~Vermont, USA~
Valentina Armstrong sat in front of her bookcase, cross legged. A book held open in her hands. It was another retelling of Beauty and Beast. Her green eyes scanned the text on the last page until she snapped the book shut and threw it to a corner where a large pile of books already tossed aside. Right now, she didn’t need a happy ending in a book. She needed a book that had lot of hurt followed by comforting before love happened. Her chest pulsed with a pain she had slowly became accustomed to.
“I know I have some fucking books that match my mood,” She muttered to herself. Her voice bounced off the floor, echoing loudly in her ears. Tears sprang up to her eyes. She was tired of crying over every little thing. She tried to ignore them as she willed the tears away. She glanced at the pile of books. She should care about them. Once upon a time ago, she would have been horrified to find her collection of books tossed into a corner like a pile of discarded clothes. She couldn’t gather the energy to care. She had worked hard to gather that collection, but she found it hard to give a damn about anything for the last - her watery green eyes flickered to the calendar where a large number 26 was written on the May 28 block, not that she was counting.
Her misery started 26 days ago when her boyfriend -well, her future husband - had decided to end their 6-year relationship, unexpectedly. He broke his promises to her - about their future together, not wanting to leave her. However, that didn’t stopped him asking if she wanted to have good-bye sex.
Her lower lip trembled. She hoped for her happy ending, the kind that was promised to every little girl - growing up, finding her prince, marrying him, and live happily ever after, but she got crushed dreams. She didn’t understand why her first real relationship ended the way it did. When he was in the process of ending things with her, she had asked for an explanation why. Begged for one. He didn’t still give one.
Before he did the cruel act, her ex-boyfriend took her shopping for the few odds and ends she needed until her next paycheck. He informed her of his decision on the way back to her place. She sat in shock, staring at the dashboard. Her thoughts scattered with confusion. She did not understand why he would do that. After he helped her carry the items he had brought to the apartment, he suggested they could have good-bye sex. She shook her head ‘no’, slowly shut the door in his face. She clung to hope that her now-ex would show up and claim it was a prank that he had regretted it, and she would say that she would forgive him. Later that night, she started to lose hope after hours of staring at the wall, lost in thought, trying to reason the ‘why’ behind the action. The word echoed in her head, loudly.
The following day, she didn’t go to work, nor the day after that. She didn’t eat, either. She just slept, waking up long enough to take care of her bodily needs before slipping back into dreamland. It was not long after that she was fired, less then a week later. She didn’t care about that. She had stopped caring. She eventually called her mother and explained what happened before asking if she could come home. Something inside her changed.
Now, it had been almost 4 weeks since he had left her. She didn’t have any more delusions about him coming back. Her feet pushed her knees into her chest as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She buried her face on her knees. Her shoulders shook. She tried to keep from crying. Her chest ached. Tears won’t cause him to show up at the door. She questioned if he loved her as deeply as she loved him. Perhaps not. They had their own problems, just like every other couple. Maybe it was because of her inexperience. Her first real relationship and it went up in smoke. She sniffed as hot tears slipped own her redden cheeks.
A dark chuckled echoed silently before a hissing voice whispered, “Maybe you should have been more willingly to be what he wanted you to be.” Tina curled, tighter, upon herself. Claws crept forward, along the sides of her mind. “Or maybe you shouldn’t have argued with him so much.”
“Go away,” Tina whispered, reaching up to grab the sides of her head, “You are not real.”
The hissing voice just laughed before it commented, “I’m as real as you, Valentina.” The voice paused. “You are not worthy of that name. You are not strong. You are weak.”
“You are wrong,” Tina kept her voice low. She didn’t need her family to know she was losing it…losing what was left her sanity. She probably developed this…this…this issue sometime while she was in Japan for that archery competition. “You are wrong. I am strong.”
“Whatever you say, Valentina, whatever you say.” The voice drawled, “Perhaps you should just end it. After all, your so-called true love is not coming back. You didn’t deserve a man like him.”
Tina shook as the voice went on and on. The voice seemed to talk forever and a day. Always telling her to that she should have done things differently, that she would die alone if she didn’t beg for forgiveness from her ex. She turned her head, resting the side of her head onto her arms. Her eyes roamed over to the room, landing on the shelfs. She blinked. She lend her head back. The edge of the bed dug into her back. Her eyes roam over the shelves above her dresser, held the various trophies she gained over the years.
At the right end, closest to her, a 12-inch trophy stood proudly. It was her 3rd place Archery trophy. She earned it when she participated in her last archery tournament. A tear slipped down her cheek. Her ex had been there, cheering her on.
Sitting right beside it, on the left, another 12-inch trophy stood at attention. The figure on top of the trophy was frozen in a run, a knee bent. The toes of the other foot was only touching the ground. She had won 3rd place in the 5k race at her high school.
