Chapter 5: Maria Antionette Lyon

warning: this chapter talks about homophobia, abuse, mention of rape, murder, and groping

*Mari's POV*

Kirami asks "So where are you from?" I'm a little hesitant to tell her, but she's not wrong. I haven't told her about myself at all and now that she's mine now, I should be a bit honest with her.

"I'm from Paris and I was born in October 23, 1800. My family moved to America and I learned to speak English." Kirami's eyebrows lifted and looks at me in shock. "Wow! That's such a long time ago!" She says in amazement. She then asks me a few more questions. "So is Mari like a nickname or is it your real name?"

I giggled. She's so cute and so curious. "My full name is Maria Antionette Lyon. My family was very wealthy back then. There was my father John, my mother Sarah, and my twin sister named Margaret."

"You had a twin? I have two twin brothers. What's your sister like?" Even though I already knew about her brothers because I've watched over her all her life, I brush it off. "She's a minute older than me, even though she acts like a child and teases me all the time." Why am I getting emotional? I try not to cry as I think about Margaret and continue talking. "My mother was the best in the world. Even though she always babies us, she was kind and caring. What mother wouldn't be? And she was so beautiful. She had the best dresses and the best jewelry. Me and Margaret would always steal her things and wear them." I laugh thinking about that silly memory. "We wanted to be beautiful just like our mother."Kirami then asks "And what about your father?" My father, well, the horrible man that I call father.

I take a deep breath and say "My father wasn't as kind as my mother was. He would...he..." I ball up my fist as tight as I could and Kirami noticed, putting her hand on top of mine. I looked into her gentle eyes and she tells me "It's okay if you don't want to talk about him. We'll move on to something else."

I haven't even told her about him yet and it seems like she understands. But I tell her that it's fine, I'm going to tell her.

"You see... I realized at a young age that I wasn't interested in men. When I was in Paris, I met a girl named Maryanne. We've been childhood friends for years and when I was nineteen, she introduced me to a Cabaret. What was it called again....? Oh! Flora Rouge was the name. I learned that shes a courtesan and I also learned that I fell in love with her. Heh, We joked about how when we grow up we're going to get married and spend life together till we drop dead. But my heart hurts every time I'm around her. I've never felt that way for anyone. I remember what happened when I told her, I remember the whole thing."

"Me and Maryanne were sitting atop of a roof looking up at the stars. She had the most gorgeous long hair, it swayed through the breeze. She starts telling me how even though every man on earth wants her and she's the top courtesan of Flora Rouge, she doesn't enjoy it. Sometimes I think about how different we were. Maryanne didn't have a high education like I did, so being a whore was the only way to make money in her eyes. I hated it, I have a lot of money, I can take her away from this! She was going to say something else but I ended up kissing her lips. Kirami I loved her more than anything on this earth, I wanted her to be with me and to keep our childish unrealistic promise that we made. She pushed me away and you know what she wanted to tell me?"

Kirami shook her head and the tears I was holding back came out. "She-she had a disease and that she was going to die in a few days."

"I'm so sorry" Kirami apologizes. I wiped my tears away and said "I was the only one that went to her funeral. It was like no one cared that she was gone. Cruel bastards! Eventually my family knew about me and her."

"What..did they think about it?" Kirami sounded slightly worried about what happens next. "Margaret didn't understand about homosexuality, I was sure that I liked women and Margaret didn't mind it, neither did mother. But father was appalled by it and he started hitting me, calling me a whore and a sinner. He's always been an abusive bastard and he mostly took his anger out on me, so I was used to it. I've thought if men are just like my father. Thinking that they can do whatever they want to women just because they're the man of the house and that women are just pieces of meat to them. I thought they were awful. Mother tried stopping him and Margaret healed my wounds. She was always the healer when father beats us. And when we moved to America, he set up an arranged marriage for me."

"I didn't want to go. I didn't want to be with someone I didn't love. I was with a perverted old man that took my innocence and used me like a fucking doll. I was tired, I was miserable, no one could help me. I hated my father so much for what he put my family through, for what he put ME through! That's when I knew that I wanted my father dead, but..."

I noticed that Kirami looked horrified. Wide eyes and a covered mouth. I can't imagine what she's thinking. I place my hand to my heart that I got shot from and say "But he ended up killing me first".

I see that Kirami is trying to look for words to say, I don't blame her for how she feels right now. "Your...own father...killed you? I-" I interrupted, assuring her that I didn't want pity and that it is what it is.

I notice an old man stumbling around with a bottle in his hand. God, I can smell the alcohol from here. He came towards Kirami and put his hand on her small shoulder. I flinched and quickly stood up. "Hey baby *hiccup* let's make sweet love together~! I wanna *hiccup* fuck you hard!" Anger grew inside of me as I see this drunken fool disrespecting Kirami. She's trying her best to get him away but he won't leave. Instead he puts his filthy hand on her breast and I yell "Get lost! No means no!"

The drunk old man glares at me and says "Whatever b-bitch!". He stumbles away while I watch him, my heart beating fast and my rage not going away. No one disrespects Kirami, I won't let anybody-!

"What a perv. Mari, are you okay? You...have this scary look on your face". My anger went away when I hear Kirami's voice. Sho sweet, kind hearted, and pure. "Let's walk you home. I have to go deal with something."