A Past Life

Hikari slid back as Yuri's pole smacked her. A whistle blew and the two backed off. A soft white orin was laying on the side of the arena. "2 points to Indarias, it's 2 to 2." The female orin hummed before scratching the new score into the sand. Hikari fixed her bun and stretched. Her opponent was strong but she was used to this. Yuri and she often sparred to see how far they could push themselves. She would spar with Tsukiyomi, but he was currently doing a dream rescue. Yuri yawned sitting her pole down.

"You done yet, Hikari? I have to go check on Seer. I said I would watch him today while his caretaker was working." Yuri stretched looking up to the glass roof of the dream guard headquarters. Hikari sighed and nodded. There was a rather awkward silence at that. Almost reminding the three that Seer's mom had been missing for a year now. Several holidays had passed. Yuri had been in charge of caring for Seer, but in reality, Yuri was passing the little orin around everyone in Dream Guard had a part in caring for him. And today was the triplets turn...mostly Lumine and |̢̯̱̽̀͂|̜̹͊̓|͕̙͓͉̏̔̈́͋|̤͎̔̒|̼̬͗̽̅͟|͖̣̓́͘͢|̹͊|̡̘̮͊͝͠͝ͅ|͕̻̻͔̂͛̓͛|͂͜|̗̰̖̩͋̈́̎̐|̦̩̩͗̎̕|̞͆|̢̩̺̒̈̀|̛͍͚̼͒͛|̝͖̈́̽|̖̰͔͛͊̐|̛͚͔̦̳̈́̏͠. that was. Aether and Yuri needed a break from child care...

"A tie for today then, Yuri! When are those two coming back? Another hour right?" Hikari asked, watching as Amaterasu slowly stood. The white orin hummed softly drawing a heart in the sand. 

"Tsuki said not to expect him back by dinner. So I highly doubt that. Nightmares are much harder to navigate. You'll learn that over time." Amaterasu hummed, soft white wings shaking to remove sand from them. Hikari nodded. Much like Yuri, Ama and Tsuki were part of the original Dream Guard. They were dubbed the wonder pair. The face of the Dream Guard. The public adored them. They were almost always crowned the couple of the year. Hikari smiled a little. She would love to have a relationship like that. Yuri gently pawed the ground, "I guess that means I should go make dinner for Seer...what do kids even eat? Do I just give him raw dreams or...hm.."

Ama laughed shaking her head, "Oh Yuri! This is why you should never have kids." Yuri laughed nervously tilting her head a bit. She was never one for kids, everyone knew that. Her fan like bauble shook slightly at the thought of even having to raise a kid. Ama however sighed. She and Tsuki were planning on having their first kid this upcoming spring. She was so excited about that. They even got a room ready for it! Toys...clothes...they even had some name ideas. Ama smiled to herself, "Tell you what I can cook today. For everyone. We have a little uh...Family dinner together." Hikari smiled, eager to jump at the opportunity to not have to cook for her and her sister tonight. 

