Blessed by Night

Sei hasn't left the bridge for their entire flight.

It hadn't been purposeful. At some point, she had meant to leave and start doing other things with her time, but her feet simply never moved.

She kept staring at their current flight pattern on the monitor and watching this tiny blue dot get closer and closer to her place of birth.

Memories of how she left and why had come back to haunt her.

There wasn't enough time in the day for Sei to sit and write down all of the feelings that she had about her parents.

But regardless, she was still a daughter. It was hard for her to shake that feeling of familial piety, regardless of what had been said and done.

It was why she had asked that they go to Japan first... She needed to see that her parents were alive. She wouldn't be able to rest properly until she knew.

"Still standing here..? I'm surprised you didn't speed us up instead of waiting..."

Sei felt a familiar hand slip between her fingers, and she felt the burden in her shoulders lessen.

Celeste nuzzled against Sei's neck in a warm gesture.

"I think if I did, my heart wouldn't be able to handle it. I need every second to brace myself that I can get."

Celeste stared at Sei out of the corner of her eye. "I get why you're so nervous... Not seeing your parents in 20 years will certainly do that to anyone."

Sei smiled wryly. "Actually... I saw my mother just a few years ago. She came to America to tell me that my father's business wasn't doing well."

Celeste seemed surprised. "And... how did that go?"

"Ah... she called me fat and told me to ask Malachi for money. While simultaneously not hiding her dislike for him."

Similarly, Celeste had trouble hiding her look of disapproval.

"I know, I know, don't say anything." Sei brought a hand to her head. "But she's just... stuck in her ways. She doesn't necessarily mean anything by it. She just needs time to warm up to people."

"I don't know if that's the full problem, honey." Celeste let her hand go. "She shouldn't just treat you any kind of way because she can. You wouldn't talk to Serana like that. You wouldn't talk to the kids like that."

Sei's eyes were sad and listless as she held herself. "Celeste... she's my mother. The only one I'm ever going to get. I have to make things work with her somehow. And family isn't always easy, but it's always worth it, right...?"

Celeste normally would have said yes without thinking. But this time, she just couldn't bring it upon herself to do so.

"...If we find your mother again, and she disproves of our relationship, then what would you do?"

Sei had difficulty answering that question. Her heart hurt to even consider the possibility.

"I guess... nothing. I don't really need her to approve of the way I've been living my life. I just need her to be alive, and that'll be good enough for me."

Celeste thought that was just like Sei. Relentlessly sweet, even to the point of self-debilitation.

She could take nearly any amount of abuse as long as there was a fleeting hope that she could make someone else's life just a little bit better.

It was her most endearing and concerning quality.

Which meant that as her partners, Celeste and the others had taken it upon themselves to make sure that gentle heart of hers was never used by anyone with malicious intent.

Even if it were from her own mother.

-

The rest of the flight went by rather quickly. With less than a few minutes before they entered Japanese airspace, Malachi and Joanne were busy getting redressed.

Luna was lying in bed with her arm covering her face and her entire body covered in pink marks.

Joanne pulled off the first shirt she had tried on and opted for a turtleneck after she saw the marks covering her neck.

As she pulled it over her head, she saw Malachi pulling on a long-sleeved shirt and reaching for his gloves.

"Maybe something a little less tactical, Mal. Last thing we want to do is give the impression that we're running around doing things from the shadows."

Malachi stared at her.

"...Yes, I know it may be a little bit redundant, but the optics of things still matter."

Malachi acquiesced and pulled off his shirt in favor of a dark grey button-down and a long coat.

"Better." Joanne kissed him and went back to changing on her own.

Malachi eyed her suspiciously and then glanced at Luna, who still lay on the bed.

'...I haven't forgotten anything you know. We'll talk at some point.'

Joanne flinched, but she pretended not to hear his telepathy. Further cementing his belief that he shouldn't just let her off Scott free.

Suddenly, the door opened and Anna came into the room already dressed and ready for contact.

"Look alive, pickle dicks! If you're any later than I get to make first contact and-"

"Give me those." Joanne pointed.

"Huh!?"

"It's illegal for us to carry guns in Japan. We don't know just how much of their government is still intact, so we should try to act like law-abiding citizens until we can get a better grasp of the region."

Anna poked out her lip out as she unholstered the guns on her side.

"And I was so looking forward to showing these of... B said she made them for me with love and murder on her mind."

"That's very sweet, and I am slightly jealous, but my advice still stands. You can get them back if we-"

"Here, babe, put these in your shadow."

Anna tossed Malachi the guns. But before he could catch them, Joanne snatched them out of the air first.

"Please don't use our husband to smuggle weapons into a foreign nation!"

"He doesn't mind, do you, baby?"

"Not the point here!"

As Luna continued to lie on the bed and recover, she wondered if things would have been this noisy if her family had gone on a normal honeymoon.

…Probably, yes.

-

Malachi, Joanne, and Anna journeyed to the bridge with Serana and the rest of their aides in tow.

As soon as they reached it, Malachi pulled up the communications menu and began searching for an open line.

He waited for no more than a few seconds before a light flashed green on the monitor, and the voice of a foreign man spoke frantically on the other line…