(This chapter was uploaded on Wednesday 13/December/2023 8:00 PM, timezone GMT+3)
('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the notes at the end of the chapter.
"..." small moment of silence
"Talking"
"He-" Someone was interrupted.
'Thinking'
[Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names]
(Flashback)
(PoV)
(Line Break)
(3rd person PoV)
"Mommy?" 'Wait... that sounded somewhat wrong'
Nephelont felt weird. That word came out all on its own. He didn't know it was the way the previous Nephelont called his mother. He also forgot that this was the way he called the mother he left in the care of the previous Nephelont, back in the other world.
Ais hugged his arm tighter when she heard something she had not heard him saying for years.
"He really called her that!" Agni had a little laugh when she heard her old man of a father call his mother in such a childish way. Augustus gave her a smack that put her to a pouty silence.
Nephelont turned her way and was confused. He felt that they were family, that they were close, but he did not 'recall' who they were to him.
"Mommy, I'm sorry to say that I may have forgotten everyone standing there. So, who are those people over there? I'm especially curious about that beauty" 'Wait a minute now. Why did I say something that could be misinterpreted as flirting? I don't want to offend any of them this early, or at all' Nephelont said words he did not mean to while pointing at Eucleia. He did not know what the result would be.
To his surprise, Eucleia disappeared from her place, and he felt her weight lying on him. He saw her hugging him.
"That didn't offend you, did it?" Nephelont asked awkwardly.
"I am happy. My husband still finds me a beautiful woman" Eucleia's anxiousness was washed away when she heard him call Ais 'mommy' and then compliment her. The fact Ais hugged him like that without a shred of hesitation should have made it obvious.
"Dad~ You shouldn't flirt with mom here~" Agni whispered in his ear as she as well hugged him... by latching onto his head.
"This is my throne now!" She declared his head as her throne and was not going to surrender it to anyone.
Nephelont did not feel it when two other rabbits latched onto him. He was out of it when he heard Agni's words.
'Husband? Dad? Who? And who is this mom? Did she mean me? Then does this mean I'm a married man with kids? How? What? When? Am I even sure that I heard that correctly?' Nephelont was questioning his hearing.
Nephelont dethroned Agni and hanged her in front of his eyes.
"Who is your dad again?" Nephelont felt Eucleia's arms take a better hold of him. 'Does she fear me going somewhere without her? Did the previous Nephelont do that to her?'
"You are, to the four of us. And this woman here's our mom. In other words, this woman's your wife, dad" Agni threw a truth bomb at his mind.
"Mommy, is it true?" 'If this is how the 23 years old Nephelont called his mother, then I should do the same. I don't want her to feel distant when she looked so relieved and happy from just seeing me' Nephelont turned to Ais. If she, as Nephelont's mother, confirmed something, then it is true.
"Un. You were childhood sweethearts who married each other. You were so in love that it made some people lose their minds" Ais said without removing her face from his scales. They were hard, but they were comforting her.
'I didn't think for a moment that this Nephelont guy was so lucky to have a loving family. And now, I'm living his life. Am I lucky, then?'
'P-' 'Whatever type of instinct you are, shut up' Nephelont felt some weird things about to move somewhere. He did not want to scar the innocence of the four who looked like oversized children. He did not want his privates to be exposed to others, either.
"Mommy, could you do their introductions?"
"Tiona, your other mommy. Ludwig and Raya, your younger siblings. Eucleia, your wife. Thumper, Agni, Clementina and Augustus, your four children. Meteria and Alfia, your gramma and great aunt. Haruhime, Mikoto, Aisha, Cassandra and Daphne, your aunts. Welf, your father-in-law" Ais pointed almost at everyone. She missed a very important person.
"Mommy, who is that upset and sulking rabbit? You left him out" Nephelont saw the left-out person, a very lonely-looking rabbit, who was leaning on the wall while giving them his back.
"Hey!" The rabbit turned towards them with a sense of denial that was honed over decades.
"Bell, your dad" Nephelont froze all over.
'My father's a rabbit? How? When did humans have a way to breed with rabbits?' Bell was still in the form his magic gave him.
After that, Ais returned to laying herself at his arm.
"Huggies?" Nephelont asked them while his gaze unconsciously hovered a little longer over Raya.
