Part 5

“In the dreams, I’m a noblewoman,” she finally started. “I grew up learning how to act and what to do in that society from my parents—the traditional values of the empire. I married eventually, and I loved the man. I was supposed to help him govern his city-state.” She paused and bit the inside of her lip some. “I loved him, but he didn’t feel the same. To him, our marriage was more for appearances than anything else, because he really hadn’t wanted to marry… another noble. I didn’t understand, and I reacted badly when he tried to explain. He tried to explain several times over the course of the next several decades. At some point, he had an affair with the lower class. He was exceptionally liberal and had a lot of progressive ideas. He didn’t really fit in with traditional nobles. The woman he slept with was a vampire, and they had a daughter. I really, really hated that. And I hated her, as well. She was not my child, she was a half-breed, and as she grew up, I couldn’t control her.” Her eyes became watery, as if a tear might fall in another moment.
“I never reported anything, because I still loved him, and I was afraid of losing whatever power I had. I would have been just as guilty for not stopping the affair. At least, that’s how society saw it. Half-breeds were condemned for their supposed impurity on top of their levels of power. Those dreams… I was raised with that idea, and so while I didn’t tell anyone, I tormented her. I refused any form of kindness or generosity and made her life a living nightmare when I could. She became increasingly cold and rebellious because of that. At some point, looking into her eyes was like staring into ice. The only thing that ever satisfied me was her refusal of marriage for the longest time. She didn’t want anyone else to suffer. And then my husband finally found the one man who wouldn’t leave. I saw her rebuke him hundreds of times. He was amazingly stubborn.” There was a tiny, vacant smile on her face. “Eventually, she gave up on trying to get rid of him and they got married.
“I think he was the best thing that happened to her,” she continued. “She warmed up to him at some point, and actually seemed to be in love. Well, she had been in an affair with a young witch before they met, and the three seemed to have worked out a working relationship. She was, apparently, a barmaid who eventually was asked to teach humans. My step-daughter eventually gained a group of friends among her own supporters.” She took a breath and sighed rather dejectedly. “I was still unhappy, because she wasn’t as miserable anymore. At some point later, she blew something up and I ordered for a seal on her power. It took some time, but it was done. Around that time, she also became pregnant and had a son. Apparently, I didn’t take that very well, but there wasn’t much I could do.” She smiled again, but it was still a little vacant. “He grew up a lot happier with more support. He was so full of life, and so cheerful. He had his own stubborn streak and was always ready for adventure. Just like his parents.”
The wizard sitting across from her was extremely uncomfortable, but made sure not to show it. “Is there any more to the story?”
Hana sighed. “That’s the basic summery of the dreams. It’s so coherent, it scares me. Sora could give you his own story, full of adventures with his best friend and wife if you asked him. He would tell you the story of that woman’s son. That’s part of why I don’t want to have lived that life. Sora is my little brother, and I care about him too much for that.”
Shane rubbed at the back of his neck. “People change over time,” he said. “Life is never just black and white, even if we wish it was. Reincarnation makes it all just that much more complicated. You might have been a saint in one life, but turned out to be a criminal in the next. It all comes down to a person’s motives.”
“You must believe in reincarnation,” she concluded. “Did you have your own weird dreams?”
There was suddenly more tension in the air. “Yes, and it was eventually concluded to be honest memories when my family and friends finally talked about it. My brother was married to my daughter,” he admitted. “My wife was her best friend and offered the insight of an outsider. We all seem to be connected by that time. We tried making a full diagram of it all, but it ended up being nothing but a spider web.” He suddenly stood up to get a notebook from somewhere and came back as quickly. “Yuki likes to draw sometimes, and she takes a lot of inspiration from the past. This is from her memories of that time.”
Hana carefully took the pad and opened it. She recognized the first image by the person drawn, and flipped through other pages. She didn’t recognize all of the people, but there were some that were extremely familiar. “She’s a good artist,” she commented.
Shane took the pad back briefly and looked through the pages before he stopped and handed it back. The drawing was of a woman resting in her room. “This woman,” he said with a certain amount of pride, “is Caelienn. I don’t think you could ever find anyone more stubborn.”
For a long minute, Hana couldn’t speak. Finally, she muttered, “Caelienn,” in response. Suddenly, names clicked into place for everyone from her dreams. It didn’t sit well at all. “She looks so peaceful here.”
