Kristen didn't like it when Phil left.
It left part of her feeling hollow and deserted—the house was too big, too empty for her liking.
Even though it was tiny with only three bedrooms and one bathroom—and filled with five over-active boys, two of which had just discovered what a 'safe environment' was—it was still empty to her. On top of that, it was in the more 'not-nice' part of town. They were just lucky the roof didn't leak.
"George, sweetie—" Kristen sighed, the little boy ducking to hide around her. "I can't pack the basket and keep you safe."
She was trying to get the boys out of the house for a picnic, to try and help distract herself from the ache in her chest. And so they would stop destroying her half-clean house.
"Dream's gonna tickle me—" George pouted, eyes wide and innocent.
"Well then get Techno to protect you," Kristen said gently, shooing the boy away from her legs. "Momma needs to get lunch ready or we're not gonna have any."
George grumped, but dashed out of the kitchen and started shrieking as soon as he rounded the corner.
"Georgie!"
Kristen sighed as George's screams pitched, meaning Dream had gotten him on the ground.
She wrapped the apples in a piece of linen and wondered how much longer it would be before they got fruit again. The kids needed vitamins and fruits, but they simply couldn't afford it. Maybe they'd find an apple tree or something.
Everyone once in a while, Kristen wondered what she had been thinking, letting Phil keep bringing kids home would they could barely feed themselves.
Then one of the kids would come crawling to her in the night, seeking out her motherly warmth and love and she would know why.
Because there wasn't enough love in the world to go around and she had to give out as much as she could.
"I'll save you, George!" Sapnap shot through the kitchen and Kristen didn't see it, but she heard Dream's oomph as the blaze hybrid barreled into Dream.
George was back in the kitchen a second later, latched onto Kristen's leg with absolutely no intention of ever letting go.
"I know you said you needed to get lunch ready and all that, Mumza, but I'm more important than a sandwich, so I'll think I'll just stay here if that's okay with you."
Kristen just shook her head and ruffled George's fluffy mop of hair.
She was done anyway.
"Boys, grab your things, we're leaving!"
There was commotion from the bedrooms, Wilbur's yelling, and one of Techno's infamous snorts.
Dream came sauntering in a moment later, a protesting Sapnap thrown over his shoulder. Techno and Wilbur followed, Wilbur's wings a bit mussed and Techno looking supremely disappointed with his brothers.
"Wilbur, grab your inhaler, I don't need you dying on me."
Wilbur rolled his eyes and held up the little tube before giving it to Techno because he would lose it in half a second.
The six Minecrafts stepped out into the sunlight, and Kristen was relieved when it wasn't too hot. Less chance of Sapnap overheating again.
"Hello, Kristen!"
Kristen inwardly rolled her eyes at their neighbor, Donna. "Good morning, Donna!" she called cheerfully, noting how Sapnap flipped the old bat off while still hanging upside down off Dream's shoulder. "Love what you've done with the tulips!"
Donna beamed, and didn't quite hear Kristen's muffled curse about her being a female dog.
Dream giggled at that, and George stuck his tongue out before Kristen shooed them down the street.
They got looks, Kristen should have been used to it by now—she really should have—but she wasn't.
The side glances at the kids that were clearly not her own, how they didn't in any way look like her or her husband. How skinny the boys were, she knew the neighbors thought she was starving them. Didn't help that Techno had accidentally shoved Dream into the corner of the counter and bruised his cheek.
Kristen smiled at the neighbors across the street and ignored the crackhead that lived on the corner. She used to offer him sandwiches when she could, but then Wilbur had told her how the man had offered him and Techno candy once and she stopped acknowledging he existed.
If it was up to her, she'd evaporate him with her magic, but the townspeople wouldn't take kindly to that and they couldn't quite afford to move right now.
They made it out of town with the usual number of stares and Kristen audibly sighed once they were safely in the woods.
She hadn't noticed how closely the boys were walking with her until they broke off and tore in the woods. Dream had set Sapnap down at some point and now the two danced back and forth banging sticks together in a mock battle.
Techno stayed firmly next to his mother, and Kristen just knew he was taking his 'man of the house' responsibilities that Phil had let him have seriously.
Phil had tried to give the responsibility to Wilbur, but the little boy had looked right up at his father and, with the straightest face Kristen had ever watched him pull, said, "Dad, I'm not responsible enough to be allowed to put away the plastic dishes. What makes you think I can be the man of the house?"
