@torchd
God, she had missed him. Even though the sun had burned brighter in the sky, the last two years had been some of the dimmest that Susan Von Doom had ever lived through. Her world was composed of family. There was her husband ( as busy as he was ) and the two children that they had made. There was her brother, the hot head she had almost raised. Susan would have traded all of Latverion to keep the people she loved safe; a strong maternal instinct had long been humming through her bones. As long as she had her family, she could handle the pressure that came with being the wife of the God Emperor.
Then, it happened.
There were days when Sue wanted to shake Johnny by the shoulders. There were certain people you stood up to and her husband was not one of them. It didn’t matter if it was stupid or unfair. Victor had already cast his vote alongside Maximus Boltagon and that’s all that mattered. Crystal had been lost the second he had done so and Johnny -- god, Johnny -- had been stupid to fight back. Victor hadn’t been cruel enough to order her brother to death; he had listened to Susan’s pleas and acquiesced slightly. Johnny would be punished, yes, but Susan would be the one to pick it. It was as if Victor was punishing her for daring to stick up for her brother.
What followed was cruel and unusual punishment. A two year tour of the sky as the sun. Every day Susan felt Johnny’s light shine on her face and resisted the urge to cry. Valeria and Franklin didn’t understand why their father would do something like that, but a God Emperor’s actions never needed to be explained or justified. They simply were. The punishment was never meant to last forever, though. Johnny would be let down from the sky and returned as he was. It went without saying that he and Crystalia were to have no contact; should the two ever attempt to abscond the punishment would not only be severe but would fall on both this time. Besides, two years was long enough to secure Amaquelin in the Monarchy of M, wasn’t it? She wouldn’t come around to put Johnny in danger again.
The siblings were currently seated in one of the Von Doom’s parlors. Valeria and Franklin weren’t present, and Susan instead had been left with time to tend to Johnny. There had been a lot of silence and a fair amount of tears. What did she say after so long had passed? How could she apologize for what she had been forced to do? The heat radiated off of Johnny and warmed Susan’s side. She had been sitting with her head on his shoulder when she sat up abruptly.
“Johnny,” her brows were furrowed. “You don’t have to right now, but I hope you know you can talk to me about this. It doesn’t matter that Victor’s my -- Victor doesn’t matter.” Did Susan love her husband? She felt as if she had. She must have at one point, right? Why else would they be married. The love she had for him was far overshadowed by what she felt for her family.
“I just want you to be okay.”
