Page 66 of Celestia, Year Four

She immediately broke into sobs, holding me nice and tight in a hug. "My brave, sweet daughter."

"Don't cry, Mom." I continued to hug her and whispered. "Thank you for asking for me."

That just made her cry harder, and I let my own tears fall.

I had to tell her now, especially with how unpredictable the next week was going to be. Now that I was back, I was putting everyone at risk, even though Odion was cloaking my energy the best he could.

The sooner we got this over and done with the better, but from this moment onward, every action counted towards the final outcome of this battle.

After my moment with Mom, I moved onto my dads. Each of them looked relieved as I hugged them. They each praised me for my strength, knowledge, patience, and open-mindedness,right before Harrison started saying how I got all those skills from him, which led to the four of them to arguing and Mother having to scold them.

Clearly, I'd gotten all those genes from her.Or that’s what she told them.

Once they had settled their little dispute, Mother instructed me to meet them in the battle room to get me fitted for a different set of armor.

My old armor wouldn't be a good match now that I also carried dark magic and would need to be altered. Esme recommended the change and would be able to help with some of the pieces and let Momo bring them up to add to the final ensemble.

They soon left me alone and the guys finally arrived.

"Celestia!" Caio and Cairus cheered together and were the first to tackle me.

"Caio! Cairus! I missed you guys. Did you race here?" I giggled and watched them pull back to catch their breaths.

"Maybe," they both replied.

"They did. See, can't even be romantic and kiss Celestia after not seeing her for almost a month. I thought I was gonna die."

I grinned at Finn who reached my side and immediatelywrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.

"Where did he get the sudden confidence from?" Theo sighed.

"Please. He was crying every night, soaking his damn pillow. I had to do laundry every day," Hunter muttered, and I snickered, breaking the kiss as Finn groaned.

"Hunter! You're making me look totally uncool dammit!" Finn huffed. He turned back to me and gave me one quick peck on my lips.

"I'll bother you when we get inside. I'm gonna punch Hunter for making me look like a fool. I missed you, Cutie Pie."

"I missed you too, Lucky Charms." I smiled and gave him another hug. Once he walked back to pester Hunter, Theo strode forward and embraced me.

"Welcome back, Celestia." He whispered against my neck and kissed his blessed mark. I bit my lip hard to hold back my moan.

"You're such a tease," I mumbled. "And I missed you, Theo. You're okay?"

I was referring to his need for blood. Since I wasn't around, he must have been starving. I had gotten Miona to draw some blood before the last trial to make sure if anything happened, Theo would be okay.

"I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for reserving some packs for me." He leaned back to kiss me and I smiled against his lips, kissing him right back.

"Why is everyone getting first dibs before us?" Caio mumbled.

"I know. We were here first," Cairus muttered.

"Because you two were out of breath and would fail at kissing her."

We all turned to Odion who'd answered and just stared at the twins with a bored expression.

Uh oh. How is this gonna go down?

The twins stared at Odion before slowly turning to Orion who walked towards us, leaving Hunter and Finn to their quarreling.

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