I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life. - F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Inside Zyran Palace, The Floating
Kingdom of Zephyr,Northern Ardeneon.
April 16
The blinding light from the sun rudely wakes River up from his sleep. "Close the curtains" he groans out to whoever that it was a good idea to open the curtains while he was sleeping, it was Skai.
"Everyone else is up Riv" she tells him.
"I haven't seen what that has to do with me" he grunts throwing the covers over his head, he could barely sleep last night, and their little conversation that was—unfortunate but fortunate for him—still ongoing was not helping the mild headache that was starting to surface.
"Well genius, you can't see anything with that over your head" she pulls on the covers.
He sighs sitting up. "Skai, can I just sleep?"
"Mr. Starling is back" she tells him "With dad" at that River is suddenly wide awake, his skin itching for answers.
"Well, you could have started with that!" he rubs the sleep away from his eyes.
"Whatever" she chuckles awkwardly "Freshen up and meet me in my room...I wanted us to go see him together." River nods walking towards the bathroom. "Dad's here." He sucks in a deep breath.
...
They walk into the room hand in hand, laying on a bed is their father, Kaito Ladiston and Delarune Starling on another, bruises decorating both of their bodies, but Kaito looks worse, like a visual representation of going through hell and barely getting out.
Princess Lethia is sat beside his hospital bed asleep... he had been there for long while.
Looking around the room, River finds some chairs stacked in a corner, Skai walks over to the bed as he grabs two chairs. He places them side by side in front of the little bed, they sit there for about thirty minutes waiting for one of them to wake up.
"Is he dead?" Skai whispers terror filling her eyes, River scans his father's body with his eyes, he's breathing.
"No, just unconscious" princess Lethia replied with a yawn before they could answer "He should be up soon" she assures them standing up.
Her fingers brush the hair on his forehead before she turns to face them "Do me a favor younglins" she sighs with hope in her eyes "Don't be too hard on him, he ha-" Skai cuts her off.
"No choice" she rolls her eyes "Yeah, yeah we get the gist"
"Skai, darling you have to understand-" Skai cuts her off again
"Yeah, yeah, we'll take that into consideration" she shrugs and her mother smiles at both of them.
"Thank you" she whispers before exiting the room.
"Do you think he'll wake up?" River asks randomly.
"Probably" Kaito responds
"He-" Skai pauses as realization hits them and they both turn to look at him, speechless.
"Hi kids" he chokes out, neither of them respond, what exactly does one even say in this kind of situation, River was personally trying his best not to jump his dad. "You guys must be in shock" he strains out.
"Nah, I'm just trying best not to cuss you out" River retorts "You are so lucky you're in a hospital bed"
"River" Skai places her hand on her brother's and she turns to look at her, "listen, let's just calm down, let's hear what he has to say" she says calmly being the voice of reason in the situation "And then we can cuss him out" or so it seemed anyways.
"Come on kids, I'm still your old man" he tries to reason with them.
"Hahaha, very funny" Skai rolls her eyes.
"You guys need to get the lightning bolt and rain drop" he tells them seriously "Lethia will help you, she can talk to her father, he's the only one that can give the blessing"
"Can we talk about why the heck we were brought into this world and are suddenly being asked to save the world before you send us on errands?" Skai groans at him "We're kids dad!" she raises her voice "We aren't supposed to be heroes" her voice falls down into a whisper.
"I'm sorry" his eyes glasses over them "I didn-" River cuts him off.
"Have a choice, yeah we caught on quickly" he rolls his eyes "What were you doing in widdledoc anyways?"
"The great council caught me; they just tortured me. It's no big deal widdledoc volcanoes don't erupt" he says casually.
"Just" Skai scoffs "They were damn near ending your life"
"Yeah well, I'm fine, they still don't know who I am" he smiles at them causing River to scowl. River was ready to ghost the man's entire existence but first, he needed answers.
"How did we get here? Did you bring us here?" he asks desperate to know.
"Maybe you younglins should allow him rest" Princess Lethia calls out from the door.
"No darling, they deserve to know" He smiles at her and that was when River's whole world turned upside down again. That was when the realization crashed into him his father chose her, there were two women in his life, Skai's mother and his mother, his father chose Skai's mother.
'Is that why he was stricter to me than Skai? Because he didn't love the woman that birthed me?' He begins to think.
"The healing water from Galene is here" she informs him, and he nods "The professionals will arrive shortly, so I'd advise you make your conversation quick" she walks over to Kaito planting a kiss on his forehead.
River felt deceived, all his life he thought his mother was dead, and now he finds out that she might be alive, was he ready to meet her though? No not really, that would be a lot to take in.
"Yes yes, I will hurry up and tell them" Kaito smiles at Princess Lethia softly and she nods leaving.
He starts talking as soon as she left "Growing up, I was just like you River, I didn't want to be constrained by anything, I wanted to be free, I also believed we were meant to be free like the water when in it" he smiles at his son and River remembers one of the many times they would have this conversation to which his father would smile fondly and tell him that he would understand some day. "But my father didn't think the same way, neither did my brother, my sister and mother were the only ones that understood me, Although, that changed nothing, I still had to take numerous water manipulation classes, I had to learn all the different ways you could ride a sea dragon, it was exhausting, I was the crown prince after all I didn't have a choice" he pauses. "Then...when I was about twenty decades and four years old, I found out about all the things the great council did, I found it absolutely barbaric, sprites...even younglins were killed over the craziest things, so I decided I would change it" he continues " that's when I met Rune, almost two centuries ago I believe, we shared the same beliefs, dare I say he was more daring than I was, he calmed down when he met Esmeray though" Skai cuts him off.
