can we go back to the beginning

A Tuesday morning is where it all starts. Rosie often reflects on her life as a sort of evaluation ritual, to see where she is and how she is doing in the present versus the past, which could mean anything from a century ago to the night before. With Uno back in the mix it changes things and makes reflections a lot more bittersweet than Rosie likes.

And yet, with their hands intertwined over the middle console while Uno hums along to the song on the radio, windows down and blowing wind through their hair, it’s hard to remember their lives are far from normal.

“Take a left up here, should be right around this bend.” Rosie follows their guidance and in a few minutes they start to near a row of oddly-placed buildings in a tiny shopping district. The buildings are all three stories high and a bit on the more narrow side, each painted a different color with some bricks showing toward the bottom. It all looks very quaint, almost like out of those magazines that Oriana pretends to read about cottage life and gardening. “It should be the one on the far left, park over there.” Rosie turns the car into a little space by a tree and puts the car into park, turning the ignition off and looking at Uno. “Cute place, you said you had spotted it once on a mission?” she asks, unbuckling the seatbelt and gathering her things into her purse. “Yes, the moonlight off the windows had caught my eye and ever since I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this place. How fitting it would be a clothing shop.” they explain, following Rosie out of the car and looking back at the building. Now outside and walking closer to it Rosie can see how the building would have gained attention for sure. Out of all the buildings in the row it was the only one to have stained-glass window features, depicting a beautiful scene of the sun and the moon over what looked to be a beach with a field of flowers next to it. It was very particular - Rosie decides she likes it instantly. Uno steps into place next to her and wraps their arm around her shoulders, bending to kiss the top of her head. “Thank you for indulging me, I hope it’s to your liking.” Rosie laughs, squeezing herself to them. “Of course. If they have a dress for me it would be a bonus.”

Uno opens and holds the door open for both of them, a wind chime sounding off their arrival as they step in and take all of what’s around them. The entryway of the shop leads into a wide-open room filled from floor to ceiling with garments and fabrics of varying colors, lengths, and material. It is very vibrant inside, and extremely organized with golden shelves and moving racks also seemingly painted gold.

A figure straightens up from the stool they are perched upon behind the counter and smiles at them with a wave. “Welcome to Atelier Celei! Do you have an appointment?” Rosie looks over at Uno and then back at the employee. “Oh, no we do not have one! I apologize I didn’t realize that was necessary.” The employee puts up their hand again. “Nah don’t worry, just that sometimes people make appointments for customs with the boss. You’re free to peruse our wares as you please.” They motion back at the racks and shelves aligned throughout the store and Rosie nods. “Thank you, we will definitely be perusing.” Rosie takes Uno’s hand and together they disappear amongst the clothing racks. “You know, I’m pretty sure that person back over there is an angel. This place is kind of stinking of them.” Rosie says lowly to not have any ears listening to them. Uno pretends to look around. “Hm, yes I thought I sensed something. I don’t feel anything particularly threatening about them" “Neither do I but it is best to keep on our toes while we are here.” Uno agrees and picks up a garment off of a bar, inspecting the material and feeling the intricacy of the pattern between their fingertips. "However, that word they used in the shop's name… perhaps I was mishearing actually. I'm sure it could have been another language." Rosie cocks her head to the side, but when Uno drops the conversation she does as well and gets to looking for dresses that speak to her tastes.

After several minutes of perusing Uno finds something hanging and pulls it down for Rosie to see. "What about this one, min stel?" they call to her from across the shop, as Rosie had started to wander toward the accessory table.

Out of nowhere they hear a gasp from the back room and something shattering. "That voice…" they hear someone say from behind the curtain and Rosie is immediately on-guard, a hand instinctively reaching for the dagger against her thigh. She walks back quickly to Uno in case it's an attack, but is caught off-guard by Uno's own reaction when the figure behind the curtain appears through it, looking around the shop wildly. Uno gasps, their eyes following the swish of the figure's long, purple ponytail and grips Rosie's arm hard when they lock eyes with Uno, both watching as the person stands shocked and dumbfounded in the little doorway along the back wall.