Shane was about to reply, but someone else spoke, instead. “Caelienn, huh?”
Hana looked over to see her brother sitting up. “You’re awake already?”
Sora grinned a bit. "I've been awake. I mastered the art of faking sleep, remember?"
For a moment, Hana wasn't sure what to say. Finally, she sighed. "You are ridiculous. Alright. What did you hear?"
The boy's smile faded. "Most of your story." He looked to Shane, but remained silent for a moment. "Can I see the drawing?" he finally asked.
Without waiting for an answer, Hana handed the pad to him.
Sora held the notebook carefully, staring at the image. At some point, he smiled. "That's definitely her... She never smiled even in her sleep." He gave a small, content purr. “Mother.”
A combination of emotions washed over Shane and his eyes widened. On one hand, he was very happy that he had finally found his grandson from his first life. However, he was also very uneasy with who Hana seemed to have been during that time. He would probably reconnect with Sora very quickly, and he would be accepted just as easily. Hana was where problems were going to arise very quickly. She had not been too well liked, and even her remorse probably wouldn't take much away from that. Even he wasn't entirely sure he would accept her very quickly.
Hana buried her face in her knees. There was clearly no escape now. She gave a muffled, "No," as a last attempt at denial.
Sora looked to his sister and the smile fell again. He stood and moved over to pull her into a hug. “Hana, things happen…”
“And what if I run into them here?” she asked quietly. “I doubt they’ll forgive me…” She took a breath. “You’re lucky like that. Everyone adored you.”
Shane cleared his throat to finally say something, but glanced away from the two completely. This was incredibly awkward. It went well beyond finding out that his brother had been his son-in-law. “Forgiveness takes time. The best thing to start with is probably an honest apology.”
“How do I know who to apologize to?” she almost snapped. “They could be anywhere and anyone!”
Sora looked at Shane from the corner of his eye. “You were there, weren’t you?”
A million things could happen if he answered that question, but he couldn’t avoid it. “Acceana? Yeah, I was there. And several of the others are also here.”
“So who were you?” the boy continued.
Shane was about to respond, but stopped and watched the boy carefully for a moment. “You already have that figured out,” he finally said. “You haven’t changed at all.”
Sora blushed a bit, but grinned. “I would have liked you to tell me for yourself,” he said. “And when did you invade another’s mind, anyway?”
“Honestly, you’re just like your mother,” said Shane. “Just like your father, as well.”
“And Mother took after you from the start,” Sora responded with. “So should I start calling you Grandpa, now?”
“No,” Shane quickly responded. His attention returned to Hana. “You can start with the people here, aside from Amelia. Well, her and the kids.”
Hana looked back at Shane. Her expression was upset, and tears had fallen down her cheeks. “So I was really Marrana…” She wiped the tears away quickly and looked elsewhere. Shane’s expression was almost blank. “I… I’m sorry for that.”
“Caelienn lives as two people now,” said Shane. Before either could ask what he meant, he continued, frowning some from discomfort. “You remember that seal you demanded be used? That’s been banned for safety reasons. If let go long enough, it can destroy a person’s soul. Caelienn’s soul already split in half. We’re lucky to have caught it before things got even more dangerous.”
There was a moment of silence save for some sobbing. Hana attempted to control herself a bit better, but she had almost entirely fallen apart. “That’s going to be nearly impossible to forgive…”
“We’ve gotten it to work out surprisingly well,” said Shane. “Rose and Cari are fairly happy with it all. The memories are the only real problem for any of us.”
Sora sat down on the arm of the chair Hana was still in. “That makes Shaun my father, right?” He watched as Shane nodded in confirmation. “And Aster was Astraea.”
“Yuki was Shinku,” said Shane. “She’s changed over time.” He turned his attention back to Hana. “Rika isn’t likely to be happy, but that’s a given…” At her confused expression, he continued. “Ravenna.”
“I can vouch for Hana,” Sora cut in. “I think it will make things easier.”
The young woman in question sighed. “Fate loves irony.”
Shane could not argue that. “When sometimes you’re born as the opposite gender or a relationship becomes entirely different? Yeah, fate loves irony.”
