Waking Up With Magic
Chapter 16
By: ShadowsOfTheHearts
"Dad?"
It fell from my lips before I could fathom what the hell was going on! There's no way in hell my dad is standing in front of me, on Marie's F'en roof. There's no damn way.
"What are, why are, how are.." I stammer
He looks at me; his blue eyes, Alistair's eyes. Dad's black hair isn't military short, no; it's long, down to his ears, dishevelled, messy, with little bits of grey shooting throughout it. My god, he looks, older and tired. Heavy bags, dark and hollow; frame those eyes, eyes that are still looking at me, at my shirt. I look down, that's right. I take in a sharp breath; I'm covered in blood. My body goes limp; Kurama tightens his grip around my waist. My eyes drift to dad's hands, their shaking; I've never seen them shake before.
I take him in then, he wasn't dressed like my dad; no, he was in a tack vest, there's a gun holstered on his side. Everything is black. No this is person is the man I've been expecting him to be for a while now. Special Forces of some kind, always gone, never telling me why, always sharp, always looking over his shoulder, always, just always.
My stomach drops as black spots fill my vision. I can't process this right now. Not now, I don't have the energy. He isn't supposed to be here. I need to scream; cry, just, he isn't.
"Holly" Kurama stress.
His voice soothes me though the fog of this mess. "I'm okay, I just use too much of, well everything, and a little more. I need sleep, or maybe I'm sleeping already." I mutter.
"Holly"
I jerk as dad's voice sends a spark through me, cleaning my vision. I force my heavy eyes latch onto takes a tentative step towards me but stops, he, we; don't know what to do or say. This isn't how it was supposed to work, this
"Isn't right" I whisper.
"What's not" Kurama stops, catching on.
"Why are you here?' I ask, finding the backbone I dropped somewhere in this crazy mess.
"Holly your shirt" is all he can say, look at.
"I'm not beading" I left out, the anymore, no need to make this harder.
"Then who, I don't understand" he mutters with a quick scan of his eyes.
"I don't think this is the place" I hear mom say.
I jolt at this, my head spinning. I don't want to know anything anymore. I see my dad's eye find her voice, and the shock that should have plastered his face, isn't there. In fact there's nothing, no emotion, nothing. This isn't the man I know.
"It never is" he snaps.
I jump as my heart drops down into my stomach.
"This isn't right" I mutter
"John, please, not now" I hear mom plead, she never does that.
"No, not this time, I want a full explanation! For god sakes Rosa, our daughter is covered in blood!"
I nearly faint, this doesn't sound like two people who haven't seen one another after 18 years.
"Not right" I stress lower this time.
"Holly we need to get you back and.." Kurama voice trails as my mom cuts in.
"This isn't what it looks like, didn't you get the message I sent!" She snaps, angry, and steps in front of me, blocking most of my view of dad.
"Oh I got it alright!" He throws back "After 18 years of bullshit, out of the blue, while I'm supposed to be off the grid. You of all people." He stops a takes a breath, an angry one.
With sneaky hands he runs them over his hair, face. "You kindly inform me, in a letter, not in person! That Holly is a mage, a voice user, and that.." he stops looking over his shoulder, looking at Alistair.
Alistair who looks just like him, who is holding onto Lucy for dear life, who is just as stunned and he.
"Mom!" I snap
No answer
"MOM!"
"Not now Holly" she hisses back at me.
Oh no, she did not just hush me. Angry power hits my chest as I push Kurama away, well he let me, but still. I grab onto mom's hand and pull, hard. She stumbles back; I slid my foot under her knee and watch as she drops to the roof top. Her teary green eyes bore into mine, pleading that I just let this go. I can't, there's no way i can let this go. I need answers. I'm sick of being the last one to know.
"Stay" I hiss at her shooting a quick look to Kurama.
He nods, and before I could blink he's besides her, guarding her.
"Dad" I call walking towards him, trying to get him to focus on me.
"Dad" I stress again as tears break the damn I've been trying to hold up. .
Why am I crying? To many times to count, but as I walk it hurts to move, my back is killing me. No one told me that making your wings appear hurts this much. The straw, I can't hold back, it hurts, my chest, my body, my head, hurts.I can't keep walking. My energy is falling, I'm falling.
Dad must have heard the tremble in my voice, because he turns, fast, and before my face could hit the cold concrete I'm in his arms, I was finally back in my dad safe arms. My body is shaking, I'm cold, hungry, and all that spiteful energy is just draining away. A ping of guilt and anger, mixed with longing, hits me, hard, almost knocking the breath out of me. Was that Alistair or, was it.
"Holly, shh its okay, you've just use too much magic" My dad whispers in his soothing voice, one he used so many times when I was a child.
Wait a minute, I push him back "You know about magic?"
"Now it.."
"If you say, isn't the time, I'll kick you. Now is the time, because when will there be another time like this one, when we're all here. I want to know everything. And I know, you want to know, everything as well."
