was surrounded by a sector shaped hallway. Her door directly opposite the elevator, the hotel staircase right next to it, and the fire escape outside of her room, next to the balcony.
No sooner has Celine locked herself in her room, does she set her bag down on her desk, and flop onto her bed without a sound.
'The silence before the storm.' Scaale thought, sighing to himself as he forced himself to face the inevitable.
Floating out of Celine's bag slowly, the Pegasus Kwami flew over to Celine's bed, and hovered next to her head a few moments, before speaking;
"So, kid, how was your first Yiang experience?"
He tries for the light-hearted tone, somehow managing to keep a straight face as Celine shoots him one of her best pouting glares.
"… Well. Apart from the ending sequence, our weapon is certainly a good one. Easy to use, listens to my commands, and yet, seems to have a mind of its own at times. The look is SO cool, I wouldn't change a thing, even if I could… The flying, well, I'll have to work on that. All things considered though, I'd say it was a good first day." Celine concludes her recap, and shares a look with Scaale, before both burst out laughing.
"Oh, you should've seen your face just before I disappeared. Hahahaha, it was PRICELESS!"
"… and the way the ribbon just pulled me over the edge of the balcony… You could've warned me that tightening my hold would trigger it to reel in!"
"… and ruin the fun of the first experience? Not on your LIFE! You didn't crash ONCE when using your ribbon, nor your wings, until you started overthinking it; do you know how many Yiang's had such a flawless first run? NONE OF THEM. Despite almost crashing into that flock of pigeons…"
"Please NEVER bring that up again."
"…you relied more on your instincts than I thought you would; which saved your hide more times than I care to count, for those few moments that we were outside today." Scaale concludes, and two pairs of eyes shine mirth as they meet in the stillness of the room.
A rumble that overlapped with the thunder of the sky, had Celine's cheeks pink a little, and the teen quickly excused herself to get an early dinner.
Scaale returned the slight nod she sent his way, and raised a hoof-like hand to mirror the hand that waved a quick farewell, before the door closed between Kwami and Chosen.
Releasing a small sigh, the miniature Pegasus drifted through the air, to his little beanie bed set up on the right pillow of the queen-sized bed where Celine slept.
Not yet tired, Scaale decided to take in the details of his new home.
The room might as well have been a one-room apartment, and not one of the small ones either.
The bed was set up to the right of the en suite bathroom, and to the left of the balcony. That was already one of the room's four walls. Letting his gaze wander to the left of the en suite bathroom, Scaale saw the room door, and that was the second of the four walls. Further along was the desk, with desk top, keyboard, laptop, sound system, power sockets, text books, note books, pens, and other, necessary stationary.
In the corner opposite the bathroom was Celine's walk-in closet, and between the desk and closet was a floor-length mirror, and that was the third side of the room.
The last wall had a huge window seat set at its center, overlooking the city sprawled below it, and currently being splattered with rain drops.
The sight made Scaale shiver involuntarily.
This was no home.
It BARELY classified as Celine's room.
The walls were bare. No pictures, no posters, no artworks, no ANYTHING that could indicate the type of person Celine was.
Scaale had been through Celine's shopping.
He KNEW that she could have posters of music, musicians, instruments, bands, basketball players, sports stars, artists, famous artworks, gymnasts, ribbons, and so many other things hanging on her walls.
He KNEW that she had more than one sketch book FULL of drawings or paintings of plants, animals, weather patterns, inanimate objects, or any other such things that she'd only have to have framed, before hanging them on the bare walls of her room.
The floor was heated, but the wooden floor boards appeared cold.
They were waxed and polished to perfection, and, no doubt, had a beautiful golden-brown glow in the sunlight, but they didn't show any signs of life.
No dint where a book might have fallen when Celine had been practising her balance, no scratches where a mug may have been knocked over, and shattered as a result.
The closet was still, mostly, empty. Partially because Celine hadn't had a chance to unpack, but also because she had yet to go on a real shopping spree.
