Nathaniel:

I recheck if I have everything with me. My bottomless bag is full of my things, and Alex’s. Yet, I didn’t take anything of Tim’s. For I will be going to Ursula 590 only with our sons, and a bottomless bag.

“Wait, Nate,” I hear Tim call out to me. Quickly, I pick up Alex, and prepare to get out of the crystal. Something blocks me, and I am left standing in the hotel room with my son in my arms. Seeing Tim like this, with puffy red shot eyes, and his hair all tousled, makes me take a step back.

“Huh, guess I really had to go take a shower, before I came to speak with you,” Tim says. I clutch at Alex tighter.

“I am getting a full custody,” I tell my husband. Yes, it was Tim who gave birth to Alex, if you can call using mana to produce babies giving birth. Still, I can’t live without the baby. He is my entire world now.

“Before you dump my ass, I have to show you something. I got reprogrammed by Wei, Nate. You don’t have to fear me,” a screen appears before my eyes. I can see that Tim’s name is written in bold black letters. Under his name, there is Wei’s, along with the status of Dungeon Master. I blink at that. Just how is this supposed to calm me down?

“So, what of it?” I ask. Tim scrolls down the contract, to point at the bold red letters.

“I don’t have any intention of going into a coma,” he says. I narrow my eyes at the screen, after reading the entire fine print.

“It says in here that there will be a penalty only if you endanger Wei. So, you can still murder to your heart’s content, is it not so?” I snap at him. Alex begins to fuss in my arms. His little hands are reaching out towards Tim.

“I didn’t do it for the fun of it,” Tim protests. Alex begins to whimper. Tim moves closer to us. A part of me wants for him to stay in the doorway. Yet, when he reaches out to take a hold of our son, I let him.

I can’t kid myself. He is the one who blocked my powers and stopped me from going outside the crystal. Apart from my normal human shamanic powers, I also have a set of dungeon core abilities. It just never occurred to me, up to now, that he can block them.

“You took a life, Tim,” I hiss at him. Alex blinks at me, and then scrunches up his little face. The tears begin to fall, as he makes it obvious, he has a strong pair of lungs.

“I don’t regret it,” Tim begins to rock Alex back and forth. “What is one life, compared to everyone in the crystal? Do you not believe that we would have died, if Ferenc and I hadn’t acted?”

He holds up Alex, so I can see him better.

“He is not even a week old. He would have died. Not from something merciful, but from mana acid. He is dungeon made, Nate. All the weapons that can harm a dungeon core, can harm him. Just look at him. Do you believe he wouldn’t have understood what was happening? Nate, he can understand just about everything. I made him this way,” Alex gives out a wail so pitiful, I go to him. Soon, I am kissing his forehead. That stops the second wail at the beginning.

Tim places the baby back in my hands.

“Look, Nate. I said I’ll give you a divorce, but don’t ask for more than that. I will protect my family, even if its members dig their feet in the sand, as a plasma ray rushes towards them,” I frown at the comparison.

“It is not like that,” I tell him, as I rock Alex back and forth. “I want to protect this family as well.”

“By giving up on it?” Tim asks, hurt in his voice. I peer into his shamrock eyes. There is so much hurt in them, but also determination. He is planning something.

“What have you done?” I ask.

“What I had to. We are leaving this planet, and going to a place that only my father knows about. Take a good look at this crystal because you will remain in it until the danger passes,” he folds his arms over his chest, and stares me down.

“You can’t do this,” I mumble, going into a full-blown panic attack. Did Tim take over Wei’s crystal? Is the contract just a front? What if he has lost his grip on reality, and wants to be a murder dungeon core now?

“I can because I must. Nate, you might find it hard to accept this turn of events, but you will not try to leave this room, while we are on a rocket. You won’t leave the crystal either, for as long as there is a danger for all of us,” There is a danger in Tim’s tone. I wonder if he is going to tie me up, if I try to run? Is this the way I want Alex to see me? Afraid, and tied down?

No, I do not wish for my child to see me like this. I look Tim in the eyes. His shamrocks are cold on the surface. I wonder if he has cooled towards me as well.

“Let us say I stay in here. Give us a second chance,” more for Alex and Tom, than for Tim. But I don’t tell him that. “Can you promise me you won’t kill again?”

“I am sorry,” Tim says, and then takes a hold of my arm. “But if I have to choose between the life of someone who attacked my family, and the lives of my family members, then the choice is clear.”

“Tim! Hear me, and stop with this merciless act! You are better than this, Tim Samkiel. Remember when you nearly drowned the Dru’dru? You held yourself back, then. Think about what stopped you during that time, and just do the same as you did back then,” I place an arm around him, and pull him into a hug. He breathes in my scent, nose buried in my hair.

“I wish I could. But Wei needs protection. The Dru’dru are peaceful. It will be up to the elves and I, to protect us all. Come on, let us lay down. In the morning, we will have a new home. We can terraform, alongside Rodger. You won’t even notice when the time has passed,” Tim tries to assure me.

I let him lay us on the bed, with Alex in the middle. We both rest a hand on his tummy. Alex places both of his hands over our own, and takes a hold of our ring fingers. He looks first at me, and then at Tim. With a soft smile, the baby begins to play with our wedding rings.

I realize something, then. There is no way that I can leave Tim. He gave me Alex, he protected me. We are responsible for Tom. 

If I trample on all of that, and show my back to him, what will become of him? Of my dear goofball of a shamrock, whose strawberry-blonde curls are the same shade, as the setting sun?

No, I won’t leave him. But I will be his moral code, from now on. No matter how hard that ends up being.

I promised him forever, and I will deliver. In sickness, health, joy and sorrow.