Interdimensional Magic Shenanigans Reupload (In memory of Ch3rryblossom05)

98: Ways to address an issue

M:

Everyone else was pretty much done so they too helped out with cleaning up, eventually biding everyone goodnight and heading to bed as well. Well, all except MA, he was sitting on the couch in the living room with Eclipse; who seemed to be aging backward and now he looked like a one-year-old; wrapped in a blanket and soundly sleeping. The militant didn't find this weird or uncomfortable at all, he felt nothing but parental and genuinely saw Eclipse as an offspring rather than a duplicate.

After Hatter had finished putting Cherry to bed and came back to the living room, MA asked, "Hatts, do you honestly think it's ok for me to be doing this with Eclipse, I mean, I suppose in a way he is like my child, but he's also me at the same time, and with the fact that Bel is expecting, I'm slightly worried that this might get in the way of that, but at the same time, I feel that Eclipse needs a parental figure and I don't want to turn my back on him again."

C:

Hatter let himself fall into an armchair, crossed his legs and joined his hand meditatively, and hummed in his throat as he looked in turn at MA, then at Eclipse; who slept soundly.

-"Frankly, I don't know. However, you are fully entitled to make a decision about it, he's your- your other you, after all. At the end of the day he remains a part of your entity which you can interpret as whatever you desire; may it be as a sibling or as an offspring. There's nothing for me to criticize, true, I've never heard of a person with a —magic-induced—personality-dissociative disorder forming a filial bond with their split personality, yet it is yours and Eclipse's boundaries and I have no right to invade nor overstep them." The angelic replied, he turned his head away to look at a painting that hung in the living room.

Umbra quietly slid downstairs in search of Hatter. When she heard his muffled voice from the living room, she carefully tiptoed and unnoticeably crept into the room. She stood very still, yet the two were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't pay her any attention.

-"It's the explanation you'll give about him and the acceptance that will be hard. I suppose your wife is aware of Eclipse's existence ... The matter is, will she accept him as a son?" The magic man continued, "Still, it wouldn't be morally correct to leave Eclipse behind when he needs, and lacks the warmth of parental care ... In either case, Belarus will have to be put into confidence."

M:

MA nodded along with what Hatter said, thinking over his advice while softly patting Eclipse's back. He still wasn't sure about this, he remembered when Eclipse told him about limbo, he called Mandoria Father back then, then all of a sudden he wants MA to be his dad, he was fine with that but there was an underlying worry nagging at him.

"Knowing Bel, she would support me no matter what I choose," he commented, "she took care of me for over two months when I suffered from amnesia, so her support is not what I'm worried about. I guess what is nagging at me is what everyone else will think; not my family, but all the other countryhumans. Sure I can say that Eclipse was born to Bel, but look at him, he has Father's flag, he looks exactly like me when I was little, that story is not going to fool anyone, so I'm worried he may become an outsider like Poldara, or worse, a target. I just don't know what to do."

C:

-"Then don't try to hide behind lies, tell it to them as it is and stand your ground." Kiara couldn't bear it anymore and judged it good to butt in.

"Also, Poldara's not an outcast, nor an outsider, nor anything, Capisce?" Her iris was blazing with silent fury.

The angelic half planted herself before the militant, then in a fierce whisper began debating: