"You move close to me but
I can feel a space
Whatever time we have,
I'm not going to waste
Before we turn to strangers tryin'
to love in the dark"

Tell it to my Heart - Paris Paloma

Aera
🥀

The ebony castle blocked out the sun. Her heart swelled as she looked upon the structure. She could only imagine how Leila felt leaving her warm, soft land to ride the rocky bridge to her unknown husband.

Luckily, that worked out for her. Aera had overheard them many times how well it was working out for her. It was part of the reason why she agreed to get on the ship with Jimin in the first place.

Aera smiled, thinking of her blood lust at the beginning of her journey. It was still there, simmering. Just in a very different way.

She would thank the pair later. After she ripped them a new one for sending them on a fruitless hunt. It was only on the way back home Aera had realized the true intentions of the King and Queen.

And it wasn't to find Nox.

She didn't say anything to Jimin, because he needed to choose his own path for reconciliation. She wasn't sure he would believe it if she told him he was forgiven before he left with Aera that day.

Still, their home looked so cold after visiting other places in the world. Rather than feeling elated for being back, she was fearful of what they would find.

She felt a hand slip into her own. Jimin. His cold skin no longer shocked her, but instead kept her head above the waves.

"Whatever we find, we will overcome." He said, his crystal voice serenaded by the lapping waves.

Aera turned to him, catching his features in the morning light. The sun was a torch behind him, a halo. Turning all of his features into white gold, everything and nothing like the god of night.

"Tell me things won't change when we go back." The words left her, more desperate than she's ever sounded. Her cheeks were red as blood, her heart pounding. She panicked. What if this really had all been a dream? What if she was still trapped with Nox? What if this Jimin, whose heart was for her to hold did not exist? She was breathless, "Tell me you won't forget me. Don't forget me."

"Aera, I will fall to my knees and declare my love for you before my innocence." He grabbed both of her hands, pulling them to his chest. The slow, sure thumps brought her back to Earth. "Though I'm not sure everyone already doesn't know."

"They saw you with Leila."

"Yes, but they know what my love truly looks like."

He stared at her his dark eyes waiting for her to catch on.

"A god stole it."

"A god would have to wrench what I feel for you from my chest." Jimin was certain what happened before would not happen again. That it only occurred because he believed her to belong to another. "Aera, I finally have you in my arms. I will not let you go, not again. Not ever. Not unless you ask to be free."

Her heart skipped a beat, rare for an Immortui.

"You would do that?"

Jimin swallowed, his expression weaved with pain. She could tell this was not a promise he wanted to make, not when every part of him breathed for her.

"If that is what you wished? I did it before Aera." He let his eyes remain open, unguarded. And every little thing he had done wrong had become right. "I would have to either be murdered or sent very very far away, because the thought of anyone else kissing you makes me want to disembowel and drain every male with a working dick in this castle dry." He pursed his lips, trying to hide his smile at the thought of it. "And that would be frowned upon. But I would let you hold the dagger."

He didn't even realize the gravity of what he was saying. The he hadn't left for himself, but for her. He didn't want to ruin her marriage.

It was the most unlike him, and the most proof he actually loved Aera.

The woman wrangled her man to her lips. Jimin accepted her gesture whole heartedly, his arms wrapping around her waist. Not careful or meticulous as he always was, but with abandon.

"You're a fucking lunatic." Aera told him, breathless. Her black hair cocooned them in soft shadow. "But in the way I have always admired."

"Liar. You now admire it. You have to admit while I never hated you, you definitely hated me." He ran his thumb over her bottom lip, inciting her quick temper.

She growled at him, "Well yes, but, I am not a lying about you being crazy!"

"Are too." Jimin smirked, bathing in every ounce of heat towards him.

"Am not!"

"Your cheeks get red when you lie."

"Jimin! How about you come over here so I can shove the truth up your ass."

"Ahh." He sighed, laughing. He placed a kiss next to Aera's scowl. "It never gets old."