We locked eyes. One heart beat, two and, a defeated sigh fell from his lips. It almost sounded like he was happy I asked, finally asked.
"I'll start with telling you" he pulls back, cupping my cheeks with his hands, making sure my eyes had nowhere else to look.
"I've known about you your entire life. I've known what you are, why Rosa thought she had to leave. What I didn't know." He sucks in a broken breath "What I didn't know was that your brother was alive, and that's why I.." he stops and looks back over his shoulder.
"Why I had to leave." He finishes.
"Leave, but I don't.."
He stops me with a sad sigh.
"I found out last year" he mutters turning his eyes back to me "that he was alive. I had to do something. I couldn't sit on that information and not do anything. I made a call and I asked for a special favor. In truth I'm not supposed to be on this particular mission. My main goal was to infiltrate the mansion in London, but as I made my plans, so did that demon. He sent Alistair to Japan, after you. I couldn't go back, it would've put you in too much danger, and I was, no still, so mad at Rosa, that I can't, couldn't think."
As those last words are side, dad slowly lets my face go. Tears spill from my eyes, from a pain I can't pin point. Dad quickly wipes them away, almost like knows that they aren't mine.
"I didn't know you would be here. We've been trapped in that house for three days, I.." He trails off; he doesn't know how to explain.
"In truth we weren't supposed to be here wither, but everything just, escalated really fast. It's my fault" I cry, I can't stop the tears.
All the guilt I've been trying to push down breaks free and I cry like I've never cried before. Loud, messy, snotty, not pretty at all.
"This, was not your fault" Lucy stresses hugging me from behind.
"I told you, so please don't cry" she cries, and hugs me more.
I don't hug her back, because I've hurt her. Alistair got hurt because of me, and that hurt Lucy, my sister, my best friend.
"This wasn't your fault" I hear Alistair stress somewhere besides me.
My knees finally give out and I go limp in Lucy's arms. "Holly, stay with me" I hear her say as she slowly lowers me to the roof top.
Strong arms help us, dad is helping us, because he's lost. He's never seen me cry before; ever. I burry my head into my hands, it's hard to breath, the tears won't stop.
"Holly, sweetly, you need to breath" I hear mom say from, somewhere, it's hard to hear over my own sobbing.
"Holly, I know you're feeling guilty, a lot has happen in the last 48 hours. But you need to know, believe that none of this, was your fault. Evil is something we face every day. Sometimes the people we love get hurt, and sometime the people we love get taken by it. There was nothing you could have done to prevent this. Take it from someone who knows far too well, that playing the, what if game, will only drive you crazy."
I shake my head
"Holly" I freeze.
His voice has that affect one me.
"Look at me" I hear again as I feel Lucy's body heat leave me.
I burry my head deeper my hands.
"You need to stand up and look around. You've won, no one has died, not even Marie. Holly, you didn't start this mess, you cannot blame yourself for the actions of a possessed delusional demon. Holly your actions did not cause this event to happen. This was in the works long before you had your powers. You can't place blame on yourself, when you have done nothing to provoke the events that have transpired here today."
Slowly I feel him take me under the arms and lift me to my feet "Holly, there's no more need for tears"
"They won't stop" I hiss out as salty tears invade my mouth.
"Holly" I softly hear "Look at me"
I shake my head
"Holly"
"Kurama, I just, it hurts so much. I don't know.. but this, isn't just me" I blurt out between gulps of air.
"Alistair are you?" The question trails off as warmed arms soothes me.
It's not Kurama warmth, nor his sent, its Alistair's. I my body goes stiff; he has never hugged me before. My hysterics stop, I'm too shocked to feel. His hand is behind my head pulling me into his shoulder, just that one arm. The other hangs loos by his side; I can feel the limpness in it. When did he break his arm?
"Holly, I'm sorry, I was shocked, angry, and I've lost so much magic that I couldn't shield it from you. I never intended to cause you so much pain; no I never wanted you to feel this pain. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Holly." He said with a broken voice.
His cold eyes came back to me. Those pain filled, stormy eyes, of the boy I first met. Ice cold and yelling for help.
I sucked in a long deep breath, as I exhaled I wrapped my weaken arms around his mid-section and for the first time I hugged him back. I hugged my brother. A brother I though was dead, a brother that threw it all away because he refused to kill me, before he know me, he protected me. Family, when you have nothing left, you have family. All my family is here.
"No" I whisper "No one needs to be sorry. Sometimes no matter what we do, time has other plans." I push away and look him in the eyes. "It's time to go home"
For the first time, tears, small hopeful tears streamed down Alistair's face. His eyes are a blue I've never seen, clean, clear and happy. "Yeah."
Slowly he lets me go, and through all the fatigue I find my legs and stand, without any emotions but hope.
"Are you ready?" I ask as he whips the tears from his eyes.
"No" he answers while turning to face our dad.
