The Fireworks Family

TFF - Part 1 - Prologue

"Just tell her how you feel!"
"But what if she doesn't like me back?"
"How can she not? C'mon Sil, even you can't lie to yourself about that."
"Ugh. She's just... so—"
"Intimidating? Never thought you'd call the great, amazing, and beautiful Scarlet Rouge intimidating."
"Easy for you to say. Riptide asked you out first!"
"Yeah, but only cause Typh convinced him to. Do it, Sil, you'll only regret it if you don't."
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Ivory grasped Riptide's hand softly. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Yeah! I mean, why wouldn't I?" He laughed. "I work at a motorcycle shop, darling."
"Doesn't mean you know how to drive one."
He ignored her then, smiling at the clear night sky. She was perfect, the night was perfect. Maker, he loved her so much.
They had reached the destination in silence, the sound of crickets carrying them ahead. A small overlook of the ocean awaited, quiet but inviting. He parked the motorcycle and sat down on the floor next to it, waiting for her to position herself on the handlebars before passing up a cupcake.
"Home cooked. Typh made them, said she figured you'd want something other than your grandmother's chilled pasta."
Ivory laughed at that, a beautiful sound that had enraptured Riptide since the beginning.
"I'm always up for Typh's cooking. If she ever opens a restaurant, I'm telling you, I'm never eating anywhere else ever again."
"She uses that to blackmail me," Ivory giggled. "I'm serious, Iv, she likes to say that you're falling in love with her for her cooking."
They ate the cupcakes, they watched the stars, as the fading sounds of cars and sirens of the city left them to their own thoughts.
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Sirens. That's the first thing that stood out.
Scarlet was crying, Riptide tight lipped, and other than the sound of the sirens, Ivory could only hear the uneven beating of her heart.
Bloodied. Beaten. Her best friend.
As questions filled her mind, Scarlet was filled with something new.
She disappeared that night, presumed dead four months later.
And suddenly the world wasn't alright anymore.
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Ivory still wakes up in a cold sweat some nights. She sees the evening again. Sometimes, Silverlight comes to her. The doctors say it's the shock.
Riptide has never fully slept since then. Preoccupied with thoughts of his family, his wife, he's determined not to let anything happen to them. He's become a cop, only slightly hindered by his newfound insomnia.
Scarlet wandered the countryside alone for some time, going in and out of memories. She ran into one of them, and suddenly she was one, wandering the forest like all the others. Thirst. Revenge. Love. That's what kept her going these days. And then she found the store, her allies.
Silverlight waits for the day that they are found. The day that all three are brought to justice. The day she can say goodbye without feeling truly guilty. She waits, she longs for that day. Because none of them deserve to live out the rest of their lives, much less him. He was something to her, and then he was not. Most days he was not. These days, he is. She waits for them in the dark.