There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 743: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 26

It took a while for the children to calm down. No matter what their parents said, they kept crying and hugging each other. Bassena had to tell the physician to come later because the children were truly inseparable.

It was fascinating how Byul forgot the itchy feelings from the mana coming out of Lucy. Perhaps the anxiety and sadness were far greater misery than the mana prickling his skin. He clutched on Kar tightly, burying his little face in the older twin’s hospital shirt.

It was only after Lucy and Byul fell asleep did the commotion stopped. They were exhausted from crying and feeling anxious about the twins, and falling asleep while hugging the big brothers. When their parents laid the sleeping child in the adjacent bedroom, Nari drowsily climbed the bed and slept beside Lucy.

With the children out of commission, Zein and Bassena could finally talk to their sons. They sat down around the coffee table at the suite’s lounge, Kar and Asa blinking with swollen eyes while drinking their first water after waking up.

After all those tears, they were desperately in need of hydration.

"Have you calmed down?" Zein stroked the twin’s head. He could not keep feeling frustrated after seeing his children cry so much. Besides, they seemed to understand the problem already.

Still, there was more stuff the twins needed to understand.

The twins took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, Dada."

Zein glanced at Bassena. At a time like this, the one more skillful at talking should take the front. Bassena almost coughed his coffee, but managed to save his image by quickly gulping it and clearing his throat.

"Kar, Asa; listen to me," Bassena started, leaning forward as his sons looked at him through swollen eyes. "What you did that night...if something were to happen to any of you, who do you think will get blamed?"

The twins looked at each other before Kar answered carefully. "Us?"

"No," Bassena said dryly. "It will be the teachers and the guides because they failed to supervise you. I will scold Arnan and Einar because they failed to protect you."

"But--" Asa looked at his father in confusion. "But it wasn’t their fault..."

"Yes, it wasn’t," Bassena patted the younger twin’s head. "But your action could impact other people."

Kar and Asa looked at each other, talking through their eyes. Honestly, they already knew that what they were doing was false, weren’t they? It was just...they had no concrete idea why it was wrong, and the extent of the effect.

They looked back at what they did that night and what it brought. They never intended for anyone to get hurt, but in the end, some kids followed them and almost got severely hurt. Dada told them that the kid only sustained small scratches, but if they couldn’t get some strength back then, the worst might happen.

In that case...since they were the root of the problem...

The twins gasped and looked at their fathers. "Will...will people blame Dada and Baba, too?"

Zein wanted to say no, but he knew enough of the world, and it seemed like a good time to teach the twins a bitter part of it. "Yes," he replied with no pretense.

The twins took a sharp breath and trembled again. They looked back at their fathers and scrambled to hug them. "I’m--I’m sorry!" Asa climbed to his Baba’s lap, something he had stopped doing since he went to school.

"We’ll...we’ll apologize to the others too, Dada!" Kar held his father’s arms, eyes glistening with tears of guilt. "To teachers and Miss Guide and Brother Arnan and Einar and..."

Zein and Bassena chuckled in response. Well, they should understand now, should they? Bassena ruffled Asa’s hair with a relieved smile on his lips. "It’s fine with Arnan and Einar, but...you might have to wait for your teachers."

"W-why?" Asa gasped. "Are they angry?"

Bassena had a mischievous thought of teasing them about it, but his husband threw a sharp gaze that got him clearing his throat again, grinning sheepishly. He looked at the twins and smiled. "Boys, do you feel anything different with your body?"

"Huh?"

"Different?" Kar tilted his head.

Zein smiled and lightly tapped the older twin’s solar plexus, prompting Kar to look down and deep, deep inside. His eyes flickered and suddenly, he was reminded of the bubbly liquid he dreamt about.

Or perhaps...it wasn’t a dream? He clasped his hands over his solar plexus and closed his eyes, once again diving into the sensation he felt during his sleep. Swimming, swimming around the endless pond. At first, he thought it was light gold, but soon, he could see blue and amber, white and yellow, red and black...all kinds of colors swirling around him.

"Oh!" Kar looked at his father with widened eyes. "Baba...Dada--is this..."

