Wish upon the Stars chapter 513

My mother was...intimidating. I recognized her. Barely. Not just from  me memories but somewhat from my own features, and especially from  Chelsea's. Still, the soft smile I remembered as a kid in that one  blurry image was nowhere to be found. The woman towering over me as I  lay bloody on the ground looked like a warrior. An amazon or something.  Tall, blonde, with stern yet kind features. She looked like a saint.

"You're lucky I erected a barrier around us already." She said tiredly. "Someone might have heard you."

I  glared up at her, sitting up as Jessie finished filling my body to  capacity. I still had healing to do but she'd topped me up and now I  just had to wait. Callie helped me stand, and once I was vertical I  stood a few inches taller than my mom, not that she seemed to notice.  "That's it? No 'thank the gods you're ok'? No 'I'm sorry"? All I get is  'watch your mouth Shane someone might figure out we're related? And I  thought dad was the shitty parent."

She flinched like I'd  hit her, and I immediately felt bad. Then I got pissed at myself for  feeling bad because fuck her, this was her fault. But...she was still my  mom, and seeing her like that, looking like she was afraid I was going  to attack her or something, made me feel like a scumbag. She swallowed  hard. "I...I won't ask you to forgive me. I don't deserve it. I did  something unspeakably cruel to you, and there's no way that an apology  would fix that."

"Is that what you think an apology is?" I  demanded. "Some band-aid you slap on a problem to make it go away? You  shouldn't apologize because you deserve it. You should apologize because  I do." The fact that she wasn't even trying to defend herself made me  even more pissed off.

"That's enough." Said Chelsea as she  stepped in between us. "Shane...you're right. Mom screwed you. It was  awful. But it's not her fault. It's mine. I-"

My mom held  up a hand. "No. Not here. He deserves an explanation, but this isn't the  time or place. As much as I wish it was. I'm not sure what's happened,  but SOMETHING did, and we need to discuss it. The others are in a  frenzy. Ezekial is holding them off for now, but even his insolence can  only stall someone for so long."

I snorted at that. "No one calls Zeke that. Do you say it to his face? I bet he hates it."

Her  grin in that moment reminded me a lot of mine. "Why do you think I do  it? He's insufferable, and very few things bother him. Using his full  name is one of the few ways I have to really irk him. He's like the  annoying kid brother I never had and usually don't really want."

It  was hard to be upset at her when she was acting like a gleeful big  sister, especially given I had so few ways to rankle my uncle myself.  Still, she was right. This wasn't the time for this discussion. We had  bigger fish to fry. "We need to talk to everyone, but probably Zeke  first. Some stuff went down where we ended up. I'm glad we're back but  we need to get the word out to every faction what's coming."

She  looked like she wanted to question me herself, before realizing that I  was WCP and possibly Unity, but not with the Church and hence not part  of her chain of command. "I'll get him." She said softly. "After things  have calmed down...maybe we can talk. You and Chelsea and I. It won't  fix things I know, but you're right. You deserve to know, and you  deserve an apology even if you don't accept it. Because I AM sorry  Shane. So very, very sorry."

The sincerity in her voice,  the pleading in her eyes, it almost broke my heart, but I firmed my  expression, gesturing for her to go.

Chelsea was watching  me nervously as our mom left. "I know I'm the last person who should be  saying it, but she feels terrible. Once you know why...well, like she  said I doubt it'll magically fix everything, but at the very least I  don't think it'll hurt as much."

"You're right." I said  sharply. "You ARE the last person I want to hear that from." She  flinched just like mom had, and I quailed internally. I might be willing  to lash out at my absentee parent, but my twin sister, regardless of  whatever nonsense she'd convinced herself of, had been a child when we  were separated. She wasn't the problem here. "I'll hear her out." I said  more gently. "I promise."

Mom came back with Zeke a  minute later, and my uncle smiled and waved casually. "Oh, hey kid.  You're not dead. Cool, that would have been a bitch to deal with."

My  mom smacked him upside the back of his head. "What he MEANS." She  snapped. "Is that he's glad you're alright, because he cares about you,  and because if he'd let my son get killed I'd have cut out his tongue  and nailed to his forehead." That was...weird. Not the graphic threat, I  was used to those. The feeling of my absentee mom telling off my  guardian who was always there for not caring enough. It must have shown  on my face that I didn't like it, because she blanched. "I mean..." Her  shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry."

"Be easy kid." Said my  uncle firmly. "Sasha might not have been around much but she..." He  hissed, the symbol on his forehead glowing. His eyes snapped up to the  empty dark sky around us. "Are you fucking KIDDING ME?" He yelled in  outrage. "She's right HERE Eli! When does this fucking thing BREAK?"

My  mother sighed sadly. "He's gotten more restricive about his geasa. Ever  since he made the shift to devil to break through to A-rank...I can't  believe he's changed so much."