“It can’t be…”

“Ari is everything alright? We heard glass breaking from upstairs-” Three more people appear in the doorway; one with hair chopped to below their chin asymmetrically and fashioned into a bow on top, another hanging off that person's arm with a smaller purple ponytail, and the other with long, flowing red hair that looks all-too familiar to Rosie as she squints in their general direction.

“Ferdinand!?”

“Oh fuck.”

Before Rosie can tackle Ferdinand with a barrage of questions they are both caught off guard by the sound of Uno beginning to cry. "What… what is this? Who are you two?" Uno asks, body beginning to shake. Adrienne walks closer, keeping her hands to her own body. "Alastair… it's us. Is that really you?" She instinctively holds out a hand and Uno flinches back. "No, no! I asked who you are, my siblings are long dead and have been that way for centuries! What is this, who are you and why do you.. " Uno tightens their fists at their sides, no one in the room daring to come closer. Aria tries clearing his throat to speak. "Alastair, I promise you it is us. We have been here for some time and definitely did die, but we were given… a chance." Aria looks over at Adrienne with a look that she understands, and soon after from their back wings unfurl for the rest to see.

Rosie takes a full step back and Uno's eyes widen, processing. "You're angels."

"We are." Adrienne answers, though she knows it was not a question. Uno grits their teeth. "You two got granted to be angels, which means you could have given me a sign." "Alastair, that's not-" "You left me alone for so long, didn't think once to contact me while mother and father piled everything onto me as soon as they could! I mourned your deaths for a week before I was told I would have to move on in preparation of ruling a kingdom. I couldn't even properly grieve for you both and you're telling me you were just sitting up there, watching me from your immortal status!?"

"It wasn't that simple!" Adrienne yells out. "We were told we could not interact or our lives would be permanently gone, or even worse they would mettle into yours. And then the curse took effect…" Rosie recoils into herself and tries to disappear into the wall behind her. "The curse took root and we knew any chance of communication we could have had with you was null and void. You were gone to us, but we never accepted that. We fought against it and ended up here, in hiding. We always knew where you ended up but with the curse in place that only left with us with the option to wait." 

"You sat back and watched as I-"

"No, there was no sitting back, and in fact that moment is what caused us to have to flee since Adrienne fought against God themselves for that."

A whistle sounds out and everyone turns to the person it came from, the other purple-haired. "S-sorry, continue." They shove their hands into the pockets of their jacket and Adrienne turns back to Uno with a sigh. "There was nothing we could do without having power stripped from us, but we made it known we were never going back up there. I don't regret it, but don't ever say we let anything happen. We have had enough conversations about that while waiting for your proper return." Adrienne's anger booms through the store, silencing any and all noises. Aria looks down, wringing his hands, the gloves he is wearing making an almost too-audible chafing noise in the quiet. "Alastair… please know that we never gave up on you, we just couldn't risk your life again." "Twice." Adrienne chimes in. "Twice that we thought we had lost you for good, and we couldn't have a third time." 

Uno presses their mouth together in a tight line, wanting to be angry for years of silence and the emotional rollercoaster of seeing that the closest people in your life have been alive this whole time, but their anger is beginning to wane as the tears flow out more steadily and less harsh - twin rivers quietly streaming down their face. "I've just… I've missed you so much…" Their voice croaks and in 0.2 seconds Adrienne and Aria are wrapping themselves around Uno in a tight hug, burying their faces in each others' hair and crying with them to the point their shoulders are shaking hard, as if they couldn't take in the emotions anymore. "We've missed you, too, Alastair. So much." Adrienne whispers, unable to talk anymore without getting choked by her own sobs. It's like a crack in the tension appears and it all shatters and comes down around them, freely letting them reunite and hold each other for the first time in way too long for any of them.

Rosie looks on from her vantage point against the back wall, wiping a hand across her eyes carefully so as not to disturb her makeup. It's almost like she's transported back to that first night centuries ago, looking at and analyzing the royal portraits within Alastair's castle and now seeing the very same figures brought to life in front of her. She feels someone shimmy up to her side and sees Ferdinand in her peripheral, looking on at the family as well.

