Sheila’s journey was short and she entered Beau’s shop with calculated timing, 5 minutes away from closing. There were no customers inside so she preemptively closed the shop by flipping the sign hanging on the door to show its status.

She walked to the main room and found Marianne and Watson with a tea in their hand sitting on either side of the desk.

“Sheila! Good evening!”

Marianne was the first to see her as Watson had her back to the door. She turned around in reaction to the shout and greeted the older lady accordingly.

“Hello, Sheila, lovely to see you again.”

“Hello, girls. How have you been?”

“I’ve been fine, Watson’s doing a lot better though.” (Marianne)

“Why’s that?”

“Beau proposed to her!” (Marianne)

“WHAT?!” (Sheila)

“Can you stop talking like I’m not here!” (Watson)

“OH MY DEAR, That’s incredible!” (Sheila)

“Yes, I’m quite happy about it myself.” (Watson)

“You should be! What fantastic news! When did this happen? How did this happen?” (Sheila)

“Yesterday Sheila! Just after coming back from your house. Oh, you should have heard it, it was like a novel.” (Marianne)

“Oh will the both of you stop it, you’re making me blush!” (Watson)

“So, where is the man himself?” (Sheila)

“He’s in the back room, tinkering as always.” (Marianne)

“Ah, let's watch him for a bit.” (Sheila)

“What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time?” (Watson)

Sheila leaned down to find that Watson’s positioning allowed her to watch Beau working through the window to his study.

“So that’s what you’ve been looking at this whole time!”

They laughed for a bit which caught Beau’s attention and he came out of the room to find the three women chatting happily amongst themselves. He smiled a sad smile which did not go unnoticed to Watson. Before she could ask what’s wrong he approached them.

“Hello, again Sheila.”

“Beau! Congratulations my love. My little one has finally grown up!”

“They told you?”

“Well of course they did!”

Much to Sheila’s delight Beau leaned on the back of Watson’s chair and swiftly pecked her lips.

“Oh, I might just up and die here if you keep doing that. How are you going to tell your family Beau?”

Beau paused whilst still leaning over Watson, looking her in the eyes then sighing and turning around to face them all.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk about Sheila.”

He sat on the desk and sat cross-legged. Marianne shuffled around a bit so that she was facing him as well as the other two.

“Sheila needs to know this, and so do you, Watson, Marianne will find out as well eventually… There’s not a really easy way of telling you this Sheila. My parents are… Well, my whole family is dead. They died 4 years ago.”

Sheila knew something bad was coming but when it was actually said her eyes went wide and her hands started trembling.

“Peter and Helen… They’re… Dead?”

Beau winced at the use of his parent's name.

“They are, along with my younger brother and sister.”

At this point, Beau’s tears started to well up. His voice was breaking slightly. He had already mourned their loss for a long time, but it was still heart-rending to talk about his deceased family.

“There was a fire, I only found about it 3 days after when I came to visit.”

“Oh, Beau!” Sheila started openly crying and jumped up to hug him. He responded in kind and got up himself to embrace the bawling woman.

“Helen’s dead?”

“Mm.”

Watson and Marianne were borderline crying as well. They waited patiently for Sheila to be finished. Knowing that this took a huge toll on her.

After half an hour of solid crying, Sheila finally ran out of tears and backed off from Beau, sitting back in her chair, only to be embraced again by Watson. Sheila gladly accepted the support and leaned on her without holding back.

“So you see, you 3 are really the only family I have left, I know I’ve been quite immature but I am not the same I was then. I’ve done things and met people that have made me happy again. For that, I have to thank all of you.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Watson briefly left Sheila’s side to pull Beau into a hug and kissed him on the forehead by going on her tiptoes.

“I’ll continue to make you happier forever my love.”

Beau smiled and patted her head before turning back to Sheila.

“So you see, I only have you left to tell.”

“I understand Beau, thank you for finally telling me.”

“Sorry, it took so long Sheila. I was a coward.”

Sheila stood up and hugged Beau once again.

“Being scared of something doesn’t make you a coward.”

“Thank you, Sheila.”

“Where are they buried?”

“Where I was born, in Reading.”

“That’s not too far from here. I think I’d like to visit them with my husband.”

“Of course. I’m sure they would love it.”

“Beau, I’d like to visit them some time as well.”

“We can, not yet though, I have a few things I need to do in Bath beforehand Ella-Mae.”

“Alright, Beau.”

After a short time reminiscing, Sheila walked Marianne home before going herself.

Watson was left with Beau, they were currently on his sofa, her lying down on his lap while he fiddled with the magic item he had been trying to finish before the interruption. She was reading a book, well trying to, she kept watching his face and hands as they skillfully crafted and manipulated the item to work as he pleased, and then watched him design the magic circle. Eventually, he sighed and put the item down to look at Watson, who, being caught red-handed staring at his face, smiled faintly. He smiled back and stroked her hair placing it behind her ear.

