Children of Pandora's Box

Luka didn't comment, but fought back a flash of something -irritation or disappointment, she didn't dwell on it too long to be sure. With one small glance at the door Kostya left through, she started off in the other direction: he was overreacting. Kyo wouldn't hurt Anya, even if he knew. She trusted her husband a little more than that. In all honesty, Luka was tired of running around and covering her tracks. If he found out, then there was nothing that could be done to help it. Nothing at all.

That was not why he reacted the way he did. He didn't think Kyo would do anything. Kyo wouldn't be able to do anything. Anya had more protection on her than the President's daughters combined. Kostya was angry, with Luka, but he had to be done. He couldn't risk Anya's relationship with Luka because of his own. Ella came up to him after setting Anya up with a new leaf. To answer her questioning gaze, he sighed, "She left."
"What did you do?"
"I got angry, I got quiet. She doesn't care about him, Ella. She always acts like she doesn't care about anything in the world, but this was different. She had absolutely no guilt."
"What's the issue then?"
"That she didn't follow me!" Kostya shot back, gaining Anya's attention. "And her marriage means nothing. Which means me taking Anya and not fucking up her entire life? It was for nothing. Anya was raised without a mother for no fucking reason."

A quiet noise came from the doorway. Luka stood there, and from the unreadable expression on her face, she probably heard what Kostya had said. "I just...came back to say bye to Ella and Anya." She grumbled, scowling. She gave a stiff sort of nod to her best friend and her daughter, before turning on her heel and actually leaving this time for real.

Ella smacked Kostya on the head, "You're a goddamn idiot. Why the hell did you think that I didn't want you coming back? You should've gone back to Russia." She turned to Anya, who had strangely disappeared.

Because she was already out front and waiting for her mother to come out the front door.

Luka didn't even pretend to be surprised. At all. Jesus, if she didn't see this coming, and added that to her totally wrong assumption earlier, then this would just be a very bad day for Luka's brain. She just geared up to hear another onslaught from the teenage girl. She even stopped and everything.

"Dad's a jackass sometimes." Anya offered with a tight smile, "He had no right to comment on your life choices. He moved me every three years." She looked at her new house, "He says that we'll be here my entire high school life, but I can't believe him. This is my sixth house. I haven't grown up in a super stable environment, so he has no right to judge you, even if he is mad." She wasn't forgiving her. She just didn't want her parents to be pissed at each other. "So please don't be mad at him as well. He just... He doesn't know how to handle things. When I came home and said that I had a boyfriend, he immediately said that we were coming here."

"That sounds like something he'd do." Luka rolled her eyes. That was a total Kostya thing to do. "He has a right to be angry, though." She added, with a cautious glance back towards the house. "No right to comment on my life choices or not, I know he's upset. I'm just...getting out of there so it doesn't get worse. I've overstayed my welcome. Besides..." She turned to look back toward her daughter. "I need to talk to Sam about helping you learn fire magic. Ella, Jill, and I can't use it, and whether you hate me or not, Irina's not teaching you anything." She put her foot down, there.

Anya snorted, "If I hate anyone, it's Aunt Irina and her stupid son. They're both Dolboeb." She wasn't good with american swears yet.

"So we really do agree on something." Luka's demeanor brightened slightly. Anya might not like her all that much, but they shared a common enemy in Irina. "You don't even know half the reasons you should hate Irina. She's quite literally the worst creature I've ever met in my life." And trust her, Anya. Luka's dealt with Seth, Prim, and demons. Literal, actual demons. And she still regards Irina as the worst. "I honestly don't hate Nick, he just tries to hard for her approval, when he's a gifted kid who could be a lot better if he just stopped trying to impress his mother." True story. "He does kind of give me the creeps, though. Every kid your aunt deals with turns into a brainwashed, psychotic minion."

"Exactly! I used to try to be his friend. Now we're mortal enemies." Anya nodded seriously, like it was the--She stopped suddenly, "Does he know magic?"

"Yeah. If he didn't, I would honestly be surprised. Tristan might be normal, but she isn't. He had at least a 50/50 chance. Maybe slightly more than 50%. If it makes you feel any better? Your magic is probably stronger." Which was true. "If you practice, you could own his ass in a fight." He'd had a little more training than Anya, being like...a year older and exposed to Irina probably trying to force magic ability out of her son every time Tristan's back was turned. But she, Sam, and Ella could fix that.

Anya nodded, "I need to learn magic quickly. He cannot be allowed to get ahead of me." She then realized that she also needed to get better with her English as well, since she could tell that she's been butchering this entire conversation. Luka could probably only understand her because Luka knew Russian.

"If you want my help, I can teach you pretty much anything but fire magic and earth magic?" Luka sounded almost hesitant when d he asked for her daughter's decision, more than likely expecting a flat out 'Held no.' But she was trying, Anya.

Anya stood there for a moment, thinking, before nodded slowly. "Yes." Because that's all she could say. She'd get extra help from Aunt Ella and Sam, but she needed a teacher who had most of her powers. Since her dad was too busy, and her aunt was crazy, Luka was her best option. This was purely for education. Duh. Haha. Yeah.

"Right, then." Luka was silent for a moment. "You coming with me to talk to Sam, or should I leave that to you, or will you leave it to me?" She honestly wasn't opposed to any of these options, she just figured it needed to get done before they forgot and Anya started burning all of the shit again.

"Probably now. My dad won't forgive me if I hurt another one of his goats." Anya cracked a smile, although she was pretty sure that he used his goats to haul drugs. Hypocrite.

"I'm sure the goat will think twice about breathing now." Luka laughed slightly, starting to walk in the general direction of Sam's house and expecting Anya to follow her.

Anya did follow, because this was the best interaction she's ever had with her mother. She just didn't know what to say, because she refused to have another conversation about goats. She needed one parent that wasn't obsessed with the animal.

"So..." Luka tried to break the awkward silence. "Since you know about magic now, I feel the need to tell you your aunt is a cat." She pointed out, with little to no exnlanation. "Like...literally. I'm not messing with you. She's that fuckin' weird ass cat she always has with her."

"The one that looks blood red?" Anya asked, tilting her head to the side then she burst out laughing, "No wonder she got so pissed off every time I kicked it."

Luka couldn't help it. She burst out laughing at the thought. "You should have seen the time I set a dog after her. She was stuck in a tree for ages." Oh, that would live in Luka's fondest memories. "Kick her a little harder next time you see her, because I also wasn't kidding when I told you back at my house that she is theoretically the cause of all of this."

"Oh! I can have Ivan do that!" Anya nodded, her plan set. "That way, she can't stop me from kicking Nick's ass."

"If you can get Ivan to just...eat her, I certainly wouldn't cry." Luka if Irina died you'd be flipping off her grave.

"Squirrels, he'll eat. Cats? He just catches them up trees." Anya shrugged, giving an excuse not to kill her aunt. She didn't think her father would be too happy about that.

"A shame." Luka sighed. "I guess it can't be helped, though." Someone sounded totally serious about murdering Irina.