The Queen's Return

"Are you aware of this, Serena?" Inside the airport deport, a lady in a fatherly white dress grabbed Serena's hand, her own feeble. "It's not necessary to return to Lamina," she pleaded. Her vast face and blue marble eyes were jumping with a last-ditch request, "Please. Remain here, with us." Serena Powell, a face of warm elegance, met her Forster parents' gaze. She forced her into a deep emotional hug, her own eyes crying. "I have to return, Mom," She said gently."But I'll not take long. I promise." But as the plane landed on the runway, she understood this was promise she couldn't keep. A few days ago, the reservoir of her recognition had smashed. Nine years flooded away in a second, disclosing the sincerity of her dark past. She recalled she was Serena Powell, firstborn daughter of the esteemed Powell family of Pergularia.At nineteen, a jaunt a broad had concluded in a flaming craft crash. By some favour, she held out, only to be rescued by a caring couple who, believing she was barren, kept her as their daughter and brought her up as their biological. Now, at twenty-seven, the past came hunting her back. Her blood family existed. The burden of that knowledge was an ethical guide she couldn't disregard.She had to return home. The couch was very long, but a cozy sleep was an alien concept. Serena spent nine hours mending together the broken moments of her family. It all seemed like a peculiar, arresting dream from a different lifetime. **** At exactly eight past 15, at night, Serena landed in Pergularia. She flagged down a brown cab, and the blonde-haired driver greeted her with a smirk Pergularia ascent."Going where, miss?" A soft smile landed on her lips." 77 Ma Pinecrest Avenue, please." "Well, I will be," the driver replied, catching her thick accent." You don't seem local. You look like a tourist." Serena's smile softened."My origin is from here. It's just..." The soft smile faded, resh hope passing her eyes and renewed optimism in her gaze. "The period has been long." Nine years, A lifetime. Everything she knew vanished She found herself emotional, thinking about her two sisters and her only brother- the joyous moment, the midnight chats, the way they cuddled together on Chilly nights."Where could they be now?"She wondered."Are they really okay?" As she eroded into her memories, the driver kept lamenting how children these days kept visiting their parents regularly. He didn't cease chattering until they alighted at that address. But as Serena walked out of the cab, her marbled eyes gazed on a night club she didn't recognize -Crimson Thirst. She gazed at the twinkling sign, her life knitting together. The place felt distant, strange in her trembling lips. The world has evolved on without her. Just as she was about to leave, a fierce clash at the mysterious club's exit caught her eye. A heavy man stood there, hands in his pockets, lazily. He had a face that spelled emotional wreckageand his gloomy voice spat the air like a blade, laced with cold indifference. "Get the message," he was talking to a young teenage girl who looked plainly emaciated in her local dress."You're a walk-in replacement. Do I have to call it out in your ears?" The teen's eyes were filled with a dam red, her blonde face lured with tears." Albert, I have informed you," she said. "I'm not in my right condition, so I'm not willing to go to the hospital to donate blood?" "Not feeling well?"Albert Stone let out a loud laugh. He grabbed her cheek, forcing her to concentrate his gaze."Is this the reason you're here, selling bear? Or are you selling something else, Laura?" Laura Powell's lips tightened. With a sharp pain, her left hand flew on his cheek. "You're the biggest monster, Albert," she stabbed, her voice irritated with rage. "I owe no one. It's over. Now stay away from me!" Albert's face snapped sideways from the blow, but the frozen grin stayed on his face. "You don't have the right to decide when it's over," he scoffed. "Did you forget everything? Were it not for my father's engagement to yours four years ago, the Powells would have gone bankrupt. You want to forget everything? Welcome. Be my guest. But I would love to know what your parents would say concerning this." Immediately, he picked her up and dragged her inside the parked car. "If you wish to be my fiancée, you will actually do as I say. Eliza needs your blood to survive. It's