>FLASHBACK<
"I love you."
In one breathless swoop, she confessed and immediately stood up, ready to bolt outside the room.
However, she was suddenly grabbed by the scruff of her shirt. With her body creaking, she looked back. Horror, dread. Afraid. Afraid of consequences to her actions. Afraid of his reaction. Afraid of her own bad luck.
Afraid of rejection.
All those fears flashed into her mind as she saw him burying his face back into the pillow while his long arm was extended to hold her by her shirt.
He picked his head up as his lips moved, saying something.
"You were my first friend in this world." Julian spoke, his voice unusually mellow. He raised up, still holding on to her shirt as he sat on the corner of the bed. Slowly tugging at her dress, he pulled her close.
As he straightened his back and positioned himself at the edge, he pulled her a bit closer, looking in her oceanic eyes. His wide frame casted a shadow on her tiny, petite volume.
"I see...." The word friend ringed in her mind like a hammer to a Sanctus bell, masking away the relentless lambaste of her tangible emotions against the asthenic ribcage. The heaviness shrouded her being, her breath getting caught up in her throat.
'It's ok...It's ok...It's ok...Don't cry. It will be over. I'll be fine.'
She closed her eyes, bracing the tacit words that were yet to be spoken.
"Was it hard to approach me?"
Instead of the expected rejection---the suspected outcome, she heard something entirely different from her expectations.
With her eyes wide, she looked at him. He meant the question. He wasn't elongating the conversation without a reason. She was standing between his legs as he held both her wrists and held her in place. She tried to move, but despite how softly he was gripping her arms, she couldn't move them at all.
Almost as if her feet were cemented to the floor.
"Very." She replied, lowering her head. Her face was red. Not because she was embarrassed. But from how hard she tried to attempt to conceal the heavy tears that welled up in her eyes. Her vision grew increasingly blurred, making it a quite a quanfry to discern Julian's features.
All that remained visible was the faint outline of his figure and the gentle motion of his lips as he spoke.
"Hm. Sorry." Once again, she was taken aback by the reply that came out of his mouth. She was expecting... what was she expecting?
When she thought about it, she couldn't think of a reason herself. She just assumed from the start that she didn't deserve anything. And that rightfully, she would be rejected the day she came to terms with her feelings and confess.
"Why are you saying sorry?" She asked, her wrists still clutched in his granite cold hold as they clumped into small fists.
"For making it so hard on you."
She looked up and this time she actually looked at him. Not over his shoulder. Not at his forehead. Not at his lips that still had the slight pink-red stain from her lipstick. There was something about him that seemed almost unrecognisable. The look in his eyes, the way he talked, the way his old hair colour accentuated his features perfectly, making her heartbeat quickly.
"I am sorry...sorry for being such a burden even after I don't deserve anything. Even after you saved me, I was trying to ruin things for you..."
Julian's grip on her wrists as he lowered his head and tilted it, matching her eyes. "It was your heart that saved you that day." He spoke.
"What do you mean....?" She asked, her voice whimpering. She didn't want to hear an answer. She just wanted this shared moment to stay forever. Somehow for the time to stay standstill, have him close to her, be a little selfish and have him all to herself. Even for a fleeting moment.
"No idea." He replied, his gaze never wandering off from the place where he first set them on.
Roxy's lips parted, slowly, as she huffed. Julian's grip on her wrists loosened.
She felt the ground beneath her legs slip away like a carpet. Despite the fact that even the slight touch had left a red mark on it, she didn't wish to be deprived of the only source of connection with him.
She instantly leaned forward, holding on to him, her fingers sedulously gripping his hands. Julian looked at his hands and then up at her. She shook her head, furiously, hellaciously. "Don't."
Julian tilted his head. Upon meeting his eyes, she looked back down, looking at his chest. She tried to look up, first at his lips that stayed unmoving and then in his eyes but every time she did it, it made her recoil.
