Malachi raised one hand and rapped his knuckles against the wall.
His small gesture ended up capturing the attention of the girls in the hall.
Celeste ca running up to him imdiately; allowing Mal to get a good look at her eyes that were clearly red from crying.
His expression imdiately softened as if he were looking at sothing precious.
And Celeste could not say whether she just didn't like that look, or just didn't like how much she liked it.
Either way, it was a problem that she didn't have the ti for.
"I-I need your help…" She asked quietly.
"I'll do whatever I can." Mal's response was instantaneous.
He wiped away the lingering traces of tears along her cheeks and felt her shiver against his skin.
The light scent of soap on her skin, as well as the softness of her cheek was almost too much. And Mal had to give himself a very important reminder.
'She's not your girl, she's not your girl, she's not your girl, she's not your...'
Needless to say, his mantra had to be repeated in his mind several tis before he was fully equipped to deal with anything going forward.
"I-It's lanie… She's gone."
"Gone? What do you an gone??"
"S-She left a note on the bed that said she was leaving with Belloc and she didn't know when she would be back."
Malachi glanced at Thea for an explanation and she sighed in exhaustion.
"I promise you all, she is fine. She's staying with my family at our ho."
"Then why can't we go see her, or even talk to her about why she left?"
"I don't think she's ready for that yet, guys... Please just give her another week or so, and then I'm sure she'll-"
"A-A week? What do you an a week??" Celeste wanted to cry.
"T-Ti doesn't quite flow back ho the way it does up here. For you guys it's only been a few days since she left, but lanie's been down there for close to a month I think."
Celeste couldn't say whether that revelation made her feel better or worse.
Why would her child have been gone for weeks and not tried to contact her even once?
Malachi noticed Celeste fall silent and his determination to help her saw a noticeable surge.
"Thea… please." He asked sincerely.
Thea but her lip as if she was really struggling with all of this.
"I-It's not that simple, guys. Miss Celeste might not be able to survive the trip. She's not nearly strong enough, and not to ntion that she doesn't have my father's blood either."
"Then how is lanie surviving??"
Thea lifted up her shirt and pulled down her pants just a tiny bit.
Malachi looked away out of respect.
Aisha tried to contend with her new nosebleed.
Aubrey focused on reciting her ABC's so that she didn't stare.
Celeste wondered if she could have a body like that too if she just worked out a little more.
Suddenly, there was a soft light within the hallway and everyone glanced at Thea's lower stomach; right underneath her bellybutton.
There, one could see a glowing pink symbol written in so language that none of them had ever even witnessed before.
"My grandpa calls them wedding crests. My great grandmother bestowed them on our bloodline when he was born.
We bestow them on the partners we chose and in turn we share each other's life forces forever.
And with a little help from a certain family friend… the bonds are now so strong that even god cannot separate us." Thea explained.
Celeste, Aisha, and Aubrey each took sothing entirely different from that conversation.
Unsurprisingly, Celeste was the most dramatic.
"My baby got MARRIED without ?!?"
"W-Well, not quite, but-"
Celeste couldn't hear anything else that was said because she fainted shortly after and had to be caught by Malachi.
He accidentally ended up grabbing her breast in an attempt to catch her and a blush of sha showed up on his face imdiately.
He was imnsely embarrassed that the words 'happy accident' had popped up into his mind at that mont.
'I'm such a despicable degenerate…' he thought quietly.
While pushing his sha to the back of his mind, he lifted Celeste into his arms in a princess carry.
"Thea… is there really nothing that can be done?"
The blonde princess shook her head in denial.
"I'm sorry… but really, it's just not safe for her, or any of you to-"
"I'll give you my sister and Aisha for a whole day."
""WHAT?!""
"D-Deal! Wait, no!" Thea really seed to be fighting with herself over what exactly was the right thing to do.
"Two days." Mal offered.
"Deal! No take backs!" Thea made an 'x' with her arms.
Malachi smiled and the two of them almost shook hands but Aubrey suddenly slapped him hard on the back of the head.
"What kind of brother are you?? Who pimps out their little sister for favors?!"
"Or their best friend l?!" Aisha added.
"Atleast I pimped you out to soone you both like!" Mal fired back. "So is it even really that bad in hindsight?!"
""YES!!""
"Too bad!"
Malachi snapped his fingers and dark bands of shadow appeared on each of the girls' ankles.
Aisha tried to run away from the group, but a dark chain jumped out of her shadow and held her fast once she got too far away.
Thea teared up at Mal's 'gift' and she seed so moved that she was liable to kiss him.
"I swear… this is the best day of my whole life..!"
-
It took a splash of cold water and a firm shake to get Celeste to awaken from her impromptu nap.
Once she was up, she was quickly inford by the rest of the group about what was to take place in the next few monts.
Needless to say, she beca visibly excited once she heard that they would be going to see her daughter.
However, she admittedly started to get cold feet when Thea suddenly started casting magical buffs on her in the middle of the room.
"U-Umm, Thea..? What are you doing?" Celeste asked as she looked at the thin, glossy layer of colors that had ford on her body.
"The magic I'm casting will help you breathe since there isn't any air back ho for you to live off of.
I'm also fortifying your heart so that it doesn't explode from fear or just stop beating altogether, as well as your mind so that you don't go insane from the spiritual pressure.
So you know… just the usual stuff." She shrugged.
For the first ti in her entire life, Celeste wondered if her only daughter was worth the amount of trouble she was about to go through for her.
But it seed to be too late to turn back, because Thea soon finished casting magic on her and went to cast it on Aubrey and Aisha instead.
As an avatar, Mal didn't need the sa amount of help that they did, but he did still have the jeopardy of going insane.
Once everyone was effectively bubble wrapped for safety, Thea stood up and went towards the bathroom door.
As she wrapped her hand around the handle, she paused to give the group one last bit of warning.
"You all should know… if you can survive the first minute over there then you will be fine.
Just keep your wits about you, and no matter what, do not focus on the feeling of the world around you, or else the abyss will swallow you whole… K?"
Celeste gulped and unconsciously took Malachi's hand.
He didn't say anything, but he did give her hand a firm and reassuring squeeze.
Seeing as her warning didn't dissuade anyone present, Thea finally shrugged and threw the door open.
But instead of there being a tub and a toilet in front of them, there was a long, dark hallway inside of what looked like the nicest castle Malachi had ever seen.
Thea crossed the other side with ease and inhaled deeply before letting out a loud yell.
"MOMS! DADDY! I'm hoee!!"
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