the only thing you signed for anyway." A wave of shock washed over Laura's face. She closed her lips, defeated. To her, life has always been this way. Four years ago, she believed she was a saviour. She'd thought they cared. But it was all hidden lies. Albert saw her as a breathing, free medicine cabinet for Eliza - the love of her life. In the name of "Survival," she had to visit the hospital every month to donate two units of blood for Eliza. And when she halted to do it, her father slapped her severely for bringing up the issue. Just as Laura was forced to board the car, a frozen, sharp voice cut through the din. "Leave her alone." Albert froze, bending his head to face the voice whose gaze was grinding, gorgeous as steel. "Who are you again?" Albert asked. "This is a family matter." But when Laura heard the familiar voice, the earth seemed to move under her. It was a voice she recognized fast in her mind, a voice from a life partner she was made to believe she vanished. She looked at her, her body gleaming with doubt. The face - obviously familiar, so achingly, so regal - sent a message in her heart. A feebling hand came out, her own eyes a mask of disbelief. Her lips parted ways, and a single word escaped, a name she only whispered in her dreams. "Serena?" she murmured. "Is that really you?" Serena's look flattened as she gazed at the skinny girl before her. Laura, her second sister, had only been sixteen when Serena left. Now a new adult, she still maintained her sparkling eyes. "It's me, Laura, "Serena said, her voice soft. "I'm finally back." "Sis" Laura wrecked her arm from Albert's hold and buried herself in Serena’s embrace, crying with a grief that threatened to break her. All the past pain of seclusion, of quiet distress, spilled forth the grasped to Serena like a fugitive girl to a lifeline, shaking with astonished face that this was truly a dream, another trick of her mind. Serena grabbed her tight, stroking her head. Ber's soft voice was ready, warm, anchored in the cold storm. "It's alright," she mumbled."I'm finally here now. I'm back, and I'm not going back very soon." Laura cried bitterly until Serena's back was soaked, pulling herself back with a cold of embarrassment, her eyes turned red. "Are you for real?" She murmured. "You're truly here? Am I in a dream?" Serena's heart skipped so fast. "Believe, it's real, Laura. I'm finally back."And she promised that she would scatter the world to the earth before she considers leaving her again. In the meantime, Albert, who had been ignored for some minutes, was utterly confused. 'Sis, ' he wondered.'Laura had one sister. She was the oldest... wasn't she?' "Laura, have you completed your drama?"He secretly chimed in ."We're late. Now." But before he could continue, another rare, sharp voice echoed in the cool air. Albert snapped, his feet whipping on the ground. Serena had thoroughly hit him hard, without turning back. She was listening to his live performance, her anger coiled like a chameleon on a feeble twig. What a serious joke, Serena thought. 'A substitute? Threatened blood donation? What kind of a drama is this?' Then Albert called at Laura's name, and Serena stood forward. Though nine years had passed, she remembered Laura vividly. Her remorseful, vulnerable look triggered Serena's heart. Molesting her family in front of her? To Serena, that was a death sentence. Albert might be asking for trouble he couldn't deal with. "What do you think you are doing?"Do you have any amicable idea who I am?"Weeped Albert. The sharp slap had left his cheek red and painful. "I'm Laura's fiancé! Who do you think you are?" Albert gazed at the angry woman before him, but his face quickly faded. The woman standing before him produced a terrifying venom power. A cold gesture crept over him. "I'm her older sister." Serena pulled Laura behind her."And you had to dare to lay a hand on my family. So, tell me. Do you want to leave here crippled or walking?" Laura sighed, the fear replaced by a surge of relief. Serena was a fortress wall; nothing could destroy her. "Serena, I despise him," she whispered, clinging to Serena's arm. "He is a molester and a monster." That was what Serena needed to hear. She drove her palm into Albert's chest, sending him sprawling down on the ground. "You...you'll pay for what you have cost me!"Albert gasped, yet he could do nothing but run for his life.