Suddenly, Julian's index finger formed a hook and lifted her chin up. His legs slowly closed behind her, meeting each other as it decreased the space for her to stand, drawing her in. She tripped and fell right on to him; however, she broke it by placing her hands on his shoulders.
However, her face was now an inch away from him.
She blinked repeatedly as she looked at him. "Julian..." She looked down at his parted his lips, holding her with one hand on her small waist and the other on her cheek. His hand slowly caressed her cheek as it covered her right ear while the thumb wiped the subtle moisture from beneath her eyes.
Instead of moving in, he pulled her towards himself a bit more. His hand moved from her waist to a bit down, his hand slowly covering her left hip, his fingers feeling as if they had touched a small cloud, sinking into the flesh.
Her face brightened, but she stayed silent. Or rather she had to stay silent. Her mind was a blur. She couldn't think. Only the sounds of her erratic breaths filled her ears.
Lowering his right hand, a bit, he gripped her by the back of her head and pulled at her hair, forcefully bringing her lips next to his. Their lips touched, but they didn't kiss as Julian still stared down at her. He wasn't doing anything. Only letting her to take the initiative while laying the conditions that would make her do it.
Roxy's body started losing its strength, her feet wobbling.
She placed one hand on his thigh and raised a bit by tiptoeing and kissed him. Julian tightened his grip over her hair and forcefully pushed her head inwards, deepening the kiss. His tongue pressed against the bottom area of her mouth.
The tears that she had held all this time started to fall, just like the raging rainstorm outside. The lightning bolt fell in the far-off distance, flooding the room with an eerie bluish white light. Her body shuddered as she slightly let out a scared groan inside his mouth.
Julian shifted her mid-kiss, making his back face the window, shielding her from the eerie light. He placed both his hands on her ears.
She looked up, her breath stable now that she had cried her heart out. The salty taste of her tears mixed in with honied taste of his cherry lips steadied her as she sat in his bed, looking at his giant form.
She let out a sad smile before surrendering herself to the desires she had kept inside her all this time.
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NARRATOR'S CORNER - Turning point (kind of, hehe.)
"Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect."
~Luna Lovegood.
-----------------
3RD PERSON PERSPECTIVE
"Wooden sword, yes?" Julian asked, unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up.
"No. Don't be a wuss. Real swords. Real!" Eris replied, unsheathing her sword and getting into a lower stance, ready to rip poor Julian apart.
"I am expecting to be a father in a few days. Have some mercy." Julian respectfully spoke to her. He found Eris' demeanor of never giving up and fighting like a dog rather than a human as rather scary. It was just like how a human was afraid of getting bit and getting infected by rabies despite being stronger than an animal.
"Come on Eris... you don't need to spar with him. Even if you are, please use wooden swords..." Rudeus panicked, quickly running inside and bringing out two wooden swords.
Despite how harsh she was with Rudeus, she never really went against anything he said. His words were her religion.
"What's wrong with you, Rudeus!..........fine, no real swords." She started strong but seeing Rudeus' puppy eyes she averted her gaze and agreed to it.
'That's my understanding husband for you! kyaaa~'
Rudeus squealed mentally in joy.
"Now you don't have any excuses to decline." Eris said, throwing the sword towards Julian.
He caught it from the hilt, however, the force with which it was thrown at him left a slight red mark on his skin. It wasn't blood or a cut. It simply got red because of the heavy impact and due to not augmenting his hand with touki while catching it.
'Well, that stung.'
"I wasn't making excuses. I was just implying I have kids to go back to."
The provocation initially went over Eris' head.
'Naah, bro, you can't joke about that.......' Rudeus started sweating cold buckets.
After a short while, Eris caught up to the joke as she huffed in anger, steaming from her ears. "You....you're making fun of me?!"
"Just some harmless banter so we can bon--oh?"
The world fell into slow motion as the tip of Eris' sword reached his eye. Julian narrowly backed his head away, however, her strike was so fast that it was only enough time for his eye to not be gouged out.
