Seese 2 Exist The Return

Author's Note:

If you have not read Seese 2 Exist - The Potion, you may want to read it first. Although in theory this can be read as a standalone story, it contains information that may leave you wondering what is going on or what has happened previously, as references are made to events from the first part.

As with the first part of this story, this is primarily a story of romance centered around the Fantasy side of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. It is primarily non-erotic, (though this part of the story comes closer to being erotic than the first part). This story also centers around a lesbian woman searching for love of her own, but it is more focused on the romance aspect as opposed to the act of sex between two consenting women, (again, with the exception of dialogue referencing such acts and one very brief "scene" between two women). As such, please read it as it is intended to be read.

I may still write more stories featuring Esmeralda, as that was my intent when I published the first part. However, as I wrote the first part, I already had ideas for this second part/sequel/conclusion to the Seese 2 Exist storyline.

In any event, comments are always welcome, either publicly or directly to me, and I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

JT

-----

Prologue

The Chamber, in which sat The Mirror of the Wronged, still felt warm. Esmeralda stood, smiling as she watched the scene of The Wronged and The Lock - Kelly and Michael - sing to each other. As with the final moments of her 273 previous successful assignments, the scene began to fade. The Mirror of the Wronged returned to what Esmeralda and the other members of The Bound thought of as its mortal form, nothing more than a large, ornate dressing mirror.

Lareth had left The Chamber only moments before, having tracked Esmeralda down and offered praise on behalf of The Council for her work on the assignment she just watched fade away. Esmeralda had, in Lareth's words, done exceptionally well, having exceeded The Council's expectations by formulating a potion that allowed The Wronged - Kelly - to begin righting the wrong, the mistake, perpetuated upon her at birth.

That assignment had been unusual in that Esmeralda needed to devise a way to physically change Kelly's birth sex; not simply her gender, as she been born a male and identified as such. No, the mistake Kelly faced wasn't that she felt as though she had been born in the wrong body, she actually HAD been born in the wrong body.

To make matters worse, Kelly the boy was in love with The Lock - Michael - and there was no way Michael was ever going to return that love to Kelly while she was a male. Esmeralda's potion provided Kelly with the chance to become the woman she was supposed to be, meant to be. But for the change to become permanent, Kelly had to find a way to make Michael fall in love with her. Only then would the problem be corrected forever.

Esmeralda's solution did not come without a price, however. As with all assignments received from The Mirror of the Wronged, The Wronged individual only had 72 hours - 3 days - to successfully right the wrong they had been subjected to. Failure came at a great cost, to be sure, for failure meant a complete erasure from existence, as if The Wronged had never been born.

Unbeknownst to Esmeralda until after the successful completion of the assignment, Kelly was safe the very moment she awoke after her metamorphosis from male to female. Michael was already in love with Kelly the woman she now was. The woman she had always been in the eyes of all but her. And thanks to the love of The Key, Kelly and Michael were now on track to live a happy existence with each other.

Not all of Esmeralda's cases revolved in The Wronged needing to find love in order for their destiny to be fulfilled. In fact, not all situations even involved humans. Oftentimes The Key or The Lock were mere inanimate objects that played a role in correcting a mistake. Or sometimes both, as had been the case Esmeralda handled before she was assigned to help Kelly.

In that case, a man, Elijah Daniels, had been wrongfully terminated from a job when an idea he had was stolen by a co-worker who submitted the idea as his own and falsely claimed Elijah was attempting to steal the idea. It was a simple case, really, and even though Esmeralda did not know the identity of The Key that would unlock The Lock, and would have been prohibited from identifying The Key if she had, she was able to give Elijah a hint by telling him to leave no stone unturned.

The 'stone' - The Key - in that case was revealed to be nothing more than an old manual typewriter. Under that typewriter was a sealed envelope - The Lock - addressed and mailed to Elijah from himself four years prior. He recognized it immediately and knew without opening the envelope the contents contained detailed plans of his idea. Upon taking unopened envelope and its contents to his former employer, Elijah was able to prove the idea had been his all along, for on the envelope was a postmark showing the date it had been mailed. Only after showing the postmark to his former employer did he open the contents and reveal the detailed plans. Elijah was given his job back and the co-worker terminated in his stead.

