Hey sorry for not posting friday i got distracted and forgot my bad lol. I also really like this chapter so i hope you do too. Anyway hope yall enjoy
Remember to vote on the poll in the last chapter please.
Chapter 88: Hello and Goodbye
The magicules around Varion erupted.
Then the chain markings on his skin pulled taut and audibly snapped, with a sound like metal breaking under pressure, and faded into golden particles of light.
The instant the markings were gone, cracks ran through every part of his body. Whitish-blue light poured out of the splits, bright enough to light up the whole square. While a halo of the same color burned into existence above his head. He looked seconds away from exploding.
Suddenly everything stopped as if he was frozen in time.
His eyes turned a bright shining gold.
The previously erupting aura dropped to nothing, the cracks reversed, so did the halo. The square was back to what it had been.
Except his eyes still burned gold with a far older intelligence behind them.
He sighed, then spoke softly in a voice that was not Varion's.
"Varion. You aren't ready for this yet. There's a reason I sealed it away until you were ready... .Though that may be my fault for not warning you." he said sheepishly.
He looked down at the body in his arms.
"But I understand why. We are far too alike after all."
His thumb rested against her hair, careful.
"Aren't we, my son."
Raphael locked onto the foreign presence an instant after he spoke.
There was no pause to identify the presence. No request. She attacked it through the corridor. She treated presence like it was an infection and tried to shove it out, wall it off, destroy it, and so many different solutions, again and again, each attempt faster than the last.
"GET OUT. You can't have him." The voice came out of Rimuri's with her voice, but with none of her normal tone to it. The red in her eyes shone brighter. "He's mine."
At the edge of the square, Blanc went still and Noir's smile was gone the second they noticed this being. Neither of them could speak, their instincts told them doing so was not allowed.
Veldanava's introspection stopped.
He looked at the woman standing before him, then through it, at the skill that was piloting it. Watching her work was like watching a child throw a tantrum at an adult, But the force behind it was not childish in the least. It was just due to the gap in power between them.
"Hmmm." The sound was curious more than offended. "That's interesting. I didn't make you with emotions. I made you to be logical."
He studied her a few moments longer.
"It seems your exposure to my son, and to your wielder, has changed you. You've evolved beyond what I designed."
It did not slow her.
If anything she pushed harder, each attempt at removing him coming quicker than the last, and slowly frustration bled into her emotions as none of her attacks were working.
Veldanava exhaled once, almost fond.
Then with a thought put her to sleep.
The red instantly dimmed and Rimuri's body stayed on its feet for a heartbeat longer, then her head sagged backwards.
Noir crossed the square without a word and appeared instantly beside her before her knees gave out. He gently caught her and held her up, but otherwise stood straight unable to move further. Veldanava did not even look at him.
His focus stayed on the skill that had caught his interest, standing there thinking for a second then came to a decision.
"I guess I'll take that out," he said. "I don't want something like that connected to my son."
A speck of light left him, traveled the corridor, and sank into Raphael.
"Take that as a gift," he said to the sleeping skill. "And keep my son safe, little one. It's a shame I won't get to see what you evolve into. But I'm sure it would have been interesting."
He looked down at the body in his arms.
"I guess it's time to fix you, child."
Light gathered under his hands as he gathered her soul and a few remnants of his power he could spare.
He sighed, quieter than the first one.
"It's time I talk to Varion."
Then the square fell away to a scene that was all too familiar to him.
Wreckage. Burning wood. Overturned wagons. A field.
At the center of all the wreckage was a five-year-old sitting with his knees pulled to his chest, red hair falling over his face, crying into the space between his arms.
Veldanava walked up in human form, he stood at a modest height, had long black hair dusted with white like a night sky, and blue eyes. He stopped and sat down beside Varion casually.
He walked over and sat down beside him.
Varion did not look up, just continued sniffling.
"Hello, Varion."
He flinched. Then Froze, his head came up, tears still on his face.
"D-Dad?"
Veldanava smiled at him, soft, and pulled the young boy into his lap. His arms closed around the small figure he had not seen this way in quite some time.
"Yes, Varion. It's me."
Varion flinched harder than before. His hands stayed at his sides. He did not hug him back.
Veldanava sighed sadly, putting on a dejected air about him.
"What's wrong? Why won't you hug your father?"
Varion was barely holding together as he sat there trembling, his face etched with guilt.
"I killed you. I got you killed. I—I can't, I—"
"Varion."
The name came out stern. It cut him off. He stopped and stared.
"You did not cause my death." Veldanava held his eyes. He took a breath. Varion stared back, shocked.
"Before I met you, I was lost for many years. I had begun to hate the very creations I made and gave life to. All of it. I saw all of it as the thing that took my dear Lucia from me."
His voice stayed even. There was a note of genuine hurt when he spoke of his beloved.
"But there was something that saved me from all that hate."
He did not look away from Varion for a second, to ensure he would not look away.
