Crimson Rebirth

Part 23

 As they quietly left Jace and Catori, Gene slipped her hand into Kaiju's, humming a bit. Her feet made barely a whisper on the stone flooring of the Castille. "You know....." Gene started, not entirely sure WHY she was speaking. "Despite all the insanity today... It's nice that your voice was the first thing I heard today..."

Kaiju could not help but beam. His cheeks rolling with a grin, a glimmer in those warm red eyes and a squeeze of her shoulder told her exactly what he thought: he was pleased to hear those words, and furthermore was practically swelling with pride, thankful to be anywhere for her.

As they departed the room, they noticed a rather massive courtyard garden, filled with stunning blooms of all petal variations and sizes. If Time had not stood still one would think these blooms were but an exotic kind only found in the valleys of Silver Ridge.

The rest of the grounds were rather complex, the building itself a massive temple. Tiled roofing and intricate designs along the wooden beams, of fish, dragons, lions, dogs and even foxes told the pair this was a manor of magic, ancient magic from worlds and cultures beyond.

Genevieve's eyes were drawn everywhere, from the courtyard where she could name practically every bloom that grew, to the carvings along the beams. Furthermore, to the gray streaks of light she could see.

Even with Time being still, she could still see the glimmers of magic touching the plants, showing that even frozen, they were still alive. More than that, they were thriving.

Even in the midst of frozen Time, they were thriving, tinged with the magic that gave them life.

To her, there was something beautiful about that, the chance for continual survival even when the magic that kept them alive was frozen in place.

She leaned against Kaiju a bit more, a smile on her face as she looked up at him. "It's beautiful here." Gene noted, giggling at the smile still plastered on his face.

Kaiju smiled down at her and nodded. He then pinched his cheeks; aww, had he be grinning that much? He chuckled at himself.

"It is," he responded, looking about the garden. He noted, "I've seen my share of blooms but none quite like these."

He noted the fruit bearing trees in the courtyards as well and hummed. "I wonder.."

 He approached one and reached to a fruit. As his hand touched, color reclaimed the fruit. He smiled.

 "I thought so." He pulled down, taking the fruit with, and handed it to Gene.

 "Thank you very much~" Genevieve said, holding the now-perfectly red apple in her hands. Once again, she could see the colors of the fruit, the brilliant green slowly turning dark once plucked from the tree.

 The writing on her wrist gave off a soft glow, and she covered it up with her sleeve, a quiet grumble to her own wrist. "Can you not?"

 Once the Keatina on her wrist was covered, masking its glow, she took a bite of the apple. "Mmmmm, delicious!" Gene chirped, careful to not let the juice from the apple dribble down her chin.

 Kaiju cocked his head to the side. He asked Gene, "Everything all right?"

 She nodded her head. "It's a loooong story, and magic that seems to halfway have a mind of its own.... Most of the time." Gene said with a light smile.