Love's Test of Time (Madara Uchiha x OC)

XVII - Love

Songs:
Still - Jolé, Marie Gallo
Shadows - CHPTRS
Decades - Juniper Vale, Vian Izak

~~~

For a second, everything was dark then I opened my eyes and found myself in the middle of a room surrounded by white light. I blinked several times but the brightness didn't hurt my eyes. Instead, it had a feeling of loving warmth to it.

"Lea?" The familiar voice made me gasp and a feeling of nostalgia rolled through me.

"Mom?" I questioned aloud, turning to the source of the voice. Indeed, my mother stood several feet from me, along with my sister, Yumi, and Izuna next to her. Beside him was a girl I had never seen before. "Everyone?" I questioned breathlessly.

"Oh, sweetie!" My mother exclaimed, moving forward to embrace me. Her hug was warm and comforting, exactly the way I remembered it. Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks and I sniffled, taking in everything about her.

Yumi came to embrace both our mother and me. "Lea, my baby is all grown up," Yumi's sweet, melodic voice graced my ears. For a second I thought she was talking about me but when I pulled away from the hug and she was pointing to the unknown girl.

She stepped forward. "Hello, you must be Lea. I'm Yumi's daughter, Emi," She greeted me with a melodic voice, like Yumi's, and I took in all her features. She had Yumi's bright green eyes, fine black hair, and a contagiously radiant smile.

I smiled back at her and we moved to embrace each other. "You're very beautiful," I whispered to her and she thanked me.

After she pulled away, Izuna came over to embrace me. "Thank you for taking care of Madara. I know things didn't go quite as planned, since you were abducted but I'm happy for both of you. And please tell Madara that I'm doing okay and that I'm very proud of him. I'll always be watching over him," Izuna whispered and I nodded, pulling away from our hug.

I glanced at Yumi and Izuna before letting my gaze fall to my feet. "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to save you two..." I whispered, choking up.

"Oh, it's totally okay Lea! It's not your fault and we don't hold a grudge at all!" Yumi piped up and Izuna nodded in support of her comments.

"Thank you," I whispered back, wiping my tears away and embracing Yumi once more.

"So," My mother spoke up, smirking. "I see that you and Lord Madara got married."

"Oh, the ceremony was stunning!" Yumi squealed. "You two were so cute especially when you danced together!"

"Yes, and my daughter was quite a beautiful bride," My mother commented, causing me to blush in embarrassment.

"Thanks," I muttered but smiled nonetheless. "So what am I doing here?" I questioned them, looking about the place.

"Well, you were giving birth and something went wrong because you came here," My mother responded. "You really shouldn't be here though..."

"Why?" I asked her.

"Because it's too early for you to die, sweetie," She moved forward to brush a hand through my hair. "You've just passed out from blood loss for now so you'll be going back soon," My mother explained.

"But... I don't want to leave you all now..." My voice was laced with sadness and more tears filled my eyes.

"Lea," Yumi spoke up, "You have a wonderful family to live for now. You've got two little boys and a handsome husband," I giggled through tears as she wiggled her eyebrows on the word 'handsome'. "So don't throw it all away for a few dead people. We'll see you again when it's time."