Love Beyond the Ashes

Visiting Family

Reine pov: I wanted to visit my mother since we were here. Ollie insisted on following me for some bizarre reason. I didn't know how my mom would feel about Ollie being Astel's little sister since he's the one that took me away from her. I honestly didn't want to find out, but Ollie didn't give me a choice.

I walked up to the house she was in, gently knocking on the door, "Come in!" My mother said Ollie was in shock that she finally got to hear the voice of Pochi-sensei.
"Hi Mama, how have you been?" I asked, hoping she was having a good day.
She told me she was having an excellent day as I reached into her fruit basket, grabbing an apple and a knife.

I began to peel the skin off the apple, asking Ollie if she wanted some slices when I was done, but she told me she was fine. "Who's that Reine?" My mother asked, pointing at Ollie.

"This is Ollie, uhm, I don't know how to say this..." I said, my mother motioned for me to continue now, worried about what I was going to say. "She's Astel's little sister!" I blurted out.

My mom was shocked that I would be talking to the sister of someone that made me go through hell, but she wasn't mad at all like I thought, although her opinion on Ollie would be stained by Astel for the rest of our lives.

"How's Anya?" My mom asked, pretending Ollie wasn't here.

"She's fine and she is actually here right now." I said my mom noticed my sadness and started to worry.

"What's wrong, Reine?" My mom asked I gazed at her.

"My sister Mumei may be dead." I said Ollie was about to say something, but I shut her up before she could say what she had in mind, but my mother seemed to understand the situation.

"Well, did you tell her you loved her?" My mom asked. I nodded. "Then you have nothing to worry about." she said calmly.

"Please tell me all about your family," she said calmly.

"There is Subaru-senpai." She's a quirky, really hard-working and reliable person," I said, "Then there is Lui-nee, who is also reliable. She is also really funny."

"Kiara and Mumei are the girls that gave me this home. I already told you about them." I said

"They all sound like good people," my mom said. I just smiled and nodded.

I told her I owe a lot of people: Kiara, Mumei, Oga, Risu, Moona, Iofi, and Anya. I told her she agreed since they also helped her get this home.

"Ollie, I want to learn about you," my mother said suddenly. Ollie was nervous due to being put on the spot.

"So I'm Kureiji." Like Reine said, I'm Astels' little sister. I'm dead and I will be your daughter's future wife! " She said I couldn't believe she would say that. Couldn't she read the room?

"Reine I give you permission to marry her." My mom said to my shock.

"I wasn't planning on it!" I yelled, looking over to Ollie, who was pouting

"I still have seven days to make you fall for me." She said it. I tried to hush her so she wouldn't spill the beans of our deal.

"You seem like a good person, Ollie," my mother said, laughing. "Reine trusts you a lot."

"Thank you, Pochi-sensei, for your kind words!" Ollie yelled as tears were forming in her eyes, "Aniki used to pick on me for looking up to you." Ollie cried, happy she was here now.

"Are you sure you're really related to Astel because you are so different from him?" Mama wondered

"Yes I am the biological sibling everyone thinks just like you!" Ollie said laughing

It is good that Ollie and my mom are getting along fine. I thought to myself as I began to chop the apple I had into slices before grabbing another apple and starting the process over again. It was a good idea to leave fruit pre-prepared for my mother later just in case she needed it.

"Reine, can you please marry her? I want another daughter," my mom pleaded. I looked at her and Ollie, not really understanding what was going on.

Somehow she was able to get my mother's approval so fast despite being the sibling of the person who put her in this horrid situation. Maybe she sees Ollie for who she is and not just her family name.

I started thinking about it more, realizing they have two different last names unless Kureiji was an alias, but why make an alias like that? It just seems like a fabricated name, but I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that they were biological siblings.

"So why do you and Astel have different last names?" I asked accidentally. I covered my mouth, realizing that I had just said my thoughts out loud and both of them heard me.

"Oh that well, we don't know why our last names are different. It's been like that since birth. We checked the records. We aren't adopted either." Ollie said, confusing me, she was serious about that.

I knew Ollie's original name was Kureiji Olivia, so she always had that last name, but that felt odd to me.

"Maybe Astel is hiding something from us." I said. My mother nodded, telling us he would withold info if it helped him in any way.

It would make sense since he randomly switched sides to help me escape, yet he hasn't been captured. He definitely was hiding something then, so who is to say he isn't hiding more?

If anyone knew Astel well, it would be Oga since they used to be coulleuges, but I didn't want to open old wounds of the past for him by asking him questions.

We decided to drop the name thing and talk about something else. I was just waiting for Moona to tell us we were leaving but someone else came to the door. It was Oga. He overheard our conversation and wanted to talk to us.