More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[Nova Blancke]

"It's okay. I have patience." Liam responded and continued to search for a proper recipe.Honey Glazed Ham seemed like a good choice considering the flavor and the size of the ham.

"I have not." He stated as he continued to search."Can wolves eat honey?"

She smiled at her girlfriend who finally seemed to get it.

"Yeah but you're my mess." she winked,

Flying....it has been a while. Last time she was on her back it was to fight and kill the kid that was controlling her.

"Ya know...sure. Sounds like fun."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Okami's tail wagged furiously. "Yes! It's got all kinds of good vitamins in it, and Mama used to give me some when my tummy got upset. It's also one of the things Freya and I both like. Now that I think about it, we like a lot of the same things. Especially meat. Mostly meat. We have different favorites, though. Freya loves pork, and I love venison. Blew my mind the first time I had it cooked."

She inched closer to Liam and said, "You found the recipe, maybe we could go hunting together? Nothing better than freshly caught meat!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heather beamed and squeaked, "Great! Let's hurry up and get out of these costumes. I can't wait to fly through the clouds with you."

A few minutes later, Heather was decked out in soft punk fashion. She decided not to put on any makeup since transforming back from dragon to human resulted in her getting new skin.

She sighed with satisfaction and asked Liv, "How far does your blink go? I just realized that maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea to fly over the city."  

[Nova Blancke]

Liv was quite quick with taking off her Peach outfit. Blinking out of clothes can really speed up the process of undressing.She wore a simple white tanktop and jeans. Her ascension made sure she didn't need make up but she always did enjoy eyeliner.

"It's light speed so I can take us anywhere."

Legio raised an brow at her enthusiasm as he gave her suggestion some thought. He had never truly hunted before. Knowledge on how to properly take care of the kill to ensure the highest quality of meat was also something he lacked.

"Very well. I do need to learn how to properly drain the excess blood and what parts to cut off first. Give me a few minutes"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather thought back to the times when she was made to accompany her father. So many wonderful places that she wanted to explore and see, but she rarely ever saw the outside of her Hotel suite. Particularly, there was one place in Alaska that she had always wanted to go. She grinned and took Liv's hand. "I know just the place."

A few minutes later, they stood atop one of the many peaks that dotted the Misty Fjords of Edna Bay, Alaska. The water below them glistened brilliantly in the sunlight, and the sounds of rushing waterfalls and wildlife made the perfect accompaniment to the breathtaking scenery. Heather stretched her arms high and took a deep breath of the mountain air. She turned to Liv and chirped, "Are you ready for the flight of a lifetime?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Great! Follow me!"

Okami sank into the shadow and emerged in a densely wooded area in East Texas. When her new companion popped through she cleared her throat and explained, "So, we're gonna catch and kill ourselves a wild boar. A lot of people think that because they're related, boars and domesticated pigs taste the same when cooked. That is completely false. Wild boar tastes like a cross between pork and beef, and it's much more juicy. It's leaner, high in protein, and rich in iron which results in darker meet."

Okami sniffed the air and caught the scent of a drove nearby. "Here's what we're gonna do. I need you to herd them into an area dense with shadows, then I'll pop out and kill the best one with a bite to the neck. Actually...I'm probably just going to bit it's whole head off since I'm so much bigger now. That'll save you the trouble of draining the blood. Any questions?"  

[Nova Blancke]

"Okay....not the most warmest of places." Liv said as she looked at the view. It certainly was beautiful.

"Be right back...should have dressed warmer. I know you don't mind see how cold I am but if we're going to be flying high in the sky...I need some more." She said before blinking back. Quickly changing her tanktop to something with longer sleeves and grabbed a jacket. With that she blinked back.

"Sorry bout that." Looking around before grabbing her girlfriend by the waist and kissed her deeply. The kiss didn't last as long as they did in the hours before but she kind of always wanted to do that ontop of a mountain top with a view like this.

"Sorry that was on my bucket list. And I figured I'd...stoke the fire a bit. I'm ready." She winked

"I've read about boars. Interesting how quickly a domesticated pig can turn into a feral boar." Liam responded. Initially he had thought of Okami or Ami as Freya called her to be more simple in mind. But she does give a lot of thought to the things she is interested in.