Scaale still didn't know much about his Chosen, but he DID know that Celine needed the chance to make this room her own.
'Make sure the Chosen is a hero WITHOUT a mask, before giving them one.' Scaale remembered the words of his first Yiang as though he'd told him just a few minutes, rather than a few centuries, ago.
"Hey Scaale, I got you some almonds from the store across the street…"
Celine's voice calling over her shoulder has Scaale back in the present pretty quick.
"There're some sugared ones in there for dessert too… You won't mind if I duck into the shower while you eat, will you? I sort of forgot an umbrella, and now I look a bit of a mess."
The Kwami blinked a few more times, before focusing his sights on his current Chosen.
Celine stood between the bed and the bathroom. Her hair was a tangle of knots and locks that seemed plastered to her form, water trails running down her body as a result. Her skin was a few shades paler than was healthy, and she was shivering.
But. Her eyes were shining happiness, and her lips were spread in one of the sunniest smiles Scaale had ever seen a human give anyone else.
In her hand was a crudely wrapped paper bag, and the smell of roasted almonds, no doubt homemade, had Scaale's mouth watering.
First thing was first though…
"Leave the packet on your desk and make sure you don't catch yourself a cold. I don't need a sick Yiang to take care of, on top of trying to teach you the basics of being a hero."
Delivering the line with a smirk and sneaky wink, Celine rolled her eyes, but responded with a mock salute, saying a rushed;
"Yes, Sir."
Before turning around, and quickly making her way into the en suite.
Scaale had barely taken his first bite of a steaming almond, when Celine's heavenly sigh reached his ears, even above the sound of the shower's running water.
It takes Celine a full thirty minutes to get out of the shower and have her hair towel and blow dried. It took Scaale ten to finish the almonds, including the sugar-coated ones.
Collapsing onto her bed in her fluffy hotel bathrobe reminds Scaale of the conversation he still had to have with his Chosen.
"Hey kid?"
His query in accompanied by his floating form moving to hover over the bed, next to her.
"Hmmm?"
The soft hum indicates that she's listening to him.
"How come THIS, doesn't feel like a home?"
Celine's arm drops from her eyes, as the teen shoots her Kwami a confused look.
"… Why did you move to Paris? Where are your parents?"
Her eyes turn sad as he questions her, but Scaale knows that the reward for THIS hardship will be worth it, for both of them.
Celine turns on her stomach. Her eyes now watching Scaale's opals, as though they might give her the answers she doesn't want to voice.
She sighs, a sound heavy with emotion, and then she starts to speak;
"My parents…"
Her voice cracks.
"My parents always said they wanted me to have a French education, like my mother did…"
She sniffs, a tearful scoff escaping her parted lips.
"You may have picked up on it… My uncle? He's the mayor of Paris, Lena's, my mother's, older brother."
Here she pauses to take a shaky breath, the tears shining in her eyes, but not yet falling free.
"Two months ago, my father was on a business trip. He was a musician. He could sing like an angel, and he played the piano like a god.
He was loved and exemplified like one too.
Anyway.
On his way back home from a concert, the car, it, it slipped. It skidded on the road, and crashed into a tree…"
The scent of warm salt stung Scaale's nose a little and Celine's cheeks were now wet.
"Th-th-the ca-a-ar."
She swallowed, trying to still the shaking in her voice.
"The car was practically wrapped around the tree it'd crashed into.
Paramedics got to the scene a little after my mother and I did…
They got the doors open, and looked inside. Then they removed the driver's body, and my father's too, and they asked my mother to identify them.
They wouldn't let me see, but I saw a lot of blood… So much blood.
Mother didn't stop crying for a week after that…"
The "… and neither did I." was left unsaid at that point, but Scaale wouldn't have pushed her to keep talking if someone would've payed him to.
Surprisingly, Celine wasn't finished, and Scaale felt his own eyes moisten as she kept talking.
