The adult Mia and Zack quickly took their leave, entering the backyard of Katie’s home to talk. As Mia cast a concealment spell to hide themselves they turned to see a visibly enraged Yuriko glaring at them.
“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on,” Yuriko exclaimed.
Mia sighed, gesturing towards a chair for the teen to sit in. “Alright Yuriko we’ll tell you everything,” she said. “Its complicated though and well....Zack and I really don’t like thinking about it too much.”
“Well you better tell me Mia,” Yuriko yelled, leaping to her feet to now glare at the grown woman. “You two at least owe me that.” Mia nodded as the teen now angrily glared at her, after everything the three had been through, she hated upsetting the girl.
Yuriko had never been so angry. The teen felt lied too. Why was she here if their was no traitor? What did they mean by a different Merlin? She would have answers and she would have them now. Unfortunately for the teen she didn’t take into account Mia’s very large, and very scary looking, wolfman husband.
“Yuki,” Zack growled, his voice low And animalistic. “I know your upset but screaming at Mia like that is a very bad idea.” Yuriko looked up at the massive wolf beast that was now looming over the two of them. True Yuriko knew Zack was mostly harmless when it came to his friends but the sheer size of the creature was incredibly intimidating. Looking into Zacks golden brown eyes though Yuriko could see he was serious. If Yuriko did anything to insult or hurt Mia, there would be hell to pay.
“Sorry,” Yuriko said meekly.
“It’s fine,” Mia sighed. “I can imagine everything you just saw was a bit of a shock.” Yuriko simply rolled her eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh letting the newlywed couple know they had just stated the obvious. As the witch and wolf now looked between one another they were unsure where to start in trying to explain things.
“Yuki,” Zack asked. “Why do you think Mia and I are so close to you?”
“I don’t know,” Yuriko shrugged. “I mean theirs the whole peace treaty with Jack and Kellie. Both sides kind of work with one another.”
“True,” Zack answered. “But of all of the next generation of wizards, why is it you think that Mia and Zack look out for you? Not the others, we don’t spend enough time with them. Think about it for a second.” Yuriko gave the couple a quizzical look as she thought about all the time she had spent with Zack and Mia as she grew up. The two always were around so naturally Yuriko thought nothing of it. As she thought deeper about things though she realized something, Mia and Zack rarely had contact with her cousin or even her brother. The couple bought Yuriko birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, attended everyone of her birthdays. They didn’t do those things for Tommy or any of the others.
“Wait a minute,” Yuriko whispered. “How come I never noticed. What the hell is going on?”
A sheepish look came over the wolf’s face as he now turned towards his wife. “Might as well tell her hon.”
Mia took a deep breath, slowly approaching the confused teen before squeezing her hand. “Yuki,” she said softly. “What we said was true. Their was no traitor. The person you thought was Merlin sent you back because you’re going to be needed when things go wrong.”
“What goes wrong,” Yuriko asked.
“The timelines merge,” Zack said solemnly. “We can’t say how. Hell, Mia and me were what...11 when it happened. What we can say though is that, things are going to be chaotic for awhile and a lot of people will die.”
Yuriko gaped at the couple, shaking her head furiously. “No that can be possible,” she whimpered. “Everyone we know is okay. How can everyone have died?”
“Well Kellie and the others were able to fix it,” Mia said softly. “But the thing is, everything was very chaotic at first. That’s how Zack and me came to you.”
Yuriko looked between the couple as their shoulders slumped sadly, it seemed even thinking about what was going to happen brought back far too many bad memories. Zack seemed to stare off into space as he remembered that childhood trauma. “Like I said the timelines merged,”he said. “It was mass chaos, a lot of people died and I mean ALOT. Katie, Kellie, their friends, they began to try and regroup. They were going to counter attack but first, they needed to make sure the kids were safe.”
Yuriko pointed to herself numbly, causing Mia and Zack to nod. “Yeah you and the others,” Zack said. “The problem was this though, they thought you were gone.”
Yurikos jaw droppped at this bit of knowledge, she had been left behind. Mia quickly saw the look of both rage and despair in the teens face and quickly held her face in her hands. “No sweetie it wasn’t on purpose,” Mia said warmly. “Things happened so quickly, things I don’t want to get into. You see, Zack and me... they thought we were gone too.”
“What,” Yuriko whispered. “How though?”
“The connection between Rexie and myself was severed,” Mia said softly. “I thought Rexie was dead and she thought the same thing about me. Zack and I were hiding in a hospital when everything started going to hell. That’s how we found you.”
Yuriko said nothing as the two adults shuddered at the memories they had tried to suppress for so long. “You have to understand Yuki it was hell,” Zack muttered. “Mia and me were scared to death. Every minute, every second we thought would be our last. We were hiding from...I don’t want to say but we suddenly heard something.”
“What,” Yuriko asked.
“Crying,” Mia smiled, her eyes beginning to water. “We heard a baby crying.”
Yuriko gazed at the two as Zack placed a massive hand on Mia’s shoulder. The witch squeezing it tightly as she recounted the only good memory she had from that time. “We entered the room,” Mia whispered. “I remember it clear as day. We don’t know where your parents were but, their you were. We locked eyes, you stopped crying....and you smiled.”
“You couldn’t have been more than a week old Yuki,” Zack said quietly. “You were all by yourself, we knew what was chasing us. If we left you behind you would of died. So....we took you with us and kept you safe.”
“Over the next six months the three of us did everything we could to survive,” Mia said stoically, letting out a short laugh as she thought of the ridiculousness of the situation. “Two 11 year old kids raising a newborn in that world. We made sure you were fed, cared for, healthy. By the time the others found us they were shocked. Yeah we were a hot mess but you? They couldn’t believe how healthy you were.”
“So you took care of me,” Yuriko asked. Mia and Zack nodded as they gazed at the girl. “Yeah Yuki we did,” Mia smiled. “After the war was over. When our side won, your parents came to us. They heard about how we had saved you. They made us your godparents and ever since...we’ve watched out for you.”
“Your kinda like our adopted daughter,” Zack said meekly. “Even though were just old enough to be your older sibling.” Yuriko said nothing as she stared at them. Godparents? She had no idea. Considering though she had no idea Mia, Zack, and the others had lived through a near apocalypse, she wondered what else she didn’t know. Gazing at the two she did the only thing she could think. She left into their arms squeezing them tightly as she cried softly. “Thank you.”
Zack and Mia said nothing as they squeezed the girl, returning her hug. So much from that time of their lives had scarred them. The magical war they had lived through had changed everyone. As a whole they had decided not to tell any of the next generation about it, instead trying to forget it. Now though with Kellies child’s birth rapidly approaching they knew history was about to repeat itself.