Chapter 73: Quiet Days and issues
They returned to Englassia without trouble.
Rimuri had a meeting with Yuuki that she decided to handle alone. Varion stayed with the kids, sitting on a low wall outside the Freedom Association building while the five of them talked over each other about everything that had happened. By the time Rimuri came back out, Yuuki had been successfully distracted with a large stack of manga and a vague promise of more later. The kids were officially safe. No nation would be coming to claim them.
After that the next 2 weeks settled into a strange, peaceful rhythm.
With their bodies no longer breaking down from the inside, the five children became noticeably more energetic and lively. Kenya especially seemed to have twice the energy he used to, constantly challenging anyone he could to a fight. Alice and Ryota followed his lead more often than not. Gale tried to act like the responsible one and failed half the time. Chloe was quieter, as of late often lost in thought about something.
Varion handled all of it with the same calm he used to use on seven young Dragon Slayers at once. To him, this was nothing.
He sparred with them in the mornings. Let Kenya try to land a hit and then casually redirected him without even looking, then knocking him away. When the boy got frustrated, Varion simply ruffled his hair and told him to try again. The other kids quickly learned that complaining got them nowhere, but putting in effort always earned his approval.
Chloe had also started sticking close to him without ever really saying why.
Sometimes she would just sit near him while he watched the others train. Other times she would quietly take the open spot beside him when they ate. Once, when they were just watching the others spar she leaned against his side falling asleep. He noticed it more and more as the weeks went on, she was getting clingy, not that he minded much she was a kid.
Rimuri watched all of it from a distance more than once.
She saw the way the kids laughed when Varion dryly commented on Kenya's footwork. She saw Chloe leaning against his side like it was the most natural place in the world to be. She saw him correct Gale's grip on a practice sword with the same patience he used for everything else.
A soft smile found its way onto her face before she even realized it.
Then a random thought hit her without warning.
'He'd be a good father.'
The image that followed was immediate and vivid, a small version of both of them, maybe with her blue hair and his eyes, running around while he pretended to be annoyed and failed completely. Her face went nuclear red. She clamped both hands over her cheeks, eyes spinning with embarrassed swirl marks as a tiny, strangled "kyaaaa" escaped her throat. She spun around so fast she nearly walked into a wall, muttering under her breath about stupid thoughts and stupid handsome dragon men.
She did not look at him again for the rest of the afternoon.
A few days later after nagging him for an hour straight, Kenya wore varion down and convinced him to try out a sword.
"Come on, just try it once!" the boy begged, holding out a practice sword with both hands. "I wanna see you use a sword, I can already imagine it!"
"I don't need one," Varion said mildly.
"Please?" Kenya stretched the word out, eyes wide. "Just once. I bet you'd be amazing with it."
Varion looked at the sword, then at the boy's hopeful face. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he sighed then relented.
"…Fine, hand it over."
He took the practice blade. The moment his fingers closed around the hilt, It felt… natural. Comfortable in a way it had no real reason to be.
He gave it a test swing, his arm pivoted in a persistent clean motion that made it look like he'd done it hundreds of times. Then he took a few more putting more force and effort behind them. Each one felt like his instincts knew what to do and his body just followed a preset path.
Varion stopped and stared at the sword for a second longer than necessary, brows faintly drawn together.
'Huh, weird.'
He handed the sword back to Kenya, ruffled the boy's hair, and told him to keep practicing. Kenya stared at him in awe and immediately launched into training again.
'Weird kid, all I did was swing a sword a few times. Why did he look so stunned?'
Chloe sat on the grass nearby and watched the whole exchange in silence. She stared at Varion as a strange mix of feeling bubbling in her chest, regret, hope, sadness, and fear that something bad was about to happen to him soon.
That night, in Rimuri's and Varion's temporary room everything was quiet except for the soft sound of rain against the window.
Rimuri lay half on top of him, cheek resting against his chest, using him as a cuddle pillow. Her fingers traced idle patterns across his shirt. Varion's hand moved slowly through her hair in an almost automatic pattern that was built out of habit.
