[Chapter Size: 2500 Words.]
Third Person POV
Novigrad.
...
...
It couldn't be said that the night had been peaceful in Redania, starting with the fact that rumors began to spread everywhere, both in the capital and in Novigrad, as the High Priest's body was found dead and decapitated in the middle of the square that had been destroyed when Madara and Ciri first arrived in Novigrad. The body had been left on the ground by Madara.
Meanwhile, he had also left the king's body seated on the throne, likewise decapitated, remaining in that position beside the other corpses. It didn't take long for someone to notice that something was wrong due to the excessive amount of time spent inside the throne room without any noise.
Even with guards outside, no one had been able to hear Madara simply massacring everyone and stealing the king only to bring him back already dead. When they finally went to investigate, terror spread throughout the castle as the city bells began to ring.
At this point, all of Redania would be in unprecedented chaos. An emergency meeting was called in Novigrad by Redania's men, and Sigismund Dijkstra would be heading to the capital immediately to gather the people and choose a leader who would replace the former king. Meanwhile, the resistance, led by Vernon Roche, would also help.
Tissaia, Triss, and Ida would remain behind to assist and help all the people who had been hiding, should they wish to leave the city for the harbor, as it would likely be open in the coming days. The gangs themselves would take care of keeping the city under control.
Dudu would never be able to return to his former life. Ever since he had been transformed into a monster, there was no turning back. The best he could hope for was to join one of the gangs, since, being a Doppler, he could transform into someone new and work for one of them.
The gangs also helped prevent people from killing as many innocents connected to the Eternal Fire as possible, since many were being torn apart publicly. Although most of the faithful were still young people who believed they were doing good despite the twisted ideology, there were innocent people among them. Many people in the city, as well as members of the gangs, were helped after all, because many of those faithful had already fed beggars and the homeless or offered words of encouragement here and there, even while expressing misguided beliefs.
In any case, while Redania endured a strange night, elsewhere farther south, things were quite different.
Aren opened his eyes a few times before rubbing them and looking at someone in front of him who wore a smile on her face. He couldn't help but smile as well when he saw that.
Aren woke up feeling his mother run her hand across his face and through his hair as he tried to wake up.
"Good morning... Mom..." he murmured, still remembering the previous night.
He had been sleeping when she suddenly appeared in his room. As soon as he felt the extra weight on the bed, he was startled. Looking up in alarm, he saw that it was only his mother, who didn't even give the boy time to think. She simply jumped onto the bed and hugged him, saying that she had come up with the brilliant idea of spending the night with him.
Aren didn't really understand what was happening, but he had trouble falling asleep afterward. Besides losing some sleep, his mother was also quite playful, to the point of tickling him several times whenever he could barely stay in bed because of boredom.
In the end, he stayed awake, talking with her while Ciri explained that Dad was outside taking care of a few things and that she would stay with him without anyone in the temple knowing. After all, they had snuck in.
Aren wasn't feeling very well that morning. After all, he had slept very little during the night. Even so, he liked it. He was happy that his mother had returned that very night, and they had spent hours talking, listening to stories, and discussing her and Dad's travels.
Upon hearing him call her Mom after saying good morning, Ciri couldn't resist pinching his cheek while he made a face at her.
"Ah, how adorable!" Ciri shouted, grabbing him and pulling him close before showering him with kisses. "You're the cutest boy I've ever seen!" Even though she found it a little cheesy, Ciri didn't care. She simply shrank in embarrassment, clinging to her chest.
The door suddenly opened.
Hilda appeared in the room and blinked a few times when she saw Ciri occupying most of the bed. She wasn't wearing her battle clothes, but rather pajamas, along with a blanket that definitely shouldn't have been on that bed. Meanwhile, she remained hugging Aren, who had also sat up at that moment to look at the woman, who watched the scene while trying to process what she was seeing.
"Hilda! Good morning!" Ciri flashed a smile.
"Wait... What are you doing here?" the woman asked, shocked.
