"I am coming with you," Serenity said, but it was clear that her brother was against it.
"No, you can't... all you need to do is stay at school and be a happy little student." He said
Serenity looked at him with a blank expression asking him a simple question,
"You really think i can?!"
Beeing as surprised as he was he couldn't come up with a single word,
"...?"
Serenity didn't press any further but instead she dropped a bomb that caught all of them of guard,
"They were here."
"What did y-"
"Craniom people…they were here today." She cut him halfway through and dropped such unexpected surprise.
"Wait...how the hell do you even know about them?...Isn't their existence supposed to be a secret?" Syrous asked in concern about the authenticity of her words.
Serenity crossed arms turning to look at the birds passing by,
"Secret or not, I think that won't be the case soon enough."
Bella asked,after hearing her,
"What do you mean?"
Clearly those words didn't come from thin air since she knew about the word It's a lead no matter what and she won't joke about such matters,
she thought, 'But what the hell is her relationship with them? and how did she spot them? ...She's not simple.'
"Tell me what you know, and I'll tell you what I know; both are happy."serenity asked ,her tongue ment she wanted to make a trade for informations.
"It's not the time for your stubbornness; we still have work to do, and I absolutely cannot take you," Astrum said. He was fixed on his decision; it was like there was no way for him to agree till the silent man spoke again.
"No!...She is coming."
With the words coming from him, nobody made a sound nor dared to object, and she came with them to Astrum's villa.
Still, he wasn't convinced, but Serenity wasn't backing down either. He looked helplessly all the way till they reached his villa; the worry in his eyes was as clear as the sun, but that didn't go unnoticed by his sister.
"okay, that's it." Serenity suddenly snapped and turned around walking towards her brother, holding his face between both her hands.
"W…what do you want?"
Astrum was clearly surprised by her; she looked him in the eyes for a while before pinching his cheeks and letting go.
"Oww...what was that for?"
"Did you calm down now?" She asked
Astrum realized he worried his beloved sister, and that felt so terrible for him that he apologized right away.
"I...I am sorry....and iam okay..."
Serenity placed her hand strocking his icy hair, saying calmly,
"I didn't mean to worry you. I am here only to hear what you know. I won't interfere in your plans, nor do I want to get involved...Don't worry, I won't put myself in danger, okay?"
Seeing his sister like that, so confident and bright, he suddenly remembered how they used to be when they were still kids before that incident happened.
'Maybe if that day didn't change her, I wouldn't be this worried right now,' he thought.
But that idea actually gave him a bad feeling. 'I need to confirm this.' His soft expression turned serious in a second; he removed Serenity's hand and called for Bella.
"Hey...Belladonna, take care of my sister; I need to take a call."
"What?!" Stunned bella didn't have time to react when he pulted away
Astrum didn't wait for them and directly went to the second floor to make his call, leaving Bella dumbfounded.
"What the hell happened to him?"
She turned at Syrous with a face asking him to explain, but he walked away, ignoring her.
"Is there any food in here? I am starving."he said
Bella shouted calling him back ,"Motherfucker, I am talking to you."
"..."
Still no response, so she just turned at Serenity, but she disappeared from her side too.
"What do ywhaaaaaat?... where the hell did she go?"
She looked at her surroundings to find Serenity already seated on the couch.
"What the hell? At least say something before you move."
Bella was so angry with her hands itching for a fight ,. "I really want to hit that brother and sister duo; they're sitting on my nerves,"
Syrous suddenly came from behind her, scaring the shit out of her saying,
"That's a common wish."
She jumped away in fright,
"What the hell?"
Syrous said while munching on chips,"Be my guest and try laying a finger on any of them and see if you can survive to see tomorrow's sunrise"
Belladonna quickly denied the entire idea,
"No more joking ... I am not that stupid."
The first thought that came to her mind was,
'This brain of mine is not for decorations; just thinking about being hunted down by both Voldemort and Alkana is giving me chills. Even if you give me ten lifetimes, I am never doing it, it's simply not worth the risk'
She looked at Syrous carrying snacks and popcorn and curiously asked,
"And where the hell did you get those?...Did you rob the supermarket or something?"
"I didn't...we've been staying here for a week now; I bought these for myself yesterday." he replied while showing off his snakes
She saw him acting stingy so she decided to teas him,
"Eh?!...no wonder you weigh too much to suffocate your opponent."
"I do not."
"I believe you."
Apparently Syrous has a great figure; he's nowhere near the word "fat." It's just that he has a condition related to his special physique; he can't help but eat. His stomach is like a black hole, never satisfied but as a result it all convert into pure strength built up in his bones.
Bella grabbed Syrous by the neck and dragged him to the sofa.
"Mr. Hungry Pig, let's find a place to sit till that bastard comes back."
As they sat on the sofa, Bella spotted Serenity staring ahead.
