"That didn't take near as long as I thought it would," Sheja said as they started up the path. "I figured a lot more people would have stopped us."
Twyn laughed. "We would have been home an hour ago if we hadn't forgotten to stop by Mr. Rupert's."
"God, Leena would have killed me," she said with a laugh. "Hey Kurt, I forgot to say it but thanks for you two tagging along with us today." She turned around to face him as she walked but stopped in her tracks, realizing neither of the Guardians were behind them. "Kurt? Sophie?"
"Think they forgot something at one of the shops?"
"No, they wouldn't have both left us."
"Well, let's get this load up to the house," Twyn said, starting up the hill again.
"Hey!" someone yelled. "Hey! Wait a minute!"
"Twyn, I don't have a good feeling," Sheja said softly as four men were jogging in their direction.
Twyn looked down at Sheja's feet and saw she was wearing sneakers. Good, she can fight in those if necessary, he thought to himself. "Can we help you?" Twyn asked as the men slowed. They were each smiling a friendly smile and Twyn also didn't like it.
"Yeah," the clear leader of the pack stated. "We saw this beautiful lady and we just wondered if she'd like to come down to the brewery with us and have a drink. We're buyin'. You're welcome too, mister!"
"That's a gracious offer and sounds like fun, but we really do need to get home," Sheja said with a smile and she turned away.
"Hey, come on now!" he said, closing the distance between them in a matter of steps and lightly grabbing her arm. "We promise to show you both a great time. Like I said, drinks on me."
"I believe she already gave you an answer," Twyn said, setting down the bags he was carrying and removing the man's hand from Sheja's arm. "The offer was appreciated, but we have some place to be."
"Fine, we'll let you guys be," he said, lacing his fingers behind his head, "if you let me kiss her."
Sheja let out a laugh.
"That's no way to treat a lady and even if it was, I sure as shit ain't gonna let you kiss what's mine," Twyn growled protectively.
Sheja quirked a brow before grinning at his response.
"Okay," the man said in what sounded like a defeated tone, letting his arms drop to his sides. His tone quickly changed back to boldness. "Here's the thing though...she's coming with us. We don't care what you think."
"Toldja I didn't have a very good feeling about them," she said as she leaned toward Twyn. "Come on guys, I just got this outfit and I don't want blood all over it. I'm tired of having to fight some idiot every time I turn around lately."
"Well, if you don't fight us and come quietly, you don't have to shed any of your blood on it," he smirked.
"She wasn't talking about her blood," Twyn replied.
As the lead male started toward Sheja, the other three split away from him and had their focus on Twyn.
"Hey, now wait a minute...three on one isn't fair," Twyn complained. "Well, unless y'all went against her then yeah, you'd need all four."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Twyn," she groaned, staring at the man in front of her.
"Come on, just one drink with us. I promise we'll all be proper gentlemen."
"You're not being very proper right now," Sheja argued, putting her fists up in front of herself as she lowered back into a defensive position.
"Fine, you want to fight?" He tilted his head in their direction and the three men sprung at Twyn.
"Twyn!" she yelled before the man in front of her sprung at her himself. Being on upper ground, she easily landed a kick to the man's chest and he fell backwards. She ran over and grabbed one of the men who had a hold on Twyn and was able to pry him away.
"Run, Sheja!" Twyn yelled as he struggled against a set of hands. He grunted and swung his fist into the man's jaw just as he noticed the man Sheja pried away had already returned and grabbed her.
"I'm tired of this!" she yelled and stomped hard on the man's foot. She swung herself around and threw a hard right hook square into the side of the man's head. As the man rolled down the snow covered hill, she tried to shake the pain out of her fist as she turned back to help Twyn again. Hands clamped down on her arms and before she could turn, she herself was being thrown down the hill. Sheja groaned as her rolling came to a stop on flat ground and she pushed herself to her feet just in time to block an incoming kick with her arms.
"Just give up. You're going to lose eventually," the first man growled at her. He grabbed her by the hair and stood her up straight.
She let out a grunt and grabbed at his hands, alleviating the pain from her hair being pulled. "I'll never lose. Not even death has stopped me," she spat at him.
He laughed loudly as he took her by the throat with his other hand and easily slammed her backward into the large tree behind her. He didn't seem to budge as Sheja delivered a strong kick to his hip. "I give you points for trying, but you're just a featherweight." He leaned in close to her, his voice like venom, "Having that drink with me would have been much easier than this."
She could hear him chewing on something and could suddenly smell a strong waft of mint. Breath mint? Seriously? she thought. Her eyes flung open wide as the man pressed his lips to hers roughly and she yelled as hard as she could even though his mouth muffled it. Her body cringed and fought against him harder as his tongue forced its way into her mouth and licked the inside of her teeth, a sudden acrid taste being swept across her tongue. Like with Twyn at the lake house, she placed her free hand flat on his chest and sent a shock into him that sent him backwards. He laid convulsing on the ground as she spat in disgust wildly to try get the taste out of her mouth, hearing Twyn yelling her name over his own struggle.