"Chloe's gotten really clingy," Rimuri said after a while, voice warm with quiet amusement. "She's been following you around like a little duckling ever since the Dwelling."
Varion let out a low chuckle.
"Yeah… she's been acting a little weird, hasn't she?" He glanced down at her with a faint smirk. "Maybe she just likes me more than you now." he teased.
Rimuri's head snapped up. She stared at him for a second, then pouted, cheeks puffing slightly.
"Excuse me?"
He only grinned at her as if saying you heard me. Rimuri held the pout for another moment before huffing and dropping her head back onto his chest.
"Shut up," she muttered, though there was no real heat in it. She nuzzled closer, settling against his chest again as they fell back into a content silence.
For a while, neither of them spoke. As they let the rain fill comfortable silence. Rimuri's fingers kept tracing slow patterns across his shirt, her thoughts drifting.
Then, almost without meaning to, a stray thought she had slipped out.
"…Have you ever thought about having kids… you know,one day…?" she started mumbling towards the end, getting embarrassed. As she waited expecting some kind of warm response Varion would normally give.
She felt his emotions abruptly shift and drop from their content happiness to a deep aching sadness and resignation
Rimuri's eyes snapped open wide as she pushed herself up just enough to look at his face.
"Varion?" she asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"
He didn't answer right away. Instead he reached for her hand, threading their fingers together carefully. His thumb brushed over her knuckles once, slow and absent.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I've thought about it a lot, actually."
Rimuri waited, sensing a but.
"But it's basically impossible."
The words were calm. Resigned. Like he had already accepted them as fact.
Before she could speak, Great Sage cut in, precise and even.
[As stated before, Master Varion, it is not impossible.]
Rimuri's head lifted slightly as a bit of hope came back to her.
[However, the probability remains extremely low. This assessment is based on the information currently available.]
[Master Varion's nature as a Star Dragonoid carrying a True Dragon factor, combined with the extreme purity of his stardust energy, creates severe compatibility issues with material lifeforms. Stable conception under normal conditions is exceedingly difficult. This limitation is a racial trait that has always been present in Master.]
[Current estimated probabilities:]
[Rimuri Tempest — 6%.]
[Prinz Grimwald — 0.8%.]
[Ultear Milkovich — 0.6%.]
[Brandish μ — 0.5%.]
[Erza Scarlet — 0.5%.]
[Mirajane Strauss — 0.4%.]
[Lucy Heartfilia — 0.3%.]
Each number landed like a small punch to her stomach. Rimuri could feel the way Varion felt about this. He had wanted this, he still did want this, but he simply stopped expecting it. Resigning himself to the fact it wasn't gonna happen.
A small, private ache stirred in her own chest. She didn't acknowledge it directly, focusing more on Varion at the moment.
"…Why didn't you tell me?" she asked softly.
Varion lifted their joined hands and pressed a slow kiss to her knuckles, then to her forehead. His voice stayed quiet.
"I didn't want to make you sad. So I left it until it came up."
Rimuri's eyes burned. She dropped back down against him and wrapped both arms around him tightly, pressing her face into his chest. The soul corridor carried all the feelings and comfort she couldn't put into words.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Rimuri's voice came out quieter than before.
"Great Sage… start looking into every possible method. This is a long term goal, I don't care how long it takes. We're going to find a way."
[Understood.]
She stayed where she was for a few more seconds before lifting her head just enough to meet his eyes. Her expression was soft, stubborn, and gently pained all at once.
"I'm not asking you to believe it'll happen," she said. "I just… don't want you to give up fully. If there's even a chance, I want us to look for it."
Varion was silent for a long moment. His hand moved slowly up her back, then settled between her shoulder blades. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet and tired, but not closed off. She'd take that as a win.
"…Alright."
Rimuri leaned in and kissed him.
Varion sighed softly into it, arm tightening around her as he pulled her closer. The sadness was still there. But if she wanted to keep looking… then he would stay beside her while she did.
The rain continued against the window.
Neither of them spoke again for a long while.