Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 18

A Dream Scenario

The next day, the mutants continued their quest for a way back home, it was a long journey. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months and months into a year, but with no success. Despite the aid from the College, they found no way to get back home. The mutants felt broken and defeated, they missed their friends and loved ones, wondering what fate had befallen them, and they had to accept the truth, that they were trapped on this world.

As much as it hurt, they couldn't just give up. After much debate they came to the conclusion that they should find a place to settle down, so that they would have some form of stability in their lives and somewhere to call home. They were already well known in the city of Whiterun, so that was where they chose to stay. But they didn't stop searching for a way home, they asked travelers, plowed through old tomes, explored ancient tombs and more, all while managing their everyday lives with work and chores.

More time passed and Tyroth returned from a week long journey to an old tomb, carrying many magical artifacts and books for further study. Walking through the town towards the house that he and Sephie lived in, he saw some children debating something.

"He really did!" a young girl with shoulder long amber colored hair said to the other children.

"Come on, Lucia, there's no way he could have done that." said a boy with short black hair.

"So stop lying!" said a girl with long black hair.

"I'm not lying! He really did it!"

"Did you see him do it?"

"No, but-"

"Then how do you know? You're just a big liar!"

"And what is going on here?" Tyroth asked, overhearing some of what they said.

"Oh, hello sir." said one of the boys.

"Lucia is saying that you fought a dragon, but that isn't true is it?" said the black haired girl.

"She is telling the truth, I have fought a dragon, and let me tell you, he was very tough."

"See, I told you I wasn't lying." said Lucia.

"Sorry that we didn't believe you." one of the boys apologized.

"Now that we've straightened that out, why don't the lot of you run and play somewhere, I'd like to have a few words with Lucia." said Tyroth, and the children did as asked, leaving the two alone.

"Could you tell me what that was all about?" Tyroth asked, dropping down on one knee so that he was almost at eye level with the girl.

"I... I just wanted to tell them what you have done, your adventures and such, but they didn't believe me."

"Lucia dear," Tyroth said, placing his hand on her cheek "there is no need to tell everyone what I've told you, I wouldn't believe half of it myself if I hadn't been there."

"But I want them to know how good you are."

"Whether they believe what I've done or not doesn't concern me, what matters is that you believe in me. Now, it's time to go home, before your mother starts to worry, you know how she is."

"Okay, papa."

Taking young Lucia's hand in his, they walked to their home together. A fairly large, wooden two story house lying past the inn. Inside, Sephie was sweeping the floor with a broom, dressed in a loose, light blue dress, when Tyroth and Lucia entered.

"Mama! Papa's home!" Lucia chimed, causing Sephie to turn around with a smile.

"Welcome back, love. Did everything go well?" she asked.

"Could have gone better, the draugrs refused to stay dead and the cult of necromancers didn't help, but other than that, everything went just fine." Tyroth said as he placed his backpack on a bench. He then walked over to Sephie and gave her a big hug and a passionate kiss.

"I've missed you, sweetheart, all of you." he said.

"And we have all missed you, my dear."

Tyroth move a hand down to Sephie's belly, which was swollen, and he stroked it gently.

"Not much longer." he said. "Soon we will be blessed with a miracle."

"And I'll have a little brother or sister." said Lucia, hugging Sephie from the side and gently patting her adoptive mother's stomach.

"Yes, Lucia, and maybe even both. I think it might actually be twins." said Sephie. "There have been more kicks than usual. I can still hardly believe it, we're having a baby. I'm so happy."

"And so am I, my precious. I love you."

"And I love you." Sephie said, closing her eyes and resting her head against her mate's chest.

"Sephie..."

"Yes?"

"...wake up..."

"Huh?"

"Wake up, Sephie."

Sephie opened her eyes and they stung from the light, but she could see someone in front of her. Blinking to clear her eyes, she saw that it was Mona, who sat on her knees beside Sephie and gently shook her.

"Mona?"

"Good morning. You slept soundly tonight it seems, wasn't easy to wake you."

"Mmm, couldn't you have let me sleep a little longer?"

"Sorry, but we're preparing to leave soon, we mustn't waste daylight."

"And I was having such a good dream."

"I figured that, you looked really happy. What was it about, if I may ask?"

"I'll tell you over breakfast. Where are the guys, by the way?"

"The turtles are down by the river, trying to catch some fish. Tyroth, on the other hand, walked off to check the local flora for edible plants and mushrooms."