"Would you like me to be a Dire Wolf as well? I don't believe I have ever hunted as one."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather's fires had indeed been stoked. She smiled brightly, bit her bottom lip, and began to strip in front of Liv. Gidget was working on it, but the little inventor had not quite finished the adaptive (and fire proof) clothing that would keep Heather from destroying her clothes when going either half or full dragon. Heather was actually glad that her body burst into flames during those two transformations. She had seen enough movie transformations to know that actually seeing someone's body twist and reshape itself can be stomach churning. It just played Hell on her wardrobe.

Once she was completely disrobed, she put her clothing into a backpack, zipped it shut, and took many steps away from Liv. Healer or not, being burned was a far from enjoyable experience.

She and Fenris had spent some one on one time together since the werewolf was uniquely qualified to help Heather cope with her inner beast. She was grateful for the help, and put what she learned into practice that day over the valley. Take deep and quick breaths to get heartrate up. Focus on the power that rises from within. Rather than visualize the dragon alone, she saw herself approaching and coming into contact with it. It was alien, yet it was also a part of her. Reluctantly at first, she put her hand out and closed her eyes within her imagination. The dragon stood still, at first. Then it slowly pushed it's neck forward and pressed it massive snout again the palm of her hand. There was still apprehension between the two of them, but little by little they were beginning to understand and accept each other. Heather smiled, and felt the heat rush forth.

Flames erupted from within and coated her body with it's dancing combination of blue, red, and yellow. The flame grew in size as she did. Once her transformation had finished her wings unwrapped from around her, spread to full length and extinguished the flames with a mighty gust of wind. Heather took several breaths and took a moment to appreciate what had happened. She did not have an opportunity to take it in before, but she felt practically invincible. Her five senses were turned up to 11, and she saw more than she did when in her human form.

Then she looked down at Liv. While she regularly saw dazzling lights around Liv even before her ascension, what she saw then was beyond the beauty of an aurora. Liv was surrounded by a nebula of lights comprised of colors that did not have names. A grumble of aww and wonder rumbled out of her throat.

Her toothy maw pulled back into a smile and she said, "I didn't think you could be more beautiful. Guess I just needed a change of perspective."

With thunderous steps, she turned to the side, laid down, and lowered her wings. "So, should we sail through the clouds first, or would you like to have the Falcor experience and fly though the fjords. If we go over to the ocean, we might even see some whales!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okami froze. She was aware enough to know that Liam was a specimen of male physicality. He was hot...for a human. Knowing that, she was both extremely curious and uneasy about what he would look like as a wolf. Unlike Freya, The wolf had no qualms about getting physical when the desire to do so came about, and Okami did not want to hurt Freya by getting flirty with someone that might actually be good for her sister.

But she could not pass up the chance to hunt with another of her kind.

"Um, sure. Yeah, it'll be an...experience. Just, wait until I go into the shadows. I need to...focus. Yeah, I've gotta psych myself up. Shoot me a brain message and I'll put myself in position to snatch a boar."  

[Nova Blancke]

Liv silently enjoyed the show despite it not being a show. What could she say? She just liked seeing her girlfriend undress. Same went for her walking away. What was that saying? Hate watching someone leave but love watching them go?

The blonde had seen the transformation's result before but never like this. It was certainly a sight to behold. It still seemed so weird to burst into fire like that but then again she would do the same but with light.

"Oh now you're just flirting with me." She responded. She made her way over to her now Dragon shaped girlfriend. Climbing ontop of her.

"Ya know...you're the driver.That is fully up to you."

"Understood." Liam responded and watched Okami hide. From the time that he had known her which was...short, she never appeared to be one to shy away from things. Then again, he did barely know her.

Untying his robes, he dropped them on the forest floor. When it came to clothes, he was rather minimalistic. Standing there in the nude, he took a deep breath before his body started to shape itself into something different. He kneeled. Legs bent backwards as they became digitigrade. Spine formed itself into something else. Arms also became that of a wolf. Snow White Fur sprouted from his body along with a tail. Jaws stretching as his mouth turned into a snout filled with rows of strong teeth. Ears accommodated and moved to the right position.

First thing he noticed how his sense of smell was heightened. Curious. Perhaps it is something he should always have altered for himself. Could be beneficial.

