Chapter 33: Family

A/N: ...

'Hopefully it won't take as long,' he said.

'I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't,' he said.

Riiiiiight.

You're all probably wondering why this chapter took a whole month to get out, compared to my usual average release rate of once every two weeks.

Well... it's a bit of a long story... but I kinda got completely swept up in another game. It's the same game I talked about earlier, it's called OMORI if you're wondering.

And the few of you who've played that game probably understand full well why this chapter took so long, now. That game shook me to my core. And after I finished it... I just knew I had to start writing a fanfiction for it, I couldn't think of anything else. I just NEEDED to do it. And because it had taken up all of my headspace (hehe), I couldn't exactly write anything for this.

... And besides, I probably needed a break anyway.

I'm gonna do my best to go back to juggling two stories at once, but that's something I haven't done in a while. I'll try to keep the upload rate as my usual 1 chapter per 2 weeks average, but the chapters may be shorter. Or maybe not. I have no idea, I'm just throwing out all the possibilities.

So, that's what I did. I practiced for hours, on both of the games that we played together. Given that I didn't exactly get the chance to play many games anymore (I had better things to do), I was pretty rusty at those kinda games, but after a few hours of racing and fighting, I felt confident that I was back in business.

I mean, I was lapping the computer players in the racing game (and that's taking into account that sneaky mechanic all racing games use where computer players that are lagging behind get boosts), and defeating the computer players in the fighting game without even getting hit, so...

Yeah. Hailey definitely wouldn't know what hit her when we played again.

I shut down the console and the television and looked out the window.

I knew a long time had passed... was it sunset yet?

Hmmmmmmm... one way to find out.

I decided to go and beam down to the hospital.

I frowned at the darkness all around. It was at the edge of dusk, the final moments before night fully enveloped the city.

It annoyed me greatly.

Didn't I tell her to be back by sunset? Not after?

I shook my head with a groan.

Whatever.

I walked inside and saw a flash of purple and yellow.

I whipped around and saw Hailey standing there, looking right back.

I put my hands to my hips and looked at her in annoyance.

"Did I not say to be back by sunset?" I questioned her.

She shrugged.

"We were having too much fun... I lost track of the time. Sorry," She said.

I raised an eyebrow. That's literally the exact reason why I told her to be back by a specific time.

I shook my head. Wasn't worth thinking about.

"Well... whatever, at least I didn't have to go looking far," I dismissed with a sigh, "Let's go home."

So, we did, and returned to the ship.

It was already rather late, so we both decided it'd be a good time to go to bed.

So, I tucked her in, and then went to bed myself. I'd likely need it for the next day, if my concerns from earlier today were correct.

And I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I found myself in a white void.

I knew I was dreaming immediately from the atmosphere.

There wasn't really much around. It was just white nothingness in every direction. Yet there was an invisible floor that I stood on.

I didn't really like it.

The nothingness felt intimidating. It was kind of in a similar vein to how darkness used to make me feel uneasy, but here it was everything but dark.

I decided to just start walking forward until something happened. I wouldn't be in a white void for seemingly no reason if there wasn't something bound to happen, or a way to escape it.

So, I just kept walking, and walking, and walking, and walking.

For what seemed like an eon.

Until I heard something.

It was like a faint crackling noise.

I stop and look around in every direction.

I don't see anything beside me, above me, or below me, so I turn around.

And I see a tiny black crack on the oblivion in front of me.

Or was it an infinite distance away? I couldn't tell.

I took a step backward, and saw no apparent change in size or distance.

So it was seemingly infinite distance away. It was like a Time Rift all over again.

I stared at the crack, and as I did, it cracked open more, releasing another crackling noise, this time louder.

The crack began to seep out some black energy that rose into the beyond.

It cracked again.

And again.

It kept cracking over and over and over, until a spiderweb of cracks cascaded all across my vision.

What the hell was going on?

I stared at the center of it all, the origin point of all this, and noticed its entire surroundings filled with black.

There was a deep rumbling, and then...

BANG!

An ethereal, pitch-black, tentacled entity with seven slitted, white eyes bursts through the origin point, cascading the white void into a chaotic mix of white and black.