"The crystal you absorbed was an aetherite, and it seemed like both of you absorbed its mana," Zein explained.

"And it triggered your awakening," Bassena concluded.

The twins gasped and Kar immediately opened his palm, staring hard at it without blinking until muscle could be seen on his temple. He recalled the feeling he had during that time; the feeling of mana coursing through his body, and concentrated on calling the multi-colored pond inside his newly established mana core.

And a small ball of iridescent mana dancing on his palm. The two-colored eyes blinked and Kar took a deep breath as his heart was pounding widely in silent excitement. Even when the ball of mana popped off after five seconds, he did not disappoint.

It was his first time manifesting mana. All on his own. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Asa, who had been watching his brother closely, tilted his head. There was something interesting he couldn’t see with his eyes, but he could feel it like an instinct. A flow. Something like what he felt when the crystal gave its essence to his twin that night.

And following that instinct, Asa touched his twin’s hand. Something, like an electric current, like a connecting energy, flowed between them. Asa could feel the flow of mana inside his twin’s body clearer than before.

So did Kar.

"Oh?"

Asa looked at his father with widened eyes. "Dada...I can feel something inside Kar!"

"Yes," Zein stroked the younger twin’s head, combing the platinum hair that Bassena messed up earlier. "You’re a guide, Asa."

"And Kar is an esper," Bassena messed up the older twin’s dark hair instead, laughing. Well, it wasn’t like they didn’t have any inkling about it since his toddler days.

Still holding hands, the twins looked at each other, exclaiming quietly. "Wow..."

"Wow..."

Fascinated with their newfound constitution, the twins huddled closer and played with their hands, trying to manifest mana and sensing each other’s system, giggling at the sensation. Their fathers exchanged glances and chuckled, patting their sons’ heads.

"Anyway, are you going to call us Baba and Dada again?" Bassena grinned.

Kar flinched at his blunder and shook his head. "No, Dad."

"Ugh..."

Zein laughed and patted his adorable husband on the cheek. "Don’t worry; Lucy will still call you that for a few years."

"Haa..."

"Well, let’s have the physician come to check on your condition now," Zein clapped his hands. "Since we’re in the hospital anyway, we’ll have a thorough one."

Right--they had been telling the nurses and doctors to wait because the children were too emotional. The twins, excited about the changes in their bodies, stood up eagerly. But then, Asa remembered something and suddenly felt anxious.

"Umm...Baba," Asa grabbed his father’s hand. "We’re not returning to school anymore, aren’t we? That’s why you said we can only apologize to the teachers later...."

Bassena observed his son’s dejected face, and couldn’t help but smile. To think the boy who cried on his first day of school would be so reluctant to part. But that was over three years ago, and they already made friends. Of course, it would be hard to abruptly leave.

Honestly, Bassena was rather envious. He was home-schooled before his mother died, and confined by the Golden Viper afterward until he awakened. Zein was probably feeling it too, since he had to work instead of having a normal childhood and go to school like other children.

Perhaps that was why, they had no conflict regarding this matter.

"Well, it’s up to you," Bassena stroked the back of Asa’s hair. "You can go to the academy if you want, or you can stay at school. But you’ll have to go to several places first this few weeks--and your body still needs adjustment--so you can’t go to school for a while."

"Oh..."

Different from his hesitant brother, however, Kar did not need any contemplation. "I will go to the Academy," he said with determination.

"You still want to get rid of the Deathzone, huh?" Zein chuckled.

"Mm!"

Asa looked at his brother and bit his lips. "I..."

"It’s okay, you can think of it slowly," Bassena patted the slumping shoulder. "It’s winter break anyway."

"Whatever you choose, your fathers will support you. So don’t feel burdened by it, okay?" Zein added softly, and Asa finally managed a smile.

"Okay," he nodded, but he couldn’t help holding onto his twin’s hand tightly for the rest of the day.

And while his brothers received physical check-ups downstairs, Lucy opened her eyes with a start, staring wide at the ceiling before muttering with a frown.

"Stlen...stlen dlim..."