He lay somewhere.

The wind caressed his cheeks whilst something stroked through his hair. Gently, lovingly and calmly. And his eyes remained closed whilst he did nothing but submit to the touch…Feeling the motion of his silky blue waves being combed through over and over as the side of his face rested against the softest fabrics..

Soon, he started to realise humming.

It was sweet, soft…

Melodious.

Carried by the cool breeze as if one with the fluttering wind.

Listening to the voice somehow added to the atmosphere, making his heart feel at the most peace it had ever been in.

He felt himself getting more and more comfortable as he got tranced by the lulling song, causing him to snuggle more into the fabrics he was pressed against. But it was then he realised the fabrics weren't an empty comfort, but there was some source of heat emitting from them too…

A warmth.

A warmth that wouldn't come just from being under the covers.

But one that could only come from another person.

Recognising the presence of warmth and flesh had him quickly realising…

This was no ordinary bed.

And if he wasn't in his bed…

Then where was he?

His question was answered when his large eyes slowly opened, welcomed to darkness that split gently before him through rays of moonlight that were illuminating the velvet sky. The world around him started to become clear, but as it did so, something confused him further.

He saw a dark night again like many before he had witnessed.

And the sight of it was complete.

Yet…

It also wasn't like what he was used to seeing.

Meaning…

Nothing restricted him from peering at the beauty of the moon. The light wasn't coming through the gaps of barred windows, and nor was it reflecting off cold gray stone and scattering into the void.

Rather it was above him.

As natural and as uncontained as it could be.

Which caused his thin brows to furrow.

This sight…wasn't usual.

Not by any means.

And because of that he couldn't help but wonder…

If he wasn't holed up in his room like any other time…

Then where was he?

As the questions continued to spurn in his awakening mind, he felt the stroking continue through his tousled head of azure. Almost like it was a response, trying to calm whatever panic or fear was trying to creep up into his heart.

He sighed as the motions became more delicate. Caressing him and welcoming him as his senses came back to him and he started to make sense of his surroundings. The touch kept any of his tensions at bay as he allowed himself to slump near his comfort.

The fabrics he lay against, remained as soft as ever. Maybe feeling even more as he pushed himself onto them. And he realised they smelled comforting too. Sweet and homely…adding to all that was making him feel tranquil...

Though it was obvious that whatever was happening now wasn't normal in the slightest, the change of things didn't alarm him.

Rather…he felt the safest he had ever been.

The most at peace that he had ever been.

He wondered who it could be that was having such an effect on him, and when he glanced up to catch a sight of who was responsible for his comfort, he couldn't help but freeze a bit.

It was a slender, pale hand that had been stroking through his hair all this time. Doing so delicately and lovingly. And a tender smile shone down on him, coloured and radiant from a face he usually saw colorless. His gaze was held by large, soft green eyes that looked back at him with an emotion he never thought he'd see in them again.

Love.

"Oh? Jelly?"

"You're awake?"

"Did I disturb you?"

She asked, her voice as endearing as ever whilst he felt her other hand on his body pull him closer on her lap. The boy felt his thoughts stop momentarily, unsure of what he was seeing as this seemed like a dream.

Too good to be true.

"M…Mother?"

The name left his lips in uncertainty. Fear was already making his calm nerves tense as he didn't know how she would react to him saying that. Every other time she ignored him or became violent.

But now…

For some reason she did neither.

Instead her smile softened even more than it already was, with her eyes melting from how sweet and tender her look was towards him.

"Yes Jelly, it's me."

And as she spoke to him,

"Who else would it be my little blueberry?"

Her voice was equally as tender too.

Jellal felt his throat go dry from hearing those words.

His large and dark eyes kept staring at the woman he was being held by, watching how her radiance had returned to her, making her glow like the woman he remembered her once to be.

Dark and long hair wasn't curtaining over her face anymore like a looming shadow, but it was pushed back and blowing gently with the cool night breeze like cascading black silk. Her eyes were neither dull or hollow either, but full of the look he remembered her once having.

