Chapter 1: Another day, another creature/“Are you serious?”

Warnings: Vulgar language, drug use, choking, pill overdose

“70 years. 70 years since God herself kicked me out, can you believe that? All because I used the free will she gave to us?” The blonde puffed on her cigar, her frustration palpable in the small room.

“Oof, man, sorry for your s**t life, like, who does she think she is?” The great thing about stoners is that they’ll believe anything you tell them and forget everything they heard. Lillian opened her can and drank it in one sitting. “A God can do whatever the f**k they want, anything they believe or do will get them praise.”

“Man, f**k this hierarchy, eat the rich out or whatever the French guy said,”

“Calyx, you dumb f**k, stop taking all the lines!” Nyro pulled Calyx down to the couch. “Oi-”

“Anyways… I think I’ll go now, I have work tomorrow.” Lillian grabbed her jacket and walked to the door. “Same time tomorrow, right?”

“Oh no no, Nyro’s family comes over tomorrow, and you know all the drama that will unleash if they see this mess.”

“I can’t imagine, well, see you next time, guys.”

She closed the door and walked for some time. She teleported to her usual spot in the forest, known for teenagers making out behind the trees and dead bodies. Her scars were itching, so she took off her shirt and let her wings out. The feathers unfurled softly, and she sighed.

“God, I miss this feeling…” 

Suddenly, a blinding silver light crashed into Lillian’s back, and a person landed on her back. Lillian fell to the ground hard. She quickly pushed the person off her and got up. She cleaned herself off.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry-” The other person started to apologize. Lillian turned around, ready to knock out the person, and rubbed her temples. “Oh great, just what I needed today, people falling from the sky onto me, what’s next, huh? Big magical lizards?” That came out harsher than what she intended.

“S**t, sorry, are you alright? You fell from the f*****g sky.” She helped the other woman up.

“Yeah, I’m alright, it’s a long, long story-” The woman stared at Lillian’s wings. “Holy crap!”

Oh great, now she needed to knock her out. Lillian’s fist instinctively went full force on her face, knocking her out cold. “What happens in the valley park, stays in the valley park, sweetheart, can’t have you out with my identity.”

Lillian picked up the limp body and teleported to her house. She laid the woman on her sofa. She checked her pulse; it could be better, but at least she knew she didn’t kill the poor woman. Lillian looked closer at the woman’s appearance, with pale skin and silky rose-colored hair. Lillian could already picture the new bruise on her glowing skin.

“Wow, great job, Lillian…" The blonde got up to fetch a glass of water, just as she entered her kitchen, she heard a sharp gasp. She had awakened. The woman got up quickly, rubbing her hand on her face, trying to soothe the pain of the god-like punch. The woman looked around, her eyes landing on Lillian’s. “Damn, girl, ever considered joining boxing?”

“Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t have some rando know about me, ok?” She approached her slowly, and she materialized a glass of water. “Truce?”

She looked her up and down with a nasty side eye. “Alright, truce, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.” She grabbed the glass and sipped on it. Lillian sat next to her, maintaining her distance. She fidgeted with her nails, with no clue what to do next. “This is kind of awkward as hell…”

The woman scoffed. “That’s a big understatement.” She set the glass down on the coffee table, and she lay back on the sofa. 

“Well, now there are two things that could happen. One, I drug you enough to make you forget this ever happened or…”

“Woah! No, no, no, we don’t need that, not that it could even work.”

Lillian raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t it work, hm? You some kind of immortal being or something?” She leaned closer to examine the other woman. “Something like that, toots, something more like a goddess.”

The woman’s eyes seemed to glow in the dimly lit room. Lillian examined her closely, the unnatural glow of her skin, the crescent moon marks appearing on the woman’s body. “I am not just some woman who crashed on your back, I am the Moon Goddess, Cynthia, goddess of the moon and queen of the moonians of Arche. And you just f*****g punched me.”

“In my defence, I didn’t know you were a goddess and you were being a little too loud…”

Cynthia sipped on her water. “Most mortals would fall for a goddess, you know? Most would try to get on my good side. But I suppose you’re not like most mortals.”

She placed her cup down and leaned closer to Lillian. “So tell me, Lillian, what exactly are you? Clearly, you’re not a mortal.”

Lillian gulped and looked away for a second. The pure divine beauty of the Goddess and the fact that she said her name without her saying it was making her uneasy. “I am a celestial being,” she finally managed to say, “Made in God’s image, and that’s all you should know from me.”