"We arrived last night, in the middle of the night. Nobody saw us sneaking around the place, so I came to Aren's room. I bothered my husband into coming back since things ended well in the North. And I couldn't resist sleeping with our son. Unfortunately, he woke up in the middle of the night, and we stayed up late talking. But still, he needs to eat, doesn't he?" she asked.
Aren, despite his sleepiness, nodded.
"I need to wash his face and take him to eat," Hilda said.
Ciri made a somewhat uncertain expression. She pressed her lips together, clearly wanting to do it herself, but eventually sighed. "Alright. Take him with you, Hilda. I'll join you shortly. I just need to get changed."
Ciri then picked up the little boy and sat him on the bed before giving him a kiss on the forehead. Then she placed him on the floor as he began to walk.
He was wearing pajamas perfect for his age. 'Those clothes look really good on him.' She couldn't help but smile as she saw him wearing those little clothes they had bought in other worlds.
The pajamas were very childish, blue, covered with stars, meteors, planets, and even UFO-style spaceships. Even though the concept of such things didn't exist in that world, she thought they were beautiful.
Yesterday, Aren had bombarded her with questions about what all those colorful drawings were, since he wasn't familiar with such concepts, and Ciri began explaining what Madara knew. Also, even though clothes with patterns existed in that world, aside from those bearing the sigils of kingdoms and houses, nothing was as trivial as sleepwear, since that would require meticulous work from any tailor or seamstress.
On the other hand, there were modern worlds they had passed through where making drawings on fabric was something quite trivial and inexpensive. Now, seeing the boy walking around in those clothes, Ciri couldn't help finding it even cuter.
Hilda also seemed quite curious about the clothes, but she couldn't help smiling at him. "It's truly beautiful," she said affectionately.
It was clear that she loved Aren as well. Well, that was hardly surprising after taking care of him for at least two years.
It was already obvious that she had grown attached to the boy. Even though, deep down, Ciri felt a mixture of jealousy and gratitude. On one hand, Ciri wanted to keep him all to herself, but on the other, she thought letting Hilda take care of him that morning was for the best. She didn't want to simply push her away, and Aren might not like that.
In any case, the boy headed outside accompanied by Hilda. Before she could react, she was startled once again when Aren shouted:
"Dad!" He laughed as he was immediately picked up into Madara's arms in the hallway outside.
"Didn't your mother let you sleep last night?" he asked.
"No, but it was fun! She told me stories. Did you know this is a spaceship?" he said, pointing to one of the drawings on his clothes.
"Interesting. So you're the one who chose those clothes?" Madara asked.
Aren nodded with an innocent and cheerful smile.
"Looks like you didn't take after your father. I like wearing black. Only your mother would choose something like that." The boy laughed when he heard that.
Madara then gave him a kiss, already knowing that he needed to eat something. Afterward, he set him back on the floor.
"Have a good day." He said to Hilda, who nodded.
Aren left with Hilda, while Madara entered the room and closed the door behind him. His eyes swept across the small room where his son lived in the temple.
There were toys scattered around and the clothes they had given him the previous day.
"Did you see him?" Ciri asked with a mischievous smile, since she had managed to hear the last comment.
"I did. And you didn't sleep at all last night, huh?" Madara looked at her.
"No. He didn't seem to want to sleep either. He wanted to hear stories or try to play. I couldn't resist." She smiled faintly. "But also, when he fell asleep, I couldn't stop watching him all night. I stayed awake watching him sleep so peacefully. I could feel it, Madara... He's happy with us. Aren loves us."
Ciri displayed a smile that Madara could easily place among the happiest she had ever worn in her entire life.
He sat down beside her after looking around the room and embraced her. "I know, dear. Even if we haven't been the ideal parents for him, he still accepted us. He wanted this too. After everything, we just have to make sure we don't disappoint him again," he said as she rested against his chest.
The two remained silent for a few seconds.