The 'responsibility' had been shifted to Techno.
Wilbur, right now, was trying to convince George of the benefits of eating sand.
George was not convinced.
Kristen let herself relax. They were safe, in the middle of nowhere. Her magic could protect her boys, and Phil had promised to be back home soon.
Everything was okay.
…
Skeppy couldn't remember the last time he had been present in his own body. He knew he had problems disassociating ever since-it-had brought him here, just so he could escape this nightmare.
He absentmindedly scratched at his arms, hand trailing up to rub at his neck as well.
The hard surfaces of gem faces had no nerve endings, so he couldn't feel them, but he could feel how deep they went.
He had tried digging them out after the first few appeared, almost hypnotized about the amount of blood and pain that came with ripping the gems out of his skin.
He stopped after he realized they grew back, bigger and deeper.
He was fairly sure one of the gems on his forearm went down to the bone.
He felt around, feeling his body settle in his skin. His damaged, pothole, cursed skin.
Carefully, he shifted on his pathetic excuse of a bed, a potato sack or something, to take catalogue of his injuries.
They had been steadily getting more and more numerous every time he woke up in his body.
His left ankle was still sprained. Or broken—Skeppy didn't know how swollen a joint could get before the bone snapped.
His fingernails were still battered, bruised, and scabbed over from when he tried to claw his way out of this dismal prison. Skeppy was almost half-sure he was doing it while he was dissociating.
His cheek was still swollen from where it had punched him for mouthing off.
There was an ache in the back of his mouth that Skeppy had learned meant hunger pains.
He had long since lost the ability to make his own saliva.
Skeppy groaned and shifted into a new position that didn't jostle his ankle or hurt his back.
Slowly, sluggishly, he felt himself drift.
…
Kristen waded her feet in the pond, watched the boys play. It was cooler here, but the water still felt nice.
Techno and Wilbur were playing a game of chicken against Dream and Sapnap, and George was playing with the lily pads on the bank. Every once in a while, he'd fine an exceptionally pretty flower and bring it to his momma.
She had quite a sizeable pile of soft lavenders and pale blues.
All in all, it was rather peaceful.
She tipped her head back, letting herself breathe. She let the weight of the future slip off her shoulders, let the knowledge of what was going to happen to her children roll away.
Just for a moment.
She just needed a moment.
…
Skeppy reacted sluggishly, but refused to come back to his body.
He could feel somebody touching him, something cold and icy.
Then the pain came, but he didn't quite feel it. The tortured agony as the diamonds were pried off his arm, the burning torment as the gems were ripped from his bones.
As soon as the diamonds left his body, he felt them pool and fill with more, only for them to be torn off again.
And with every crystal that was wrenched from his body, he felt the curse go deeper, deeper, deeper around his bones and muscles.
It had been almost a month since the curse had been only skin-deep, but it still made Skeppy's stomach church with every inch it ate.
How much longer till I'm no longer human? he thought lazily, hearing the squelch as another gem was sucked off. How much longer before I'm nothing but crystal?
It had no answers, and Skeppy drifted farther away till he could no longer see or hear.
Into the darkness.
…
Kristen didn't like the idea of the cave.
Her boys did.
"I don't know, hon," Kristen said, carding her hand through Sapnap's hair. "That doesn't look safe—"
"But we have you!" Dream said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "Of course it's safe!"
Kristen smiled thinly and looked at the foreboding entrance.
Something about this screamed 'bad idea,' but Sapnap and Dream's puppy eyes had always been her weakness.
"We're not going far," Kristen sighed, setting the basket down and grabbing George's hand.
…
Kristen's heart was in her mouth.
Scratch that.
Her heart had stopped beating.
The cave had been dark, quiet—typical. It had dipped down, and Dream had pointed out the scratch marks on the walls and ceiling.
Kristen had chalked it up as old bear marks.
She should have known better.
"Boys," she said, holding her hand out so the boys couldn't slip past her and around the corner to see what she was seeing. "Stay right there, you hear?"
She raised her voice, just a little bit, because Dream and Techno always reacted negatively to that—but she needed them to know she was serious.
"Mum—" Wilbur asked, voice wavering a bit at her tone, gripping Techno's arm.
"Do. Not. Move." Kristen ordered.
The boys exchanged glances, but didn't dare disobey.
