love is my religion. i could die for that.
Aegean’s smile grows a little deeper when he twists his head to see the other children joining them.
Pressed comfortably into his dreamweaver mother’s side, his purple eyes deepen as Cosmos joins them. He steps away for but a moment, letting his silvery white nose press into her neck, breathing in the same sweet scent as before. He pulls back, finding her gaze, and then turns to his mother, letting the affection on his features speak for him. This was a friend—an ally. This was someone to be trusted.
When the other girl, red and ivory steps forward, he splits from the group once more—stepping toward her. When he nears her and sees the evidence of tears on her face, he reaches for her, brushing them away with a sweep of his nose. “Don’t cry. It’s going to be okay,” he breathes. “My name is Aegean.”
He ushers her forward, taking his place in time for his mother to call them forth.
And then, without any further delay, the group moves forward, his mother surrounded by the ragtag team of children who have flocked to her side. He is pleased to know that so many have come to her, that she has been able to watch over them, that she doesn’t turn them away and he smiles softly to himself, proud to be the son of such a woman. But the thoughts are cut short when the sound of tumbling rocks hits his ears.
He is not seized by fear but confusion, his head tilting to the side, tiny ears peering forward at the sound of the being’s voice. “Waiting for us?” he echoes, his voice nearly hushed. “Why would you be waiting for us?” But his voice is drowned out by his mother. He steps back as she lifts into a rear, giving her space to be the warrior she’s always been, to protect him and the others who huddle around her.
Still, his eyes don’t leave the monster, don’t split from him.
When his mother quiets, when she enters into the dreamworld, pulling the beast in with her, he looks to the others. His body begins to faintly glow once more, a soft, milky light that pulses in the dark around them. “It’s going to be okay,” even though he doesn’t know for sure if that’s the truth, it’s the only one that he can offer them now. “My mother will make sure that we’re all okay. I know it.”
Then, curious, he turns back to the beast who still watches them, wondering if he can somehow split his consciousness to both be with his mother in whatever dream she weaves for them while also being very much cognizant of what is happening around him. Aegean decides to take advantage of the moment.
“You can kill us, you know,” he says simply, not disturbed by the idea of death, even as his immortality remains stripped from him, as his own disease simmers in his blood. “But if we don’t succeed, if we aren’t able to help find a cure for this, eventually everyone will die. That’s just the way of things.”
He pauses for a moment, considering the possibilities of it all.
“And if you kill us, and we don’t succeed, and everyone dies, you will eventually have no one to eat. No one to hunt.” He frowns a little, shrugging a small, glowing shoulder. “Which I don’t think you want.” He glances toward who he now considers his friends, toward his mother still frantically weaving a convincing argument in another reality altogether. “This world needs balance, which means you need us to survive.”
And they needed him to see that.
i could die for you.
Word Count: 615
Regained Trait: Glowing
Choice: Persuasion