Those words alone brought Aera back to the week before Jimin left home.

She had been so angry with him.

"Are we five? Why are there leeches in my underwear drawer." She yelled after him, as he tried to make his way out of the hall.

The man sighed without turning towards her, his hazel hair lighter than usual. "I've never been in your undergarments. Are you inviting me?"

"Hah! You wish." Aera reprimanded herself. This was childish and she was to be a lady soon to wed to a noblemen. Garnett would refuse her hand if he saw the way she was acting now. "We are not children anymore. If I catch you in my rooms again—"

He turned, almost making her slam into him. The man smiled as Aera sputtered, moving away from him like he was made of fire.

Stepping closer he taunted her, "Or what? What will you do to me Aera dearest? Will it be something I enjoy?"

A venomous snake slithered in Aera's stomach, the one that always betrayed her agile mind. How could this pompous asshole's sly remarks capture her so easily? It made her wonder about all the things he liked done to him.

It only deepened her rage.

She forced him to stumble back as she bared her fangs at him. He hit the wall behind him, and their noses brushed. With his exhale, she caught spearmint and floral herbs. His burnt sugared scent sent a shiver down her body.

Dark eyes looked into her own, wide. Caught. Before they went back to their reflective pool, unphased. He smiled wider when she gnashed her teeth together, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"I will kill you if I catch you in my rooms, will you like it then?" Her chest heaved as she threatened him.

The man bit his lip, "Aera, Aera. How are you so good at foreplay—."

She slammed her hand into his chest, cutting him off. "The only foreplay I will be doing is with my husband. Maybe if you stopped being so fucking insufferable someone would want you just the same."

Her cheeks heated. The man's smile dropped. She wanted to crawl out of her own skin as he just stared, and stared at her.

Say something. She screamed in her own head. Don't make me the bad guy now.

His body slackened in her grip, but he forced his lips to lift softly. He lifted his hand, using her shock to run the back of his knuckles over her fiery cheekbones.

Far more tolerant than she ever wanted to see, "It never gets old."

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

The castle opened for them easily.

"We're home! Aren't you little shits excited to see us back?" Aera called out, her voice echoing.

Jimin frowned, crossing his arms as he swiveled around the gem lined entrance hall. "Something isn't right."

Fuck. That meant whatever Nox had planned had already begun, just like the god warned them.

She looked to Jimin. The same alarm and recognition was clear in his eyes. "Though it would be quicker, we shouldn't split up."

Old Jimin would have protested, and told her her softness was getting in the way of her logic.

The man nodded too quickly. "I don't want to leave you." They didn't need to say anything outloud. She knew he wasn't entirely confident another ancestor wouldn't find its way to his soul. But she would protect him, and bring him back down to earth. "Let's just find Lily first. That's what is most important."

Her body was strangely calm after dealing with the god of night himself. She felt like she could take whatever he threw at her.

"You have her scent? Or do we need to stop by her rooms first."

The man paused, scenting the air.

Jimin's forlorn expression tore at her, "I have it. I'd know my twin anywhere."

Aera caught it right after. Sweet, like the man beside her. More floral.

Then something bitter, pungent. It made Aera recoil, her fangs retracting. Like something rotten had clawed its way up from the earth.

"Stellwyn." She held her hand over her heart. "I think the goddess is here. I think that's what Nox meant, that bodies are only temporary. Lily is from Nox's and Solis's line. She would be able to hold the goddesses soul."

Jimin's face paled, "Just long enough."

She wasn't a daughter of the moon. She didn't possess the tides. She had the power of starlight herself.

She would burnout with the deity inside her.

"We need to get to her, now."

They quickly made their way to the infirmary.

The air thickened the closer they got to the room where Lily was. More scents poured in to Aera's nose.

Lily. Stellwyn, she theorized. Jeongguk, Yoongi, and Setareh.