"Just sit down, backs against the wall, all together now," Kristen instructed. "Sapnap in the middle so he can share his heat."
The boys listened, and Kristen sighed in relief.
She had to focus on what was in front of her.
A little boy, the obvious victim of a troll.
Trolls were nasty creatures, more lumps of mud and rock than sentient, that kidnapped children and cursed them.
It was a standard curse that forced the skin produce whatever the bearer's heart reflected. Gold for a heart of gold, sometimes flowers if the heart was sweet and kind, but this one—
This little boy had gotten the worst of it.
Diamonds, for a pure heart.
Sometimes the curse could be reverted, but not with diamonds.
The child's own pure heart would be his undoing, fueling the curse till his body was encased.
Kristen needed to act now-
She gritted her teeth and knelt next to the boy, ignoring the chain around his ankle and the cuts on his face and the bruises around his throat. Ignored the distant look in his eyes that was a dead indicator he was dissociating and pretty darn good at it from the looks of things.
She took a deep breath, ignored how they would have to move after this because the magic she would have to release was sure to draw unwanted attention, and reached.
It took a long while for her to stop the curse, to tie up the troll's energy and kill it. It took her even longer to heal what she could.
Kristen didn't like healing, and rarely did it.
It left her woozy and uncoordinated, as it required some of her own health to fix the other person.
She didn't have a choice. The boy was emaciated as it was, and it wouldn't be safe to move him with his injuries.
When she came up from the haze that was healing magic, she heard screams.
But she couldn't do anything—her head was still under a fog.
A magical fog. Magic was heavy in the air, from her sons, herself, the walls around her.
She couldn't fight physically, but maybe—
She reached out, latching onto the first viable source of magic—didn't bother to see what it was—and lashed out.
There was the sound of glass exploding, a large thump, and then silence filled with gasping sniffles and muffled sobs.
Kristen found herself on her hands and knees, heaving for air as her head spun. Dimly she was aware of her kids crying, one of them jostling her shoulder.
By the time she came back, her head was pounding and she could barely stand.
"M-mum?" Sapnap was helping her up, or trying as he was tiny.
"I'm okay," she got out, blinking to clear her vision.
The hallway had been encrusted with diamond.
George and Wilbur were supporting the child that had been chained, and Dream and Techno were guarding the open sides of the tunnel.
In the center of the tunnel, solidly encased in a diamond block, was the troll.
Kristen had used the boy's magic to save her children.
Kristen had a headache.
She took a deep breath, and let Sapnap 'help' her up. Diamonds crunched beneath her shoes.
"Everyone okay?" she called.
"Yeah," Dream answered. "That thing took a swipe at Techno, but he punched it, then you did whatever you did—boom! Diamond statue."
Kristen nodded and exhaled slowly. The headache was receding, leaving her feeling a bit hollow.
Absentmindedly, she wondered how much of her magical reserves she used.
It didn't matter as soon as she saw the boy.
He was propped up on Wilbur's and George's laps, shaking with cold.
He was so thin and pale and tiny, freckled dotted along his cheeks and nose, hair mangled and clumped.
His shirt could barely be considered a shirt anymore, and his jeans were still on him through goodwill alone.
Kristen didn't want to think about how long he had been down here.
"Okay," she said carefully. "We're going to leave now. Techno, can you carry him please?"
Techno nodded and obeyed, easily lifting the smaller boy into a fireman's carry.
"We're going to go home now," Kristen said, eyeing the diamond-littered cave. "And I don't want any arguing."
None was offered as the kids moved quickly, seemingly just as eager as her to get home.
Kristen spared one look back when they reached the entrance, noting the location of the cave.
…
They'd been out in the woods for hours. By the time they staggered down the dimly lit street, it was dark.
Nobody bothered to light this corner of the town, and it was only thanks to Sapnap glowing like a candle that they could see.
He had to stay in the middle, though, in case anyone saw them, it would look as though they were maybe carrying a lantern. If they didn't look too closely, that is.
The boy didn't wake up or stir at all the way home, and remained limp as a rag doll on Techno's shoulders the whole time.
When Kristen finally closed the door of their house and securely locked it, she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Set the boy down on the couch," she said, setting the basket on the counter. "And start getting ready for bed."
"Can we sleep with you?" George asked shyly, tapping his fingertips together.
Kristen nodded and kissed his forehead. "Yes, after you all get cleaned up."