Twyn let out a pained yell as one of the men bit down hard onto his arm just as he had kicked the other away. The third laid several feet away down the hill, unconscious against a tree.
Sheja clamored back up the hill as quick as she could, grabbing one of the men and again, flinging them down the hill as hard as she could. "Sorry if this hurts, Twyn!" she yelled as she placed her hands on the last man's back and gave him a shock too. Twyn hissed but the man screamed in pain and writhed away from Twyn.
"Ow," Twyn groaned as he examined the bleeding bite mark. "Gonna have to get a rabies shot or something," he tried to joke. He looked down the path as three of the men started to get to their feet and turn back up at them again. The lead male laid motionless at the bottom of the hill. "What did you do to that one?" he asked.
"I shocked the shit out of him. That bastard kissed me and not even a breath mint helped his nasty breath!" she growled, her body shaking with anger.
Twyn growled.
"You better check on your main man. I might have killed him," she hollered at them nonchalantly. "Don't think I won't be willing to add your bodies to his," Sheja added with a growl. "I've got two words for you: Diplomatic Immunity."
The three froze and looked back to their friend but then were quick to continue up the path toward them again.
Sheja whined, "Whyyy..."
"Are you feeling okay to keep fighting?"
"It doesn't look like we have a choice," she answered as the men drew near again. She froze as all three started screaming in pain and dropped to the ground. Just past the first male stood Kurt, one hand over his shoulder and the other out in front of himself, causing the three men torture. Sheja sighed.
"Oh thank god," Twyn said, dropping his hands again.
"I'm sorry we got separated from you Madam Sheja, Mr. Sherson," Kurt said as the two walked up to him once all four men were unconscious.
"You're bleeding," Sheja realized, moving Kurt's hand and seeing a gaping hole in his shoulder. "Twyn, help me," she said as she put her hand over his shoulder and it began to instantly glow with a golden color. Twyn was quick to join her.
"The big one has an ability to pick up objects and hurl them at high speeds," Kurt said. "He shot me and I blacked out. Sophie's in bad shape, too. I had to send Rosalie a bird. I'm sorry it took so long."
"Cerno will help Sophie. I'm happy you're okay," she said with a smile. As she let Twyn finish healing Kurt's shoulder, she looked down at her hands and felt her heart start to race seeing the red on her flesh. She closed her eyes and flexed her hands a few times, opening them wide and clenching them into fists again.
"Sheja, breathe," Twyn coaxed at her, seeing her reaction.
"Madam Sheja?"
"She's had trouble with blood lately," Twyn explained quietly to Kurt.
"My hands feel tingly," she said, shaking her hands to try shake away the sensation.
"Come on. Let's all three get back up to the manor," Twyn suggested. "We'll get cleaned up there before we head back to your place with the goods."
Sheja was quick to turn and start walking.
"You go, I will keep these four detained until backup arrives," Kurt instructed. "Thank you both for helping me."
"Thank you for saving our bacon when you did," Twyn chuckled before grabbing the bags and catching up to Sheja. He caught up just as they came up to the manor and he could hear Sheja breathing heavy. "Hey. Hey, calm down. Just breathe. It's just blood."
"I need it off my hands, Twyn," she said. Her voice was shaky and tears ran down her cheeks. "Like, yesterday."
"Sheja, you're okay," he reassured. He opened the front door and set the bags down just inside. Sheja pushed past him and rushed to the bathroom. As he walked in behind her, she was already scrubbing hard at her hands. He wrapped his arms around her and took her hands in his, helping to gently wash the blood away. "Hey, none of that," he said as he pulled her tightly against himself once her hands were clean. "What's gotten into you? This kind of frenzy isn't one of your traits."
"My hands still tingle, there must still be b—"
"Your hands are completely clean, Sheja," he said softly, turning her to face him and holding her hands out. "See? They even smell like the peach soap," he said with a smile as he smelled her hands. He frowned seeing a panic in her eyes still. "What's happening in your mind, Babe?"
She clenched her hands repeatedly before shaking them again.
"Sheja, answer me," he gently demanded as he took her hands again.
Sheja froze, looking at his hands holding hers with a look of confusion on her face. "I can't feel your touch."
"Honey, blood on your flesh can't make you lose your sense of feeling," he assured.
"Go get my brother," she said quietly, pushing past Twyn and walking out toward the living room. She sat down on the couch and still clenched her hands open and closed, over and over.
"Sheja, he's interroga—"
"Please go get him, Twyn," she said quietly, her voice almost too calm.
Twyn observed her for another moment before he quietly turned and stepped outside. He quickly created a small note card and a pen and had his green ball of energy flying away in under a minute. He stepped back inside to see no change in his best friend. "I sent a bird, it'll be the quickest."
