Chapter 87

Well it wasn't like Crow could cast stones or anything, not with the laundry list of misdeeds he was guilty of. Running a terrorist organization, batting for Ouroboros, repeatedly betraying his friends…he knew he was damn lucky Rean hadn't run him through after the last time. Aidios only knew he would have deserved it, but Rean's own kind, forgiving heart had spared his life and he had been on the straight and mostly narrow ever since. However, he was also the first to admit that if push came to shove, he was going to save his own skin first and everyone else second, he wasn't doing anyone any good dead. Again.

"He's forgiven you, he knew you and you did what you did for good reasons, Lyssa." He draped his arm around her, pulling her into his side for a hug.

"I hope you're right about that." Melyssa hugged him back, feeling him kiss the top of her head and looked up at him, deciding she wanted to know everything he was willing to tell her about those dark years. "What about you, Crow? I don't know…what happened to you after you left Jurai, really. Where did you go? Where did you end up? Did Duke Cayenne recruit you right away or…?" He shook his head, squeezing her again and they began walking while he talked quietly about everything he endured after leaving Jurai at the age of 13.

It was odd, revisiting those years and with a much cooler head. Three, four years ago Crow's retelling would have been tainted by anger and bitterness. He wouldn't have been telling her anything objectively at all. But after everything that had happened since she had come to Thors up until now… it was easier to see things how they had really been, how angry he had been and how he had let it ruin not only his life, but also others. "How was my pain," He mused as they neared the park. "Any more important than others, Lyssa? Others have suffered as much, if not more and they didn't become monsters." Her, for example.

"Grief affects everyone differently, Crow. And you were just a boy. You didn't know any better and Duke Cayenne, at least to me, sounds like he manipulated you into becoming C." That was how she heard it, but then again, Melyssa could've been biased when it came to Crow's background and history. "Everyone deserves forgiveness, even you, and I know you've more than made up for what you did." He DID help Crown Prince Cedric and had sacrificed his own life, his wellbeing, everything to save the boy. "Thank you for telling me about what you went through. I have a much better understanding why you've done the things you've done."

"So do I, isn't that something? Not that I look back and condone it, though…" Crow was honest enough to admit this and grinned sheepishly down at her. "I also know if given a do-over, I probably would do it all over again without a thought because that's the kind of person I can be." He looked around the park they had just entered, nodding. It was quiet, thankfully, without many people. "I bet this is lovely in the summertime. I miss Jurai, Lyssa, even the smell of fish. This place, Crossbell City, it always seems so busy. Except for this place."

"I miss it too. It was so peaceful and I miss sitting on the dock late at night, under the stars and moon, watching the water." Her love for the moon and stars never faded away and she looked around the park, realizing why she came here so often. "I think that's why I come here because it reminds me somewhat of home. The peacefulness it has, anyway." Granted, in the distance, orbal cars could be heard driving by to get from point A to B, but other than that, not many people visited this old park. There were other nicer ones, but she loved the classic feeling this place had. "When this is all over with Ouroboros and I'm finally free completely, I'm going back to Jurai. There's no other place in Erebonia I'd rather live and spend my days and nights than there."

"I don't know if I can go back…" So many bad memories were there and some were very fresh. He had regained his memories in Jurai, ALL of them, only to lose the reason he had gotten them back. Jurai sounded beautiful, sounded like a good idea, but he was sure that nostalgia was a driving force behind that. "I suppose I won't know until I've tried though… you know what I've always wanted to do? Take a boat and just sail the ocean. All my travels and that's the one thing I really want to do. We should one day."

She caught that 'we' and smiled widely, reaching up to caress his face with the back of her hand. "You know what? I think that's a terrific idea. We can live on the boat and stop at any ports we need for refreshments or if we just want off the boat for a couple days here and there." Life at sea would not be so bad, not with Crow and her teal eyes twinkled with glee at the thought of spending the rest of her days and nights with him on a boat, sailing all over Erebonia. "Wherever you go, Crow, I'm with you all the way. I won't lose you again." Not when we've just gotten together and I'm the happiest I've ever been. "As far as I'm concerned, YOU are my home now."

"Well that's not vaguely weird at all now, is it?" He laughed and then his eyes glinted wickedly. "Do you remember that summer you followed me everywhere I went? You even tried coming into the bathroom with me and your Mom had to inform you of the etiquette between boys and girls." That had been a FUN summer; he had just started hitting puberty and it had been right before his grandfather had been murdered. "The point," Crow was laughing because she was tinting pink and knew he was being a bit of a jerk, but it was meant good-naturedly. "Is that even then, we had a tendency to do EVERYTHING together."