Another scent, ancient and fermented tickled her senses.

Jimin almost burst the door open with a swift swipe of his hand.

"Wait!?" Aera stood in front of him, whispering so quietly no other Immortui would hear. "I think there is someone else in there that we don't know of."

Jimin lifted a brow, "Is it another god?"

She contemplated, "Not that I recognize. It's definitely not Nox."

Jimin hummed, leaning in. He placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth that took her breath away more than all the others.

"We've defeated a god. A barely live one and whoever the fuck this guy is will be nothing."

"You remember your promise?" Aera's lip trembled without her allowing it. She hated how desperate she felt in this moment, but knew it was safe with him.

Don't forget me.

"I am Jimin, you are Aera. You are mine..." Jimin's eyes grew glassy, his lips meeting her cheekbone. His words moths wings as they scattered across her skin. "I am forever yours."

Aera nodded, willing away all the terror she felt at him getting hurt. Or worse, having to console him if something happened to Lily.

"Right." She suited up her armor, armor that he polished and made stronger. Her courage was all she had, "Let's fuck the gods over. Again."

The Immortui twisted her hand over the knob, letting Jimin into the room first.

When she turned around, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Imbeciles. Back for one second and already she wanted to strangle the stupidity out of them all.

Yoongi who could warp metal and earth? Tied by his arms and hanging on the wall. He looked sweaty, and his shirt was all bloodied and torn. He looked less than pleased to see anyone.

Jeongguk who again could warp metal was tied to Setareh who could see the fucking future.

Aera didn't even look at the strangers beside them.

"Hold on." She laughed, pinching her nose. "Let me get this straight, not a single one of you was able to help? I walked in expecting to see you all fighting or at least at a standstill." She eyed Setareh, who cringed preemptively knowing she was about to get judged hard. "You can predict me tripping over someone's foot but not your ass getting tied up?"

Jimin looked severe, but he let out a puff of laughter in shock. His face fell when he looked at what she presumed to be a possessed Lily.

Aera was too frightened to look. "Why are you all useless."

"Aera." Yoongi started, eyeing the figure that was walking towards her.

It was Lily, in a way. Her hair and skin were the same. The way she walked was too fluid, too unearthly.

She still rattled off. "Hoseok? Jin?"

Setareh answered, "Off on important trading business."

"Taehyung? Leila?" Aera asked with more attitude, her fingers creeping towards her knives.

Jeongguk grunted, "On a romantic honeymoon. Probably ruining every bed they can find."

Setareh gagged. "Stop talking."

Jeongguk shrugged awkwardly, "Sorry! There is only so many times I can fix a wrought iron bed without wanting to vomit myself."

"I should have gagged you all." Said a voice rich as the night sky, and as soft as starlight.

Aera turned her attention to the corner of the room, her knife in hand.

"Lily."  Jimin strained.

The woman in her body smiled, but her blue eyes were no longer. They were entirely blacked out. She smiled eerily at her twin hearing that name.

Standing behind her was Namjoon? But it wasn't him. It wasn't his scent at all.

"Who are you?" Aera ignored the goddess, looking past her. The deity of starlight did not seem to like that.

Jimin began speaking to her, as they had strategized. "Remember when you three and you got bit by the fat tabby cat in the kitchen?"

Divide and conquer.

Aera could see the goddess simmer. "I am not your sister any longer. I am Stellwyn, goddess and keep of the stars. I've been wrong by all you share blood with. All of you. And I will take my body back, and my vengeance."

Aera closed in on Namjoon, who was not Namjoon. He sneered, lifting some sort of bottle before him filled with black liquid and plants.

"Do not come closer."

"Who are you?"

"A traitor." Yoongi called, his nostrils flaring. He fought against his restraints, that must have been messed with in order for them to hold back much stronger Immortui.

"Yoongi, I understand you are under great duress. But that is no excuse not to use your senses." Aera tsked.

