Venom Of The Sea

Part Twenty-Three: Rayne

 I stood on the balcony in Serenity's still ruined room, my eyes were burning with the salty tears as I allowed them to streak down my cheeks, I had no use in stopping them. I could practically feel the raw, itchy redness in my eyes as I watched the soldiers below marching to the sound of metal hitting metal, along with the occasional battle cries...

"S-Serenity..?" A quiet voice whispered, I quickly turned around to see a vision... A child version of Serenity laid on the large bed with her face buried in her arms as loud, choked back sobs came from her. A child version of myself appeared from the hallway, moving closer with concern written all over face.

"G-Go away! I just want my mommy back!" Guppy Serenity screamed as she looked up at my own guppy version, her eyes looked like my own now as snot and tears ran down her face. She looked so... Broken.

"S-Serenity, I know you do... And she'll come back!" I cheered as I climbed onto the bed with her, Serenity looked up at me with the snotty, teary covered face as I sent her a small smile. At this time Serenity was younger than me, but only by a month, so I saw her as my sister.

"Y-You promise..?" Her voice cracked as a small sniff left her, I took my thumb and wiped away another streaking tear as I softly smiled and nodded, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and nuzzling her head into the crook of my neck.

"I promise," I whispered as the vision slowly blew away as if was just... Dust of a memory. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply as I exhaled and there stood Lotus with slightly teary eyes. I went wide eyed slightly as my face returned to its resting position, only for me to send her a soft smile.

"So, did you ever keep that promise...?" Lotus asked as she moved closer, I turned my back to her resting my elbows against the cool, chiseled stone of the balcony.

"I don't know... I feel like I didn't..." I whispered as she looks at me with a tightly pulled back lip, I knew she wanted to ask me what happened that day, even though she already knows the story... She didn't know the full story like I did, no... No one knew the full thing, not like I did.

"You want to know what happened, don't you?" I ask as I continued to stare out at the boys slowly becoming men below as I heard the clashing of metal like I did all those years ago... Irene, why...?

"Uh, kinda, yeah..." Lotus gave a pity laugh as I scoffed lightly and nodded, turning towards her as I looked back into the trashed bedroom; my heart was breaking at the sight. I mean... This was the place that Serenity called her safe place, her place to think and reflect on everything... Gone.

"Well, it happened after Irene went missing... Everyone went out looking for her, the barrier was just a sudden thing that appeared when everyone returned. Cedric announced that this was a symbol of Irene still being alive, and with that everyone went on with life... Except for one person..."

"I'm taking a wild guess that the person was Serenity...?" Lotus asks as she sits on the railing as I nod slowly, only to continue.

"Serenity grew up looking for her mother, every day she would sneak out of this area that the barrier didn't cover completely because of this large boulder that fell from the sky, or surface. She would leave for hours on end, and when her father found out- Irene, did he go ballistic on her... He ordered the sourcers around the kingdom to finish off the barrier except for an entrance."

"So, what was that flashback, or vision of you both at such a young age? I mean, you guys were guppies in that..." Lotus spoke softly as she sat there with her hands at her sides, tightly gripping onto the railing.

"It was like that because that was the last time I remember promising another thing that day...It was the most innocent time I could think of..." I whispered, my voice slightly cracking as I tried to hold back tears. I had been crying for hours on end after seeing Serenity become a... Beast. Lowell sent guards to take me out of the cell area because I had a break down while he got other sourcers in to help with the hold of her...

"What else did you promise that day..?" She asks moving closer as if it was a secret that I had been holding for decades now, and was ready to get rid of the burden the only difference is that... I didn't see this thing as a burden I saw it as a test in life and I failed, I failed the test...

"I promised to myself, the sea gods, Irene... And to Serenity that I would protect her, and I failed.." I whispered as I coughed trying to knock away the feeling of the heaviness on my heart. That pull and guilty feeling in my chest growing stronger as I coughed harder.

Lotus looked at me with wide eyes as she watches me try to cough away the feeling, she quickly jumped from the railing and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. It caught me by surprise as I went wide eyed and stood there with my arms above us awkwardly, as I slowly brought them down around her shoulders and back.

"It feels weird-" I cough, trying to fight back tears.

"What does?"

"Being comforted by someone I'm so used to hugging and telling them, it's going to be alright.." I gave a sorry excuse of a laugh as I slowly inhaled and stepped back to see Lotus with a large smile, but a single tear sliding down her cheek. I went to wipe it away but she caught my hand and slowly put it down again, I shot her a concerned look as she looked down and smiled, only to look back up.

"You only wipe away tears of sadness, not joy," Lotus whispered as she gave a small giggle as I laughed too, trying to push away the tugging feeling in my heart. That's when I remembered the guards... The blood burnt eyes. I went wide eyed and grabbed Lotus's wrist as she gasped and quickly swam after me.

"Rayne, what are you doing?!" She called as I released her wrist and waited for her to catch up to me.

"It's called having a plan, Lotus... Now, let's go find some sourcer libraries." I smirked as she cocked an eyebrow with a small hint of confusion in her eyes as I started to swim away towards the library that I was thinking of, yes, it was forbidden but hey... Forbidden things usually come in handy when in need of time.

I'm going to protect as many as I can when this war comes... Because it's like a storm, you can't stop it once it's started...