Magical Villain Boyfriend: Cielo (rough draft)

For the past few years you have worked as a mentor for up and coming magical girls. Having been one yourself in your youth it really was the only job you could get. Did you like it? Not really. Did it pay well? Also not really. But considering your lack of schooling, job experience, etc, it really was the last option you had. After all, you had a daughter to think about, and Honey tool precedence over your own ego.

The kids were fine, but you really wished you could warn them about the pitfalls of the life, but you’ve been yelled at too many times by this point. You’ve learned to hold your tongue and guide the kids in a way that could help them make the right decisions. It nearly broke you when Honey insisted on joining her friends, even more so when she was granted the former destiny once held by your best friend. But you help your tongue as Honey would not bend, even knowing all the stories.

Things had been going smoothly lately, no major hiccups, no deaths, everything seemed relatively stress free. That was until a giant ship crashed into the facility. The vessel was large, dark in color with shades of blue and black. From where I stood, the thing looked like a work of stained glass melded together into a sort of odd bubble.

Luckily, no one had gotten hurt and already preparations were being made to evacuate the staff. You, on the other hand, didn’t feel right leaving the children alone with whatever was coming out of that ship. You stayed inside the building, heading towards the crash sight.

The ship had landed in the main hall, crashing through the intricate skylight. It now sat there still, sometimes hissing steam and heat. It was uncertain what would be inside, or if this ship was some sort of warning. In any case, you weren’t risking the kids getting abducted as the worst possible scenario. Well, technically worse would be a bomb that killed everything, but you’re trying to not think about that.

“Stay back,” you warned some of the kids who had followed along with you. “I’ll approach first.”

The kids murmured and whispered behind you. Some were ready and eager to go, others were grateful to have you there. You had your old transformation brooch just in case, you hadn’t used it in ages, but you knew you still could. Approaching the vessel there was a radiance that shimmered off it. The blue color fell across your skin, causing a slight tingling sensation. You swallowed and stood as close as you possibly could.

“Quite rude of you to crash into our school,” you announced as strongly as possible. “I request you to leave!” You point towards the door, although you’re not sure why.

Light flashes through the blue of the ship and the kids all gasp and hurry back behind you. You flinch as well, taking a tiny step back. “If you need help we are willing to provide it too, of course.”

One of the blue slates popped out, slowly pushing forward from within. It slid down, going flat to reveal a gemstone like shape. Someone came out of the ship, standing upon the smooth surface.

“He’s tall,” one of the kids whispered behind you.

The figure that came out was indeed remarkably tall. Their head had two long prongs jutting out from the top of the forehead. A smooth plate of blue glass formed over the face. From the back of the head and on down onto the shoulders and back, large gemstone like shapes jutted out. Even along the jaw, these gemstones formed a sort of jagged, tooth like beard.

“School?” He snarled, his voice was like a deep echo in a cave. “This is my house!” His eyes glowed bright white as he began to speak.

You swallowed again as your heart was pulsing hard in the middle of your throat. “But the Bevilacqua family donated their estate to-”

“Oh, I see,” the gemstone man laughed. “My father saw no hope in me, so he gave up everything upon his death. How very sad. But this is still all mine!”

Piero Bevilacqua was part of a long line of magical girl benefactors. His family had made it their legacy to support the efforts. Piero’s daughter, Alida, was the first of the name to take up the magical girl mantle, but she had died quite young, leading to Piero to form the school as you knew it. Alida had been your best friend, and you had been close to all of her family. Including her brother, Cielo, who was believed to have abandoned the family after Alida’s death. You had been very close to Cielo and had been the last person to see him before he vanished.

“Bevilacqua only had two children,” you said sternly. “Who the hell might you be, and what right do you think you have to this estate?”

The gemstone man fell from his perch, landing down before you and cracking the marble floor. You stumbled, nearly falling under the shockwaves of his landing. The kids behind you all toppled and quickly scurried further back.

You stood there, trying to take in what was in front of you. He leaned down, his eyes glowing through the blue mask. “I am one of two,” he growled.

Your brow pinched. “Cielo?”

He chuckled low and he began to reach out, but his hand was knocked aside by a flashing attack. “Honey, no!” You turn to your daughter who stood up to defend you.

“Mama, look out!” Honey rushed to defend you again, but you guarded her from the swing of this gemstone behemoth. He struck your back and your skin began to crackle. Blue began creeping over your skin creating a shell. It sealed you and Honey together, knocking you both unconscious.

You came to sometime later inside the ship. You woke up groggy and your skin still feeling rigid and crackly. Blue dust fell from you as you began to move.

“Mama?” Honey’s voice chripped.

