04-01-2019, 05:12 AM
I: The Sea
--
The waves of the sea repeated the frothing process of sloshing up onto the shore, back and forth and back and forth to an extent that was oddly hypnotic in its ceaseless recurrence. The sun perched in the clear sky but was not at all unpleasant. Off to the right, a considerable distance away was Nightmare Rarity's private beach house. Resting upon the seaside bluff, small from our standpoint.
Said beach was occupied by we five. It was, after all all, Her Majesty's property.
She and I sat under the umbrella, watching the other's at play for the time being.
"Why not go swim?" She flicked a hoof towards Esdeath and Zero Two enjoying the water.
"I'm enjoying the peace of it all, love," I replied, the corner's of my eyes crinkling in a smile. Nightmare returned the smile, but I knew her intimately enough to detect that knowingly sly sparkle in her eyes. That look that proclaimed "I know something you don't."
I looked back at the ocean for a moment-
"Wait where's Lupusregina?"
"You catch on fast!" She appeared beside me, not there one moment and there the next. Invisibility. I should have known. Grinning and enormously satisfied with herself she snatched me up from the shade and for a flash of time the blue sky and the yellow sun and the water were a blur as she hoisted me over her right shoulder, laughing and whooping jovially and I had to scramble with my hands to keep my glasses on my face. My gaze flitted to Nightmare and she too was chuckling, more to herself than to anyone else. I couldn't help but smile back and charmingly she winked.
I submitted myself to their intentions. I planned on going into water at some point though they clearly had "sooner" in their minds rather than "later." Still, I did take the time to appreciate my werewolf lover's shapely rear end; her leather bikini complimented it enticingly.
"Here he comes!" She hollered to Esdeath and Zero Two and, cradling me ceremoniously in her arms for a moment; she pitched me into the water.
Beneath the waves my world became bubbles for several seconds. Quickly I made my way back to the surface with a few decisive movements of my arms and legs. Taking a big breath I felt my hair pressing against the back of my neck and my glasses were decorated with bright droplets.
"Was that really necessary?" I asked, my voice breaking up into sporadic bursts of laughter.
"Well sometimes you need a little nudge is all," Lupusregina responded cheerily as she got into the water.
"If by 'nudge' you mean 'toss Michael into the water like a sack of potatoes' then sure it was a nudge."
Zero Two gracefully shattered the sea's surface in a dazzling arch. Pink hair flung water droplets into the breezy air until they rejoined their greater body. Her joy magnified my own.
Esdeath had yet to speak but she still smiled, happy to see me having fun with them.
"Soooo," Lupu spoke up again, running a finger up my bare back and assuming a place beside Esdeath and Zero Two; that look of mischief still on her lovely face. In fact it seemed to have intensified. "Which of us do you think has the best bikini?" She cooed teasingly.
"Oh, now there's an answer I'd like to hear," Esdeath purred out seductively, placing her hands on her hips and deliberately sticking out her ample breasts a bit further. Zero Two giggled at my predicament. Esdeath's swimwear was simple but complimentary, snowy white and delightfully sexy. The triangular top concealing her nipples and with coy deliberation she lightly fiddled with the strings of the bottom half her two piece.
Lupusregina wore her stunning red hair down, the tips lightly dampened and darkened by the water. Her wolf ears stood at attention atop her head and she was grinning widely at my situation. Her attire was more elaborate by contrast, her top black and crisscrossing strings over her bust conveying a feeling that was subtly that of a dominatrix. Slowly she made her way towards me, her thighs gleaming from the water.
"Awwww c'mon, you can say mine is the best no one will blame you," she almost cackled.
"Darling hasn't properly seen mine yet," Zero Two piped up, ever feisty. She spun with the grace of ballerina, pink ponytail flowing like a comet; droplets of water its starry trace. Her suit was more "conservative" by contrast, a crimson one piece. It left much of her back visible and a diamond opening exposed her navel. Her skin wet and free and playfully she ran her fingertips along her collarbone and down to her breasts.
"Weeellllll?" Lupusregina prodded.
"I'm not falling into that deathtrap," I laughed, my heart thumping wildly against my sternum like a bird flapping in the first moments of flight.
They all fixed me with good-natured glowers but I could still tell that Lupusregina had piqued their collective curiosity. Zero Two splashed me and insisted I give an answer.
