Fighting Over Love

Chapter Four

Sophia sighed as she looked around the room. Everyone was busy doing something. Really, it was just a party held in the castleship for the people of the planet. And Sophia sat at the top of the stairs, sketching. She still couldn't get the dream out of her head. She was tired of the thoughts about what she was, and now she wanted to know what that gemstone was doing in her dream.

"Are you not gonna join the party?" Sophia looked up as Lance looked down at her.

"No. I don't feel like partying right now," she replied and watched as he sat beside her. She nearly asked him what he was doing, when he kissed her right on the lips. Sophia's eyes went wide as their lips touched before Lance pulled away. Sophia watched as he got up and headed back down to the party.

"What......." she whispered to herself and blushed at the thought. She had never been in love before and had never kissed a guy. She got up and hurried to the library, where she bumped into Pidge.

"Sorry!" Sophia yelped and hurried back into the tall book filled area. Pidge followed her,

"What happened?" Sophia took a breath before letting it spill.

"Lance kissed me," she said. Pidge shook her head at the words.

"What?"

"He kissed me."

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When Pidge left, Sophia had managed to calm down. This was a crazy day. First the dream, then the party and then getting kissed by Lance. She didn't believe it at first, but now she did.

"This makes no sense," she told herself. She grabbed some books and sat down, starting to read. The first book was simple, all about gemstones and minerals. She flipped to the page on Golden Beryl and looked it over before shutting the book.

"That won't even help me anymore," she said, getting the second book. And this one interested her.

"Spirits, monsters, and other creatures of Earth tales," she read. Opening it revealed a whole world she had missed. Creatures like the Baba Yaga and Griffins, Banshees and Sirens. Reading through the pages until she found a human-creature. She was a nature spirit. Her father had been human, but her mother was a spirit. Sophia let her wings unfurl, before seeing little vines and leaves growing along her feathers.

"What?" She watched as they softly glowed before her feathers were embroidered with flowers.

"I have to show this to the others," she said as her wings faded. Getting up, she rushed to the main hall and called to her friends. All of them hurried up the stairs to meet her.

"What is it?" Shiro asked. Sophia unfurled her wings to show the new pattern of them.

"Woah. That is awesome looking," Lance said, looking at the little flowers. Sophia nodded,

"I think I might be a nature spirit." No one disagreed with her. They all nodded and hugged her. And she didn't mind it at all. This was something new for her, and she wanted to know more about herself. So she returned to the library and grabbed the spirit book, looking over the cover one last time.

"Time to learn more about my second half, I guess," she whispered and took the book to her room.

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She remained on the ship the next day as the others headed off on another mission. Reading through the book section on nature spirits.

"I see you have found out, huh?" A voice asked her. Sophia put the book down as a female spirit sat on the end of the bed. She appeared just like Sophia, but with longer hair and vines tangled in her hair like a crown.

"Yeah. I suppose I have. Uhm... Are you my mother?" she asked. The woman nodded and smiled weakly.

"And you are my daughter. Your father, he didn't want his daughter to know about me. And I knew it was for the best since the spirit world was far too dangerous at the time you were born," she said. Sophia tilted her head.

"You see, the spirits were being hunted by a very very dark force. And I left you with your father to protect you from it. I had once given him a very important stone, a piece of Golden Beryl carved into a heart. And I watched as he married a human woman when you were young, before giving you the gem as a necklace," her mother said. Sophia bit her lip.

"You weren't mad at him for that?" she asked. Her mother chuckled.

"Of course not. It was what I told him to do," she said before holding up a necklace. It was the one Sophia had once lost, the same beryl gemstone.

"My necklace," she said softly before tearing up, "Thank you for..... For -"

"No. Thank you for growing up to be a sweet young woman," her mother cut her off, leaving the necklace on the bed before she faded away.

"I love you mother," Sophia whispered and pulled on the necklace. With this in mind, Sophia went to the main room to greet her friends as they returned.

"Welcome back, guys," she said, hugging them. Lance kissed Sophia on the cheek and then so did Keith before they walked off. Sophia held back her blushing and small squeak of love, grabbing hold of her necklace as though it would protect her. I couldn't fall in love with them both! It's not right! But Sophia heard something else. A voice in her head.

Don't worry, sweetie. I loved your mother and your stepmother.

Her father's voice. She teared up and sighed, before turning and following the others. This was something she had to write down. She had heard her mother and father in one day!

"Oh boy," she whispered as she looked at her friends.

"How do I tell them about this?" she asked herself.

Just let the words talk for themselves, darling, her mother said. Sophia nodded and walked into the room.

"Everyone, I need to say something," she said, "I..... I've met my real mother and spoke to her and I.... I've heard my father's voice again."