“Aww, come on, sweetheart, you can’t just leave me hanging there.” Cynthia’s voice was velvety and persuasive, like a siren’s song: “I can and will leave you hanging.” Except the sailor had beeswax on his ears.

The goddess pouted and crossed her arms childishly. “Such a killjoy.”

Lillian rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Pouting like that isn’t going to change my mind, you know that, right?”

“Please?”

“Nope.”

Cynthia sighed dramatically, then smirked while whispering in Lillian’s ear. “Cold and cruel. I like my women like that, you know?”

“What?!” She was flabbergasted; the color drained from her face. Cynthia let out a mocking laugh. “I’m joking, I’m joking!”

“I should’ve just let you stay unconscious in the forest.”

Cynthia giggled. “C’mon, Lilli, don’t be such a bluenose, it was just a joke.”

“Joke my a*s.” Lillian got up and stretched. She yawned, “Well, now that you’re here, I need to ask you something.”

Cynthia tilted her head in confusion.“Hm?”

“Why are you here? You’re the Moon Queen, shouldn’t you be like, I don’t know, be on the moon and take care of your people and other royalty stuff?”

Cynthia yawned loudly, “Ugh, boring! The moonains can care for themselves; they don’t need someone to babysit them. Also, do you even know how exhausting it is being there? Someone’s always up my a*s telling me how to breathe, blink, and walk! And don’t get me started with the council, ugh! They’re just a bunch of prissy little createrfaces who argue about everything and anything.” Cynthia took a second to breathe.

“It’s so exhausting, so I came down here.”

“Sounds like a dream, but hey, wouldn’t they, uh, you know, freak out when they see their queen gone?” 

“Meh, I’ve done it multiple times, and they’re doing just fine! Only concern is my brother.”

“Oh, wasn’t his name like Nox or something?”

Cynthia looked dumbfounded. “Now, how the heck do you know about my brother? I’ve never mentioned him to you.”

“The Moon Sheds Its Tears? The poem of the children of the Moon?”

“The what?!”

“Oh my God, it’s a poem about the children of the Moon. One of the best, to be honest.” Lillian went to her shelf and pulled out a dusty leather book. She placed it on her lap and flipped through the pages until she reached the page.

“This is one of my favorite poems by Selene Lucero.” She pointed to the words that described the birth of Nox and Cynthia.

“There’s a poem about us?”

“Yeah.”

“How the hell??” Cynthia reread the poem.

“Look, picture it like Greek mythology or the Bible, maybe someone dreamed or had a vision of the Moon and wrote it down.”

“So there are people out there who believe in me and my brother?”

“Mhm.” She closed the book and put it back where it belonged. Lillian sat back down next to Cyntia.

“So, Cyn, what do you usually do when you come down here?”

Cynthia smiled, “I go around the whole state, Pennsylvania is so beautiful! I like going to the museums, so interesting, you know?” She went on talking all about what she did during her visits, Lillian zoomed out for most of the conversation.

BOOM

Lillian jumped out of her seat, and Cynthia stood there frozen. “He’s here…”

“Who’s here?!” Lillian’s wings fluttered slightly. Cynthia sighed and got up from the couch. She walked towards the door and opened it, and around the forest was an angry man. Lillian followed behind her. “So uh, who is that?”

“My stupid a*s brother…” She rolled her eyes, and she teleported to where her brother was. As soon as Nox saw her, he lunged at her. They both fell to the ground. Cynthia grunted as Nox was scolding her in another language. Lillian teleported close to where they were, standing confused by the language barrier. To her, the words sounded like gibberish, but she could understand the man was mad. The scolding stopped as Nox noticed Lillian; he muttered under his breath something Lillian couldn’t understand, and Cynthia slapped his arm and responded angrily.

“Nox! That’s enough.” Cynthia got off and pulled him up. She pushed him in front of Lillian. “Lillian, this is my brother, Nox, ruler of the stars and nights. Nox, this is Lillian, my uh friend, she’s a type of angel, I believe, she is not a human, now apologize to her.”

Nox side-eyed his sister and lowered his head. “I apologize for the confusion, angel. I hope you can forgive me.” He extended his hand to her. Lillian stared at his hand and back at his face. She took his hand and shook it. “I forgive you.”