She looked at not-Namjoon whose eyes had seen eons. She sniffed the man again, who looked perturbed by her. Aera laughed, wondering how she didn't get it sooner.

"I know who you are." Her voice was sharp as the daggers she inspected in her hands. She held up the blade, angling it just enough to see the look of fear in the stranger's eyes. "I recognize your scent from the temple, in Persia."

Like rippling water, Aera saw layers of faces. She nearly dropped her weapon when Namjoons skin became leather, his stature short. An old woman with long gray hair.

Elder Fareena.

Then, his image rippled again. Once again he was a tall man, but his skin was eggshell pale. His eyes were a bright blue, his hair streaked with gray and blonde. His cheeks bones sat high, and his mouth was painted with black.

The Priest. The Old Queen's father. The one who helped turn Jae into the first of their kind.

Like a snake regaining his skin, he slithered back into his current form, wearing the face of their friend.

Aera heard legends of creatures turning men to stone with just their glares. While Aera wished she had that power, his seemed much more real.

He stole faces with blood magic. It is how the Priest managed to evade capture for so long.

"Ahh a family reunion." Aera said through a fanged smile. "It's nice to meet you. I am your granddaughter in-law."

The Priest scoffed, holding his concoction near his chest. Aera was shocked. The one person that they had been sent to find was hiding under their noses the entire time.

"So tell me." Aera let the dagger glint in the light. "Is Namjoon gone? What about that poor old witch you pretended to be for years."

The man's voice grated like metal on rock, "The old woman is dead, and has been for 19 years. She was too powerful to keep alive."

Setareh whimpered from her corner, her hand gripping to Jeongguk's. Setareh hadn't been able to Leila the truth, that Elder Fareena was their grandmother.

Aera swallowed the nausea she felt. "And the man?" She kept her voice casual, curious.

"Alive for now. I am no stranger to mercy." He smiled, some of his true face morphing with their familiar friends features. It was horrifying. "I'm letting you keep your back towards me so I never learn your face. It was a request from the highest god Nox himself."

She could see the goddess and Jimin still talking. His face was tender, even as her body grew brighter and brighter. Aera knew they had little time before her body would give out.

"That elixir is for me, isn't it?" Aera still refused to look the man directly in the eye. She kept moving the blade, seeing if there was anything at her disposal that could help save their asses. "If I take it, the goddess's soul will transfer to my body?"

The Priest's lips curled, and Aera was hit by another dizzying wave of sickness. Jimin was nothing like these people. "So it is you then? You are to serve our lords."

"That's all you wish to do in life? This is what you are using your immortality for?" She distracted him, still looking for a better weapon. "Your daughters Anastasia and Clarisse are dead. Your grandchildren don't even recognize their own blood. Nox has abandoned you."

Murder flared in the man's eyes, a purple haze hovering around his body. Shadows started to writhe patterns on the floor.

Aera's heart pumped furiously. She remembered the day they had brought Jimin back to his senses, she had the cursed blade that killed Jae. She brought it back to this room to study it for an antidote, in case Leila or one of the other Dimidium's were wounded with it.

She'd placed it right underneath where Yoongi was hanging, under a piece of loose stone on the floor.

"Nox has not abandoned me!" The Priest slammed his foot down, creating a break in the stone. All the way to the weapon that she needed. "I have been his faithful servant for hundreds of years. I have been blessed with immortal life. I am his favored, I am his heir."

She moved away slowly, angling the blade towards Yoongi. He had his head bent, tears cutting a path through the dirt on his face.

Look up! She screamed internally as the Priest continued his fanatic rant.

Yoongi stirred at the commotion, using the last bit of strength in his arms to catch eyes with Aera. He took in the madness in her eyes, flickering from him to the floor beneath.

Please understand. Please.

The man craned past his lower body, his muscles tensing. She knew he was in pain from the way he made no sound, as Yoongi never stopped being stoic a day in his life. She couldn't run to him when his shoulder nearly popped out of his socket to look where she was eyeing.

