Chapter 8: Warm-Hearted

The sounds of chains whipping and crackling filled the ears of hundreds,

Shouts, grunts, and cries whispered were all covered her heartbeat vocalized itself, as it covered up most of it. The sounds of swords clashing kept her eyes focused, and the feeling of adrenaline flowing through her veins. Her opponent was a devil just as she was, yet his horns were much larger, with the skin being more like ash than actual skin.

The heat whipped and slashed about as the two fought, with elegance, and person. This was a punishment she couldn't escape from.

She signed as a warrior, thus she must repent as a warrior. This would be her twenty-seventh match, and she had ninety-three more to go.

The enemy lifted their sword with frustration in their eyes, as she quickly jumped in, stabbing him in the heart.

Blood spurred out from his chest, getting on her face in the process.

Charlotte loved fighting. It filled her heart with excitement to be on the brink of an intense battle, but when it came to killing them. . . It left a throbbing feeling in her heart that she ignored most of her life.

"Charlotte, go back to your ring! We will call you momentarily to fight once more. Sin won't repent itself." One of the guards said. (The guard wore mostly a brimstone-like armor.)

As she walked back to her cell a saying flashed in her head.

"You're not a bad mother, just lack communication to form a strong bond."

Her husband, Sam Thompson said so before dying a week later.

Charlotte laughed a little as her face soon looked with a more desperate look, and she muttered something under her breath.

"How wrong you were honey."

A loud thud woke her up almost immediately, as she jumped up in a shocked state. She quickly realized that there was nothing there, and calmed down momentarily. Charlotte looked over at the bed and noticed that she had fallen asleep in that girl's bed, yet she wasn't there. Still dazed out, she walked out of the room only to be attacked by the alluring scent of bacon roaming in the air.

It was like waking up back when she was younger, and everything wasn't horrible. She walked into the kitchen only to see a row of food lined up waiting to be devoured, and Siren was finishing up some bacon straight out of the oven.

"Took you long enough to wake up." Siren said in a melancholy voice.

His tone felt like he was at peace, but his face said otherwise.

It was like he hadn't slept at all, due to the clear dark lines under his eyes.

Charlotte paused for a moment and sighed.

She pulled out a chair from the table and grabbed Siren's arm, with a little force needed. He slowly fell into the chair as he stared at his mother with this miserable look on his face.

"I... I'm sorry Mom, it's just been hard doing this for so long. I thought I could stay mad forever but it only made me worse than I already was. Can we at least try to get along at least? I want to be able to grow past the rough patches of differences we had." He said in a hesitant voice.

A reliving smile appeared on Charlotte's face as she suddenly hugged Siren tightly.

"Yes. I would love that very much." She said.

Siren was surprised a little. His mother never hugged him for real when he was a kid, so this was new but wasn't as bad as he thought it was.

It was restful to feel this again in a somewhat healthy setting.

Suddenly a knocking noise could be heard from the hallway as they both looked over there, and the girl from earlier stood there confused.

"Dad, my breakfast? I gotta get to school early. She said trying to ignore whatever was going on.

Dad? That was unexpected to hear. Charlotte looked towards Siren was had jumped up and tossed the girl a bag.

"Oh, this is a bit awkward to hear, but Vail, this would be your Grandmother Charlotte!" He said in a slightly happy yet unprepared tone.

Vail looked at Charlotte with interest, yet didn't say anything.

She walked up to her and stuck her hand out, clearly signaling for Charlotte to also stick her hand out.

She complied, and Vail put something in her palm before hugging her and whispering in her ear.

"Thank you for the hug last night. I needed it." She said in a consoled voice, as she ran out the door in a hurry.

The sound of scraping filled the room as Siren put three plates down, and began putting the food on the table.

"I know what you must be thinking, no she isn't my biological kid. I adopted her, and her sister a couple of years ago, and it's been pretty interesting since. Dad made it look so easy" Siren said while chuckling a little bit.

Charlotte looked at him with confusion.

"What do you mean 'and her sister'?" She said.

Siren lit up with excitement as he ran into the hallway.

After a couple of minutes, he reappeared with a small kid sleeping on his shoulders.

The child was wearing pink pajamas and had a little brown bear tightly gripped in her palms.

"This one is Rose. She's three but tends to stray differently from most kids her age. Mostly because of her ignorance of negativity." Siren said.

Charlotte stared at the child and suddenly gained an uncomfortable feeling.

It was like she was scared to hold her, yet there was a consoling feeling radiating from her.

Siren put the Rose in Charlotte's arms as he went across the table.

"Listen. I may be able to start over, but I can't forget the past. Thus you gotta make it up to me, and you can start by helping me eat this breakfast." He said with a welcoming chuckle.

Charlotte smiled, as she felt like this was a chance to make things right.

This time, she won't let her past catch up to her.