beat the odds

Eren sensed her before he even saw her.  Dragons had a very distinct energy to them, if they didn’t conceal themselves.  He set his bag down, letting make a soft thud on the counter as his footsteps lifted across the tiled kitchen.  His lips tugged happily at her presence - at the very least, he was happy to know that she was well.  Though, he knew better than to doubt the woman.  “Mother Dragon,” he said as he walked to the refrigerator.  A small creak came out as he reached in for a cold bottle of beer.  Easily, he grabbed two and handed one over to Mae.  “I know,” he revealed as he opened his bottle.  In a gentle gesture, he mock toasted to her, “I know where they’re hidden.  Both of them are being held there, Mother.”

Sting had only met his father once but that was enough for the man to leave an impression on him - he was five years old when he watched his father perform magic so powerful, it took his life as payment.  Since then, he aimed to be as strong and powerful as his father was.  He looked at Mae and nodded, “Of course.  Family was his crowning and killing jewel.”

Sting closed his eyes as Mae spoke.  By closing off one of his senses, he could strengthen the others.  He took a deep breath.  He could smell his family - Mae, Ophelia, Felicity, Eren and the blood of the other smelled as though they were everywhere.  His brows furrowed, knitted in completely frustration as he he finally opened his eyes.  “I don’t like that,” he admitted, “I can’t pinpoint their scent.  Even worse is I can’t pick out their heartbeat.  Not with this mess.”

It wasn’t a lie to say that Sting loved his mother.  What child didn’t?  It pained him to see her worry, especially when his siblings were scattered like this.  He nodded, “He probably has more answers than we do.  Ever since he thawed out, Eren’s been difficult to chase down.”  He laughed and shook his head, “You’re always so soft on your problem children.”  Sting’s laughter quieted as he looked back over to the city.  He didn’t have a plan.  How could he?  He didn’t know what he was even up against.  “I don’t think Ceres Centropolis is prepared for what might be coming their way, mother.”

“Family is worth fighting and dying for,” Mae reminded Sting.  She turned her head, eyeing him with certainty.  The longer a person lived, the easier it was for them to forget the bonds that they had built.  Especially when it came to their families.  Her children still had much to learn about those values of life.  “You should learn from your father,” Mae said as she nodded to Sting, “He was a wise man.  Both in life and in death.”

She knew what he meant.  The Dragon could smell them, all of them and even she was having a hard time figuring out where they were.  It irritated her that someone found a way for her to lose track of her children.  Someone would burn for this.  She would make sure of that.  “There’s got to a be reason.  Neither of them have the ability to multiply and be everywhere,” Mae spoke with a grave tone.  She frowned, shaking her head as she took a breath.  “I don’t like this, Sting.  I don’t like it one bit.”

“I learned it from father,” Sting said with a grin.  Unlike the rest of his siblings, Sting had known his father and according to his mother, he emulated too many similarities to him.  Especially when it came to personality and mannerisms.  Sting thought he was a good man.  “If father hadn’t died that many years ago, the world would have shifted in power,” Sting admitted.  While he loved his father, he knew the man had the unfortunate problem of being swayed by the persuasive words of others.  He frowned, there was a sadness in her eyes.  It lingered longer than Sting would have liked;  a woman like her was much stronger when it came to the aching that she had experienced, he would not have been able to handle it well.  He nodded at her admission, “Considering, there are six of us in the city now, the scents are getting difficult to sort through.”  He frowned as he closed his eyes and took a long breath.  Ultimately, Sting shook his head and frowned, “Like you said, their scent is everywhere but there’s no traces of them physically here.  I don’t like it, mother.”  

Sting took a sharp breath as he looked away from Mae.  His eyes scanned the city below them.  The Dragon’s cave had a good view of everything below them.  “I’ll check in with that guy,” Sting said nodded toward the city, “He’s been keeping a closer eyes on things than I could.”  He paused and than snapped his fingers, “Do something about your daughter who refuses to be your daughter.”

The Dragon sighed at her eldest's mention of his father.  Mae frowned, shaking her heat him and said, "If your father didn't sacrifice himself for our sake, the world would indeed be much more different, Hasting."  At that time, humans who held the power that Hasting's father did were hunted down and burned at the stake for crimes as simple as healing someone's ailment.  Although the world had gained a more tolerant perspective, Mae doubted that it had spread to all of society - as obviously depicted by S.H.O.T. agents hired by their own government to police them.  There was a war brewing Ceres Centropolis and while Mae wasn't certain when it would erupt, she would rather have her children present.  They could easily even the tides when the waves of destruction began.  She looked over at Hasting as she let out a reluctant sigh.  "It's as if they were being spread," Mae had a gruesome thought but refrained from sharing it.  The idea of her children being cut up and spread through the city was not something a mother enjoyed.  She nodded slowly until she settled to watch the city.  Her palms rest of the balcony as she leaned forward.

“You’re making a dig at me and it’s supposed to hurt, but I just don’t feel anything.” She gave a light shrug and looked away from Mae. “I had no clue because they were speaking the way chicken scratch would sound, so I didn’t translate much of a lesson. I couldn’t get over how bad they sounded and how boring that place was… and I was just concerned about getting back to my girlfriend.” 

“You don’t trust that they could have.” When Mae spoke in this way, she felt a little bad. Even though they butted heads often, she wasn’t always as dense as she seemed. She could see the ways that Mae cared, but if she let her keep going, any attachments would get stronger and she was trying to avoid that. “I don’t want to owe you anything.” She told her honestly. “Owing a dragon a favor is tough shit.” 

