KINTSUkuroi
[Chapter XI] - Mourning Roses

The next morning, Ciel woke up replaceing herself at her Human height and laying on Siule's parents' bed. She immediately recalled the brown-haired female proposing that the two lovers shared the night in Damien's and Lena's room, her reluctance to negotiate her generosity clearly evident as she pretty much pushed the taller woman into the cozy bedchamber.

The room —Ciel determined— made for a picturesque love nest: The different shades of red the walls showcased helped set up the right atmosphere, as did the irresistible fragrance of roses in the air. The Giant suspected Siule was behind the on-spot decoration for the room, which triggered a small smile from her. Her suspicion was pretty much confirmed when her eyes landed on the lovely glass vase which stood solemnly on the nightstand, elegantly decorated by the two roses —one of them a lustful red, the other one a pristine white— inside it.

The Giantess' eyes then met her now-boyfriend's sleeping frame safely contained in her arms, replaceing the sight to be absolutely endearing. She couldn't help but feel that the roses that adorned the vase could, in a way, represent the two of them: in her eyes Nicolas was, without doubt, the pure, untainted white rose. Her white rose. And conversely, she was the lustful, passionate red rose. His red rose.

Her mind recreated the events that had transpired the night before in the empty warehouse: how she shivered with delight feeling her diminutive lover's body walking up the length of her legs, heading for her midsection; how she moaned with pleasure with each kiss he placed on her colossal anatomy; how she felt her thighs react to the unmistakable pulsations that his caresses triggered from her, especially when she encouraged him to give her chest some much-desired affection. His touch was so inexpertly innocent, and all the more precious because of it.

"Hey, love~ —she cooed—, I bet you're very comfortable laying in my arms like this, but we do need to get up." she smiled warmly at him, earning a pleading grunt from him in response. Five more minutes, please. She chuckled softly; she didn't have the heart to deny him his request, but that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun herself. Slowly maneuvering herself into the desired position, she adjusted her body so that his face was now kissing her cleavage, a favourite of hers, and a preference the short male shared, even if he wouldn't dare openly admit it.

"There. Try to make it five minutes and not five hours~." she teased him, slightly squeezing her breasts together in a playful manner.

About fifteen minutes had gone by when they walked into the living room, Ciel hugging the short man from behind with a wide smile on her face.

"Hey, Siu..." Nicolas greeted, his slightly sleepy voice turning into an audible gasp as his eyes widened. He glanced to his side to see Ciel's arms still wrapped over his shoulders, shaking violently. In front of him, the TV screen read "NEWS FLASH" in big, red letters on a black background.

Savan Surelle has been found dead.

Nicolas froze on the spot, failing to even blink. His mind rushed, trying to replace something that would help him make sense of the situation. That couldn't be right. It had to be a mistake, right? It just had to be. There was no conceivable way that Savan could be dead. The more he tried to come up with a feasible explanation, the more he ended up denying the possibility. Ciel slowly released the male from her embrace before running out towards the exit door. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she care. She just wanted to run as fast as she could, somehow hoping that she could escape from that nightmare, desperately pleading for everything to be a bad dream.

'It's a bad dream! It's just a bad dream! I'll wake up any moment now and replace Nic still wrapped in my arms!' she tried to convince herself, even though, deep down, she could feel the overwhelming weight of reality crushing her.

'Please, let it just be a bad dream!'

She pushed the door in a frenzy as though she was crossing the threshold between the oneric realm and the real world. Her dismay was painfully visible as she opened her eyes, only to confirm that the only threshold she had crossed was the one between the house and the front lawn.

"Ciel!" Nicolas exclaimed, tears trailing down his moist, reddened cheeks, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw Siule gently taking a vial off a woman's hands, thoroughly scrutinising it as if inspecting the glass container's seemingly-inexistent content.

"S-Siule? D-Dad? M-Mom? W-W-What's going on here...?" the male asked, his expression showing evident distress.

"It's the end of an era, Nicky..." Siule sighed.

Ciel's eyebrows shifted into a wrathful expression, teeth gritted and fists clenched in nearly-uncontained rage as she seemed to have reached a conclusion of what had just happened.

"You...! YOU!!!" the Giantess bellowed as she rushed towards the tawny-haired woman, who casually pulled out what seemed to be a gun-like gadget from her jeans' pocket and swiftly fired it at Ciel, making the taller female instantly fall to the ground.

"CIEL!!!" Nicolas panicked as he rushed to his girlfriend's side.