"He's underground, he won't get it," she replied. Once again, her voice almost seemed too calm.
"It will," Twyn assured. "Are you going to tell me what's going on? You're worrying me."
"Let's go back up to my house while we wait. I want to be with Leena."
Twyn was confused and worried. He knew something was physically wrong if she was still having trouble with her hands. "We can head up there, but let me see if I can fix—Sheja, wait..."
Sheja was already on her feet and heading for the door. She pulled herself from his grip as he grabbed her by the arm. She groaned as he grabbed her again, this time more tightly.
"Jesus, Sheja," he said looking down at her. "Calm down!"
"I am calm."
"No, you're spastic."
"Twyn, I just want to talk with my brother."
Twyn took her hands between his and closed his eyes. His hands began to glow softly and the glow slowly spread up her arms to her shoulders.
Sheja sighed. "Don't waste your source on me. I'll be fine."
After a moment, the glow faded. He looked down at her hands and ran his fingertip across one of her palms. "Can you feel this?"
"Yeah," she said softly. She felt bad lying to Twyn. "Thank you."
Twyn smiled happily.
"Can we still go back up to my place, please?"
"Sure."
As they walked, he took her hand and laced his fingers in hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. He chuckled when she smiled up at him. "How are you feeling, by the way? About...about the other thing?" he asked, a shyness in his voice as he watched the ground while they walked slowly.
Sheja forced herself to chuckle softly. "Still wrapping my head around it, but I'm actually okay. The waiting to know part is driving me crazy."
"You're going to be an amazing dad, but you'd also make one bad ass mom," he complimented.
"I hope so."
"Oh, I also want to run something by you. I know there is still some time, but I'm wanting to take Ily to the cabin we stayed at for our honeymoon on our upcoming anniversary. Would you and Leena be willing to watch Arwen while we are away?"
"If everything is going smooth by that point, we would be delighted to," Sheja answered with a pleasant smile up at him.
"Yaya," Cerno's voice called out from a nearby walking path just as Twyn and Sheja were walking up to her front door. Rosalie and Madeleine were quite a ways behind him.
"You got here fast," Twyn admitted with a little bit of surprise.
"We weren't too far away," he replied as he approached them. He was in great health but climbing the uphill path at the pace he took still caused him the need to catch his breath. "Twyn said something was up with you and you wanted to see me," Cerno stated as he turned to his sister and wrapped his hands along the sides of her jaw, examining her eyes. As he dropped his hands to her arms, he took a deep breath which seemed to help steady his panting. "What's wrong? I already know about the fight. Are you hurt?"
Twyn chuckled, "Is that why you ran up the hill?"
"Eh..." Cerno began, "...yeah."
"Typical Cer," Sheja teased. "I feel like I could get stung by a bee and you would come running."
"And I would," he said with no shame. "Heaven forbid you have an anaphylactic reaction."
"Worry wart," Sheja jokingly muttered under her breath.
"Can you blame me?" Cerno asked as he softly nudged her.
"Can we go in now? It's still cold enough out here to freeze a monkey's balls," Twyn complained.
"Calm down, monkey," Rose teased as her and Maddie caught up.
"Ha ha."
As they entered the home and were greeted by Leena and Ilyana, Sheja took a moment to pause and lean over the back of the couch to kiss the top of Leena's head. "I'm sorry to make you move about more than you need to, but will you come upstairs with Cerno and I?"
Cerno's interest was piqued hearing his name in her request.
"Sure," she said with a smile, climbing to her feet after reaching out toward her brother asking for his help.
"Cer, will you assist her up the stairs while I run ahead, please? This sweater is wet and I want to change real quick."
"No worries," he replied, walking over and taking Leena's hand.
"Here, let me help," Twyn offered, keeping hold of Leena's other hand still.
"No," Sheja said softly. "Please stay down here with the ladies for a few minutes."
Twyn looked taken aback being asked to stay behind. He watched as Sheja climbed the stairs and vanished out of view as Cerno and Leena slowly followed.
Sheja carefully turned a clean, dry sweater in her hands as the two came into the room shortly behind her.
"Sorry," Cerno said, averting his eyes. He paused and looked back up at her as something had caught his eye. "Are those scars on your back?" he asked as he noticed soft, water ripple-like marks down her back. He realized he wouldn't have ever noticed them if the sun hadn't shone across them in the angle it had.
"You see more of my skin in a bathing suit but a sports bra is going to bother you?" she chuckled. "And yeah, from the fire..."
Leena looked put off, never having noticed the scars herself. She walked up and even up close, they were hard to see when the light didn't shine directly on them. "From when something fell on you, whatever burned off your braid?"
"Yeah," she said softly as she slid into the sweater. "Come, sit. I need to talk to you both." Her voice was still soft as she walked over and closed the door, Cerno helping Leena to sit on the bed.