The third trophy was teller then the first two trophies by a couple of inches. It was another 3rd place trophy for Archery. She earned it in the Priestess Competition. She had to traveled to Japan to participate in it and visited her great aunt Nami.
In the middle of the shelf, completing dwarfing all the other 3rd place trophy was the 1st place Tina, and her great aunt Nami’s team were forced to participated in a tournament called Black Moon Tournament. During that tournament, Tina faced creatures called demons and made the choice to kill or be killed. Tina and her team walked away from that tournament with 1st place trophy and enough money in each of their pockets that the humans of the team didn’t have to work until they were at least 30. However, Tina chose to spend her money on her family, paying off their house and got her mom a new car before she paid for college out of her pocket and put the rest of it in an off-limit bank account that she couldn’t touch until she was retired.
Tina shook her head. She allowed her eyes to move to the next trophy. It was a 2nd place trophy of another Archery Tournament. She couldn’t recall the name of that tournament.
The last trophy on the left end of the shelf was her very first trophy. It was a 3rd place in Archery she had managed to earn when she was 13 years old.
She had other trophies downstairs, in a case sitting in the living room. Those trophies were the 1st places trophies she earned. Tina’s eyes darted back to the Black Moon Tournament Trophy. She couldn’t place that trophy with the other 1st place trophies because the secrecy surrounding the Black Moon Tournament. Her grandmother Sakura freaked out when Tina had pulled that trophy out of her bag before Sakura was heard on the phone a few minutes later, arguing with her sister. Tina had to tell the entire story, ending with the Priestess Competition.
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“You don’t deserve to have friends like them,” the voice hissed.
Tina knew what the voice meant by ‘them’. The friends she made while she was Japan, both human and demon.
“Do you really think those demons would want a weak comrade like you,” the voice went on, “They would eat you.”
Tina shook slightly. The mysterious voice told the truth. She had a witnessed a canine looking humanoid demon rip about a human female while she attended the Black Moon Tournament. Nightmares hunted her for weeks.
The voice went on, “Blaze probable got sick of protecting your worthless hid.”
Tina remembered the fire and psychic hybrid demon, very well. He was there whenever she woke up from a nightmare. His mere presence helped to remind her that she was safe at Aunt Nami’s hidden temple. He even offered a couple times to use his psychic powers to keep away the nightmares. She only allowed him once to help her, the night before her Archery Competition.
“He enjoyed your suffering,” the voice hissed with glee. Tina shook her head. Blaze was the type of male who wouldn’t have offer his help if he didn’t want to do it.
“No, he didn’t,” she whispered, “He wasn’t like that.”
“Yes,” the voice drawled, a gleeful note ringing through, “That look he got in his eye —”
There was a knock on her bedroom door, breaking through Tina’s haze. She blinked, coming out of the dark hole that seemed to drag her down, down, down as she heard the door open and her mother’s voice rang out, “Tina, dear, I’m heading to the store. Do you want me to get you some more ice cream?”
Ice cream seemed to be the only thing that helped settle her rolling stomach. There was a plus side to that. The voice always faded away when she ate. Maybe it was something to do with the coldness of the ice cream when she ate it, too fast. Tina nodded and her voice rang out with the familiar lost and heart-broken tone it held for the last 25 days, “Yes, please.”
“Cookie’n’cream?”
“Yes, mama,” Tina replied in a low tone, “Thank you.” She had tried to eat regular food, but her stomach rejected it. She had given up on eating any real food, at least for right now. She planned to try again later that night when her family sat down to have dinner, she will try to join them.
“Your welcome,” Tina’s mom said in the comforting tone that nearly all mothers had, “How you go take a shower, sweetheart? It will make you feel better.”
Tina nodded, absentmindedly. A hot shower would help revive her spirit. She blinked at a sudden thought. She couldn’t remember when she had last bathed or changed her clothes. Was it two days ago or three? Maybe it was four? It didn’t matter. It was after she had moved back in with her family. She needed to get clean up. Apparently, time was slipping her by as she tried to piece herself back together. Maybe her mom was right. It could help her feel better. She slowly stood up and gathered a fresh set of clothes from an open box at the foot of her bed before she headed to the bathroom. Tina saw her mom, younger sister, and grandmother standing at the bottom of the stairs. Tina noticed they turned to look up to her and she shut the bathroom door.
Tina lend against the door, looking down at the tiled floor. She knew they were talking about her because they were worried. She questioned what was happening to her before her mother had knocked on the door, breaking her out of whatever that dark pit was. She wanted to heal from her heartbreak and get her life back together. It was a struggle to do so - getting up every day, finding things she used to take joy in and be able to do so again, and leaving her room. She will heal. She will get strong. If she had to live her life out, alone because she couldn’t find a man strong enough to handle her, so be it. She will figure out a way to have one of her dreams come true, at least. She smiled, sadly.