"How did we get here, your bromance doesn't intrigue me, Dad!" she groans before mumbling "It's no wonder why you and Mr. Starling are such good friends."
"Okay, okay" he chuckles "Basically Rune and I's plan was to break a bunch of the great council's laws and prove to them that it wasn't such a big deal-" River cuts him off.
"So... you guys' plan to go destroy barbaric laws was to rebel?" he looks at him flabbergasted, "that sounds like a dumb plan."
"Well yes... and then I messed up, I met your mother Riv" he sighs, pain filling his eyes, "well crap." River mutters before his father continues. "She was a wonderful woman, I just didn't love her, but I needed a wife to assume throne, it was part of our plan" he pauses looking away from River "For about 50 years we were married, no love and no child, then my mother said we should try for a child, for a good ten years we tried and we tried, she couldn't conceive, she blamed me, we fought and fought and then tried again, I didn't think it would work, she was seeing another man in secret at that time and I was seeing Lethia, our marriage was a mess" he pauses looking anywhere but at his kids "then I found out she was pregnant, not only was she pregnant, Lethia was as well"
He begins to tap his fingers on the bed in a repeated pattern "I remember River was born early in the morning and then about 3 hours later I got a beep from Lethia saying she was going into labor" he sighs. "I won't lie I didn't think she was pregnant for my child at first, but when you came out River, I knew you looked too good to belong to any sprite's gene pool but mine" Kaito smiles briefly proudly
"What was her name?" River asks him "My mother"
"Rhea" he tells me "Before you ask, I don't think meeting her will be possible" he sighs, he continues before River could ask why "She went back to Galene, left you with me, she said you reminded her too much of me and my incompetence. I had to leave with you guys... at the time, King Khalil didn't know Lethia and I had been seeing each other, hell he didn't even know she was pregnant. And my father was more upset than we knew King Khalil would be, I feared he would hurt Skai. I had to save her so I left with Skai first leaving you with my mother, but my brother wouldn't let that happen... he wanted you dead too, so I came back for you only 2 months later."
River looks down trying not to process what his father just said, wanting to let it go. His mother didn't want him.
Skai places a hand on his in an attempt to console him, River looks back at their father shaking the thoughts off "So how'd we get here, part of your masterplan too?" he mocks and Kaito let out a hearty laugh.
"That wasn't me, I believe it was a trap set by the great council, I'm glad you kids were smart enough to make it this far" he smiles "I knew keeping you five close would be a good idea" he looks over at Delarune's bed which has Elijah sitting beside it, talking to his father. So engrossed in their conversation they hadn't even realized when he walked in.
"Can we begin the healing process?" Princess Lethia asks from outside the door with two men by her side, Mr. Ladiston looks at his kids as if asking for permission and they nod, leaving the room, Elijah towing behind them.
"We'll talk about sending you home later" Kaito yells out before they leave.
Meanwhile at the other side of the palace, Dexter bursts into Emily's room with Seraphinius on his back. "Kaito and Rune are back!"
"I'm hungry" Seraphinius whines.
"When are you not" Dexter chuckles taking bread out of his pocket and handing in to Seraphinius, which he gladly takes, they both sit on the floor eating their bread happily.
"I guess this means we can go home" Dexter sighs, his demeanor noticeably changing.
"Where's home?" Seraphinius asks causing realization to dawn on Emily.
"I have a lot to figure out till then" she sighs walking over to the bed and sitting down. "What do I do with Phinius?"
"Hey" Dexter locks eyes with her "We'll cross that river when we get to that bridge" he tells her
"Isn't it, we'll cross that bridge when we get to the river?" Emily asks amused and he shrugs.
"I like my way better" Dexter smiles but you could see a hint of sadness behind his smile. "My mother is dying, and here I am stuck in the in between"
Emily walks over to him, "Dexter it's not your fault" she tells him.
"We'll save the world and go back to your mom" she tries to assure him "Thinking about it isn't going to change anything"
"But it hurts" he falls on his back his eyes brimming with tears.
Emily moves beside him holding his hand comfortingly.
...
"You know I used to be suicidal" Emily confides in him as he finished crying, she didn't know what to say, she didn't know how to make him feel better, she just wanted him to know that it gets better.
"W-what?" he tilts his head looking at her.
"Elijah was there when I attempted...it was one of the things that brought us closer" she explains.
"I'm so-" She cuts him off before he could render his pity.
"I'm just telling you so you know that it gets better Dex, right now it seems like your world is crashing, your mom could die, you have a family here...it's a lot to take in" she locks eyes with him.
"I just hope you won't do what I did, don't distance yourself from the people that care about you, no matter what" she tells him "I now know that I hurt you guys by doing so, sometimes I realize that you guys do miss me, but no matter how I try, I can't go back to who I was before"
"Em-" she cut him off again
"I don't want that for you Dex" she frowns remembering how close she used to be with Dexter before Callum's 'death' "I don't want you to lose yourself okay?"
"Okay" he nods his head engulfing her in a hug "Thank you Lils" he brings back his childhood nickname for her.
"Have you and Skai made up?" Emily asks clearly just trying to distract him and he nods as he lets go of her.
Blood rushes to his cheeks and he looks away "I think she won't run away this time"
"Me too" Emily smiles ruffling his hair standing up, looking over at the bed Seraphinius is sitting on playing with her scroll touch.
"Can you give Phinius a bath?" she asks him, and he nods.
Standing up he looks over at the six-year-old "Come on Phinie"