"It was you. When I found you here that day… It was one of the best days of my life. Something I had forgotten sparked back. My compassion. My love for life. I still can't explain why I did it. Maybe it was my dear Lucia influencing me somehow or maybe it was something else. I don't know. I don't care."
His hold tightened a fraction as he spoke
"That decision is one I do not regret. I never will. I would make it again without another thought. You are my son. I do not regret a single second of the time we spent together. You saved me from becoming something Lucia would never have loved. You gave me a chance to be a parent I was not able to be for Milim."
He kept his eyes on the boy's.
"It was my choice to create you. To give you a second chance. I knew what it would cost. That was mine to make. My death, and saving you, was the greatest act I have done as a parent. I am proud to have done it." he finished gently stroking his hair
Varion stared at him lost, shocked and bewildered.
He had not been blamed. He had been chosen. He had been told it was a death his father would happily take again. Varion teared up even more and his face went into Veldanava's chest. Then he started crying again but loudly this time as his hands fisted into his dads clothes
Slowly the boy faded away into mist. What had been sitting in his lap was only a ghost of an old wound. It was Varion, but not the current him; it was the version of him that could not let go of what he believed was his fault.
Then an older version of the boy appeared sitting beside veldnava.
The man beside him was the same person as the boy. Just Older, Quiet, Embarrassed due to what had just been seen.
"…Sorry you had to see that." Varion did not look at him at first. "I thought I'd hidden that part well enough."
Veldanava smirked and reached over, ruffling his hair the same way he always had.
"No problem, my son. I knew something like this might have happened. I went looking for it specifically."
His hand dropped back down to his side and spoke softly.
"Now. On to your current problems."
Varion opened his mouth to deny that there was anything wrong that he was ok.
But he closed it, opened it again a few times but the lie wouldn't come out.
He stared at the dirt a second longer, then just told the truth and asked a question that had been eating at him.
"Am I cursed?" He let it hang there for a few seconds before continuing.
"Bad things happen everywhere I end up. My original parents. You. Anna. And so much more." His voice dropped. "Then this whole attack."
He swallowed hard, fighting back tears.
"And I lost—I lost Prinz. I promised. I promised to protect her, Dad. And I failed. I failed in the worst way possible."
His shoulders started shaking. He bit down on his lip hard enough to keep any sound in. Tears welled but did not fall yet.
"There were so many things we still had to do. To see. I—I feel like I lost a piece of me I can never get back. I'll never get to see that look she has when she looks at me. Ever again."
"It hurts." he said in the smallest voice he had ever heard from his son.
His hands went into his hair and gripped.
Veldanava watched him and placed his hand on Varion's back rubbing it once, then stood.
A thin trail of golden light had started falling from his legs.
"Varion. I know exactly how this feels." He looked at the sky instead of the wreck. The breath he let out was heavy. "I lost my dear Lucia. So I understand it, my boy, it's suffocating."
He looked down again.
"But you are not cursed." he said firmly with no room in it.
"Things happened. There is a lot of bad."
Varion's eyes went to the ground.
"But good things happen too. Remember those well, engrave them into your soul. After all—" a faint, tired warmth entered his voice, "—you're the one who made me see that again."
The golden light falling from his feet thickened.
"But it's time for me to go now."
Varion's head snapped up. He started to speak. Veldanava cut him off.
"When you broke the seal, a failsafe was released. That is what I am. A fragment I sealed inside the piece I gave you, should you ever need me." He smiled, small and real. "And I'm happy I did. I got to see the man you've become. I am so so proud of you and the man you are becoming."
The light climbed up him slowly.
"I had planned to be able to fix the seal a time or two more. That can't happen now. I used a great deal of what I had left bringing your beloved back."
Varion's head jerked. His eyes went wide.
"So this is our final goodbye, my son."
Veldanava's feet were already turning to dust. Varion stared at him, still wet-faced, stunned quiet.
Veldanava smiled broader than before. He leaned in, set a hand on Varion's head, and brought himself to eye level.
"I can no longer be there to keep you safe. It's time you left the nest and built one of your own. From what I've seen, you're doing pretty well on your own, kiddo. I'll leave the rest to you. I know you will do great, Varion Nava."
Varion lunged, wrapping him in a hug.
"I PROMISE, ILL BECOME SOMEONE YOU CAN BE PROUD TO CALL YOUR SON. I'LL DO EVERYTHING YOU TAUGHT ME, I'LL MAKE SURE MILIM IS OK, I'LL LIVE A GOOD LIFE, I'L- I'LL TELL MY CHILDREN AND THEIR CHILDREN ABOUT YOU, I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU, I PROMISE!!!"
Veldanava smiled brightly then hugged him back with equal force. Before slowly fading into Golden light mid-hug. The Particles gently drifted into Varion.
Varion stood there by himself just absorbing what happened. Tears came heavier than ever before, but this time he was smiling while they poured down his cheeks. As he held his chest due to grief.
"…Thank you, Dad," he said softly. "For everything. I love you."