You were sitting in Cronus's rather large bathtub with said sea dweller cuddled against your bare chest. Surprisingly neither of you were trying anything sexual even though you both knew you were attracted to each other. Probably because not even an hour earlier Cronus was crying his heart out. Now you were both just relaxing together. Cronus had his head laying between your breasts with his eyes closed in contentment. He found your steady heartbeat soothing, therapeutic almost. You giggled when Cronus made a curring bubbly noise. You supposed if a fish could purr that's probably what it would sound like. Cronus didn't seem like he was going to be moving for a while so you grabbed a bathing sponge and an unlabeled bottle of lavender colored gel. You smelled it and sighed in bliss. It smelled just like your favorite troll. It was masculine with sweet undertones. 'Perfect for Cronus~' you thought with a smile. You poured some on the sponge before lathering it up into a nice foam. Then you started washing up and down Cronus's back. Over his arms and across his shoulder blades tenderly.
The troll in your lap smiled and snuggled his head against you happily and enjoyed the soft touches from your caring hands. He'd never had somebody bathe him before. Not even SeahorseDad did nice things like this for him. Having seen how human custodians, or parents as he'd learned they were called, took care of their young Cronus noticed that Seahorsedad seemed more like having a pet rather than a parent. But while Cronus mulled over thoughts of custodians and comfort, you were thinking about all of the different things you'd heard earlier. You really wanted to talk to Cronus about them, and about his past. You knew keeping stuff like that bottled up was incredibly unhealthy. You'd seen first hand the effects holding your emotions in could have. And it was not pretty. So you took a deep, steadying breath before clearing your throat to get the troll's attention. "Cronus?" The sea dweller cracked an eye open and hummed questioningly in response. You licked your lips nervously and asked cautiously, "Cronus, do you wanna talk about what happed earlier? I mean, from what I gleaned, its been a very long time since you've had anyone to really listen to you. And I think...maybe talking it out would do you some good."
Cronus had both eyes opened now and was staring at the wall next to you. His brows were furrowed as he thought about what you'd just said. He knew you were right. His little freak out earlier was evidence enough that keeping his thoughts to himself did not end well. But you took his silence the wrong way and quickly added, "But you don't have to if you don't want to! I was only making a suggestion Cro~" The sea dweller lazily looked up at you and sighed. "No, you're right (_ _ _). I just...I don't really knowv wvhere to begin." You smiled and leaned down so your nose was touching the troll's and said, "The beginning might be a good place~" Cronus chuckled before he sighed and laid his head back down on your chest. He hummed in thought, wondering where to begin. He figured a brief summary of his life would do for now. He didn't want to overload you with his life story. And you let him gather his thoughts in peace. You didn't want to push him. He might close himself off to you and you didn't want that. You didn't have to wait for long before the sea dweller spoke anyways.
"Wvell...I wvas hatched on a planet called Beforus. I livwed a pretty okay life at first. I wvould practice my magicks and help hunt dowvn beasts for the empress's lusus to eat during the night and sleep during the day. Things wvere normal. But then someone, I don't evwen remember wvho it wvas because it happened so long ago, they told us about the game. Sgrub. Wve had to enter the game and wvin. But wvhat I do remember is that I didn't wvant to enter the game after I found out that once you start the game it kills evwerybody on your world except the players. I didn't wvant to murder an entire planet full of different species to play a glubbin game. But Meenah wvas dead set on playing. She hated Beforus wvith a burning passion, she said it wvas too peaceful and boring for her. She hated it almost as much as she hated her ancestor the Empress." The troll sighed and figured he was getting off topic. "But anywvays, they couldn't start the game wvithout all the starter players present so Meenah made me go. She didn't tell me that little tidbit though, about needing all players to start. If she had I wvould havwe stayed regardless of wvhat they said. Instead she lied to me and said that if I didn't join them I wvould die wvith evweryone else on Beforus. And I'll admit...I wvas scared to die so I ended up going wvith them."
Cronus sighed at the memory but went on. "Evweything wvas so much fun in the beginning. Wve all travweled to our respectivwe wvorlds and conquered them. And on my planet...there wvere freaky angels. And they wvhispered things to me. Prophesies of howv I wvas destined to savwe us all." Cronus glared hatefully at the tile wall and clenched his teeth together as he remembered the angels. "They said I wvas hatched to defeat an extraordinarily evwil magician. And for a wvhile I stupidly believwed them. I trained so hard. I wvorked on my magick as wvell as my body. I wvanted to be in peak condition for wvhen I had to go up against the Evil One. But...I guess I just...lost faith in myself. Though it's kinda hard to havwe faith in yourself wvhen evweryone around you thinks you're a wvorthless fool." The sea dweller bit his lip and held in his tears. But he felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth when you rubbed his back comfortingly. He toughened his resolve and continued. "And then things wvent from 'not so great' to 'bad' to 'straight up hell' in zero to sixty. I slipped in and out of depression. Some days wvould be better than others. I'd actually feel up to getting dressed and going out, talking and interacting wvith evweryone. But others days...I couldn't function."