"What is she looking at?"
She looked at the direction she was staring at and only spotted Ash which made them have a sudden sense of crisis,
" oh boy!"
Ash moved forward to the chair beside the window right when they entered.
'I don't see anything special except for Ash sitting there...but why the hell is she looking that way?" Don't tell me she has a crush on him ?....' She wondered as she turned her gaze to face her directly.
Serenity kept staring at him for a while, but Bella disturbed her peace,
"Don't even think about it; he won't look at you. Don't get closer to him. Even for us who have known him for almost ten years or more, we still feel so far away."
Serenity tilted her head as if not understanding. Facing such a reaction, Bella felt lost.
"Silence is Ash's language; he is a complete mystery even for his family." Syrous said but got ignored; she only stared at Ash without saying anything, confusing both of them. They looked at each other and then at her again.
Syrous pinched bella asking," does she really have a crudh on him?"
"Maybe?!!...how should i know?!" Bella said
ash sat all by himself looking outside the window, allowing sunlight to fall gently over his doll like face, he seemed so radient and peaceful in serenity's eyes but painfull
even thought it was their first meeting she felt a strange sense of familiarity , her heart rate increased as she felt the whole world fell into deep silence .
Serenity placed her hands over her lap feeling so lost in him,
"...strange..."
Just watching that man sitting there was enough to give her emotions she experienced only once a long time ago. Those forgotten emotions kept her in a dreamy state till one moment later she asked,
"Who is he?"
Syrous looked at her wanting to ask more,
"What?..."
but seeing her gaze is still fixed on Ash, he immediately understood her meaning.
"If you mean Ash, then you can call him our boss."
Bella added to him, "He is the highest rank among us… and I am stopping at that. If you want to know more, ask him yourself."
"No need...I am not interested. All I wanted to know is his name. You keep calling him Ash, but that's not a name right?" Serenity said.
Bella gave her a look of admiration saying,
"Fuck !...your sense is top notch as well?!"
"Ash really isn't his real name, but even if you ask me, I don't know; nobody knows," Syrous said.
"Nobody knows, huh..." Serenity thought about his words for a while; she seemed to have realized something from what they said. She stood and walked towards him.
She knocked on the table in front of him to draw his attention.
"Can I have a word with you?"
"..."
He just looked at her no sound no movement nothing at all, just a deep silence that masked the atmosphere between the two
she thought 'no words ... i will take it as your permission then'
"Thank you for allowing me to tag along; I owe you one." She said
"Debts are no good."
He just said some words, then he turned back to his usual silence. He didn't even bother to turn her side.
Seeing such a reaction wasn't really unexpected, but what he said gave her the idea, 'Can't hold a debt, huh...quite interesting.'
She realized he was wearing gloves on his hands ,'He might be just like me.' This thought passed through her mind.
instead of the usual handshake, she put her hand on her chest and directed her gaze to the grounds then she closed her eyes.
He moved his head and gave her a slight nod. She smiled at him before going back to the couch .
Syrous and Bella, who were eating melon seeds on the side, were surprised because the usual him refuses to shake hands, ignores the person, and just walks away with no response, leaving the other party on the verge of breaking down from crying.
Bella dropped the seeds in her hand ,asking in confusion ,"The pattern seems to have changed!"
When serenity sat down beside them they kept staring at her intensly while eating melons , she didn't say anything and just opened her phone to see what was happening at the cup of glory at the moment just to pass time till her brother comes back
Bella tried to sit next to Serenity,
"Oh…are you watching that?...Let me join in."
The moment she sat beside her, Serenity got up quickly and changed her seat, leaving the dumbfounded Bella on the couch.
"What the hell just happened?"
She saw her sitting on the dining table, so she tried to sit beside her again, but again she changed her seat.
"Fuck you...I don't believe I can't sit beside you."
Bella took it personally and kept following Serenity everywhere, making her change her seat more than five times till she finally couldn't take it anymore, and Syrous was enjoying the show, eating melon seeds.
" follow...why?" Serenity asked
Bella shamelessly replied ,"I want to sit beside you."
"Never"
Bella's eyes weild up with tears pretending to be hurt,"That was fast. Why?"
"close... don't like ."
Bella slammed her melon seeds into the ground in a fit of anger ,"That hurt you bitch ....things like that shouldn't be said to someone's face "
"Why hurt? ..."
Bella's expression went stiff upon hearing her,
"What?!"
Serenity tilted her head saying some few seemingly harmless words,
"Aren't you an immortal?... Immortals don't get hurt, right?"
"What immortal?" Syrous, who didn't understand, asked bluntly, but when he saw Bella's expression, he knew right away she was going to kill Serenity.
'This is bad…'
He instinctively pulled from the ground a huge black spear with a bright emerald-like stone on it. A black aura started covering his body as he was ready to strike Bella if she moved, but Serenity was standing there without moving.
