I've been told many times, by many different people, that I'm worthless. I've learned to never, almost never, let that get to me. But there's a difference between hearing that from a human being…and hearing that from a sin who was born from the ruler of Hell.
Xylvia and I finally caught up with Kagashi, Yuno, Leonna, and Kay. They were staying outside a brothel waiting for us.
"We'll have to stay here for the night," Kagashi said. "The night sky is coming sooner than we thought."
Apparently, the Third Gate of Hell has a dangerous part of the day. When night falls, the wind becomes so strong that the bodies of any living being will be shredded to dust.
"I'd rather be shredded to dust," Yuno groaned as she desperately tried to go back outside. "Just let me die! I'd rather die than stay another second in this place!"
"Would you calm yourself," Kagashi said, dragging Yuno by her shirt collar. "The owner of this place was nice enough to give us a room to stay in, so the least you can do is shut your mouth."
"Why meeeeee???"
Xylvia, Leonna, and I both stood there watching the pitiful scene in front of us.
"I never thought of her as a drama queen." I said.
"I can kind of understand her attitude,"Leonna said. "She just isn't taking it really well."
"Well you used to be extremely embarrassed about this kind of st-"
Leonna places both her hands on my mouth to stop me from finishing my sentence.
"Please don't say that out loud," Leonna said, her face fully colored a bright red. "I can take it better, but that doesn't mean that I don't get embarrassed."
So cute…
"Hey Hiro, are you sure that my father is fine?" Xylvia asked.
"I'm sure."
I have no reason to show any concern for him. He's a sin after all. He'll be fine.
Kagashi finally managed to calm Yuno down and dragged her over to us, Kay following while looking down the entire time.
"What are you acting like a child for," I asked. "It's only for one night."
"…"
She had the face of a child who had been verbally defeated by their parent.
"Ok, the owner said that there's an available room for us upstairs," Kagashi said. "We'll stay up there for the night, then we'll head to the next station and head to the fifth gate and onward."
"The wind doesn't look to bad outside…" Yuno groaned.
"It's either we sleep in the room upstairs, on a random table or floor, or we can kill ourselves outside."
Yuno went quiet again.
"The stairs are over that way," Kagashi said. "Let's just get some sleep and plan ahead in the morning."
The front doors to the brothel we were currently opened and a group of Demi-humans rushed inside. Wrath was walking within the crowd. He noticed us and walked over, not muttering a word.
"Father, are you ok?" Xylvia asked.
"I'm fine, just needed some time to clear my head." He said.
I stayed silent.
~
"Won't we have to worry about payments?" Leonna asked.
"Don't worry," Kagashi said. "I made sure to bring currency with me just in case, so payments won't be an issue."
There were many mattresses spread out in the room for us to sleep on. Enough for everyone.
Xylvia and Wrath went to sleep on one side of the room. Yuno, Kagashi, and Kay went to a back corner. And…
"You wanna sleep in the middle together?" Leonna asked, a slight blush fading onto her face.
I choked on my words a little bit, so I gave her a slow nod.
"Hey Shana," I said to the sword leaning against a wall. "Go sleep with Xylvia. In your human form."
"Ok!" Shana said excitedly, configuring from a sword into human form. Her lime green hair and red dress shined brightly in the dimly lit room. The small candles around the room made her appearance look like a model walking down a runway. Eyes sparkling, and a smile that was fit for an innocent child.
Shana ran over to Xylvia and snuggled close to her under the blanket. Xylvia stroking her head gently as Shana smiled and nuzzled her head close to Xylvia's chest, chuckling happily.
It was like a small child wanting attention from her mother.
Mother…
"What's wrong Hiro," Leonna said, laying right next to me. "You have a sad look on your face."
"That noticeable huh," I chuckled. "I was just thinking about Shana. She looks so happy right now. I wondering if she's seeing Xylvia as some sort of mother figure. It kinda made me a little sad."
"Why's that? Shouldn't you be happy."
"I'm just…not sure if that's what Xylvia wants. And if it is, then great. But, I'm not sure if I could be a father figure to her. I guess I'd feel kinda guilty."
"Why though?"
"Because she never met her real father, so it doesn't sit well with me to just take that role for myself. Plus, I don't really see myself fitting that role very well."
"I'm not so sure about that. I think you'd be a wonderful father figure."
Leonna placed her hand on my right cheek, gently moving my head over to face her. Our eyes locked on each other's.
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"You care an awful lot about her. I've seen the way you talk to her, guided her, taught her what's right and wrong. And I've seen the way she talked to you. Always trying her best to cheer you up. Always excited to see you even when you've been gone for only a few moments. If you ask me, I think that she sees you as a father already."
I looked back over at Shana, who was still hugging Xylvia tightly, trying to get as close to her heart as she possibly could. Xylvia was laughing gently as she stroked her head softly.
"Well, what if I mess up?" I asked Leonna.
"Just admit your mistake and learn from it," Leonna said. "Nobody is perfect when they start off, but they get better at it as time goes on. Even if you guys fight, you'll still be family and love each other. My family would always be at each other's throats, but that didn't mean we hated each other. It just proved that we love each other so much, that we were willing to argue and learn from our mistakes in order to help each other out."
Leonna reached her hands to my head and pulled me to her chest, hugging me and wrapping me with a familiar warmth that I've come to love so much. A warmth that I just can't live without.
"You've made mistakes in the past and you've made amends with them, but that doesn't mean that you're not going to make mistakes ever again. Humans will continue to make many mistakes. Our main goal in life is to find a way to cope with than and learn as we continue living."
Leonna leaned closer to me, the warmth of her lip touching mine. Leonna's familiar taste filling me with warmth and comfort. Telling me that everything will be ok.
"As long as you learn something from your mistakes and find your own way to make up for it, then everything will be ok." Leonna said.
Everyone was fast asleep. Well, at least I thought everyone was.
"You still up kid?" Said a voice.
I turned to see Wrath sitting up from his mattress next to Xylvia and Shana.
"What do you want?" I grunted, turning my head back the other way.
"I…didn't mean what I said."
"Kinda hard to believe that. You had a "I meant every word I said" face on you when you said that."
"I just…can't bare to see you do something reckless and get killed because of it. Do you have any idea how devastated my little girl would be knowing that you died?"
I thought about those words for a bit. Sure, he may have been lying, but his tone was quite serious. I can tell that he genuinely cares about his daughter and her well being.
"I still don't trust you and I haven't forgiven you yet, but I do want to believe that you're putting Xylvia first. I also put her, as well as everyone else that I'm close to, before myself. If we can keep these feelings mutual, then I don't see any reason for me to stay mad at you."
"I suppose that I'll have to take what I can get," Wrath said. "Have a good rest Hiro. We have a long day ahead of us."
Wrath then lay back down and went to sleep.
Long day? I wonder what he means by that.