Private A Mother's Face

Uzza had been careful this evening. She had kept her distance at first, watching for any sign of her other half. Or, as she had to admit to herself, it was more like the 95% to her 5%. But it had been nice for her to see her parents. All the surveillance and assurance had paid off - even when she took Chloe's form, she went a solid half hour without looking over her shoulder, or getting scared and running away.

But for just a few minutes, she felt normal again.

It was when she was leaving that she noticed her. Amber. And her first thought was - shit, Chloe can't be too far away. She made herself into a black bird and kept her distance again, at first, gliding from tree to tree. Seeing if Chloe was nearby. Surely Chloe was threatened by her, surely she would be careful.

Uzza saw nothing. She felt nothing near her that might constitute magical surveillance. Amber was alone and unsupervised. Vulnerable. This fact filled her with joy and with rage.

Soon, Amber would see her mother ahead of her, walking towards her. "Amber!" Her violet eyes seemed to light up - she wasn't always this happy to see Amber. They lived together, after all. They saw each other all the time. It was normal. But today, Chloe was *unusually* happy to see her.

Chloe faltered. "Oh, no, everything's fine. I just wanted to come make sure you're okay. I worry." She gave Amber a brief hug, trying to play it off as normal, trying to be restrained in her affection. "I didn't get the message yet though. My phone's been acting a little weird. I'm thinking it's because I keep it in a dimension full of devil magic most of the time."

That made as much sense as anything else on this island. At least it might buy her some time.

"So how was the bonfire? Did you get to see grandma and grandpa?"

This was a normal kind of thing to ask about. She could tell Amber was a little suspicious - acting more like her old self would help here.

Amber knew how worried Chloe was about kidnappings now. Uzza had those same worries, but she tried to play it off. "You know I can summon you home if that happens again." She was more worried about the trauma that came with that kind of kidnapping, about Amber getting hurt again.

And she was silently furious that Chloe would let Amber be this exposed to that kind of thing. That Uzza could even get this close. If she really wanted to, she probably could kidnap Amber herself! Where were Chloe's priorities?

The conversation moved on. They talked about Amber's grandparents. Apparently Amber could even talk to them again! Uzza beamed. "If I could talk to them, this time, I would have just told them it's because they raised me right. But it's incredible that you could talk to them again."

She gently took Amber's hand to start leading her back home. "I used to wish for that, but I never thought it would come true."

Chloe smiled and squeezed her daughter's hand. "Yeah... maybe they will." What did she do to deserve a kid like this? Her heart swelled.

For a moment, she forgot that she wasn't Chloe anymore. But now she remembered, and she began to doubt herself. Could she still call Amber her daughter? Could she even keep seeing her? She could feel the walls of fate closing in on her. It was possible that she would never get to see her again - to bask in her smile, her positivity, her accomplishments, to participate in and enable those accomplishments, and to feel pride on Amber's behalf - she could feel these delights slipping away from her no matter how tight she held onto this little hand.

They walked further, and Uzza grew sadder. "Amber... I love you. I feel like I don't say that often enough."

She took a breath, trying to stay calm and not cry.

Uzza actually laughed a little bit. "I'm supposed to be the one telling you that kind of thing." She squeezed Amber's hand again and smiled at her, but she didn't answer immediately.

She wondered - was it a good idea to tell the truth? Would Amber accept her? She was such a good, loving person - maybe she would. Or maybe Chloe had already poisoned that well too thoroughly, filling her head with lies. Maybe she should wait until they got to the penthouse; they were going to part ways there anyway.

In a sense, this choice was made for her. Amber's phone vibrated with a received text. Uzza could hear it, and she was almost certain that would be Chloe. It was now or never.

"... You deserve to know. So to start..." she let go of Amber's hand. This wasn't the kind of revelation she wanted to drop while holding Amber's hand.

"To start. You know how I had extended part of my soul into hell to keep my presence there locked down. And after the long night, those two parts of myself got cut off from each other. " So far, so familiar. Chloe had already told Amber the same things.

"The part that was in hell, and the part that was out here, were basically the same person. Both of those halves have the same memories. They both love you, and they both still think of you as their daughter. And they would do anything for you." This part was different from what Chloe had told her. They were making it back to the outer edges of the city now, with forest trails turning into sidewalks. A streetlamp overhead made it easier to see the purple of Uzza's eyes. She stopped to look at Amber, anxious as to what her response would be.

"Amber... I was the part that used to live in hell."