Syrous Stared at serenity with stunned and terrified eyes ,'Is that kid crazy?.. Doesn't she feel anything? If she doesn't move, her life is in danger.'
Ash, on the other hand, turned at them and calmly said,
"Serenity come here"
Ash's voice snapped Bella out of her anger, and Syrous's aura vanished. She watched Serenity move away but couldn't defy Ash's order.
She just had to swallow her anger. She thought, 'Fuck this shit. How in the world does she know about such a thing?'
"What the hell?"
When she turned around, she saw the melon seeds all over the ground, and Syrous was holding his black spear.
"My melons?! ...what the hell is wrong with you, Syrous?"
She bent on the ground to collect the seeds; he pocked her with his spear a couple of times before feeling relieved and retreating his spear , but this action angered her even more.
"What the hell are you doing? Bend down and collect the seeds with me, or else..."
When she glared at him, he felt it was the usual Belladonna whom he used to know, even though he still didn't understand what was going on with her, 'the queen mother said ,don't pray on something that shouldn't be known'
but he had a strong feeling that he's not allowed to interfere, even though he was a little relieved seeing her back to normal.
"On it…"
Both started collecting what was on the ground. Bella was not convinced; she kept glancing at Serenity every ten seconds. She clearly had something to say but was holding back because of Ash.
'From all the people he had to interfere personally 'she thought and everytime her body sink into deep sworm of pain,'could it be they really have a thing ?'
Serenity actually noticed her but pretended not to; she knew it was not the right time to talk with her yet and just focused on her phone.
'When you are ready young lady...when you are ready..'she thought
Ash, who was watching her every move, also noticed Belladonna staring, and he fell into deep thoughts.
he murmured in a faint voice that nobody seemed to notice him
"They mistook the real prey."
...
On the second floor, Astrum picked up his phone to call his little brother Aries.
-Ring-ring! Ring-ring-
- Hello!...Who's on the line? -
"....It's me."
-...-
A minute of silence covered the atmosphere between the two of them, a silence neither of them was willing to break.
- Haah...whatever, man...why did you bother remembering your little brother?! -aries asked
"It's about serenity."
The moment Aries heard him mentioning serenity his tongue shifted 100 degree,
-What?! What happened to her? Is she okay?...Wait!...How the hell did you meet her?! -
Astrum wanted him to stop talking so they could actually speak properly for once,
"Calm down!...She is alright."
Aries was finally able to breath in relief after making sure she is fine,
-Fine, that's good...wait!...Then why the hell did you call me if she's okay? -
Astrum didn'tbeat around the bush and asked him directly ,"Aries, I am asking you, how did she lose her memories before?"
-Why are you asking about this all of a sudden? That was a long time ago...but she is alright, isn't she?. - he said
"Just tell me what happened again?"astrum insisted
Facing astrum acting like that made Aries have an unsettling worry going through his heart,
-According to Father, an explosion happened at the shrine when she was trying to awaken her magic; after that, she was stuck in a human form and lost her magical physique and forgot all of us....That incident is long since passed; why bring it up now? -
"..."
Astrum fell into deep silence processing what he had just heared,
- Hey! Are you still on the line? -
"Aries, don't you think there is something wrong about this whole story...?" astrum asked
Aries tried to remember anything suspicious about that year but in vain,
-What?! Is there?! I don't think there is something in particular-
Astrum suddenly mentioned something,
"Remember when we were kids, the ice physique serenity had, how she used it?"
-Don't remind me; we used to bicker a lot, and I got frozen more than I could even count. That wasn't a physique; it was more like a magical element specialized in tortureing me...wait! That's not right!?..- Ariesfinally started moving on the same trackwith Astrum -don't tell me someone actually dared to hurt her?! -
"Finally caught up ..... If it was really an explosion as our parents said, then there is no way she wouldn't be able to defend herself.." Astrum took a deep breath following his words by "i previously saw a note in the palace about our father monopolizing the special unit of the Alkana estate for a personal use and the time matches perfectly ....in short they are hiding the truth from us."
Aries thought about it but couldn't make any sense out of any of it,
- But why?... If something like that really happened, why would they hide it?... I mean, that's our sister, you know, once she's hurt they are the type to retaliate immediately -
"I may have a rough idea about who might've done this, but still we need to confirm .it's still just some wild guess." He said
After sparking Aries's curious nature he immediately wanted to know everything,
-Tell me, what do you need me to do? -
He suggested ,"For now let's use the most direct approach; you ask Father, and I will ask Mother. Let's see if we can get something out of them."
Aries readily agreed to his idea -Roger that...-
Astrum felt he was making unnecessary trouble for his younger brother so he apologized,
"I am sorry to have troubled you with this."
Aries brushed his worries off saying,
-What troubles...that's our sister here; if someone dared touch her, we would make him wish to die, but can't-