At Astrum's villa, Serenity was seated next to Ash, watching her phone. Even though the live had ended, her face was focused on the phone for a long time.
Belladonna noticed footsteps from the second floor she looked up,
"Oh…welcome back."
"..."
"Fuck...the silent treatment again. Why the hell are you standing there?"
"Cat got your tongue?...why aren't you saying anything?"
Syrous asked, but Belladonna shoved food into his mouth.
"Stop talking, will you?"
He spat out the food from his mouth with teary eyes.
"Cough...cough...from all the ways you could say it, you actually choose to suffocate me with food, really?"
"Erm...th...that..."
"No comment...sigh...forget it…"
Belladonna got up and headed towards Astrum. "Can you please be quick on your feet? We are all waiting for you, you know?"
"…"
Seeing his gaze seemed to be fixed on something, too unbothered to even look at her, she got angry, turning around, "The fuck are you even looking at?...huh?"
He was looking in Serenity's direction, and she was staring back at him. She misunderstood the situation as him being overprotective of Ash.
"The fuck are you looking at?...Hey, you overprotective brother, hurry up and come down; we still got business to discuss in here."
Astrum had no choice but to come down; he was still unsure if he could share his information with her or not.
"Sight ... I am coming."
"What does that sight mean?"
"It means you are annoying," Astrum said.
"Ooh...Huh?!...Who is annoying whom in here, huh?"
Syrous started mocking her for her late reaction ,
"Wow... you suddenly realized he is talking to you. Who else but you, airhead?"
"Wait a second... Are you saying I am an idiot?"
"I didn't say...you did."
"I didn't…you're the one who said I am an airhead. "
"So you're an airhead; I didn't know that."
"Fuck you!"
"Learn a new one; this one is old."
"Y...Y…YOU"
"You?... Yes, I"
"You are done for."
"What?!"
Syrous's provocations made Belladonna snap her last bet of sanity, and started running after him like a mad woman.
"Come here, you motherfucker. I am not going to let it slide this time."
He took shelter behind astrum saying,
"Hey ...calm down...I didn't say anything."
"Calm my ass... iam already angry god have gifted you to me at just the right time"
Belladonna grabbed his hair with a creepy smile on her face; he got scared.
"Eh...w…what are you going to do?"
"You guess?"
"Shit."
Syrous had a really bad feeling; if someone didn't interfere, he would be in real danger, so he turned his head at Astrum with an expression saying "SOS," but he turned his head.
"What does the 'you are on your own' expression mean, huh?"
"Exactly what it is" astrum calmly said he was clearly not in the mood to hrear anything from anyone
"The fuck, man...I am your buddy here."
"Wow...your friend is as thick as a stone."
"You bet?"
Belladona looked at him. "I feel sorry for you, but...where have we left off?"
"Sorry, my ass."
"Noisy"
Once they heard Ash's deep voice they shjt it down in less than a second
Serenity gave him a thumbs up, saying, "Now that's the real deal."
She calmly got up from her chair, advancing towards Astrum while calling,
"Astrum...are you really that unhappy about me being here?"
"That..." He lowered his head; his gaze was fixed on the ground. He really didn't know what to say. "I know Mother said to just tell her, but Mother had no idea what we are dealing with...just the thought of my little sister knowing about them completely terrified me...what if they hurt her in the past?...Then someone I know nothing about tried to—no, he did hurt her...what if they come after her again?...What if she gets hurt because of me?"
Serenity reached out to hug Astrum, patting his back and saying,
"It's okay; I am here ... nobody is going to hurt me."
Hearing his sister's voice, he finally felt at ease. After calming down, he placed a hand lightly on her head. With a gentle smile, he said, "I am okay now; sorry to have scared you." Only then did Serenity let go.
"Wow, that was emotional," Belladonna said.
"Tell me about it also...did you ever know he is capable of showing such a face?!" Syrous asked but unintentionally made Belladonna angry again.
"Are you seriously asking me?...It's not me who's been raised with him since childhood, you know!"
"I am just asking, not like I expected any useful answer from you."
"You?!"
Astrum turned their side, saying, "You can argue later; let's start our work."
Syrous and Belladonna said in one voice, "Okay."
Serenity stopped Astrum mid-talking.
"Let's sit down first, then— "
"Actually, I need to go."
"Huh?!"
"What?!...why??" Belladonna asked; she was just like the rest, surprised by her words. Just a few minutes ago, she almost begged them to take her with them, but now she's the one who wants to leave.
Astrum looked at her with concern clearly written all over his face.
"Don't give me that face."
"Then why do you suddenly want to leave?"
"Sight...and do you really want me to stay?"