It stared right at me.

I merely crossed my arms.

"You know I know this is just a dream, right?" I snorted, "There's a good chance you're just a figment of my imagination."

It spoke with many different voices, giving its words a demonic presence:

"I am no dream."

"Really?" I said with sarcastic interest, "Then, do tell, what are you? And why even appear to me?"

In an instant, it shot out a tentacle toward me, which wrapped around me and lifted me into the air with crushing force, dragging me at lightspeed until we were face to face.

I could feel the unholy energy radiating from it like an evil supernova.

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I could just writhe in pain-

Wait...

Why did I feel pain in a dream?

"You would do well to heed my words, mortal. You have placed yourself in a very unfavourable situation. That woman you love is mine. She has something important that I very much require. And I would have had her, had you not interfered."

It then dropped me into the air, leaving me floating as if gravity were turned off.

I hadn't processed what it had said yet, as my body was still in agony from what had just happened.

"Yet you also placed her in a heavily weakened state, which is perfect for me. That is the only reason why I will spare you and your 'daughter'. But should you interfere again..."

I was enveloped by blackness, and I felt consciousness fading.

"I will erase you all."

I woke up in a cold sweat, finding myself back in my bed.

I let out a groan and clutched my head, feeling like I'd just been tossed around in a washing machine for ten hours.

"What is with all of these nightmares..."

My shoulders then slumped.

"... And why do I remember all of them clearly?"

I sat up and thought about the sequence of events that transpired in that dream.

...

Wait...

'That woman you love is mine'?

Zena?

What thing could she possibly have that it would 'require'? And how did my presence interfere with anything?

And again, why did I feel pain in a dream?

I shook my head.

Dreams probably worked weirdly in this world. I know some of my dreams were real in the past (the one with Darkus sticks out best,) but come on, like I'd believe some eldritch entity comes out of nowhere and decides to threaten me and Zena right after we confess our feelings for each other.

Not only is that timing cheesy as hell, it just doesn't make sense.

Why wouldn't it have made its presence known sooner?

Like, you know, right AFTER I got in its way?

... Yeah. It didn't make sense.

So, it was probably just the manifestation of my worry for her.

I took a deep sigh to calm myself, now that I had the situation sorted. Just another bad dream.

Well, I didn't exactly feel very tired after that little fiasco, so I decided to head down to the hub and relax as I waited for Hailey to wake up.

Part of me wanted to wake her up, as I didn't want to have to wait to go visit Zena, but I quickly decided against it. We had all the time in the world.

And, fortunately, it didn't take long for her to come skipping out of her room.

"You seem lively today," I observed.

She shrugged with a smirk.

"I guess you must've had a good night's sleep, then," I assumed.

She nodded.

I looked back out the window.

If only I did, too.

"Let's go get ready to see Zena," I suggested.

She adopted a smug look.

"Already? You just can't wait to go see her again! Did she promise to give you a kiiiiss?"

I felt my entire body slump in disappointment as an awful realization hit me.

She's going to tease me for a long time.

She seemed pleased by my reaction, and her smugness intensified.

"I should've seen this coming," I groaned.

"So, is that a yes?"

I fumed.

"About the first part, yes. I absolutely can't wait to see her again. But not the last part. Rather, I have important things to discuss with her," I explained.

"Like what?" She asked, her smugness gone and replaced with curiosity.

"About a few things, but generally related to her and Alpine Skyline as a whole," I answered.

She grinned from ear to ear.

"So you're trying to get to know her better? That's so cute!"

I stared disapprovingly at her. I wasn't going to deal with this right now.

"Stop that. She's probably going to tease me enough herself," I grumbled, "And it's just weird to hear it from you."

She frowned.

"Fiiiine," She pouted.

"Anyway, let's go get ready, already," I sighed.

She nodded.

So... obviously, we did, having breakfast and all that morning jazz.

From there, we went down to the metro room and beamed down to the hospital.

We got checked in, and made our way to Zena's room.

On the way there, Hailey turned to me.

"You seem worried."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Do I?" I replied, "Well, that's not surprising. I worry about everything."

Hailey sighed and turned back away.