Nox pulled back and turned to Cynthia. “I believe we need to leave now.”

“For the love of Gods, Nox, I am not a little kid anymore, I’m as old as the damn moon, stop bossing me around!”

“I am not bossing you around, I am taking care of my young sister who acts like a kid.”

“Yeah, sure.” Cynthia turned her back on him, crossing her arms. “You can’t make me leave this place.”

“Oh, you think so?” 

“I know so!”

They went back to arguing in gibberish, their voices growing louder and louder. The blonde was panicking inside; their loud voices were going to attract other people. In a moment of desperation to shush them, she pushed them to the ground and quickly teleported all of them back to her house. Nox pushed her off his back and turned around, flabbergasted. “You there to place your hands on me…?”

“I’m sorry? You people were too loud, and we don’t need others to call the police for a noise complaint.” 

“Ladies, ladies, calm down-” Both of them turned their heads towards Cyntia. She stopped talking and stepped back. Nox noticed the faint bruise in Cynthia’s eye, he gasped and went over to her, and started to frantically ask her questions in their language. Lillian gulped, knowing damn well she was now in big trouble.

“Nox, it’s alright, Lillian punched me because she was scared, it was accid-”

As soon as Lillian’s name came out of her tongue, Nox was on top of Lillian, cursing and yelling at her. “YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON HER?! YOU GODDAMN CREATURE, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!” He shook her violently, making Lillian grip his shoulders to get him off her.

“I never meant to do that! I swear it was an accident!”

“Lies! You filthy liar…” His hands were now on her neck, and he squeezed.

“Wait! HOLD-” She gagged slightly. Nox’s inhuman strength was making her actually choke. She scratched his arms, making Nox hiss and squeezing tighter. Cynthia stood frozen in shock and fear. Lillian managed to roll them over; she got off him fast, gasping for air, and there were marks on her neck. “I’M SORRY! I’m sorry, I really am, I never meant to punch her…”

Nox got up and walked up to her, but before he could get close, Cynthia got between them. “NOX! Calm the f**k down, she didn’t mean it!”

“She punched you, Cynthia! She’s a dangerous being.”

“I am perfectly fine right now! You didn’t have to choke her!”

“You put her hands on you, Cynthia, what makes you think she won’t do that again?”

“The fact that it was a damn accident, Nox!”

Lillian got in front of Cynthia, her hands shaking slightly. “I never meant for that to happen, Nox. I need you to trust me on that.”

“How could I trust you? You’ve hurt my sister.” Nox’s gaze was cold.

“I am not that kind of person, let me show you, one chance is all I need.”

Cynthia placed a hand on his shoulder. “Give her an opportunity, for me.”

Nox looked at Cynthia and then at Lillian. The silence in the room was loud; he sighed. “If you hurt her again, I’ll crush your windpipe and more, do I make myself clear?”

“Loud and clear.” She gulped. “Good.” Nox nodded and looked at her neck. His gaze hardened as he turned away. “If you need me, I will be outside.” He walked out. Lillian sat down on the couch, trying to recover her breath. 

“I didn’t think he’d be that kind of person…”

“He wasn’t like this before. I don’t know what got to him.” She sat next to her. “I’m sorry for letting that happen, I just- I didn’t think he would actually-”

“It’s fine, it all happened too fast.” She placed her hands on her neck, and a faint glow appeared, healing the marks of Nox’s angry hands. After a few minutes, Lillian’s neck was healed. Lillian got up, “It’s late, and what kind of being would I be if I didn’t offer you somewhere to sleep?” She walked to the hallway closet and opened the door. She pulled out a big, fuzzy, pink blanket and a huge pillow. Lillian walked back to the couch and placed them down.

“Here.”

“I can just teleport back, you know-”

“I know, dumbass, but I want to make up for that punch.”

Lillian walked to the door. “I’ll go see if Nox wants to sleep here.” She stepped outside, and Lillian searched for him in the forest. She found him leaning against a tree, staring at the dark sky. She moved closer to him, trying not to scare him. “Uhm- Hey.”

“What do you want?” He didn’t look at her. Lillian moved closer, but still maintaining a safe distance. “I wanted to see if you would like to spend the night here, Cynthia is.” 

“Why would I do that?”

