The first three years of their marriage is nothing but pure bliss and happiness for both Perrie and Jade. Sure, there may be times that they don't get along, where they argue over the littlest things, but it normally doesn't last long and they kiss and make up. Those things are just normal as a married couple.
Jade continued being Scarlet Venom even if she hasn't told Perrie the truth. While Perrie became more successful in discovering different medicines and cures for rare illnesses.
During the day, both of them just do their own separate things, but when night time comes, they are simply Jade and Perrie, who are in love with each other.
There are a few times when Jade tries to tell Perrie about her being Scarlet Venom, however, each time she builds up the courage to tell her wife, a new kind of danger would arise.
Leigh gets death threats all the time, Jade has no choice but to double her guard. This is just one of the many reasons why she doesn't want to risk Perrie's safety.
Being the youngest billionaire is enough for danger to lurk around Perrie, what more if the public knew she's the wife of Scarlet Venom.
The more people Scarlet Venom helps, the more enemies she makes.
Until one day...
Perrie's busy examining a specimen in her lab when someone comes in, bringing another specimen she's been waiting for. The person who brought it didn't say anything and just placed the sample near the microscope.
Perrie briefly glances at the specimen. "Thank–" She spun around and was surprised to see a person she least expected to see. "Dad?"
She sat straight on her wooden stool and left whatever she was doing while her dad walked around her lab, observing.
"It's impressive how you've built this place." He compliments.
Perrie's face turned serious. Since she started her lab, her dad never visited her there. She also never heard any kind of compliment from him even if she has garnered success and praise here and there from the medicines that her lab has produced.
"Can I help you? Do you need something?" She asks right off the bat.
Alexander turned around and saw the grave look on his daughter's face, an apparent dislike of him being in her lab. He walks towards Perrie and takes out a manila envelope.
"How well do you know your..." He clears his throat. "...wife?"
Even after three years, Alexander still has a hard time saying the word 'wife', especially when he's referring to Perrie's spouse.
Perrie raised a delicate brow. "Since when are you suddenly interested in her? Or care about us, for that matter?"
Alexander heaves a deep sigh. He knows his relationship with Perrie was never smooth; however, she is still his daughter and he cares for her – just in a very odd way.
He points at the envelope on the table. "Someone sent me those. I don't know from whom and why it was addressed to me and not to you."
Perrie looks at her dad, then at the envelope. Suddenly, she felt anxious and her heart picked up a beat as she reached for the envelope.
When she opened it, the contents were polaroid pictures and a smartphone. She looks at the photos one-by-one.
First, she picked up a colored photo, it was a candid shot in front of a collapsing building. She stares at it for a while, and she's able to recognize one of them. It was Jade.
Perrie blinks multiple times before checking on the other photos. Most of them were black and white and it looked like they were taken from the 1940s, 60s, 80s, and the most recent one was 4 years ago. Just a year before they got married.
Then, the next photos she saw were of Scarlet Venom – in her specialized suit and mask. She also checked the phone where it had amateur videos of Jade flying around and saving someone when she wasn't wearing any costume at all.
In the videos, it showcased Jade's powers that the public know as Scarlet Venom. And in the next video, she saw Scarlet Venom talking to Leigh-Anne which shocked her even more.
Perrie gasps. "Impossible." She says, barely enough to whisper, but her dad heard it since the lab was quiet.
"Is it though?" He counters. "Or you just don't know anything about her at all?"
Perrie was taken aback. She sat wordlessly as she stared at the photos scattered across the table. She wants to believe that the woman in those photos isn't Jade, but she knows even the silhouette of her wife. It never dawned into her that Jade and Scarlet Venom are the same.
Jade showed her what she can do – her abilities. That's why she trusts that if her wife had other abilities, she would tell Perrie.
"I know you still hate me..." Alexander began. "But I didn't give you these to ruin your relationship. I just want to make sure that you're not being lied to. I'm still your father and it's my job to protect you in the best way that I can."
Perrie didn't speak right away. It was kind of hard for her to swallow the harsh truth that after all these years, Jade chose to conceal her true identity from her. If Jade can keep that kind of secret, then who's to say what else could Jade possibly hide from her?
"I..." Perrie sighs. "I'd like to be alone, please..." Alexander looks at his daughter one more time and nods before exiting her lab.
Perrie wasn't able to finish whatever she was doing earlier. She looked at the photos several times and played the videos multiple times.
