Olivia's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Surprised princess?" Edmond said as he released a very confused Marek from his embrace. "Yes!" Edmond started laughing as he pulled up a chair. "Honestly you saved me the trouble of trying to figure out how to tell you without sounding crazy! Who knew you were trying to track us down?!"
"No... I mean, I kinda was looking for Vaidehi... Don't get me wrong, I was kinda curious to see who you were now but... men? Sakura did give me a hint but... I... men!" Olivia said as she tried to wrap her brain around the idea. "That's right princess, why so surprised?! We wished it hard enough to be able to protect Sakura in the next life it just worked out that we are protecting her great-great-great-grandchild. Hey now don't give me kind of look I know there are a lot of greats left out and I ain't correcting myself!" Edmond said in a huff but still kept that playful mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"Marek do you remember anything from your past life?" Olivia said with anticipation. Marek looked at the two and had the urge to back away but Edmond was too quick and placed his hand on top of his shoulder, keeping him firmly in place. "Sorry princess he and Vaidehi won't remember a thing. I'm actually surprised he even feels he's forgotten something."
Olivia deflated and gave Edmond a side glance. "How do you explain your memory recovery then?" Edmond gave her a toothy grin and wrapped his arm around Marek's shoulder as he sat down beside him. "She came to me while I was comatose. Found out a lot of interesting facts about my past self and how my beloved Samantha is actually Earie reincarnated. Honestly what a beautiful love story I wished to be a male, he wished to bare my children... just fantastic!"
Marek started to sweat as the seconds passed by. Olivia sighed and made Edmond take his arm off of Marek's shoulders. "Marek don't mind us we aren't crazy, we... are just talking about things you don't know and that's fine. I'm just glad your living the life you wanted." Olivia said sincerely. Marek tensed up, part of him wanted run as far away from these people as soon as possible but the other part compelled him to stay.
"No... I will stay." Marek mumbled as he dropped his gaze to the ground. Edmond pulled him into another embrace. "My sweet... Marek your just as wonderful as before!" Edmond said cheerfully. "So can you catch me up on everything?" Marek said in a strained tone. "Holy friggin' cheese Marek you want in on our little circle?!" Edmond said as he finally let go of him. "Even though it could be somewhat unbelievable?" Olivia said as she reached out and grabbed his hand. Marek nodded his head. "I will choose what to believe in and I want to believe in the two of you."
"Alright, it's like this." Olivia started.
....
Marek started pacing the room as he tried to take the new information. He would stop every once in a while, mumbled something and then go back to pacing. "Marek you know it doesn't matter if you believe us, it won't hurt my feelings. I just need to complete this mission as soon as possible or else the curse passes along to my little ones."
Marek agonized over everything in his head and slumped down onto the floor. He crossed his legs and drummed his fingers on his knee. "So let's say I believe every word you just told me and let's say hypothetically I have seen blips of what you just told me in my dreams... How can I even help you find Vaidehi? What is the point in tracking us down if Sakura has already told you that you have accomplished parts 1 and 2 of your goal?"
Olivia bite down on her lip and fiddled with her fingers. "Honestly I don't know... I kinda hoped that you guys would have some kind of clues to who Vaidehi was - I mean, who she is now. Rather then me guessing alone."
Marek sighed as he scratched the back of his head. "Eli knows everything doesn't he?" Olivia groaned as she dramatically laid back down onto the bed. "Of course he does but I have no idea what he thinks about it all or even if he truly believes me! Right now everyone's hands are full with Agni and I can't pull them into this. I guarantee you that the ones who know about this think I'm crazy, oops sorry except you Edmond."
Edmond stretched himself out as he yawned. "Honestly I think it would be better if we just killed Agni, Falicia or whatever the f*ck her real name is." Olivia shook her head. "Justice needs to prevail, we need to believe we are doing the right thing and that we can unmask her successfully." Edmond rolled his eyes. "Who cares, she has the police in her pocket, she has the media wrapped around her finger and most importantly she is a complete sociopath. Dead, alive, rotting in a cell or rotting in hell, could careless. I just want her to suffer and have her blood splatter the pavement... Besides they've kept you out of their plans so can you really say your getting justice?"