You forced yourself to move, getting off the table you had been laid out on. Honey sat up, reaching out to you and you took her into your arms. “I’m glad you’re alright,” you told her.

“I didn’t want you getting hurt either,” Honey whimpered. “Where are we?”

Everything was cast in a dull shade of blue. Light shone from outside and reflected around the room in strange patterns. You seemed to be in some sort of exam room. You then searched your pockets for your brooch, but all your pockets had been emptied. You didn’t even have your gum.

“No need to panic. I’ve seen worse,” you assured your child.

“What was that thing?” Honey asked.

You started looking around the room for any sort of exit. “A jewelry store nightmare by the looks of him.”

Honey slipped down from the table and came towards you. “I don’t have my brooch anymore.”

“Neither do I. So we have to play this smart. Remember what I’ve taught you.” You turned and gave her an assuring smile. “We’re a team right?”

Honey brightened and smiled. “Right? I’ll go to the other side and look for a door.”

“Good girl,” you sighed heavily once her back was turned. This was really your worst case scenario. You start searching for an exit, but all the facets of the blue glass didn’t seem to have a beginning or end.

“It’s like we’re trapped inside a huge sapphire,” Honey said.

You stalled for a second. Just before you had been captured, the monster had said something that made you think he was actually someone else. But who? Just as you’re about to step aside, part of the wall vanishes and opens into a hallway. These short gemstone like goblins then came inside. They made screeching guttural noises at you and grabbed at you. They slapped at your legs and forced you towards the door.

“Mama!” Honey yelped.

“Stay calm!” You shouted back at her. “I’ll come back for you!” The door closed again, reappearing and sealing the room back shut. The gemstone goblins ushered you down at the hallway, cackling and jabbing at you to make you go. Another facet opens up and they push you inside, making you trip over a rug and fall to the floor.

“Mother-” You growled as you tried to stand back up. You push yourself up off the floor and look around the room. It’s round inside, a column in the center is filled with white flickering light. Surrounding it are jagged dark blue stones that spill out to form chairs. Hanging from the ceiling are screens showing footage from outside, charts, and other various things you’re not sure of. You stand up and see the gemstone monster on the other side.

“Fucker,” you finished your original thought.

The monster chuckled. “You stand against me. You place yourself in front of what is mine, and dare to say what you think is right.”

“I didn’t say anything even close to that. I just wanted to know what was happening.” You stood there, glaring through the flickering white light. “I knew the family who owned that estate. That’s all.”

“Past tense,” he scoffed. “So they’re all gone.”

You clenched and unclenched your first. “Piero died several years ago.”

“And he just gave everything away.” The monster scoffed. “What a joke.”

“His children were gone. The school and the magical children were all he had,” you insisted. “What was he supposed to do? Let it rot while waiting for an heir.”

The monster held up the two brooches, yours and Honey’s. Your knuckles popped with a particularly hard squeeze.

“And what exactly happened to his heirs?” He sneered.

You scowled. “Alida died,” the words tasted bitter in your mouth. “And Cielo vanished. No one knew what happened to him.”

He started laughing. “Did anyone even try to find him?”

“I did.”

The monster stood from his seat. “Obviously you didn’t try hard enough.”

Your jaw hurt from tensing it. You’d had enough. “Something happened that caused some problems. I don’t owe you an explanation! So unless you actually are Cielo, I’m done discussing the matter!”

“Long time no see,” he growled warningly.

“What the fuck happened?” You screamed at him.

Cielo removed the blue glass from his face. His skin was blue like the sapphires, his eyes just white glow. The sapphire grew along his skin, around his mouth, up the sides of his cheek and temples, the horns jutting from his forehead. “Broken hearts mend in strange ways.”

You glared at him. “If i get my brooch back I’m going to fucking kill you for that answer alone!”

“Which is why I kept it.” He waved the two brooch’s in his large palm. “Now who the hell thinks they can replace my sister. Did my father do this?”

“We’re not talking about that girl,” you snapped. “We are talking about you, Cielo!” You jammed your finger towards him. “Where have you been? Why did you run away?”

Cielo put the brooches away. Pocketing them then putting on the mask again. “I figured you would have found me, then it could have just been the two of us.”

“I couldn’t look for you anymore. I told you, something happened and I-”

Cielo threw his head back and laughed. “Excuses. You loved the comfort my family afforded. After Alida was gone, I bet my father just lavished you with affection. He ignored me!”

“Your father became a recluse! He let Molina handle everything after that!” You barked at him. “He never left his observatory.”

He scoffed and lifted his huge hand. “And yet you remained.”