The catlike half-breed burst into laughter and flopped back behind Hana. “When… were you last born a woman?” The question was difficult to get out due to both the laughter and the sheer hilarity of the thought.
It wasn’t a second after Sora started laughing that Shane’s face turned red. “I was in France!” he protested, as if it really made much of a difference. He paused as he saw Hana try to restrain a laugh of her own. “Last century,” he finally admitted. He slumped back into his seat and buried his face in his hands. “I was a single mother by the end of World War II. And those boys were nothing but trouble.”
The laughter finally escaped Hana. “You’re nothing but trouble.”
Suddenly, there was a little more laughter added to the mix. “It runs in the family, then.”
Shane turned and shot his brother a small, embarrassed scowl. “Yeah, it runs in the family…"
“Remember Egypt and the flying rats?” Shaun set the towel he had used for his semi-dry hair over the back of another chair and smirked. “That was all you.”
As Shane’s face apparently grew all the more red, Hana nearly fell back on top of Sora. “Oh, my God, what happened in Egypt?”
“No, we’re not going there,” Shane said almost witheringly. “Jake hasn’t stopped laughing about it.”
Shaun looked over to the laughing kids before pulling out his cell phone and sending a short text to Akiko. “So what brought you over here? Not that I’m complaining, but your mom is worried.”
It was a few minutes before anyone could really answer, and Hana was the first to speak as she sat back up. “Sora hasn’t been sleeping the greatest, so he took that opportunity not too far from here.”
“I found them on my way back and brought them inside,” said Shane. He paused. “By the way…” When Shaun raised an eyebrow at him, he gestured to Sora. “You might want to warn the others. I’d suggest starting with Rose and Cari, and then probably tell Jaden. Cari will probably tell Aster and Yuki, if Rose doesn’t tell Yuki first. Whichever is with Drell will probably tell him first. Jaden will tell Garnet, Nebula, Jake, and Diana. And they’ll probably all tell everyone else from there.”
Shaun frowned a little in confusion. “First of all, why?”
“Because we found Trouble,” Shane explained with a grin. He watched his brother stare at Sora, who waved at him with his own feral grin.
After a short pause, the man sent off another few texts. “Rose is out with Mia and Yuki right now. Alice has probably gotten them all drunk. And if Cari is disturbed from whatever she and Aster planned on doing tonight, this is all on you.”
Shane paused to consider that. “It’ll be worth it.”
Hana scoffed playfully. “You will never change, will you, old man?”
“Old man?” Shaun could hardly hide his snort, especially after seeing his brother’s priceless expression.
“That makes you just as old,” Shane retorted. He watched as Hana shot him a glare. “Face it, if I’m an old man, you’re an old lady.”
Sora fell back again, laughing even louder. “You’re both old!” he decided. “You’re all old.”
The only noise to be heard in the moment before Shaun walked over to the boy and pulled him up by his arm was laughter. “Whatever happened to respecting your elders? I know Akiko taught you about that.”
“I can’t poke fun at you?” he asked, latching onto the man. He suddenly had a small pout that gave off a drenched kitten feel. “Mother always did if she got the chance.”
There was another moment of silence and Shaun stared at the boy. “Ok, what haven’t I been told, here?”
Shane grinned a little wider. “We found our Trouble,” he said simply. “Like I said, disturbing Cari is going to be entirely worth it.”
Shaun’s free hand met his forehead with an audible thwack—partially because Shane could have been a bit clearer, given how many people they had called ‘Trouble’ in the past. “Oh, Trouble Incarnate,” he chuckled a bit. “I think we’re going to have a real field day this time.”
“You’re surprisingly slow tonight,” said Hana. “It should have been entirely obvious.” She averted her gaze as Shaun looked at her. “I’m… sorry…” There was a long pause before she spoke again to clarify. “I caused more than just a little trouble back then.”
“And you were…?”
Hana got a sinking feeling in her stomach. “Someone I honestly wish I wasn’t.” She glanced to Shane and bit the inside of her lip a little. “I don’t actually look forward to seeing everyone again…”
Shaun got the basic idea and frowned some. “Marrana?”
At first, Hana only nodded a bit. “I’ve been having a lot of weird dreams lately, and it turns out they’re memories… I was unnecessarily cruel.”
