There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 748: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 31

Zein used to have his leisure time during the day when he only had the twins. After Lucy came, however, he had to take care of her without any help from a nanny. Only after Lucy managed to sleep alone at night did Zein regain his leisure time, about half an hour before bed, where he just stared at the sea with a drink in hand.

Sometimes, however, his clingy husband would join him.

"Something’s in your mind lately," Bassena put his chin on Zein’s shoulder, tilting his head adorably while circling his arms around the guide’s waist.

One thing a quiet house gave them was definitely more intimate times; more cuddles and just spending time with just the two of them. Although...rather than the twins’ absence, most of it was because Lucy no longer needed constant supervision, so Zein didn’t have to be around her all the time like before.

"Were you thinking about our boys?" the esper asked again, kissing the fair neck softly.

"That’s you," Zein chuckled, leaning back to the warm chest behind him. "I’m thinking about Lucy."

"Oh?" Bassena pulled back, turning his head in the direction of their daughter’s bedroom, where Lucy was sleeping under the watchful eyes of his children of darkness. "Why? What’s wrong? She looks fine."

"She is fine," Zein nodded. He sipped on the warm cocoa and let the sweet liquid caress his system. "She just...had been dreaming about her past life."

"What?" Bassena widened his eyes. "You mean...as Setnath?"

Zein shook his head and turned around so he could face his esper. "As Lucre, to be exact--at least so far. Although..." he frowned slightly. "I’m not sure how far the dream will continue."

Zein proceeded to tell Bassena about the dreams that Lucy said she had. Strange dreams, she called them. She usually forgot the dream right away, but recalled them when she saw something similar.

"And she wasn’t looking at it from a third point of view, but as the one who fought?" Bassena stroked his chin.

"Yep," Zein nodded. "Said there were swords, spears, and arrows--maybe more, but she couldn’t name them yet."

"Hmm..."

"Remember what the original name of the organization that House Ishtera made?"

Bassena raised his brow. "The Templars of Arms Master?"

Zein nodded. "Arms Master is Setnath’s moniker," he said. "That’s because as Lucre, he used all kinds of weapons to fight, instead of sticking into one."

"Oh...like Ashur?"

"Mm," Zein tapped on his mug again. "He also crafted his own weapons, if I recall correctly. When he achieved godhood, his ability was translated to his moniker."

"I see...so it really is him," Bassena nodded. He observed his husband’s face and asked carefully. "What...what do you think it means? Her dreaming about it, I mean..."

Zein turned around again, leaning on the railing and cast his gaze at the sparkling sea. "Bas...what if she remembers her past life?" he asked instead. "What if, someday, she woke up with the memory of Lucre or Setnath?"

Bassena held the hands holding the mug; Zein didn’t even realize he was trembling. Enveloping his worried husband in his warmth, he kissed the guide’s temple. "You know...that’s what I had always been worried about in the past."

"Ah..." Zein blinked. Yeah; originally, he was supposed to be the vessel for Setnath’s rebirth.

"And I can’t say I’m not worried about our daughter, but..." Bassena smiled, the stretched lips could be felt against the guide’s skin. "The soul itself had been Lucre from the start, and yet...she’s still our daughter, isn’t she?"

"Of course, but..."

"Even if she changes later because of her past life, the life she has as Lucy, as our daughter, is not false either," Bassena said. "Right?"

"Yeah," Zein exhaled softly, and as he looked back, a smile gradually appeared on his lips. "Yeah, she’s still our daughter no matter what."

Bassena caught the smiling lips with his own, tightening his hold around the guide. Now that he had done his role as the reassuring husband, he could return to be Zein’s whiny baby. "Well, I’m saying all this, but I don’t know how I would react if it’s really happening, so..."

Zein laughed and ruffled the platinum hair on his shoulder. "You mean like how you didn’t like being called ’Baba’ but got sad when they stopped using it?"

"Ugh..."

"Lucy will stop calling you Baba soon."

"Noo!"

Zein laughed and kissed the esper back to their bedroom, hoping that their daughter wouldn’t be awake from the noises. Well...hoping that she didn’t have those strange dreams too much.

At least, the toddler Lucy only thought it was a dream. She couldn’t remember most of her dreams much, and everything just seemed exciting for her. The more she grew up, however, the more he could think deeply about those frequent dreams.

"Papa...Lu thinks it’s not just a dream," the girl muttered one day while feeding the fish in their giant aquarium with his father.

The seven-year-old had shifted from baby talk and Bassena’s nightmare of not being called ’Baba’ cutely had arrived. But she still called Zein ’Papa’, unlike the twins who called him ’Father’.

Maybe because she wanted to stay cute.

Zein glanced at his slightly frowning daughter before wiping his hands and stepping back from the fish tank. "The one where you fight monsters?"

"Yeah..."

Taking a deep breath without his daughter’s noticing, Zein asked. "Why do you think so?"

