Blessed by Night

"So, Mrs Grey, is it?"

"Grey-Saint." Joanne corrected quickly.

She shifted back and forth on the couch of a stranger, clearly more uncomfortable than she thought she would be. "I just got married pretty recently, so…"

The woman sitting across from her checked the paperwork in her lap a second time. "I see that. That's my mistake. But then again, I remember getting to tell people 'I just got married' being half the fun of the whole deal."

The jest accomplished the feat of getting a small smile on Joanne's face. Saying that she was married did feel way better than it should have.

"So, you've just gotten married. Do you want to talk to me about that a bit?"

Joanne was always hesitant to talk to people about her relationship. But she recognized that coming to therapy had no real merit if you weren't honest.

"It's… good. I have five wives and a husband… though I'm sure you knew that." Joanne let out a small puff of air.

Her therapist looked confused. "Why would you assume I knew that?"

"I guess it's because I thought everyone knew?" Joanne was stupefied. "My husband is Malachi Saint."

"Who?"

"He's Nyx's chosen… subject of the nightly news on a frequent basis?"

Her therapist shrugged. "I'm sorry, honey, but if it's not HGTV I have no idea what it is about. American television tends to be pretty doom and gloom, so I stick to my positives."

Joanne knew she shouldn't have been as surprised by this as she was, but that was just the sort of life she had been living.

It was nice to talk to someone who didn't think of her as some sort of insane cradle robber.

Although, she did get off to the fact that Bianca and Malachi were younger than her… but that was her own personal fetish and it certainly didn't make her some kind of sicko.

"So tell me about this famous husband of yours. Is he handsome?" Her therapist asked innocently.

The words 'none of your fucking business' almost flew out of Joanne's mouth before she knew how to stop them.

She tempered back her possessiveness just a bit; running her hands through her hair to calm herself.

"My husband, he's… the best." Joanne finished. "I never thought I could love a man this much. Sometimes I think it's all a dream."

Joanne's therapist had intended for her question to be a segway into something bigger, but seeing the positive body language of Joanne, she figured she could keep going a little longer.

"The best, huh? I'm almost jealous."

Some parts of Joanne liked hearing that. She'd never had anyone be jealous of her before.

"I like knowing this one isn't going to slip away. He's always so reassuring and he has a big heart and he's great with our kids and…"

Slowly, Joanne stopped talking.

Her eyes became a bit more broken and distant like when she first entered the room. Her therapist had no idea what could have brought about such a sharp change.

"Joanne..?"

Jo blinked and her eyes regained clarity. "I'm alright… that was actually pretty good since I didn't cry that time."

Her half-hearted smile didn't make the situation seem any less concerning.

Joanne dropped her gaze unconsciously. She ran her fingers over her knuckles in an attempt to get her nerves under control.

"I, umm… I had a miscarriage a few weeks back. First time something like that has ever happened to me. It was hard at first, but I'm getting by. Really." Joanne insisted.

"I guess that's another thing I have to thank our family for… I'd be kind of lost without all of them. Especially my husband, he's been the greatest shoulder to lean on."

- Japan

Malachi stared at the contact pulled up on his phone for a long time.

Every part of him wanted to press the button and call Opal for an update on the investigation.

He wanted to do it so bad that it almost made him nauseous.

Everyday, he felt like he was becoming sick with anger.

Malachi may have had a human shape, but genetically, he was more animal than anything.

And right now, he was wounded. A wounded animal with no proper outlet to vent its frustration was a ticking time bomb.

Malachi had thought he was used to loss. Having his parents die when he was still a minor had hardened him somewhat. It taught him how to compartmentalize so that he could keep moving forward.

It was what he had to do. Aubrey was counting on him.

But Malachi had never felt anything like this kind of loss before.

It had been four weeks since Joanne miscarried. Malachi thought about the child they lost almost constantly.

The hard part about grieving wasn't always the grief itself. Sometimes, it was pretending that you were alright when you weren't that was the most difficult.

He and Joanne weren't the only ones hurting. All of their wives were broken up over the child they lost.

Malachi was trying his best to still be their warm and loving husband. It was his obligation to them.

But he was suffering too. And pretending that he wasn't was only fooling others. Never himself.

The one thing he could think of to make him feel better would be if he tracked down the ones who planted those bombs in Awena's building.

Until he could tear their spines from their backs and flay them from their belly to their brain, he didn't know how he was ever supposed to heal.

But Joanne had made her wishes crystal clear to him already. He didn't have the heart to overlook the things she wanted.

Joanne needed stability right now. That was Nyx's advice to them.

Malachi wouldn't fly off the handle and sabotage their life while she was trying to pick up the pieces. No matter what kind of infection he had.

"Honey. There are some over there."

Luna gently shook Malachi's thigh to get his attention.

In a destroyed town just outside of Tokyo, the two were working on construction with a small assist from the Japanese government.

They took a break from their diligent efforts when Luna spotted a small band of humans.

Their clothes were worn and tattered. The colors were almost unreadable; everything they had on was caked with a layer of dust and sand.

Malachi stood up from his crate, and he and Luna strode out to meet them.

The group of wanderers was clearly relieved to see them, yet there was a timid aspect to their personality that wasn't so easily overcome.

They were apparently a family of five. A father, a mother, two boys, and a very small child wrapped up in a blanket.

Malachi stiffened when he saw that. He couldn't take his eyes off the small bundle.

His wife felt him tense up through his hand. She knew what was wrong immediately.

But Malachi was becoming a proficient method actor. He pulled himself back from the brink of a very dark place and made himself smile.

"You all look a little lost... Can we help you?"

The father seemed surprised to hear him speak. "...Your Japanese is terrible."

His smile threatened to break. "...Sorry. My wife is helping me work on that."

"You need lots of help."

"So they tell me."

The man's wife stared at Malachi and Luna curiously. "You're not with the gangs… are you?"

Luna shook her head.

The areas of Japan with the highest populations and most infrastructure had seen the bulk of the damage.

The yakuza had moved in somewhat swiftly in these cities to help with rebuilding. But they also had their own superpowered individuals and were turning the city into strongholds of their own.

"Not at all, we're just… doing some reconstruction. We're also offering to help whoever needs it." She added.

"W-What kind of help..?" The man asked expectantly.

"We can take you to a government settlement if you want. Give you rations, some sleeping bags, a tent, toiletries… What do you need?"

The family looked amongst themselves as if they couldn't believe their stroke of luck.

Only the father seemed hesitant.

"W-What do we have to do for these things..?"

"Say please?" Luna shrugged.

"A-And what if there were more people than just us…?" The mother asked quietly. "As in a small village more..?"

The group was relieved when Malachi looked completely undaunted.

"Just lead the way. We'll do what we can to get you all taken care of and-"

Malachi suddenly felt a series of vibrations go off in his pocket.

He stepped away for a moment and pulled out his phone.

Luna heard his heartbeat quicken. She glanced over his shoulder and found him staring at the name of the one person they knew far too well.

Opal.