“I left too! But I came back for a job. I’m a mentor to the new generation and I-” You stopped and held up your hands. “I don’t owe you an explanation. You abandoned me.”

“I wanted you to follow.”

“How the fuck was I supposed to get that, Cielo?” You snapped. “Some stupid ring on the nightstand?”

“It wasn’t stupid. It was an engagement ring!”

“Stupid!” You yelled back.

Gemstones came up from the floor, capturing your ankles and legs, growing up along your sides until your arms were held back. Cielo came forward to you, standing over you. “I’m taking back what is mine. So you best find that stupid ring and give it back to me. This estate, everything in it, everything that was in it, it will all be returned to me.”

You glared up at him. “You’ve been gone for thirteen years! You forfeited it. You have no right to come back in and expect it. I’ll fight you for it. All i ask is that you let the girl go.”

Cielo shook his head. “I don’t know who that girl is, or what makes her think she can replace Alida. But she’s staying here, because what she has is mine.”

“Let her go,” you insisted.

Cielo reached out, holding your face in his hands. “You used to be mine once,” he murmured. “Remember?”

“I owned you, and you know it,” you sneered.

He brushed the hair from your face, then pressed his sharp sapphire claws into your temple. “I’m not a weak little boy anymore.”

“Still are in my eyes. Go ahead, pull whatever magical trigger you’ve got going on under all that hardshell. Underneath it all you’re still nougat.”

The gems holding you released and you fell back onto the floor. The gemstone goblins grabbed you by your ankles and pulled you to the door. “I’m not done with you!” You screamed to Cielo. “You’ll have to face me soon!”

You were taken back to the room where Honey was. She jumped up from the table to meet you as the goblins dragged you in. You huffed, laying there as she came to help you up.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

You sat up and rubbed your face down your hands. “A thirteen year old mistake.”

Honey pointed at herself. “Me?”

“No, not you!” You huffed. You then pulled her in for a hug. “You’re not a mistake.” You rubbed her back and gave a tight squeeze. “My mistake.”

“So what happened?”

“That creature is Cielo Bevilacqua,” you grumbled. “He’s come back to take what he believes is his right.”

“So the school,” Honey nodded. “Well, maybe he can have it back. Maybe if we talk to him he’ll let us keep using it as the school too. I mean, he looks really big, but he doesn’t need that entire mansion right?”

“It’s not that simple,” you huffed. “He doesn’t want to share. He’s going to take everything he believes is his. It doesn’t matter .”

Honey’s mouth widened and she nodded. “Oh, so he’s, like, really angry.”

You scratched hard at your scalp. “Yup.”

“Maybe I could talk to him then. I mean, after all, his sister and I are-”

You shook your head. “No, Honey. That’s part of the problem too. He thinks you’re a usurper or something. He’s probably more angry at you than anyone.”

“But his sister-”

The look you give her stops her in her tracks. “I’m not sure what to do. But I do know he will not touch you. If I could just get my brooch back-”

Honey patted your back. “You knew Cielo right? You don’t really talk much about him, but you do have lots of old pictures of him back home.”

Your brow pinches as you look at her up and down. “Honey, how do you know about those pictures?”

“I like to snoop,” Honey said with no guilt. “But you did know him. I mean you had to! You and Alida were best friends. You did everything together. What was Cielo like back then? Maybe you could still reach him.”

The screaming match you had moments earlier would say otherwise. “It’s been thirteen years since I last saw him. And obviously, we’ve both changed in that time. I don’t think I know him anymore.”

“You always told me that everyone has a version of the story, and their version is worth hearing just as much as the story most listened to. You should listen to his side to help you understand him. Like with Raya Vortex!”

“Raya Vortex was trying to save her people. I don’t think Cielo-” You stopped and sighed. “Maybe you’re right. If all he wants is the estate back, maybe there’s a reason. I just got mad.”

Honey squeezed your hand tight. “Try harder, Mama. if he left after Alida died, maybe that has something to do with it.”

You hugged her again. “You really are good at this.”

Sometime later, those same goblins came and fetched you and Honey. They put you into a room with a bed and a column of that warm white light. You were then taken from the room again and led to Cielo. He sat at the head of a long, narrow table. You took a seat near him and a gemstone goblin served you a drink.

“Have you calmed down?” he asked.

“Have you?” You took the drink and sipped. It was ice cold water. “Because if even one of us is heated, we’re never going to be able to talk.”

Cielo shrugged. “I can keep my cool.”

“Then I will try too.” You watched him, seeing him toying with food on his plate. A plate was then brought to you, but you also pushed the morsels around. “Why did you leave?”

“I was sad. Angry,” he murmured. “I didn’t know what to do. Alida was the glue that held my family together. Without her it fell apart.”

