Chapter 191: Unsettling.
"Tasty!" Ikaris hummed with a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. "Right?" She looked down at Henry jr who was seated next to her while Sol sat opposite of them next to Sara who was also enjoying her treat.
"The best!" The boy chuckled.
"I won't ever get used to this." Sol stuck his spoon in his mouth and glared at the men in the cafe who had stopped what they were doing to watch Ikaris every time she made a peep.
"Your only option is to hide Milady, Sir." Sara joked causing Ikaris to laugh out which then made even more eyes lock onto her as even her laughter was an attractive one.
"Ugh," Sol grimaced and raised his fist at the café shaking it menacingly at them which again caused Ikaris to burst out laughing as she enjoyed her ice cream. "These bastards."
"Oh!" Ikaris jolted and dropped her spoon in the dish looking down at her belly and then up at Sol. "She kicked!"
Like a snake Sol weaved around Sara and slid to Ikaris's side when she turned her legs outward and attempted to stand. "Dear you're being embarrassing." Ikaris smiled and looked down at him as he pressed his cheek onto her belly with anticipation.
"She... Punched me." Sol eased his cheek off Ikaris with an absent stare at her. "Ikaris." Sol stood and held her hand. "I felt her, I sensed her, her tiny mana pool has already begun forming." He whispered to her with the same askance stare as the reality of his life crashed into him. "I'm a dad, a real father...
I'm gonna, we're going to be parents, there is new life inside of you; life that we created together."
"Indeed, love." Ikaris wiped the single tear from his cheek and sighed as he cradled her belly and sucked in a breath.
"I have to do more... much more, I have to protect you both, I... I can't let-" He stopped talking when her smile faltered and she started wearing another concerned expression.
[How much longer will you hide her away from her demise, it is fast approaching, the abomination within her will usher the end of all life, it should not exist-]
"Sol!" Ikaris slapped her hand over his eyes when they flashed brightly, luckily everyone's eyes were locked on her and not him, so nobody noticed. "Snap out of it!" She tapped his cheek with her other hand until she felt his breath again and the glow in his eyes subsided.
"Sir..." Do you need a moment?" Sara stood next to him watching the daze slowly lift off his eyes and his awareness return.
"What was that hostility? You could have killed everyone here." Ikaris held his hands with her brows furrowed.
"Is Mr Vestic okay?" Henry jr asked after Ikaris's sudden outburst and the way she held on to him.
"Stay with Sara for a minute, we will return." Ikaris smiled at the child and then took Sol's hand again and pulled him out of the cafe.
"Ikaris I'm fine-"
"I have to ask." She turned as soon as they were outside and stared up at him seriously. "What just happened is not normal, not even by our standards, you nearly exploded in rage, I know I said I would not ask, but this is getting worse, love, what if the next time it happens there is nobody there to calm you down?" She asked, and he took a deep breath and rubbed his temples.
"Are your Godslayer powers going out of control?" She questioned him and he lowered his hands and released a long sigh.
"What grew inside of you could have easily wiped this entire area off the map, killing everyone and possibly triggering a catastrophe, that qualifies as a problem you should share, Love."
"Light." Sol pulled his hand away and started pacing. "I can't... He's in my head, every time, anytime there's even a moment where I let my guard down he forces his way into my head."
"You have been having visits from Father?" Ikaris seemed more disturbed than shocked at the news. "But, he never takes initiative to do anything, and why just you, I have not even sensed him since our..." She paused and looked at him as realisation dawned upon her. "...our wedding." She took his hands. "What happened?"
He reluctantly turned his full attention to her, closing his eyes, going against his own wishes.
"He's been warning me of something terrible happening, something that even I won't be able to stop." He looked at her, isolating the space around them so it seemed like they were still standing and talking while he assumed his full Godslayer persona completed with the ears and rings on his chest and back, and in his eyes. All forms of perception, including HIM were blocked.
"Every chance he gets, he warms me, and it's getting more frequent now, it was once every week but it's moved from that to daily and now several times a day."
"I always sensed something happening with you, how your mood suddenly dipped without warning or trigger, but this time was different, this time you nearly exploded in anger, what happened, why is there a barrier around earth that not even I could break without exerting more than half of my power?
I at first assumed it was because I was with child, but now..." Ikaris held on tightly to his hand when it felt as if he would walk away rather than explain any further.
"He wants you to become whole with him again." Sol ground his teeth.
"Is that all?" Ikaris asked. "I am already a part of my father-"
"No." Sol interrupted her. "He wants you to disappear completely within himself, he wants to destroy your existence and join him entirely." He stared at her, watching the hope, joy, and blood drain from her face as his words rung clear in her mind.
"Wh... what, why?"
"He believes that you're some kind of catalyst for the end of the collective, that you're somehow going to be responsible for destroying everything that was, everything that is, and all that will be, unless you cease to exist..." He rested his hand on her belly and took a deep breath. "Now he's saying she is that destruction; our daughter, I lost my temper because he mentioned killing her."
"That is absurd!" She held her belly protectively and backed away from him. "I would never... how dare he... no!" She shook at the implications of dying after finally attaining her long-desired happiness.
"He wants you back before she is born, he wants you both, before she is born, before she kills you or anything else."
"I won't, not my baby... You know where he is right, you know how to contact him, let me talk to-"
"That's too risky," Sol shook his head negatively "I don't want him anywhere near you, I don't want anyone near you, he might use the opportunity and do something unexpected."
"Then kill him!" She stared at Sol saying the unthinkable with a straight face and complete resolve. "Kill him before anything happens!"
"I can't do that, the same way killing darkness would destroy the void we exist within, if I kill light I am destroying all life born after him, myself and you included, everything and everyone we know are an extension of his existence, locking him away doesn't work either, because he isn't the one that is the threat." Sol balled his fists and ground his teeth. "You are, our child is..."
"I refuse to believe that." Ikaris shook her head in denial. "This child is a blessing." She cradled her belly and smiled sadly. "I will not allow harm to come to her."
"Just as I won't allow any to come to you." Sol suppressed himself and unsealed the closed space stepping forward and placing his forehead to her's. "Promise me Ikaris, if you ever feel the danger of me losing control you get the hell out of there, as far as you can go to the ends of this universe."
"And leave you to do what, suffer by yourself?"
"No, leave me to handle it, I can't always guarantee that I won't lose control of my emotions and lash out at someone who means you harm, right now that someone is your father, I don't care how it's done I'll find a way to fix whatever's broken, to make right whatever is wrong, but if you end up getting hurt because of me, if our child..." He looked in the cafe at Sara entertaining Henry jr.
"I won't allow what we have done to be undone, whatever calamity comes, whatever disaster draws nigh, I'll stop it dead in its tracks.
"Then... I will place all my trust in you as usual, love." She closed her eyes as they shared a moment of silence between each other, closing their eyes and soaking in the warmth of the sun. "I will be by your side, we made vows, through disaster and blessing I will never leave you till death." Ikaris smiled when she felt her belly moving again, taking his hand and resting it against herself.
"What we have can never be a calamity, she is a gift; a gift born of a miracle, the testament of our love resides within this child, Sol."