NOVA

No More Running

A cool breeze creeps into the living room of the Haley Manor from the cracked balcony doors. An overwhelming silence fills the atmosphere as Raina and Richard sit across from one another, periodically glancing over at the front door. They haven't heard anything from Ryu or Remy since their departure, and the thought of something bad happening fills them both with worry.

With a deep exhale, Raina combs her fingers though her hair, leaning back against the sofa. Her eyes begin to well with tears as her nerves cause her hands to tremble profusely which Richard notices immediately.

"Raina are you—?"

She holds up a hand to stop him. "I'm fine." She assures with little conviction.

"I'm just worried, and scared. It's been hours and—"

"Hey, hey." Rising from his seat, he moves to sit next to her.

"You aren't dealing with this alone. You can talk to me." He assures, taking a hold of her hands.

"What's wrong?"

She waits for a moment, gazing into his eyes. She becomes lost, falling into an indifferent state of mind. Sensing her need for him, his eyes transition to midnight, and with a soft exhale, he transfers his energy to her creating an aura around her that manipulates the negative energy she's feeling, and re-channels it to an aura of tranquility.

She begins to shake less, coming down from her emotional state of mind. The last thing she needs is to be frightened or anxious with the current circumstances at hand, and even she knows this. As the aura lightens her mood, a faint smile graces her lips as the aura slowly dissipates.

"I know they can take care of themselves, but a part of me feels like this is all my fault. I should've told them when they were younger maybe then this wouldn't be happening."

"As a mother you did what was right for our children. You and I both know they weren't ready to receive that information, nor would they be able to understand it, Raina."

"So, you don't think I'm a bad mother for—?"

"Hell no." His words sincere. "You protected them from the truth for as long as you could, but eventually you had to rip the Band-Aid off, and let them deal with it."

"But we lied to them, Richard." Something she regrets. "We promised them that we would come back to them, but there is no coming back."

"And they know this, trust me." Brows furrowing, palm gracing her cheek. Thumb brushing against her cheek.

"They're adults now. We couldn't protect them forever, and you couldn't keep the truth from them forever either."

A soft breath escapes her lips as his words resonate with her.

"You're right. I just— I thought we'd have more time with them." The cracks in her voice prevalent.

"I thought we'd be able to see them become the people we know they could be. I thought we'd be able to grow older with them."

"And now it's eating you alive."

A nod confirms his words to be true, unable to speak with the tears welling in her eyes.

"It's eating me alive too, but you want to know something?"

"What?"

"We raised two amazing children. Yes, they may feel like this is a betrayal, or that it's all a crock of shit, but that doesn't change the fact that we're doing this to secure them a future in which they don't have to go through what we went through to keep them safe for as long as we did."