x
Everyone was sitting down, mingling once again. The pressure of impending doom was long gone. Rena had her back to the hallway that led to the infirmary, so she didn’t notice when a trio of people walked in. The room suddenly went hush again, and everyone was looking behind Rena. She turned around and saw Sy standing there, supporting a man.
Law broke the silence by stating the obvious. “He’s awake.” The man looked at Rena, and his eyes went wide. “S-Serena?” he whispered to himself. She looked back at him blankly.
“R-Ree? Is it really you?” he asked, tears starting to form in his eyes.
Rena looked a little shocked; she slowly stood up. Only one person called her that. “H-how do you know that name?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“Ree… it’s… it’s me,” he started to choke up. He leaned up off Sy’s shoulder and started walking towards Rena.
Rena took a step back, confused. She had a feeling, but it was impossible… right? He was supposed to be missing. She needed confirmation. “Who-Who are you? Tell me. There’s only one person that calls me Ree… you can’t pos—” she was cut off.
“It’s me, Rena… It’s Clark,” he said, finally reaching her, reaching his hand up to touch her cheek.
“C-Clark…? N-no. It… It can’t… Clark has been… m-missing for years,” she said, with tears falling down her face.
“It… It’s really me, Ree,” he smiled softly, his eyes filled with emotion.
She looked up at him, into his beautiful emerald eyes. It had been so long since she had seen them. She was speechless, almost breathless, in his gaze, in his touch. She had to take a step back and—SMACK.
She slapped him. Right across his pretty face. “Idiot,” she whispered, looking down.
He stood there frozen, his cheek still red from her slap. He moved his head to look back down at her. She looked back up at him and into his eyes.
“Idiot. You goddamn fucking IDIOT!” she yelped through her tears before grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking him down, planting her lips on his.
Meanwhile, everyone was just watching the scene in pure confusion, except for Blaine and Sy, who both had known his true identity from the start. They just stared with a smile.
“Um… why is she kissing him? Wasn’t he the vessel for the bad guy?” someone questioned.
“Shhh, you’ll ruin the moment. His body was used without his permission, so it wasn’t his fault,” someone else replied.
“Besides, I think they know each other,” another person said.
“Obviously, I don’t think Mystic just goes around kissing strangers that passionately,” someone else stated.
Rena finally broke from the kiss, and Clark just stood there in shock, blinking a few times before looking down at Rena, who was now fifty shades of red in her face. Seeing her blushing caused his face to turn slightly pink.
“Um…” he started to say before Rena interrupted.
“Why didn’t you come back? I waited for you,” she said, pushing him back a little as she looked away.
He looked down at her and sighed. “I did come back. It was… just… a lot later than I wanted it to be. I went to your grandma’s house, but no one was home, so I took a walk down to our spot by the lake and… Actually, that’s the last thing I remember. I was there, looking out at the lake, there was a flash of light, and everything went dark. Then I woke up here,” he explained.
Sy stepped forward. “About that… Your body was taken over by a deranged Guardian, and he was using your body for the past three years.”
“Three… three years!? No…” Clark turned towards Rena. “No… don’t tell me it’s been that long.”
Rena looked at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Six years… you made me wait six years, you fucking idiot,” she said as she softly punched him in the shoulder.
“Ree… I’m so sorry…” he said, looking down.
“What were you doing anyway? Why did you have to leave? You left me hanging on those… those words…” she said, her blush spreading. “You didn’t even let me say them back,” she whispered.
It was Clark’s turn to turn fifty shades of red. “I… um… had to take care of some business… In order for us to… be… together,” he said shyly, scratching the back of his neck.
“What does that even mean, Clark?” she asked, puzzled.
“It… it was your father,” he said, looking down.
“What about my father? What does he have to do with anything? I’ve never even met the pathetic excuse of a man,” she growled.
“He… he visited your grandmother one day… threatening to take you away. He needed you for some dumb political mess he had gotten himself into. He was going to sell you off to a family to pay his debts. So… I took your place instead.”
Rena just stared at him blankly. “Wh-why would you do that?”
“Because if you would have gone… they wouldn’t have let you leave. I couldn’t risk losing you,” he explained.
“You left me alone. After springing your confession on me, you didn’t even let me say it back. I thought I’d never see you again. I thought you had moved on and forgotten about me,” she started to choke up again.
“I never forgot about you, Ree. You were all I thought about in those three years… I wanted nothing more than to see you again.” He looked at Rena with such love in his eyes. “It was hell, but I don’t regret taking your place. It was all for you, all to protect you from that world.”
“But… but I… you… why?” she stuttered as tears fell down her face once again.
He stepped towards her, embracing her in a hug. “Because… I love you, Serena.”
She embraced him back, crying into his chest. “I love you too, Clark. I love you so much. I’ve waited so long to say those words.”
He rested his cheek on top of her head. “And I’ve waited too long to hear them.”
“Ahem, do you two need a room or something?” Sy interrupted their tender moment, bringing them back to reality.
The two quickly released their hug and took a step away from each other. “Sorry…” Rena mumbled.
“Well, are you going to introduce your lovebird to the rest of the class?” Sy joked, smiling mischievously.