“Take it as you will,” Mae stated, “I’m simply stating the truth.  Of all the Sins that could have ever reared their heads in Ceres Centropolis, Pride is the most annoying.”  There were beings in the city that were older than Mae.  The dragon had never been foolish enough to believe that she was the most powerful creature that roamed the streets - a mother always raises her children to be stronger than her, even if a majority of her children proved to be stubborn and ridiculous.  Mae looked over at Felicity and smiled, “At least, there is one person you’ve never shied away from.  You honestly should start telling the truth to her.”

Sting smelled her before she arrived - Dragons had such a distinct scent to them that the moment Sting smelled her, it stung.  He turned around to face her and forced his eyes to narrow, mimicking a glare as she spoke.  He didn’t say anything, no reply to her insult.  Instead, he walked right over to her and reached out to pet the top of her head.  He sighed and then grinned, “Hey, old woman, it’s like you’ve gotten much shorter.  Gravity must be taking its revenge for the shit you’ve done.”  Sting expected to get punched or have a spell cast on him.  The mother dragon had never been someone who took teasing very calmly.  He stepped back, away from her before he responded to her words.  “Yes,” he nodded at her slowly and frowned as he said, “I can smell them.  They’re here.  They’ve been on the move since I arrived, so I can’t pinpoint them by scent.”

“Ophelia knows and is happy to be part of it,” Ophelia said, beaming at the Dragon.  Mae was the kindness that Ophelia had been missing in her life;  to have the Dragon be a constant maternal figure was something the Child of Rain could never tire of.  "Ophelia is happy,“ she decided as she walked along with her adoptive-mother.  Since Mae adopted her into the family, the bleak outlook on life had transformed.  One act of kindness had always been able to change so much.  

"Ophelia would never want to harm anyone.  Especially when they’re innocent,” she exclaimed.  The Water Woman never wanted to fall back into the embarrassing state she had been in before.  The curse of the rain that surrounded her was something she hated before but over the years, Mae’s teachings had taught her this wasn’t a curse but a blessing.  With the right training, her abilities were no longer the victim of her emotional outbursts.  "Oh,“ she felt the blush grow in her cheeks when Mae said that last sentence.  Her eyes blurred as she tears of happiness started to form.  "Oh, mama, Ophelia is so happy.  she will continue to do her best to make you proud.”

Children always gave people a chance to be better than their current selves.  Mae had learned this early on.  The Dragon had many children - some born from her and others abandoned by those that could not appreciate them and their quirks.  She cast a look at Ophelia and nodded, "We should keep your happiness, Ophelia.  We can keep making it stronger.  There's nothing more powerful than happiness in the bleakness of our world."  The only think that can fight the darkness is the light that people have within themselves.

There was an aged metallic color that seemed to be under the surface of all the other colors that were coloring the woman in front of her. The most prevalent now was a dark blue that was strong. She was confident beyond what she had seen on any human (or metahuman, for that matter) and Addie caught herself wondering if the woman in front of her was even a human at all. “I’ll owe you my life savings if you do.” A joke, obviously, but her smile was genuine. “And yes, no sleep, extra hours at work, everything in between. What about you?”

Addie shifted and sat up straighter as the woman offered to entirely pay for a fresh cup of coffee for her. She pushed her seat back slightly and watched as the woman ran over things, focus radiating off of her. It was impressive, really, the amount of focus she was putting into whatever it was that was happening on her phone, and it was important, too. “Oh, well, I…” she glanced down to her one empty mug but then thought back to the 2 others from that morning that were empty in her sink. “Well, this is three for me, about to be four…” She looked toward the other woman and nodded, “I see it’s much more for you, though, so at least I’ve got that going for me?”

“Ophelia is always on time,” she said with a bright smile.  When Mae linked arms with her, Ophelia’s smile broadened even more.  The dragon never aged and despite Mae being the one to have raised her since she was abandoned, Ophelia relished in the fact that they looked like sisters.  “Ophelia remembers that story and is very saddened about it, but this is why love is going to grow for you even more.  The universe always returns what is lost to where they belong.”  Her smile shifted as she pressed her lips together, humming in remembrance of what had transpired prior to her arrival.  “They didn’t want to negotiate,” Ophelia announced.  She bit the side of her cheek and nodded as she solemnly said, “Ophelia had to take drastic measures and drown their city.  Don’t worry.  Everyone miraculously survived.  Rumor has it,” she winked, “It was an act of love.”

“Of course, punctuality is an important trait to have,” Mae smiled at the youngest of twelve.  She didn’t need to worry about the traits this girl had;  Ophelia was a bright light in the darkness and Mae had been lucky enough to have her be part of her family.  Family has always been important, even when time seemed to tear them all apart.  The dragon returned the smile given to her, “Love isn’t just romance.  Right now, with you and your siblings, I’ve got enough love to fill that space.”  The life of a dragon was long - she had loved and lost so much through the years and yet, there were always reasons to keep going.  The new generation of powerful beings were enough to encourage Mae to keep going, to pas on her knowledge and her teachings. 

She had be caught. Mae was right about this; Felicity wouldn’t have contacted her or any one affiliated with Mae. It was a matter of stubborn pride. She never liked to admit that things were precious to her or that she’d need help from family. These things were difficult for her to do. “Ok, fine, you got me. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have said anything. I figured that thing would have left on its own eventually, just like last time.” She crossed her arms defiantly. “I’m not going to to do anything like that and waste people’s time. If it was really a problem then they’d probably stop me.” She shrugged. To be fair, she hadn’t really told people and if they knew it was because they ran into the deity. “Gray probably would have had his wife kick my ass or something, but it didn’t happen so it’s fine.” She threw her hands into the air and started to walk away from Mae. “I’m sure you do. You always do. I was just thinking of putting my ear to the ground and lookin’ for an answer… I know you got your art gallery in the works and the younger ones hovering around.”