"I am ready."  

[Kerana]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Raina Carter was thrilled at the idea. At first, she felt a little bad about encroaching on Kerana's time with her boyfriend. She even voiced her concern on the matter, but the fact that it was Alec's idea (and Kerana was good with it) set her mind at ease and filled her with joy. She was finally going to go outside after three weeks of keeping herself locked underground. She was very nervous about being seen in public as she was, but with Kerana's enthusiastic encouragement she felt like she could take on the world.

[…]

Alec smiled and waved enthusiastically to Kerana and her mother. He was dressed a bit more conservatively and more appropriately for the weather, but he still looked like he could be a member of My Chemical Romance during their "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" era. His hair was loose and between his back and over both of his shoulders.

"Hey, Misses Carter. You look nice."

Raina chuckled and replied, "Thank you Alec, but wont you be hot with your hair like that?"

Deora laughed and huffed, "That's what I said, but he wont let me fix it."

Alec blushed and scratched his cheek bashfully as he glanced at Kerana. "I haven't quite gotten the hang of it, and there's only one person that I let braid my hair."

Kerana smiled and shook her head. “I don’t know why you insist. I’m not a hair dresser.” She said with a shrug. She happened to have a couple of hair ties with her. She started with a low ponytail then braided the rest of the way then tied with a second hair tie. I think that should do it.

Kerana was in her previous form with her red hair sitting above her shoulders. Her hair was covered by a summer hat to cover her ears and her tail rested on her shoulders as if it were a boa. Her mother did the same wither ears and tail. Although Kerana was planning to shift in her human form when it was going to be a date with Alec. However she didn’t want her mother to feel like the odd one out. Also to protect her mom from those that would be les accepting of metas especially those that don’t look human.

The shuttle came and Deora and Alec told the driver where they wanted to go. When they got to the local fair Alec, Kerana and Raina stepped off the van. “Wow it’s just as I remembered, isn’t it mom!?”
 

[PixelMuse]

Text from Xavier

"They aren't saying anything except that they're really sorry about invading people's privacy with their pics. Turns out these two are the ones that run the Valhalla tabloid pages. The note on them says that they crossed a line today, and their statement confirms it."

1 minute later
"The sister just asked me to keep the 'one eye'd cat girl' away from them. There's only one woman that I can think of fitting that description."

I’m aware of who they are. They’ve been i this sort of trouble before. See if you can get more details of their crime this time and send the report via email.

Based on the location of her phone it looks like she’s heading to the surface. Will bring her in when she gets back.

Rikki Tikki Travi

Freya picked something from beneath her nails and asked calmly, "So what's the word? Are we getting day drunk or what? After last night I could use some 'hair of the dog.'"

Normally Trinity didn’t like it when she was wrong. But this was one of the rare moments where she was relieved that she was wrong. “Looks like you’re in the clear. I owe you a drink.” She took her hand and the dropped into the shadows and they emerged from a dark corner of the bar. Freya’s wrists were no longer cuffed.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather grinned and stood up. "Okay, but don't hate me for this later."

Her massive wings kicked up dust from the soil as they caught the air and lifted her them off of the ground. With a single might flap they shot skyward. The wind whistled past as they came closer and closer to the clouds. Heather was surprised to see that her eyes did not become dry from the passing wind. She'd have to ask someone about that later,

They broke the clouds and hovered for a moment to take in the majesty of the painted sky. Once the moment was done, Heather cautioned, "Hang on tight! The first drop of the ride is about to hit!"

Once she felt Liv's grip tighten around one of her spikes, she folded her wings in and went into a free fall. If it weren't for her ears being in her head, Heather was pretty sure she would not be able to hear a damn thing. She stared straight down and watched as the ground raced up to them. She then took a deep breath, executed an aileron roll, and snapped her wings out. The air caught her wings and put her into a glide just before they hit the valley. The canyon walls whizzed past them while they raced over the water.

Heather thought she would need to get used to the size of her body and wing span, but everything was second nature to her. No doubt influence from the dragon.

As the initial burst of speed evened out, Heather gained a bit more altitude so they could take in the trees and wild life. Black tail deer scattered at the sight of her, bears merely looked up and watched, and at one point a bald eagle actually sailed along with them for a few miles. That's when she decided to switch gears.