Faster than her eyes could track, he slammed back into the wall. For a moment she thought it had been either the priest or the goddess that moved him, but she saw him slump and go limp.

No. No, no no. He's passed out, and grabbing the weapon herself would be impossible.

"Do you know anything of true devotion?" The Priest spit at her, his eyes growing darker. "All you false immortals only know of things that wither and fade away. That is what your love is, fleeting. Power and worship of it are the only things that matter because they last."

It was faint, but it was there. A slight scrape of metal against stone, so quiet. It was the only thing Aera could truly hear. Her chest nearly collapsed when she saw Yoongi's fingers twitching in his restraints.

Aera let out a deep breath, dropping her dagger to her waist.

And turned towards the Priest.

The man seethed, holding his blackened potion. Not a single human emotion could be found in his eyes, less than the gods themselves.

She laughed, but she really wanted to cry. Because this bloodline had never known peace, and they were coerced into believing that chaos what they desired.

"Nox wouldn't even agree with you." The laugh bubbled up and up, spilling over as she heard the scrape of her savior across the floor.

The Priest clenched his teeth, his eyes raging.

"Shut your treacherous mouth woman. He speaks through me. I live in his ways. I do as he commands."

Aera felt her eyes wet, but she did not wipe the emotion away. The Priest looked confused, like he hadn't seen tears in a long time.

"Power is the most important thing?" She shook her head. "When all of this was to get his love back? The curse of eternal night, the creation of the Immortui. Carrying on the lineage of the daughters of the moon. It was all for Stellwyn." Aera cried harder, "A god who never dwelled on earth convinced you to let go of all your humanity to get what he needed, what he wanted. Nox did not give up love for power, he traded his entire lineage for the one being he cared about. You are nothing but a lonely pawn convinced of some higher purpose when all you have done is bowed to a god that will never understand what you sacrificed to kneel."

The elixir turned to shadow as the Priest snarled at her like a rabid animal. The mask he was wearing of Namjoon's features completely slipped away, leaving the Priest as he was.

She let out a deep sigh when the weapon she needed thudded against the side of her foot. She lifted, hoping Yoongi would understand the gesture without her looking.

"So I would like to know, before I let the goddess take me over." Aera said slowly, watching the Priest puff his chest snidely. Not a single word had gotten through to him. He was too far gone.

She saw Jimin in the soft yet sharp slope of his jaw. If he smiled before, there was no evidence of it. His eyes were the same cornflower blue as Lily's. His hair the color of Nox's.

She held her palm to the floor, nearly fainting in relief when cold gem metal hit her skin.

The Priest barely reacted when the poisoned jade knife pierced his chest. His arrogance overrode his survival, as he blinked a couple of times. His hands falling to his sides.

She screamed, twisting the knife deeper. Shock filled his soulless gaze, as black blood began to pour from his lips.

Another, dull emotion crossed his face. And she realized it was one of betrayal. Not for her.

Nox had not been there to save him.

Aera leaned in, asking the man one last thing. "How does it feel to die like a mortal?"

He could no longer speak, and within moments the glass bottle he was holding shattered onto the floor. The Priest's eyes remained open, and Aera could not find it within herself to close them.

She pulled the knife from his chest, readying it for use once more.

A loud, inhuman shriek made her freeze.

Shit. Finally caught the crazy goddess's attention.

"No! No!"

They all watched as the goddess scrambled to the dead man, shaking his body. Then fell to her hands and knees, her white blanket of hair swirling around her small body.

Jimin ran to Aera's side, checking her body for wounds. His hands were shaking. "Are you alright?"

"I am fine. Are you?" It was not the most intelligent question. Of course he wasn't fine. His lip trembled as he gestured with his head towards Lily. He couldn't even look at her.

