Five years ago

Helman Court

-*-

Kayla Franks Helman walked down the wide hall, her steps echoing through the space as she read the report on her tablet, her skirts swishing around her legs. She was lost in the details, her mind going over every bit of information and events that had occurred just within the last few years alone. No matter how many faction members they caught and interrogated, no matter how many they executed through various means, they still weren’t getting anywhere. She’d gone over every piece of evidence of every attack since the bombings forty-five years earlier, the ones that ultimately put them all in the situation they were in now. 

They had always believed that what had happened in the Mortal Realm was only the beginning. While they didn’t know the extent of what was going on, given what they were fighting against now, Kayla knew it couldn’t be good. Hence, her flowers. If not for them, they wouldn’t have half the information they had now, nor would the amount of attacks be so few. Havik had always wanted an elite team of assassins to support him; giving Kayla her garden was the best way to achieve that.

She had five flowers, each of them special in their own way. Three of them she had more contact with than the other two, but they all did their jobs admirably. If only Lily of the Valley and Wolfsbane would stop running off so much. Not that she could really stop them; what they were doing was probably helping more than Morning Glory, Lantana, and Wisteria’s work combined.

Still, the report she was reviewing right now was from Lantana, advising that the two marks had been dealt with easily, but the intel they gave wasn’t as promising as they’d hoped. He’d continue to search around, if she would give him permission to do so. He was a good assassin, and an even better spy. She wouldn’t deny him, but she still needed to confirm with Havik. She never made important decisions that would affect the Realm without him.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she was shocked when she felt someone grab her arm, pulling her into a darkened passageway and pressing her up against the wall, his lips on hers faster than she could blink. She sighed, responding quickly, her tongue dancing and rolling along with his. When he pulled back, his hands on the sides of her neck, he smiled.

Kayla gazed up into the ruby red eyes of her husband, smiling. “What was that for?” she asked, trying to steady her breathing.

“Do I need a reason to have a moment alone with my wife?” Havik asked, his brilliant smile melting her heart.

“Well, I could come up with a few if you’d like,” she teased, her fingers gliding into his short blonde hair.

Havik chuckled. “I’m sure you could.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her again, softer this time. “Where are Tanya and Julian?”

“With their grandfathers, getting spoiled rotten as usual,” Kayla said, rolling her eyes. 

Havik chuckled. “Of course they are.” He glanced down the hall. “Where were you headed?”

“The dining hall,” she replied. “Thought I’d grab a bite to eat before we headed out to the Gods Hall.”

“Sounds like a good idea, I’ll join you.” He tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow, affecting an almost comical royal pose. She couldn’t help but laugh. As they walked, he glanced at the tablet in her hand. “Anything new?”

Kayla sighed. “Not really,” she admitted. “The information is lacking and it feels like a lot of them are going underground.”

Havik frowned. “I don’t like that,” he said.

“Nor I,” his wife said. “It’s like we’re taking two steps forward, four steps back. Even Dad is getting irritated. He can’t send out any squads if he doesn’t have any information to support a counterattack. He wants to be able to protect our people effectively, but these bastards are so slimy, it’s hard to pin them down.”

“That’s what the flowers are for.”

Kayla nodded as they rounded a curve. “And even they’re having trouble. Well, except for Wolfsbane and Lily, of course.”

Havik grinned. “They’re my best for a reason.”

“Your best?”

He chuckled. “Sorry, our best.”

“That’s better.”

“I got a message from Lily the other day,” he said, his voice lowering. “They found a cell near the borderlands of the Sixth Realm.”

Her eyes widened. “Of Hell?”

He shook his head. “Heaven.”

She winced. That was where many of the medical professionals, as well as top intelligence officials were. “She shut them down, right?”

He nodded. “And managed to get some pretty good information out of them as well.” He held up his palm, a glow emanating from it before a sheet of paper appeared. “It’s nothing to do with previous attacks or plans, but it is something to be aware of.”

She handed Havik the tablet, trading it for the paper. She read the encrypted message with a focused frown. “Do Hawk and Hero know?”

He nodded. “I informed them this morning.”

She sighed, handing him back the paper. With another glow, both objects disappeared. “Why are they doing this, Havik? They already got their way with the barrier, why continue to go after us?”

“We’ve been asking ourselves that for decades, love,” he said, patting her hand. “The best we’ve come up with is continued purification.” The last two words he said in disgust, his nose wrinkling. “As if they know better who belongs and who doesn’t.”

“They’re going after former exiles,” Kayla said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Not to mention planning attacks against services that dealt with their cases, among other things.”

Havik glanced down at her, stopping and holding her in front of him. He held the side of her face, his fingers lost in her long brown hair. “We’ll end this soon, Kayla. We’ll find who’s responsible and finally put an end to this. Once we do…” he swallowed, his gaze dropping to the side.

She smiled gently, her hand on his chest. “He has his own job to do, remember? That’s why you sent him in the first place.”

“That doesn’t mean I like it.”

“I know, sweetheart. Ynda and your fathers miss him just as terribly.”

Havik let his head drop to her shoulder. “I want my brother to come home, Kay. He’s missed out on so much. I hate that I have to make these choices, but it’s the only way to ensure everything works out the way we need it to.”

“Even if he was here, do you really think he’d stop trying to get back to Natsu?”

“He’ll never stop.” Havik raised his head, his eyes firm. “I wouldn’t, either. We need to get that barrier reopened as soon as possible.”

Kayla nodded. “The only one that can do that is Toji,” she said. “Have faith in him. In the meantime, we need to continue to have faith that our flowers will keep turning the soil and exposing the weeds hidden underneath.”

Havik sighed, casting his gaze out to one of the several open arches that overlooked the vast expanse around them. “I need to get a message out to Wolfsbane,” he said. “If Lily is right, then there is a continued threat on the borderlands of Hell. They’re not going to stop with just those in Heaven.”

She smiled. “I can do that. But first, I need a snack.”

Havik returned her smile, his hand running over her belly as they continued on their way to the dining hall. “I wouldn’t say no to some pizza.”

Kayla laughed, the sound ringing through the halls like a song.

-*-