After pivot and a few minutes of flying through the mountains, they found themselves flying over the Pacific ocean. She dropped down until she was close enough for her claws to touched the water. The spray of the waves and the sea breeze felt cool against her scales. When she saw a herd of sea lions, she went a little higher so as not to disturb them too much. She laughed as she heard them barking at her.

Then came the icing in the cake. Heather dropped again, and out from the ocean breached a humpback whale. It's pod was traveling close by and surfaced to blow and get more air. Heather slowed herself down so she could keep pace with them.

She called up to Liv, "I've wanted to do this since I was a little girl! I never ever thought it would be from this point of view, though!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okami's thoughts immediately betrayed her.

"Oh no, he's hot! Damnit! It's okay, get a grip. It's not mating season, and you can control yourself. Besides, it's not like he's super eager to do anything anyway. I just have to give him directions, kill the boar, and then instruct him on how to prep it for supper. No hanky-panky involved, I get ham later. Easy peasy. Now, I just have to shoot him directions with my thoughts. Wait,,,what if he heard what I've thought? What if he's still listening to what I'm thinking?! AUGH!!!"

She hopped out of the shadow and cleared her throat. "Ahem, there's a big group of them about one and a half kilometers to the southwest. Get around them and bring them back here. This place is dense enough with shadows that I'll be able to pick one out easily. Okay? See you when you get back."

She sank back into the shadow with the word "crap" repeating in her head over and over again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It sure is!" agreed Raina. "It even looks like there are more people here than usual!"

Deora stepped up and added, "You can't see it, because some of them aren't so obvious, but there're are a lot of metahumans here today. They've been coming out more and more since Daedalus fell."

Rydia climbed out of the shuttle and added, "As they should! This is a time of celebration! They have persevered through a time of great strife, and thus should enjoy themselves until they collapse from merriment!"

Alec chuckled anxiously and replied, "I don't know if I'd go that far, but there is a good energy here today. It's...nice. "

Deora turned and reached back into the shuttle. "C'mon you big baby! You've been buggin' me about this for a week! If you get out now, we'll go and get some cotton candy right away!"

A figure that looked like vaguely like a grinning Ravan snatched Deora and Rydia as the flew over the ticket booths and into the park.

"I'm sorry, but could you pay for us?!" called back Rydia as she blinked out of sight.

Alec sighed, smiled, and shook his head. "Guess it's a good thing my job pays well."

Once Alec had purchased six entry passes, and a pocketful of ride tickets, they stepped into the fairgrounds.

The first thing that could be noticed over all the noise was the fragrance of fair food. There were sugary treats and deep friend foods abound: corn dogs, cotton candy, funnel cakes, pizzas slices, giant lollypops. A line of food trucks had even set up at the far end of the fair. Surprisingly, there was a lack of carnival games. Instead, there were a lot more rides and attractions. The biggest attraction, of course, was the massive display of arranged flowers and intricate topiaries.

The reason for the lack of strength or skill based carnival games quickly became apparent. The industry could not keep up with the uptick in the population of metahumans. There was no way to tell who could do what. Alec had to admit that he had the idea to win some giant, cheap, stuffed toys by using his future vision on a few of the games. They were rigged to all hell, and he did not feel guilty about those thoughts at all.

Instead, they enjoyed the silly little rides and watched some of the live music shows. Alec tried funnel cake for the first time in his life and wished he could eat it all the time. He opted to wait until he was in the death realm, that way he would not get sick or gain weight. They hit up the small bazaar and looked around for fun items. That's when Alec found the one thing he absolutely refused to pass up.

"Oh, we have to do a caricature portrait!" Alec exclaimed with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm and joy. "Please please please!"

Raina laughed and looked over to the line. "I don't know Alec, it looks like it's going to be another hour of waiting in line. Are you sure you want to wait that long for a silly drawing, and also make us wait with you."

The wind left Alec's sails for a just a moment when he had a brainstorm. "That's okay! I can hold our place in line while you guys go see the flowers! You have your annual tradition, and then me and Kerana can get a couple's portrait!"

Raina smiled and sighed. Alec was usually so moody and anxious. She was glad to see that he was enjoying himself. She looked over to Kerana and asked, "What do you think, mi hija?"