It seemed like their strategy to make her remember herself did not work, as it had with Jimin. His twin was no longer someone he recognized. While Jimin had been possessed with the spirit of an Immortui, his mother, his body had been able to handle it's essence.

Aera took at Lily's bowed body. Already, burn marks started to blossom on her skin from the inside out. It's fair expanse was purple and shiny like leather in some spots.

"Nothing?" Aera asked Jimin.

Setareh began to sob as she stared at Lily scratching at the floor for the potion that spilled. Her inhuman shrieking so loud it threatened to crack the floor further beneath their feet. Jeongguk tried to calm her down, but it was of no use. Yoongi kept his head at his chest.

His dark eyes shuttered. Sighing, he shook his head. "Nothing. There is just anger, and hatred. How can I blame her for not finding her way back when it is me who taught her that?"

Aera couldn't accept that. She wouldn't accept defeat. It seemed Jimin already had, his expression shrouded in shadow like he was already mourning. "Without the potion, there is no way to transfer the soul from her body." She grabbed onto Jimin's shoulders, shaking him to bring him back to her. His eyes were glassy, unfocused. "Do you remember drinking anything before the Old Queen took-"

"She's gone." Jimin said softly, his gaze nowhere at all.

Aera gritted her teeth, her ears perked. Wait. "Jimin."

He wrapped his hands around her own, holding them for dear life. His bodyweight began to sink into her own. "Please. There is nothing left. I tried, and I couldn't save her. I-"

Ripping her hand away from his own, she placed it over his mouth. "Listen."

The shrieking had died out into human-like cries.

Stellwyn laid with Lily's body on the ground in a fetal position. Aera turned both Jimin and herself to face the goddess, to listen.

"That was my only hope. It was the only way." The goddess cried out, her anguish turning to water beneath her palms. Her face contorted with sadness that seemed a thousand years old. She lifted her head, her blackened eyes fading the green jade irises that did not belong to Lily, but the goddess herself. Aera could not look away as Stellwyn sought her comfort, "I just wished to see the sun again. I wanted to feel its warmth. I miss the moon's light, and the sway of the ocean underneath. I've been stuck in the dark dark dark for so long, and he promises it will get better, that darkness is fleeting, but it's always dark. There is no light and I am the light but I am without."

"Aera." Jimin's voice strained, his grip tight on her shoulder as she went to get closer to the goddess.

She brushed away his touch gently. "I know what I need to do." She eyed their friends, "Go untie Yoongi first."

Jimin pursed his lips. "Believe in me, please." He kissed her once, before grabbing a dagger to cut Yoongi from his restraints.

Aera breathed in deeply, before crouching before the goddess.

"Hello Stellwyn."

The goddess squirmed, her skin steaming. "I am in pain. I thought my body was being brought back to me before this girl would die."

Aera smiled softly, before lifting her palms. She went deep inside herself, thinking of the push and pull of tides. More quickly this time, she gathered all the water in the room.

And began to heal the goddess's skin, Lily's skin, while also searching for the truth.

"My body was supposed to be yours." She laughed, running the water over mottled skin. The goddess bit her lip, but tried to hold in her pain.

"What do you mean?" Her green eyes flashed to the side. "Nox said he finally learned a way to resurrect my body. That it would be an empty vessel. I told him I did not want the last body he tried to give me. She was my...she was part of my bloodline."

There was a surprising tenderness in her voice. One Aera latched onto, for many reasons rather than just one.

"That was my mother." She mumbled softly. Stellwyn lifted up half of her body, wincing. Her eyes remained trained on the Immortui. "I am your very great granddaughter."

"Grand-daughter?" Stellwyn asked, her burnt hand touching the skin of her chest. Pith collected in her all-powerful eyes. Human and god warring with each other inside of her. "You're my family?"

(A/N: why tf am i tearing up??)

"Yes. The children you had with your betrothed lived on. We are known as the daughters of the moon. My mother is dead, because Nox made sure to have her killed. He has used every member of his family and mine to bring you back to him. The person whose body you're stuck in is my family too." She continued to heal the goddess as she burned. Holding off Lily's demise.