"Zena is right. You need to relax more," She said.

"I would if I knew how to," I replied, "And I mean, someone's gotta worry about us."

"But you never take breaks!" She pouted.

"I do. Why do you think I like Alpine Skyline so much?" I countered.

She gave me a 'do you really need me to answer that?' look.

"... Okay, yes, Zena, I get it. But still, that place is the most peaceful area on the whole planet. It's the perfect place for me to go and just... turn my brain off," I explained, "It's the only place I really can."

"Okay... but what are you worried about today?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"I'll tell you later," I said, "Not a good time or place."

She frowned deeply.

"Now you're worrying me!" She pouted.

I shrugged.

"Relax, Hailey. I've got a plan," I assured her, "I shouldn't even be worried in the first place, but that's just who I am."

She continued to grumble to herself as we walked along to Zena's door.

I knocked.

"Is it who I think it is?" A lovable, whimsical voice came through the door.

"I would assume so," I replied with a smirk.

Zena giggled. What a magnificent sound.

"Come in!"

I opened the door, and we walked inside.

We were immediately greeted by Zena's radiant smile, causing my heart to skip a beat.

"It is who I thought it was!" She beamed, "My favourite little father-daughter pair. I missed you already."

"Same to you," I replied.

She pointed toward a chair beside her bed.

"Come sit down beside me," She demanded.

I pulled the chair as close to her as possible and sat down.

She immediately leaned over and caught me in a tight hug.

I chuckled and returned it.

"Somebody'sfeeling better!" I laughed, "You really did miss me, huh? After not even a full 24 hours, too!"

"Oh, don't even try to tell me you didn't miss me this much, too," She countered.

Hailey ran over with a grin.

"He did! He immediately told me to get ready to come see you when I woke up!" She giggled.

"... I'll admit, I was contemplating waking you up early," I admitted.

"See?" She beamed.

"So you did miss me, too!" Zena replied smugly.

"Hey, at least I have an excuse, I'm not a thousand years old! I'm 21!" I countered.

She laughed lightly, then nuzzled her head into my shoulder.

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" She said, "You make me feel like I'm that age again."

That comment sent my heart jumping.

It really put into perspective just how much I had changed her life already, in the short span of time that I'd met her.

I guess it was just a match made in heaven.

I rested my head on top of hers.

"And you make me feel like an entirely new person," I replied with a sigh.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Hailey ever so slowly creeping away, a giant, warm smile on her face.

"Someone's enjoying herself, huh?" I chuckled.

Hailey squealed, putting her hands to her cheeks and shaking vigorously before bursting forward and jumping toward us and joining our hug.

"You two are SO CUTE!"

Zena just laughed and returned the hug, caressing the girl's back.

"Not as cute as you, my dear."

"No way!"

I tuned out all other senses, other than my sight and touch, and looked around.

I looked down at the woman in my arms. She was so warm, so caring, and so strong. I loved her.

I looked at the little girl right in front of me, still melting with glee. She was so happy, so positive, and so energetic. I loved her.

I loved them both, infinitely.

They felt like my own family... and that's because they were.

A completed family.

Father, daughter, and now mother.

I closed my eyes and pulled them both into my arms.

I knew now that this was the apex of my life.

I was at the top of the world. The 'zenith', per se.

There wasn't a thing I wouldn't do to keep it this way for eternity.

A/N: I've noticed that a lot of these recent chapters have been pretty heavily based around the new relationship between Markus and Zena.

There's a reason for that.

I mean, I wouldn't know from experience, but I'm pretty sure that after getting into your first real relationship, it'd be all that occupies your thoughts for the next long period of time.

So yeah, it's only gonna be tunnel-visioned on that for a little while.

... I feel like I repeated myself there, but eh, whatever. It's been a little while.

Secondly, oooooh, spooky dream, with... a scary eldritch god?! Does it have any meaning or impact, like his dreams have had in the past? Is Zena in danger? Or is this finally just a figment of his imagination, born from his worries and stress?

Find out next time on: Identity & Meaning!

hehe...

Well, no reviews this time, so that's all, folks!

I'll see you all next chapter (with a NORMAL upload rate this time). Bye!