“Yes, you were,” Shaun agreed. He noted that Sora let go of him at this. “But I also know we’ve all made our fair share of mistakes. And your mom claims you and Sora are inseparable.”
Hana sighed. “That doesn’t quite make up for everything, though,” she said. “I have a lot of work to do if I want anyone to really trust me.”
“Ok, yeah, you do,” said Sora. “But you’ve still made some pretty good impressions already. And you’re a lot different now from before.” He rested a hand on her head and smiled. “And I said I could vouch for you.”
Before Shaun could say anything, a new message popped up on his cell phone. Suddenly, there were three other new messages. He took a moment to look at the first. “Akiko says not to let you near a computer tonight,” he directed to Sora. He watched the boy whimper a little before looking at the next. He raised an eyebrow at the typos in Rose’s message. “Rose is going to drag Yuki and Mia home. Or at least Yuki. Apparently, Alice has them playing a drinking game. That won’t end well…”
Shane gave a small laugh. “Who’s winning?”
“She didn’t say.” Shaun quickly replied to remind her to be careful and went to the next. “Jaden wants to know which ‘Trouble’ we mean. He also said Garnet is preparing for the worst. Should I tell him?” When Shane nodded, the man set off a short reply and went on to Cari’s reply. “And either Cari wants to see Sora for herself, or strangle you. She didn’t specify.”
“Hey, is Kite around?” asked Sora. He peered at the small screen as Shaun told the half-breed woman not to do anything rash. “And Manye?”
“Oh, yeah. Akira is going to just love this. He’ll probably drop everything and come right over.” A small smirk formed on Shaun’s face. “As for Manye…”
Sora waited as Shaun sent off a new text. “Akira? It doesn’t seem like he’s changed very much. And what about Manye?”
As soon as the text was sent, Shaun gave a crooked little smile. “Well, he’s also Yuki’s brother this time. Manye is male right now. I’ll tell you once we’re all done texting each other for a while.” A new message popped up from Jaden and he opened it. “Alright, Jaden…” The smile became even more wry as he read the text.
Before Shaun could answer, Sora snagged the phone and looked at the message. “Is he our favorite honor-obsessed guard?” he asked. When he got a confirmative nod from Shane, he grinned widely. “It doesn’t look like he’s changed much, either. ‘Sora? Garnet warned Jake, who is supposedly now hiding in his basement.’” The boy laughed and sent a text of his own that read, ‘Do you still remember the dragon incident?’
Shaun took the phone back with a small chuckle. “Diana got the story out of him after Rose mentioned it to her. Apparently, Diana told Marta, who told Rachel, who then told Luna. She told everyone else who didn’t already know. Even the kids know about it, and a certain doll who is all too happy to tell the more embarrassing stories.”
“Shanna, you mean?” asked Sora. “She’s fun to play with.”
There was a moment of silence as Shaun’s cell phone alerted him to a new message from Jaden and he watched the boy. “Kite is exceptionally protective of her. He barely even let his own parents touch her at first.”
“Well, I didn’t actually get to hold her or anything,” said Sora. “He didn’t explain, but he said she’s important to him.”
Shaun looked back at the phone and opened the message. “He sent an embarrassed emote. ‘Don’t remind me… The others bring it up enough as it is.’” He shook his head with a small chuckle. “He’s never going to live that down.”
“It embarrassed Jake to almost no end, too,” said Shane. “But there’s not a lot that can embarrass him anymore.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” said Shaun. “I’ll have to show you what happened the day Drell met Santa.” He watched as his brother buried his face in his hands again. “Would you believe Caelienn was actually laughing at that?”
This caught Hana’s immediate attention, as well, and her eyes widened. “Caelienn never even smiled! Smirks, sure, smiles, no!” She quickly shut Sora’s gaping mouth. “You’re kidding.”
“Russett told Percy, who then let the entire thing slip at The Agency,” Shane groaned. “Ember quickly uploaded the video to YouTube, and it went entirely viral. My eternal embarrassment…” He paused as the front door opened and closed. He turned to see Cari closing in quickly. Clearly, her focus was solely on him at the moment. Her face was a bit red, and not likely to be from simple anger.
“I told you all I’d be busy—” She stopped up short to glare at Shaun as he cleared his throat. She caught quick sight of Sora and her eyes widened as she looked at the cat-like half-breed. “Er… Hi,” she said almost intelligently. Her face was now even brighter red and she stepped back from Shane.