The sword was augmented in touki and the sharp nature of her battle aura severed a few of his eyelashes as they fell tardily on the grass below.
Hearing footsteps, Julian looked at the doorstep. "Oh, hi Sylphy--" His words were cut off as he blocked a horizontal sword strike to his face. The force sent a tremor through his arm.
"He---Wait, why are you two fighting?" Sylphy almost cried out but stopped due to the little baby in her arms---Lucy Greyrat.
"Oh, we aren't fighting. Just bonding with my crazy cousin." Julian replied with a thumbs-up before side-stepping and swinging his sword down at Eris. The gravity around the sword increased a few times as Eris brought her wooden sword up to block it.
However, the added gravity snapped her sword in half. The wooden splinters flew up, shattering into a thousand pieces. However, as they flew up, it blocked Julian's vision.
'Here it comes, Eris's ultimate technique....'
Rudeus thought as Sylphy stood beside him. "What's happening, Rudy? You woke both Sara and Lucy up." She complained.
"My dear wife, this is not my fault. Those two battle junkies are the ones to blame. One is quick to issue challenges and the other ones doesn't reject it. What am I supposed to do here?!"
"Haah...I hope they don't injure themselves. Eris seems to have lost." Sylphy spoke as if her losing was the most natural thing in the world.
"No, she has yet to use her final technique."
Sylphy meekly tilted her head and looked at Rudeus, making her white hair sway. "Final technique?"
"Yes. The destroyer of jaws. Boreas Styled Punch."
Sylphy deadpanned at him and then shifted her attention towards the other two. It was over.
Julian's hand was touching Eris' head.
Rudeus' face lost its colour. He was about to speak something, but Eris was not stunned. Since Julian was much taller than her, he had placed his hand on her forehead and was not letting her come any closer. Like an older person pushing a small kid away. Her limbs were proportionate to her height so no matter how much she swung, they never reached him.
"Rudeus? Can I use that?"
"No way."
"You know this dear cousin of mine won't stop until she faints."
Rudeus sighed. "Just don't hurt her."
"Yeah, sure."
"Don't look down on me, Joke---hiek!"
(A?N Reference to early volumes. When she first met him and he disrespected her, she started calling him Joker instead of Julian.)
With a small shriek, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
Rudeus walked over to them and slowly picked her up.
"You didn't overdo it, right?" Rudeus asked with worry.
"Of course not. I would never."
Rudeus narrowed his eyes at him, but he had no way of telling.
"Give her 30 minutes. She'd be up in that time." Julian told him as he sighed in relief.
"That's acceptable." Rudeus shrugged and picked her up. "Come inside. It was Sylphy's turn to cook tonight. Expect something good."
"Oh? Thanks." Julian replied and started following him.
Looking over his shoulder, he stopped in front of Sylphy. She was carrying Lucy in her arms. The little girl's eyes widened as she saw Julian leaning over at her. Sylphy got closer and cradled Lucy up so Julian could get a closer look.
"She had Rudeus' nose." Julian remarked.
"Haha, yeah, she does! Even he couldn't recognise it at first! You really don't miss any details." Sylphy exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah. I feel bad for her. She had to inherit Rudeus' feature."
"HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU!"
Sylphy laughed nervously.
"But it suits her more. Rudeus' are disproportionate."
"Oi Julian, I am telling you; I'd kill you!"
Sylphy laughed again. Seeing her mother laugh so much, they little girl giggled as well, blubbering incoherent words as if trying to participate in the conversation.
Julian ignored him as he slowly poked his finger towards her. She wobbled her hands excitedly around while smiling. Her hand hit his finger as she suddenly gripped at it.
"Ahhh, she already liked her uncle!" Sylphy almost squealed.
"Uh, no, actually it is an automatic musc---hm, yeah, it looks like it." Julian changed his sentence midway, trying to softly recede his finger. However, despite having the strength to cleave the Ogre Island into 7 parts, he couldn't pull it out. "Babies sure are strong." He spoke to himself.
