Crimson Rebirth

Part 25

 She dropped the scroll from her hand as though it had been lit on fire. Tears burned at the corners of her eyes, and more than a few escaped to trace down her cheeks, though she didn't notice them. All of the air had left her lungs in one fell swoosh, heartache racing through her chest and constricting around her torso.

 It wasn't the memories that had carried such intense emotion. No, it was the feeling of longing.

 She wanted nothing more than one more day with the man she only knew in those old memories, her father. Nothing more than another lesson with her Gran, lessons she didn't truly appreciate until after the woman's death. Nothing more than to be teased by her big brother one more time.

 Nothing more than to feel her mother's arms around her once more.

 Gene bit her lower lip, willing herself to remain steady, remain strong. Now was not the time for such thoughts, thoughts she shouldn't have anymore..... Right? They should've faded with time, the pain should've faded with time, the loneliness should've faded with time. But it didn't. It hadn't.

 Would it ever?

 After a solid moment of trying to collect herself, she finally looked up at Kaiju, chewing the inside of her cheek to keep from losing her control all over again.

 Surprisingly Kaiju wrapped his warm arms around her. Her expression was enough. Every memory he saw of her, everything she had endured, learned, ached for...

 Homesick...

 He held her close, petting her hair.

 "It's all right to cry."

 She buried her face against his chest, holding onto him as though he were the only one keeping her on the planet. "I....... I miss them......" Gene finally said, referring to her family, the ones who she had lost with time while she simply..... Lived.

 She never thought that now, around one hundred and thirty years after she had lost her brother to old age, she would say that she missed them. But she did. Part of her yearned for those blissful, ignorant days, days before she had to have the fate of her clan firmly placed on her shoulders.

 His heartbeat worked better than any Keatina spell, her ear against his chest, soothing her.

 And she realized, that if she hadn't gone through all of that, she wouldn't be right in his arms, the safest place in the world. She would've never met this man, this...... Amazing man who made her feel better by simply being with him.

 Maybe time didn't heal, maybe it didn't need to. Because Time delivered her to the one person who had put all of her broken pieces together again.

 She quietly looked up at him, and breathed. "I love you."

 Kaiju rumbled deep, like a purr of a large leonine. It was happy, content, and loving...

 "I love you too."

 Gene stayed in his arms for a few moments longer, savoring how she felt, the smile that slipped onto her face as those moments passed. "If.......... If I hadn't gone through all of those things...... I don't think I would've met you, Kaiju..." She quietly noted. "And if I didn't meet you, I fear as though I'd be missing an important piece of me."

 A moment later, her head shot up. "Oh Goddess you saw why they all called me Genie." That memory was from when she was six, and not one she was particularly keen on. Not because it was bad, more so because of how embarrassing it was.

 Kaiju laughed and shook his head. "I think it's adorable."

 He them hummed and asked, "Gene...would you, maybe...like to visit Starglow again?"