I cold wind blows as father and son face each other for the first time. A warm hand found its way in mine. I smile not needing to look, Kurama is more than then a high school crush. He's everything I never knew I needed. And right now he is my strength. My mother stands to my left, her hands are clench in tight fist, shaking and I believe scared. I reached out to her and take that fist in mine. I forced her hand open and clasp my hand in hers; giving her all my hope, and the strength I know she needs.
Lucy, she's to the side of father and son. Her hands are by her side, steady, and strong. Her clothes are in shambles; her normally perfect hair is in a mess of curls around her shoulders. Blood, dirt and ruined makeup stained her face, but she never looks more beautiful. Her eyes never look surer, so strong, so defined.
Hojo and Hollybella stand on the other side, both seen better days, but both stand with the same conviction. We are family.
"Alistair" my dad starts only for Alistair to hold up his working hand.
"I need to say this before I can't" he whispers.
Dad gives a approve nod.
"I hate you; no I hated you for so long. I didn't know who you were or if you were even alive, not until a few months ago. And I hated you even more. Holly did her best to praise you, but you still left her. You got remarried, you stared a new family and I hated you for it. Rosa, my mother, she did everything for me; she gave up everything for me, for Holly. I couldn't stand it, and I didn't tell anyone. How could I? I was the one who.. I.." his voice broke.
A rush of painful memories hit me like a mac truck. I stumble and nearly scream, but Kurama and mom keep me up right, but they much have felt it to. The pain Alistair went through, the gruelling training, training that almost killed him on more than one occasion. That feeling was more intense than his nightmares, more real, more, horrific.
"I can't possible understand what it was you when through. But you have to understand that I thought, believed that you were dead. When I found out that you were alive, of all things alive, I nearly lost my mind. I called-in too many favours, favours that I'll probably have to work off until I'm old and grey. But I had to get to you; I had to get you back. For nearly 17 years I let Rosa be, I never asked her any questions, I kept my promise and I didn't go looking for her." Dad stops, anger laced his face. Anger I've never seen before.
Mom clenches my hand harder; her berthing has increased, she's trying so hard not to intervene, not to cry. For the first time since I reunited with her, I'm not fully on her side. After hearing the pain and anger in dad's voice, his confession, I can't pick. I just can't.
"Alistair, I know, you don't want to hear anything from me, or excuses. I won't beg you for it, but you have to listen. I never forgot about you, I never stopped loving you, and if I knew you were alive back then, I would've stopped at nothing to get you back. Magic or not, I would have taken on the whole council if it meant getting you back. Rosa isn't to blame either, she believed in what she was doing, and I can't fault her that. But no child should have gone through what you did. You shouldn't have been tortured, beating, and nearly killed, just to become strong, to become someone's emotionless puppet. That I do, fault her for."
The air is still. I glance at mom, tears are streaming down her battle smudged face. Her green eyes, broken. Dad hit a raw, open wound. One I know she's been trying to close for too long. She didn't want to be that person; she didn't want any of this. My heart went to her, for dad, but it broke for Alistair.
"I can't fault her" Alistair finally said, his back straight, his voice strong. "I can see how others would. You did your research and you did it well. But, that's all it is, research. You weren't there; you don't know how many times Rose took a beating for me, how many times she went in my place. She fooled that old man, and bore my scares. She's an SS class mage, no; I believe there's no class for her. Her magic is just too vast. But with all that magic, the only thing she could do was pretend and hope her glamours didn't get saw through, and pray that no-one found out what she had done. I can fault her for protecting me, for protecting Holly. Not when she, chose to give up the one thing that made her happy, made her smile."
A cold wind blew, no one moved. How could we, not after that confession. I didn't even know what mom had done for him, but I can believe it. The first time we met, the first time I'd seen her, she was beaten and bloody, handing on for dear life. All for me, the daughter she gave up to protect. She almost died for me. For both of us.
"I also believe in what you said" Alistair said with a glance over his shoulder.
Our eyes lock and he smiles a warm smile.
"Holly is proof of that." He turns back "You raised her to be like you, and Holly was the one who saved me. She broke the wall, she protected me. I know there's so much that has to be said, and I know this isn't going to be an easy fix. But I want to try, I want to know you, dad."
Chapter 17 Preview
"So what do we do now" Holly whispered
"We tell him the truth" Kurama answered
"I don't think it's going to be that easy, I mean, we're married. That isn't something you can just bring up over dinner." She snapped back
"The truth is never easy. Besides, we're aren't the only ones with that type of secrete." He said with a look at Luck and Alistair. "We did it because there wasn't not choice. They did it out of pure stupidity."
"Hey!" Lucy shouts "Don't go acting all high and mighty because during all that confusion John forgot about you!"
"He didn't forget, Alistair was simply put, more interesting then I." Kurama pushes back.
"How can you say, meeting your not dead son, interesting?" Alistair snaps
"Now, now boys" Hollybella cuts in "You should have argued in a, how do you would you say it, less aquatic room. I hate to said it, but sound travels. So, ummm." She looked over her shoulders as hard foot step approached "Run"
