Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 63

"Where did the clothes come from?" I ask as Verando slowly adjusts into a more seated position. "What happened?"

Dabbing at his mouth with the back of his hand, he clutches the sleeping boy to his chest. "I don't know. One moment I was here, the next I was there. This is the outfit I was wearing the night before we left." He brings the shirt up to nose, sniffing it. "Not quite certain if they've been created or if they're the same ones. My body feels like it's been shredded."

I lean closer to him, checking over his eyes, searching his face. "You just got a full dose of a magical pulse. I imagine you feel pretty shitty." Touching his cheek, I brush the blood from under his nose. "He loves you so much."

Frowning, he rewards me with a patented warlord eye roll. "Splendid. I'm riddled with satisfaction. Are you alright?" Wrinkling his nose, he offers me a weak smile. "Beyond smelling like a wet dog."

I'd clip back at him if I wasn't so worried about him. Honestly, I was feeling jealous of his relationship with the young unicorn. The boy didn't know much else, Verando had taken care of them almost exclusively save for Legardo and Stefan. Often times, I felt like most of what I did was yell at him for his misunderstanding of magic. In fact, I was thinking of the scolding as we spoke about using his magic on his father. But, it was becoming more clear that this method wasn't working. 

I couldn't raise him as my father raised me, I had to teach him how to use his magic. "I'm not a good father." I mumble, falling back to sit on my hip only to jump back up at the ground on my naked form. Verando looks like he wishes to laugh though concern rests on his brow with my statement. "He hardly knows who I am."

"He's not very complex, love. You also haven't spent much time around children, you'll get the hang of it." Flinching, he carefully stands, shifting Darrius as he slides his shirt up and over his head. "It's not pants but.." He knew how I felt about my chest. I pull the shirt on, thankful that it's length covered most of everything though it did remind me to much of a dress. 

Glancing towards Helen, I purse my lips. "Perhaps the woman with breasts should be wearing a shirt?"

Helen had already shifted back, trekking towards us with her head low, nearly crawling in her shame. "I'm fine like this, I'm not ready to go back-"

"Darrius! Gods, Darrius!" Tyler comes crashing through the wreckage of trees and brush. Randy and Cas following close behind him. Sighing in relief when he sees us, he nearly drops to his knees if he wasn't so full of adrenaline. "You people sure do know how to cause a damned mess." Trembling, he rushes towards us to take in my scuffed and battered body coupled with the blood smears on Verando's stubble. "I don't even know where to start."

"Darrius is quite familiar with me, it would seem he knows where to find me. I didn't think he would.... appear.. here. He's not supposed to be in until tomorrow." Verando shifts the boy to his hip uncomfortably and I hold out my arms. 

"Please?" I beg. He willingly hands the child over and I hold him so tightly as his clammy face nuzzles into my neck. 

Helen averts her eyes, Tyler shifts awkwardly, only just noticing her. "Did you come out here to fight with Verando? After we talked about this? After we decided that it was not the time?"

"You're not my father, stop acting like one." She snaps back, cold. 

"Tyler filled me in... on Helen's theory. If Malka is a fracture of my grandfather, then it is the truth that you must have all of the white spirit before completing the cycle." Randy interjects, crossing his arms over his chest as it would seem the scene made the entirety of us uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if that means taking her life but I'm also not sure what that means for you." Glancing up at the older version of himself, he frowns.