That was the summer he had learned that girls could be cute.

"Ugh, don't remind me of that! Every time I did it, my Mom would sit me down for a scolding and they got longer…and longer…and longer." Melyssa groaned jokingly, smacking Crow's arm and he caught her hand to kiss the back of it, pulling her against him. "Do you remember every year your grandfather would throw a party to celebrate Jurai? I was 8, I think, and you actually asked me to dance with you because none of the other girls would." She giggled softly, it was during the summer he had been nostalgic over. "You stepped on my feet so many times, I had to show you how to dance properly." Her mother had given her dance lessons early on, which was why she was a natural in dance class at Thors Branch School.

"Ugh… want in on a little secret, my dearest little Lyssa?" Crow hopped up onto a snow covered bench, walking across it slowly as he stared down at her. "My grandfather MADE me ask you because the other girls were AFRAID of me." Because he had been a bit of a troublemaker, on top of the 'head honcho's' grandson… something about his eyes always burning bright or some such nonsense.

Then he had gotten older and women had sort of started tossing themselves at him. Thank the Goddess she hadn't been around for THAT, his own cheeks flushing red this time. Crow had been awkward at first, kind of like Rean. Unlike Rean, however, he had learned how to flirt back really quick. Figuring one good turn deserved another, he sighed and told her about that, figuring she deserved a good chuckle.

Melyssa listened, laughing at his story of the first time he'd been awkward with a woman and shook her head. "I can't even picture that. You're always so…sure of yourself and cocky." Borderline arrogant at times as well. She could NOT see him being anything like Rean, but yet, here he was, telling her this story and it reminded her A LOT of Rean's awkwardness. Perhaps they were a lot more alike than she realized. "And why didn't you tell me you asked me to dance because your grandfather forced you? Geez, that memory is tainted now, thanks a lot, Armbrust!"

"Because I was EMBARASSED, Brackett, at being forced to ask my SISTER to dance." Crow scoffed, dropping down onto the path in front of her and folded his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, it sounds like you've gotten a good laugh from it for years, about time you're set straight." He smirked, though the sister thing no longer held true.

One did NOT fuck their sister the way he had fucked her last night, oh Gehenna no! Not unless they were a sick and twisted individual, which he was not. A second later, he was eating a snowball, his eyes wide and mouth dropped at the giggling Melyssa.

"That's for calling me your sister!" Melyssa couldn't help laughing, that was until a snowball came back and hit her square in the cheek. Now Crow was the one laughing while she stared at him in bewilderment. Did he just…HE JUST HIT HER WITH A DAMN SNOWBALL! "Oh that's it!" She picked some snow up, balled it up and tossed it, nailing him right in his hair. He groaned about his hair being all wet now and she laughed harder, jumping, and dodging the next one. "Crow, no, don't!" He had lifted her by the waist and planned on planting her in the snowbank nearby. "Please, I'm sorry!"

Of COURSE he had retaliated and nailed her with a snowball!

Had she honestly thought that would go unchecked? That he WOULDN'T return the favor? No, she knew him way better than that, he hadn't changed THAT much since their youth. "Are you REALLY? Prove it." Crow challenged, his eyes lighting with that fire and she didn't disappoint.

She grabbed his face with her snow covered hands and kissed him, setting the rest of him on fire. A second later, however, he had planted her in that snowbank anyway. Because he was sort of a gentleman, he went with her. Mostly because she dragged his ass down with her.

"You ass!" Melyssa laughed, plowing his face with snow since he decided to join her and they rolled to where she was on top of him, both laughing.

This time, Crow took the initiative to kiss her first and rolled them again with him on top, her arms around his neck pressing against him. It would not surprise her if the snow beneath them melted into a puddle because now she was on fire. His cold lips were warmed up instantly with hers and they became lost in each other, right there in the snow, in the middle of the deserted park.

"Yeah, I'm an ass," He agreed in a husky rumble when the kiss finally broke, a bit surprised that they WEREN'T laying in a puddle of warm water because he was a bit hot under the collar. Crow was betting Melyssa was too, she had those bedroom eyes going on again and he smiled down at her, bending down to brush his red nose along hers. "But in my defense, you threw the first snowball, I was just retaliating." Extensively, but he wasn't one to do anything half-assed whether it was fighting, fucking or anything in between.

"Okay, okay, fine I concede to that."