Sora grinned widely and stepped over to the short woman. “Miss me?”
There was a brief moment of silence before she sighed and gave a small smile. “Almost sixteen thousand years and you haven’t changed at all. I can’t believe I didn’t notice before…” She glanced to Hana curiously, who in return shifted uncomfortably. “Who—“
Hana lowered her head, not sure what to say.
“Hey, where’s that pride you always had?” Sora suddenly asked, looking back at his sister with a small frown. “You know, where you didn’t let anything stop you.”
Cari looked to Shane as the door opened and closed for a second time. “I’m clearly missing something else.”
At that moment, Rose stumbled into the living room with a slightly irritated expression and a hand on the side of her head. “No more drinking games with Mia, never again…” She looked at the group as Yuki joined her, though not teetering around quite as much. “Hi…”
Sora did his best not to laugh at Rose’s drunken state. “Are you going to be coherent enough for this?”
Rose shot him an annoyed scowl. “I heard Trouble’s here,” she said. “Mia’s still chatting with Alice.”
“Eravanto?” Yuki asked, moving closer to the boy. When he grinned, she pulled him into a tight hug, teetering a bit more than she was before. “Awe, it’s really you! I’m going to let Akira know, he’ll be so happy!”
Sora had a little trouble keeping his balance due to Yuki’s swaying some from the alcohol. “Hi, Yuki.”
At that exact moment, Rose pulled the boy into a tight hug of her own and almost completely away from the blond. The fact that she was now struggling not to fall didn’t seem to register. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she about squealed. She turned the boy to look at her. “We’ve really missed you!” She glanced to Cari with a wide grin. “I know who else will be really happy!”
For a moment, all Cari could do was laugh. “Caelienn’s going to be half drunk if we do that. You’re completely drunk. Sober up some, first." Still, she joined in on the hug. “Aster’s at home making sure no one gets into any trouble, and she’s waiting to hear from me.”
At that moment, Hana attempted to sneak out of the room and just let the others have their space. In the end, despite her having been from the same time and place, she really didn’t feel she belonged with them. She really didn’t want to dampen their spirits any, especially as she knew that they would be dampened by knowing who she was. Until now, no one had really minded her being around them. But that was only because they had no idea that she even had the dreams she did—except for Sora and now Shane and Shaun. She wanted it to stay the way it was now.
Shaun quickly grabbed her wrist as she stepped back some from the others. “There is no honor in running away,” he said. “That’s what Jaden would say, and he’d probably find out if you did. Do you want a lecture about honor?”
The girl flushed some as everyone’s attention was on her. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, glancing away. “I… I don’t want to ruin your moment of happiness.”
Sora wriggled away from the three women and placed his hands on her shoulders, giving her a serious look. “Listen to me. You’re not the same as before and you know it.”
For a moment, Hana just shook her head. “That doesn’t change the past,” she said. At Sora’s clearly and unusually unamused expression, she glanced away from everyone. “I wouldn’t… I don’t want the past I had.”
“Hold up…” Cari’s expression had fallen to shock and she felt as if her glasses might actually slip off her face at any moment. As it was, she almost risked letting Rose fall over. “You’re Marrana…?” At the confirmative, if small, nod, she felt as if she may well fall over with Rose.
“I don’t know if it’ll do much, but… I’m sorry,” said Hana. “I—”
“Ok, you know what?” Cari started, rubbing her forehead some as she closed her eyes. This quickly drew Hana’s attention back to her. “That really is ancient history. Not everyone is going to immediately trust you, but you haven’t made an enemy of anyone this time. Just promise me you’ll try not to end up a bitter old lady again, and we shouldn’t have too many problems.”
At this point, Rose had decided to prop herself up against the nearest piece of wall she could get to. “And with Sora around, I highly doubt you’ll end up bitter.”
“Just… like that?” Hana asked in slight confusion. “You two are going to let me be without any—”
Yuki gave a small whine and put her hands on each side of her head. “Hana, even I can’t really say anything against you here. Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I need to do something about this headache.” And with that, she headed out of the room.
“Ok, Caelienn, herself, may have a small problem at first, but that’s mostly a given,” said Rose.
