Rocio
"Honey, are you sure?" Diamond asked once again. She'd lost track how many times that cursed question had pierced the air.
Rocio sighed and just kept walking, her heavy boots crunching against the ground. Her prosthetic limb, crafted carefully from wood and metal, made a slight creaking noise with each step. It was clearly in need of some maintenance. As soon as they got back from the bunker, she'd do just that.
But Rocio wouldn't rest until they checked the bunker, where they'd first left over fifteen years ago at this point. Having just made it into her forties, with Diamond not far behind, she'd become her town's lead builder.
Anything that had to do with architecture, Rocio was the one to go to. She currently had three journeymen and five apprentices she was in charge of. Their town depended on Rocio's knowledge and Diamond's charming little general store. Despite their ingrained roles in a crazy time such as this one, Rocio insisted they check on the bunker.
She just needed to know.
She still couldn't believe it. The most recent blast felt around the world happened only yesterday. Immediately, reports flew across the radiowaves. Stragglers turning to dust. Undying becoming human. No more vampires anywhere. A blast ripped the world apart, and a blast seemingly put it back together.
Many hoped those who'd vanished the first time would return, but they did not.
Rocio needed to know, would die if she couldn't see with her eyes that maybe, just maybe, her sister had returned.
"Your stitches are fresh," Diamond persisted. "We should wait."
Finally, Rocio stopped in her tracks to look at her wife in disbelief. "We're going. My stitches," she gestured to the fresh wound above her brow, "are fine." She'd taken a nasty tumble during the blast, having been on a ladder changing a lightbulb. "I can feel it in my gut. She did it, she saved us."
Diamond, still as beautiful as the day they'd met, didn't bother to hide her fear and doubt. "What if she's not there?" She ran her hands through her short black bob. Her tan skin glistened with the thinnest layer of sweat.
Rocio went over to her and took her into a tight embrace. "My love, my Blue, it's going to be okay." They shared a soft, aching kiss. "And the better question is, what if she is there?"
Diamond closed her brown eyes briefly. "You're right. It's just been so long. We're not the same. And if she has returned...she won't be the same, will she?"
Rocio had those very same fears. "Either way, we need to know. Fifteen years. Fifteen years. We deserve to know."
Diamond took in another deep breath. "Let's go. She's waiting for us."
Rocio smiled. "That's right."
**********
They're maybe five miles out when Rocio looked up. Among the tall trees and clear blue, there was a thick trail of smoke rushing toward the sky. "Do you see that?" She said breathlessly.
Diamond looked up toward the same direction, and her eyes went wide. This area in particular was known to just be abandoned wilderness. "It's her. It has to be."
Without saying another word to one another, they simultaneously took off, racing forward. "Ren!" Diamond screamed, just a few steps ahead.
"It's Rocio and Diamond!" Rocio continued.
They went on, not stopping despite their ragged breath and bone-tired limbs. They both worked up uncomfortable sweats, flushed red with adrenaline.
Only a mile or two went by before Rocio saw him. Sure, her eyes weren't the same as they were ten years ago, but as soon as she saw that tall silhouette, the long black hair and perfect, shining complexion, she knew. "Tahoma?!"
He was already coming their way, but as soon as he could hear or recognize them, he began racing forward with equal urgency.
"Tahoma!" Rocio called out again, voice strangled by grief and tears. They clashed, Rocio throwing herself into his arms. His warmth. His scent. All of it brought her back to years and years ago, from before she even became undying in the first place. She had already fallen head over heels in love with Awe, his sister. She remembered how welcoming he was, calling her 'sister' before Rocio and Awe got married. He quickly became one of her favorite people.
"My god, I thought I was hallucinating when I heard your voice," he breathed, half laughing, half holding back his own tears.
"We hoped–" Diamond sobbed.
She pulled back to look at him. A wave of heat went through her when she realized, "you haven't aged a day." That same sort of shock must have gone through him when he studied her appearance in return.
He opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by Diamond's demand, "tell me she's alive!"
He nodded, and the heaviest weight seemed to slip right off of Rocio and Diamond's shoulders. But then there was also hesitation, which scared the hell out of Rocio. "She hasn't awakened since she...it's complicated. Here, I'll take you."
