Better To Have Loved (M/M/M)

Chapter Two: Asher

     I walked back into town, the fae prince that I met still on my mind. I always walked in the streets, remembering the stories I was told by the elders about how the lines in the roads were for traveling metal boxes called automobiles. There's remnants of them around, pieces of hoods, bumpers, or even tires, yet through fae magic, they've all but rusted or fell apart. There's no more active factories to even reconstruct anything the fae deemed as hazardous to the earth. It's only been about three decades since the war and the emergence of otherworldly creatures. Nobody's quite sure where they actually came from, though some have been said to have always been here. It wasn't that hard for me to believe that they hid from humans all this time. Hell, I would've too if I had the chance.
     I made  it back to my house, the long narrow trailer home with the rusted metal roof and darkened stains from the rain of the past shades the metal trailer in various shades of blue, though I couldn't tell which shade was the original color. The windows were dusty on the outside, the curtains a worn down dusty black to block out the outside light. The wooden door creaked open slowly at first, then flew open with a sense of enthusiasm as my little sister processed who was approaching.
     She was barefooted as always, running down the three wooden steps that led to our door and right into my open arms. She jumped in my hands, and I spun her around, her delightful cheers making a smile cross across my face. She was about the age of ten now, and the way I kept track of it was the time I hadn't spent with my mother. My sister Nadia doesn't remember her too well, since she was only about seven months when our mother died.
      I always see our mother's face in Nadia's, kind almond shaped hazel brown eyes. A nose that's straight and narrow at the bridge and tiny nostrils that were close to her round face. Her hair was in wild brown curls that were never even and never in a tamed behavior. She was wearing a blue dress, the garb woven together from different clothes of the same color. If there was one thing we did learn from the past, it was to make use of things that we did have, always recycling whatever someone didn't have to use to give to the others.
      "Where were you at Asher?" She asked in between her gleeful laughs. I stopped twirling her and looked down at her, not attempting to tell her about the truth. Her view on the fae was different from mine, though I could blame my father for that.

