Beginning Commentary: While this is a spinoff of the original Awakening fic, I highly recommend reading this for more info I forgot to put in beforehand that I didn't want to put in just as we're about to get to the end of chapter 23. Also part of me wants to take the main fic on a Devilman/Berserk route buuuuuuuuuut I'll leave that up to the comments here.

Henry and Libra: More on Thanatophages

A calming blue sky with drifting clouds greeted Libra as he awoke. In these small moments, he felt warmth in his heart as he woke to a sleeping Tharja. There were times where he questioned why he fell in love with her in the first place, but it was moments like these that helped him remember why. She was at peace, not busy with her spells nor with teaching their daughter, Noire, or Anne's son, Morgan. While she still had her sarcastic remarks, it would be out of love. And though she would act cranky when waking up, she would still be grateful that Libra would greet her in the morning.

After giving his beloved a kiss on the cheek, which would make her slightly stir in her sleep, he would check on the children to see if they still slept. Tharja would come off as cold at times, which made poor Noire rather scared of her. She still cared, but not in the way a normal mother would. Even when he would step in to help, Noire still had nightmares from time to time. He was thankful that Morgan at least saw through Tharja's intimidation. The boy helped Noire with her fears, and even helped Tharja get a better perspective on how she was treating her daughter.

Thank you, Naga, Libra would think to himself. My life is truly better with You.

Later in the afternoon, several visitors arrived to the small abode.

"WHOA, GIANT RABBITS!" Morgan exclaimed as he looked through the window.

"Oh, Henry's here," Tharja said nonchalantly.

"Did he tell you he would be here beforehand?" Libra asked.

"Nope. Not even a messaging hex or carrier bird. You'd think he'd at least have his pet crow warn us."

Libra opened the door, expecting for these Taguel children to charge in with no hesitation as he firmly held the flower vase above his head. Two of the smaller ones did, which caused Morgan to chase after them like they were dogs. One of them bumped into the nearest wall, another into the couch, and the first one into a nearby bookshelf, causing some books to fall off their shelves.

"HEY, OUTSIDE!" Tharja exclaimed.

Almost as fast as they arrived, the Taguels bolted out of the small home and circled around outside. Morgan followed suit.

"Hey there, little guy!" Henry laughed. "I'm your Uncle Henry!"

"Oh, you're the weirdo Auntie Tharja talked about!"

"Glad to see her opinion of me hasn't changed, at least."

"Are these bunnies your pets? Can I have one? PLEASE?"

"Sorry kiddo, this is my actual family! Your Aunt Panne's my wife, and the rest of these are our own kiddos! You can play with them still, but they're no way near being pets."

"Oh, okay." Morgan tilted to look past Henry. "Can I go to the beach and play with them there, please?"

Tharja sighed, already knowing this would be a full day ahead of her, "I'll go with Morgan if you make sure Henry doesn't break anything while I'm gone."

"Isn't he your friend, dear?" Libra asked. "I know you tend to mock Henry to show that you care, but it still seems rude to just leave before inviting him in."

"Not to worry, Tharj! Panne can watch over them! And don't worry, we're just here for today before we head off for more potion ingredients."

Libra raised an eyebrow and said not another word, but struggled trying to hide his grin.

"Fine, come in," Tharja groaned.

"Well, thank you!" He turned back to Panne and his children before fully entering. "You guys are gonna love the beach, but remember that salt water's different than fresh water!"

Okay, Dad!

I can't wait to eat a jellyfish! I hope it's made of real jelly!

Panne rolled her eyes as she followed the children, Morgan now secured on her back alongside a small Yarne for safety.

"So, care to explain why you're really here?" Tharja asked. "You'd at least let me know if you were coming beforehand, especially if it were about potion ingredients."

Henry's trademark grin disappeared, now replaced by a look of concern.

"It's not really something I wanted to say in writing," he spoke cautiously. "Or, y'know, have it be traced back to another Dark Mage."

Both Libra and Tharja grew a little weary at that.