The look he believed wouldn't come back.

Life.

As he watched her in awe, her own features furrowed as concern overtook her. Noticing how still he had become, she stopped combing through his hair and looked at the boy with worry.

"Is everything okay, Jelly?"

But it was then that he couldn't hold back anymore.

"M-Mot-"

He couldn't hide how truly overwhelmed he was."

"M-Mothe-"

Her name broke through his lips in tearful gasps as he immediately took her into a hug. Latching his small and frail arms around her tightly, he buried his head into her soft and warm body, doing whatever was possible to close any distance that could have put them apart.

"Y-You're b-back-"

"M-Mother Y-You're-"

He choked as tears streamed thickly down his reddened and plump cheeks. And when he felt her returning the embrace just as affectionately, his sobs reached a new intensity and the wetness doubled on his face.

"Y-You're acting like y-yourself a-ag-"

"I-I c-can't be-"

Jellal couldn't finish any sentence without being overwhelmed by his emotions. Any time he tried to speak, his voice would just break into incoherent babble. And he only got worse when he felt the back of his head being stroked through again whilst he was drawn in closer in an effort to try and soothe him.

"My baby please don't cry." She tried to hush softly.

But that only made him bawl harder.

He didn't know why, he just couldn't stop himself. Hearing that her voice didn't have that sharp tinge anymore, feeling that her hands didn't touch him with the will to hurt and the fact that her eyes weren't looking at him filled with hate or fear…It overwhelmed him.

It overwhelmed him that their relationship seemed like what it should have always been for once.

That she was looking at him like what he was to her.

That she was treating him like what he was to her.

Not as an enemy.

Not as a mistake.

But as her child.

Her son.

Something he didn't know if it would ever be possible again.

And witnessing it just made him that much unable to console himself.

"Y-You…Y-You don't know how much I-"

"Y-You don't know h-how much I w-wanted you ba-"

He was unable to finish his sentences without sniffling and choking overtaking his words. With his face reddened and wet, he clung to her tighter, burying his head into her as deep as he could, afraid that the moment he'd let go, he'd lose all that was happening. His tears continued to stream down his face thickly and only got heavier as he felt his azure locks continue being stroked through and through whilst the hold around him grew more tender.

"My baby."

She whispered to him.

"I'm here, Mama's here."

"I won't leave you alone."

"I'm sorry I ever did."

"Forgive me please?"

"Forgive Mama?"

She pleaded softly before pressing a small kiss to the top of his head which made him sniffle. In regard to her words, his mother's words, she didn't even need to ask, forget about pleading. His heart was already jumping at the chance to forget everything they ever went through or that happened between them just so they could live in this moment in peace.

With no darkness between them.

As if it was never there.

Whilst he bit his bottom lip softly to stifle his sobs, he nodded weakly at her words. He didn't wish to break away from her hold even in the slightest, so as her name kept falling from his lips in a whimper, his small and frail fingers simply held onto her white dress as tight as he could. And his hold only grew tighter with each name that his mother called him by.

"My baby."

"My Jelly."

He struggled to believe it still.

"My dearest Jelly."

"My beloved Jelly."

It felt too good to be true.

If he thought about it, it probably was.

Because the last he had seen of the same woman, painted a whole different image…She kept to herself, rocking back and forth as she remained in her own world, laughing one time, crying the next. She never cared about what was around her, nor who was around her. She didn't even pay attention to her own son, and any chance to try and get close to her was barely acknowledged.

He knew she had been getting better recently, but he wasn't foolish to not realise how long it would be before she'd be back to herself again.

If ever.

That's why her holding him now…Her stroking through his hair…Her being able to look at his face without some form of fear and anger…It didn't seem real to him.

It wasn't real to him.

It couldn't be.

He knew that she couldn't do that yet, it was way way too soon to expect her too. And he knew what was happening now was the furthest dream possible.

But still.

Despite knowing all this…

He didn't want to question it.

He didn't feel the need to.