While they didn't run, they went into a light jog.
They arrived in a small clearing with a fire at the center.
"I tried carrying them both," he explained as Rocio and Diamond flashed to either side of her. "Being human now, I didn't get as far as I hoped. So, I opted for a fire signal in the meantime."
Rocio leaned over her sister. She appeared sound asleep, and also having not aged a day. She leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I can't believe it."
Diamond leaned her face against her chest. "I can feel her heartbeat," her face lit up with joy. But they both noted the state of her chest at the same time. "Tahoma, what's with the blood?"
"I may or may not have ripped out her heart."
Rocio almost fell back on her ass if she wasn't desprate to check that the skin on Renata's chest was in fact smooth. "What?! Why?!" Diamond was inspecting the very same spot with equal concern. "What the hell happened?"
Tahoma ran his fingers through his raven hair before joining them at Renata's side. He put his hand on top of theirs where it rested on her still. "I can explain once we drag these sleeping beauties back to wherever the hell you came from."
Renata
Goodbye, little one.
She'd closed her eyes for only a moment. At least, she assumed this as she finally came to in the next instant. She squeezed her eyes tightly against the morning light, exhaling the heaviest sigh of relief when the glow was warm instead of a gloomy blue.
She sat up in the unfamiliar bed in the unfamiliar room, trying her best to take it all in. She felt fine, much to her confusion. She looked down at herself, incredulous at the normal state of her body. The cold never came. The cold she knew too well. It remained at the edge of it all, waiting to embrace at the right moment.
But not her, not anymore.
She looked down at her hands, flipping them around, wondering if those pitch-black shadows would return. Slither through her veins into her very core. But the chill did not come. After so long, she felt completely human, undeniably alive, and graciously fragile.
The burden of immortality no longer plagued her. She permanently removed the grim reaper's hold on her flesh. She'd won. She actually succeeded against all odds.
Perhaps her worst luck in the world took a turn for the better?
Now, where the hell was she?
Before she could even attempt to get up, the bedroom door to her right quietly opened.
Her heart leaped into her throat when she recognized Tahoma's handsome face. His expression turned from peaceful yet somber to shocked joy so quickly, she had a bit of whiplash herself. "Renata!" It didn't take his long legs much effort to eat up the distance between them. She saw a rush of long locks and tan skin before his muscle slammed into her.
She fell back, having some of the wind knocked out of her. Thankfully, he caught most of his own weight against the mattress. The barrier of the comforter made it more difficult to embrace, but neither of them seemed to care as they shared a searing kiss. She tasted coffee on his lips, enjoying the strong taste and using it to wake herself up further.
He pulled back and shifted their bodies so that he was cradling her. She looked up at him, stuck on the newly brown color of his eyes. While not so supernatural, his now-human gaze could never lose that wicked, dangerous gleam to it. "I hope you're not too mad at me."
Tahoma studied her, not quite smiling yet after her reminder of what she did to him, forcing him to the sidelines. "All I've wanted to do is protect you, from the second I laid eyes on you. When you took it away, when I thought I would lose you forever," he caressed her face, making her want to cry, "I was so angry, but more importantly, I..." he looked away. "I was scared."
"Tahoma–"
Finally, that beautiful smile returned. "But you did save the world, so I'll forgive you this one time."
Renata couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I appreciate you cutting me some slack."
"Just don't ever do anything like that ever again."
She snuggled closer. "That sounds like a fantastic plan." She paused. "We're not at the bunker, right?"
His eyes averted from her, which immediately struck up her nerves. "Not anymore, no."
"Well...?"
He tried another smile, but this one felt less genuine. "Rocio and Diamond found us, actually."
She sat up, so glad to hear those two names. "Really? That's great. Where are they?"
Tahoma took a hold of her arm, stopping her progress. Renata sat back down and studied his face. "What's wrong?"
"Do you remember the time you died, were only gone for a few seconds longer than usual, but you had come back and it'd been months?"
Her heart started racing again. She'd completely forgotten about that. She was so busy trying to evade Angel, trying to find a way to fix everything that this slipped under the radar of her consciousness. She breathed in deeply, bracing herself for the answer to her question, "how much time passed on this side?"