After taking a few minutes to recover both emotionally and physically — much to his relief, Icetales realized that he could channel the soothing energy of Heal Bell once more — the two foxes marched toward the center, leaving behind that distorted space source of so much grief. They was more they needed to do, after all.
“C’mon! We’ve gotta hurry! My biodad needs all the help he can get, and as a son I’ve gotta lend him a paw!” incited Petram, rushing ahead. He was still getting used to that slightly different body, and had to regulate his pacing much more now.
Though he didn’t mind that too much, mainly because of one thing: he was born, somehow.
Real.
Tangible.
No more just a walking dream.
He could become his own person, and he couldn’t wait to see what kinds of stuff he could do now. But as excited as he was, all his plans had to wait: first things first, they had to stop Mommy and make sure that she didn’t cause any more damage.
“Um, yes. Our common patron might be powerful and have two great allies by his side, but Miss Eien is a truly formidable opponent,” mused Icetales, flapping his ears a few times. He could clearly hear the distant noises of warfare, and the titanic figure of the Eternatus could be seen from their location. “By the heavens, she is… massive.”
Petram grinned. “A big lady for a big guy, I suppose.”
“And art thou not conflicted about having to confront her directly? She is thy mother, after all.”
The Zoroark opened his mouth to reply, but no word came. He crossed his arms and tilted his head. “To be fair, I dunno how I feel. True, I am dragonfire of her dragonfire or whatever, but she also forced me to do all that kinda stuff to you.” He shook his head. “I can’t just put that aside! You took care of me for months, and she made me do all that horrible stuff a few minutes after I felt her presence. I… I’m kinda angry with her, not gonna lie!”
“Hmm… So, thou resent her.”
“Why, yes! She made me hurt the one person I care about most in this entire world, other than my siblings.” Petram scowled. “So, I’d like to give her a piece of my mind.”
“True. I was hurt…” started Icetales, still feeling a few pangs of pain in his heart.
What he was forced to do back the … that was something he wouldn’t have forgotten in a long time, regardless of whether everything was fake or not. But despite everything, he could still grasp that small light inside of him, and he managed out a small smile.
“Howbeit, I am willing to forgive her.”
“Huh?” Petram looked behind, shocked. “Really? You wanna let that go? Just like that?”
“It is not ‘like that’,” Icetales looked away, “but I cannot help but believe she did that as a form of self-defense. Perhaps she was scared of us and wanted to keep us away with nightmares and illusion, as a way to dissuade us from pursuing her.”
“Or maybe she might have lost her mind.”
“Which would mean that she didn’t do that intentionally, and that we shouldn’t fault her for doing something she wouldn’t do under other circumstances.” Icetales’ smile brightened. “All the more reason we should keep going and do our best to help her, so that she will be able to recover after this whole ordeal.”
The two foxes stayed silent for a while, with Petram staring at the Ninetales in disbelief. Finally, he found his voice again. “…Wow. I’m really impressed.”
Icetales blinked in puzzlement. “Hm?”
“Despite being so hurt by both me and Eien, you can still find the strength in yourself to forgive us. That’s… not an easy feat.”
“Why shouldn’t I forgive thee?” Icetales’ smile broadened and he closed the gap between them. Then, he placed a tail on the Zoroark’s shoulder. “Thou art my son, and I know thou wouldn’t do any of that on purpose. Besides, I have gone through much worse as a pup.”
“But I can sense it! You’re going through a lot of negative thoughts right now.” Petram looked away. “And it’s all my fault. You were just getting through that trauma, and I messed everything up…”
“Hey. Worry not about that. This trauma of mine is something I have gone through an entire lifetime. That is nothing I do not know how to deal with.” A confident gleam shone in his eyes. “I shall be all right. We can talk more about that when we are back home, yes?”
“…Okay.” Petram patted the tail. “Sorry again for giving you so much trouble.”
“Well, did thou never hear the fine print of the book of good parenting? Sons giving troubles to their parents and parents fixing things up is part of their job,” said Icetales with an humorous tone, trying to cheer Petram up. “And now, it is thy chance to give trouble to Miss Eien so that she can fix things up.”
At hearing that, Petram brightened up. “Oh, I kinda like the sound of that.” He smirked. “Very well! Let’s do that, then!”
By then, the two had reached the center of the storm, and noticed Diyem and the two legendary wolves facing the titanic opponent. They exchanged a quick hug, before bolting toward the battlefield, an empowering light shining from the depth of their hearts.
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