Techno set the boy down and grabbed Dream before his brother could start poking the kid in the face to try and wake him up.
Kristen watched them scamper off to the bathroom and she careful sat next to the boy.
In the light, he was definitely emaciated.
"Hey, sweetheart," she whispered, smoothing the hair away from the boy's face. "You're safe now—did you want to wake up?"
No answer.
Kristen didn't expect one.
She waited till she heard the noises from the one bathroom fade and the rustling from her and Phil's bedroom cease.
Then she carefully lifted the boy into her arms and brought him to the bathroom. The boys had at least done a decent job cleaning up after themselves, and Kristen just had to put their dirty towels in the wash.
"Alright, hon," she said, setting him down on the floor. "I'm gonna have to get most of your clothes off so I can clean you up—I'll leave your boxers on though, okay?"
No answer.
Kristen bit her lip, and debated just putting the kid in bed, but he was filthy, covered in blood and grime and who knew what else.
She started the bath, using the good bubble bath, and hesitated before turning to the boy.
Gingerly, she peeled the kid's shirt off. She waited to see if he woke up, but he remained as out-of-it as he had been this whole time. She took the tattered jeans off and carefully eased the boy into the warm water.
She hummed a gentle song, one her own mother had sang to her when she was sick, and tactfully and efficiently washed the boy over.
Not once did he complain or twitch, and showed no signs of waking up.
Kristen hauled him out of the bath once he was as clean as she could make it, then dressed him in one of Techno's shirts and Dream's only extra pair of sweats.
The rest of her boys were all sprawled in her and Phil's bed, but Techno shoved Wilbur out of the way when he heard her.
Kristen eased herself and the new kid into the cuddle pile, feeling Sapnap latch onto her free arm then George to her waist. Dream curled around George and Techno made sure Wilbur was on the edge of the bed so his wings didn't get smushed.
Kristen stayed awake long after all the kids had fallen asleep, feeling the kid curled up against her side, subconsciously fisting his hands in her shirt, and wished Phil was here.
…
Skeppy came to his body a bit differently this time.
For starters, there was no pain. His leg didn't hurt, and it was easy to breathe—no swelled throat.
He was warm all over, on all sides, so sing of the chill from the cave.
And he was surrounded by softness.
He blinked his eyes open, feeling them sticky and gritting. The desert in his throat was still there and the back of his mouth still hurt.
But other than that—
"Hello, sweet."
He froze, feeling dread trickle up his spine.
"Hey, hey—" a gentle hand in his hair, that surprisingly felt clean and not all grimy as it had been. "No one's gonna hurt you."
The voice was so soothing, and so kind.
"You're safe," the voice continued, along with the oh-so-gentle hair-stroking. "You can go back to sleep if you want."
Skeppy thought that was a good idea.
He drifted away before he could put more thought into what he was doing.
…
Sapnap woke up slowly, drifting up through a warm haze. It took him a while to figure out he was mushed between Dream and Kristen, Kristen's arm wrapped around him and Dream's arms around his waist, Dream's nose digging into the back of his ribs. He couldn't see over Kristen, but George was snuggled up against Dream's back.
"Morning, sunshine."
He looked up and saw his mom looking down at him, smiling softly. She was sitting up against the headboard, a book in her lap. Her hand carded through his hair and Sapnap relaxed even further, feeling warm and safe and happy and content.
"How'd you sleep?"
Sapnap just murmured and nuzzled closer to her, the feeling of safe and protected washing over him.
Kristen chuckled, a happy, pleasant sound, and Sapnap just yawned.
"Ready to get up? It's almost eleven."
Sapnap shook his head, and felt Dream move.
"Morning, sweet-pea."
Her hand moved from Sapnap's head to Dream's and Dream made a sleepy noise.
That woke George up and Sapnap distinctly realized he couldn't hear Techno's snoring or Wilbur's whistly breaths.
They were awake too.
"Hello there."
Sapnap got the feeling she wasn't talking to any of them.
…
Skeppy didn't know what to make of his new surroundings. It was the easiest he had ever slipped back into his body and stayed without coming back and forth for a few minutes.
He felt warmth all around him, softness and lavender and vanilla and all things sweet and nice.
His curse didn't hurt as much either.
There was a woman in front of him, and he could feel somebody else by his back. The woman had a kind face, faint laugh wrinkles and a gentle smile.
"Where am I?" he asked quietly, still scared.
