It sounded easy enough, get the kid to the mansion, contact Palutena, and get both to the infirmary, and get the little one healed up. Should be simple right? Well, that was before she realised she didn't know what she would do with the child AFTER he was better. What could she do? She didn't want to take the chance of leaving the poor guy with someone that could be worse than the barrel of lard from before. She looked to the child that was still sleeping in her arms.
He was so cute! He could just imagine the others' reactions to him, especially the females. No doubt everyone would love to have him around. The group she hung out with may be a bit crazy, but they were like a family to her.
Family... That's what this child desperately needed, people to love him and be there fore him. But what he would undoubtedly need most, was a mother. A mother to raise him and give him all the love and attention he needed. Perhaps... Maybe... Phosphora herself could fill that roll?
On one hand, Viridi might not be too pleased about the idea of Phosphora raising a human of all things. The latter of the thought supposed shencould make the arguement of setting him on the right path. On the other hand, though, the kid was just too cute! She didn't think she could find it in herself to abandon the kid, especially after what he's been through. Plus, she could tell he started to like her.
That settled it. Knowing what she had to do, she opened up a telepathic link to the light goddess. She needed her there like...yesterday.
Don't is supposed to be doubt just so you know.
She heard a yawn as the link opened, and grimaced slightly when she realized that she had woken the more powerful goddess from her sleep.
"What is it...?" Palutena grumbled sleepily, still half-asleep.
"Hey there, Palutena. Listen, think you could meet me at the mansion's infirmary when I get back?" She requested, thinking of what she shoukd say next. "I was out for a flight after the recent match today and I ended up finding somebody that needs help, like, REALLY needs it. So think you can help me out?" As she finished, she was met with silence. Two things occured in her head. One: the goddess fell back to sleep. Phosphora couldn't really blame her, she did wake Palutena up because she neede help.
She was brought out of her musings before she could get to number two when she heard a tired sigh from the other end of the link.
"Okay, okay...I'll be there..." Paluntena mumbled sleepily. "But you owe me one, Phosphora..."
"Yes! Thank you! You're the best, Pally! See ya there!" As Phosphora cut off the link, Palutena sat on the bed in her room and blinked a few times. Weird, Phosphora never responded to her with a nickname like that, let alone the fact that she seemed to be very excited about something for some reason.
'The only other time she was that excited was when Pit asked her to go with him to the dance a couple weeks back. Odd.' She thought. As she yawned, she decided not to think to much on the subject, and got up from bed. "Oh well, might as well see what's up." She muttered as she pulled a robe over her nightgown and went for the infirmary.
Phosphora flew as fast as she could without waking the sleeping child, before eventually coming to the smash mansion. She smiled when the house came into view. Now she could get the little boy's wounds healed, and everything would be just fine. She hoped Palutena would be quick when healing his injuries. She wanted to get him tucked into her bed so he could sleep off his emotional trauma...
Just as she landed in front of the door, she didn't hesitate to kick the doors open. Without wissing a beat she took off running, straight to the infirmary where Palutena would be waiting for her, most likely. As she turned a corner she failed to notice a blue jackal walking on two legs coming towards her. As such, they almost collided. After nearly tripping and regaining their balance, Phosphora resumed running.
"Sorry! Notimetoexplain! Gottago!" She said quickly, so quickly, in fact, that the jackal, Lucario, barely caught what was said.
He noticed the small figure in her arms, though didn't quite have time to make out the details. The jackal raised a brow and crossed his arms. 'How peculiar...' He thought. 'I sense something in that figure...'
Phosphora skid to a stop in front of the infirmary door and quickly opened it. As she peered inside, she looked around.
"Palutena! You in here?" She gently called out.
"Yes..." Came the still slightly groggy response of the green-haired goddess, who stepped forward with dark circles under her eyes. "Now what is it? I'd like to go back to sle-" Palutena froze when she saw the sleeping child.
She let out a slight gasp upon seeing the child's condition. She could tell that the stuff of nightmares would likely be underneath that over sized shirt he was wearing. Eyes wide, she turned to Phosphoa.
"Wh-what happened to him? How did-"
"No time! I need you to heal him, like five minutes ago!" Palutena didn't say anything in response to Phosphora cutting her off and simply nodded while guiding Phosphora to the bed next to her. They set the boy down on the bed, careful not to wake him. With that done, Palutena turned to Phosphora.
"This'll take a little while." She said sternly, almost all signs of sleepiness forgotten. Phosphora simply nodded and sat on a chair next to the bed a the goddess got to work.