Unbeknownst to any of them, there was someone in the flower garden who stood alone with a stuffed animal in one hand. He spun his wedding ring on his finger and reminisced on the previous years he had been there with his wife and daughter. Leander Carter, wiped his eyes with his thumb and forefinger as he fought back tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freya rubbed her wrists and walked up to the bar. "'Bout time. What're you having, Trin? It's on me."

Myth cleared his throat to get Freya's attention and pointed up to a sign with a Polaroid of her drunken self taped underneath it. "You're not buying anything for anybody until you've covered your tab." He stated flatly.

Freya tossed her hands up and scoffed, "C'mon! I've been practically dead for the last month. Can't 'cha give me a break just this once! I've even got my favorite person here with me! How bad could it be?"

Myth raised a brow and replied, Five hundred and eighty seven dollars.". He understood that if Freya was standing there then Fenris was gone. However, dead or not, she had racked up a sizable tab. "Trinity can cover you if she wants, but you're not adding anything to your tab."

Freya turned to her student and asked sweetly, "Could 'ya spot me this time. I swear I'll pay it back...soonish."  

[Nova Blancke]

"Woah" escaped Liv's lips as they took off. She had to almost close her eyes due to the wind until they were above the clouds. It looked beautiful. Completely different when looking out of an airplane's window that was for sure. It felt...peaceful. These weren't sights she was used to seeing.

"Oh! Okay!" She tightened her grip around on the spikes and then....she screamed. Holding on for dear life when Heather decided to do some kind of aerial roll! Who does that with someone on their backs?!

After they stabilized she managed to breath normally again. Even spread her arms, like that one scene on the Titanic.

The forest..the oceans all went by.

"Best kind of view no?!"

Liam had learned not to peek into people's thoughts to listen unlike Alexavier. He did not hear what Okami was panicking about.

"Very well." He responded and made his way over to where they the 'prey' was. First it was a walk..then he picked up the pace and eventually ran full sprint. Running like this through the forest was...freeing. Though he did enjoy this, he did not forget his goal. Getting closer and closer he decided to circle around to make sure there was enough distance between them and that he could herd them towards Okami. When he spotted them, he started to stalk them, inching closer and closer until he ran out.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"No kidding! People in helicopters don't know what they're missing! Only thing that could even come close to this would be hang-gliding!"

A young whale breached the surface and made a series of clicking, whining sounds before submerging again.

"Did you hear that, Liv?! That baby whale just said hi to us! I thought they'd be scared!"

Sure enough, more whales began to gather to see the sky beast and it's human rider. Even the oldest of them did not know what to make of the of the two. To their recollection, no stories passed on told of such a creature.

"~What you?~" Asked one particularly brash bull.

To her surprise, Heather found her self making animalistic sounds to communicate with the whales. The muttering of the others made her realize that their language was very simple in spite of it's audible complexity, so she replied in kind "~Am dragon. Am human. Not always dragon. Not always human.~"


"~Not know Dragon. Strange. Frightening. Not threatening. You carry human?~"

"~Human mate.~"

Having understood the sentiment, the whales clicked and whined in conversation. Heather craned her neck to look toward Liv. "You wanna say hi? You're beast master power should let you, right?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boars began to stand their ground until they saw what they were up against. They immediate turned tale and began to run in any direction that was not toward the massive predator. The largest of them stood out among the drove. It began to stray from the path that would lead it to Okami.  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Freya rubbed her wrists and walked up to the bar. "'Bout time. What're you having, Trin? It's on me."

Myth cleared his throat to get Freya's attention and pointed up to a sign with a Polaroid of her drunken self taped underneath it. "You're not buying anything for anybody until you've covered your tab." He stated flatly.

Freya tossed her hands up and scoffed, "C'mon! I've been practically dead for the last month. Can't 'cha give me a break just this once! I've even got my favorite person here with me! How bad could it be?"

Myth raised a brow and replied, Five hundred and eighty seven dollars.". He understood that if Freya was standing there then Fenris was gone. However, dead or not, she had racked up a sizable tab. "Trinity can cover you if she wants, but you're not adding anything to your tab."

Freya turned to her student and asked sweetly, "Could 'ya spot me this time. I swear I'll pay it back...soonish."

