Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* Diamond Eyes - Everything *

AN: this was a 3K-word chapter so I cut it in two for the ease of reading.

***

"Hehe!" Maya had an evil laugh, "she had actually only brought shorts, t-shirt, and this jacket, so she was \'lucky\' I had packed an extra swimsuit that happened to match her size."

"It\'s alright Raven," Axane reassured, "you look so courageous! And you\'re not revealing much so you shouldn\'t be so embarrassed."

"I feel naked..." Raven said with a tone that was akin to crying, while trying to pull the jacket a little bit down, but she was stopped by Maya.

"Hey, stop doing that, unless you want me to take that jacket off," Maya had an evil grin that sent shivers down the poor girl\'s spine and made her shake her head rapidly.

Raven recalled the events that had taken place just a few minutes ago in the isolated changing room.

Maya had jumped at her and restrained her to the ground while laughing hysterically.

Not that Raven was weak and couldn\'t overpower her little sister, but she would never risk using her powers against her family.

Removing her clothes and leaving her in her two underwear pieces, Maya had given her the swimsuit she had brought for her and headed towards the door.

"I\'ll give you five minutes to change, and after that I\'ll barge in, ok?" and without waiting for her reply, she had left.

Axane and Rain only arrived after Raven was already in the swimsuit, almost crying.

With Axane being loving and caring, she forced Maya to stop torturing the crimson-purple haired girl and she then handed her the jacket she was now wearing.

"Ahhhhhh, the weather is so good and warm, wanna take a dip now or wait till after lunch?" Maya asked Raven who was still shaken.

"I- I\'ll take a moment to get used to this," she said while gesturing at her swimsuit, "you can go ahead and I\'ll follow after."

"Ok, sounds good," Maya said with a smile as she surprised Raven with a hug. "Sorry, it\'s not my intention to scare you like this, it\'s just that... you have to live as a girl remember? It\'s who you really are.

"It\'s not easy, nor is it comfortable all the time, but it\'s who you are and you must embrace it."

Hearing her little sister being all wise and smart made Raven smile slightly, "uhm, thank you, I\'m not used to it, but I\'ll get there one day, haha," she smiled as she calmed down a little bit.

Watching Maya and Rain jump into the pool not too far away from her, while Axane sat on the edge with Baby Rituxi in her arms, made her smile.

Leaning back in her own luxury beach chair, she sighed as Kuru jumped at her lap. "Kuru!" Raven said loudly, half startled as she started to subconsciously caress his soft silver mane.

"Sorry to startle you," Kuru purred, "is it ok if I stay here?"

"Haha, it\'s all good," Raven laughed weakly yet warmly, "you\'re still young so you can sit on my lap."

Kuru rubbed his nose against Raven\'s hand in a \'thank you\' gesture.

"Out of curiosity," Camilla said, "how old are you, Kuru?"

Looking at Camilla then Raven for a second, Kuru shook his head, "I don\'t really know..."

"It\'s alright," Raven said softly, "you don\'t have to force yourself into remembering anything, it\'ll come along on its own when the time is right."

Raven had always tried to avoid mentioning any aspect of his past life as Kuru didn\'t have the most beautiful one.

His race apparently has the ability to switch their bodies into weapons, and so he was previously used as a sword by an evil S ranked monster that almost ended up killing Raven and destroying the whole city.

If it wasn\'t for two other S rankers, Jamie and Tod, Raven would have been dead now. The two were naturally friends with the family now. Especially since Camilla herself was an S ranker too.

"Mom?" Raven asked while looking at Maria who was staring at some people in one of the pools, "what\'s wrong?"

"Hm, oh- nothing serious..." Maria muttered as she stood up from her seat and wrapped the towel around her waist.

Walking towards the bunch of young men that looked in their twenties she stopped and looked them in the eyes, making sure the towel covered enough of her body to prevent their dirty gazes from reaching her.

"Does it feel good staring at a bunch of teens in swimsuits?" she asked with a frown, "I get that you\'re young and all, but seriously? Why perverted looks at young girls, do you not have anything better to do?"

Maria had seen them staring at Maya first, and then Raven. She had no problem with people just looking, but one guy in particular had such a dirty look towards Raven that made her almost puke.