"I knew it! Elder brother still has something for me!" Raya jumped at his face and gave him a kiss between his eyes.
"Come again?"
"Ignore her, big brother. Raya loves to stuff innuendo in her words when it's about you"
"Well, can everyone get off me for a second?"
"What...?" Ais's face displayed her hurt feelings.
"Sorry, mommy. I need to do something, and I feared I might cause you to be hurt"
"Ah" Ais's face returned to normal, with an extra sparkle.
Eucleia was the only one who did not move away. Rather, she did not budge. When they focused, they noticed that Eucleia fell asleep while hugging him. Her face lost some tension that no one remembers being there. They were so used to her tensed face that nobody, bar her parents, remembered it after the first two years.
"It seems we will need to wait for a while" Nephelont apologetically said.
Nephelont rolled to the side Eucleia was not clinging onto. As her body was dragged along with him, he put a wing under her and put the other over her. He rolled his wings, so they clamped on her, securing her in a more comfortable sleeping position. He wrapped his tail over her legs to avoid them being angled the wrong way for a prolonged period.
"Could we wait for her to wake up?" Nephelont asked them as his hands went to start redoing her braid all on their own. He was unconsciously wary of the sharp tips of his claws.
"Alfia, look at them being all lovey-dovey right after reuniting" Meteria was prodding an answer out of Alfia, who admired the romantic act silently. Even after forgetting her, he still cared.
"I can't even be angry for not being first now" Raya conceded.
Haruhime was crying rivers on the side, being supported by the other aunts. She was the one readily showing her relief among the five of them.
Welf just stood there smiling, not interrupting his daughter's blessed moments. He was consoling Bell, who was called a rabbit again for the nth time. Nobody could keep count of how many times that happened.
'I wonder, is it a lingering feeling from the previous Nephelont? I have the urge to care for Eucleia as if I knew her for my whole life, as if she had been my wife for just as long'
'It is, physical body. Now that you are Nephelont Cranel, his family has become yours too' Allen gave him their opinion.
'I guess that's true. I entrusted him with my family, and he entrusted me with his family. I will do the best I can to fill in his spot for him'
"While she is sleeping, can someone remind me how we called each other? I want her mind to be at ease"
"You called her your Clea and she called you Bunbun" Bell took a swift strike of revenge against Nephelont.
"Why Bunbun of all things?" Nephelont was a little distraught.
"While you were a human, you looked more like a rabbit than a Hume bunny does"
"Ah! Just like you, dad!" Nephelont retaliated with a devastating strike of his own.
"Little bro, he got you" Welf almost laughed.
Nephelont started absorbing all the light from around her to give her a more sleep-ready environment. He wondered why he was braiding her hair so naturally.
"You always did this, every morning" Ais gave him an answer to his unasked question.
"A mother's intuition" She made a victory sign with her hands for doing it another time.
"A mother's intuition's one scary thing" Ais nodded her head. Although Meteria was not her mother, she had that 'mother's intuition' activate on Ais on many occasions.
"It did, indeed" Meteria frightened Ais, to the point of her soul jumping out of her mouth, as she spoke over her shoulders. A mother's intuition was one scary thing indeed.
A few minutes went by before the crying mess that was Haruhime calmed down. By then, Eucleia was starting to stir awake.
"Bunbun, you should wait until we are in front of the mirror to do this" Eucleia sleepily said. She thought she had this dream again, where Nephelont braided her hair to his liking while she was sleeping. That was until she was reminded of what happened and where she was when her hands perceived scales all around her.
"Have you had enough of that nap, my Clea?" Nephelont said as he finished her braid and tied it.
"Bunbun... you... you are really here, aren't you?" Eucleia started tearing up.
"Yes, I'm here. I'm staying here with you and our children, my Clea" Nephelont whispered in her ear as he kissed her forehead. He slowly returned the light around her to its usual level and saw her teary eyes. He hugged her tighter as she wrapped her arms around him and cried out her anxiety, all her worries, fear and more. She spilled them along with her tears, as her soul found solace in her other half once again.
Eucleia continued crying until she fell asleep. Nephelont prevented light from reaching her again. He closed his eyes to take a rest with her, since his fight with Udaeus still had an effect on him.