“Wait, you can actually—”
Shaun sighed and rested a hand on her head. “There’s a counter-spell, and when it was used, it called her back as she was before. She’s never around for more than a few days at most, and she isn’t out much, anyway. But yeah, they can become her again. Once, Caelienn even forced herself out.”
The young woman looked up at him with wide eyes, then back to the two half-breed women. “So I’ll have to face her as herself…?”
Cari gave a small shrug. “Eventually. We usually find a way of letting her out on October twenty-seventh, though. We figured it to be her birthday, and around here, birthdays are a big deal.”
“March ninth,” Sora quickly put in with a wide grin. “That’s Hana’s birthday.”
Hana quickly looked back at Sora, blushing darkly. “Was that really necessary?”
Rose giggled some at the woman’s flustered expression. “Hey, at least you’ve got time before some crazy party just for you,” she eventually managed. “Others haven’t been so lucky.”
For a moment, Hana simply stared around her. “You’re all insane,” she finally declared.
“And?” At this point, Cari was smirking. “What’s your point?”
Hana didn’t know how to respond to that, so she just stared.
“I had no warning,” Shaun laughed. “I showed up, what? A week before my birthday?” He moved over by Rose in case she suddenly tipped over from her drunken giggles. “You have several months to prepare.”
Something clicked in the back of the young witch’s mind. “I have less than a week to get ready to face Caelienn,” she finally got out. The back of her mind ran several half-panicked curses.
Sora, however, looked even more elated. He was aware that there was a lot of tension for Hana now, but he really couldn’t wait to see the woman from his memories again. “Only one week. I think I can be patient enough for that.”
For a moment, Shaun just laughed. “Can you? I don’t remember you truly being known for your patience.”
“I can be patient if I want,” Sora insisted.
Rose just kept giggled even more. “We’ll just see about that,” she teased.
________________________________________________________________________
Sora hurried through the rain, which had started just before he and Hana had deigned it best to go home, and up to the porch. A large smile was plastered to his face, and wouldn’t leave for anything at the moment. He was still worried terribly about how Hana was fairing with all the new revelations, but he couldn’t help his strong feeling of excitement. Now that he’d been caught up on a lot of things that had happened and who was whom, he was ecstatic to see Ichigo and his mom again. There was a large part of him that hadn’t even wanted to wait until he got home to tell Akiko the news. But it was also the kind of thing that was best explained in person.
It had been agreed that Shane would escort them home, given that Shaun had suddenly found himself busy with Rose, and Cari had admitted to not actually driving to the mansion in her rush. So he followed behind with the umbrella that Hana was still underneath when they got to the porch. He opened the door, but paused and looked back to see that while Hana had stepped forward some, Shane had stopped halfway under the roof of the porch. It looked like the older wizard wasn’t planning to come in with them and help explain, which made Sora deflate some. He had expected Shane to help at least a little, especially given that so much had been his planning and doing in the first place.
When she saw Sora stop and look back, she turned to Shane, as well. “You’re not coming in?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“I wasn’t planning to,” Shane admitted.
This made Sora frown a little. “Why?”
“What do you expect me to do?” asked Shane. “You’re explaining your own lives to your mom. There doesn’t seem to be a need for me to help.”
There was a longsuffering sigh from Hana. “You could explain all that you were thinking better than we could.”
Shane grimaced some—she had a point. Unfortunately, no one had ever entirely approved of everything he did. Just the suffering Caelienn had been forced to face on its own had everyone irritated with him. Then there was the massive risk he’d put himself at and the fact that Diana had been lynched because she’d given birth to a half-breed that had everyone at least a little upset. All of his deception hadn’t helped, either, and Ichigo was still sore about it all, especially that he was dead by the time anyone outside of the trusted few found out. Who knew how Akiko would react to all his manipulations?
But the siblings’ expressions had made it very clear he was going to help explain at least something. If he didn’t go in on his own, one of them was going to drag him in. It was best to go inside of his own volition.
“Alright,” he sighed.
The young half-breed nodded and opened the door and went inside, and watched as Shane followed and then Hana. He turned after slipping out of his shoes towards the living room and almost skipped his way there. Regardless of what happened, he was still very excited to talk about everything with Akiko. A very large part of him wondered how she would react to the news of who he had been once. Hopefully she would accept it all easily and then not fret that he didn’t say anything before.