She was finally back to the way he wanted her to be after so long. Her, his mother, his beloved and loving mother, was finally back…Why should he ruin the moment? The first time she was accepting him, loving him like he always wanted, like he always dreamed and his heart cried for…Why should he let his paranoia get the best of him now?

Even if it made no sense at all, and he watched this same woman look him in the eye, laughing as he was held down…Why did it have to make any sense?

The difference between them, the woman that he knew and the woman there with him, was as clear as night and day. The delusion present was so apparent, yet he didn't want to pay mind to it.

His mother loved him and that's all he cared about.

His mother wanted him beside her, she didn't want to hurt him anymore, she didn't want to ignore him.

She was back.

That's all that mattered.

Not the flaws in logic or reality.

Just this.

It didn't matter if it didn't make the slightest sense.

He didn't want to question it.

He didn't need to question it.

Because…

What if it all stopped…if he did?

Despite the serenity in the moment, his heart beat fast in his chest, becoming overrun with unease. The warmth that had been flooding through his body from their embrace was becoming still as thosethoughts he tried to ignore kept lurking.

He knew he was with a different woman, yet somehow…he kept seeing flashes of the one who he had known for all these years. The woman with him now spoke so softly and sweetly to him, yet there was that part of him who was waiting when her tone would turn sharp. The woman's face was beautiful and kind, but his heart was already jumping at the thought of how quick that would change.

It made sense if it did.

And he had a belief it would.

As the last of her he saw, wasn't like what she was now at all.

But either way he wanted to keep ignoring.

As his frail fingers held onto the fabric of her white dress, his digits crumpled between the folds, trying to use the touch of soft fabric to soothe his ever present mind. His mother continued to become more tender with her actions and words, starting to hum again — a sweet song he believed that he had never heard of as her fingers continued to stroke through the back of his hair again, and she delivered a kiss to the top of his head.

Her voice was beautiful and calming to the ear yet…he didn't feel the same peace he had to begin with.

And as her song went on, he started to realise why.

The more he listened, the more he realised…her voice wasn't clear to him. It was as if the melody coming from her was being shadowed by something else…

How could that be?

She was right beside him, right above him.

Yet he was struggling to hear her?

Her voice should have hit his ears with ease, yet even with the barest distance between them, she was getting lost.

He couldn't understand.

The more he listened, the more he grew confused. The once sweet song, was becoming distorted by sounds that couldn't be present with them, yet at the same time were somehow getting louder and more defined as time went on.

What was going on?

Tension seized him as the change threw him into confusion. And even more how she was not reacting to it. He knew what he was hearing, he was listening to her voice being lost, yet she kept humming to herself as if nothing was drowning her. She kept doting over him like there was nothing between them, stroking her pale fingers through the back of his hair as if nothing was changing.

As if nothing had changed.

It was strange.

And what was even stranger was the feeling he had now.

He couldn't tell why…

But it didn't feel like it was just the two of them there anymore.

There was something there in the distance…

Someone in the distance.

And something that felt like he heard before.

Yet he couldn't tell what.

Or more like.

He didn't want to tell what.

The air that had been cool and crisp, soothing him under the moonlight, all of a sudden started to bite at him. The harsh sensation pricked his skin immediately, making him aware of the change of atmosphere and fear started to fill his heart because of it.

What was…

What was actually going on?

Why was everything feeling weird now?

He looked up in belief that the sight he would see would give him some comfort, but instead it made the world come to a halt. A silent gasp fell from his lips as he found the once sweet and calming sight of his beautiful mother was becoming lost too.

Just like how her voice was.

His thin brows knitted on themselves as his dark eyes went still, unable to understand why such a clear and close sight of her was disappearing in front of him.

This wasn't making sense.

The boy blinked, wondering if it was his fear playing tricks on him or his sight failing him, but no…

She was becoming harder to see.

It made no sense.

He could still feel her, and to some extent he could still hear her, yet that was all getting distorted as time went by and the fear creeped into his heart closer.

Why was this happening?

What was going on?

As the terror grew and so did the unknown, the boy tried to release himself from their embrace, only to find he couldn't. His body wouldn't allow him. And that made his surging panic ripple.

