Mad God's Love [Dark, enemies-to-lovers BL]

19 V 4

"Everyone else too mangled? Or lost for now?"

"Correct."

Four out of thirty. People came and went, not all lived with us anymore either.

"How do you know who I'm after anyway?" Has he explained already? Was I too stunned to pay attention? "Do you need... names, maybe?"

"Information unique to individuals might aid. I'm examining areas of burnt-out nerves and deducing what could be lost there. I found a group of people of similar circumstance to yours who know each other. Some are irretrievable. Some could be remade without memory, or partial memory borrowed from the group."

"So... you recall my circumstances," I put forward warily. He remembered hell of a lot for someone claiming to have memory issues.

"I started making a lot of copies the moment I've realised what my progeny is doing. Even so, very little remains."

I remained sceptical, but he was in full control of his mental facilities.

This room had a flush carpet as well and I threaded it. "If... If I didn't go to it. And you've found me. And your brain – and my friends – were fine. Would you still... restore them?" I mumbled out my innermost worries. Swirling thoughts could not be contained any longer.

"Most of their damage was inexplicably caused by me," monster pinpointed heart of the matter and told me one thing I desired to hear the most. Straightforward as always. It didn't endear him to me, but it sure as hell eased my guilt of complicity in it.

"Fuck," I mouthed, but not with anger.

"If you hadn't gone to find Spreading Eyes, you might also be dead somewhere and there would be nobody to advocate for them either."

"The other me would have," I argued, staring down a splotch on the back of my hand.

Monster hadn't replied, but it felt like he was thinking. He didn't breathe, but I got that same impression when people inhaled to say something but didn't. Monster radiated tension, even though he was always strung up. Less today, but still. I looked at him, this time purposefully trying to force an answer out.

"They didn't know. There were other concerns to be addressed first," he had eventually shared.

I snorted loudly with indignation. "That's mildly put," I replied with wonky imitation of a smile, imagining the horrors. This asshole didn't even tell my copies they inhabited murderer of our family, and he chose to be dead anyway. Understandable, really. Would it have changed things had he known the entire band of misfits was just around the corner? Yeah, probably. For the worse.

"This is all so messed up," I whispered to myself. My entire existence has always felt somewhat off-kilter, but these days it's been completely upside-down.

"Can you... restore everyone, from the city? If we get back there," I dared to ask.

"Some. Less than half. And we'd need to hurry if that's your intention."

Right, right. This demon was holding in a sea-sized likely-sentient puke.

"Need some antacids? I've seen some here somewhere," I spoke and lazily crawled towards little nightstand.

"I'd need to consume another city to restore that one to capacity at leisure."

"Oh," I sat back down full of disappointment and then frowned some more. "Didn't you say you already overate? How would more help?"

"It's a lot of mass to be shoving back and forth. It gets lost or deformed in transit. A lot simpler to reshape the material that's already on this plane."