Hearing Serenity ask him that question directly, he hesitated for a moment.
"Th…that..."
"See, hesitation is an answer in itself. "
"Wai...wai...wait...just wait a second," Belladonna interrupted them mid-talking, giving Astrum a fierce gaze. "You seem to have forgotten about something very important here...what about the information she had on the craniom?"
Syrous added to Belladonna's words "She's right the fact that lady serenity knows about them is also quie suspicious, don't you think?"
"Asstrum didn't know what to say, but he just looked at his sister, waiting for her answer.
"What? No, I am not with them. Don't give me that look ever again."
"Sorry."
"You better be, or I will never talk to you for a lifetime..." Then she turned at Belladonna, saying, "As for my connection to them, none whatsoever. I only just met one of them before and happened to hear the name 'craniom' from her. I honestly have no idea what that even means since this meeting took less than five minutes."
"Really?!"
"Umm…and it's been years since then; I never expected to hear that name again till I heard you say it at the stadium garden today."
Astrum asked, still suspicious of her, "That doesn't make any sense if it's just a passerby. How can you be so sure they were in the stadium and more than one at that?...Are you taking me for a fool?"
"That's right, explain yourself." Belladonna was in agreement with Syrous for once. Although his words were harsh, he has a point.
"Because I did feel them—about ten of them were divided over the stadium in pairs," Serenity said. Those words and Astrum, who was watching everything unfold, finally confirmed that his sister did regain her memories.
"How?"
"Because those people have a special mana; once you feel it, you can never forget it, which makes it actually quite easy to detect."
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"I never lie; believe it or not, it's completely up to you."
"Huh?!"
Syrous kept pressing on her, which made Astrum feel uncomfortable.
"That's enough, Syrous; this is not an interrogation, and she is not a suspect."
"Right now she is"
"Not"
"Then explain this to me: how can she say she can detect them throughout their mana when the stadium has a mana sensor? If someone used mana, they would be grounded in less than five seconds."
"Her senses are stronger than the average person."
"Huh?...what's that supposed to mean?"
"It is what it is." After saying that, Astrum turned to his sister. "Serenity, you can go on your way now if you want.... nobody is going to stop you."
"Okay, see you when I see you," Serenity said and left them to what they were doing.
After hearing the sound of the door being shut, Syrous's intense gaze didn't leave Astrum for a second.
"I believe there's an explanation you ought to provide, right?" Belladonna asked.
"she can't lie," Astrum replied.
"Pardon?!"Syrous was actually surprised from his answer, he couldn't really understand, the astrum he know would never defend someone this much even if it was his father.
"Just what i said" with these words coming out of astrum's mouth syrous simply started douting his friend
"Why do you believe her that much?...I know she's your sister and all, but...you know what I mean, right?" Syrous said, knowing that in their line of work, showing weakness toward anyone, family or not, is a taboo that results only in death.
"I know what you're worried about, but Serenity is the only one in this world who, when she says she's worried about you, really means it that way."
"That's pullshit "
"Still the truth—no matter what, I will always believe her."
Belladonna started mocking him, "Just half his confidence when dealing with my shitty family, and I will rule the world."
"How do you trust she is not going to lie to you? Mostly people never say what they truly mean, so why?"
Syrous asked in concern for his friend; seeing him like that, he didn't want him to worry, so he started explaining.
"I already told you she can't lie, literally can't, not even if she wanted...if she didn't want to say something, she would just keep silent and wouldn't talk about it; that's the only way to know something is off. She's a royal elf, and royal elves can never lie."
"An elf...Astrum, my dear friend, do you see me as an idiot? Your sister is a human, not an elf." Syrous lost his patience, demanding answers from him, and Belladonna suddenly remembered something that seemed to change her view of things.
"Shit... I completely forgot about it syrous is a Voldemort in realoty . Since Queen Luna is your mother, you're considered half-elf as well. Does that mean you also…"
Belladonna asked, full of expectations, but Astrum had to shut her down completely.
"I am not...among us only Serenity has the strongest blood affinity to elves. I and Aries didn't inherit it; you already know my bloodline ability, and Aries inherited Father's bloodline magic, 'Vox' that's why he is the next heir to the Alkana. Anything else?"
Belladonna raised her hand excitedly, asking, "I do have a very important thing I want to know... your brother inherited his father's magic. Foxes are considered demons, you know, and according to you, she has a natural affinity with elves. Your magic can't exactly be called divine; you're more on the demonic side."
Astrum interrupted her words, saying, "Are you asking how come the three of us are triplets?"