"Come inside. It's still chilly from the rains. I cooked some beef stew." Sylphy pulled Lucy's hand, but it stayed unyielding. "Ugh, she is stubborn like this sometimes."
"It's ok. You can give her to me if you want." Julian offered.
"That would be a great help. Can you manage her though?" She asked, a bit skeptical since she thought he wasn't used to kids this young.
"Hm. Yeah. I was there for my baby sisters. I can probably handle a niece as well." Julian shrugged his shoulders. Sylphy got closer and slowly, carefully handed Lucy to him. The little girl looked at her mother at first, clearly a bit confused as to why she handed her to this man.
However, Sylphy patted her back. "Don't pester Uncle Julian too much." Saying that she went inside. Julian held the girl in front of his face, looking...no inspecting it closely.
"What are you?" He asked the baby as it giggled at Julian's antics. "Hmmmmm."
"Achoo..." Lucy sneezed as Julian's eyes widened. Covering her in his jacket, he ran inside.
(***)
As Julian stepped inside, he handed Lucy to Rudeus and hung his jacket on the coat hanger nearby. Scarping his boots at the rug, he got rid of the minute amounts of dirt before stepping inside the threshold.
Suddenly a figure appeared from a room. "Why is it so loud?" She spoke, yawning as she placed her hand on her huge belly. Her blue eyes widened as she saw him.
"Julian?"
"Sara." Julian nodded his head, as if greeting her. Looking at her inflated stomach, he looked at Rudeus and then back at her. "Congratulations to both of you."
Sara's heart, that once used to skip a beat at his name stayed normal, beating in a steady rhythm. Letting out a meek smile, she parted her lips. "Thanks. Good to see you in good health as well." She spoke, coming forward as she patted his shoulder and stood beside Rudeus. "You've grown quite a lot. You were a bit short when I first saw you."
"Short? I was quite taller then, you in the Drakes Mission." Julian replied, raising a brow.
"Hah! I knew it was you, haha." She replied in a lighthearted tone. There was no bitterness or regret in her voice. As if laughing at her foolish past self. "But really, you of all people becoming a parent. I never thought about it."
"I mean, you don't really know me well. Of course, it would be unexpected." He shrugged.
"Yeah. Fair enough."
"To be honest, I wasn't expecting him to have a family as well. Well, at least not this early." Sylphy chimed in from the kitchen as she arranged the dinner table.
"Yeah. Things happened." Julian scratched the back of his neck.
"Well, I am happy for you." Sara smiled before whispering something to Rudeus as he started to follow her back to her room.
"Have a seat, Julian." Sylphy spoke from the kitchen as he walked up to the chair on dinner table and sat down.
"When are Ariel and Shizuka expecting?"
"In a few days for one and a week or two for the other."
"Ohhh, that is close it means. Are you taking care of them?"
"They take care of themselves." Julian replied with a straight face. With no shame.
Sylphy turned around. "Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Are you not doing anything for them?" She asked, flabbergasted.
"Uh, I do tell them of the optimal diet and necessary stretching, if tha's what you're asking."
"No, I mean....ugh, we need to talk after dinner."
"Uhhh, okay."
Sylphy placed the pot on the table as she looked at Julian, visibly agitated. "You really are clueless?"
"Clueless about?"
"There are some secrets of a pregnant lady. You need to know them."
"Ok."
"What would you take to drink after dinner?" Sylphy asked, opening the lower shelves.
"Orange juice. Apple works too."
"Huh...orange season is gone."
"Banana shake would do."
"Banana shake? What's that?"
"Uhhh, any fresh juice?"
"Ugh, I meant alcohol. We have a few good ones. Luke sent them from Milbotts." She asked with a glee.
"I don't drink alcohol." Julian replied, refusing flatly.
"Whyyyyy....." Sylphy was as disappointed as an Asian parent when their kid gets 99 on math test.
"Uhh..." Julian paused, "...it's not good for me."
"Ehhh? Not good?"
"Hm, yeah. It shortens my lifespan. Also, I don't really like the smell."
