"Shh!! Shh!! It's okay. Mommas got you, Keegan."
"Waaaaaaa!!!"
"Shhh!! Shh!! Shh!! Here's your baby bottle."
*Knock, knock, knock!!!*
"Come in."
"May I come in?"
"Yes. I did say you can….Nightmaster!!! What….uh…what do I owe the pleasure of your acquaintance?"
"You name him?"
"Maybe."
"What did you call it?"
"It's not an It. He's a boy and his name is Keegan."
"Keegan? That's not a very….powerful, I can crush all people at the sheer mention of my name."
"His name means son of fire, and he is not to kill. I will raise him to love all."
"Would Summer approve?"
"I'll have to ask her."
"Hold it!!"
"Night, why is your hand blocking my escape?"
"I didn't say you can escape."
"Waaaaaaa!!!"
"Ohhh…shh!! Shhh!! It'll be alright. There is no need to cry.
May I hold him?"
"Star told me to look after him and keep him away from everybody until they come back. Especially you."
"Star said that?"
"No. Your son did!!!"
"He'll never find out. I just want to feel him in my arms. You can stand by and watch the whole time. That way I can't do anything 'bad' to him."
"I don't know. He's not mine to give."
"Is he yours to keep?"
"Okay. You can hold him for just a little bit but if I feel any tension between you two then I will take him back."
"No problem. No tension!! No tension!!
Hi, little guy. You have your mothers' eyes; did you know that?"
"Aheey!! Aheey!!
"Tickle, tickle, tickle."
"Ah!! Hey!! Hey!!"
"Don't cry!! Don't cry. Please don't cry.
Willow, what did I do wrong?"
"Keegan wants to feel loved, not held. Hold him close to you and cradle him in your arms like this. There you go. See, he's not crying anymore."
"Thank you."
"Night, you act as if you've never held two babies before. Surely you would remember."
"What's there to remember? My wife did all the holding, and I did all of the training. Given, my love for them still stood; it's just that….hers stood brighter."
"What was life like raising two heirs?
That is....is you indeed raised two and not one."
"Shadow was just a young Mute, but I already had big plans for him. I showed him the chair that would be his. I showed him the army he would lead, and the vision I had. Once we were done, I told him that there is no stronger bond than family. Later that week though, my words were choked upon when Wolf arrived during one of my trainings with Shadow. So detailed and methodical was my vision, that Wolf's very existence threatened to break the balance. I only had enough to order one custom Chair!!!!"
"I get that. You start writing your Will out for one because it has been years and there is no other. Then one day….poof!!! Out pops another one. What do you do? You can only raise them once."
"Or not at all in your case. I heard your story. You think all the Mists that enter my Legion are unaccounted? I knew them all. Once they enter, they never leave my mind. Tell me, what was it like seeing your son that you never raised but intended to?"
"I was pregnant with the one, and my life was similar to Summers, except I was way way way younger. It wasn't supposed to happen. Luckily, I gave birth on my own terms and with family all around. Unluckily, since I was too young and too small, the energy left me the moment I gave birth.
When Star brought me to, it was too late. Shadow had already killed him. The only one left was my grandson, but he never survived the night. I got to see them for one day, and then in a blink of an eye.....they were gone."
"I….I…I'm sorry. Wish you could've spent more time with them."
"I do too. If I were to raise them, I would've raised them differently."
"What makes you say that?"
"Shadow said that they got what they deserved...and he was right. None of them had a name for themselves. They used my name and my story to invoke sad tears for them. And people gave them everything out of the abundance of their hearts because of it. They used me. They used my sob story to do as they pleased."
"How did they use you? Maybe...maybe their testimonies had you in it because God used you to tug on their heartstrings. Nothing wrong with that.
Waaaaaa!!!!"
"Shh!! Shh!! Mommies about to tell you a bedtime story."
"Ha!! This aint no bedtime story for kids. This is real and happening as we speak. How do I know? I saw my boys do it and work it to their full extent until it became their full-time job. It was their main source of income, you could say.