Now, Esmeralda found herself frozen in place, captivated by what was happening before her. As she continued looking at the Mirror of the Wronged, a sense of shock and bewilderment washed over her. Surely there had been a mistake. As quickly as the scene of Kelly and Michael had faded, a different scene from the same moment appeared, focusing this time on The Key - Lauren - the catalyst responsible for bringing Kelly and Michael together, thus permanently correcting the wrong thrust upon Kelly at birth.

And as quickly as Lareth had left her side and walked out of The Chamber, he was beside her again.

"I know what you're thinking, Esmeralda," he said, "and this isn't a mistake. The Mirror of the Wronged doesn't make mistakes. Although...." he said, a look of thoughtfulness appearing on his face as he circled the mirror, "I have never seen The Mirror issue a new assignment so quickly before."

"You mean focus on The Key," Esmeralda said, correcting him.

"No, Esmeralda, I mean The Lock. Lauren was The Key in the last assignment. She unlocked Michael's desire to profess his love for Kelly. The Mirror is indicating she is The Lock now. Never before have I seen The Mirror set focus on The Lock, always The Wronged, making the identification of The Lock known only after The Bound is called by The Door. I have never seen The Mirror issue a new assignment to any member of The Bound so quickly, let alone to a member who had just completed an assignment intertwined with the new one." He reached up and hit the side of The Mirror with the palm heel of his hand, as if trying to knock some out of place piece into position or, more likely, as if trying to knock some sense into it.

Esmeralda looked on with amusement, but remained silent. As a member of The Bound, it was not her place to question the words or actions of a member of The Council. She had come perilously close to crossing that line when she thought she was correcting Lareth. She knew the only reasons Lareth didn't berate her for it were because he didn't view her actions as being corrective, since they weren't, and because he was rather fond of her.

In the 308 years since Esmeralda began serving her sentence to The Council, she hadn't aged a day. She was only 26 years old when The Council "rescued" her from certain death during just before the Salem Witch Trials, and the figure of that beautiful 26-year-old woman had been preserved. Although Esmeralda did not know Lareth's true age, he too had maintained the 28-year-old body of the man he was at the time he came to serve on The Council, and when Esmeralda was brought before The Council for sentencing, Lareth did not hide his desire for her.

After judgement was handed down, The Council informed Esmeralda she would be given two options upon completion of her sentence. Her first option would be to return to any point immediately following one of her successful assignments, allowing her to remain connected with The Wronged she helped. That option would mean she would become mortal, losing her powers and living out a normal life.

The other option would see her released from her binding chains and become a member of The Boundless, a group of former members of The Bound who chose to remain immortal, forever living and serving The Council in other ways, but never able to interact with humankind again. This option would allow Esmeralda and Lareth to be together at last, for Esmeralda also desired Lareth. And physical relations between The Council and The Bound were prohibited, an act which would see both the offending members of The Bound and The Council relegated to The Damned, a group sentenced to serve The Council for all eternity.

Lareth's brow furrowed in frustration. "I must say, this is truly odd. The Mirror is not indicating who The Wronged is."

"How am I to know what to do if I don't know who I am being sent to help?" Esmeralda queried.

"Under normal circumstances, I would say the same thing I always say when The Mirror issues a new assignment; you will know what you need to do and how to do it when The Door calls upon you. But this is no ordinary case, Esmeralda, and I truly do not know."

Esmeralda watched as Lareth slowly extended his right index finger toward The Mirror. As soon as his finger made contact, the scene before her froze. Under any other circumstances, the image before her may have made her laugh, as Lauren had just leapt from a drum riser and appeared to be suspended in midair. But these weren't just any other circumstances, and Esmeralda felt sick to her stomach.

"That won't hold for long. I must confer with The Council. I will return momentarily."

