My Guardian

Chapter 26 - The Impossible Reality

I couldn't breathe. Mum couldn't be Cupid. Cupid was a mythological god! How...? Not only is Cupid a Mythological god, but he's a guy! Everyone else was just as shocked as I was. Except Dad. Dad was neutral.

"Dad... you already knew, didn't you?" I realised. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.

"Yes. I did know..."

"Why didn't you tell me that day you came into my hospital room with baby Ciara in your arms?" I asked. He should have told me if he knew... I felt so disappointed that he didn't tell me.

"You were only ten years old Belle. You wouldn't have understood..."

"I spent years trying to figure out why she had left. I thought it was my fault. But it turns out to be business? I just wish I had have known." I stated.

"But what about Belle inheriting your job? How does that happen?" Jack asked.

"I thought it would just happen when you turned eighteen, like it did for me. That's why I promised to come back for your eighteenth birthday, to pass it down. But then you died and I freaked out! I thought that there wasn't going to be a Cupid anymore. But now... I know that it was just a different kind of way of you becoming Cupid! Your death was just the ending of your human life..." HUMAN LIFE?!?!?!?! It all made so much sense! But why was I still so confused? I guess it was just taking a while to click into place. How could my human life be over? And if it was over, then what was I now?

"Human?" Tooth asked.

"Yes."

"So what is she now?" Bunny asked.

"I don't know..." mum said. Oh great! After all of that, and we still don't know what I am! I'm not human though, apparently. I was actually freaking out a little.

"She had to search for her true self. And it wasn't until she fell in love with Jack that she found it," mum explained. Wait a second!

"Search!" Jack and I exclaimed at the same time. That's what Manny meant when he said 'search'! Search for my true self! Jack and I just beamed this massive smile to each other. Goodness Manny had confused me when he had said 'search' because it had been so long ago and it hadn't made any sense whatsoever then. But it was after Manny had said 'search' that I began to focus on myself more. I had become healthier in body and mind, suddenly more interested in looking after msyelf. I suppose that had all been in preperation for this.

"I think... I'm not sure, this is just a guess... but you could be a spirit-goddess," mum explained. I just froze. Everyone did.

"What?!" I yelled/ chuckled nervously out of shock. A spirit?! And a goddess?! What kind of responsibilities came with being a goddess? I had read about them in books and hoped I would not have to be like that. Too much to handle for one being, espeically me.

"So... am I a ghost?!" I asked. Mum shook her head and attempted to smile.

"No! You did die, but you aren't dead at the moment. You're just in a different form."

"So I'm Cupid in spirit form?" I asked. I was still so amazed. Cupid?! Me! And I'm a spirit too! Oh perfect. Just perfect.

"That's what it seems like," Dad said. Suddenly shock came over Jack and his grip tightened on my hand. I looked over at him and he seemed lost in sudden thoughts.

"How long, do you think, will Belle live?" he asked. That question hit me really hard in the stomach, causing it to drop. How long would I live? Would I live a normal life? Would I randomly just die at thirty? What the hell was going to happen to me? I didn't know how much of my life I would be able to live. Whether I would have time or even the ability to have children!

"I don't know. This hasn't happened to any of our ancestors. I live a normal life, that's why it's passed down. But you rose from death! I can't possibly say how long you'll live for," mum explained.

"That's why you have to live each moment like it's your last," Thomas said. He and I just shared a smile.

"If she's risen from the dead without aging at all, then she may just... live forever," dad explained. Forever? I looked over to Jack and he just half smiled, unsure of whether to take that as good or bad news.

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live forever? You can do everything. And you can see everything. But what about after? After everything? What do you do then? You may think that you'll live for a thousand years. When really, you'll live for hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of years! How the hell are you supposed to spend millions of years?! Think about it. Seriously sit there for five minutes and think about it. Your parents and siblings? Will grow old and die while you stay the way you are for eternity. Ever wanted kids? You can have them but they too will grow old and die. That newborn baby you saw in the hospital? Will work one day, get married have kids, die. Everything around you would just die and... I just didn't know how I would be able to live like that. It sounded so lonely. How... What... Why me...?

Suddenly, I got feeling back into my hand as it was squeezed and I zoned back into reality. That's when I realised... Jack is going to live forever. The Guardians, they'll live forever. That's only if I do end up living forever. Jack smiled at me, knowing what I was thinking. I could see in his eyes that he knew I was scared. I wondered if it was that obvious. I needed to get my mind off being scared.

"So... where are my bow and arrows," I nervously half chuckled. If I was going to be Cupid, shouldn't I get arrows that make people fall in love? Mum just laughed. What? It was a decent question!

"The bow and arrows aren't used to make people fall in love. Someone saw the original Cupid with them and assumed that was what they were for," mum recovered, shaking her head.

"Then what are they for?" Bunny asked.

"They're used to protect you. They're your weapon. Just as North has his swords and Bunny has his boomerangs, you will have a bow and arrows. You don't carry them around with you either. They appear when you feel you need them."

"So what do I use to make people fall in love?" I asked.

"Belle..." mum walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. Her eyes... they screamed seriousness.

"You can't make people fall in love. No one can. Not even Cupid. Everyone thinks it's Cupid's job to make people fall in love. When really it's just their job to put the spark there. The seed. The potential for love to grow. To help people along. People fall in and out of love everyday and it is your job to help them."

"Help them fall out of love?"

"If they are capable of falling out of love with someone, then their love was never true. It is Cupid who helps people find their true loves; the one's that will never leave them. After a few practise runs and heartbreaks so they can learn from them and become stronger," mum explained.

"What about Valentine's day? Why does everyone always relate Cupid to being there on Valentine's day?" Jack asked.

"Cupid has been around ever since Eros and Pysche. Long before St Valentine. Valentine's day is the day to celebrate love and Cupid. Did people fall in love before St Valentine wrote that letter? Of course! For as long as people have fallen in love, there has been someone there to protect that love." This was a lot to take in.

"How am I supposed to be there for people who can't see me?" I asked. Mum dropped her hand off my shoulder and walked back to dad. That wasn't her area of expertise.

"Jack was there for you when you couldn't see him. We were there for you when you couldn't see us," Tooth explained. Sandy nodded.

"Oh," was all I could manage. I would help people who couldn't see me... I suppose that wasn't so bad. 

"So Belle is now Cupid?" Bunny asked for me.

"Yes." I took a few steps towards mum.

"Mum, I don't know what I'm doing," I said. Mum smiled and grabbed my hands.

"You'll learn." Was all mum said in return. This could only make me smile as I looked around the room. Everyone smiled back and I knew that they'd be there for me. All of these people, they had sacrificed so much for me. I could never repay them. And now I'm Cupid.

Here I come world.