'Damn you, lardo...' Phosphora thought as she looked at the bloody oversized shirt the child was wearing. 'I hope you die out there...' She really, REALLY didn't wanna know what was under that shirt...
But she knew that thinking such thoughts would be futile. Palutena would have to remove the all but damaged rag in order to properly see what was wrong. Bracing herself for the worst, she watched as the goddess began to remove the bloody cloth from the boy to reveal- What the?!
He was already half healed! The injuries were fading away at a rapid pace! What on Earth was happening?! Palutane turned to give Phosphora a confused frown.
"I thought you said he needed help." She stated sternly.
"Hey, don't look at me, I didn't know this would happen!" Palutena could tell that she was telling the truth, seeing how surprised she was. Before she could question any further, however, a new voice spoke up.
"So that's what I'm sensing." Both women turned to see none other than Lucario standing a short distance away from them. However, he wasn't alone, and it wasn't him who spoke up either. Next to him was a light purple-ish, alien like creature with eyes of the same shade and a long, dark purple tail trailing behind him.
"Lucario? Mewtwo? What are you guys doing here?" Palutena asked, wondering just what it is that would bring these two in particular here at this hour.
Lucario and Mewtwo approached.
"This child..." Mewtwo said. "I sense something inside him...Something vast...And very, VERY powerful..."
Palutena blinked, then looked down to the sleeping child.
"Huh, now that I think about it, he does seem to have quite the reserve of magic within him." Palutena mused, immediately catching Phosphora's attention.
"That's true, but that's not what he's talking about." Lucario spoke up, now getting the girls' undivided attention.
"Huh...? What's going on here? It's not anything bad, is it?" Phosphora asked, now feeling uneasy. Something felt wrong here...
"I can't quite place it but, I sense something, dark, within him. I can't quite put my finger on it." Lucario told her, his tone becoming more and more solemn as he spoke.
Phosphora was starting to get worried. Lucario NEVER sounded that serious unless it was truly something to be worried about. Palutena knew this as well, being a fighter herself and hung out with the Aura Pokémon on several occasions. Deciding to see what was up, see opened up her senses to be greeted with what was, possibly, the most disturbing feeling she had ever felt in her lifetime. And coming from a goddess, that was saying something.
"What kind of, parasite, is that?" She hissed with disgust. This happen to catch Phosphora's attention pretty quick.
Phosphora looked to her fellow goddess with a frown. "Palutena...? What's going on?" She asked uneasily, having a TERRIBLE feeling about this.
"Something foul's taken up residence in this child. More specifically, in his scar." To emphisize her point, Palutena pointed at the lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead. Phosphora bit her lip as she processed what was said.
"Is there a way to get rid of it?" She questioned. The child had been through enough, he didn't need some unwanted thing living in his scar.
"We can ask the Director about that tomorrow." Mewtwo spoke up. "For now, we need to decide what we're going to do with this boy." At that, Phosphora began to fidget in her seat slightly.
"Yeaaaah, about that...Well, I've decided that I wanna take care of him." She said cheerfully. "I guess I'll be kinda like...well, a mom."
The reactions were mixed: Palutena's eyes went wide, clearly not expecting that, Lucario rose a brow in curiosity, and Mewtwo gave her a plain look.
"Are you absolutely certain that is something you wish to do?" The psychic asked, wanting to be sure Phosphora could handle a task that came with so much responsibility.
Phosphora's expression filled with determination in an instant. "Oh, I'm certain," she started, "in fact, I'm gonna make sure everything that's ever happened to him becomes a none existent dream."
Both Pokémon in the room exchanged a glance at Phosphora's conviction. Before they could press any further though, a slight squeel escaped the lips of the goddess in their presence.
"Hey! Palutena! What are you-?"
"Ohhh, I can't believe it! This so great! I'm so happy for you, Phosphora!" Palutena's light cheer that followed the subsequent hug and cheek rub cut off the lightning master before she could finish. As the light goddess began to giggle girlishly as she continued to hug Phosphora, the other two awake individuals in the room stared at Palutena incerdulously.
"Well, she doesn't seem too bothered by the news." Lucario stated awkwardly. Mewtwo simply sighed and nodded in agreement. Unbeknownst to any of them, the mansions apparent new resident began to stir.
Harry let out a soft groan as his emerald green eyes began to open. He was confused. Why was he so comfy? This didn't feel like the pretty woman's arms...But what was it?
He looked downward to find his body covered by a snow white blanket. Was this a bed? Why was he put here? Where was-
His musings were cut short when his hearing finally registered giggling to his side. Looking to his side he saw the pretty lady from before pushing away another women he had never seen before.
Phosphora gave Palutena a slight glare of irritation.