She tried to recall in the past the instances where Jade would disappear beside her when she woke up in the middle of the night. When she asks the brunette in the morning, she'll say she just went into the bathroom.
Perrie also remembered that she hadn't seen Jade and Scarlet Venom in the same place at the same time. Whenever there was live news about Scarlet Venom saving someone, Jade wasn't around. And when they went on their second honeymoon, there was news of Scarlet Venom missing for the past couple of days.
Perrie pieced together the series of incidents and she's now convinced that Scarlet Venom is indeed Jade. And what sucks the most is that Jade lied to her for years!
All of a sudden, Perrie felt pain in her chest – a different kind of pain. It's the first time she ever felt this kind of pain since she married Jade. Yes, they fought in the past and she got hurt sometimes, but this time, it's a pain unlike any other.
Perrie felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. She cried inside her lab. It was fortunate that she let her team go early for the day, otherwise, everyone would've seen the all-powerful and all-too-confident Perrie Edwards break down like there's no tomorrow.
When Perrie came back to her senses, she wiped her tears away and decided not to tell Jade what she just found out. She wants to observe. She wants to know until when Jade plans to hide everything from her.
☆
For weeks, she pretended that she didn't know anything.
There were times where Jade would tell her she'll just pay Leigh-Anne a visit, then a few minutes later, there's breaking news about Scarlet Venom saving the day.
Perrie shook her head and kept kicking herself in the ass for not noticing sooner. Or maybe...because she gave her all to the brunette – her love, her trust, her everything. There wasn't even any space for doubt because she loves Jade so much.
A few days more have passed, but Jade hasn't said anything to Perrie about Scarlet Venom.
Until Perrie's mom is diagnosed with a very rare disease. It's something that develops undetected until it gets worse.
According to the tests, Debbie's immune system is weakened by different bacteria infecting them. Though it is somewhat curable using antibiotics, however, after Debbie feels better, another type of bacteria enters her system.
It's just like a cycle. It doesn't end until Debbie's immune system is strengthened. The problem is, her immune system doesn't respond to whatever kind of medication they try out. Every time she has a bacterial infection, the doctors result in injecting doses of antibiotics to Debbie instead.
Because Debbie's autoimmune disease is so complex, they have no choice but to confine her in the hospital. It's too dangerous for her to go about her daily life like she used to. It's even dangerous for her to just get out of her room and walk down the hallway.
Every doctor, nurse, and visitors who would check on her, need to put on full-body personal protective equipment to minimize Debbie's exposure to foreign bacterias that causes serious threat to her wellbeing.
This, however, took a severe toll on Perrie. Add to the fact the marital dilemma that she's facing with Jade. She became restless. She refuses to go home. She stayed in her lab, researching for a cure. Jade, being the supportive wife that she is, stayed with her. Even if Perrie told her not to, she stayed with her to make the blonde feel that she was not alone. Yet Perrie became indifferent towards her wife.
Especially on the days when she's frustrated that she couldn't get good results from her research. All other pending work has been put on hold; she's prioritizing her search to treat her mom.
She's missed a lot of meetings and deadlines. Most of the targets weren't even met. The company that she tirelessly and relentlessly built was now starting to crumble to the ground. Most of the investors were already pulling out, and some board members were because they felt there was no hope for Edwards Pharma ever to regain what was once built. But Perrie didn't seem to care.
Jade tried to be as understanding and patient as possible, but sometimes, it's too much for her, too. She wants to help Perrie so bad, but Perrie won't let her. Sometimes, Jade wondered why Perrie suddenly changed. All she ever wanted is to be there for her wife – her other half – but Perrie just kept on pushing her away.
Because of Perrie's never-ending research, she soon discovers that there are certain plants that can be found in the Black Forest, Germany that could potentially cure her mom. She'd been there before, so she's pretty much familiar with the place.
She wasted no time, she called her team and boarded her jet with them to Germany. She only left a note for Jade telling her where she went and why she was going there – that's it.
☆
Once they reached Zurich Airport, Perrie and her team hopped right into a Glacier White Rivian R1S – an all-electric SUV, perfect for scouting through the forest.
They searched the entirety of the Black Forest to get as many samples as possible. When they were heading back to their assembly place, Perrie passed by a peculiar-looking tree that stood proud and wide amongst the shrubs and other trees. Standing at a whopping 72-feet tall and 155 feet circumference – the most impressive tree in the forest.