"If I choose only one you'll be upset."
"Don't be ridiculous, you're allowed to have your own opinion."
"None of are you going to let this go are you?"
"No!" They said in a state of near unison.
"...Lupusregina."
A beat. Then Lupusregina joyously laughed, pumping her fists into the air.
"I knew it! It's the leather getup, isn't it?" She winked.
"Yes. Not that all of your selections aren't-,"
Zero Two pounced, arms engulfing my shoulders and her face leaning to mine and lips half parted. My eyes began to close in preparation for a kiss, only to be jolted back into the world of sight when a tongue made it's way up my cheek.
"Were you expecting a kiss?" Zero Two chuckled, tapping my nose with a finger and savoring the mixed flavors. "I've always wondered what you'd taste like after a dip in the ocean."
"Can you dive? It shouldn't be too deep."
"I'm up for it," I let Zero Two back down gently and acknowledged Esdeath's question.
"Good. I've got something I want to show you," she took a breath and took the plunge. One by one the other two followed. Taking one tactical gulp of air I too dove under. Rays of sun broke the surface giving the sea an otherworldly quality of heavenly blue hues mixed with sunbeams. Peering down I followed them, Esdeath's long hair danced and defied gravity with every motion; passing in and out of soothing blue and light. She was even faster than Zero Two in regards to her speed. I almost laughed at the thought of General Esdeath snatching up a fish in her mouth for fun.
The sandy bottom of the ocean in this case was not too far down and even I, as inexperienced of a swimmer as I am, was able to reach it not long after they did.
It took me a moment but I saw was Esdeath was indicating. Shells in a plethora. Glimmering faintly in the few bits of light that truly reached this level, akin to water jewels. Acting fast we all seized one, not paying attention to what color or size we took, in the moment that was part of the idea. Sand floated as an underwater cloud leisurely back to the floor, our fingers talon like leaving temporary gouges in its once undisturbed surface.
I gasped when I pierced the surface and my lungs gratefully embracing air. The shell concealed in my left hand. I felt its presence, subtle and ghostly as I unclenched fingers. Shiny with water I took in the detail of it. White with wavy patterns of purple, holding it delicately I turned it over with my fingers; sunlight winking across the immaculate and tiny surface. A crab had once made this his home and protection. It had rested on the sea floor, waiting for the day it was to be claimed again.
Lupusregina had taken one of a sparkling blue as though she had made a small piece of the ocean's collective a solid and taken it for herself. One wolf ear twitched sending three droplets of water soaring, the sunlight filling them balloon like with a burst of indescribable color as they returned from whence they came.
Esdeath's was a metallic gray. Her face bore the vision of quiet satisfaction. She ran a pretty finger over its surface for it had but a single scar that was not an imperfection but a contrasting enhancement.
Zero Two's was, befitting enough, pink. Pink as her silky hair. I could deduce the connection was not lost on her, her smile bared all.
"I think Nightmare has something to show us," Esdeath stood tall, long hair like reaching tendrils of eternal blue in the water.
From the shore Nightmare Rarity beckoned us with a black hoof. Collected and graceful.
Sensing something of significance, we returned to the land. Glancing back I could witness the water eating away some of our footsteps. Scrubbing the beginning away and were some new lifeforms to simply appear on the beach our footprints would deliver the impression we'd simply popped into existence in the middle of the beach.
--
II: The Turtle
--
Nightmare led us to a trail between the bluff and a rocky spire that sightlessly watched over the ocean. Hooves and feet silent and the scent of salt and rock. The wind blew our hair and in the shade of the spire it created a chill.
"So where are we going?" Lupusregina piped up, cheery. The wind blew her hair and strands of red tickled my face. I couldn't resist a smile.
"Shhhh, not so loud," Nightmare warned, an eye fixing on the werewolf punctuated her sincerity in the declaration and in the spire's portal we saw a beach. Smaller. A sandy island separated from prying eyes and tucked in the safety of shadow and sun.
On the beach further from us was a single life form. A turtle. A concoction melding quiet excitement and the color of wonder beat in my heart. She was a sizable specimen, not overly large in size but well into adulthood. Speckled flippers of seaweed green and sky blue. A rounded shell of dazzling color. In its center was purple spilling out into multiple colors: Red, green, blue, brown. Expanding and entropic. With her paddle flippers she was digging a hole in the sand. Left, right, left, right. Sand flying in clumps and and landing indifferent of its new location.