"We might need to sit for this, it's a doozy."

"I'll…make us some tea, then," Libra responded.

Henry looked over his shoulder before he put a bag he carried under his cloak on the dining table, which held several pages that were either ripped with big circles or wrinkled with what must be copied from other texts.

"I went researching in Plegia-in disguise, of course-and found these in an ancient chasm near Carrion Isle."

"Spells?" Libra pondered, realizing that some of the writings weren't even translated in Millan. In fact, some of them seemed to be in a dead language.

"These…these are for controlling Risen," Tharja said quietly. "But…they're not about Risen Boxes at all. Not a mention of the smoke. What are these, bugs?"

"Thanatophages, parasites that can be put in either masks or the human skin to control the dead," Henry explained, his tone no longer chipper. "The smoke from those Boxes can control a vast amount of them in one go, but Thanatophages strengthen the host to near demon-like capabilities. The hosts would poison or even paralyze their targets before ripping them into shreds or worse, and they couldn't even form human speech. True berserkers, not like the fighters we tended to see back when we were kids. They're still being used to this day, but not in the way you'd think."

He pulled out more research, this time a fully-fledged journal.

"What makes them so powerful is that the original Thanatophage was made with the blood of a divine dragon and a human. You know that big skeleton in the Midmire? That was the original test subject, made over a thousand years ago and locked away along with its creator."

That widened Tharja's eyes.

"That was…a divine dragon?" Libra gasped.

"Not even, it was just a regular old Wyvern before the Thanatophage got a hold of it."

Tharja tensed. If even Tharja was worried, this could mean catastrophic results if put in the wrong hands. Libra placed his hand over hers as a source of comfort.

"But…shouldn't the Council of Magic have destroyed all of this research if it was this powerful?" Libra asked.

"It's a part of dark magic, so I'm sure they would consider it fair under research purposes," Tharja breathed. "Even though ice magic doesn't exist, this still does… The Grimleal are even slimier than I thought."

Come to think of it, what even is this all knowing Council of Magic? Do they even exist, or are they just a myth perpetuated to keep rogue Mages in line? If they were real, this would still mean there were some rather noticeable cracks in their rule.

And if Naga would allow this to continue existing after Her blessing…

"Tharja, you sensed dark magic coming from Libra, right? That's what initially drew you toward him?" Henry asked.

"…Yeah?"

"Where would you say that power's strongest?"

"The back of the neck. …Why?"

"And Libra, can I ask you something kinda sensitive?"

"Oh, um, yes, go ahead," Libra blinked.

"Your dad struck you there because he thought you were a demon, right? That's why he and your mom abandoned you?"

"…Yes, you are correct. Before I joined the Church of Naga, I apparently gave off a foul presence that made not even my fellow orphan community want to be around me."

"Can I see the back of your neck, then?"

What was Henry up to…?

Libra hesitated at first, but reluctantly agreed. Henry rose from his seat and circled the table, allowing Libra to remove his priestly chest piece first before brushing his hair to the side.

"Yeah, it's just as I thought," Henry took a deep breath. "That's a dead Thanatophage."

Libra's eyes widened, and he immediately bolted out of his seat. Tharja followed.

"WHAT?!"

"The Grimleal use Thanatophages nowadays to see if they can find a vessel that'll sustain itself when hosting Grima. In fact, Grima's parts are scattered by Thanatophages. That's why Anne has her birthmark on her hand, and why Morgan's got it on his back."

The Mark…that's where Thanatophages are?!

"But…I'm in no way related to Anne. And how would I survive if this…this thing is dead inside me?" Libra drew short breaths, still in disbelief.

"My guess is either you were just a random experiment that the Grimleal somehow got a hold of when you were too young to remember, or like with Anne, your memories were manipulated somehow. Judging by your mark, the Thanatophage in you was still really young when you were struck, or it wasn't a suitable spot for Grima. Its power still lingered even after it died, and even though you're a holy man now, there's still a small bit of it."