Lucy thought about it while tapping on the fish tank’s surface, watching the fish come to her as if they were being summoned. "It’s...too clear," she said. "And it always continues, like...hmm...like movies! Or, or--series!"

"Like the animation show you always watch with Nari?" Zein asked while walking to the mini drink bar on the corner--although there was no alcoholic drink there.

"Yes! Hehe..."

Zein poured an apple juice for himself to calm his rising heart, watching his daughter playing with the fish. They always followed her around, just like they always followed Zein in the past, and Lucy loved it so much. She would jump left to right to see them moving fast, and laughing cheerfully at all the bubbles that those movements created.

And she loved, loved it when her parents finally allowed her to ride the sea serpent around. When Auntie Rina promised her a diving adventure once she was older, Lucy had spent days dreaming about swimming in the deep sea.

Zein had asked Frejya in the past, but it didn’t seem like Lucre or Setnath had anything special with water, which means this excitement about water was all Zein’s. And it had been inherited by his daughter.

Seeing her like this, there was no way anyone could say that she wasn’t his and Bassena’s daughter, wasn’t there?

"Then, what do you think it is?" Zein finally managed to ask after taking a seat on the couch in front of the fish tank.

"Ngg..." Lucy mused while tapping her lips. "Future?"

When Zein reacted with an arched brow, the girl suddenly gasped and plopped beside his father. "Papa, Papa--this show the other day, someone can see the future you know..."

Zein chuckled. "And you think that’s what happened?"

"Why not?" the girl’s shrugged. "Lu can be a magical girl if Lu wants."

"You are a magical girl," Zein laughed. Like, literally. In every sense, her existence itself was magical. "How’s your mana training?"

"Hmph--of course Lu did well!" she patted her chest proudly. "Lu is a genius!"

"Your Dad tells you that?"

"Mm!"

Bassena also said Kar and Asa were geniuses, but she didn’t have to know that. And, well...Zein didn’t want to be vain, but he did think his children were smart and skillful. At least, based on the reports he received.

"Hmm...does that mean the monsters will roam around the street in the future?"

Lucy gasped again. "Oh, no! That’s horrible, Papa!

Lu don’t wanna that!"

"I don’t want that either," Zein nodded.

"Mm..." Lucy narrowed her eyes to think of another possibility. "Oh, but there’s dungeon that looks like a city, right? Daddy told Lu," she stroked her chin seriously. "Maybe Lu fights inside a dungeon?"

"Maybe..."

Seeing her father’s halfhearted reply, Lucy pursed her lips. "Papa don’t believe Lu!"

Zein smiled and patted the girl’s head as consolation, but did not refute the accusation. "Hmph! It’s okay, Lu loves Papa anyway."

The girl dove to hug Zein, and he chuckled while continuing to pat the platinum hair lovingly. "I love you too, baby."

"What about me?"

Zein scoffed at the man who suddenly appeared beside them. He wondered how long Bassena had been staying by the door, just taking their pictures as usual before swooping in. "Do you even need to ask?"

"What about me?" the esper insisted, pouting.

Zein rolled his eyes before reaching out and patting the esper’s cheek. "Yes, yes--I love you, big baby."

"But Papa loves Lu the most, right?" Lucy cheekily responded.

"Girl?" Bassena shot a look at his daughter.

"But Lu look like you, Daddy--and Lu is cuter," she cupped her cheeks and batted her eyelashes--just as Sister Nari taught her.

"Says who?"

"Says Papa!"

Bassena gasped. "Honey!"

"Can’t I love all my babies equally?" Zein sighed.

"That is syintifically impossible, Papa."

Bassena clicked his tongue. "Don’t believe everything your Uncle Shin says."

"Really? But Uncle Shin said he’s smarter than you, Daddy," Lucy whispered scandalously.

"That’s why you shouldn’t believe everything he said, Princess."

They giggled while Zein smiled in the middle of his two precious babies, also thinking about his other two precious babies in another city. Stroking the long platinum hair, Zein thought that the girl was truly their daughter, no matter what.

But one day, during a stormy afternoon right before her tenth birthday, the girl came to Zein and whispered.

"Papa..."

"Hmm?" Zein frowned at her daughter’s sullen expression. She looked very serious, hugging quite a thick book she had been reading for days after borrowing it from Nari. "What’s wrong, Lucy?"

Zein took a seat in front of the fireplace and pulled his daughter close, holding her elbows since she was still gripping the book.

"Another dream?" Zein asked.

Lucy nodded wordlessly, and she held the book even tighter.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Zein waited patiently, but he couldn’t help but feel anxious again, even after all these years. Lucy had told him about the dreams many times before, but she never had this kind of complicated expression.

After a minute of silence, she finally opened her mouth, speaking quietly despite no one there but them. "Papa...I think...I think it’s not a dream of the future."

She bit her lips and looked at her father with a deep frown.

"I think...it’s my past life."