She remembers the tree. She remembers it from her first trip years ago. Perrie looks up at it for a second. Although the tree is naturally hollow inside, for some reason, she's somewhat drawn to it.
"Majestic, isn't it?"
Perrie was startled when someone spoke behind her. When she spun around, an old woman with salt and pepper curly hair stood with a cane in one hand that has seen better days. Perrie wondered where this woman came from when there's no houses or any form of civilization near the parameters of the forest.
"There's a myth about this tree," she momentarily glances at the tree. "They say it has a door somewhere in it's trunk."
Perrie was weirded out by the old woman, but oddly enough, she's interested in whatever she was saying. "A door to where exactly?"
"A door to hell." The woman answered. Her cloudy gray eyes were boring into Perrie's blue orbs. "But it only opens to those who are invited."
"Invited by whom?"
"The King of Hell, of course, Lucifer."
Perrie chuckles. This is nonsense, she thought. "Lucifer? Why would he invite someone from here?"
The old woman took a deep break before continuing. "Have you heard about The Watchers?"
"No."
"They were fallen angels who fell in love with mortals. Lucifer was one of them," the woman began. "He fell in love with a mortal woman., invited her in and made love to her. The woman gave birth to twins, both girls. One, who's like her father, a pure, celestial being. And one who's half human and half divine. Both belong to the most powerful beings in any universe."
The old woman continued, her rich golden-brown skin, much like the mellow-brown light that bathed the forest. Perrie remained fascinated by her story.
"The woman enters hell through the door from this tree," she holds the trunk momentarily. "Whether she returned to this world alive, nobody knows. But while she gave birth to the twins, the universe has its own way of balancing the nature of every kind. Life will never be easy for them despite the powers they possess."
Perrie sensed the old woman seemed to have no plans of ending the conversation. Looking at her watch, it's almost time for her to rendezvous with her team.
"I'm sorry...I don't want to be rude. I really love listening to your story, but I have to go–"
"One of the twins is your wife, isn't she?" The old woman hummed.
"What?"
"Jade. That's her name. Half human, half divine – a protector. The Gem Supreme and the Jewel of Heaven, that's her. And she happens to be your wife."
"W–Wait...are you telling me that she's Lucifer's daughter?"
The woman ignored Perrie's question. "Three years ago, you were in this exact same spot. You found something...A stone."
Perrie thinks for a minute. She actually forgot about the gemstone that she found. However, she forgot where she picked it from.
Ever since she secured the stone in the vault, she hadn't removed it since unlike her original plan to study more about it. Now it's just stored along with other stone and gems that Perrie finds in every place she's been to.
"Yeah, I think...But, how do you know about the stone?"
"That crimson jade stone–take care of it," says the woman. "It's a fusion of all things good and all things evil. Fatal to demons, including your wife."
"Demons? Is my wife a demon?"
The old woman chuckles. The wrinkles and folds of her skin were now so pronounced, it was hard to tell what she must have looked like as a young woman. "That depends on how you choose to see her, young one."
"So, you're saying that the stone is...is some kind of weapon?"
"That's just one of the many things that the stone can do. And if you're worthy enough, you'll know how to use it."
"I don't understand–"
"There you are!" Perrie was cut off when a little girl spoke. "I've been looking for you, Oma!" Perrie glanced at the girl in a light pink, flowy dress that almost reached the forest floor. Her deep bronze skin and big gray-ish blue eyes looked as surprised as Perrie was. "Was she bothering you? I'm really sorry. She has dementia. Whatever she tells you, just...forget about it. I'm really sorry, Miss..."
The little girl stands next to the old woman and lets her free hand rest on her granddaughter's shoulder. "Komm schon, Oma. Papa's waiting for us. We're going home."
The old woman nods, then looks at Perrie and smiles. "Whatever you're looking for–if you're worthy, you can find it within you. Remember that...Perrie."
Finally, the little girl steadied her grandmother's footing by resting her hand behind her hips and walked slowly, farther away from Perrie.
I...I never told her my name, Perrie thought.
☆
Another couple of weeks went by and Perrie and her team created hundreds of experiments from the plants and herbs that they collected from their trips, still, none of them worked.
In the middle of her frustration, confusion, sadness, pain, and anxiety because of her mom's worsening condition and her strained relationship with Jade.
Perrie was, however, able to create a dagger that she attached the crimson jade unto.