Nightmare sat first, with the careful serene poise of a sculpture given life. I sat next. Resting a hand on her back an ear flicked and she smiled pleasantly, the muscles beneath her pristine ebony fur solid and strong. Zero Two took her place in my lap, a quick kiss shared. Esdeath sat beside Nightmare and Lupu to my right. She sat crisscross and rested her face in her small hands curiously watching the turtle dig her nest.
She halted momentarily, head lifting slightly. Slowly and in a manner not too dissimilar in the way Nightmare had seated herself the turtle turned to us. She held us in entirety in opaque universal eyes. The flesh of her neck crinkling in her fixed position.
We remained as this. Looking at each other. The sun and the waves the only movement and only one of those was obvious in its activity.
She returned to her instinctive and hallowed work. Sea turtles return to the beach they were born to lay their eggs. She and hundreds of others had been born here. Breaking through the sand void that acted as their cradle and pulling themselves to the tide. A meridian that one of them would repeat in time's passage. They would return to this place as their mother and her mother before her, never once laying eyes on each other but their essences would occupy the same space forever.
"How old do you think she is?" I spoke quietly, my arm hooked around Zero Two's waist. The warmth of her body a constant. Esdeath reclined, stretching her pale, strong legs and easing some her weight to her elbows.
"Difficult to say," she answered, watching as the turtle lay her eggs. One after another. Trance like in her vibrations of creation. "She's old, but far from ancient."
"Do you think she's done this before?"
No answer. I wasn't sure if that was rhetorical or a quizzical wonder. We watched for awhile.
"In the world I was born, a turtle's shell represents Heaven, its body the Earth, and its underside the Underworld."
Zero Two nodded, ponytail bouncing. "I think I read something like that. I don't know if turtles exist anymore in the world I came from."
"Turtles was viewed as magical creatures who's power united Heaven and Earth."
"I've heard similar tales," Esdeath murmured gently. She spoke no further.
The outer ocean was the color of fire.
"Do you think they get scared?" Lupusregina asked thoughtfully. "After they hatch I mean, they start off so little."
"I would imagine so," Nightmare replied, looking over at her, brushing a purple strand from her face. Her teeth gleamed in the sunset. Her tail touched my back in a sweeping gesture of silent affection. I rubbed her back.
"I used to think it was sad that they never get a chance to know their mother." I whispered. The wind carried my voice over the burning sea.
"Fear is temporary. The ocean is vast and they'll never compass it entirely, but should they survive long enough they'll reach a state where practically nothing can hurt them. In the long run turtles have little reason to be afraid." Esdeath said, unflinchingly watching the turtle continue her work before she looked at the comparatively delicate vacant crab shell in her hand. She ran her thumb over the scar and smiled.
"Turtles are very close to time and change. They live for centuries watching things go by and transform. Never scared and they know it all. Who do they tell?"
It was almost dark now. The turtle had begun to bury her precious eggs. We did not know how many she had laid. Meticulously as she had began she completed their nursery. Her final act of love and devotion as a mother was to cover her babies so that they will grow. They will never know her, they will go into the vast and open waters never seeing her face, but they will have grown from her love. The sand will know their heartbeats and their dreams. The rocks and the sand and the water will know. She would remember this. As would we.
Slowly she dragged herself back to the water. Never hurrying and possessing an ancient grace about her. Serenely white froth washed over face and she did not flinch nor shy away. When the sea receded again she was gone.
Lupusregina dug her fingers into the sand and held up a clump of it. Pensively she allowed to drop.
"Do baby turtles remember the first time they see the sky? Human infants can't consciously remember such things. Can turtles?"
No answer. We sat for a minute or two.
"It's almost dark and we haven't eaten yet, have we?" Nightmare asked. She stood and from below she was a dark, gleaming hair and sapphire eyed colossus.
"Good thing you brought that up, I'm hungry!" Lupusregina said. The statement was mutual and we trekked back to the house on the bluff.