Olivia felt the sting of Edmond's words and decided to become silent. "Aww come on princess, you can't be that upset. I mean ya they are making her suffer in their own way and it's quite admirable but at the end of the day she killed my family and she will need to pay with her blood."
"...."
"...."
"...."
"Fine we let them handle it." Edmond said with a pout. "Good. So any ideas on how to find Vaidehi?" She asked the guys, looking hopeful. "It's not like you can put an ad in the paper. Why not just focus on getting through this day, we are not sure what Agni has planned yet and you need that anklet off before you start searching." Marek said as he peeled himself off the floor. Olivia dropped her gaze and went into deep thought. "Alright enough of that I'm starved, what do you guys wanna eat? My treat, I'll go grab it and come right back."
Olivia came back to reality and looked at Edmond, they both grinned at one another. Ready to take advantage. "Can it be anything?" Edmond asked playfully. "Ya sure." Marek answered suspiciously as he raised an eyebrow. "Burgers! Lots and lots of burgers! With bacon and everything! Onion rings with mustard and poutine! A real poutine though not that fake crap with shredded cheese, gotta be cheese curds and dark gravy!" Olivia started ranting as saliva started to pool in her mouth.
"Different types of burgers too! I wanna see fish, chicken, lamb." Edmond started to list meats off but Olivia could barely hold in her excitement. "Oh yes lamb! I want lamb! I never had a lamb burger before but yes!" Marek was momentarily stunned by the two that he forgot to breathe. When he finally came back to senses he couldn't help but double over and laugh. "Alright, alright! So I'm gonna get this delivered instead, forget me leaving! I won't have enough arms to bring this all back!"
After 20 minutes, the three finally had their order set up in Marek's food delivery app. "Wait! Are you even allowed to have this kind of food?" Marek asked as his finger hovered over the complete order button. "Who f*cking cares! The woman is pregnant and she needs her food!" Edmond said as he snatched the phone away and completed the order.
"Besides after what happened yesterday do you even think she's going to trust the people who give her food here? Unless your willing to take a bite of everything for her to make sure it's fine, be my guest! That is... if your able to pry it out of her hands." He said as he used his thumb to point behind him. Marek looked over and saw that Olivia's mind had started to wonder as she hugged her pillow. She looked completely happy with the world. "Nope." Marek said as he looked back at Edmond. "Good call."
.....
"I ate too much..." Marek complained as her crumpled a burger wrapper and tossed it onto the table. "Princess I'm sorry it was only a little bite... please don't cry any more. Look you can take a bite out of my fish burger." Edmond said as he slowly brought a burger up to Olivia's face. "No... it's not the same!" She wailed as she took another bite of her own double patty, crispy bacon, chicken burger. "But it's fish! You love fish! Look it's even got tartar sauce on it."
"Why did you take such a big bite from my burger..." She sniffed as she reached out and grabbed her strawberry milkshake. She brought the straw to her mouth and sucked. She was puzzled, all she got was little drops of shake and air. "It's all done..." She said as she put it back on the table. "Look you can have mine, so please forgive me?" Edmond pleaded as he past the shake over. Olivia looked at the shake then the burger. "and two bites of the burger too?"
Edmond groaned. "Sure two bites too." Olivia's face completely lite up as she took two giant bites of the burger and snatched the shake away. "What the hell is this?! You ate half my burger!" Edmond shouted as he pointed at his food. Olivia shrugged as she sucked bake some strawberry shake. "Then don't steal my food."
"You are nothing like Samantha. I can share anything with her and she would take the tiniest of bites!" Olivia rolled her eyes and happily drank her shake. "Hey." She said casually while Edmond shielded his food and stuffed the rest of the burger into his mouth. "Wut?!"
"I think Marek got the itis." Edmond moved his gaze towards Marek and had seen that he had slide down part of the chair and his head slumped to one side. "That's an understatement! I mean the guy ate two times faster then us! Where the f*ck does he put it all?!" Olivia let out a small chuckle then started to feel drowsy. "I'm gonna rinse my mouth out before I take a nap too." Olivia said as she rubbed her right eye.
"Okay, but don't blame me if the rest of the foods gone because you're both light weights." Olivia waved her hand in indifference and dragged herself off the bed and towards the bathroom.