"Cool it, will ya?" She told the green-haired goddess. "I mean, yeah, it's big news, but you don't have to literally get in my face about it."
As Palutena began to look sheepish and apologize, Lucario took notice of something now that the goddess was no longer blocking the view.
"Looks like someone's awake." He stated, and all eyes in the room turned to Harry.
Harry's eyes widened, and he hid under the blankets with a frightened squeak, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the unfamiliar faces looking in his direction.
Phosphora blinked a bit before remembering what was going on. That said, she got up from her seat and leaned closer to Harry.
"Hey little guy. It's alright. You remember me, don't ya?" Harry recognized the voice that spoke to him and peeked out of the blanket to see the smiling face of Phosphora gazing at him lovingly.
"You're real..." He trailed off silently. Phosphora giggled in response.
"Of course I'm real, sweet heart. Why wouldn't I be?"
"I...I thought it was another one of those dreams I have...Where I get saved...But then I wake up in my cupboard again and find out it was just a dream, and I'm still gonna be beaten..."
Phosphora's fist clenched a bit upon hearing what Harry had to say, knowing that there was likely more that walking walrus did to him. Clamping down on her anger she directed a small smile towards the little boy.
"Well don't worry." She told him. "You won't EVER have to go through that again. Ever." While Harry was slightly happy to hear that, the both of them missed the reactions of the others in the room to the bit of info about what he went through. Mewtwo had his head bent forward, arms folded, and eyes closed, doing his best to keep his emotions in check. Lucario's eyes were wide open and shaking upon hearing the little detail about the abuse Harry suffered through.
And Palutena? Well, there would be a hurricane outside if she had control over storms of that calibre. Her hair shadowed her eyes as she ground her teeth and clenched her fists were clenched very tightly. She was breathing heavily, thrying not to blow a gasket in front of the obviously traumitized toddler.
"We were never properly introduced." Phosphora spoke up, snapping everyone out of their stupor. Without another word, She stood up, brought Harry out from under the blanket and into a slight embrace. He stiffened at first, but when he realised she wasn't hurting him he relaxed and returned it. It saddened Phosphora with how weakly he was able to do so. She looked to the little one in her arms, her filled with nothing but kindness. "What's your name, little guy? I'm Phosphora."
"Um...H-Harry..." he said meekly.
"Cute name, it fits a little cutie like you." Phosphora stated, poking him in the nose slightly, earning her a little giggle from the child. She turned her attention to the others in the room and pointed to the green haired goddess in the room. "The woman over there is Palutena, she happens to be a very good friend of mine."
Palutena forced her rage down, and smiled warmly at the little boy. "Hello there, my dear. It's wonderful to meet you." She greeted.
"Always so formal when greeting someone..." Phosphora said, rolling her eyes playfully.
Harry looked Palutena up and down. She seemed nice enough, and Phosphora said she was a friend of hers, so he was willing to give her a chance.
"Hi..." he greeted shyly, giving a slight wave to the goddess before him. Palutena simply giggled at the greeting.
"You're so cute. No wonder Phosphora wants to adopt you." Harry blushed at her remark before fully realizing what was said.
'She... wants me...?' He thought to himself, before he found himself looking at a couple of strange creatures a couple feet away.
"And these two are some more friends of mine." Phosphora continued. "The blue one is Lucario..." she pointed to the jackal, who gave Harry a small mile and a quick nod of his head, before smirking slightly and pointed to the last occupant that had yet to be currently introduced... "and the kitty-cat right there is Mewtwo." The twitch in Mewtwo's eye didn't go unnoticed by the people in the room.
"Do not call me that." He stated, ignoring the surpressed snicker coming from his fellow Pokémon, who knew full well that the psychic of all people ended up acting like a mad teenager from an anime comedy when reminded of his resemblence to felines for long enough. It was actually common knowledge around the mansion how much he LOATHED being called a cat in some way.
Wario and Waluigi would often take advantage of this...They were often thrown out of the nearest window for their troubles.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." Phosphora replied through a chuckle. Harry made a mental note not to make fun of Mewtwo since he didn't seem to like it.
"Um... Miss Phosphora..." Phosphora's attention went to the little one she was holding upon hearing him call her name.
"Yeah sweetie?"
"M-Miss Palutena said that... you wanted me... is it true?"
Phosphora tilted her head. "You mean, like, as a son? Well of course! Why wouldn't I? You're cute and cuddly and you need someone to take you in, so there's no reason I wouldn't do it!"
