"Do you ever get the feeling that sometimes the real villain is us?" I asked Zoe that night.
There were two beds in the room. While the others were waiting for my room to be completely renovated, I pulled a mattress in Zoe's room and slept on the floor. Zoe sat up and looked over the side.
"No, why?"
"They asked me to ruin my relationship with my mother. How evil is that? I mean, Bellroc never told me to go scream in your face and make up a bunch of rude things. The only problem is they probably believed me. And I've lost them forever."
"Don't say that."
"I will say that. You should've seen their faces? Bellroc stood still as a statue. Phoenix was speechless. Nari was in tears—oh, the poor thing. And Skarel..."
"Oh, what happened with Skrael?"
"I've never seen someone so furious."
"You'll work it out, Doux." She put a hand on my shoulder. "You always do. You're good like that, with problem solving."
"But I always manage to rope myself into these ridiculous messes. It's my fault this happened. I'm going to get some fresh air." I stood up to leave the room, but a pink glow engulfed the door, and it slammed shut.
I turned and saw Zoe holding out her glowing pink hand.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Stopping you from ignoring what I have to say." She climbed out of the bed and walked up to me. "Hisirdoux Casperan...you are the most kind-hearted, loyal, hardworking, yet stubborn and reckless wizard I've ever met. You're always there to help someone, always motivated to work hard, and always looking to solve a problem. And, yes, sometimes you can be unnecessarily ridiculous and impatient-"
"That a bit harsh-"
"Let me finish. -when you need to be strategic. And lately, my past self would say: 'Yipee, you're finally thinking straight.' What the Guardians of Arcadia did was cruel and stupid, and I should've stepped in. We both should've. But you have yet to realize that they aren't your only family. The Arcane Order is your family. In a world like this—where everything is tough—you can have more than one family. You should have more than one family. And the decisions you make when it comes to a family are made with this-" She put a hand to my heart. "Not with this." She put a hand to my forehead and kissed me.
I paused. She smiled. I kissed her again, this time longer. I wrapped my arms around her while she put her arms around me. I closed my eyes and embraced what Zoe told me. Decisions with family are made from the heart. Suddenly I heard a squeak and a scrape. Zoe and I turned to the window to find it opening while an orange-red glow encircled it.
"Mom?" I said, tears coming into my eyes.
Bellroc climbed through the window, staff in hand. Her hair was now neater. She wore a black, long-sleeved dress with a fire red trim. She wore black boots and wore a necklace with a green gem attached to the end. This time, she wore her hair down with a braid in the back. She still looks pretty frail.
"Mom!" I said, running towards her. She embraced me with open arms. She kissed my head and ruffled through my hair. "Mom..." I sobbed, through tears. "Mom...I'm so sorry I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry..."
"Sh, sh, sh, it's okay, baby. It's okay. I'm the sorry one. I should've been around you. It's okay." She was crying herself.
"Do you–do you forgive me?"
"Of course I forgive you."
"Does Nari forgive me?"
"I'm sure she does. You know, Nari, she's always forgiving people. Even those she doesn't know."
I smiled. I turned to face Zoe.
"Uh...Mom..." I sniffed. "This is Zoe."
"Hi," she said.
"Zoe, you probably know Bellroc."
"Yes, but I've never seen her face-to-face." The two shook hands. "I'm Zoe, Head of HexTech, fellow wizard."
"Oh..." Bellroc said. "I am really sorry that my brother, the Green Knight, and I left your store in pieces."
"It's okay. There are other HexTech buildings around here. So how is life at Mount Rainier? Douxie told me a lot."
"There's a lot going on back home. So much so that one of the reasons I came here was that we need you guy's help."
"Our help?" Zoe said.
"Your help."
YOU ARE READING
Arcane Order's Adopted Son
Fanfiction(based off the amazing story by IshukiM) Douxie Casperan is a twenty year old wizard still mourning from the death of his mentor and surrogate father the Great and Powerful Merlin Ambrosius. He knows so little about his family that he is willing to...