--
III: Sleep
--
It was late now. My stomach still warm from food as I looked out from the balcony. My forearms resting against the cool, smooth wood of the railing. In the distance I could see dark storm clouds drifting ever closer. An invisible rumble acting as its arriving trumpet. My mind was tenderly called back to the present when my general pressed up against me from behind, her arms enclosing around my middle.
I jolted when she playfully bit my earlobe.
"You're still up."
"You're not surprised are you?" I laid a hand over one of hers. Small and supple. Delicate when compared to mine but infinitely surpassing me in power. I squeezed once.
"The rain is coming," Nightmare spoke from the doorway. A bolt of ragged blue shot spontaneously from the gray clouds. Electric fingers reaching for nothing and existing in little else than the eye's blink.
"Come on, you need your rest," Esdeath whispered in my ear and it suddenly hit me that I was indeed tired. Our feet padded against the wood, past the circular table and into the comforting dark of the bedroom. An ethereal glow pulled the pristine glass door shut. Another soft rumble.
Lupusregina and Zero Two were already asleep. I smiled when I saw my werewolf holding to her chest the wolf plush I'd gotten her for Valentine's day. Her fingers lightly touching Zero Two's in a gesture of familial bond. Zero Two shifted for a moment, the bed sheets crinkling beneath her lithe form. I pulled the drapes shut. Gray. Like the rain clouds.
Nightmare's eyes shined. Lighthouse beacons of sapphire in the dark. I found her lips with my own out of pure familiarity. Nothing else was needed at this point.
With care I climbed into the bed, pausing when I heard a faint and breathy murmur before all was silent again. I laid down on my flank, the bare space to my back becoming occupied by Nightmare. She became a shadow before solidifying at my behind. Her warmth there like something popping into existence. A back hoof stroked my leg and she pulled me closer with her forelegs. Esdeath resting somewhere behind her.
I breathed out.
"Goodnight, Michael," Nightmare said softly. Nuzzling into my hair.
"Sleep well my loves."
Sleep reeled me in further and further. In one last gesture I reached for Zero Two's hair, finding it with my fingers. Warmth and softness and love following me into slumber.
Rain gracing the outside the world. In the dark the family slept in love and safety. They would be there when I opened my eyes and I would be there when they returned to the waking plane as well. Serene silence in the pouring rain.
--
The waves of the sea repeated the frothing process of sloshing up onto the shore, back and forth and back and forth to an extent that was oddly hypnotic in its ceaseless recurrence. The sun perched in the clear sky but was not at all unpleasant. Off to the right, a considerable distance away was Nightmare Rarity's private beach house. Resting upon the seaside bluff, small from our standpoint.
Said beach was occupied by we five. It was, after all all, Her Majesty's property.
She and I sat under the umbrella, watching the other's at play for the time being.
"Why not go swim?" She flicked a hoof towards Esdeath and Zero Two enjoying the water.
"I'm enjoying the peace of it all, love," I replied, the corner's of my eyes crinkling in a smile. Nightmare returned the smile, but I knew her intimately enough to detect that knowingly sly sparkle in her eyes. That look that proclaimed "I know something you don't."
I looked back at the ocean for a moment-
"Wait where's Lupusregina?"
"You catch on fast!" She appeared beside me, not there one moment and there the next. Invisibility. I should have known. Grinning and enormously satisfied with herself she snatched me up from the shade and for a flash of time the blue sky and the yellow sun and the water were a blur as she hoisted me over her right shoulder, laughing and whooping jovially and I had to scramble with my hands to keep my glasses on my face. My gaze flitted to Nightmare and she too was chuckling, more to herself than to anyone else. I couldn't help but smile back and charmingly she winked.
I submitted myself to their intentions. I planned on going into water at some point though they clearly had "sooner" in their minds rather than "later." Still, I did take the time to appreciate my werewolf lover's shapely rear end; her leather bikini complimented it enticingly.
"Here he comes!" She hollered to Esdeath and Zero Two and, cradling me ceremoniously in her arms for a moment; she pitched me into the water.
Beneath the waves my world became bubbles for several seconds. Quickly I made my way back to the surface with a few decisive movements of my arms and legs. Taking a big breath I felt my hair pressing against the back of my neck and my glasses were decorated with bright droplets.
"Was that really necessary?" I asked, my voice breaking up into sporadic bursts of laughter.
"Well sometimes you need a little nudge is all," Lupusregina responded cheerily as she got into the water.