“Ella-Mae. I actually have more to tell you.”

“More to tell me? Something you can’t even tell Sheila.”

“That’s right. There are a few things, they’re things that will put your position as head of the Bath MCR branch at risk. Do you still want to know?”

“Now that you’ve said this much of course I want to know. I’ll be on your side forever. My position has nothing to do with it.”

“Well, okay. Here’s the first thing.”

He stretched his arm out and beautiful tendrils of mana slowly seeped from his fingers before gathering in a ball in front of him.

“Beau, you’re, you’re a magician!? But, you’re not registered! You’re a rogue?”

“Yes, I’m a rogue.”

“But you have no mana, I can’t sense any mana in you at all.”

“Well, that’s thanks to this thing.”

He slipped a silver ring off his finger that had stayed on that finger for 4 years straight. Suddenly Watson sensed an almighty amount of mana erupt from Beau’s body.

“WHAT? What is this? You have such ridiculous amounts of mana and you kept it all hidden? What’s the point, you can register as a magician and not serve the government you know, and you would only need to go to school for a bit.”

“First of all slow down a bit. I awoke to mana a little late. In fact, it was only after my parents died, my anger reached a ridiculous level and suddenly, something in my body broke I suddenly awoke right there.”

“You could still register though!”

“Yes, well I could, but, well, the second thing is that my family didn’t actually die in a fire.”

Watson waiting in silent anticipation.

“They were murdered, by The Creed.”

Watson suddenly sat up straight at the mention of the name.

“Which leads me to the final thing.”

He walked to a cupboard that was in the corner of his bedroom and took the mask out before entering the room again.

With Watson watching he donned the mask.

She would never forget that mask, not even if she wanted to.

“Beau?”

He took the mask off again.

“It’s me.”

“You’re, White Demon?”

“Yeah, that’s what you call me. I don’t really like the name though.”

“Like that matters...

Beau, you’ve killed so many people, you’re the biggest criminal currently alive in the UK...

You’re a serial killer.”

“I am, all of those things. Or, I would like to say I was. I’ve been blinded by anger for too long. Too many mistakes have been made. However, I don’t regret what I did, I killed people, but I saved at least as many as I killed.”

“Beau… This is not something I can just accept. You understand that? No matter how much I love you, I won’t allow you to go crawling around murdering criminals. Not now that I know who you are.”

“We worked quite well together in Bournemouth though.”

He tried cracking a smile but was countered by a frown.

“Look, I know okay, I know it’s nothing to be proud of. That’s why I’m no longer White Demon. And I’ll apply for a magician’s license. However, before that, I need you to read something.”

Beau picked up the small pile of papers that detailed what the plan involving the queen consisted of. It was read by Watson in 20 minutes, afterward, she looked up at Beau with a mixture of emotions on her face.

“Those men, members of The Creed are the only people I’ve killed, and you know what you have to do to become a member. I spent the last few weeks in London because I was looking for the man that killed my family, and now they're looking to take over the country, bring harm to the Queen herself."

“Did you find him?”

“I did.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I chopped his arm off.”

There was a pause.

“What? No more?”

“Nope, that’s it.”

“He killed your family, you’ve already killed so many people, what’s one more person?”

“You can say it like that but, I learned in that moment that if I continue how I have been these past few years then I’m no better than them.”

“Well, I agree to that. But it doesn't change what you've done, some sort of punishment is in order. This thing about the Queen will need much further thought and planning. Things that I am not able to think about at the moment."

“That is how it should be, so, if after this you want to leave then I underst…” A loud slapping sound rung out.

“There. All better.”

Beau clutched at his face where a red hand mark started to form.

“Ouch.”

“Don’t think for a second that my love is so fragile that it breaks after hearing something like that.”

“Sorry, I underestimated you. In more ways than one.” He rubbed his cheek to make his point.

Watson smirked and planted a kiss on it.

“You have heavy baggage, luckily, I’m strong enough to carry it. Actually, if I think about it, it doesn’t really matter, the only person that is any threat to your secret identity is me. Is that right?”

“Yes, at the moment you are the only person who knows who the White Demon is.”

“Which means all the cards are in my hands, were you aware of this when you told me?”

“Of course.”

“So you told me despite knowing my decision would determine your fate. This is already enough for me. In fact, I wouldn’t mind you not even getting a magician's license.”

Beau beamed a huge smile and took Watson into a bear hug which quickly evolved into a passionate kiss. After a few minutes, they broke and Watson managed to gasp out.

“No more outings though, at least, not until I discuss it properly with you. Even I have no idea of why I’m so accepting of all of this, which means I will talk to you again about it in the morning.”

“Why not now?”

“You… Well, that’s because I have other plans for what to do right now."

She pushed him down onto the sofa and started unbuttoning her shirt. After getting the message, Beau did the same.