"Yes, your sister, an elf born from nature under divine protection, was born alongside two people whose existence comes from destruction and chaos magic...there's no way you're telling me there was no divine punishment?"
"You really want to know?"
"Yes, i really want to know."
Syrous seeing the worried look on his buddy's face he assured him,
"Don't worry; whatever you say won't be known by an extra person."
Belladonna joined him too,"i also promise you , if i break my promise i will die a horrible death"
Both Syrous and Belladonna were waiting anxiously for his answer.
"Haah....You actually guessed right; there really was a divine punishment."
"I knew it; divine and demonic can never settle in one place," Belladonna said as a matter of fact. Nobody can actually survive both demonic and divine no matter how strong, and she added, "Is it okay if you tell me about the punishment?"
"It's not like I don't want it, but I absolutely have no idea about it; it was later that we discovered that there was one."
"More details ..is it related to her human form" Belladonna said,
"It's not, and don't ask about this matter again."
Syrous seriously said, "My friend, to be honest, I have never met a family full of inside stories like yours, a new story hidden in every corner"
"Tell me about it." Astrum appeared to be so done with his life and for the first time his friends realised how much does he really have.
"I still don't know what happened to the divine punishment?" Belladonna was seriously dying to know about it. 'Astrum's experience with his siblings is one of a kind; it's actually super exciting.'
"You won't like my answer, I am telling you."
"Whatever, just tell me already."
"Sight..." Astrum shook his head and crashed on the sofa, saying bitterly, "Did you know she is blind?"
"What??" Both Belladonna and Syrous said in one sound from the shock his words didn't make any sense after all; Serenity was moving just fine in front of them, but what Astrum said next took them off guard. It was totally unexpected.
"Because I and Aries are of opposite affinity from her. When we were still in our mother's womb, we actually started devouring her life."
The shock from hearing the truth froze them in place; even words couldn't come out like they usually do. Since it was all in the past, all they could do was keep listening to Astrum.
"Because of the unusual power struggle, Serenity was trying to save herself, which forced our mother into an extremely preterm birth. Both I and Aries were born just fine, but Serenity was born without a sound, pale white skin just like the dead. They had to put her in the water of life. Lucky enough, our mother was the granddaughter of the queen elf in the celestial realm; she provided us with it when she learned about her pregnancy."
"Father said it was a miracle she awakened after nearly two hours with no breath; her hands actually started moving."
"Oh, thank God," Belladonna said, feeling relieved, although Serenity was with them a moment ago; "it still felt terrible hearing she was about to die before she was even born."
"Then how did she go blind ?" Syrous asked.
"Divine tribulation"
"What the fuck? A kid can never go through something like that?" Belladonna said
"Belive it or not purple lightning struck her from the sky almost five times , thank god grandmother reached in time and proted her , everyone was actually scared at the time , turns out serenity awakend her ice physique when she was at the water of life causing the water to lose it's divinity summoning the devine tribulation , when we examind serenity we found her eyes gone , because of her unstable physique at the time she stayed at the selestial realm to learn how to control it, while both grandmas did their absolute best to find materials to make an artificial eye for sister ,she turned three by the time they finished it" astrum turned at Syrous meaning those words to him,"now i suppose you understand why i told you her senses are strong, right?"
Syrous slammed the table with a hard fist, saying,
"No wonder she said she felt them instead of seeing...That's a lot of things to go through just to be born, don't you think? " his mind was like,' indeed three years with no vision are indeed enough to sharpen other senses to the max , even with vision restored habits cannot be forgotten that easily'
Belladonna felt genuine sadness hearing this story from the past.
"Poor kid, she's been through a lot."
Seeing them like that, Astrum said, "I am not telling you about this to make you pity her. I am telling you to never look down on my sister she's actually the strongest person i have ever known if given enough time she could go head on with his majesty.....you were suspecting my sister, and I had to defend her; that's all."
"No wonder you are a sisteraholic ...wait, is your brother the same?" Belladonna asked.
"In my family, we're pretty much the same; touch serenity, and you're dead in more ways than you can imagine."
"Got it...i mean no offense but you're basically a family full of lunatics." Belladonna felt a shiver down her spine as she heard his words following his family tree: 'Hurting serenity equals being a joint enemy for half the universe. Till now they brought up Voldemort, alkana even the selestial realm ,god knows if there is still more behind the scene. Who's stupid enough to do such a thing?'
Syrous felt that they'd forgotten about something important; while talking, he looked around him and quickly got up from the shock.
"Where is he?"
"Who?" Belladonna asked in confusion.
He said with a trembling voice
"Ash...where is ash?"
A moment of silence covered the whole place , after realising they actually lost a living person
"Huh"