"If by 'nudge' you mean 'toss Michael into the water like a sack of potatoes' then sure it was a nudge."
Zero Two gracefully shattered the sea's surface in a dazzling arch. Pink hair flung water droplets into the breezy air until they rejoined their greater body. Her joy magnified my own.
Esdeath had yet to speak but she still smiled, happy to see me having fun with them.
"Soooo," Lupu spoke up again, running a finger up my bare back and assuming a place beside Esdeath and Zero Two; that look of mischief still on her lovely face. In fact it seemed to have intensified. "Which of us do you think has the best bikini?" She cooed teasingly.
"Oh, now there's an answer I'd like to hear," Esdeath purred out seductively, placing her hands on her hips and deliberately sticking out her ample breasts a bit further. Zero Two giggled at my predicament. Esdeath's swimwear was simple but complimentary, snowy white and delightfully sexy. The triangular top concealing her nipples and with coy deliberation she lightly fiddled with the strings of the bottom half her two piece.
Lupusregina wore her stunning red hair down, the tips lightly dampened and darkened by the water. Her wolf ears stood at attention atop her head and she was grinning widely at my situation. Her attire was more elaborate by contrast, her top black and crisscrossing strings over her bust conveying a feeling that was subtly that of a dominatrix. Slowly she made her way towards me, her thighs gleaming from the water.
"Awwww c'mon, you can say mine is the best no one will blame you," she almost cackled.
"Darling hasn't properly seen mine yet," Zero Two piped up, ever feisty. She spun with the grace of ballerina, pink ponytail flowing like a comet; droplets of water its starry trace. Her suit was more "conservative" by contrast, a crimson one piece. It left much of her back visible and a diamond opening exposed her navel. Her skin wet and free and playfully she ran her fingertips along her collarbone and down to her breasts.
"Weeellllll?" Lupusregina prodded.
"I'm not falling into that deathtrap," I laughed, my heart thumping wildly against my sternum like a bird flapping in the first moments of flight.
They all fixed me with good-natured glowers but I could still tell that Lupusregina had piqued their collective curiosity. Zero Two splashed me and insisted I give an answer.
"If I choose only one you'll be upset."
"Don't be ridiculous, you're allowed to have your own opinion."
"None of are you going to let this go are you?"
"No!" They said in a state of near unison.
"...Lupusregina."
A beat. Then Lupusregina joyously laughed, pumping her fists into the air.
"I knew it! It's the leather getup, isn't it?" She winked.
"Yes. Not that all of your selections aren't-,"
Zero Two pounced, arms engulfing my shoulders and her face leaning to mine and lips half parted. My eyes began to close in preparation for a kiss, only to be jolted back into the world of sight when a tongue made it's way up my cheek.
"Were you expecting a kiss?" Zero Two chuckled, tapping my nose with a finger and savoring the mixed flavors. "I've always wondered what you'd taste like after a dip in the ocean."
"Can you dive? It shouldn't be too deep."
"I'm up for it," I let Zero Two back down gently and acknowledged Esdeath's question.
"Good. I've got something I want to show you," she took a breath and took the plunge. One by one the other two followed. Taking one tactical gulp of air I too dove under. Rays of sun broke the surface giving the sea an otherworldly quality of heavenly blue hues mixed with sunbeams. Peering down I followed them, Esdeath's long hair danced and defied gravity with every motion; passing in and out of soothing blue and light. She was even faster than Zero Two in regards to her speed. I almost laughed at the thought of General Esdeath snatching up a fish in her mouth for fun.
The sandy bottom of the ocean in this case was not too far down and even I, as inexperienced of a swimmer as I am, was able to reach it not long after they did.
It took me a moment but I saw was Esdeath was indicating. Shells in a plethora. Glimmering faintly in the few bits of light that truly reached this level, akin to water jewels. Acting fast we all seized one, not paying attention to what color or size we took, in the moment that was part of the idea. Sand floated as an underwater cloud leisurely back to the floor, our fingers talon like leaving temporary gouges in its once undisturbed surface.
I gasped when I pierced the surface and my lungs gratefully embracing air. The shell concealed in my left hand. I felt its presence, subtle and ghostly as I unclenched fingers. Shiny with water I took in the detail of it. White with wavy patterns of purple, holding it delicately I turned it over with my fingers; sunlight winking across the immaculate and tiny surface. A crab had once made this his home and protection. It had rested on the sea floor, waiting for the day it was to be claimed again.
