Bleu eyed her nervously and whispered, "I would never leave you, sister! Or Da."
Also walking closer to Akihito, he looked up at the man. "Are you a human?" He asked frankly, for Aki felt much like his mother's presence- but there was something else too. An invisible thread that tightened around Bleu's heart and made him wary of the stranger.
Slowly leading them down into a ravine, Akihito shifted the body in his arms and thought about how hungry he was for a moment. Then he thought of the sky and how it looked like rain was on its way. Anything other than the question from that little boy.
"I am not all human, my mother was an angel."
Lies, lies, lies, That voice mocked him again, he could swear he heard it laughing too.
"We must walk a while longer. I know of a cavern that we can make camp in when night descends."
Slightly- ever so slightly- did his answer make Sera feel more relieved. She hadn’t met more than one other angel in her short lifetime, but it made sense to her, then. If their mother truly was around, she would send someone like him.
Taking a deep breath in, she released some of the tension she held onto.
“We can keep walking.”
Eyes flashed to Bleu for confirmation, though she would have certainly stopped for a brief pause should he have needed it.
As they walked, Aki's face grew whiter and his deep blue eyes became shallow with exhaustion. But despite the weight of horror that still stirred freshly in his heart, there was a persistent pounding of hope. A hope that he was not usually privileged to feel. Hope that Yuuki could still be saved. Hope that the children would survive this nightmare.
Sera trailed off, carefully watching as exhaustion took over their caretaker. She had seen their father override himself with the same levels of exertion during patrol and other tasks, often leading him to bedridden days of rest— even if they were sometimes forced by her mother.
“Breaks aren’t so bad, A...ki. I can help carry Da if you’re tired. And I have an umbrella so, so rain won’t be a bother, anyways.”
Bleu nodded to Sera's words, letting out a small relieved sigh when he heard mention of a break.
At that, Akihito stopped by a soft mossy clearing under an overhang of branches. "We'll stop here for now." He sat down slowly. Apollo was laid across his lap, and if it weren't for the soft blue hues to his face, he might've looked like he was sleeping. Aki looked down at him and felt everything and nothing all at once. "Your father..." He began, raising his eyes to the children, "Had a good death, for he died protecting what he treasured most; and I...have never been more proud of him.
..I don't know you children yet, but I am already very proud of you as well." At this, he gave soft glances to each of them. "You are both admirably courageous to take this journey with me after your great loss. But, I also think.." Aki's brows furrowed and his expression became tender as he gestured for them to sit by him. "I also think it is important to mourn for him. To mourn for everyone. Let us not keep our sorrows hidden from each other."
It was the first time she had seen his face since death. Being buried under him, she had avoided it— avoided staring at the face he made when he slept, yet surprisingly this time, he looked a lot more rested. He almost always looked strained, so she assumed that was natural for him.
Face reddening, she scrunched her face as tight as possible until her vision filled with tears.
“My... my eyes hurt. And my headache is super huge. And I miss Da and I wish I could say that I wish he was here but he is, and...”
Tugging Bleu along, she plopped herself down with Akihito and rubbed furiously at her eyes, away from where Bleu could see.
Bleu sat next to her, eyes filling with tears as he touched his father's hand. "Da..."
"Da wake up." He said suddenly, eyes slowly glaring down at Apollo as he tightened his fingers around Apollo's hand to the point of whitened knuckles. "Da...Father! FATHER WAKE UP!" Bleu screamed and became frantic, standing and shaking his dad by his shoulders. "FATHER!"
Aki pushed Bleu away quickly before setting the body down and kneeling by the boy who screamed at him to get out of the way.
"Bleu," He said softly amidst the yelling, "Bleu it's alright to be angry. I want you to be angry if that's what you're feeling. You can scream if you need to. Sera can too. " The boy eyed Aki and sobbed out an inaudible reply before falling into the man's arms and screaming into his chest. Akihito's whole body trembled from the lad's sobbing. And he gasped, he couldn't help it, this tiny creature was too overwhelming. Both of them were. He felt too much. What does one do when they have so much care for something so small?
Hands ferociously swept around her eyes, smudging tears and snot along her features. Her cries were the opposite of Bleu’s, mostly silent in nature.
After catching a view of her father’s face, she didn’t dare touch him, afraid she might hurt him further. He looked so fragile, more so than when he was living.
“I’m, I’m mad. But I don’t wanna, hurt worse.”
Mumbles mixed with sobs as she turned her whole self away; away from the mess as her legs drained of color. Soon only the outline of herself remained, akin to a camouflage, void of color.
While he held Bleu, Aki watched Sera with wide eyes as she disappeared. Memories were blinking into clarity one after another. The way Bleu cried sounded just as Apollo did when he was beaten by their father; the same hiccuping gasps and shudders, the same angry tears. With her bravery and passion for others, Sera was just like Yuuki- of course the umbrella and invisibility helped. But as she stored away her vulnerabilities, she clearly reflected her father's stubbornness.
In another time, Kirai would have thrown the children to the dirt for bearing Apollo's blood. But Akihito could see Apollo from a place he'd never been before, and it was not a lie to say that he was proud. It pained his heart to know there must have been great joy stolen from this family. Because of what he'd done. Get your filthy hands off that child, A voice hissed in his head, You don't belong here. You have no right. No right. NO RIGHT. At the same time, another voice was speaking up. Take them. Take them! Take Yuuki! It's yours for the claiming. At long last.
Aki watched as the sky grew darker and with it his skin began glowing. "I've always been this way." He said as Bleu stood back in alarm.
Mysterious light caught the little warrior's view as it reflected off tears and halted her sobs. Only soft sniffles remained as he lit up the darkening forest around them.
Still near-to completely translucent, Sera also stood, closing in the space between Bleu and herself.
"Always glowed? Did... Did you eat a bad mushroom or something?"
He smiled at her question, "No. You see, as I said my mother was an angel." With this, Aki sat down.
"But my father was a demon. And in me were both sides of evil and good. This was something that your father and I shared- except that while I had the purity of angel blood to fight for truth, your father had only a damaged human heart. A small weapon to fight such darkness. So, in my youth, the purity grew so strong that it cleansed the demonic blood and with it came a glow from my skin whenever I am in the dark. I have heard of it happening to other half-bloods.
But Apollo found no such escape until he met your mother, who was indeed the brightest and most sacred creature we'd ever known."
“Wow.” Sera gasped. His words were quite unbelievable at first, but what did she know? It’s not as though her mother shared much about their angelic roots.
“Mom made him glow, too. It was on his face every so often, but not much lately. Or anymore.”
It stung at her heart to think about it— the way that her parents would look at each other. Immediately, she tried to change the topic.
“Did you always know mom?”
Immediately after her question, the ground slightly shook, followed by the low rumble of thunder in the distance.
Bleu smiled when she asked that and he sat down next to Aki to listen.
Akihito watched a tree rustle as he thought of an answer carefully. "Not always. Far before you were born, for I didn't know until now that Apollo had ever had children, he spoke to me once when I visited. He told me of a woman that was beginning to change his life. A woman that was changing his heart as well. Apollo was once a very cold man, if you didn't know." He gave them a smile.
"But this 'Yuuki' was warm and she gave him hope and love. And in return he gave her a rose." Pointing at Bleu he added, "A blue rose! It was back then that I met her. Only a few times. But enough to remember her forever." Aki wasn't sure if his infatuated heart was showing, he hoped not. "Unfortunately my life called me elsewhere, and I haven't traveled this way in many years. The two of you look so much like both of them!"