"In my house," the woman said. Skeppy felt her hand in his hair, actually felt it, and he had forgotten what it felt like to be touched without pain following. "We found you in a cave, with a troll."
Skeppy felt ice flood his veins.
"It's dead."
Skeppy exhaled, relief washing through his stomach.
He tried to sit up, but felt a hand wrap around his stomach, pulling him back down.
"Stop moving," a voice rumbled behind him.
"Techno—" the woman laughed, hand moving from Skeppy's hair to somewhere behind him. "You can't just hold him hostage."
"Yes, I can," the voice grumbled. "Wilbur's doing it to me, so I can do it to the new kid."
'Techno' had arms of iron, and Skeppy already got the feeling that he wasn't going anywhere.
A head popped up from behind the woman's legs, black hair all spikey and blanket lines embedded on his cheek.
"I forgot about you," he announced.
"Sapnap!" the woman scolded.
"I did to, honestly," another kid sat up, looking even more disheveled and sleepy. The kid fixed him with a green-eyed, glassy stare. "You were a lot of trouble to get a hold of, you know that?"
Skeppy didn't know whether to be annoyed or offended.
Yet another kid appeared from the green-eyed kid, looking as though he'd been dragged behind a wagon for two miles. He blinked sleepily at Skeppy, squinted, then yawned and plopped back down, the bed bouncing as he did so.
"If those two don't shut up—" Techno warned, Skeppy feeling his grip tighten a bit, "Ima hurt em both."
"You will do no such thing," the woman, Skeppy was beginning to think she was the mom.
Techno yawned and Skeppy was almost positive he heard him mumble 'try me.'
"C'mon," the woman said, giving Sapnap a push. "I'm sure you're all hungry."
Sapnap moaned and flopped down dramatically, whining. "But Muuummmmm—"
"Nope," the woman said, shoving him a bit. "Move. Dad's supposed to be home today."
The kids all perked up at that.
"Dadza's gonna be home?" one of the kids behind Skeppy said excitedly.
"Yes he is now, out."
The kids were suddenly much more eager to move.
Skeppy wondered who 'Dad' was.
Skeppy's own dad wasn't nice, and neither was his mom.
Didn't matter anymore, as they were dead.
The troll killed them.
The five boys shot up of their own accord and scattered out of the house, and Skeppy instinctively moved to follow, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Sweetie—"
He turned and saw the woman looking at him with a soft, concerned smile.
"What's your name, hon?"
"Skeppy."
"Okay then, I'm Kristen. My husband's name is Phil. He's off on a trip and is supposed to be back later today."
She sat up off the bed and motioned for him to shuffle towards her. Her hands carefully felt his not-injured-anymore ankle and checked his throat.
Lastly, they brushed up the gems.
Skeppy expected her to dig in, to wrench the stupid crystals out of him. Months of forced habit made him stay still as he was expected, ready for her to take what she wanted.
"I stopped the curse," she said instead, and Skeppy felt his heart skip a beat in disbelief.
"I'm a very powerful Deep Magic Magess, and while a bit of troll magic is difficult, it wasn't impossible to stop the curse from spreading."
Skeppy looked up her with awe. Her smile was careful and warm as she cupped her cheek.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more."
Skeppy didn't care. The curse was stopped, he wouldn't be a solid block of crystal—he wasn't going to die-
He dove forward, arms wrapping around the woman and hugging her as tightly as he could.
She hugged him back immediately, something his own mother would never have done, and Skeppy started to cry.
It would be a long time before he stopped.
…
"Are we almost home?"
Phil chuckled at Bad's question, that he had asked about a hundred times now.
The tiny demon had taken quite easily to Phil, and the idea he had five brothers and a mom waiting for him.
Right now, Phil held him on his hip like a toddler, not willing to set the kid down in this part of town.
"Almost, mate," Phil said. "Relax."
"I don't wanna relax!" Bad exclaimed, bouncing up and down in Phil's arms. "I wanna go hoommmeee!"
Phil laughed and tickled Bad's side a bit, making the child squeal and squirm, kicking and laughing.
The difference between here and the demon lair—eons.
Bad smiled now, skipped along when Phil moved, kept up pretty decent, didn't complain and ate whatever Phil told him to.
Honestly, he was the perfect kid.