"How on earth did you escape?" Rosie hisses at Ferdinand, keeping her voice low to not disturb the moment across from them. Ferdinand smirks. "Would you believe me if I said your brother granted me this freedom?" Rosie sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Unfortunately I would believe that. Do note how lucky you are to come out of that further unharmed." Ferdinand looks away from Rosie, and when she follows their line of sight she sees them now staring at the sibling with purple hair. "Trust me when I say I know the luck I was dealt and am grateful for it everyday."

"Hmm, he seems alright, but of course has nothing on Maxie!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Rosie snickers and looks back at the siblings, only to see them all talking and staring back at her, wiping their faces down. They go quiet and head towards her and suddenly Rosie finds it very hard to breathe. When Rosie turns to Ferdinand again he's being steered away into the back room by the other purple-haired person in the room who shoots a peace sign her way as if knowing the doom of what was coming next.

"So, you would be the one who got our sibling's life taken away." Aria states, snapping Rosie's attention back to them, his glare rivaling those Rosie has seen from Othello when Maxie and her get up to their antics and mischief. "That… would be me, yes." She doesn't dare blink or speak above a soft tone. Adrienne steps forward then, putting a hand on Aria's arm for them to step back a bit and let her go forward. "You are also the one who has taken care of them and shown them love and respect." Adrienne says, her own glare toned down with understanding, but the hurt is still there and Rosie honestly doesn't blame them. She expects to be smited any minute now.

"I am Adrienne Lilith di Erebos. This is my brother, Aria Lazarus di Erebos, and of course you know our youngest, Alastair Cordelia di Erebos." She gestures to all three of them, holding her head high, coming from practice of a formal royal position. "We know what you have done, but we also know that Alastair condoned all acts and knew of the consequences and while that is the most foolish thing to have ever condoned…" She turns to Uno who is refusing to look up from a suddenly interesting spot on the floor, playing with the sleeve of Aria's shirt much like when they were children. She snaps back to Rosie and sighs heavily, wiping a hand down her face. "Even though it was an utterly ridiculous act to do… we understand. It hurts to understand, and we are not quite okay with everything yet, but we can start with something."

Adrienne kneels down on one knee, Aria following suit, to get on eye-level with Rosie before smiling at her. "Welcome to the family, Rosette."

Rosie's eyes turn gigantic at the sentiment, already watering again. "Y-You can call me Rosie, actually." Rosie responds, voice barely above a squeak as Uno smooths a hand over her back comfortingly.

"I like it. Adri, Ari, Aly, Rosie - you fight right into the mix."

Rosie grins. "Well it's actually a lot more fitting than you think, for you see there's also Maxie, and Ori! 'Thelly, Tottie, Ninnie, Bacchi, Fenny…" Rosie trails off when she sees the confused looks from the siblings. "Ah, right, yes, you wouldn't know of my own family. Um, just, very happy to see the continuation of fitting in!"

And then a miracle happens: Aria laughs. "Well hey, we have plenty of time to hear about them now, right? No more secrets?" Adrienne jumps up at that excitedly. "Oh that sounds perfect! We can catch up over some tea upstairs and maybe a late lunch. Icarus come on, let's go tell the others and have things prepared!" Adrienne is already dragging Icarus, the one who was behind the counter, back and up the stairs before even a confirmation of them staying has been settled.

"Yes, and then we can talk about why you were in here today and see what garment I could make for you." Aria offers with a genuine smile on his face. Uno fidgets with the ring on their finger awkwardly, Rosie subtly lacing her pinky with theirs. "Ahaha, right, about that…"

In the shop known as Atelier Celei stories are told in front of a fireplace with teacups in hand that are quickly morphed into wine glasses as the stories go deeper and everyone chimes in with their own perspectives of events. The sun sets eventually and casts its light against the front of the store, illuminating the stained-glass doorways and windows in warm tones, reflecting the comfortable warmth of inside and Rosie in turn reflecting upon a soon-future where everyone can get along. ◇