Meanwhile, about a mile or two away from the camp, Tyroth had found numerous kinds of mushrooms and a few kinds of other plants and roots. A bit reluctantly, he tested everyone to see if they were anything to use as food, talking to himself as he did so.

"Nope, poisonous. Hm, edible, but not very tasty. Mm, tastes good, very good, but it's still poisonous. This one is a keeper, would probably go well with fish. Eww, well you can eat it, but it tastes like shit! Yuk!"

"Alright, hand over your valuables, or I'll gut you like a fish!" a male voice said all of a sudden. Tyroth looked over his shoulder and saw a man in full covering dark brown leather armor, pointing a long dagger at him. The man, who was obviously a thief, stood a few meters away, but Tyroth paid him no mind and resumed checking the potential food with only a shrug.

"I said, hand over your valuables! Hey! I'm talking with you!"

"So? I'm not listening, so why bother?"

"I'm starting to get tired of this. Last chance, hand over you gold or I'll skin you!"

"I don't got time for this, so be a good idiot and sod off." said Tyroth and started to walk back to the camp.

"Don't you walk away from me!" the thief said, charging at Tyroth with the dagger raised.

Tyroth sighed and shook his head. With a swift motion, he turned around and swatted the dagger out of the thief's hand and grabbed him by the throat. Picking up the man, Tyroth walked over to a nearby tree and hung the man on a thick branch by the collar of his clothes, leaving him dangling a few feet above ground. Then he just turned around and started walking again after picking up all his stuff.

"Are you just going to leave me here? Come back! Let me down, please! I'll get eaten by bears! Please, I'm sorry!" the thief pleaded.

Stopping and looking back at the thief, Tyroth stood still for a moment before walking back to him.

"Oh thank the Eight! The Divines bless your kind soul!"

"How far is it to the closest town or city?"

"City? Well, that would be Riften, it's a few days north of here."

"Thanks." then Tyroth just left again.

"Wait! You forgot about me! Get me down from here! Hello? Anyone? A little help here."

Back at camp, Sephie had finished both her breakfast and telling Mona about the dream she had.

"..so I had both an adoptive daughter and was pregnant."

"That's just wonderful, even if it was just a dream. No wonder that you wanted to sleep longer. Did you dream anything more about the rest of us?"

"I think so, some of it is a bit blurry, let me think. If I'm not mistaken, Leo was captain of the guards, you and Raph had a house together outside the city, working as farmers, and I think you had a child, but I can't remember. Donnie spent most of his time studying those ancient robots and Mikey was his assistant, or something along those lines."

"That doesn't sound so bad, if we truly are stuck here, I guess worse things could be in our future. Still, I want to get back home."

"Yeah, me too. But I really wished that you had waited a little longer with waking me, at least so I would know if it was a boy or girl we were having, and the names, that would have been great."

"What would have been great?" they heard Raph ask, as he and his brothers returned from their fishing trip, carrying a couple of fishes each.

"Oh, nothing. We're just talking a bit of girl stuff." said Mona.

"I'll never understand girl stuff, but I do understand food and we got that." said Mikey triumphantly and held up a few foot-long fishes. "Not so bad, if I may say so myself, but you should have seen the one that got away. It was so huge, I still can't wrap my mind around it."

"Given the size of your mind, that doesn't say much." said Raph.

"Hey!"

"Cut him some slack, Raph, everyone's got their differences." said Tyroth, walking up to them from the more forested areas. "I found a decent amount of food back there, though I recommend that we use it in soup, and I see that you had some luck fishing."

"Yeah, it took a little while but there's loads of fish in the river, so as long as we're near it, we won't starve." said Donnie.

"Now all we have to do is to prepare these fish and we can continue north." said Leo.

"Leave that to me, I'll roast them good for us." said Tyroth. "And unless we get sidetracked, we should reach Riften in a few days."

"Riften? How do you know that?" asked Sephie

"I met a local and asked for directions."

"Wasn't that where Madesi was going?" said Mona.

"I believe it was, if we're lucky we might run into him again." said Leo.

"Uhm, do you guys hear something?" said Mikey, hearing something from the woods.

"Probably just some kind of bird." said Tyroth and continued working with the fish.

"Are you gonna tell him about your dream?" Mona whispered to Sephie.

"Maybe, but not now. For the time being, it will just be part of my dreams for the future."

And there you have it, chapter 18 all wrapped up. I'm curious just how many of you that believed that the dream was canon. Now that wasn't something that I just made up on the fly, I've had that idea in my head since the second chapter, just couldn't let it go, and maybe some of it will become reality someday.

Anyway, see you soon for more Mutants Misplaced.