"…Surely my parents would've known if I were missing for that long."

"And they couldn't be Grimleal themselves, otherwise they'd hit you for being a failure instead of being a demon," Tharja added.

"What really has me in a tussle is if Tharja and I had our memories altered, too," Henry pondered. "Tharja, at least, would've remembered you if you were, say, Anne's older brother that was around for a while before you actually left."

"…Do you think Validar slept with Libra's mother to see if she was fitting enough to carry the vessel? And just left her behind when Libra wasn't the perfect candidate?"

"My mother was no cultist!" Libra yelled. Realizing how emotional this made him, he calmed down a bit before continuing. "How could she be? If there's one thing I no doubt remember, it's the tears she shed out of fear as soon as my presence manifested itself. She looked at me as if I had killed my father or someone else precious to her in front of her very eyes."

Thoughts raced through Libra's mind at a nearly incomprehensible speed. This was the cause for his presence the entire time? The one thing that made him undesirable and seen as a monster? A dead bug in his skin… Was all of this really true? If his memories were truly altered, why couldn't Lady Tiki help him regain his own memories like she did with Anne? Did she not know, or was the bug's strength truly nonexistent in her eyes?

…What initially drew Tharja to him was this presence. Were the Plegians and Grimleal more tightly woven than he realized?

Henry and Tharja looked at each other as Libra wouldn't make eye contact, wondering what they should do next. Tharja returned the hand squeeze from earlier as she knelt down, her other hand on his forearm.

"It could be the midwife instead," she offered. "This could be a case where lower Grimleal members kidnap children to find proper vessels in a shorter amount of time, and you were eventually returned."

Libra thinned his lips but eventually let out a sigh. He knew that was Tharja's way of comfort, especially when others were in the room that weren't Noire or Morgan.

"Have you told Anne this information yet?"

Henry shook his head, "Haven't been able to find her. All I know is that she's out there somewhere with that Gryphon. That's another reason why I've been traveling along with the family these past few months, aside from magic research."

"Magic tracking isn't helping?"

"She hasn't used it in a really long time from what I can tell, so her signal would be really weak even if I were close to her. And I forgot to get one of the Gryphon's wings to track it. Dang it!" He snapped his fingers in revelation. "How about Morgan? We could use his blood-"

"I will not purposely harm him for that," Libra interrupted.

"You don't have to, kids are walking desert storms. Ooh, or his spit. That could work. …Would Validar notice if we're tracking his family down with that?"

Tharja groaned, "Gods, you're reaching Anne levels of overthinking. If you're so worried, stick to what you're doing now. She'll definitely come back for Morgan one of these days, and we'll let you know when that happens. Just let us know where the hell you are in the first place."

She shooed Henry upstairs, allowing her to speak with Libra privately.

"Now, I know you probably have a million concerns on your mind," Tharja began as she sat on Libra's lap. She also placing her hands wherever she thought appropriate, whether it be moving his bangs away from his eyes or holding his cheeks. "So let me answer some of them. I don't love you because of your aura, that was what got me curious and I started falling in love even before I knew about your memories. Noire is safe since your Thanatophage is dead, and it's only a presence. You don't have the emotional powers like Anne does. You're not a monster, never were. And…well, I…care for you. I don't want you think my opinion of you changes because of this new information."

She then placed a finger over his lips.

"If you feel like telling Anne, I'll help you explain it to her. And if you don't, that's okay as well. Just please don't overthink things like she would. It's bad enough I have to be her common sense filter."

Libra surprisingly chuckled at that, "You've certainly had to help her with that quite a lot."

"I have, and it's not fun. Necessary, but not fun." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "If it's not too much, do you think I could find a way to get the Thanatophage out of you?"

"I'll…think on it. If it's this close to the brain, I fear there might be consequences."

Ending Commentary: So the 2019 adaptation of Dororo came out and what if Libra had the same backstory as Hyakkimaru? …Also Fellblood Libra is probably one of my favorite headcanons now.