Why couldn't he move now? Why was it like he was being held down by something? His limbs didn't even want to budge, as if in some sort of invisible bondage?

He didn't know why either, but it felt like something was constricting around him, and maybe that was keeping him in place. But it didn't feel like their embrace had changed, he could still feel her hands where they had always been on his body, so then why? Was it fear making him feel this suffocated, or something else?

When he tried to look for answers, that's when he saw it.

How everything had changed..

The sky that had once been a dark yet luminous scape, was being transformed into something else right before him. All sense of light was being lost, the darkness becoming murky as a heaviness began to fill the air and his lungs he didn't know of.

He was being suffocated further, feeling he wanted to cough out the impurities he could feel entering him yet somehow his body wouldn't allow even that. His lips wouldn't even move, as if he had lost all sense of control to his own self.

Why?

Why was that being taken from him?

Who was taking this from him?

All this was happening yet he could still feel her stroking through his hair like nothing was there. Stroking him to try and calm his heart, but his heart didn't want to calm down. Why should it? Something was clearly going on, something bad, and she couldn't blind him from it.

He was afraid again.

So afraid.

Everything had gone from feeling serene to ominous.

And he couldn't tell why.

Even if she wasn't helping him, he tried to cling to her as if she'd make it stop. As if she would make the scariness go away. But it did him no good. The fear remained and grew intense as the sounds around him grew alongside, forcing him to break from the sweet delusion he wanted to hide in, forcing his bubble to pop as it became clear something was happening.

He held on to her dress tight, truly believing if he let go now he'd never be able to hold it again. His eyes screwed tight as he tried to bury himself in her body when he started to feel it.

How it resembled that which he felt before.

How it reminded him of that which he felt before.

The voices that were getting louder and clearer…

The suffocation which was growing stronger…

The feeling of movement taken away from him….

All that was left was…

He opened his eyes and tried to look around, hoping that even if the sight was something he didn't want to see, he still could see it.

But that's when it was confirmed for him…

Darkness was there instead.

Pure and unbreakable darkness.

It was happening again.

He was there again.

Bound and blinded.

And he didn't know why or how.

His mind turned from shunning his mother's comfort, to wishing to keep it, to keep feeling her fingers threading through his hair and hearing her voice no matter how muffled or unintelligible it felt.

Just so he wouldn't be alone.

He couldn't be.

He didn't want to be.

Not now.

But even that left.

Her voice eventually became so overshadowed that she went silent, he couldn't even hear the smallest note from her anymore. And her hands that were caressing him and holding him tight, left him like a ghost, any trace of her presence near him was replaced with hollowness and coldness.

Then he started to realise.

He truly was alone.

Despite those voices in the background, there was no one there for him.

It was just like before.

In those dreams.

Those nightmares.

But something told him that this wasn't one that he'd simply wake up from in sweats and shakes..

It was something more permanent than that.

As tears ran down his cold skin and fear struck his heart hard and deep, the panic only grew when he heard the first thing that was intelligible to him since this madness.

"Gather around for tonight, the gods will deal with judgment long overdue, and the devils will not escape their reckoning any longer…"

And that's when he started to realise this was not like any other time.

"As this is the night…"

Because this time.

"...The devil's blood truly leaves our land.."

It was real.

Author's Note:

I am so so sorry I haven't been updating as much as I can, i've just had a lot going on and a lot of doctor appointments and its just been chaos.

I wanted to upload before the end of the year so even though this chapter isn't as dynamic as what is coming forth, it's the calm before the storm as it's only getting intense and bloody from here on out...

Also I promise, 2024 is when I will finish TBOS, TDTOP (this book/1st book of the sins series) is soon to finish with only a few chapters to come, and once that is done TBOS is my full priority and I will make sure it hits that 15 chapter mark with all the dark and erotic content I have planned...

So sorry once again and thank you so so much for being patient with me.

I will try my best to deliver as I can.

Please take care and I wish everyone a blessed and well 2024! ^^