When she got back she saw that Edmond slipped off the bed and was sitting on the floor with his back against the bed. His head hung forward and soft snoring sounds could be heard. "Champion!" She said lazily as she raised her arms in victory.
Since no one heard her, her victory was short lived. She dragged herself back towards the bed and slid under the covers. Sleep seemed like the best reward.
...
It was dark, she could only see herself and no one else. She started to run and the sounds of her feet hitting the floor echoed throughout the void. She didn't know where she needed to be but forward seemed to be the best option.
Olivia would zig zag, took a left then a right then tried running backwards but the abyss refused to let her go anywhere. "Ah....vi... Oli... ah.... Olivia!" She faintly heard a familiar voice.
Olivia planted her feet, sucked in as much air as possible could and let out the loudest yell she could muster. "EDMOND! EDMOND, WHERE ARE YOU!" She placed her hands on to her knees as she doubled over to catch her breath. "Olivia!" He shouted this time, causing Olivia to look up in the direction she heard it come from.
Just ahead hairline lights started flickering on a wall and she raced over to it. As she approached it, she raised her hand towards it so to gently touch the lights but wall came crumbling down.
Infront of her was a busy street, people were walking in every direction as the sun beat down on her. "Olivia!" She turned around and saw a young boy with bronze skin, black hair and copper eyes. "Edmond?" She asked as the little boy crossed his scrawny arms over his chest. "Ya!" Olivia couldn't help but ruffle his hair. "You were a cutie when you were young." She teased.
"What do you mean I was a cutie? I still am!" He said as he flashed her a toothy grin. "Right." She answered as she rolled her eyes. "So where are we?" Edmond grabbed her hand and started dragging her away from their spot. "Who knows, who cares but we gotta find Marek."
"Marek? Wait, wait, wait already! Do you know what's going on?" Olivia said as she finally pulled her hand free from his grasp. Edmond shrugged then grabbed her hand again. "Ya kind, sorta, maybe, okay I don't know but it's a feeling I have and my gut says find Marek!" Edmond dragged Olivia to a small shabby looking park, not too far from where they were. "Slide!" Edmond shouted as he released Olivia and ran forward. "Edmond wait!" She called out as she ran after the young, giggling boy.
"Slide, slide, slide! Let's go down the slide!" He said as he reached the tube slide. Olivia climbed up some shaky stairs and took a step onto the platform where the opening of the slide laid. "Let's slide together!" He shouted merrily and waited for Olivia to sit down first. "Alright, alright." She said as she sat down and patted her thighs. Edmond carefully sat himself down and grabbed Olivia's arm. He wrapped it around his waist and started to laugh. "On the count of three!"
"Okay, one..." Olivia started her count and noticed the tube slide started to rumble. "Two..." A faint light started to glow from within the tube. "Three!" Edmond shouted and the tube slide lifted upwards forcing Olivia and Edmond to slide down. Air rushed past the both of them as they twisted and turned within the slide. Olivia's hair whipped backwards while Edmond let out a delightful laugh.
The light started to glow brighter and soon enough, it engulfed the two. They soon found themselves tumbling into some dense moss. Olivia groaned as she sat up, she looked around and found herself completely submerged. With great difficulty she hauled herself up and searched the surrounding area. She saw Edmond's feet sticking up while the rest of his body sunk into the moss. "You okay?" She shouted as she tried pulling herself out of the whole.
She saw that the feet disappeared and two giant hands appeared. "Ya I'm fine." Edmond said as he pulled himself out. "You've grown." Edmond looked down at his body and smiled. "That's more like it! But where are we?" Olivia kept her body close to the moss as she army crawled forward. "No idea."
"Finally, we can start our meeting." A sweet voice said. Edmond and Olivia both looked at the direction it was coming from. There sat Sakura on a giant toadstool, happily watching the two struggling to get out. "Marek?" Olivia called out and saw him sheepishly wave hello as he sat on a small toadstool next to Sakura. "Congratulations you found Dhara but it does you no good. I already told you that you helped them, the final key is Vaidehi." Sakura said as she called up another two small toadstool.
She is waited for Edmond and Olivia to finish crawling out of the moss before she continued. "My sweet sisters and my beloved granddaughter. It is great to see you together but us meeting so soon is nothing but ominous."