      The majority of me blamed Father for our mother's death, though he'll never really take credit for that ever. I can still remember the accident as if it were yesterday. The memory burned into my mind for all of eternity. My mother was the kindest lady in the city, always looking out for others anyway she possibly could. She was a jack of all trades type of woman, benefitting anyone she could actually be assistance towards. She was a cook, caregiver, gardener, and knew a thing or two about nursing and medicinal practices. All around, one of the best people to have around with life resetting the way it has.
      Our mother, Wanda, was on her own personal mission to mend relationships between the fae and the humans. She believed wholeheartedly that if we showed them that there was a chance of humans learning from their past mistakes and going through redemption that we'd be granted more freedoms, maybe even get a taste of the past life back. She wasn't entirely wrong since she was one of the few humans that wasn't a chief who was able to come and go as she pleased.
       The day of her demise, she was actually speaking to some elementals about living conditions for the humans. She was discussing some fire elementals setting up camp around the town during the winter seasons to provide the town with an unlimited heat source without risking anyone's safety during the snowy times.        Everything was going well on her part actually, negotiations brought three fire elementals to our borders. My mother had this one she called Risha, which she talked to very often. I wasn't sure how they actually understood each other. I just remember Risha being a deep crimson red fire that was shaped as a lady. The flames that made up her hair always ripped around wildly in the air, but it was always there a steadiness to it that let one differentiate the hair from her flaming molten body. Either way though she was the only fae I've grown accustomed to seeing when I was younger and even though my sister can't recall she was warmed up by the fire elementals on many occasions being strapped to my mother's back. The only one who knew of her actual plan was us three because of the fact that she wanted to surprise the whole town with her ingenious idea.
      Mom was sitting next to Risha on that tragic day, setting up a camp, that I wasn't even sure the fae actually needed. Wanda was just being super homely towards our visitors. It was evening, the sun getting lower, which cause Risha to burn brighter to help my mother see things clearer. The down part was that she made herself a clear target for the others around to see. Those with less than reputable views of the fae had their eyes on the glowing light in the woods. What occurred next was non-expectant with the rumbling that came next from the bush from behind us. A shadow came out, charging at us before anyone could react, a shiny substance being caught from Risha's light source. It took a moment for everyone to realize that it was heading directly for Risha. I'm not even sure if these creatures had any actual way to kill them, but the flames that flared up indicated either an intense bout of annoyance or intense pain. The attacker jumped back into the bushes behind my mother, concealing their presence from us just as quickly as they revealed it.
The flames moved like a living being, pouring from the wound, snaking to the ground. The sound of cackling filled the air as the flames hit the ground and slithered by my mother.          It was ethereal to watch as it started to pick up speed towards the attacker. The person tried to scurry backward, tripping within the bushes and cursing aloud, but the flames just traveled faster to their destination, taking upon a life of their own. Once the flames found their mark they started to engulf the bushes, traveling from the ground up to the leaves before plunging straight into it, forcing the attacker to roll out of the bushes in a fit of fury. The man started to scream in pain, half of his body was being abused by the flames from Risha's wounds that seemed to be tightening around his body in a vice grip, the other half of his non burned face letting me see that it was actually my father who was before me.
     My father's body twisted and writhed in agony as he started to scream louder, the smell of burnt flesh and clothes filling the air. He flailed about, trying to pull away from the flames, cursing as his hand grazed over it. He kept twitching as the flames ate into his flesh, causing him the same pain I'm sure Risha was supposed to feel. A part of me wanted to reach out and help him in that moment, but I was frozen in between shock and amazement.
      My mother must have realized before me that if she didn't intervene he'll die because she placed herself on between the both of them, holding out her hands in an effort to calm down Risha and show that she still meant peace. I couldn't tell if Risha was actually looking at my mother or my father, or if she was even registering the fact that her bleeding flaming blood was currently torching my father.
      As if she realized what was finally happening because flames that were on my father that took the initiative to move away first. Acknowledging the fact that the threat was taken care of, the flames went from subduing my father back to their owner, Risha. The only problem was that my mother stood between the elemental fae and her missing flame. Risha's body shuddered as her flame decided to return to its host body in an unconventional manner. The flame that once slithered along the ground leaped through the air, springing from its place right through my mother's abdomen.
The collected breaths from the three onlookers, including my father who was still writhing from his burn wounds, and surprisingly Risha herself, filled the small clearing up with a sound of unison and harmony. Risha reached forward, her hand recoiling as my father screamed out in more pain than when he was burned.
      My mother stood, motionless a whiff of smoke coming from her wound, making me realize that it's been cauterized from the entry and exit point of the flame. The hole was visible from my angle, a baseball sized hole within her, which she tried touching but stopped immediately.
     I was frozen with fear and disbelief as I stared at the wound and my mother's kind, smiling face. She was sure to know that there was a fatal wound inflicted upon her, but there was no rage or shock in her face, not even fear. She just smiled at me, then at Risha, finally turning towards my father.
     "Wanda!" My father screamed out, finally scurrying to his feet in an effort to wobble towards her and hold on to her.
"It's nobody's fault." She said calmly, touching my father's cheek softly. "It was an accident, please remember that."
"Mom..." I choked out between my tears.
My mother turned to me, the light in her eyes slowly dimming away in the glow from Risha's flames. "Nobody's fault." She repeated to me. I nodded at her, her smile beaming upon her face and etching itself into my memory as the last breath of air escaped from her parted looks. My father called her name again, shaking her slightly for a reaction to which there was none. I stared in disbelief at the fact that it all occurred so quickly and that in the matter of a few minutes, there was no more mother for me. She was the light of my life and literally gone in an instance.
I looked up from my father to Risha, the fire elemental, trying to gauge the adult's reaction to the whole situation. There was nothing written across their faces that wasn't upon mine's.
A whimper surprised me from Risha as she started to glow brightly, the flames becoming more and more intense as she just kept flaring up. Her flames started to pour off of her, causing a ring of flames to burn out in a circle around her. A wailing sound escaped from Risha, which surprised me because I didn't even know she could make sounds, I thought my mother just read what she assumed was her facial expressions.
My father scampered away, pulling my mother's body back with him as the flames grew higher, towards the height of a tall human, the fire concealing Risha from my vision. The wail from her grew louder and louder, causing me to pull my hands up to my ears to try to drown out the sound.
An eruption came from the center of the flames, where I knew Risha was standing, and then the flames disappeared, the intense heat dying immediately with it. There was no more elemental there, only black charred earth where she stood.
"That bitch killed my Wanda, and then just vanished!" My father screamed out in anger. "Get back here! TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE." He screamed out. I looked at him, my eyes narrowing as my mother's final request played within my mind. I wasn't going to blame anyone, at least not out loud, though in my heart the fault laid solely with my father. His fear and foolish actions messed up everything. If he wasn't here tonight, my mother would still be alive....

I looked back down at my little sister, her face practically beaming up at me. "I just went for a walk around the border." I answered her. I hated lying to her, my father led her to believe the fae killed our mother, though I never told her the truth. She lost one parent already, no need to lose another, even if it wasn't physically.
     "Find anything interesting?" She asked me. She was always thinking about me having some type of interest in things from the outside world like our mother. She knew I had an interest in geology and herbology, but not that I had an interest with directly connecting with the fae. My personal mission was to find Risha, to figure out what exactly made her vanish the night my mother died. Was she ashamed or scared? I tried asking around but apparently, the fae tended to keep with their own kind. They never revealed their secrets between each other either. It wasn't going to be until I found another fire elemental that I would be able to learn more about what happened that awful day.
     I did find a clue, though, that could lead me to them. Lennox was a sorta tree spirit, and if I recalled anything from school, it was that trees lived for an exceptionally long time, so he had to know something. He seemed as if he was willing to hold a conversation with me. I just had to go into the woods again and see him. The thought didn't scare me at all.