Worst part is that he wasn\'t trying to hide it. He was purposefully trying to find an angle to look underneath her light jacket.

"No, we weren\'t staring at anything!" the man denied hurriedly, as if to dismiss her quickly.

"Yeah, what are you talking about?" said another. "Stupid women think they can say whatever they want just because they show some meat!"

She recognised him as the guy who was staring at Maya with a look that made slicing him up sound like a good choice.

Girls wore swimsuits to make it easier to get a tan or swim in the pools, not for others to stare like filthy dogs.

Feeling her rage boiling, Maria was about to kick the men in the face, one by one. With her martial arts training, she could knock a guy out with one hit.

However, before she could even move from her spot, she felt the air around her become thick and chilly.

The men, and everyone else for that matter, froze in place and only a brave handful dared to look for the source of the chill that threatened to break their spines.

"Oi, is it just me or are you trying to play thugs on my mom?"

Looking at the source of the voice, the men found themselves staring into an endless gold void that threatened to suck their souls right in.

Only after a second of staring at Raven\'s majestic golden eyes did the men finally realise who she was.

They all remembered seeing her on TV. She was the rumoured double S (SS) ranker that had annihilated an S ranked monster while creating a second sun in the process.

The white star had faded after about three days, but the rumours about her only traveled farther.

"Raven," Maria called for her daughter, "it\'s alright, these gentlemen will promise to never stare at young girls, right?"

Looking at Maria, the men nodded rapidly in speed that was enough to break their necks. Right now, they wanted nothing but to leave this place and never meet the crimson-purple haired girl ever again.

"Che," Raven gritted her teeth as she let her aura subdue, making everyone else release breaths they never knew they were holding in.

The rest of the day went smoothly as no one dared to cause any trouble again. A true SS ranker was enough to destroy a whole continent, and no one wanted a catastrophe to hit because of their stupid ill behaviour.

However, aside from fear, people were excited. It was a one in a million chance to see the rumoured girl in the flesh.

Even though Raven has mentioned to the media that she was never truly a double S (SS) ranker, but merely a B ranker that knew how to control her aura quite well, no one believed her.

Many people still asked for pictures, yet only a few young boys and girls got to take a picture next to Raven and her family.

Maya and Axane received quite the crowd. They weren\'t famous in particular, but with how cute and stunning they both were, and the fact that they were Raven\'s friends, people wanted to keep a memory.

Needless to say, Raven didn\'t let that get in the way of her family\'s vacation. Whenever it got out of hand, a small mana surge would let everyone know picture time was over.

Overall, everyone had a very good time. Especially Maya who got to drag Raven into the pool.

After some practice, Raven was a little bit more comfortable that she took her light jacket off, albeit for about two minutes, but it was a start.

Eventually, even Maria and Camilla joined the swimming party to play \'find the coin\'.

It was basically a little fun game where Axane would throw the coin into the air, and the others would have to start searching for it once it hits the water.

Every once in a while, someone would switch with Axane and take baby Rituxi while she takes a little dip.

"Everyone\'s gangsta till Raven starts using her powers to pull the coin towards her." Maya joked.

"Haha true that!" Camilla laughed, "But you know what\'s more fun? Her using her powers to pull us away from the coin!"

"Hahaha! Even more when she stars pushing you underwater." Rain\'s laugh was coupled with a tense expression, "we\'re not fish so I doubt any of us can breath underwater."

"You guys are blaming poor Raven because you\'re just bad at swimming!" Axane defended Raven as she thought she\'d never do something like that.

Raven heard all of that and looked away, as if to spot a far away bird or something. She almost started to whistle when Maria touched her shoulder, startling her again.

"You\'re totally cheating and using powers, aren\'t you?" Maria whispered into her ear.

"I can\'t swim fast in this body!" she whispered back loudly. "plus, I still have my jacket on..."

"No it\'s ok, I understand."Maria surprised her, "I was just wondering why poor Axane always thinks you\'re so innocent when you\'re acting so sus..."

"I always keep an alibi..." Raven said with guilt in her eyes. "I let her win sometimes, and never use my powers next to her, so she thinks I\'m good."

"Ah, gotcha," Maria nodded in understanding....