“Oh my god!” Rena said, blushing even harder. “Um… Clark, these are my friends… from, um… work? Everyone… this is Clark. My childhood friend,” she said, turning away.
“I’d say he’s more than just a friend, ~Ree~,” Sy said, still smirking mischievously. She was waiting for Rena to make a connection.
“S-Shut up, Sy…” Rena sighed. “Clark… meet Sy… the biggest…” Rena trailed off, coming to a realization. “Sy… um… what’s your last name?” Rena asked.
Sy’s smile grew even bigger. “Emerson. I’m Sybil Emerson.”
Rena’s eyes went wide as Clark spoke up. “Emerson? That’s my last name.” He turned towards Rena, who was redder than a tomato. “Rena? Are you okay?”
“Sh-she’s from the future and she’s… my… daughter,” Rena managed to mumble out.
“Your daughter? From the future? What’s going on?” Clark asked, growing more confused with each moment.
“I think it’s pretty obvious… dad,” Sy answered, smiling from ear to ear.
“Dad? Why did you call… me… da…d…” Clark trailed off as it started to click, and he joined Rena in the tomato club.
“My name is Sybil Rene Emerson. Daughter of Clark and Serena Emerson,” she said proudly.
“Talk about a plot twist,” Blaine chimed in.
“Oh shut up, Death, you knew the entire time,” Sy barked at Blaine.
“Ugh, call me Blaine, please. Death is so overrated,” he groaned.
“She’ll call you Blaine when you stop calling me dear, sir,” Lilith joined the party as she stepped through her portal.
“Lily! What brings you here?” Sy said, now she was the one blushing.
“I’m here for Death. Sir, you’re needed at Guardian HQ… It’s time.”
“Shit, that’s now?!” Blaine said as he covered his head with his cloak once again. “Veda is going to kill me for being late.”
“When are you not late, sir?” Lilith asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve never been late to collect a soul, thank you very much. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He said as he opened his own portal and stepped through.
“He’s utterly hopeless,” Lilith frowned.
“Hopelessly in love,” Sy said as she stared at Lilith dreamily.
“Ahem, do you need a room, Sy?” Rena giggled.
“Ah! Er, um no. Um I suppose we should address the elephant in the room.” Sy gulped.
Damien appeared seemingly out of nowhere “Which one, there’s at least three. ”
“Three?” Sy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, first these two: Rena and Clark,” Damien answered, pointing at them.
“What about these two? We already established who they are,” Sy replied, crossing her arms.
“Not that. You do know what the Highers will decide to do, don’t you? Their memories will be wiped. They will go back to their timeline before this all started,” Damien explained, his tone serious.
“DAMIEN! WE are not the ones who should be telling them that! You idiot!” Lily snapped, hitting her brother on the head.
“OW! Sorry! I just figured they knew already!” he mumbled, rubbing his head.
Sy rolled her eyes. “Moving on…”
Damien cleared his throat. “Right, number two: Blaine and Versa. Like what’s that about!? Why didn’t he tell us? Did you know, Lil’?”
“No, Damien. I didn’t know. All he told me is that he had to wear that cloak, that no one could see the true face of Death. I figured it was something so horrible that anyone who looked at him would die on the spot,” Lily replied, shaking her head.
“Damn. Who knew he was such a hottie under there~” Damien said with stars in his eyes.
“Damien…” Lily growled, her patience wearing thin.
“Heh, sorry, he’s just totally my type,” Damien said, grinning sheepishly.
Lilith just glared at her brother. “Right, moving on. Number three: What are we doing with these two?” he said in a more serious tone as he pulled Ryker and Kage out of his portal. “We had Ryker contained but honestly, no one thought to grab Kage on the battlefield? It’s like you all forgot he was there.”
There was a collective awkward silence.
“You all forgot he was there,” Damien said as he smacked his face with his palm. “Honestly, if me and Lil hadn’t shown up during Boss’ makeout session, he probably would have escaped.”
“I wouldn’t have tried to escape,” Kage said dryly.
“Oh, and why’s that?” Damien turned his head to look at him.
“Because I’ve been trying to get back here. This is my home world. I only joined Odysseus to get back here. I didn’t want anything to do with his takeover,” he said with indifference on his face.
“Wow. You are really dry,” Damien mumbled.
“He actually had a plan to help me escape. We didn’t expect Odysseus to pull a stunt like that, which, again, I’m so sorry, Rena,” Sy said sadly.
“OH. Um. It’s okay. It wasn’t real, so there’s nothing to be sorry for, though I gotta say, Doc, that was quick thinking,” Rena said, looking towards Law.
“Hm,” Law acknowledged with a nod. He didn’t really want all the praise or attention.
“Um, sorry. I’m a little confused. What exactly is going on? Who are the Guardians? What did you mean by I was missing? Are those things real?” Clark said, pointing at Hawk’s wings. “Is that cat flying?” he said, pointing at Happy. “Is she really our—” he started blushing, “daughter…? How is that possible?”
“Oh, um. Maybe we should talk… in private. I’ll try to explain everything to you,” Rena said softly. “Let’s go in here.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him into Sy’s office.
“Soo… we takin’ bets they just want to make out?” Damien smirked.
“DAMIEN!” Lilith snapped, glaring at him.
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