Poppy Complex, Epilogue

The pain subsided into darkness, the darkness faded to light, and as my eyes adjusted, I realized I was in a field full of flowers, with a stone path leading to a small church-like home.

The smells of the flowers tickled my nose as the light breeze brushed my hair back. I saw the figures in the windows of the door. I couldn't make them out, but I somehow knew that they were good. I felt myself being pulled towards the room.

As I approached the door, it opened to reveal a large, plain white room with white sofas, a single window, a vase that sat on the floor and four pairs of wings on the back wall. Standing in the room were three women, one of them I faintly recognized.

 "Poppy!" Said the red-headed one, "It's me, Gramma Azzie!"

Grandma had died long ago, I couldn't believe that she was standing here, looking younger than I had ever seen her.

The other two women, one with long brown hair and the other blonde, sat down as Grandma and I talked.

"Who..." I wondered outloud, glancing at the two of them and then looking back and Grandma. It was weird, calling someone who looked my age or younger my grandma.

"That's my Momma and Grandma," Azzie said, wide smile on her face. I never remembered her, being this happy. She had always been childish, but never this happy.

"Hello," the blonde one said, "I'm Eden. I'm sort of the start of this," she waved her hand to encompass the whole room.

"I'm Bay, your great grandma. And, of course, you know Azalea, my daughter."

"Come on," Grandma said, pulling me over to sit on the other sofa. She sat next to Eden, and immediately asked me, "Do you know your power?"

"My what?"

"You don't know?" Bay asked.

"I guess Prim never came back to tell her..." Azzie frowned and shook her head, "I guess I should'a, but you were soooo young when I died."

"I've never met my mother," I said, "What are you talking about?"

"We're all part Goddess," Bay said, "Except for Mom. Mom was a goddess."

"Then I was sent to the Sim Realm. I lost all my powers, the only thing I had left was that my eyes made people happy. And each generation, at least one of my ancestors has had the power to make people feel something with their eyes," Eden explained.

"When one of the ancestors does an entirely selfless act, all of us will be freed to either go into the real Heaven, where everyone else goes, or into the Divine realm," Bay explained, "But, you see, being completely selfless is hard. None of us have done it, and it may not happen for many more decades, maybe centuries."

"What...what's my power?" I asked, then realizing that I didn't know if I wanted to really know. Before I could change my mind though, Eden answered me.

"Your eyes made people angry," she said softly.

I stared off at the pink flowers, glaring as I realized what my family's curse had done to me. I am the reason that Willow would get mad all the time, My eyes were the reason that no one ever loved me except Tristan. They're why my mom left. They're...they're the reason I was raped.

"I'm sorry," Eden whispered, "I wish...I wish I could have helped."

"We all are," Grandma Azzie said, "I'm sorry I was mean when I was alive."

I shook my head. I didn't want to hear it. I just wanted to be alone, so I could cry in peace.

"Is there anywhere I can go to be alone?" Bay nodded. A second later, the room started glowing, and a door appeared on a blank wall.

I ran through it as fast as I could, and found a room much brighter than the room I was in before. It seemed to be glowing. I sat there for a few minutes, waiting for the tears to overtake me.

This stupid power, this stupid curse that existed...what? 80 years ago or something? It caused the worst things in my life. It ruined me. But then, I couldn't help but think of Willow, and how without the bad, I wouldn't've had her.

A few minutes later, I heard a knock on the door.

I straightened up, crossing my legs and smoothing my pants, "Yes?" I called.

"Can I come in?" Bay called quietly, "Please?"

I sighed, "Alright."

She came in and sat next to me, "Can I tell you a story?"

"Sure," I muttered, forcing a smile on my face.

"I had the power to cause lust. This...it got me kidnapped. This man...he did a lot of horrible things to me, kept me hidden and took away my clothes...made me kiss him, all sorts of things. He almost raped me, before I was saved. I fell in love with the boy who saved me, but our relationship died because it was mostly lust. He was Azalea's father. We had two other children. After our relationship died, I had to concentrate on the children. When they grew older, though, I started getting in relationships. None of them lasted more than a week, and they were all sex."

I didn't know how to respond, what could I tell her?

"Nobody knows about the relationships I had, after Luke, though. Eden was still alive and lived thousands of miles away, and Azalea...I couldn't tell her. Her powers were to make people want to be good and innocent, she's just too innocent to know that I was a whore. I just wanted you to know...you're not alone. We were both skrewed by our powers."

She left right after that, closing the door on her way out. I smiled, it was good to know that, like she said, I wasn't the only one skrewed by my powers. But the smile disappeared, as I thought about the broken promise I had made so long ago. I had promsied myself that I'd be a good mother. I said I would never abandon my children. And now, they have no one left. Everyone they've ever known is dead. They have a few relatives left, on Earth, but what does it matter? One of them is my father, and no one knows who he is. Another is Willow's father--unless the police killed him--and I'll be damned if they end up with him.

The only relative that can be there for them, is my mother.

The only person they have left wasn't capable of loving me, how is she going to love my children?