"Please feel at ease, Nicky. Ciel's life is not in any danger. I simply shot her with an immobilising pistol. She won't be able to move for about an hour at least, but other than that she's completely unharmed, I promise you that." Siule spoke casually before returning the vial to Lena and nodding at her and Damien, who simply nodded back in response and entered the house.

"Now, I know you both must have a myriad of questions, and I promise to answer all of them to the best of my capacity, but I do ask that you listen to what I have to say before that." the green-eyed lass spoke in her usual soothing voice.

Ciel glared at Siule, the only thing she could do for the time being, whilst Nicolas simply didn't know how to process everything that was happening. Though it was not the first time he experienced this sensation of powerlessness, never before had he felt so overwhelmed by it.

"First of all, let me say that the plan didn't involve Savan being murdered. I did mean what I said back then when I told you that I hate violence, and I am genuinely saddened by the fate that befell your Mother, Ciel. That being said, I did need Savan out of the picture for my plan to work. I just simply hoped to get rid of her without the need to cause her any harm." she stated.

Siule glanced at Nicolas, sighing heavily and shaking her head as she began to walk towards him, only to change her mind immediately afterwards and go back to the previous spot.

"I have been working on this plan for quite a few years now, but I must admit that the timing for its application being so optimal was absolutely a matter of luck. You see, Ciel, when Nicky started telling me everything that had happened with you and Savan, I knew it was a matter of time until the day came when you'd try to meet with him again. After all, you did promise him as much, didn't you? But what you did was entirely unforgivable: you gave Nicky hope, making him believe that you'd always be there for him, but when the going got rough you simply turned around and left him behind. You left him alone." Siule accused the Giant woman.

"That's not tr-!" Nicolas tried to protest, but Siule simply cut him off with a slight hand gesture.

"Please, Nicky, let me finish." the tawny-haired female demanded, her voice still as gentle as ever.

"After Ciel left you, you were taken to an orphanage home, where you were subjected to mistreatment and abuse for six years. It was only once I met you that you once again had someone in your corner that cared about you. And ever since then, I have remained by your side every single day. I've always been there for you. I've always tried to protect you to the best of my abilities. But still, I am aware of my own shortcomings. Unlike Ciel, I hate violence and I'm not strong enough to defend you against physical assaults. That's why I decided that I would steal the Macrosia gene in Savan's body and implant it on my own, so that I will become a Giant as well! I will be able to protect you, Nicky, and not just on an emotional level! If anyone tries to attack you, I'll simply pick you up and lift you out of the attackers' reach! I won't even have to hurt anyone else! Besides, the Macrosia gene in the Surelle DNA is a one-of-a-kind in the sense that it has mutated to allow the host to change their size at will! And as for Ciel, with Savan out of the picture, she will have to take over as Regent of the Giants, since she's the last Surelle with size-altering abilities, which means she will have to return to the Giants' part of the world and remain there! It's just too perfect!" Siule exclaimed eagerly.

"Perfect...? You think this is 'too perfect'...? You fucking murdered Ciel's mother! Not only was she the Ruler of the Giants, but she was also like a mother to me! Much like my biological mother and Lena, she devoted herself to ensure my well-being in the time we spent together! You ruined Ciel's life, and mine as well! I will never, ever forgive you for this! You claim that you want to keep me safe from harm, but it's you who hurt me the most! And besides, the Giants will make you their enemy, and rightfully so! Savan and Ciel have worked so hard to end the long history of hatred between both races, and now you have reignited that spark again! I will never accept your so-called 'protection'! I hate you!!!" he unleashed the full extent of his wrath against a shocked Siule, who had never seen that side of Nicolas before.

"You don't get it, Nicky —she whispered—... You don't get it at all... I'm not asking you if you wish to be protected by me. I'm informing you about what is going to happen. I will protect you, whether you want me to or not. And as for the Giants, I did foresee that outcome as a possibility, which is why I will recreate the Surelle Macrosia gene, and if needed, I will implant every last of those genes on myself. If only one can make me so powerful, imagine what I'd be capable of with many!" Siule's excitement grew in intensity as she explored that thought.

"You... You're insane!" the short male spat, utterly disgusted by Siule's change of heart.

"Insane? Maybe so, but then again, it is always the insane people that change the world. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some preparations to make. Ciel should start regaining her ability to move in about fifty minutes. Once that happens, please see to it that she returns to her home, Nicky. If she's not in her homeland and you here with me by midnight, I won't be able to guarantee her safety." she warned before walking into the house and closing the door behind her.