“That’s why you needed to stay. Your father needed you, and you leaving it was broke him.”

“He had a funny way of showing it,” Cileo sneered.

You nodded. “Yeah, he did. But he was grieving too. I was grieving. We all were.” You laid your fork down. “Why not tell me though? Why make it so vague and strange?”

“What made you stop looking for me?” Cielo turned the line of questioning. “What could be so important that you would just forget me?”

“I didn’t forget you,” you insisted. “I came down with something.”

Cielo scoffed. “A cold, really?”

You picked the fork up again  to distract yourself. “Not a cold.”

Cielo snarled under his breath as he leaned back in his chair. He touched his hand to his face, slightly moving the mask aside. You could see the tight line of his mouth, the small mole that had always been in that corner. You used to plant kisses there, calling it his target.

“My father should have known I was alive.”

“He did. But you were gone. What could he have done?” You frowned at Cielo but let it fade it away into a sympathetic look. “You didn’t know he was gone, did you?”

“Eat your food.” He grumbled.

“I can’t believe I didn’t get it. You reacted the same way when Alida died. You just raged and-” You reached over, touching his hand on the table which he yanked back. “I’m so sorry Cielo.”

Cielo pushed your hand away. “I don’t need your sympathy. There’s nothing here to mourn. Nothing to feel bad about-” he huffed. “I worked so hard all these years and finally found a way to save her and-”

You scrunched your face. “Alida?”

“But that girl-” he started to fume. “She ruined it! The brooch is bonded to another person now. It won’t work! I can’t bring Alida back! There’s not even anyone to bring her back for it just-” He slammed his fists down onto the table. “That girl is going to pay! I can’t bring Alida back anymore! The method won’t work if that brooch is bonded to another!”

“You will not touch that girl!” You snapped at him. “She has done nothing wrong, the brooch chose her!”

Cielo’s eyes glowed bright white under the mask. He raised his fists from the table and lifted them into the air. “If she didn’t exist, Alida could!”

“Then blame yourself!” You barked at him. “She exists because of you!”

Cielo scoffed and lowered his arms down. “What sort of hippie bullshit is that supposed to mean?”

You clenched your jaw then slowly tried to relax it. You swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “I couldn’t look for you because I became pregnant,” you said sternly. “The night you left was also the night you knocked me up.”

Cielo was very still and very quiet.

“I call her Honey, but her real name is Alida. You’re her father.” You look at him then quickly look away and then back again. “So. If you’re looking to blame someone, blame your dick. Or the broken condom I don’t-” You then hold your face in your hands.

“That’s...weird.” Cielo muttered. “So that...wait. Then why wasn’t the estate left to her, or even just you?” he snapped.

“Because I turned it away. He gave me money, and left Honey a trust fund, but she won’t be able to access it until she’s twenty-one. But I didn’t want that house. It was too much for me. Too sad I-”

Cielo sank in his chair and took off the mask. “I don’t know what to do. This is a wrench. This is-” His face contorted, pained and pulled. He set the mask upon the table then glared at the state of his hand. “How can I face her like this?”

You stood up from your chair and approached him. “Now, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I turned myself into a monster so I could bring my sister back. I mean...look at me!” His eyes flashed bright white.

You placed your hand upon his shoulder. “You always said you wished you could transform like me and Alida.”

“I can’t exactly turn back though,” he grumbled.

You touch his face, remembering how he used to bemoan his facial hair and how fast it grew. Sapphires now replaced that dark hair, but his skin felt the same, if only a bit colder. “What did you do, Cielo?”

Cielo refused to look at you. His eyes remained downcast and focused upon his hand. He was still and lost in thought, trying to piece together the story in a way he could tell. “It doesn’t matter anymore what I did, or why I did it. The reason is gone now. My purpose is shattered. That-” His voice stuck in his throat. “That girl has taken Alida’s place. The brooch won’t work anymore. I made my trade for that power, and it’s with me forever.”

“At least you look pretty.”

His eyes cut over towards you at last, a sardonic glare set his brows and made his gaze sharp.

You smirked at him. “I know there is a lot going on in your head right now. But could it be possible to move your ship out of the house?”

Cielo grumbled under his breath. “It is my home.”

“It’s home to a bunch of kids too, and you’re kind of ruining their day.” You stepped back and walked away from the table. “I’m going to go and check on Honey. I’ve been here for long enough.”

Cielo sighed. “Does she look like Alida?” he asked.

Standing in the doorway as it opened up, you shook your head at him. “No. She looks like you.” You go back down the hall, kicking a few of the sapphire goblins who try to grab your ankles.