Melyssa had started it, but it'd been worth it to see the shocked look on his face. And they had fun, so that was a plus as well. She smiled, her teal eyes glittering up at him and gasped softly when he touched his cold nose against the side of her still warm neck. Her entire body felt as if it'd been dipped in molten lava, but his cold nose could still be felt.

"Admit it though, it was fun having a snowball fight with me. That's something we've never done before." Jurai did not get snow since it was on the ocean and the temperature never dropped below 50 degrees.

"I'll admit nothing, that wasn't a snowball fight." Crow snorted, though he was pushing himself off of her and extended his hands to help Melyssa get up to her feet.

Right now, they were both toasty, but he knew once that wore off, they were going to be freezing in their now wet and icy clothes. And children did this regularly for fun, he wasn't sure why. Three minutes of fun for fifteen of potential frost bite on the nethers didn't seem like an appropriate trade-off.

"I don't know about you, but hot chocolate sounds good right about now, and a hot shower." He wiggled his eyebrows down at her.

"Mmm…both sound like a great idea." She brought his mouth down on hers, kissing him a little harder with more passion and fire, pulling back only when they needed oxygen to breathe. "Shower first, definitely shower first."

Crow nodded, wrapping her arm around her shoulders as they left the park to head back to the apartment. Her cheeks were rosy red, along with her nose, and his was the same way, but they were anything but cold. It was so easy being with Crow and it made her wonder if it was TOO easy. No, I'm not overthinking it, not this time, and I will just go with the flow and whatever happens, happens.

Of course, it was easy, they had known each other all their lives and even with the miscommunication issues they'd had, not to mention his death, and subsequent memory loss, and her being stuck underground for 2 years…. things tended to work out. When it was right at least. Considering how late they had slept in, this had been a great way to wake up and shake off the sluggishness.

"Not going to lie, cooking tonight isn't high on my list of shit to do, Lyssa." He informed her, watching his breath 'fog' the air before his nose as they walked.

She smiled back at him, shaking her head slowly. "Don't worry about cooking. I'll take care of it." He raised a brow down at her and she snuggled into his side, the cold finally seeping into her bones during the walk. Being close to him was keeping her somewhat warm, thankfully. "I can whip up something fast. I was thinking of making chili tonight for dinner." He groaned because he knew it was also one of her mother's famous recipes she used to make in Jurai. "We'll shower, have some hot chocolate and then I'll start making it. It will be done in a few hours after I let it simmer and by then, we'll be ready to chow down."

Crow could think of several ways to kill the time and he didn't bother mentioning them to her. Melyssa might be offended if he actually said 'Blade' first, sex afterwards, inwardly chuckling. He was a man with a healthy appetite, but he didn't need sex all the time either. Not to mention, he didn't want to wear out the novelty within a short time frame, nothing like constant humping to burn out a good thing. That was what had happened with her and Ash, minus the part where she didn't love Ash and Ash was a dick.

"Sounds good."

After a hot shower together, with no sex, just a lot of touching from washing each other, Melyssa made them a big pot of hot chocolate, using her coffeemaker. It was something her mother used to do for her and Crow whenever they would jump into the ocean on a chilly day. Chilly days came few and far between for Jurai, so it wasn't often, but when she did, it was delicious.

"Here you go, I even put marshmallows in it." She grinned, holding her own cup, and sat down on the couch beside him, drawing her feet up to tuck beneath her butt. The warmth of the cup alone made the cold begin melting away. "I started the chili too."

"Mmm, delicious."

His palm was bandaged from being cut, so he could get into her warded apartment. Fortunately, it would never be a problem again for him to enter hers and vice versa. After what had happened with McBurn, there would be NO repeat, hence the blood magic. Crow was glad he wasn't someone who saw things in shade of black and white, but also saw the grey areas or else they wouldn't be here like this right now, she'd still be in hiding. Fortunately for him, she was just as practical as he was.

"You know, you could have asked me for help. I can pretend to cook too."

"Oh no, no, no, no, you just sit right there and drink your hot chocolate and let me do the cooking."

She recalled the ONE time at Thors he had nearly burned the dormitory down because of his horrible cooking skills. That hadn't been pleasant and the smell lingered for DAYS. No thanks, she was good, especially since this apartment wasn't the biggest.

"And yes, this is delicious." Melyssa took a sip of her hot chocolate and then another when both of their ARCUS II's went off simultaneously.

That wasn't good.

It never was.

Crow answered his while she took both of their cups to the kitchen, overhearing Rean on speakerphone telling them City Hall was on FIRE!