I STILL BELIEVE | ELEMENTAL

09

Okay, Ember said she made a mistake but she did not create a mistake. I don't know what that means. But I'm pretty sure it means that BOTH she and Wade made a mistake. Bro got the condors at the 99 cent store for half the price. No wonder.

Tw: Mentions of underage drinking, underage sex, teen pregnancy, mentions of trying to imply malnutrition.

Bernie had believed himself to be a good father to his daughter.

Even when all good times looked like they were coming to end.

He was dead. Both him and his wife were. But they were okay with it. For the next three and two months they were.

Two months...

When Bernie watched as his daughter Ember had gotten worked up. While he was looking at her from the depths of Ashook.

So.. water guy. The same guy who tried to get the shop closed..

..turned out to have fathered his grandchild.

Bernie remembers how the conversation with his daughter went. She refused to name a father. Both his daughter and his wife were both nervous about something. He didn't press the matter any further beyond.

And then she came. Little Jade was brought into the world. And when they took a look at her.

They instantly knew something wasn't right.

This newborn was dark. It wasn't a fire. And with purple and blue streaks rising from their surface.

And something that worried them all was how small and tiny she was.

And in that moment, Ember had to spill the beans.

Bernie was shocked. Did a water guy rape her? Was she okay? Is that why Jade was so obviously different?

And Jade was oddly tiny. And barely cried other than for the essentials. But the doctors brushed it off. Saying that it was most probably because she had to endure heat for nine months.

It took time for Ember to accept his mixed Granddaughter. But when he did he knew he had to protect her from the world.

At first, Bernie thought Jade's father was some no-good deadbeat dad who wouldn't care for "a mixed-bastard" child.

But as it turned out, the father didn't know. And Ember was fine without him knowing.

A/N: You're wrong about that, Mr. Lumen. She did want him to know. But now that he does. She has no idea how to talk to him.

Jade was a great granddaughter. And very sleepy sometimes. It could be quite the hassle to try and get her to take up sometimes.

They even had to get her a night light because of the fact she had a hard time walking through the night.

It was almost as if she was blind at night.

And his relationship with his father had now improved. The guilt that Bernie had soon started to dissolve and melt with every moment.

~~~

Cinder had enjoyed all the time she had on earth. She was able to see her granddaughter. She was there for her birth.

And they were old. Both her and her husband knew that their time was coming. They knew at some point they would die of old age. But they were just happy that they were able to see their grandchild for some time.

The moment that Ember had revealed that she was with child. She knew it was that water guy who was the father.

Cinder had to admit. She knew the second she laid eyes on Jade's creases of purple and light blues of her black smooth skin.