Raphael watched as his mother disappeared...no wait, she didn't disappear, he blacked out.
He blacked out after his mother pricked him with that ring and slipped it into his finger.
Yes, that's what happened to him. Then.....then....then.
Oh great, he couldn't remember what happened next, then it hit him. His body started shaking, uncontrollably, and his mother just stared at him like she knew this would happen. Yes, of course she knew, yeah, she did. The look in her eyes told him that. That look in her eyes, aside from the look that said she knew, there was also that of worry, he'd seen worry in his mom's eyes before, but not as much as this, she was also worried because she didn't know what would happen.
I mean, yes, she knew that they had to go to France. She knew which room to book once they GOT to France. She knew where the ring was, how to get it out of its, well let's just say 'hole' of safety, where the needle she used to prick his finger with was, knew that it would suck his blood, well not in a vampiristic manner, but you know, like drawing his blood with a needle and a syringe. But she didn't know what would happen after that.
For the first time in his life, Raphael could see utter cluelessness in his mother's brown eyes, he smiled softly at that thought, only then did he open his eyes.
At first, everywhere was pitch black, but then he saw a light in the dark in front of him, it was faint but still visible, and was a few hundred meters away from him, thus he stood up and started walking towards it, but the more he walked closer the farther it would seem, like he wasn't walking toward it at all, like he was a soldier just standing and marching waiting for his superior to give him the go ahead to march forward.
Seeing that walking wasn't doing him any good, he decided to run. He ran as fast as he could, he ran as if someone was chasing him, but the result was just as the walking scenario, it felt like he wasn't going anywhere, in fact, the light seemed to have been going further away from him as he ran. Seeing that running was making the situation worse for him, he stopped. He clenched his jaw tightly out of frustration, closed his eyes and rubbed his face with both hands roughly, then bent his head and balled his hands into a fist by his sides. Just as he was about to scream in frustration, he heard something, in his head, like a whisper, too faint to be heard clearly, as all he heard was "....come.....". Confused as he was, he still understood that he must calm down and listen carefully. He listened for a while.
One minute.....nothing.
Two minutes....nothing.
Three....
Four...
Five...
After ten minutes, when he was just about to give up, he heard " Let it come to you". Raphael's eyes widened in surprise before he closed them with understanding. Understanding that he must command and control the light to come to him. And that's what he did.
The strange light come slowly but surely toward him, and then he felt the light illuminate on his body after about two minutes and he finally opened his eyes.
He stretched out his hand with the intention of touching the light, and when he did, the once very dark surroundings became white.
He did a 360 and looked around his white surroundings, when he turned around back to his original position, he saw a man standing there, this man looked very much like him, or was it the other way round?. 'Does he look like me, or do I look like him?' Raphael thought.
"Hello Raphael." The man began, "It's so good to finally meet you." He said smiling.
The strange man looked Raphael up and down and his smile grew wider,
"I see your mother has brought you up well. how is she doing anyways?"
As he said that, Raphael saw love, true love, for his mother in this man's eyes, not the common infatuation he saw in other men's eyes. Like Dr. Franklin who often came to their home in hopes of wooing his mother.
"Who are you, how do you know my name and who my mother is?" Raphael already knew the answer to his questions, he just wanted this man to confirm it.
The man chuckled lightly and said "Oh Raphael, I'm your father."
***********************************************
Jessica sat on the chair beside the bed her unconscious son was lying on. She was waiting for him to open his eyes so she could breathe a sigh of relief.
She wasn't sure what would happen to him, Xavier didn't really elaborate on what would happen to their son, he just told her what to do with the ring when they discussed how they would expose him fully to the world of magic.
"That boy is not going to wake up just yet." A man who looked to be in his early forties said startling Jessica while staring impassively at Raphael.
"Xavier put a lot of information in that ring." The man continued.
"Philemon." Jessica said the man's name with a look of disdain on her face.
Hearing that, the man shifted his attention from Raphael to Jessica.
"Well that's no way to greet your father-in-law, now is it, my dear?"
Jessica rolled her eyes at that statement.
"My no-contact father-in-law" She corrected him. "What are you doing here Philemon?"
"What, so I can't come and see my grandson?" He asked feigning hurt. Jessica scoffed at that.
"Really, your grandson?" She asked with a little hostility, motherly instincts you could say. "The same grandson you tried to kill so you could 'protect him and avoid the destruction of the world that would come through him'." She finished that last part with air quotes.
"If you ask me you're not really grandfather or father material for that matter."
Philemon's gaze darkened as she said that. He loved his son. He just had a really twisted way of showing it.
"I did all I did to protect my son, Jessica, you as a mother should know that."
"Protect your son? Protect your son by pushing him away from you? By letting your 'subjects' maltreat him while you just stood by the side lines?"
"I did all those things to bend him to fit into our cruel world" Philemon replied.
"Okay, I get the 'bending to fit into our cruel world' part, but I don't approve of the means you used that's why I'm gonna do all I can to keep my son far away from you." Jessica bit back.
"Wow," a bored voice said, "What a depressing moment, and you know what's worse: that tense silence that comes after the argument."
Jessica and Philemon both turned around to find Amber leaning lazily against a wall.
"How in Heaven's name did you get in here? I built wards." Jessica almost shouted.
"I'm a very powerful witch Jessica, I can just teleport wherever I want to. And I'm a level 1 witch at that, I could've just flicked my wrist and gotten through. Also, I just followed the path Philemon left when he came in." Amber said that last part in a matter-of-fact tone.
Jessica glared at Philemon, upset that he put her son danger and didn't rebuild the wards he broke.
Amber started walking slowly towards Raphael, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Jessica who walked at a fast pace and stood directly in front of Amber to protect her son. Ahh, motherly love.
"Whoa, don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt your son. As a matter of fact we're here to protect him and we're gonna try to renew his concealment spell."
Jessica narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Amber not at all believing what she just said.
"It's true." Philemon confirmed what Amber just said, "Your darling husband bound us to protect you and his son before he died after he told you two to leave." He continued staring at Jessica with a serious expression on his face to further prove what they were both saying was true.
"Just both of you or did he bind anyone else?" Jessica asked in a solemn voice.
"No, just the two of us." Philemon answered.
"And he like really bound us," Amber continued, "We can't hurt you even if really, really wanted to, we can't abandon you unless it's absolutely necessary, and also the last and most annoying part of the bind is that if either of you gets hurt, we get hurt, but if we get hurt, neither of you get hurt."
"He bound our souls to yours, but he didn't bind your souls to ours." Jessica summarized simply, a small smile on her lips while unconsciously stroking the necklace Xavier gave as a wedding gift. 'Oh. Xavier.' Jessica thought.
"Okay," Amber said snapping her out of her reverie, "Can you take your daydreaming elsewhere so I can see if I can protect your son by renewing his currently depleting and unsurprisingly weak cloacking spell?"
Jessica moved away immediately after Amber said that because she knew Amber wouldn't do anything to hurt her son, because if she hurts him, she hurts herself in the same way. When Amber was at the right side of Raphael's bed, Philemon went to the left side of the bed and they started chanting incantations that all who were conscious - including Jessica, because her husband took the liberty to teach her basic incantations - understood.
When they were done with the spell, Philemon said, "The boy's getting older, which means his power is getting stronger, which also means the cloaking spell won't last long because his power will fight against it to make sure the boy's power shines well." He ended.
"That also means," Amber continued "We have to help him activate his power ASAP so he can protect himself when the time comes, 'cause we won't be there to protect him always." She ended.
"Yes, that's true, but before that time comes he has to wake up first." Jessica said looking longingly at her son.