When the three made it through the living room doorway, Ichigo looked up from her texting to see them. Akira had mentioned earlier that she had a surprise coming her way, but he hadn’t said what it was—that was the point of a surprise, he had reminded her as she demanded to know. Then just a little while ago, she’d received a text from Cari telling her that Shane would be bringing the kids back home. Ichigo was still trying to get answers out of the brunette half-breed, but to very little success. It seemed Cari was of the same opinion that Ichigo should wait until they got there to find out.
She sent Cari a quick reply that they were there, and set her phone down. “So what is the big surprise this time?”
All of a sudden, Sora blinked in confusion. “No one told you yet?”
Ichigo shook her head. “I was only told I was getting a surprise when you got home.”
“Oh.” Sora glanced to his mom, and watched her look between everyone, clearly taking a break from her laptop. “Well, I guess it would be better to find out from us in person.”
In response to Sora’s glance and statement, Akiko inclined her head some to the left and watched him. Ichigo had mentioned that she’d been told of some kind of surprise news, but hadn’t been able to elaborate on it any. She had assured the older woman that both Hana and Sora were safe and not in any sort of danger. It just bothered Akiko that there were no further answers to whatever was going on at that point. But now that her children were home, she expected they would give her the answers both she and Ichigo were waiting on. She just had to be a little more patient for those answers.
“So what is this surprise I heard about?” she questioned.
Sora kept his attention on his mom. “Have you ever believed in reincarnation?”
Akiko blinked suddenly. “Well, I suppose it’s entirely possible, but I never really gave—“
“You were having dreams, weren’t you?” Ichigo quickly interrupted, sitting up straight from lying across the armchair she’d been in. When everyone turned to her, she blushed. “Well, weird dreams, I mean…”
“I have,” Sora admitted easily. “I’m a young nobleman with two children.”
Akiko suddenly coughed a little in surprise. “A nobleman, you said?”
A small smile formed and Sora nodded. “Yes, caring for a territory under the Emperor.”
For a moment, Ichigo watched Sora in silence. “May I safely assume your name was Eravanto?”
“You may,” said Sora. “I already know you’re Cheril.”
“We were filled in on who everyone is,” Hana explained before Ichigo could say anything. She sighed and glanced away as the shape-shifter turned her attention to her. “I guess you could say I’m not as lucky as Sora with who I was…”
Ichigo frowned and watched the young woman. “Even he didn’t have everything so easy. He might have been a nobleman, but that made things even more difficult, if I remember things right.”
“Oh, I know that,” Hana huffed. “I know a noble’s life isn’t necessarily easy.” She listened as Sora sighed. “I’m not referring to a position of power.”
“Hana?”
The young woman looked to her adopted mom, but wanted to look away again. It was obvious the vampire was confused, and upset at Hana’s troubled tone. The young witch really didn’t want to explain in some ways who she had been and all the events that surrounded her. Sora was her younger brother this time, and she wanted the best for him because it was what he deserved. So she didn’t want to tell Akiko exactly what kind of relationship the two had lived with in Acceana. It was painful enough just knowing what it had been.
“Sora has always been a wonderful person,” she said. “I…” She took a deep breath and prepared herself just a tiny bit more. “I haven’t.”
“The Council, maybe?” Ichigo asked.
Hana closed her eyes and shook her head. A large lump was forming in her throat very quickly. “I’m honestly sorry to say that isn’t the case. I was Marrana.”
At that, Ichigo straightened even more in a right bolt. “I don’t believe that,” she said quite plainly. She swiftly glanced to Shane.
“It’s true,” the man sighed, rubbing the back of his head some in discomfort. “But people do change, and Hana has clearly changed.”
Akiko frowned some. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I follow,” she admitted.
“Hana was Mother’s stepmother,” Sora decided to start first. “But because of where we lived, they had to pretend to be mother and daughter.” His expression became upset as the memories resurfaced again. “Mother and I were half-breeds in an empire that didn’t accept such people. Half-breeds were feared for our blood impurity and high levels of power. We had to hide what we were.”
The vampire wanted to ask, then, why his mother had even been conceived during that time, but didn’t want to hurt the boy. It was obvious the entire situation upset him, already. She glanced to Hana instead. “And I suppose you didn’t like any part of the situation?” she asked carefully.