As he had a few moments earlier, Lareth turned on his heels and left The Chamber, leaving Esmeralda to stare at the image of The Key - no, Lareth said she was now The Lock - before her. She was still staring at staring at The Mirror, admiring the beauty of the young woman - of Lauren - when Lareth returned a few minutes later.

"I'm afraid The Council is unable to provide guidance, Esmeralda. But we have an offer to make, so listen closely."

Esmeralda listened to Lareth as he relayed the offer The Council was presenting. Even with the great risk it posed, it took Esmeralda but a moment to accept.

"Are you sure, Esmeralda? Once The Door calls upon you, there will be no turning back. You will be stuck in the timeline, unable to communicate with us and unable to seek guidance until such time as you have identified The Wronged."

Esmeralda turned and looked at the mirror again, looking for a sign, anything really, that would provide a clue as to how would complete the assignment. She had no choice but to accept the assignment. She could accept it normally, and risk failure, which meant the addition of one more link to her binding chains - two if she chose to use another potion. Or she could accept The Council's offer, granted additional time, additional permissions to use magic, and the ability to make herself remain in the mortal world to provide guidance to whomever appeared when The Door opened. If she took The Council's offer, failure meant an eternity as one of the Forgotten, an existence without existing, and never the chance to be with Lareth.

"I'm sure, Lareth. I know the risk I take. I must do this for myself...for us."

"For our sake, I hope you succeed, Esmeralda. You know I will not be able to intervene in this assignment, or even see you while you work to identify The Wronged, hence the privileges that have been granted to you by The Council, but I will not sleep as I await your return."

As Lareth turned and left The Chamber once again, Esmeralda turned back to the mirror before speaking to the frozen image Lauren before her.

"I do not know the identity of The Wronged, the one whose problem you have locked away. Nor do I know how to unlock you, Lauren Seese, but you must help me, for you may very well represent eternal happiness for all of us."

-- Chapter One -

"My God, Honey! You look beautiful," I said to Kelly as I walked in to see if she was ready.

"Thank you, Lauren. You don't know how much I have wanted this," she replied. "And you don't know how much it means to me to have you as my Maid of Honor."

Kelly was about to walk down the aisle to marry my youngest brother, Michael. At one point, just over a year ago, I was still holding out hope Kelly would reveal herself to be a lesbian. I was hoping she would fall in love with me, for at the time, I loved her more than anything in the world.

I still love her, and I always will, but my love for her now is the kind of love that develops between siblings. For all intents and purposes, we practically were siblings, having been raised together, quite literally. Kelly was born one week to the day before me, and our parents were next-door-neighbors and best friends. Michael was best friends with Kelly's older brother Dylan, who was six weeks younger than him. It almost went without saying that Kelly and I destined to grow up to be best friends.

I have two more brothers, twins Spencer and Steven. Kelly's parents, Roger and Evelyn, had trouble starting a family and they had treated Spencer and Steven as their own children in the three years before Dylan came along. And they continued to treat Michael and me as extended family as well, even after finally having children of their own.

I spent most of my teenage years, into my mid-20's, in love with Kelly. Even though she was a tomboy while growing up. I saw potential in her. I knew hidden underneath that shell was a truly beautiful woman yearning to get out, the girly type I was, and the type I found most attractive. I didn't have anything against butch lesbians, and had even hooked up with a couple, but I just wasn't attracted to them on a grand scale. And with Kelly, despite being a tomboy, she didn't give me the vibe that she might be butch. In fact, she really never gave me a vibe she might be lesbian, I only hoped she would turn out to be one.

I first learned Kelly wasn't a lesbian on the night of our prom. Neither of us had dates. I had turned down several offers from several guys, but I already knew I wasn't interested in boys, and since I wasn't out yet, I really didn't relish the idea of going to prom with another girl and dealing with the glances and rumors that were likely to follow. Kelly didn't have a date, well, because she simply didn't catch the eyes of any boys due to the way she typically dressed and carried herself.