"B-But, I'm not cute. I'm a hideous freak! I was a mistake and shound't have been born. I don't deserve-" before Harry could go on with the insults that were put in his head, a finger was placed on his lips, effectively stopping him. He looked to Phosphora to see her expression filled to the brim with sorrow, almost on the verge of tears. She then pulled him in to a firm, yet gentle embrace before he could ask what was wrong.
"Please Harry, don't insult yourself like that." Harry could tell she was trying hot to cry. "If that was something that man told you, then he was wrong. I see a sweet kid who deserves a chance at life. You didn't derserve what that monster put you."
Harry couldn't take it. He was hurt, scared, sad and confused all at once, and it was just too overwhelming for him. For the second time in his life, Harry Potter began to cry.
Phosphora simply held firm, stroking his back to comfort him as he let out his pent up sadness and pain on her shoulder. Despite how hard she was trying not to break down herself, a tear or two managed to escape her eye.
"There there," she whispered soothingly, "it's alright. Let it all out."
While Harry's tears fell, the others in the room had varying, yet similar reactions to the obvious mental abuse Harry suffered from.
Palutena felt like crying due to the unfairness of it all.
Lucario was upset and angry.
Mewtwo? He was just MAD. He himself was never really a fan of humans, yet everything this boy seemed to go through made people like Giovanni seem like saints. If what Mewtwo was hearing was this bad, then what was in his thoughts was undoubtedly the stuff of nightmares.
Harry's crying finally toned down to slight sniffles. Taking that as a sighn he calmed down, Phosphora took the opportunity to wipe his tears a bit.
"Feeling better sweetie?" She asked with a slight smile. His response was a simple nod, just before a small yawn escaped his lips.
Phosphora giggled. "Really? You're tired already? You pretty much just woke up."
"I'm sorry..." Harry said softly.
Phosphora simply smiled and tightened the hug a bit, being sure not to hurt him. "It's alright, we all need sleep anyway." With that, she set him back down into the bed and tucked him in. The child fell asleep almost instantly when his head hit the pillow, it seemed so cute. Phosphora gave him a quick peck on the cheeck, making him moan happily and smile slightly in his sleep.
The nymph put a hand to her cheek and smiled warmly. It was nice to see a smile on his cute little face. He was so miserable before now...
The others in the room were watching the interaction after they calmed down some. Palutena was silently gushing, doing everything she could not to squeel like a teenager and cuddle the little one to death. She also wished she had a camera. Lucario smiled a bit upon seeing the the child's aura so relaxed, despite the darkness lurking underneath. Mewtwo sported a small smirk himself, knowing that despite Phosphora's own quirks, the child was in good hands. Still, something needed to be known before everyone retired for the night.
"We will need to notify the Director of this." He stated, getting everyone's attention. "This way we can discuss the child's living condition as well as letting everyone know we may have a new tenant." The others exchanged an agreeing nod, knowing that keeping this a secret would not be a good thing. Before anyone else could throw in their two cents, Palutena released a stifled yawn.
"Well...I really must be returning to sleep now. Thank you for introducing me to the little cutie, Phosphora."
"No problem, and sorry for waking you up, by the way." Phosphora returned sheepishly, but the goddess simply waved it off.
"You can make it up to me by letting me be his Aunt when he calls you 'mom'." Phosphora nodded, knowing it was fair. Without another word the goddess left the infirmary. Lucario and Mewtwo turned to Phosphora.
"Goodnight, Phosphora, I know you'll raise that child well." The jackal told her, receiving a grateful smile in return, and left. Mewtwo simply smiled at her, nodded her way, and teleported out of the room, leaving Phosphora alone with Harry.
Wordlessly, she climbed into Harry's bed, pulled him close, and let sleep overcome her, doing so with a smile. Harry unconciosly smiled at the contact, as his dreams began changing for the better.
They were unaware of the security camera in the room and the being watching what was going on.
In a room full of screens that showed various parts of the mansion, save for the dorm bedrooms and bathrooms of all kinds, a man clad in a white buisiness suit and trousers, white gloves on both hands, and white hair that reached his chin watched what happened in the infirmary with interest. Having turned on the mic of that particular camera, he listened in on the conversation and was shocked in more was than one: surprise for learning that Phosphora wished to adopt a child, shock for seeing the child's unusual healing ability, concern for the child upon learning of the darkness he unwillingly, and unknowingly carried, and outrage for the apparent abuse he went through. Still, it seemed Phosphora was willing to help this child recover and raise him right, and what kind of person he bee if he didn't support something like that.
"Although, it will be interesting to see how everyone reacts to the knews." The Director smirked in amusement. With that, he went to his desk and pulled out a thick leather book.
Something about that child was familiar.