Guardian

act 2: xii. check in

A week later, Austin can tell Aurora is going to be a great archer when she got the hang of it. It's only been a week and she's already good at shooting arrows. He knew she was pretty determined to learn archery, but he didn't know she'd learn so fast.

Aurora looks fiercely at the tree, where there was a target placed on the highest part of the truck that Austin could reach. She aligns her arrow on her bow and pulls it back, trying to get a good angle on the target.

"Even if you just hit outside the target, that'll be pretty damn good," Austin says as he stands besides her, smiling proudly. "Go ahead and release it."

Aurora takes a second longer to get a good angle before she releases the arrow. They watch as it swiftly flies. Aurora squeals and bounces with excitement as it nearly hits the middle of the target. Austin grins even wider than he already was, raising up his hand for a high five at her. Aurora excitedly slaps his hand as she still bounces.

"Do you see how close that is?!" Aurora continues her squealing, bouncing around the area. "Can I do another one?! Please?!"

Austin chuckles and nods. "Yeah, one more before you have to go back for lunch. I have to go on another run today."

Aurora nods as goes to their supply bag to grab another of his arrows.

Just as she is adjusting the arrow, a voice interrupts them. "Oh, cool! Can I join?!"

Aurora immediately whips her head around while Austin looks back at the voice. "Amelia!" Aurora squeals even more happy than she was as she drops her bow and arrow to hug her sister.

Amelia had returned with Marie and Lian by her side. Amelia was only supposed to stay about three days, but Ally had been informed that they'd bring Amelia back by the end of the week. Even though Ally wasn't exactly happy with this, her feet were getting swoll from all of the walking and it wasn't safe for her to enter her warlock form while she was pregnant so she couldn't fly either. She was basically house-bounded.

"We weren't really making progress, so it didn't make sense to keep Amelia for longer than we already did," Marie tells Austin as he approaches him while the girls had a mini reunion. She eyes him as she asks, "So, any powers come in? Are you feeling different?"

Austin shakes his head, crossing his arms as he shrugs. "For me, no. But I noticed we have a few new students are the training center, so I know more people are getting abilities."

Marie sighs and nods, looking back at the girls. "Okay, Lian and I need to head back to watch over Yuele. We'll probably see you guys if something pops up."

Lian hugs her two cousins before releasing them to wave a farewell. "See you guys."

"Bye, Lian!" "Bye!"

They watch as the mother and daughter duo zoom off. Austin looks at his daughters. "Alright, let's head back for lunch. I gotta leave soon."

They make it back to the castle and the moment the step inside the building, they're met with the sight of his mother strutting out. Before Austin could greet her, she says, "I told them to prepare lunch. It should be done soon. I have to head to the infirmary; love you guys."

Ever since she's been able to predict everyone's next move, his mother has been so quick on her feet. It amuses him, but he missed their banter they usually shared.

"Alright, go eat lunch. I'm gonna go check up on your mom before I leave." Austin tells his girls, to which they nod as they head to the kitchen. Austin drags himself up the stairs to check on his wife.

Once he reaches their room, he finds Ally seemingly just coming from a bath, as she was in her robe in front of her vanity. She turns to him as he enters the room and sends him an irked eyebrow. "Don't you have a run today?"

"Yeah, I'm leaving in a minute. Just wanted to check on you," Austin says as he approaches her. He comes behind her and massages her neck, to which Ally sighs in contentment and leans into him. "You holding up well?"

Ally throws her head back to look up at him with a pout. "Worst pregnancy ever. I throw up every ten minutes, my feet are killing me, and I want to cry for little things."

"Hey, I told you we didn't need another child," Austin chuckles at her. He leans down to place a chaste kiss on her lips, pulling back a bit to her eyes. "But only a few more months and we'll have our little boy."

Ally smiles at his words. "Yeah, I guess that makes this worth it."

"It does," Austin confirms as he placed another kiss on her lips. She responds for just a moment before he pulls away, placing a kiss on her cheek as he moved away from her. "Okay, I gotta run. I'll be back before dinner. Oh, and Amelia's back. She and Aurora are eating lunch. I haven't seen Aria, but I'm sure she's bothering the staff somewhere here."

Ally giggles and nods, sitting back up as she looked in the mirror. "Okay, Ill probably head downstairs in a bit. Get on to your run so you'll be back on time. Love you."

//

Back in Zay and Hope's village, things were a bit more shaky.

Hope sighs and closes her eyes as her husband zips past her for the thousandth time that day. It was really giving her a headache. Especially with his newly founded speed.

She pauses from watering her plants in the kitchen to grunt and hit the counter harshly. Forgetting she has a strong sense of strength, she smashes a hole into it and gasps, not meaning to do that.

Cai was sitting in her high chair behind her, so she instantly starts crying in the back of her. Hope sighs, closing her eyes as she tried not to cry herself. She was really getting fed up these days.

"What was that?" Zay zips back into the room, immediately going to comfort his crying daughter. He bounces her lightly and looks over at the counter, where Hope was trying to hold back a sob. Zay frowns. "Hey, Hope, what's wrong?"

She leans into him as he embraces her shoulder, crying lightly. "I'm tired, Zay. I can't do this. I need a break."

Zay frowns and rubs her shoulder. "A... break from me?"

She can hear the hurt in his voice and looks up into his eyes. They're tearing up and it's breaking her heart. "No. Well, I don't know. I love you and I appreciate you a lot, but I just feel... crowded, but alone at the same time... I don't know."

Zyra enters the kitchen and sees her emotional parents. "What's wrong?" She asks, running over and hugging both of their legs as she looked up at them.

"It's nothing, baby," Hope sighs, wiping her eyes as she massaged Zyra's scalp with her other hand. "We'll be okay."

"I... heard your mom talking about us moving back before we left last week," Zay sighs out. "If moving back will help you feel better and get the stress off of you, we can. I just kind of like living off on our own, you know?"

"We don't have to live in the palace. I can get my mom to get us a house," Hope sighs, snuggling into his shoulder. "But I'm just tired, Zay. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I just need a break."

Zay nods and placing a long kiss on her temple. "Okay. I'll let Marie know."

"I'm sorry we have to move," she sniffs, closing her eyes once more. "I was trying to avoid this."

"Hey, it's okay. It happens. We'll all get through this together."