Trinity would not normally do this for anyone but right now Freya and Gidget are the closest she has to family right now. And up until last night she thought she lost Freya for good. Fenris was there but she wasn’t the same as Freya but there were only aspects that reminded her of Freya. She miraculously came back last night, she deserves a clean slate.

“Because it’s not everyday someone comes back from the dead, I feel as though you should start with a clean new slate. I’m covering her tab including the drinks she’s ordering this session.” Then handed Myth her card. She turned to Freya, “No, you don’t need to pay me back. I just hope you don’t squander this clean slate because I’m not doing this again.” She said with a smile, she knew there was no preventing the inevitable but it was worth a try.

“We’ll start with a ‘hair of the dog’ for her and a water for me.”  

[Kerana]

Rikki Tikki Travi

[…]
"Oh, we have to do a caricature portrait!" Alec exclaimed with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm and joy. "Please please please!"

Raina laughed and looked over to the line. "I don't know Alec, it looks like it's going to be another hour of waiting in line. Are you sure you want to wait that long for a silly drawing, and also make us wait with you."

The wind left Alec's sails for a just a moment when he had a brainstorm. "That's okay! I can hold our place in line while you guys go see the flowers! You have your annual tradition, and then me and Kerana can get a couple's portrait!"

Raina smiled and sighed. Alec was usually so moody and anxious. She was glad to see that he was enjoying himself. She looked over to Kerana and asked, "What do you think, mi hija?"

Unbeknownst to any of them, there was someone in the flower garden who stood alone with a stuffed animal in one hand. He spun his wedding ring on his finger and reminisced on the previous years he had been there with his wife and daughter. Leander Carter, wiped his eyes with his thumb and forefinger as he fought back tears.

Kerana couldn’t help but stifle a giggle. She couldn’t help it but she loved seeing him so excited about the simple things.”I think it will work mamá, Okay Alec. Text me when you’re next okay?”

With their matching hats to hide their ears and their tails worn as boas over their shoulders. “Look at the flowers mami aren’t they beautiful this year!” Something she’d say just about every year.
 

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya clapped her hands and pumped her right fist into the air, "Hell yeah, atta girl! A little lame that you're only having water, but I get that you're working."

They sat down at a 2 person table while Myth mixed the drink. Freya sighed as she sat and said, "So, tall pale and bishi got me up to speed about the thing on the moon and all that. He also informed me that my brother is half-dead. So, we're not going to talk about any of that. I've missed, like, the last two months of your life and I want to hear all about what's going on with you. So, spill the 'T.'"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raina felt a wave of calm wash over her. All other concerns and anxieties went away when Kerana said the same thing she does every year. Finally, a return to some semblance of normal. It did not matter that they were part fox. It was Mother's day out with her daughter. She was not even thinking about her husband at that point.

Until...

"Raina?"

Kerana's mother felt her breath catch in her throat. The serenity she had felt only a few seconds earlier was ruined. Hoping that it was not actually who she thought it was, she pretended not to hear-

"Raina, mi vida?" repeated the voice.

It was real. It was her husband, Leander's, voice. She turned her head to look at him.

Leander looked like he had not slept in months. Raina also noticed that he had lost some weight since she last saw him. He held one of Kerana's oldest plushies in his right hand. For a moment she actually felt sorry for him.

Leander's eyes lit up when he saw Kerana behind his wife. "Kerana!" he said with a smile.

She no longer felt sorry for him. How dare he smile after everything he had done. He was happy to see their daughter? Now? Only after she'd been abducted did he give a damn?

Raina walked at first. Then her steps turned into a quick march. Leander smiled and held his hands out and open to welcome the embrace from his wife. What he got instead was a hard right hook to the face.

There was a hard pop from where her knuckles met his cheek. He stumbled, tripped over his feet, and fell back hard on his rear. His face did not take long to turn read and start to swell. He rubbed where he was hit and looked up at his wife in shock.

Raina looked down at him, pointed, and spat, "Hijo de puta!!! Tu pinche culero!!! Bastardo!!! Yo podria matarte!!!"

The people around them turned to watch Raina lay into her husband. Most of them had no idea what she was saying, but everyone could tell by the tone that she was beyond pissed.