Stellwyn shook her head, her chest heaving. "No that is all wrong." Her lower lip wobbled, "That is not what I asked. Nox promised me no harm would come to any one of my lineage."

"Isn't that what you wanted though? Revenge for who did this to you?" Aera asked without judgement.

The goddess curled into herself, "I do not remember much. I have been in the sky for so long, without day. When I am put into a body while Nox schemes, that is when he tells me what happened to me over, and over again." She looked around, "I do not remember this room. I do not remember these people. I can admit that I am a little deranged when I reach earth, by body has not been tethered for so long I just seem to lose my mind."

Aera is careful to run water along the burns on the goddess's face. She listened carefully, and now realized the vengeful and frightening goddess was just as lost as the rest of them.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think Nox has been lying to you for a while." Aera bowed her head in respect, "I am not sure if it is my place, but I think you should figure things out for yourself. Without his meddling."

Stellwyn trembled, "I-"

"What is it you want most?" She asked the goddess gently. "It is your choice. No one else's."

Aera watched as Stellwyn's expression changed into one of determination.

Of hope. "I want to see the sun. I want to feel the ocean. I want to see the light."

****

Jimin, Aera, and Stellwyn waited on the edge of the beach.

The goddess stared at the sky, letting silver moonlight touch her skin. She was smiling brightly, as if in conversation with it. Waves lapped at her feet, soothing her wounds.

"The sun will be up soon." Aera called to her. Her throat tightened with emotion, and this time she was not ashamed of it. Jimin threaded his fingers through her own.

Stellwyn turned, the smile on her face similar to Aera's. She stepped away from the waves, a glowing aura forming around her borrowed body.

"It has been so," The goddess paused her hand lifting to trace across Aera's forehead, "lovely to meet you."

Jimin stared between them with shock and admiration.

Aera couldn't help herself. She reached out to the goddess, pulling her overheated body into her chest. The goddess froze at first, and then stiffly wrapped her arms around the mortal that clung to her like a child.

It felt like hugging her birth mother. It felt like home.

The goddess pulled away as the first slivers of light slipped into the morning sky. Aera couldn't help but sob as one of her only blood left wiped her tears away from her eyes. "Family."

Jimin let Aera cry into his shoulder as the goddess walked away, planting her feet in the ocean. She lifted her chin towards the weak orange sun, letting the rays warm her skin further.

She was reuniting with the sun, the tides. The moon still waiting in the morning sky. Solis and Lunaith, her parents.

"Aera, watch." Jimin called to her, as the silver glow around her body grew brighter and brighter.

She became a star on the water. Stellwyn held out her arms, taking everything in.

Then, it happened.

Like smeared paint, her soul began to separate from Lily's body. It was hair first, that rippled black and flowing. Then lithe, tall limbs. A body dressed in white gold, and tanned skin that shed from pale.

Lily's body dropped to the ground, and Jimin ran to hold her.

Aera was mesmerized, as Stellwyn turned to her. Green eyes a reflection of her own, of her mother's, of the long line of strong women that she came from. The sun shrouded her head, and the moon like a scythe near her shoulder.

The goddess lifted her hand, a silent goodbye, before she brightened to the light of a star, and disappeared.

Aera finally could breathe again, a hollow feeling in her chest.

She slumped through the sand, making her way to Jimin and Lily. She already began working at the waves and lifting the water onto Lily's weak body.

"What was that about?" Jimin questioned, tapping Lily's face in hopes she would open her eyes.

"She missed her parents. All she wanted was to reconcile with her family." Aera answered simply. A smile crept it's way onto her face, as the goddess finally chose for herself. "Nox wanted revenge for her, but he didn't see that all she wanted was peace."

They worked on Lily's together silently for a few minutes.