"Then… About a month ago, my mother said she was going to go be with my father, and gave me a one-way train ticket to Paris, a bundle of cash, which I still have in my bag, a French debit card, which I'm sure has the rest of her money on it, so that I can access a trust fund after my eighteenth birthday, and a kiss on the forehead…"
-o-
The memory was still fresh, her mother's light blonde hair, curls from root to tip, but only shoulder length, had been sparkling like gold when the sun had set in their house.
There had been tears on her face but a set look of determination in her eyes, when she'd said goodbye.
Lena had already packed her daughter's possessions earlier that afternoon.
Her resignation from the Olympic Gymnastics Team had also been sent in and reluctantly accepted by her team and coach.
Her own most treasured possessions had been hidden in their usual little drawstring bag, which was also packed in one of Celine's bags.
"You're not just going to visit him this time?" Celine had asked, somehow already sure of the answer.
Lena had smiled at her daughter, forcing her voice to remain sweet and even.
"No sweetheart, I'm going to move in with him this time… You're still too young to join us, but we'll wait for you. Just make sure you live your life fully before you come see us, ok?"
Celine's response had been a slow nod.
Tears had clouded her vision, but she'd managed a wobbly smile as her mother had waved goodbye.
"Ich liebe dich, meine kleine Fee." Lena had said, placing a kiss on her daughter's brow, before the door had closed, leaving Celine alone.
The teen had softly called her response,
"Ich liebe dich auch, meine schöne Göttin. Sag unserem herrlichen Engel Hallo von mir."
But her mother had no longer been there to hear her.
After a few weeks of laying low and taking care of herself, the date now matching the one on the train ticket, Celine had given the landlord their apartment key, and walked to the train station with the suitcase, backpack, and her mother's favourite handbag, which Lena had packed for her before disappearing.
A few hours after the train had departed, the news report had confirmed her fears, as reports of a car crash near Frankfurt airport, where HER car had driven straight against tree, at such an angle that the car wrapped around it in much the same way as her father's car had, still had all of Germany in a shocked state.
Because this wasn't just ANY car crash.
It was the car crash that cost Lena Doux-Bourgeois, gymnastic Olympic medallist, her life.
-o-
Shaking her head free of the memory, Celine concluded her story.
"She didn't have to worry about my wallet, since I always have that with me. My identity card, both German and French passports to support my dual citizenship, and our only, normal, family photo;
where we were just Lena, Matthias, and Celine, and not Olympic Gymnast, World Renowned Musician, and their Perfect Daughter.
Mother had been tickling my sides mercilessly, laughing along with me, and father had been watching us with an amused spark in his eyes, and a kindly smile gracing his lips.
He wrapped a loving arm around mother's shoulders, half-heartedly trying to help me escape her talented clutches.
Three pairs of blue eyes had been open to various degrees, all of them conveying boisterous laughter, and a strong, familial love.
I have father's oceanic blue eyes, rimmed and mixed with a watery, blue-grey colour, while mother's eyes were similar to her brother's, a light sky blue, rimmed a darker blue grey." She broke off, smiling as she realised that she'd drifted a slight bit off topic, but seeming to not care that she had, she continued.
"Tomorrow is the official signing of the adoption documents. Uncle André will become the adult responsible for me, he was also named as mother's executor, and my mother's attorney will go over the details of her Will with the both of us tomorrow…
So, basically, both of my parents are dead and I am here because they wanted me to be away from the scandal that their deaths would cause, as well as wanting me to complete my education in France.
Though, the fact that I'm not yet, legally, allowed to take care of myself probably has something to do with me moving in with my next of kin as well."
Celine blinks a few times, her eyes refocusing on the creamy, pale, buttermilk yellow of her room's walls, before moving to the shaking Kwami, now sitting on her bed, rather than hovering at her eye-level as he had been before.
Celine's tears dry as she realised that Scaale's eyes are overflowing with sadness and sympathy, for her.
