Blessed by Night

Chapter 393: Lead Up To The Wedding..

"My love... are you sure that this is what you want to do?"

Serana was staring at the concerned face of her husband staring back at her.

"I put a lot of thought into it, and... yeah. I'm sure I wanna move back in with my mom." She smiled.

"It's.. really sudden." Apophis sighed.

"I know." Serana admitted. "But I think when I was hanging out with everyone at the barbecue, I realized just how much I missed them. Don't get me wrong, I love you and I love your family, but..."

"There's nothing like your original family." Apophis smiled slightly and nodded. "I get it."

"Exactly." Serana smiled. "Your folks... they'll be around forever. Other than Malachi, Luna, Nadine, and Cami, I... I just want to spend as much time with them as I can, you know? Especially the little ones."

Apophis chuckled as he took Serana's face into his hands. "I already said I understood, you don't have to try to convince me any further."

Serana released a small happy noise as her husband's lips kissed the crown of her head.

"Your home and we will still be right here waiting for you when you come back. Please, go enjoy your family."

Serana grinned as she hugged her husband's neck tightly.

"I'll be back to check in from time to time... If I find another bitch in my spot when I come back, I'll kill all four of you."

"I don't doubt it."

Serana gave Apophis one final kiss on the cheek before she picked up her suitcase and skipped out of the room, determined to make herself good and comfortable in her mom's new home.

-

"What the fuck...?"

If Serana wasn't impeccably sure about her sense of direction, she would be certain that she had suddenly arrived at the wrong house.

Because not only was it larger than before, but it was a completely different style too.

"What the fuck...?"

Before Serana could manage to force herself to go inside, she heard the sound of heavy wings beating the air.

Looking over her shoulder, she found Joanne descending from the sky with a backpack in one hand and a grocery bag in the other.

"Serana? Wow, where's the fire?" Joanne asked.

"Fire?" The pink-haired girl tilted her head.

"You're coming to see us twice in two days, must be a fire somewhere." Joanne chuckled as she landed.

Serana just rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha. I know I've been a little absent lately, but I'll have you know that all that is going to stop today! I'm officially movin' back in!" She held up her suitcase.

Joanne looked surprised, but not unpleased.

After a couple of seconds of thinking, she stared at Serana with a look filled with pity. "So... it finally happened, huh?"

"Eh?"

"Don't feel bad, sweetheart. Just because they're gods does not mean they were out of your league. You deserve to be loved and respected even if your dad isn't some sort of ancient god."

"I-I'm not getting a divorce!!" Serana yelled with a red face.

Joanne quickly became quiet. "Oh... No?"

"No!" Serana repeated. "You guys think I'm getting a divorce? And that I married that far out of my league??"

"Well if you're not getting a divorce then why are you moving back in?"

"Because I realized that I missed my family and I wanted to spend a little time with you guys before you all bit the dust!"

"Aww. That's very sweet of you." Joanne looked genuinely touched.

"Never mind now though, because apparently all of you guys think my marriage is destined to fail!"

Joanne smiled harmlessly as she took the young girl under her arm. "No, no, course not. I was just joking around a bit, Shortcake. Everyone knows you all are a match made in heaven."

Serana huffed and rolled her eyes. "God's kinda unconscious right now, so I doubt he's been playing matchmaker."

"What??" Joanne looked bewildered.

"Nothing."

Serana pointed up at the home that was different from the last time she'd seen it.

"What's with the house? Like you said, I was just here a couple of days ago and I'm sure it didn't look like this."

Joanne smiled helplessly as she looked up at the brand-new Tuscan-style mansion.

"Your mom is... spinning around a bit since the wedding is getting closer. She asked Malachi how to make adjustments to the house and she's been doing this ever since. When I left an hour ago, the place was Spanish colonial." Joanne shrugged.

For some reason, Serana didn't doubt that for even a second.

Her mother had spent most of her life as a very ordinary and traditional woman with a very set idea of what she wanted marriage to be like if she ever got married again.

The fact that Sei was two days away from exchanging vows with a young man half her age and six different women, two of whom were also half her age, was probably something that was setting in all at once.

If Serana concentrated, she could almost hear the sound of other ancestors rolling around in their graves.

Joanne opened the front door to let them in and Serana let out an impressed whistle. "Y'know... I always forget how impressive alien tech is."

Joanne just chuckled as she put one of her bags down. "Let's just hope she keeps it this way for the foreseeable future."

"You like it!?!"

Sei slid into view on a pair of cartoonish socks. Her eyes were more excited than either of the girls had seen in years.

"You don't think it's too much or anything, right?? Because I can go and change it if-"

""No!!""

Serana grabbed both of her mother's hands and gave them a firm squeeze. "The place looks beautiful, Ma. You don't need to keep spinning out and changing it."

Sei smiled faintly. "I guess my mind's just been all over the place recently…"

"You're not… having second thoughts, are you?" Joanne asked quietly.

It was clear that she was embarrassed with herself as soon as she asked.

Joanne hated sounding like some insecure, needy woman, but somehow that embarrassing little outburst of hers had just made her seem exactly like that.

"Oh, Jo…"

Sei smiled apologetically as she took Joanne's face into her hands. "I promise you, I haven't reconsidered marrying you or anyone else. I love you, and I love our family. I suppose the reason why I've been in such a spiral lately is because…"

"We're going back home?" Joanne guessed.

Sei just nodded as she hugged her.

"What do you mean you guys are going home?" Serana asked as she put her bags down.

"We decided we were going to go and help some countries rebuild after the wedding… We're heading to Japan first." Joanne answered.

Serana actually gasped.

She didn't think her mom would ever step foot back home even if she got kidnapped and sold there.

Things in this version of Earth must've been way more serious than she thought.

"MOMMMYYYYY!!!"

Suddenly, the girls looked toward the staircase and found a young Camille holding onto her bright blue tablet for dear life.

"Daddy is on TV! He's fighting a superhero!!"