The longer Jade doesn't tell her the truth, the harder it is for Perrie to suppress all her anger and pain that ultimately intensifies as the days go by. And the more she bites back at those feelings, the more it grows, dangerously destroying her from the inside.
And it was already too late when Jade told her the truth, the very thing that Perrie's been waiting so long for Jade to open up to her. Perrie was now consumed by anger.
They were in her lab when Jade told Perrie the truth about Scarlet Venom. The sincerity and the guilt of not telling Perrie sooner were evident in Jade's eyes. Perrie could see it, but her anger is clouding her judgment.
On the other hand, Jade was trying her hardest not to cry. But the tears just fell involuntarily, especially when Perrie knew all along.
"H–How long have y–you known?" Jade asks through a tear-stained face.
"A while."
"H–How did you know?"
"My father."
"B–But that's i–impossible, he doesn't–"
"Anything is possible when you're an Edwards." Perrie's face looked cold and heartless. Void of any remorse. "Somebody sent these to my father." She throws the manila envelope on the table which reveals candid shots of Jade. She stares at them for a while. "Whoever sent these must be a guardian angel."
Jade looks up at the blonde. "Perrie, you h–have to believe me that I've been planning to t–tell you everything about me sooner–" Jade was about to take a step forward when Perrie took two steps back.
"Everything?" Perrie raises a perfect eyebrow. "Even the part where you're the Devil's daughter? Princess of Hell?" Jade was taken aback. She hasn't thought about that yet. She only planned on telling Perrie about Scarlet Venom. Perrie studies Jade's reaction to what she just said and scoffs. "That's what I thought–you were still holding back. You doubted if I could handle the truth."
Perrie pauses for a second and averts her gaze before returning her attention back to Jade.
"I gave you everything, Jade. All of me – I gave it all to you! My world, my trust, my love. You reassured me that you'd never lie to me! That you'd never hurt me. And I believed you! I have believed in you since the day I fell in love with you. But you betrayed me! You made me look like a fool!"
"No...No...Perrie, that's not true–"
"I turned my back against my own father just for you! I defended you from everyone who doubted you! Who doubted us! Who doubted our relationship because they couldn't believe that what we have is real. But look what have you done!!?" Perrie's voice got louder, firmer, yet a pitch higher than usual. This time, she let the tears free-fall from her eyes. While Jade lowered her head as she continued to cry.
"W–When you found out...w–why didn't you tell me right a–away so I can explain? I–If you hate me so much then why did you pretend that we're fine all this time when you already knew?"
"Because I wanted you to experience what you did to me. I want you to feel what I felt."
Jade heaves a deep breath as she continues to cry. Perrie, on the other hand, turned around as she sobbed to almost no end.
"I–I understand your pain, Perrie...your fury. But please..." Jade cautiously approaches Perrie from behind. "Listen to me..."
When Jade gently rests her hand on Perrie's shoulder, the blonde suddenly spun around and held the dagger against Jade's neck.
Jade was shocked and gasped a little when she saw the glowing red stone linked to the dagger. Perrie stares at her, cold, ruthless, monstrous almost. Although crying, Jade stares back, hers wasn't as intense as the blonde's. If anything, Jade's stare was soft, delicate, and tender, even after she felt the blade sting slightly from her bare neck.
"I'm sorry," Jade whispers, hoping that Perrie could find the sincerity in each letter that she said.
Perrie was startled at what she did. She was overwhelmed by the strong emotions that she didn't see the brunette clearly in front of her. Perrie lets go of the dagger and turns her back from Jade once more, and continues to sob.
"I never meant to hurt you like this..." Jade says.
Perrie heard a sob coming from Jade, then it suddenly went quiet. When she turned around, Jade wasn't there anymore.
When two people start a relationship together, it's always fun and care-free. The first couple of months will always be easy. Eventually, jealousy will kick in. The clinginess and possessiveness will show itself. In due time, the arguments will come out of nowhere that'll sucker-punch you in the gut. And the trust issues will surprise you. The once delightful and dreamy life together will turn into a hell-hole, stuff is going to get real.
That's when you get to see whether or not they're willing to stick around and make it work. Most people will leave, scared to be part of the chaos – they easily move on. Some will stick around despite the stress and the bullshit. Of course, you'll then know who's going to be with you for the long haul.
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♫ All We Know - The Chainsmokers feat. Phoebe Ryan