Love Beyond the Ashes

Breaking The Ice

Calli pov:I felt like we've been trying to get Flare to talk to us for hours. I know Ame and the others said she only responds to Noel, but this is ridiculous. She won't even let us get close, and when she finally does respond, it's because Noel told her to.

Gura and Ina seemed the closest to getting responses from her, but other than residents of the mystical forest, she wouldn't talk to us. It was starting to become infuriating.

"Flare darling, please talk to them for a bit." Noel whined. Flare groaned, saying hi to us before shutting her mouth.

"That was one second," Noel sighed, but Flare pointed out that she had said she would talk for a bit, and that was a bit.

"Noel, you spoiled her too much," Kiara said. Noel nodded in dismay.

"But she's just so cute; how can I spoil her?" Noel cheered, her mood immediately changing.

"Her cuteness isn't the problem." I said, making sure she was looking at me, "the issue is that you condone this behavior." I scolded

"But when Flare looks at me with her beautiful eyes, I can't say no to her," Noel said, adding that everyone wants to spoil the one they love.

Reine laughed and winked at me, sending shivers down my spine. I glared at Kiara, gulping at the thought that I had to confess to her what I loved about her.

"What's wrong, Calli?" Kiara asked.

"N-nothing!" I stuttered. Kiara noticed my eyes were moving like crazy.

"Calli, it doesn't seem like anything is wrong..." Kiara sighed, suspicious of me. She glared at me. I was sweating heavily and her eyes didn't move away from me.

"Well anyways, we need to find a way to get Flare to talk," I said nervously. Kiara agreed, forgetting about our previous altercation.

"Flare, Reine, and I are Mumei's sisters, so you can trust us." Kiara said Flare looked up and complemented if she should talk or not. Noel motioned for her to speak.

"Are you really her sisters?" Flare asked. We nodded, telling her we went way back.

"Okay, I'll trust you..." Flare said Noel's eyes lit up since it had been awhile since Flare trusted anyone.

"You two are the first ones to make any progress." Gura sighed.

I looked around. Ina and Sana were flirting. Ame's brain was fried, Ollie and Anya were no help, and I sucked at conversation.

An idea came into my head. I got Flare's attention, "I'm Kiara's fiancé!" I blurted out.

"I'm Reine's future girlfriend and Calli's mother," Ollie said.

I completely forgot about that detail. We still had Mama and Papa Mori, so I began to question why Bae wanted to be adopted by someone. Was she not content with our family?

"Ollie, you are something..." I scowled. Kiara tried to calm me down. I couldn't believe I was related to the laughing stock of the underworld.

I suddenly realised I still had to talk to Mama and Papa Mori and my other sister about my engagement. They didn't know I was into women, let alone a girl that can't even die.

That went against our principals as a family aspiring to be reapers. Kiara was an anomaly that the underworld would despise.

I'm immortal too, but pheonix are a different breed of being that the underworld residents don't want to deal with.

It's not that they don't know Kiara, they've met her and they like her, but her appearing before them as a couple is just a bit nerve-racking. I don't know what to say

"I want Noel to be my wife," Flare said, starting a conversation. We all shot up in excitement.

"Have you met her family yet?" Ame asked. Flare nodded, telling us they were nice to
her despite her being an elf.

"I'm relieved. Sometimes you just have to pull the bandage off and do the thing you don't want to do," Kiara said.

She made me want to confess why I love her right there, but this wasn't the right time since Flare was finally conversing with us.

Kiara clasped her hands together, looking at Reine. "Let Flare look at your back, Reine," she pleaded. Reine was aprihensive before she realised what Kiara was doing.

Kiara pushed me and Ame to the side. She was about to move Ollie, but Reine told her she already had seen it.

Reine slowly lifted up her shirt. Flare's expression quickly changed.

"How do you remain happy?" Flare asked

"I think about the things in life that I have gained instead of all that I have lost, and I think about the people I love so much," Reine said.

I really wanted to know what prompted this conversation, but I remembered what Kiara had told me. Reine and Mumei haven't overcome their trauma and let their pasts dictate to them today.

"Gura, Ina, how do you cope with life?" Flare asked

"I think about Mumei and Sana and what they mean to me. Ina said, "Mumei is my savior, but Sana is a dear friend whom I love so much."

"Same here, but for me it's what Mumei and Watson mean to me. Mumei is a hero to me and Watson is just a smelly loser." Gura slyly said, getting whacked by Ame for what she said

Anya had no idea what to say, and she had little to no say in any of the situations.

"Kiara, you shouldn't have Reine show her back off to everyone just in case." Anya said Kiara's eyes went wide.

"You're right." I'm sorry! " Kiara blurted out, bowing down. Reine looked at her sister.

"Kiara, when the hell have you gotten so formal?" Reine asked, laughing at her sister, who decided to apologize.

"Anya, I appreciate your concern," Reine said, giving her a thumbs up.

I was astonished. I didn't expect us to make this much progress. Now all I needed to do was confess why I love Kiara, not knowing how hard that could be.