Lupusregina had taken one of a sparkling blue as though she had made a small piece of the ocean's collective a solid and taken it for herself. One wolf ear twitched sending three droplets of water soaring, the sunlight filling them balloon like with a burst of indescribable color as they returned from whence they came.
Esdeath's was a metallic gray. Her face bore the vision of quiet satisfaction. She ran a pretty finger over its surface for it had but a single scar that was not an imperfection but a contrasting enhancement.
Zero Two's was, befitting enough, pink. Pink as her silky hair. I could deduce the connection was not lost on her, her smile bared all.
"I think Nightmare has something to show us," Esdeath stood tall, long hair like reaching tendrils of eternal blue in the water.
From the shore Nightmare Rarity beckoned us with a black hoof. Collected and graceful.
Sensing something of significance, we returned to the land. Glancing back I could witness the water eating away some of our footsteps. Scrubbing the beginning away and were some new lifeforms to simply appear on the beach our footprints would deliver the impression we'd simply popped into existence in the middle of the beach.
--
II: The Turtle
--
Nightmare led us to a trail between the bluff and a rocky spire that sightlessly watched over the ocean. Hooves and feet silent and the scent of salt and rock. The wind blew our hair and in the shade of the spire it created a chill.
"So where are we going?" Lupusregina piped up, cheery. The wind blew her hair and strands of red tickled my face. I couldn't resist a smile.
"Shhhh, not so loud," Nightmare warned, an eye fixing on the werewolf punctuated her sincerity in the declaration and in the spire's portal we saw a beach. Smaller. A sandy island separated from prying eyes and tucked in the safety of shadow and sun.
On the beach further from us was a single life form. A turtle. A concoction melding quiet excitement and the color of wonder beat in my heart. She was a sizable specimen, not overly large in size but well into adulthood. Speckled flippers of seaweed green and sky blue. A rounded shell of dazzling color. In its center was purple spilling out into multiple colors: Red, green, blue, brown. Expanding and entropic. With her paddle flippers she was digging a hole in the sand. Left, right, left, right. Sand flying in clumps and and landing indifferent of its new location.
Nightmare sat first, with the careful serene poise of a sculpture given life. I sat next. Resting a hand on her back an ear flicked and she smiled pleasantly, the muscles beneath her pristine ebony fur solid and strong. Zero Two took her place in my lap, a quick kiss shared. Esdeath sat beside Nightmare and Lupu to my right. She sat crisscross and rested her face in her small hands curiously watching the turtle dig her nest.
She halted momentarily, head lifting slightly. Slowly and in a manner not too dissimilar in the way Nightmare had seated herself the turtle turned to us. She held us in entirety in opaque universal eyes. The flesh of her neck crinkling in her fixed position.
We remained as this. Looking at each other. The sun and the waves the only movement and only one of those was obvious in its activity.
She returned to her instinctive and hallowed work. Sea turtles return to the beach they were born to lay their eggs. She and hundreds of others had been born here. Breaking through the sand void that acted as their cradle and pulling themselves to the tide. A meridian that one of them would repeat in time's passage. They would return to this place as their mother and her mother before her, never once laying eyes on each other but their essences would occupy the same space forever.
"How old do you think she is?" I spoke quietly, my arm hooked around Zero Two's waist. The warmth of her body a constant. Esdeath reclined, stretching her pale, strong legs and easing some her weight to her elbows.
"Difficult to say," she answered, watching as the turtle lay her eggs. One after another. Trance like in her vibrations of creation. "She's old, but far from ancient."
"Do you think she's done this before?"
No answer. I wasn't sure if that was rhetorical or a quizzical wonder. We watched for awhile.
"In the world I was born, a turtle's shell represents Heaven, its body the Earth, and its underside the Underworld."
Zero Two nodded, ponytail bouncing. "I think I read something like that. I don't know if turtles exist anymore in the world I came from."
"Turtles was viewed as magical creatures who's power united Heaven and Earth."
"I've heard similar tales," Esdeath murmured gently. She spoke no further.
The outer ocean was the color of fire.