Until the blonde opened her eyes, sitting up with a gasp. She sputtered, spitting out sand and ocean water. When she looked at Aera and her twin, they were relieved to meet cornflower blue.

"Jimin!" The girl yelled belatedly, crushing her brothers ribs in a hug. She turned to the woman, "Aera!"

Lily launched herself at her. She let out a groan, but embraced the woman back.

"No cuddling with me please." Aera said, prying the blond off of her.

Jimin lifted a brow, in high spirits that his sister was back. He nearly radiated light like the goddess herself, "What about me?"

Oh dear.

Aera sent him a glare. His sister just woke up and he was flirting?

"You might as well make her pass out again."

Lily recoiled, her dainty features sallow and gray. But a brilliant smile formed on her face. "You...and Aera?" Her wounds didn't seem to hurt, and she jumped up from the sand. "Finally!? Thank god I was so confused when you liked Leila. Not that she isn't great she is but the way you looked at Aera like you wanted to devour her—"

The ebony haired woman sighed in time with Jimin's laughter. She placed her exhausted head into her hands.

"You twins frighten me. All you do is get possessed and then your mind goes to fucking."

Lily smirked, "Wow you must have had a fun trip!"

"We did." Jimin smiled in a way that made her forget the terror they just had went through. His eyes met hers, sending her heart into a wild frenzy. "A very fun trip."

"Enough!" She yelled.

The twins erupted in laughter as they pulled her from the ground. All holding onto each other as they made their way back into the castle.

She looked back at the ocean, only once. But her heart didn't hurt as much anymore.

Aera did have family left. She had chosen them herself.

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(A/N: AHHHHH THIS CHAPTER IS TEA!!!!! Finally these people are out of the gods schemes and can enjoy! Their! Lives!

THERE IS ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT AFTER THIS...but I think it is finally time to reveal what Solace and Ruthless represent as stories drumroll please.....dmdmdmdmdm...

Generational trauma! I would like to see what you guys think and if you picked up on it, but let me know if you want a more in depth explanation from me. But long story short the "powers" are the good in us and the "curse" are the bad in us passed through family + life.

You can come from a bad situation and still choose to do the right thing, even when it is at your expense (Taehyung). You can be destined for greatness, and still feel inadequate (Aera). You can be taught to be without empathy and morality for others, and find compassion in yourself (Leila). Lastly, you can be flawed, and still be a good person if you learn from your mistakes and your parents bead decisions don't have to define you (Lily and Jimin). This is a very simplified version of the symbolic nature of two books but yeah here it is!

I hope it's clear by now just how many clues I put in solace for jimin and Aera to be together 😭😭😭

1. Jimin called Leila dear sacrifice because it's how he called Aera (dear Aera, Aera dearest). He remembered how he loved, but not who he loved.

2. Him asking Aera to dance after she killed Garnett and being upset the entire time, even before Leila showed up. That was his body rememberinggg!

3. Him being so jealous of Taehyung

4. Lily mentioning while she was imprisoned how it's hard to love someone who loves someone else...twice (first was Aera)

5. Aera saying something rude to Leila when she was walking down the aisle (again it was jimin who was holding her hand)

6. Jimin trying to dance with Leila at the ball and being distracted by Aera's jade green eyes (because before he always watched her when he was with another girl)

7. Him breaking the trance his mother put him under when he hurt Aera.

8. Taehyung being confused as HELL when Leila asked if him and Aera liked each other 😭😭 he didn't want to spill the tea but he was like she is in lovveeeee with another man! Hence why it took Taehyung a long time to consider jimin was into Leila -> he assumed the man had feelings for Aera ~> which he did but now we know they were hidden

There is one more chapter after this one! This whole book was reader service (and tbh author service) because Solace was supposed to be a standalone book.

I am soooo glad I wrote Jimin and Aera's story! It needed to be told.

I hope (so far) that this story wrapped everything up pretty well! Please share your thoughts on this chapter with me you know I love it!