"This one has good smell. It's made from fruits!"
"Yeah, but they are fermented. It's not like I am going to smell the actual smell of fruits. Just a lingering aroma."
"Hmph. Ok. But we don't have any juice."
"Tea would do."
"Okay." She turned around and threw a few leaves inside boiling water in a kettle.
After some time, Rudeus came out with Lucy in tow. Sara had gone back to sleep. Sylphy, Rudeus and Julian had dinner together, talking and reminiscing about old times. Eris regained consciousness at some point and joined as well. After sparring with Julian, her unstable spirit was calm now.
Once the moon reached its peak, everyone went to their respective rooms. Julian and Rudeus decided to stay inside the same room and talk some more. They talked about their whole ordeals and caught up to matters that they had not discussed before due to not being together.
Rudeus talked in detail about his time when tutored Eris. Detailed description of his travels with Ruijerd. His name brought up bittersweet memories, but he shrugged them off and continued anyways. His reunion with Paul and he beat him up. Julian encouraged him for beating Paul up and scolded him as well for not breaking a bone.
Julian told him about his adventuring days, his days with their baby sisters, the teleport incident. How Orsted killed him. His meeting with Nanahoshi as soon as he woke up. How they got close. Started many money-making things together. Along the way, despite not feeling love, how he started feeling comfortable with her. Something he only felt with his mother before. His reunion with Ariel. Their fling. How he rescued Roxy. And how he felt something entirely different from Nanahoshi for Roxy.
"Hmm, well, that is interesting. I always thought there was something wrong with you. But I wonder, what kind of life you lived for you to be this stoic. I almost feel bad... but hey, who am I to feel bad. I lived a pretty pathetic life." Rudeus smiled, sadly, remembering his ugly, perverted old self who would jump on any woman.
He had changed. He was family man. His eyes and body only for his wives. A good father already, apparent from the way Lucy stuck to him.
"I wouldn't say I lived a pathetic life. It was alright at first. But everything got exceedingly boring. The mundanity was almost suffocating." Julian relaxed, placing his head on a pillow and looking at the roof.
"Can't relate. Haha. I would've said being so talented would've been good, but I shouldn't assume things. Should I?"
"Yeah, you shouldn't."
As the things to talk about vanished, Julian glanced in Rudeus' direction.
"Sylphy told me I should buy something for the kid and the mother before their birth." Julian spoke up.
"Yeah, you should. I bought a lot of clothes for Lucy and Sylphy. That seemed to have done the deal." Rudeus recalled. "Have you decided on something?"
"I have an idea. But I need you to come with me to Begaritt."
"Isn't that really far away?"
"It is. I just made a new circle though. Although, I can't gurantee you arriving in one piece."
"Bruh. Give me a break. You might be having more kids than me, but right now, I have more. Your's aren't even born. Mine is attached to me. Don't orphan her."
"You'll be fine."
"I don't believe you."
"You shouldn't."
"I fucking knew it." Rudeus threw a pillow at his face as Julian dramatically fell on the bed, pretending to be dead. However, Rudeus busted into laughter, "Haha. Never mind. I will tag along."
"I can go alone by the way. I was just teasing."
"Nah. You're my brother. If I won't be there, who else would be?" He patted his shoulder and stood up, "I think they would've started waking up. I will tell them that we would be leaving the city. You can get fresh until then."
"Sure."
With that, Rudeus went downstairs to confront his wives, while Julian went to the bath, ready to splash some water on his face and get ready to pack the Ultimate Gift.
After 3 hours, the two brothers left the City of Sharia and arrived in Begaritt 3 minutes later.
Needless to say, Rudeus was in one piece.
The wind was much warmer than Sharia. As it blew, the location sent a wave of nostalgia through Julian. "I wonder if it's still where I left it." He spoke out loud as the wind messed up his hair.
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A?N
Drop gift suggestions. Thanks. Bye. Fuck off. Respectfully. Lovingly.
: )