"I couldn't evwen muster the energy needed to crawvl my sorry behind outta my coon. And to make matters wvorse, the game wvas getting pretty heated and nobody seemed to knowv howv to beat it. And then wvhat happened to Mituna...I still don't remember much of wvhat happened there. Evwerything's kinda fuzzy. And evwery time I wvent around Mituna I wvould feel sick. And I kept havwing daymares. Evwen wvhen I slept in my recoopercoon! That's almost unheard of in troll society! No troll gets daymares while in sopor!" Cronus felt his heart speed up as he remembered the horrific daymares as if they'd happened the day before and not another lifetime ago. He decided to hurry up and finish his story. "Soon after that evweryone found out that Rufioh cheated on Damara wvith Horuss. Man, that was sevwerely uncool of him. Damara wvas radically different from howv she is nowv, before wve all died. She wvas the swveetest troll in all of Beforus. She nevwer had a mean wvord to say about anybody. But after Rufioh dumped her Meenah started her bullying. She wvas relentless on the poor gill. Evwery time Damara and Meenah wvere in the same place is wvas like wvatching a slaughter. It wvas painful to wvatch. And I regret nevwer helping her. But I look back nowv and see that I wvas too much of a mess myself to help anyone."
"...And around that time I was getting scared. I needed help and I needed it fast. But nobody seemed to care. So I decided in a last ditch cry for help I'd threaten to kill myself. And...I couldn't believe it but...nobody even batted an eye. They were completely unfazed. None of them cared if I lived or died." You pursed your lips and glared daggers at the ceiling above you both. It seemed to you that this Meenah girl was the source of lots of trolls problems. And most of the trolls in general sounded like heartless monsters that deserved their deaths. But you tuned back into focus when Cronus began talking again. "And then one day after my failed cry for help Damara just...snapped. She wvent lusus shit insane and started jinxing our session. And she must havwe been feelin' pretty vengeful about howv he hurt her because she paralyzed Rufioh from the neck down. And nobody but Rufioh knowvs for sure but a fewv are saying she killed him soon after too. But then Damara wvent after Meenah for revenge. They fought to the death and Damara won. But sadly it wvas a hollowv vwictory because right after she killed the bitch she just came back in her godtier form." You briefly wondered what a godtier form was but decided to ask him about it later after he was done talking.
"And then I heard that Damara started the Scratch so wve could all start over. That wvas the same day I decided to end it all. I was on my planet...and I had a broken piece of glass in my hand. I was seconds from doing it but then Meenah started pestering me. I wvas shocked at first. Because nobody evwer messaged me first. I had to reach out to them if I wvanted someone to talk to. But wvhen I answered she told me she needed evweryone to come meet her. I told her to buzz off but she wouldn't leavwe me alone. She said she needed to talk to evweryone. And evwentually I cavwed and told her I'd be there. But wvhen wve all arrivwed she pulled a bomb out and blewv us all to kingdom come. The crazy bitch." The sea dweller sighed and finished, "And after that wve all ended up in the dream bubbles. And we'vwe been there for wvho knowvs howv long nowv." You took in everything you were just told. You could not believe most of what you'd just heard. Not because you thought Cronus was lying but because you couldn't believe people could actually be so cruel. And you really couldn't believe Cronus had the ability to still get up and be in close proximity with all the people who'd hurt him so badly. He must have developed quite the mask for those monsters. You had a whole new level of respect for the emotionally wounded sea dwelling troll.
Cronus looked up into your eyes and you stared down at his milky ones before giving him a serious look. He'd never seen you look so serious before. And he was kind of dreading what you were going to say to him after all he'd just unloaded onto you. You took a deep, calming breath and let it out before asking in a neutral voice, "Cronus. Why didn't you tell me you could do magic?" The violet blood gave you a dumbfounded expression before he burst into raucous laughter. After everything he just told you, THAT was what you wanted to know?! But he was happy! He was glad you weren't trying to tell him it was all okay. You weren't trying to give him any false or meaningless sympathy. Instead you were just trying to cheer him up. And he'd never had anything like that before. It was nice. Having someone to talk to, to joke around with, to kiss~ And now here you were trying to lift his bruised and broken spirit. And shockingly you were bringing actual hope back to the once hopeless Bard of Hope. "Yes I could back in the day. Not sure if I'm any good at it nowv though. It's been forevwer since I'vwe tried." Your serious façade dropped and you smiled. Then you craned your neck down and kissed Cronus on the nose. "Well you and I need to get out of this tub so you can show me your tricks! Cuz I don't know about you but I freaking love magic." Cronus gave you a soft smile and hugged you. For the first time in who knows how long, he had peace of mind. And it was all thanks to you. The sea dweller sat up and grinned. "Yeah I lovwe it too~"