Malachi had been back at ho for a few weeks now and had gotten relatively adjusted to the life he'd left behind.
He and Cami had developed a wonderful relationship and were practically as thick as thieves at any mont of the day.
But also, he had been getting his love life back on track and showing the won in his life the proper attention they deserved after so long apart.
Nowadays, it had beco difficult for him to even get out of his quarters without having at least one of the girls glued to him.
Like right now for example.
On one side, he had Nadine's head buried in the crook of his neck as she enjoyed the fact that her husband now had an actual body again and thus could be drank from.
Camille was sitting firmly in the middle of his lap, wearing a small animal onesie and gaining an understanding of the children's song 'Baby Shark'.
On the other side of Mal, Bianca was lanting over all of the upcoming video ga projects that were put on indefinite hold due to the unfortunate end of the world.
Suddenly, Bianca realized that sothing was strange about this picture and she raised her brow in confusion.
"Hey... I thought you said your mother made you an Avatar again. Why are you still flesh and blood right now?"
This seed to be the first ti that Mal had thought about such a thing judging by how he looked down at himself and then back at her like he couldn't realize he hadn't thought of this plight sooner.
"I don't know..? Maybe what Gam-Gam did is irreversible in so way."
"...Are you seriously referring to the primordial chaos as 'Gam-Gam'?" Bianca asked in exhaustion.
"Uh-huh. Do you think she'd like 'Granny C' better?"
"...I think if you suddenly get smited out of existence one day, I won't need to pretend to be oblivious about what happened."
Malachi chuckled wryly as he went back to watching Camille be srized by the miracle of animation.
When his mother first told him about the culprit behind his supernatural kidnapping, he was honestly stunned and unsure of exactly how to feel.
For a while, he was just angry.
A year of his life was just stolen away in an instant by a being that even his own mother had told him that he could not and should not try to go against.
Sothing so far above his comprehension that he was next to nothing in front of it.
The frustration of knowing that he was never fated to have any sort of retribution for his lost ti had taken a while for him to get over.
There was a sudden ding at the elevator and the group looked up when they realized soone had dropped by to visit.
Looking up, they found Rose and Aubrey coming in and looking quite comfortable together.
"There's the brother I was looking for!" Aubrey said.
"…I'm not giving you any clothes."
"I didn't co to ask you for anything, jackass!"
Rose chuckled as she leaned over the couch in her usual friendly manner.
"We ca to see if you wanted to go on a mission with us. I know you haven't really been anywhere since you've been back and I thought you might be going a little stir crazy."
Truthfully, Mal had begun to feel just the teensiest bit claustrophobic.
He figured that it would be nice for him to get out of the house for just a bit and stretch his limbs for a while with friends.
"Alright… how long will we be gone?"
"No more than a day! I know you aren't too keen on being away from ho for too long right now."
"And can I ask what this mission is?"
"Of course! We're going to be…"
-
A few hours later, Mal was stepping into the elevator to head upstairs and et the small squad he'd be going out on a mission with.
He found them in the hangar leaning against one of their modified off road vehicles, and he finally realized that this picture didn't look quite right.
Aubrey and Rose had changed out of usual clothes and now wore matching black gear with silver breastplates.
Standing next to them, Serana and Ryo were equally glued together wearing equally obnoxiously matching gear.
"I thought this was a mission… but it feels more like a double date with as the third wheel."
The group of four looked up in surprise; clearly not even noticing Mal's approach.
Such a thing only made him feel worse.
Sei was working in the cafe; cooking als for the whole base and earning no small amount of praise.
Luna was leading combat lessons at the mont with a few of the other mbers.
Anna had a mont of inspiration last night and had been painting ever since.
Bianca was working in the forge; repairing broken gear and starting to work on any requests that had beeen put in.
And Nadine was taking care of their daughter; and likely getting a suffocating amount of snuggles in the process.
For the first ti in a long ti, Mal was stuck living as a single man.
He'd forgotten just how shitty it could really feel.
"Oh? It seems like you've already gotten your pairings picked out already… Wonderful."
A small smile crossed Mal's face as he turned around to find Joanne approaching the group; also dressed.
However, it was quickly dashed away and replaced with concern.
"Might I ask what you're doing here?"
"I was going insane in my quarters, there are only so many reruns of reality tv one can watch before they start to lose it, you know?
I needed sothing to do so I asked your sister if she didn't mind letting take part in any upcoming missions."
Out of the corner of his eye, Malachi glared at Aubrey and caused her to shrink back in fear behind her girlfriend.
"Don't be like that." Joanne gave Mal a small punch to the stomach that wasn't actually intended to hurt him.
"I'm fine, alright? I'm more than capable of getting back to work and pulling my weight around here."
Before Mal could say anything in response, Serana suddenly appeared between them and wrapped her arms around them both.
"Well hey! Now that Mal is here he can protect you and make sure that nothing unfortunate happens! Isn't that right?"
"I don't need-"
"I was gonna do that anyway. But then again she already knows that."
Joanne scoffed and turned her head away out of embarrassnt, but Malachi noticed that the tips of her ears had started to turn red.
"Well, alright then! Let's get goi-"
"Waittt!!"
A familiar voice called out to the group, and an individual ran up who made Mal's blood cold.
lanie panted and wiped her brow as she ca to a stop directly in front of Aubrey and Rose.
"I heard you guys were going on a mission! Can I co by any chance?"
"I… erm.."
"W-Well…"
Both girls froze up sowhat as they tried to discreetly look at Mal out of the corners of their eyes.
However, he didn't show any discernible signs of being uncomfortable and instead his face was rather blank.
"If… everyone else is fine with it, then I don't mind."
"Neither do I."
"It's okay with ."
At last, the group turned their attention to Malachi and waited for him to decide the fate of the young girl.
'Maybe… I should have just kept staying ho.'
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