Instead, Kelly and I simply hung out together. We went and grabbed a pizza, then went down by the beach to watch the sunset and just talked. It was during this period of time while we were talking that Kelly admitted to me she had a crush on Michael. I was hurt, but I didn't think my reaction gave me away. I gently reminded her Michael already had a girlfriend, hoping maybe she was confused about her identity and would someday discover she was a lesbian, like me.

I didn't come out to Kelly as a lesbian until after we graduated high school. In the years that followed, I dated several women, but never felt the connection I felt with Kelly. In spite of this, I never tried to put the moves on her, holding out hope she would one day give me the opportunity to love her and return that love.

It wasn't until New Year's Eve a year and a half ago that I truly began to realize I was never meant to be with Kelly. Something triggered in her a couple of days before New Year's Eve, and she tossed aside the shell she had been hiding under for 23 years. She suddenly wanted to present herself in a more feminine manner, wearing more feminine clothes and makeup. I already knew I loved her, and seeing her finally come out of that shell and become the beautiful woman I always knew she was pulled my heartstrings even tighter.

That night, at a party co-hosted by my parents and hers at my parents' house, I realized why she came out of her shell. Kelly was still in love with Michael, and she knew Michael was planning on proposing to his long-time girlfriend, Meghan, just before midnight. Not long after Kelly admitted to still being in love with Michael did I finally come clean and tell her I was in love with her. Not only was I in love with her then, but I had been in love with since we were in high school.

My confession of my love for her triggered something else in Kelly. In a way I didn't understand then, and up until a year ago still didn't understand, Kelly was able to share unspoken memories with me. After I told her I loved her, a look of realization fell over her face, and she asked me to look deeply into her eyes and tell her what I saw.

What I saw was a confusing tidal wave of emotion as those unspoken memories transferred between us. Those beautiful eyes I was staring at shared a different reality, one in which Kelly had been born a boy. Those memories were largely the same as the memories I knew of Kelly the girl, the biggest differences being I wasn't a lesbian, and I was still in love with Kelly the boy, who thought he was gay and was still in love with Michael.

She explained what had occurred, having encountered a mysterious woman by the name of Esmeralda. She gave Kelly a potion that transformed her from a man to a woman, giving her the opportunity to finally have her love for Michael reciprocated. The problem was, she only had three days and, as I already mentioned, Michael was about to propose to Meghan.

It took her a few moments to fully explain the ramifications of Michael not falling in love with her. If it hadn't been for the extremely vivid memories she was able to share, the memories of her growing up to become a man instead of a woman, I might not have believed her. She explained if Michael did not fall in love with her by the time the 72 hours had passed since waking from her transformation, she would simply disappear, as if she had never been born. I wasn't sure if I believed her or not, but I wasn't going to take a chance on losing my best friend and the woman I loved.

I stopped Michael before he proposed to Meghan. Sacrificing my own love for her, I told him he couldn't marry Meghan, because someone far more worthy loved him more than he could ever imagine. He put two and two together and realized I meant Kelly, but not before Meghan had overheard part of the conversation. Long story short, it turned out Michael was already in love with Kelly and had been in love with her for as long as I had, and Kelly didn't simply disappear. Only after a long talk with Meghan, a talk in which she told him it would break her heart to see the man she loved pass on the chance to be with the woman he truly loved, did Michael finally tell Kelly he was already in love with her.

It wasn't until almost a year ago that I was finally move on. While I still loved Kelly, I was no longer in love with her. My love now was for the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. The woman who would be standing with me, alongside others, as one of Kelly's bridesmaids as she married the man of her dreams.

Kelly already told you her story of how she finally found love. Now, let me tell you mine.

-- Chapter Two --

"Here! Take your in-ear's. Give me your guitar! Quick!"

I could barely hear Kari over the intro music as she handed Kelly her in-ear monitors, then expertly swapped the plain guitar strap on Kelly's guitar to one with a wireless transmitter on it. Ten seconds later, I caught myself staring at my best friend's ass as she ran up the stairs to join the rest of the band on the stage. She hit her mark just in time, playing the first chord of the opening riff to the band's opening song, "Hammer Under Ice", just as the stage lights came up.