“I want to show you I’m not just some brute your sister forced you to forgive. I know this isn’t a grand gesture, but we should start somewhere.” Nox didn’t turn to look at her; his gaze stayed on the sky. Lillian leaned on the tree next to his. The forest was purely silent, with a few crickets and frogs. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable; it was calming. After an eternity of this, Nox spoke up. “I do not know what my sister sees in you, but it must be great. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, I’ll give you the chance.”

Lillian looked down at him, a soft smile on her lips. “So uh- will you be sleeping here?”

Nox sighed and finally looked at her, “Fine.”

The two of them made their way back to the house. “For a second, I thought I’d have to get on my knees just to make you stay.”

“We can restart this conversation and have it that way if you want.”

“No!”

A small smirk appeared on Nox’s face. They reached the house, Lillian opened the door, Nox walked in, taking his shoes off, and Lillian followed in. Cynthia was inside, sitting on the couch, rereading one of Lillian’s books. She looked up, “So is he staying?”

“I am, just for today.” He took off his blazer, folding it nicely, and placed it on top of the coffee table. He sat down next to Cynthia.

Lillian stared at them for a second. She realized something was wrong, she teleported to her room and searched through her drawers. Lillian pulled two nightgowns, and she vanished out of there and reappeared in her living room.

“What are those for?” Nox raised an eyebrow. Cynthia closed the book.

“I mean, you could sleep in those.” She pointed to their royal clothing. “Or you could sleep in these.” Lillin threw Cynthia a purple nightgown decorated with moons. “That one’s yours.” She threw the second to Nox, it was a pink nightgown with ruffles at the end and strawberries around it. “This one is yours.”

Nox recoiled in his seat. “No. I am not wearing that.” 

“It’s either this or your boxers.”

Nox glared at her as he took the gown. “Can I at least change in the washroom?”

“Right corner in the hall.”

He went to the bathroom, muttering under his breath in moonian language. Lillian showed Cynthia the way to her room so she could change. Once the twins were finished, Lillian changed into her nightgown, which was a light blue gown with little sparkles. Once everyone was appropriately clothed, Lillian turned her couch into a bed for Cyn and Nox.

“A few rules while you guys are staying here. 1, no arguments, save them for the morning, 2, don’t touch anything on the big red shelf in the kitchen, and 3, no choking or harming me during the night.”

He glared at her, and she put her hands up. The twins got into bed, and Lillian wished them goodnight. She turned off all the lights and climbed the stairs to her room. Lillian got into her bed, turned on her lamp, and took her pills.

“You have to work. Please do.” She gulped down the whole bottle and tossed the empty container.

---

The soft chirps from the birds were enough to wake up Nox. The man got up and rubbed his eyes as he yawned. He noticed Cynthia was still asleep and hogging most of the blanket. He shook his head as he got up, “Maybe Lillian’s already up…” Nox stepped into the hall and climbed the stairs, opening every room until he found Lillian’s. He entered the poorly lit room, and he immediately noticed the mess of empty bottles and feathers on the floor. 

“Eugh…” He moved closer to the round-shaped bed and shook her slightly. Lillian stayed silent, way too quiet. Nox gulped as he shook her harder this time. “Lillian, wake up.” He noticed her wings twitched slightly, fluttering and opening just a bit. Nox sighed and sat beside her; at least he knew now she wasn’t dead. “You’re scary…” He mumbled while rolling his eyes.

Minutes passed, Nox went around the house, exploring the inside and outside. When he came back inside, Lillian was in the kitchen making breakfast. Lillian turned around. “Morning,” she said while yawning.

“Good morning, Lillian, did you sleep well?” He leaned into the wall. Lillian rubbed her eye. “I sleep great, how ‘bout you?”

“Amazingly, and I’m sure you slept great considering how many pills you took.”

Lillian froze. How did he know? Did he read her mind or something like that? No one’s supposed to know that. She gulped as she tried to recover. “So that’s how we’re starting our morning, huh?”

“I know this isn’t any of my business, but the amount of pills you’ve consumed could affect you, Lillian-”

“Drop it, Nox, I’m still standing, and I don’t need you worrying about this.”

He was about to argue when Cynthia entered the kitchen, sitting at the table while yawning and stretching her arms. It took her a second to notice the thick tension in the room. “Did something happen while I slept? Nox, I swear if you did something to-”

Lillian waved her off, flipping her eggs. “Nothing serious happened, just a small disagreement.” Cynthia raised an eyebrow. She looked back at Nox, who only nodded in response.

“Right… Okay, weirdos.”