"Sounds great! I'll grab my sister and head over to your place!" Hikari chimed, carefully letting her pink and blue hair fall back down to the floor. Yuri sighed with relief offering Ama a bit of a thank the gods smile. Ama was just happy to help. In all honesty, she often saw the rest of the dream guard as her family. Like Tsuki, she had been around for so long she could barely even remember her childhood. She figured that she would do her best to make all of theirs as perfect as she could.

~~~A few hours later~~~

Amaterasu had prepared quite the meal. Yuri and Seer were the first to arrive. A little baby Seer was bouncing through the kitchen, 'helping' wherever he could. Yuri was trying her best to pull him away but seemingly failed every time she tried. She was...never...the uh..best with communicating...especially with kids. But Ama had the grace of an angel, easily convincing Seer to go play in the other room with a cookie or two. The smells of chocolate cake and steamed buns filled the house. Ama had always been quite the cook. Even if they couldn't properly taste in this form in her favorite dreams she would often take the form of a human just to taste. 

As the doorbell rang, Seer chimed that he would get it. The small black orin pushed open the door with Yuri's help. Hikari smiled brightly down at him. "Oh! Hello, there little guy! How's my best man doing!"

"Aunt Hikari! Hi hi! Did you bring treats!" Seer said excitedly bouncing in a little circle. Yue popped out from behind her older sister, doing her best to hide between Hikari's legs. Hikari ducked down and took a basket out of Yue's mouth before trying her best to maneuver inside with the little one under her. 

"I did I did. But it's for after dinner dear" Hikari hummed leaving the basket in the kitchen. She gently nuzzled Ama in greeting, "Anything I can help with?" Ama nodded motioning to the finished plates. 

"Go ahead and take those to the table. Dinner will start in just a bit." 

While the adults got the table ready, Yue and Seer sat off to the side patiently waiting. Seer had seen Yue in the Dream Guard Headquarters before but they rarely talked. The small purple orin had three spirit wisps that were floating around her head. Seer could almost swear he was hearing small voices from them. Yue was always a strange orin. He must have stared too long at her with his eyes as Yue slowly peaked over and hid behind her hair. In reality...Yue was just really shy. Kinda like him. He didn't get time to make any small talk because as soon as the table was set, Yue ran off to her sister's side to eat. 

Ama waited till everyone was seated before saying a quick word of grace and helping to serve the little ones their food. The night passed smoothly. The adults were talking about boring stuff like relations and stuff. Mostly Ama just interrogating Hikari about anyone she might be dating and Yuri going along. Being the only adult orin at the table without a mate made her the target for these sorts of things. At one point Ama left the table to go fetch the deserts. She hummed softly to herself as she portioned cake on to smaller plates. Her com buzzed on her way back, she activated it expecting to hear that Tsuki was on his way back home. But what she heard was far from that. 

The plate hit the ground and shattered as Amaterasu stood in shock. "Yuri...Hikari. We have to go." She whispered as the com crackled off. Yuri stood with concern rushing to her side, "What happened? What's wrong?" Amaterasu shook her head, tears welling up, "I...We can discuss on the way. They need our help the portal back isn't opening." She said in a hushed voice. Hikari fidgeted looking back at the kids.

"Someone has to stay here with them..." Hikari reminded. Ama shook her head.

"I'm going. Yuri, you should stay behind and watch them. Hikari can come with me." Ama said quickly. Yuri would've protested but was sadly still on break from her last mission. She nodded slightly and wished the pair good luck before watching them run out the door. 

Seer and Yue had stood and walked over to Yuri's side. This was fine. She could take care of two kids for an hour or two! Portals sometimes didn't open...this was normal. She sighed and started to clean up the mess before giving the pair of kids some treats to keep their minds off of things. Yuri turned on some kid shows, watching them fall asleep against her before checking the time again. It had been hours. It was already late into the night...Where were they? Yuri couldn't keep her eyes open much longer and soon found herself joining the others in sleep.

~~~3 days later~~~ 

Tsukiyomi had returned home without Amaterasu. He had been in shock from the nightmare but mostly worried about his mate. There had been no word from the other three. Yuri was still in charge of Seer and Yue. Worry laced her every word. What was happening? Where did they go? Yuri didn't have time to form another rescue team. All she could do was hope they returned. Lumine and Aether had been checking in almost daily to hear any word about their triplet. Yuri had little comfort to her mate and their sister. She wished that she could go in there and find them...but alone? She wouldn't stand a chance. She couldn't sleep, refused to eat. Aether was caring for Seer and Yue on her own while doing her best to comfort Yuri at the same time. It wasn't Yuri's fault...but...it felt like it was...

~~~5 days later~~~

Amaterasu returned covered in nightmare goop. Her wings were torn and dragged behind her, colors faded and a mysterious mist seemed to follow in her wake. She refused to let anyone touch her, simply repeating that they were watching her. Tsuki took her home and Yuri had yet to hear from them since. It had been too long. Hikari and |̢̯̱̽̀͂|̜̹͊̓|͕̙͓͉̏̔̈́͋|̤͎̔̒|̼̬͗̽̅͟|͖̣̓́͘͢|̹͊|̡̘̮͊͝͠͝ͅ|͕̻̻͔̂͛̓͛|͂͜|̗̰̖̩͋̈́̎̐|̦̩̩͗̎̕|̞͆|̢̩̺̒̈̀|̛͍͚̼͒͛|̝͖̈́̽|̖̰͔͛͊̐|̛͚͔̦̳̈́̏͠. had to be presumed missing and until further notice, Yuri couldn't go looking for them. Yuri put curtains over their missing team members' pictures. Three in one year. It felt like just a few days...Yuri sighed looking at the black curtains. She would have to go tell the triplets what happened. She wasn't looking forward to having to deliver that news. Now she had two kids to care for. Normally Ama would be happy to babysit...but...Ama was no longer herself. Tsuki had to take a much-needed break to care for his mate too. What did that leave Yuri with? Who was she supposed to turn to now?

Yuri returned home to two sleeping angels. Yuri could see the pain in Aether's expression. Tears being held back as she delivered the news. Her mate was locked away for the next few days, struggling to cope with the loss. Yuri ran through the motions. Lost on what to do next. How to even start...Parenting was never Yuri's thing. Ama was right about that. Yuri should never have kids. She slowly tucked the pair in. She shouldn't. But she did now. Yuri curled up with them watching them throughout the night. She would do her best for them. For the team. She would ensure Seer and Yue had the best life possible.

Whatever it took.