Queen of Cups

Three of Pentacles

A.N. the image above is a tentative to have a concept of Raisa and Sylvia.

THREE OF PENTACLES

Upright: Teamwork, Collaboration, Building

Reversed: Lack of Teamwork, Disorganized, Group Conflict, Competition

Sylvia had cooked a small breakfast for both of them. Eggs, bacon and she prepared coffee too.

"Arigato... My friend." Said (Name) as she started muffled her face.

"Eat well." Sylvia said, sipping from her own cup and sitting herself to eat too.

.•°•~~~~~~Last night~~~~~~•°•.

Polnareff went out, him now having an apartment 10 minutes away from school and another 15 from both Jotaro and Kakyoin meant a whole lot of a deal for the Frenchman. His expenses were covered by both the Speedwagon Foundation and his salary.

He got his own courage and requested to date one rather pretty woman in his eyes. This is for longer than he had actually told his friends. It's been a week now since he dated her.

"I'm so glad we met, Raisa."

"Oh... Poor boy... I'm glad as well... But I've told you... This was fun and all but we both will suffer." She hold his hand and caressed.

The small, European themed restaurant was loud, but for them every background noise was muted by their voices.

Polnareff looked at the woman in front of him and cupped her cheeks.

"Raisa... Make me understand you. I'm willing to listen... I don't want to lose more people than I already did."

She knew... Seeing people's souls isn't always fun and games. She saw and felt the pain the man went through. How he felt when he found his sister abused and killed, when he saw someone die in front of his eyes, seeing the vitality dissipating from the body... She knew...

"Pierre..." She started, her eyes wetting. "There's just... So much you'd need to hear, and you'll hate me for everything."

"I wouldn't. I know you're a good woman. I trust your judgement. And I know you did what you thought was the best."

Soon enough, both were gone to her shop, which also served as her house. They were now in the back part of the shop, where no one could see inside from the exterior of the building.

Soft giggles could be heard. They finally turned on a light, once they were sure the shop's door was locked.

The backroom looked like a small bedroom fused with a kitchen. The only misplaced things were a bowl with a spoon inside and a cup of water, almost empty.

"I'm sorry I hadn't had time to clean..." She said, putting the dishes into the sink.

"Are you kidding? That's completely organized. Trust me."

The woman blushed. She didn't actually trust anything. The sink had a small mirror above, from a cupboard. Her reflection once again was aged, and this time, Polnareff noticed as well. He looked once and blamed it on the tiredness, but the longer he stared he noticed that this wasn't because of his imagination.

"Pierre?" She called, turning herself to him.

"What?"

"I asked you if you want anything."

"No..." He sat himself on the sofa and looked at his lover. She was now pouring herself a cup of tea.

Taking an elder book from a shelf, Raisa stood right next to him.

"I am aware I should tell you why us cannot be... But... I hope you will not hate me."

He took her face in his hands and looked her straight into her silver eyes. "I cannot hate you." He kissed her, getting Raisa off guard. "I hope this makes you understand that."

Her cheeks were a deep crimson shade when he pulled away. "I... Uh... Okay. Let me start."

She opened the book. Vintage pictures showing off her younger self and a weird date. 11/11/1955.

Random images of a girl similar to (Name) in aspect but with a strong white hair, as it could be seen from the noir photos, and it shown everything to the birth of another child, in 11/13/1980. As the same woman took care of the child.

But then there were continuous images of Raisa, that went from noir to color even in some instances, images marked by 10 years apart in some cases, haven't had the protagonist looking older.

"I don't get it." He said.

"Then come with me."

She went ahead into the shop and shown him a weird arrow that was exposed. The arrow had a gold tip and a wooden skeleton.

"This, is one of the many spirit arrows, or as some would call them, stand arrows. It invokes a spirit from you, if you're strong enough mentally, I have noticed, in my life as a tarot reader that you can see them, but not have them, unless it pierces your body... Even then, there's a chance it can kill you."

"So you mean, you can see this?" He summoned his Silver Chariot and she nodded.

"Us, fortune tellers are bound to keep these arrows to save them from the hands of the bad people... (Name) is in danger because of this... Because of my existence as well..."

"Why is that?"

"BECAUSE I AM HER GRANDMOTHER! I WAS CURSED BECAUSE OF THIS STAND ARROW, TO FOREVER LIVE TO PROTECT IT!" Raisa had a tear rolling down her cheek. "It all started with a woman named Avdol-Devi Maitreyi. Her maiden name being Devi... She was the one that taught me the truth about witchcraft."

"A... Avdol?"

"Because of her... She killed my husband and made me look 18... At 40... Even the goddamn expression marks would've gone in a blink of an eye... I'm like a vampire... But I can walk in the sun... She did it so she could live with her son in peace. She passed this to me. And now Hamasaki tries to kill my granddaughter."

Polnareff took a break and looked at Raisa in disbelief. "How do you know that (Name) is your grandkid? I recall her telling that when her mom was 15, her parents died... Now her mother's dead too and as much as we saw her father is trying to kill her but he's been to coward to do any move."

"Felicia... I'm so sorry..." Raisa crumbled. Everything around her was spinning. She cried, tears streaming down her clear cheeks,  proving that no makeup touched her face, so it wasn't makeup. "I...I realized she was my descendant when she used her stand on me...so that's how she got the stand... Felicia was killed." She kept weeping.

"Raisa... Listen. I don't care that you're (Name)'s grandma. To me, she's like my sister... But for the sake of your own daughter, to help me - no... To help us  protect her child now... Tell me everything I need to know." She nodded and hugged him.

"I don't want her to die... My baby died. Not (Name) too... I beg you."

He took her back to the backroom and he decided to just listen to everything.

"Besides this story, uh... I forgot their names... I know they're called Hamasaki as surname. And that they go to the... Ufff I forgot."

"It's okay. What else can you tell me?"

She stood and tried to recall everything. Raisa cursed herself that she could speak three languages on a daily basis but couldn't recall the names of several people. Worse than that, people she knew that would harm her granddaughter.

A forceful knock on the door attracted the attention of both of them.