My Love Triangle: Choose Werewolf Or Demon Prince

"Welcome dear ones! " Hailey yelled as she sighted them just outside her hut.

Her cottage was the biggest and most polished in the small village and just like her, it reeked of splendor. She had a small garden just outside with rose and lavender flowers. The hut was pained and it shone like the sun that shined on it.

The insides were well decorated too, her living room had cupboards on almost all sides where she stacked her crockery.

A wide wooden table stood at the centre of the room with five chairs around it. At the opposite end of the room, she had a small fireplace with an antique just above it.

Luna marveled at how a place could be so simple, yet so delicately arranged that it made it's sparse adornment look even more than it was.

"You have a nice place, ma'am" she complimented as she walked in.

"Thank you, darling, " she responded with a warm smile still on her face.

"Here, have a seat. I was just making lunch; Cottage pie and my favorite raspberry juice."

A sense of Deja vu struck Luna when she heard the meal but she quickly shrugged it off. She had never met this woman in her life… Right?

They helped her prepare her dish and sat down to eat soon after. Luna told her about her time in Arcadia so far. She told her about the meadow and where she feels the darkness came from. She filled her everything in between when she left the meadow and when she arrived here.

“Come let’s take a walk to my flower house, it is very relaxing, you need a little bit of that after all you’ve been through.”

“I’m just going to hang here for a bit,” Helios said, licking his pie covered paw while he eyed another piece on Luna’s plate. “You know, just in case the shadowlings come back.”

Luna chuckled and allowed Hailey lead her way, she didn’t miss Helios jumping at her piece immediately she turned her back. Damn. She loved that rabbit.

When she stepped through the back of the cottage, Luna was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of Hyacinths, it reminded her of the time she spent in the meadow and the flowers that the pixies grew. Luna didn’t know how, but she could tell magic aided their growth just like the flowers in the meadow. Did they have pixies in their small village too? She didn’t dwell too much on it. The fragrance felt like a light kiss on her skin, it was difficult for her to describe the scents that filled her senses but she knew it made her want to throw her worries in the air and roll amidst their petals. Hailey was right. she needed this.

A sea of pink and purple led the road that led deeper into the garden, butterflies of different colors drifted lazily past them each one unbothered by her presence while they snuggled against Hailey’s skin. The Jasmines and lilies were next after the sea of hyacinths, their white petals were a startling contrast from the pink and purple of the hyacinths, they led all the way to the gazebo that sat gracefully in the center of the garden. Climbing roses snaked around the white wood of the gazebo, adding an ethereal feel to the garden that already felt like something out of a fairy tale.

They both sat down in it and Hailey gave her a minute to collect herself before continuing her questions.

"What happened before you got here? Surely you must have some memory of that" Hailey questioned.

"I don't, and it worries me, I didn’t use to have a problem with it, but ever since the darkness came, I’ve been hearing voices… Seeing flashes of people," She sighed. “I don’t know why, but I feel like all this kind of leads back to me and my missing memories. But why now?”

She had tried many times to reach out to whatever part of her head her old memories were locked in—if she had any—but the harder she tried, the more impossible it seemed for her to remember anything.

"Hmmm, now tell me. What do you seek?"

She could feel a dull ache at the base of her neck where the pain from earlier struck her.

"Peace and calm,” She sighed. “I just want to get home. "

Hailey exhaled and closed her eyes as she stood up, she held her hand out and a soft glow emitted from it. The light slowly traveled up her body till she was glowing from head to toe. Almost all the butterflies in the garden drifted towards her, they flapped their wings softly as they all formed a looping circle around her, the different wing colors created an ethereal look to it and Luna couldn’t help but be mesmerized. Hailey looked like a goddess… Maybe she was.

“You can channel light,” Luna breathed out in awe.

“You sound surprised,” Hailey chuckled. “How did you think the girls got their weapons consecrated?”

“Yeah, of course I’m surprised. Helios is the only one that has channeled light in front of me. Why didn’t you join the fight? Why didn’t you chase the shadowlings away with your light?”

“The darkness that plagues Arcadia isn’t mine to fight, it is the Queen’s. I can help as best as I can, but in the end only she can do what needs to be done. Arcadia belongs to the Queen alone.”

“Well, I want to fight. Maybe I’m stupid and I have no self preservation skills but I can’t let this continue to go on. Please, tell me how to summon light.”

“Your emotions are the answer, Luna. They’ve always been.”

“Riiight,” She drawled. “Can you tell me how I can find out where I come from? Maybe get my memories back while I’m at it too.”

"You need to get back to the meadow, the answers you seek are in there.”

"The meadow? It's been taken over by the darkness. Did you not listen to anything I told you? There’s some sort of portal there where all the shadowlings are emerging from. I can’t go back there, that’s suicidal." She said, she could still remember how hundreds of shadowlings poured out from the portal. It made her hands jittery with fear. Maybe she stood a chance if she could access the light, like Helios and Hailey but couldn’t. She couldn’t go back there knowing she would have to rely on Helios to save her because of her own incompetence.

Hailey walked over to her and held her hands to steady them, then lifted her face so she could take her eyes in hers.

"You're strong, little one. I see a lot of dark clouds hanging over you but you've fought your way through everyone of them."

"I'm not." She said. Hailey had a calm to her, and it spread to everyone else around her. "I'm not the strong one. Helios is." She added. "He's always been the one saving me.”

“You’re weak, broken.”

“You are nothing, girl!”

“On my own, I'm weak, broken… I don’t even know who I am… I’m nothing."

Hailey held a finger to her lips to shut her off.

"You, little one are none of those things. You're what you allow yourself to be and I see in your deep beautiful eyes, the ability to be so much more.”

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. You are powerful, Luna. You know you are. Your light will shine forth when you need it, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Your past... or lack of it, don't let it affect you. Focus on the present."

Hailey smiled at her and she could see the sincerity in her eyes. She could see that Hailey didn't make up those words to jeer her up, she genuinely meant them. And it meant the world to her.

"Thanks, Hailey. I don’t think anyone has spoken to me like that before. Thanks for making me believe in myself."

She stood up and hugged her in a long passionate embrace.

Luna and Helios stayed in the village for a few more days, recuperating and resting from the wears and tears of their previous journey, but soon it was time to leave.

"Luna," Helios said from behind her, interrupting her conversation with Annika, they had both warmed up to each other. "All packed and ready."

"What?" Luna asked with surprise on her face. “So quickly?”

"I had the maidens pack a few things for you. I didn’t have a lot of things to take along."

Luna spotted Hailey coming up and she ran over to her. "Thank you, Hailey. For everything."

They left not too after. There was a lot of crying and goodbyes as they left. Even though their stay was short, she did bond really well with the maidens and most especially, Hailey. Her feeling of deja vu always acted up around her. Hailey had a familiar feel to her, like she knew her from some distant past. For the first time in a while, she felt what it was like to have a mother and it felt good. Her hugs and smile had therapeutic effects on Luna.

They seemed to walk up to her and say, "You've got this" every single time she began to doubt herself. She left the village feeling a lot better, her fear extinguished, replaced with an inner peace and a courage she never knew she had in her. She was almost certain that now she could fight back, fight the darkness.

It didn’t matter that she hadn’t She wouldn't need to rely on Helios so heavily anymore. She wouldn't be that scared little girl that shrieked and ran when the shadow monsters showed up.