Downstairs, Tina’s mother, Annja, glanced worryingly up at the closed bathroom door. Annja felt her youngest daughter, Natasha, wrapped her arms around Annja’s waist.
“Is there any change with her today, Annja,” Annja’s mother, Sakura, asked, looking at Annja.
“Tina managed to get out of bed and went through her books,” Annja said, unsure. She didn’t know what Tina had wanted with her books, but she obviously didn’t find what book she wanted. Annja, however, didn’t know how to help Tina other then be there for her. Her own relationship was extremely complicated. “Mom, could you—”
“Yes, I will, dear,” Sakura replied, “Go ahead and get the shopping done.”
Annja let a soft smile to cross her face and nodded, “Thank you, mom.”
“Your welcome, dear,” Sakura replied, “I still think she should go to her father for a while or go back across the sea to visit my sister.”
“I know, but I just got her back,” Annja said, with a sad expression. Tina had claimed that her ex didn’t allow her to come visit on the weekends or during the breaks at school. Annja had seen Tina’s expression when she explained that - depressed, trapped, hurt, and most of all, confused. Annja knew then when she got Tina and helped her precious daughter move back home, that she shouldn’t have pushed the issue about Tina dating that man when he first asked Tina out. Tina had wanted to end the relationship, but Annja had argued against, claiming that Tina should give him a chance. As far as Annja knew, Tina didn’t date during her middle and early high school years. Annja was overjoyed that Tina had found someone to date and experienced the whole teenage dating scene.
However, it appears that Tina’s heart had took a beating that some hearts did not come back from. Annja couldn’t help feel guilty over that, over feeling that she had pushed her daughter into a relationship she did not want after a few weeks. She should have listened to her daughter when she had voiced her desire to leave the relationship.
That man had seemed to be nice when Annja had meet him. He treated Tina like a gentleman, but Tina, later when she tried to break up with him after a couple months, claimed that he only acted that way because he wanted to make a good impression and wanted a different kind of relationship then she felt comfortable with, but the way she had acted later on, they had managed to work things out between them.
However, if Tina went to Japan to visit her great aunt, Annja may never see her daughter again. Tina went through something while she was in Japan when she was 15 years old and changed, dramatically. She returned home, shortly after her birthday, stronger. Annja’s great aunt was a physic and was able to see things that normal people was not. Tina inherited that ability from Annja’s side of the family. The Armstrong women for centuries had been known to be strong physics. Her great aunt even took part in a tournament 70 years ago that caused the death of her lover. Tina had visited Auntie and helped Auntie’s team when they were forced to go to take part in the same tournament, a few years ago. However, the ability skipped Annja and her mother, but she did remember her grandmother had the ability. She hoped the ability would skip Natasha.
Tina had went on and on about her experience at the tournament, never hinting that she had took part in it, but informed them that she did attend to ‘watch’ it. Auntie’s team and Tina eventually became best friends as a result. They kept in touch until Tina started dating and Tina drifted away from them, just like she did with her family.
“Father? Who is Tina’s dad?” Natasha asked with a curious look, “What has not he come home? Is Tina going back to Auntie’s? I want to go with her, this time. Please, mom, pretty please.”
Breaking out of her train of thought, Annja sent a glare at her mother. She didn’t tell her daughters about their father for a reason. They weren’t ready yet. Their father lived far away and due to circumstances out of Annja’s and their father’s hands, the two girls hadn’t been to see their father since they were little. Natasha was still a toddler while Tina was a few years older then that, but Tina acted like she didn’t remember her father. The older woman didn’t look apologetic, only smug, as Natasha started to question about her own father. Annja sighed as she turned to her youngest daughter, saying, “One day, you will meet your father when you are ready, too.”
“Why?” Natasha whinnied, giving her mother the puppy eyes as Annja led Natasha out of the house, “Why can’t he be here, now?”
Annja stepped through the front door, allowed the youngest daughter to step through before she shut the door and glanced at the cloudless blue sky, silently asking for strength. She ignored Natasha’s questions as she walked across the sidewalk and started to descend the long staircase to the road. She may need to send another letter to her Knight. He had asked to be keep updated on how Tina was doing in her last latter. She knew he wanted to run straight over to them, but the migration spell prevent that. His blood was too pure - too old - to travel through the barrier.
If she sent Tina to him, Tina would be able to get through the migration spell. However, there would be a good chance Annja would not see Tina ever again unless there were something major to happen that called her back to that world. Tina would enjoy, being in that world. Her eldest daughter always had a thing for magical beings, legendary kingdoms, Knights with honor, and the idea of True Love conquers all. Yes, her eldest daughter would fit in just fine in the world of her father’s. Annja just didn’t want lose Tina again.