Meanwhile, Madara continued observing the room. Dragon toys, knights, and soldiers were scattered everywhere. Aren seemed to have played quite a lot the previous night.
"He's more cheerful than I thought," Madara murmured.
"You said it yourself that he takes after me. It would be a little tragic if he were as stiff as you used to be," she replied, looking at him with amusement.
Madara merely raised an eyebrow before sighing as he thought about it. "Well, you know what the Uchihas are like."
Ciri made a face when she heard that. "I thought you were the stiffest of them all. I'm glad our son didn't become as serious and indifferent a child as that boy." She seemed to be referring to someone else. And that was a young Sasuke.
It was true that they had ended up in some rather peculiar worlds. After all, they had entered the world of Naruto in two different timelines. Once by accident through teleportation when they entered a random world. Another time because Ciri made a mistake and, instead of leaving that world, ended up traveling several years into the future. By the time she realized it, she was in the middle of a war.
Madara and Ciri had even fought another version of Madara himself. Because of that, Ciri knew Sasuke, Itachi, Obito, and the original Madara of that world. To her, all Uchihas seemed to have an irritating tendency to always maintain a serious expression.
Come to think of it, among all of them, her own husband was perhaps the most expressive. After all, she had seen him want to fight practically all of those Uchihas, creating considerable chaos, with a smile on his face. He usually restrained himself between worlds, but in that one, things were different.
"So, how was your night? Since you don't sleep much either," she asked, looking at him again with a more serious gaze.
Both of them had spent the night awake; he had some matters that needed to be dealt with.
It all started when Ciri wanted to return to the temple, since she missed her son despite having been away from him for only a few hours.
He simply saw no reason to prevent Ciri from sleeping with Aren while Madara took care of a few things.
After all, it was time for them to start acting in that world again.
"Unfortunately, dealing with Novigrad was only our first move in this world. Now we'll have to see the entire world and understand how everything stands." Madara sighed before continuing.
"I've already sent clones in every direction. I also personally went to observe several locations across the region and all the courts of the most important places where I had left my teleportation seal..."
The clones began traveling to every corner in search of information. Some would listen to conversations in taverns of major cities, others in simple roadside inns. After all, Madara had managed to create more than four hundred wood clones, and all of them could last for months.
He wanted to know about the war, the condition of the kingdoms, and even the smaller territories. How was the political situation? How were they reacting to the changes of recent years?
"Did you find them?" Ciri asked curiously, lifting her head to kiss his neck.
"I reached one of them," Madara replied. "Geralt is in Toussaint, staying in a castle by order of Anna Henrietta herself."
"Hmm... It's been a while since I've seen him too." She seemed thoughtful for a moment. "But more importantly, what about Yennefer?"
Madara merely shook his head. "I don't know. But I believe she's somewhere in the Skellige Isles. One of the clues I found points to that. She may even be in Nilfgaard itself, in the capital."
"Nilfgaard?" Ciri immediately pulled away from Madara and stared at him in bewilderment.
It wasn't that she was angry with him upon hearing that. The information had simply surprised her.
"I'm not sure. We'll have to investigate. But we need to act. I know we want to stay with our son, but as you can see, the entire world seems to have turned upside down since we left. And now we have more power than ever," Madara explained.
Ciri nodded slowly. "Alright. What's the plan?" she asked.
"I want to find and deal with that king in the north, as well as that so-called Elder Vampire. I intend to go to Kovir."
"And as for you... I'd like you to go to Toussaint..." he said.
Ciri almost replied no, but she needed to see her father. Geralt... It wasn't that she didn't want to see him, he was important, and she missed them... But she still wanted to stay with Aren.
"Alright. I'll go to Toussaint." In the end, she agreed... She had to see him again.
"Excellent. I didn't even contact them because I knew you'd want that. I left a clone hidden there. You can send a message to him if you need anything important. He's there to assist you."
"Alright. But let's stay with our son at least until noon, okay? I'd like to watch him play a little longer." She said.
Madara nodded. "Alright. We'll do that," he replied.
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