"I feel them. I still remember my reunion with my dear husband, where I cried myself to sleep like a young maiden" Meteria remembered the day her husband was revived like she once was. It was a memory that stuck with her, a blessing.
"You were still 17 at the time, still a young maiden. And I still hate him" Alfia was going to take a step forward but tripped on a crystal near her foot. The crystal gave way to reveal a bag of gems behind it.
"They're mine. Nobody touches them" Nephelont said as he closed his eyes again. He slept with Eucleia in his embrace.
(Nephelont's PoV)
Allen, tell me I was dreaming?
'You were not dreaming, physical body. You were found by your family, including a wife and quadruplets for children'
Well, let's get to it.
"My Clea, wake up" I whispered in her ear to wake her up.
"Mnnn~" She squirmed cutely in my arms. She had a good balance of cute and beautiful.
"My Clea, wake up" I repeated the same words, hoping for the same cute reaction.
I was a little disappointed when she just turned to the side and buried her face in my chest. Still, her bed hair was a marvel to see. It was still beautiful on her, despite it being bed hair.
"It may be daring of me, but things need to be done" I licked her face.
I remember humans disliking others licking their faces, but I'm not really a human right now. Forget about me, is she human?
"Agni...!" I already returned the light around her to its regular levels. That allowed me to see her disturbed face become a shocked one, then turn to absolute embarrassment. She flushed to a very unhealthy degree. Wanting to hide her face, she took one of my wings to cover herself with it.
"Mom~ Dad just licked your beautiful face~" It seems this Agni is a naughty child.
"That's daring, my little rabbit" Gramma Meteria said with a fond look in her eyes.
"We have things to do, gramma"
Now that I turned my attention back to her, Eucleia didn't move at all since she noticed it was me who licked her face. Is she that embarrassed? Is that why there are scales like mine appearing on her cheeks?
...
Scales!? Allen, is she the same as me?
'Both of you are of the same species. The only difference is that you are a monster while she is not'
That means I can take a more human form?
'You can take on a human form. It does not include clothes'
"Does anyone have extra clothes on hand?"
"The only spares we brought are for the children. And considering the size difference..." Father answered me and looked back and forth between me and the kids. I see what he thinks.
"There will be no problem"
They looked at me in confusion and a bit of concern. I'm sane, okay?
"What? Did I say something weird?"
"Don't you see the size difference?" Alfia was a bit harsh with her tone, but maybe, just maybe, they didn't know of some of the abilities our species have?
'Possible'
"I see, you don't know"
"What do you mean?" Alfia was opening her eyes, which agitated some emotion within me that I didn't care to know.
"My Clea, can we separate for a moment? I want to show you something"
"Um" She agreed to undo my wings from around her, although there was some reluctance from her side. I guess she felt the separation between her and the previous Nephelont.
I unfurled my wings and tail, letting her get up. I felt some emptiness. Another lingering feeling?
'Positive'
"So, watch this!" I said excitedly as I shrunk to the same height as the kids.
"Whoa! That's so cool, dad! Teach me!" Agni jumped up and down while demanding I teach her how to do this.
"You will need to wait. As I now demand some praise from mommy" I got attacked by a pair of very dangerous women, a blond and an albino.
"Cute!" Gramma, calm down.
"Only if your eyes weren't covered in shadows... *sigh*" Alfia sighed. Was she disappointed? And what's that about a shadow?
'Your eyes have a natural shadow cast over them. You can undo it, hastening your mind recovery speed'
I undid it. I got jumped by a bunch of other people, including another blond, another albino and five redheads.
"CUTE!!" This was their collective opinion of my appearance.
"You sure you are almost 30?" Agni made fun of me.
"Sure am. And you can't sit on your throne with me this small" I refuted with a smug look on my face, fighting against a wave of hugging monsters in human skin.
(After a while)
Day 9, 4:32 AM.
"Are you done cuddling me? I gotta go change and wear clothes, you see?"
"We did not get enough yet, dear" Alfia, who looked the most rigid, was quite affectionate with me. I'm starting to wonder if she was pretending before.
(AN: For those trying to make up excuses to say no to Alfia's new side, see this first)
I was eventually let free. I moved to a corner where no one sees me change my form.
As I slowly took the human form, I observed a third of my height gone. I changed sizes again to fit the clothes.