"We ALL change Sasha." Said  my uncle bitterly. "None of us are the kids we used to be." He looked  at me. "Not even the kids we used to be. It's the price we pay for what  we are. It's easy to forget that when you live in the Red Revenant's  special holier than thou clubhouse I guess. Now, since apparently your  bastard father is STILL shutting me up, kid, hows about you do the  talking?"

I nodded slowly. "Ok, well the first thing is that this whole mess was apparently caused by the Blood Murder Palace."

"What?"  My mom said in alarm. "How? Hatescream is dead. My father was there  when it happened. He killed about six S rankers when as he died. He  ALMOST killed Black Sorrow and our Lord, and would have if the  Wishmaster hadn't stepped in."

"Both of them?" I said,  appalled at the sheer power that must have shown. "I heard they worked  together for that fight, apparently that's rare?"

"Very."  Said my mother firmly. "They hate each other with a passion. God  executions are probably the only time I've heard of them putting aside  their differences. Lots of bad blood between the churches, it goes back  millennia obviously. It proves how seriously they took Hatescream."

Callie,  who had been standing protectively beside me, holding my hand, finally  spoke up. "I've been wondering about that for a long time. Why? Why do  the Red Revenant and Black Sorrow hate each other so much? More than the  other gods I mean. It can't just be a worshipper thing or they'd have  it out for everyone, but it seems so focused, the grudge between the two  of them."

"They were married." Said my mother with a  wince. "Before their Ascension. Still are I suppose. Regardless, they  have many grudges between them. But we're getting off track. Your  story?"

I started. She was right, crazy faction history  was interesting enough to distract me, but I needed to get this out.  "Well apparently this place was connected to an Academy from some old  empire that's been exctint for tens of thousands of years or something.  They used the trial as a cover to break in to steal some kind of  spiritually reactive biomatter that'll let them sort of clone god  flesh."

Then I laid it out for them, told them all the  story as I'd heard it. About Hatescream and his plan, about the guy who  bought the mountain, about how all of this had been a leadup for a coup,  a way to distract the factions and let Hatescream work in the dark to  resurrect his people.

By the time I was finished, their  faces were both grim. "That's...bad." My mom said, her tone implying a  truly monumental understatement. "If that's true then this is going to  be war. Not a crusade or an extermination, but exactly what the factions  have been trying to prevent for all these millennia. A War of the  Gods." I could literally HEAR the capital letters in her voice as she  said it.

"I'm sorry." I said through gritted teeth. "It  was my fault. I was a moron. I thought that since all those cloaked  figures showed up we didn't have to worry about traitors anymore. I HAD  that damned cup, and I basically hand delivered it to the BMP like a  fucking idiot."

"Hey." Snapped Callie. "That's bullshit.  You got us home, which was borderline impossible to start. It wasn't  your job to prevent some ancient dark murder sect from accomplishing  their grand scheme. You were responsible for us, and you got us out of  there. Or...almost all of us." She glanced at Nat, who had left the  bubble of isolation when we arrived and was sitting by herself nearby,  with Valk hovering a ways away watching her.

My mother  nodded. "She's right. They've been planning this for longer than any of  us have been alive. If it hadn't been this way, they would have found  another. This opportunity only recently presented itself, so there's no  way they didn't have a backup plan. Speaking of..." She glanced down at  our joined hands. Holding one of her own out to Callie. "I'm Sasha  Anders."

My girlfriend blinked, wide eyed, at my A-rank  mother, then swallowed hard and, letting go of my hand took hers and  shook it. I was secretly grateful to my mom. She'd noticed Callie's  sorrow and tried to defuse it by making this an awkward meet the parents  thing. It had worked. "I'm Callie, Calliope, that is, Reynolds, miss.  Ma'am, madam?" She looked like she was getting more and more flustered.

Laughing,  my mom released her hand. "I like you, but let's stick with Sasha,  shall we? The rest of those make me feel old, and if you SAY a word  Ezekial, your next mask is going to be your own ass." She held up a  finger threateningly without looking, and I saw Zeke slump sulkily,  muttering about harpies in a voice that was hidden from no one in this  bubble."

"Now." She said as her smile slipped. "We need to  go talk to the others, tell them what's happened, and try to get some  sort of conclave on the books. I'm guessing it'll be a year out at  best."

I blinked. "What? It's a potential GOD WAR." I sputtered. "How can they possibly justify that? They should be meeting TOMORROW."

She  shrugged. "Might be faster given the severity, but you need to remember  how big each faction is. Freeing up big actors like the gods and their  subordinates takes a LOT of micromanaging. My father is one of the  busiest people I've ever met. Though it's not all downside. Given your  involvement I wouldn't be surprised if the Wishmaster brings Malachai  for this, so you might be able to meet both your grandfathers."

With  that, she said her goodbyes, kissed Chelsea on the forehead, looking  uncertainly at me for a moment, and then left. Zeke sighed as he watched  her go. He looked like he wanted to speak, but couldn't muster the  words, then he too just turned and left. I wasn't sure about the whole  mess with my family or what the truth was, but I knew one thing. I  needed to find out. That conversation couldn't come soon enough.