"…Scaale?"
Her voice is soft and coaxing, though she only gets a sniff in response. A loving smile tilts her lips upward at his antics.
'Die schöne Göttin hatte recht. Ich habe noch viel Leben und Erfahrungen vor mir.' Celine thinks, the knowledge that her mother had been right, and that she indeed had many reasons to keep living, and experiencing life, warms her from the inside out.
"Come on, oh great God of Balance."
The mockery works, as Scaale moves his head to chance a glance her way, without Celine being able to see his eyes just yet.
"…Time heals all wounds, and, even if it still hurts now, I get the feeling that if the friends I make at school are even HALF as good as you, I won't have much time to feel down about anything depressing."
Scaale gifts her with a withering stare; it's effect a little lost due to the glistening of his eyes.
"Oh sure. Spill your heart to the Pegasus Kwami. He's just a GOD, I'm sure he'll be able to handle hearing such a tragic tale, WHICH, by the way, has still left behind a number of fresh and painful wounds, considering your eyes didn't stay dry during your telling of it…"
Celine rolled her eyes, Scaale really was SUCH a drama queen at times.
"You think ANY HUMAN would be able to handle losing both parents less than one, and two, months ago?"
Scaale opens his mouth to answer, but flat-lines when Celine answers for him.
"I didn't think so.
One of the most prominent similarities between gods and humans, are our EMOTIONS. How else do you think Kwamis have survived outliving so many of their Chosen?
How else do you suppose PEOPLE keep living when they lose someone they loved?
It's not EASY, sure. But nothing worthwhile ever is.
That's the saying, isn't it?"
Celine takes a quick breath, seeing if her performance got across. Sure enough, Scaale's tiny jaw looks to be the slightest bit slack.
Her self-satisfied smirk drops, as the untransformed Yiang suddenly thinks up a saying;
"I'd say… Life, is an adventure. Loss, is a lesson. and Love, makes life worth living."
The murmured statement has both Kwami and Chosen gaping at each other.
"Wow. That was probably one of the wisest things any mortal has ever said." Scaale says, genuinely shocked that Celine had thought that up.
"…No kidding." Celine says, sending her Kwami a disbelieving glance as his statement catches up to her.
"What? I can't admit when someone says something wise? Sorry, I'll try to complement you on something cooler, like your fashion sense, next time."
Scaale rolls his eyes as Celine answers with a quickly cut-off giggle.
"…Oh dear! Is that the time? I'd better get some sleep if I want to appear fit for tomorrow."
Scaale chances a glance at his Chosen's wrist watch to determine that it's barely 7pm. He's about to say as much, but the words die in his throat when he takes a good look at her.
Celine has since changed into her pyjama's, and she sleeps with her hair open. But her face is drawn, closed with worry. Her eyes still shine with moisture, though the tears seem to have run dry for the day, a small upside.
Still…
'Fresh wounds, Scaale.
She IS human, AND she knew her way around masks LONG before she met you.' The Kwami reminds himself with a carefully concealed sigh.
"I'll get the light. Goodnight Kid."
Celine sends Scaale a somewhat startled look, though it quickly fades to gratitude when she realises what he's doing.
'Duh. He's a GOD, of COURSE he's going to notice if you put up a front. He's been partnered with masks all his life, just like you have. Only you're, like, fourteen, and he's immortal, so there's a SLIGHT difference in experience there.'
Giving her head a quick shake, Celine snuggles deeper into the covers, and whispers a quiet;
"Goodnight Scaale."
Before setting her phone alarm for 06:30am, turning on her side, closing her eyes, and quickly falling asleep.
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Author's Note
Hello again!
Well... There's Chapter 2 for you... I figured I'd give you a bit of a glimpse into Celine's backstory before moving forward.
What did you think?
I know I was struggling not to cry when I read it... and I WROTE the thing!
Again, any and all comments are welcomed and greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to the next chapter!
Hana