"Almost there," Phil said, smoothing the kid's fuzzy oaken hair down and pushing the glasses they fitted him for in a doctors' wagon up his nose. He licked his thumb and scrubbed at a spot dirt away on Bad's chin and Bad shrieked and shoved him away.
Phil set him down when they reached the porch. "Ready?" he asked, mostly just to tease.
The kid was practically vibrating with excitement.
He knocked on the door, two quick and one short, and heard commotion on the other side.
The door swung open and Wilbur was there, launching himself at Phil's face.
"Dad's home!" he shouted back, right in Phil's ear, arms locked around Phil's neck.
"Guess what?" Wilbur shrieked, wings fluttering and flapping with no control. "You're never gonna guess, you're never gonna guess—who's that?"
Phil didn't get a chance to answer as Dream and Sapnap barreled around the corner. Both tripped and fell on each other, and George jumped over the both of them to latch onto Phil's leg.
He saw Bad, who was hiding behind Phil's leg, at the same time Techno, who had approached all dignified and graceful, did.
"Well this is awkward," Techno said, peering back to look in the living room.
Phil was suddenly nervous.
"Where's your mum?" he asked stepping into the house and letting his pack drop. George didn't bother letting go and Bad was still attached to his cloak.
"In here, love!"
Phil hobbled over, smile on his face that immediately froze when he saw the sixth kid huddled against his wife's side.
Small and slight, face way too pinched, eyes much too big for his skull—staring right at him.
"Uh, love?" Phil asked, glancing at his wife and her grin. "You gotta something you wanna tell me?"
Kristen laughed, and oh, how Phil had missed that sound.
"Found him in a cave," Kristen said, though her eyes told him there was much more to the story. "Took him home."
"Oh—" Phil said, Dream and Sapnap barreling into the room to right over the recliner in the corner. Techno was still staring right at Bad.
"Dadza's got another kid too!" Wilbur announced, pointing down. George nodded enthusiastically and pointed as well.
Kristen craned her neck and her face lit up. "Oh my—"
She immediately opened her arms in an invitation, but the Bad only pressed farther into Phil's side.
"It's okay, mate," Phil said kindly, giving the child a gentle push. "She's your mum."
Bad, pointer finger in his mouth, made his way over carefully to Kristen. He glanced at the new kid, who Phil had yet to learn his name, and inspected Kristen's face.
He must have found what he was looking for, because he suddenly leapt for her, locking his arms around her neck.
"Who's this?" Phil asked, hefting Wilbur into a more comfortable position and reaching down for George.
"Skeppy!" Sapnap announced to the world. "He's real cool and has diamonds on his arms!"
Indeed he did. Phil exchanged a look with Kristen and she gave him a small nod.
"Well then!" Phil said. "Who wants to see what I brought them?"
A chorus of squeals.
It was good to be home.
…
"This is just sad," Phil sighed, running his hand along the cave wall, tiny diamonds pooling in his palm as he did.
"We didn't even know he was here," Kristen said mournfully, staring at the place where she had found the child. The ankle chain and potato sack seemed to taunt her, somehow.
"We couldn't have known," Phil sighed, walking over to lay a hand on her shoulder. "You were busy with the kids and I was busy with a war."
"How did that go? Is Bad-?" Kristen looked up at her husband.
"He's the one." Phil couldn't help the grin. "Old Magic should have known better."
Kristen snorted.
The two stood in silence for a minute, listening to the sounds of the cave—the only sounds Skeppy had heard for two months.
"Should we-?" Kristen scooped up a small handful of the glittering diamonds. They were perfect in every way, precisely cut and quite a good dozen were the size of her hand. But the idea of taking something that had only caused pain and hurt to Skeppy to live—it didn't quite sit right with her.
"I know a guy," Phil said quietly. "It'll take about a week for him to get here—I'll show him the cave, I know for a fact he'll take the diamonds at whatever price I ask, including Mister Troll here—he can go join a museum or something. Then we won't have to worry about money as much and I can finally start helping you raise the kids and take care of the house."
Kristen felt a small weight lift from her shoulders as she surveyed the sheer amount of glittering gems. Hypothetically, they'd never have to worry about money for the rest of their lives.
"I'm never not listening the kids ever again," she muttered, rubbing her hands on her forearms.
"So when Wilbur tells you to eat sand-?" Phil laughed and ducked as she took a swipe at his head.
The two left the cave, left the horror of what it contained behind, and headed back to their home, where their sons awaited.