“No, I was too stubborn and ingrained with society’s view of half-breeds to see what my husband wanted,” the young woman responded. “He wanted to be friends with me, but I couldn’t accept that. I wanted more.” She sighed. “Well, it’s true that not all of the nobility or royalty fell in love with the people they had to marry. I was madly in love, but he wasn’t. Being regaled to friends at most hurt, and I became bitter over it. I took all of my frustration and anger out on others who didn’t deserve it. Caelienn came to despise me, because she often got the worst of it. There was only one time I rightfully rebuked her, and it was because she really had been irresponsible.”
Shane sighed and rubbed his face now, which was turning a little pink at the moment. “Akiko, please don’t think horribly of me, but I was her husband in that time. I did what I thought was best, but people I cared about suffered for some of those choices.”
“Such as your choice to have an affair, I suppose,” said Akiko. She watched the man sigh and nod. “Was that place really that terrible?”
“It was rare Caelienn could ever truly be herself,” Ichigo decided to cut in. She shot Shane a sharp glare. “She was torn between being a noblewoman and a commoner. I don’t remember her ever being particularly happy much of the time.”
Sora finally decided to sit, and perched himself on the arm of another of the cozy chairs, to which he noted Akiko sighed. “I’ve never seen Mother smile. Her eyes are always so cold, even when she’s not angry. I still wonder what happened to make them so icy…”
“She has smiled more recently,” said Ichigo. “I’m sure she’ll smile when she sees you again.”
There was a small smile again on Sora’s face. “I just have to be patient.” He looked to Akiko again. “You’re still my mom, and I wouldn’t give you up for anything, but I miss Mother. I had a lot dreams with her there, and when I wake up, there’s this longing. I’ll see her again in less than a week.”
“Why not in a day or two?” Akiko asked quickly. “Does she travel?”
“It’s not that simple,” Hana said hurriedly, before anyone else could. She crossed her arms over her chest tightly and looked to the floor in front of her. “After several thousand years, her soul… it—it split apart and she lives as two entirely new people.” She took a deep breath to try and calm herself, but it didn’t help, and she could feel herself tense exponentially.
“Outside of just trying to spite me, Caelienn was a born troublemaker,” she continued. “She was always trying to get up to something. She was powerful, too, and there were people who feared that power… Myself included. So I demanded a seal be placed on her magic to limit it. It turns out that the seal was corrosive to her soul, which is why it split. We didn’t know that, so there was eventually no stopping the seal. I was able to push it through, and I was satisfied with the results.” She paused. “Well, mostly, anyway. She became a little more open, and appeared less bitter. After that, she stopped making so many excuses to fight, and her presence was less intimidating—not that she was never intimidating, though.”
“We might have seen Mother again tonight, but Rose came home from a drinking game,” Sora explained. “I almost fell over when she hugged me, after Yuki hugged me.” A small blush formed. “And Cari came over from something with Aster, and I think I’m better off not asking what they were doing.” He fought back thoughts of whatever it might have been. “Oh, and Shaun—he was my father.”
Akiko let out a highly embarrassing snort. “He was your father? He doesn’t act like he was a nobleman.”
The smile spread wider. “Maybe that’s why Mother came to love him so much. I heard she tried to toss him out when they met and a while after that. Part of it might have been her affair with Aster, though.” He took a few seconds to rifle through his memories again. “I believe she had been a barmaid when they met.”
For a moment, Akiko only watched Sora. “Ah, a love triangle, then…”
Sora mirrored her expression briefly. “You’re implying they were upset with the arrangements, and they weren’t,” he corrected. “They made it work out well, and I can’t see how it could ever have been different. But it probably works out better as it is in this society. We’re still stuck on thinking only monogamous relationships work.”
“Oh,” Akiko got out awkwardly. Suddenly, she glanced to the clock. Part of her wanted to continue the conversation and find out more about everything from the boy, but it was also Sunday night, and he had school the next day. “Well, you can tell me more tomorrow. It’s nearly midnight, and you do need some sleep…”
Sora deflated a little from his previous joy, though he was hardly about to protest going to bed. It was quite late, and he knew better than to argue or try to barter his way into staying up later than he really should. “Alright.”

To Be Continued