God tugs on other people's heartstrings in order to entice a response, so why can't we tug on others to also get what we want? Jesus tells us to tithe to the Church and so test His love. If you tithe, then He will reward you. Only thing is, whenever He speaks of the 'Church', He is not referring to any specific building. He always refers to His 'body', the Believers in Christ. They are the 'Church'. When God says, tithe, He means to help out the person along the street who has nothing by offering them money. Whenever you see someone giving their time to God, say thank you by giving them money. In that, My word will spread and so will you tenfold. Problem is, people don't want just tenfold. They want twenty, thirty, forty, heck even fifty tenfold. How do we make that happen? Welp, it's actually way easier than you think. The sadder the story, the bigger the paycheck.
God tells us to help the needy, give to the poor, strengthen the Church, and yadaa, yadaa, yadaa!!! The thing is, Jesus also tells us to give out of the willingness of our hearts because of the love we have for Him. He tells us to do everything because we love Him; not some stranger's sad sob story making us feel inclined to give. Those stories always end with, 'But God saved me from all of that, and look at me now.' So, if God saved you then He must have big things in store for you. Here, let me give you sixty to help you on your journey."
"Willow, aren't you being a little harsh. I'm sure your boys weren't that bad."
"The worst thing God invented were emotions. Why? Emotions can be drawn to the surface so easily and we can't do anything about it. It's our bodies natural response to laugh, cry, smile…. anything. We are the ones who dumb down our emotions, but you always have people who have the gift to inlict any emotion they need from someone. In this case, people want you to feel sad, sorry, and heartbroken for them. Once you're heartbroken, you feel guilty. 'This person has been through so much, and yet they praise. They truly could use my paycheck I worked so hard to earn, more than me. Here, take it. Just take it all. The 'Performer' takes the cash, says it is going for a good cause, walks away, dries their tears, then moves onto their next set of victims without a second thought.
'But Willow, you don't understand. Their story moved me and tugged at me. I felt empowered like I could do anything. They have the gift, I'm telling you. God will use them mightily. I know I usually only tithe ten percent because that is what God says, but I felt inclined and obligated, that I now give thirty upwards of forty percent. You just got to listen to their story. You will never walk away again.'"
"Willow, stop it. You're waking the baby. Do you hear its cries?"
"I don't care how 'pasazed' their story may be. What I do care about is what is He doing in your life now? These people never talk about that, or if they do, they wait for the last ten minutes to say He has saved me and look what we're doing because of it. They move from convention to convention seeing how many people they can make cry so that the person will feel guilty enough to give more than what they already give. Then a portion of it, they use for useful repairs like mission trips, training and stuff. Another ten percent, they distribute amongst themselves and that leaves eighty percent left to be used on themselves. Eighty percent is way more than twenty percent so they can buy a buttload of toys and gizmos used to 'advertise' how big and cool they and their church are. God calls those people swindlers. Actually, he calls them no better than the Gentiles I came to save. That is His favorite phrase He used whenever he mocks, scolds, or insults someone from wrong behavior.
Don't be like Annanias and Sapphira. Give everything. Don't hold back because you need the extra to do whatever the hell it is you want to do. It was obvious. Entering my son's church was like entering a small palace. Candles lit the altar room. Fine jewelry, decorations, and glittery uselessness lined the halls. Long flowy white robes fluttered down effortlessly from them…and yet....I still loved them."
"I heard crying in here, what's going on?" Wait, I thought you said….."
"Sophia, take the baby from us. We need to talk."
"Yes Ma'am."
"That was a very powerful, point taken story, my dear."
"You find offense?"
"If I do, it is because it is the truth. I saw the way you were looking at that boy."
"It matters not. He wasn't mine."
"That doesn't matter. Since you are the only one who has seen what your children become when fully grown, you out of all of us want the best for us. Is that right?"
"I never raised them though, unlike you."
"True, but you now know how not to raise them. Tell me, the girls came back here, meaning that I had to have failed them poorly as a father, so they are punishing me for it. If that be the case, are any of us experienced enough to raise one so that they don't become like your sons? Is Summer?"
"She ran her whole life and has never been able to stay in one spot for more than a night."
"What about the rest?"
"They wouldn't know what to do with it."
"What about me? You can be honest."
"Even you...have failed. Aaagh!! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Get your knife from me."
"My...oh!! Sorry.
War is already amongst us, and my brothers have chosen their side. Is it too late to raise them, or have I failed?"
"It's never too late."
"Then teach us. Show us the ways you never were able to show others. Let us learn from your son's mistakes, and not commit them. Please."