WhiteAngel25

The Dark Beyond: Adventures in Candyland (Prequel)

Sabrina's neutral gaze flicked between the Egyptian and her husband. She nodded in agreement to turn the kids' attention to something less...behind the scenes. The times Sabrina had been assigned to work with Thierry before they were married, always ended them in precarious situations. She still could find the scars from the trip to Peru. The less the children were exposed, the better.

Sabrina smiled thankfully at Theo as he took their bags to the tent while she ushered Cosy and Auri to the tourist areas. She glanced back at the tents, catching her son flirting with a staff person, most likely an intern. Très bien, Roméo, let's stay off the device you've been glued to since we departed from the house and go see things your father suggested," she called out her son with a smirk and a knowing look.

Sabrina worried for her son as he gained his father's skills of persuasion, and sometimes she was worried that he'd use it to take over the world. Of course, that was a family joke, but she knew her son, and he gained his parents' knacks of finding their way into trouble.

"Auri, would you please keep an eye on him? If you two are not coming with us," the mother referred to Theo before turning to Cosette. "He's like Papa, isn't he, ma petite fille?" she suggested before she led the way to the tourist exhibits.

---

Sabrina had taken Cosette through the closest tourist stuff they could do at the moment before encouraging the young girl that sleep was important. It was technically early morning, and she would experience jet lag if they didn't try to go lay down for a moment. Once Sabrina had coaxed Cosette into pajamas and her cot with Chignon-chignon, she told her daughter that she didn't have to go to sleep, Cosette just had to rest her eyes and relax. She placed a kiss on each of the kids' foreheads like she had done the last almost sixteen years and went over to her tent.

Sabrina paused as she saw the light of the lamp where she had last left Thierry when distracting Cosy. She walked up and peered around the edge, smiling softly.

"You know staring at inscriptions won't make the answer jump out at you," she teased as she neared her husband, who hunched over an exam table. "You should really get some rest, Thierry. I know you didn't on the plane or the bus," she suggested as she laid a gentle hand on his left shoulder, rubbing it softly in a comforting manner.

The Dark Beyond

@Lexisheeps yeah that’s a my bad on my end. It was supposed to be directed at Thierry, not Nick. I forgot to add to have her look back at Thierry. My ADHD allows me to think I’ve typed my ideas but I don’t. I can edit it if necessary but Nick has already snapped so I thought I’d just leave it.

And thank you!

Nick’s POV is always interesting to read too. :)

The Dark Beyond: Adventures in Candyland (Prequel)

@Estylwen Yes! I will have one up today. :)

The Dark Beyond

@DaysYes, the estate is from Sabrina’s family estate, but she hasn’t touched anything after the girls disappeared unless Thierry has come and picked up things himself.

The Dark Beyond

@Lexisheeps You have great points and I figured a lot of that. I feel like the mark was missed on both of our ends. We probably should’ve done a collab to have a back and forth between characters.

Everything’s good though, you can come out of the blanket fort. I have hot chocolate and cookies! ☺️

And @Days is right. Sabrina is giving the ring back as the final straw of letting Thierry go. She doesn’t have the energy to worry about him and their kids.

The Dark Beyond

@Lexisheeps I do agree with @Days that Nick’s reaction shows his immaturity but I felt maybe it was a touch too far. Sabrina has been covering for Thierry since he brought Auri home, not including the whole Theo situation wanting to be like his dad. And she does know that she’s a portion of the issue but Thierry has hardly ever seemed to care. She knows that he loves their children.

As for the comment of her husband being stolen by a younger man…Sabrina doesn’t care. She’s done caring about the situation. She loves Thierry so if he’s happy with Nick then that’s what she accepts.

Giving back the ring was a symbolic gesture of her no longer covering for him with the children. It’s clear he doesn’t love her anymore so why should she have it when the wedding ring she gave him is replaced by Nick’s?

Loved all the drama! @EstylwenI’ll post in the collab soon. :)

The Dark Beyond

The Dark Beyond

Music has been added!

The Dark Beyond

Post is up! Sabrina coming in with the burns. I'll be adding music to it here in a second.

The Dark Beyond

Sabrina stood against her red Porshe while Auri leaned back on the side of it, Aviator sunglasses rested on the bridge of her nose as she took a drag of a Gauloises cigarette, she hadn't touched one since Thierry brought Aurelie home. She was trying to stay as level-headed as possible but it was hard to do with the thoughts running through her mind.

Instead of staying calm this time, Sabrina radiated quiet fury. Her right foot wouldn't stop tapping as she gripped and ungripped her left hand. Her gold-hued stare pierced through her sunglasses at her ex and Nick sitting on a bench on the docks. The Louvre usually sent her to collect Thierry, despite both of their pleas for someone else to pick him up from missions such as these. When Sabrina finally had enough, she exhaled the smoke of her cigarette and smothered it in the cigarette trashcan outside the coffee shop. "I had hoped I never had to use one of these again. Your father, I swear-." Sabrina tried to apologize for smoking in front of her eldest but stopped as Auri wasn't the target of her anger.

Sabrina stalked down the stairs of the dock, the fury in each click of her heels on the wood could have burned through if she had the augmentation. She raised her shades to the top of her head as she neared her ex and his husband. The bad news was that the moment Thierry stood up, a slap rang across his face with her left hand, giving him the grace of not using her dominant hand. She shot Nick a look, daring him to speak to see if he wanted to live or die.

"I saw everything, Thierry. You chose the option to let our daughter die, just like in Giza. Do you think you're fucking above everyone? That Auri's life was expendable to you? You're lucky Nick is skilled enough to get both of them out of there if that had been needed," Sabrina's voice was calm, hushed, quiet enough that yelling would be a blessing at this point.

"Espèce de fils de pute, you see him as a project to save, something to work on, that he needs you. What about your children? What about me? Over two fucking decades we were together, and never once have you ever looked at me or the kids the way you do Nick," She hissed as she clenched her hands into fists again as she laughed darkly. "And I'm the fucking idiot still in love with you after all the shit you've pulled in the last decade!" She shook her head at herself before taking a deep breath to force herself not to hit her ex again.

When Sabrina opened her gold orbs, they were softer in expression like the normal honey tone, only with a huge touch of sadness. She was calmer in her body language, her hands relaxed at her sides as she glanced at Nick. "I get it, Thierry. I do. You love him, more than anything. But it's a shame that it came with the cost of your family," she murmured as she placed a red leather ring box in his hands. The red leather had a little age to it. It was the home for the wedding ring Thierry had given her, although one could see a faint line on her left hand still if they got close enough.

Sabrina appeared more exhausted than ever after admitting things she had kept bottled up for the last seven years. "I don't want any part of it anymore. I'm done trying to protect the kids from who you are as a person. I should've stopped a long time ago," she continued with a sigh. "I'm going to call Theo to meet Auri and me at the airport. We are going to go get Cosette," she paused as her gaze flicked to Nick. "Do what you want. It's not like you haven't the last two decades," Sabrina uttered before turning around and making her way back down the docks to the car.