I felt some weird shenanigans happening between my legs, looking down only to go slack jawed when I saw an extra.
I quickly diverted my attention from that by focusing on putting the clothes on. They were a bit baggy, as the children still had some baby fat on them, but that was okay. The important thing was the height.
Whoa there, what's that?
I grabbed the shining golden threads to discover that they were my locks, my fair hair... A man's fair hair, I might add.
Why is it three times as long as I am tall?
'Unknown reasons'
Can I turn only one part of me into a dragon's?
'Positive'
My arms, especially the claws if possible.
'Positive'
When Allen helped me do that, I went on it. I tried to cut my hair. I failed. I tried again, I failed again. I kept trying until my claws gave in and broke before any singular hair was even scratched.
What's this damned hair made of?
'Normal hair covered in a layer of reinforced crystals. It is irreversible. Those crystals are reinforced by default'
(3rd person PoV)
They waited for Nephelont to come back with bated breath. Some were curious if anything about him had changed.
They heard the footsteps his bare feet made along the crystal surface of this room. They turned around to see a young ma-... woman?
There came a human of unrecognizable gender. Their hair was a long golden river, three times their height in length. Their eyes a mismatched golden and crimson, the right eye being the crimson one.
The person looked like a rabbit whose fur was let free, to grow as furry as a rabbit could get.
The person also lacked a visible Adam's apple.
The face was that of an effeminate human, with no definitive signs of either gender.
If not for that, the person would have been an exact copy of Bell. The person's face was beat red, rivaling the infamy of the tomato boy from the past.
"I knew you weren't much of a man, bodywise, but this's too much, dad" Agni commented, with Bell's expression being the most frustrated among them.
Bell and the previous Nephelont had theorized about a 'rabbit's curse' plaguing their bloodline. They did not know the source or how to deal with it. Bell hoped that reincarnation could have solved it from his son's side, but that hope collapsed.
"Shut up!" Nephelont held Agni by the shoulders and shook her hard. She almost vomited yesterday's dinner.
"Anyway, was I always... this effeminate?" Nephelont's voice did not help his case. It was a high-pitched voice.
"You were" Ais said as she hugged him again.
"What is it with your hair, son?" Bell asked him in concern. It was clear he saw this coming a mile away.
"I tried to cut it with my claws, but I discovered it is covered in a layer of hard crystals. They are reinforced to the limit. Even a lone hair was too much for my claws to cut" Nephelont felt something important slip off his mind. For a moment, he felt like it may be okay looking as he does, if only to get affectionately hugged by Ais, like right now.
'NOO! I'M A MAN! I SHOULD FIND A WAY TO REVERSE THIS! Or should I? Maybe it's fine? NOO!' He was going through a crisis, trying to come to terms with how he looks like an androgynous human of no specific gender while being an honest-to-god man.
"Why did you call me a beauty when you laid your eyes on me? What did you find beautiful in me?" Eucleia squatted down to ask him. There was a sense of urgency in her voice. She was trying to confirm something with this question.
"I... don't know. I just did it without much thought on the why" Eucleia's face was about to change when Nephelont started talking again. "But, if there was a thing I would like about your appearance, it would be how you are way more muscular than the average woman. Mind you, it was in such a balanced way that it became a beautiful thing on you without ruining the beauty of the rest of your body. Maybe your hair too, having both a fiery red and an icy blue. Your eye, being the color it is, it calms me down looking at it. Lastly, you being only taller than I am by a bit, making it appealing to the idea of curling in your arms and sleeping. Although, I would rather be the one doing the hugg-.... Why are you crying?" Nephelont stopped at the last words. He saw Eucleia crying, and his hands started wiping her oversized tears away.
"I asked you the same question before, and you gave me the same answer, down to the letter. I love you, Bunbun" She pressed him to her face.
"Soft" That was all that was on Nephelont's mind when the sensation of Eucleia's cheeks reached him.
"This's awkward" Agni wanted to look away, but she was too late. She already saw it.
"It is" Augustus agreed with her. If these two were not their parents, they would have been in a big fight with them for being so love-struck in public.
Clementina was gushing at her parents' actions and nodding on the side while Thumper closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. Thumper's face was not very okay taking this in.
(End of Chapter)
Have a nice time, ladies and gentlemen.