"Do you think they get scared?" Lupusregina asked thoughtfully. "After they hatch I mean, they start off so little."
"I would imagine so," Nightmare replied, looking over at her, brushing a purple strand from her face. Her teeth gleamed in the sunset. Her tail touched my back in a sweeping gesture of silent affection. I rubbed her back.
"I used to think it was sad that they never get a chance to know their mother." I whispered. The wind carried my voice over the burning sea.
"Fear is temporary. The ocean is vast and they'll never compass it entirely, but should they survive long enough they'll reach a state where practically nothing can hurt them. In the long run turtles have little reason to be afraid." Esdeath said, unflinchingly watching the turtle continue her work before she looked at the comparatively delicate vacant crab shell in her hand. She ran her thumb over the scar and smiled.
"Turtles are very close to time and change. They live for centuries watching things go by and transform. Never scared and they know it all. Who do they tell?"
It was almost dark now. The turtle had begun to bury her precious eggs. We did not know how many she had laid. Meticulously as she had began she completed their nursery. Her final act of love and devotion as a mother was to cover her babies so that they will grow. They will never know her, they will go into the vast and open waters never seeing her face, but they will have grown from her love. The sand will know their heartbeats and their dreams. The rocks and the sand and the water will know. She would remember this. As would we.
Slowly she dragged herself back to the water. Never hurrying and possessing an ancient grace about her. Serenely white froth washed over face and she did not flinch nor shy away. When the sea receded again she was gone.
Lupusregina dug her fingers into the sand and held up a clump of it. Pensively she allowed to drop.
"Do baby turtles remember the first time they see the sky? Human infants can't consciously remember such things. Can turtles?"
No answer. We sat for a minute or two.
"It's almost dark and we haven't eaten yet, have we?" Nightmare asked. She stood and from below she was a dark, gleaming hair and sapphire eyed colossus.
"Good thing you brought that up, I'm hungry!" Lupusregina said. The statement was mutual and we trekked back to the house on the bluff.
--
III: Sleep
--
It was late now. My stomach still warm from food as I looked out from the balcony. My forearms resting against the cool, smooth wood of the railing. In the distance I could see dark storm clouds drifting ever closer. An invisible rumble acting as its arriving trumpet. My mind was tenderly called back to the present when my general pressed up against me from behind, her arms enclosing around my middle.
I jolted when she playfully bit my earlobe.
"You're still up."
"You're not surprised are you?" I laid a hand over one of hers. Small and supple. Delicate when compared to mine but infinitely surpassing me in power. I squeezed once.
"The rain is coming," Nightmare spoke from the doorway. A bolt of ragged blue shot spontaneously from the gray clouds. Electric fingers reaching for nothing and existing in little else than the eye's blink.
"Come on, you need your rest," Esdeath whispered in my ear and it suddenly hit me that I was indeed tired. Our feet padded against the wood, past the circular table and into the comforting dark of the bedroom. An ethereal glow pulled the pristine glass door shut. Another soft rumble.
Lupusregina and Zero Two were already asleep. I smiled when I saw my werewolf holding to her chest the wolf plush I'd gotten her for Valentine's day. Her fingers lightly touching Zero Two's in a gesture of familial bond. Zero Two shifted for a moment, the bed sheets crinkling beneath her lithe form. I pulled the drapes shut. Gray. Like the rain clouds.
Nightmare's eyes shined. Lighthouse beacons of sapphire in the dark. I found her lips with my own out of pure familiarity. Nothing else was needed at this point.
With care I climbed into the bed, pausing when I heard a faint and breathy murmur before all was silent again. I laid down on my flank, the bare space to my back becoming occupied by Nightmare. She became a shadow before solidifying at my behind. Her warmth there like something popping into existence. A back hoof stroked my leg and she pulled me closer with her forelegs. Esdeath resting somewhere behind her.
I breathed out.
"Goodnight, Michael," Nightmare said softly. Nuzzling into my hair.
"Sleep well my loves."
Sleep reeled me in further and further. In one last gesture I reached for Zero Two's hair, finding it with my fingers. Warmth and softness and love following me into slumber.
Rain gracing the outside the world. In the dark the family slept in love and safety. They would be there when I opened my eyes and I would be there when they returned to the waking plane as well. Serene silence in the pouring rain.