Symbiosis

|Chapter 35|

~Two Week Later~

POV Leo:

'Why...'

'Why does she keep staring at me, watching me every moment she gets, her eyes peering into mine like she knows something I didn't, I tried to look away, trying so hard to look away from her glossed-over eyes, tinged in a white film, yet every time we looked at one another, I kept my distance from her, I never spoke to her, she knew something, but what...'

'...My...my mutations are getting worse, they're becoming harder and harder to hide, my fins grew stiff, I suffocated underneath the wraps that covered my mouth and gills, I try so hard to hide them, wrapping my shell tighter and tighter every time it grew just a bit, but it hurts...it hurts so much to hide the side I hated, the fins, the gills, the eyes-...those stupid stupid eyes, and my hands...my nails and the tips of my fingers were tinged in a light pink into an ombre into a deep purple. Hiding the color change and eyes was easy, yet no matter how hard I tried to find a moment to myself, even a second with just me and my kids, I was so close, I was becoming comfortable with the way I turned, the fins and eyes were useful, even the kids thought they looked cool, and after one- just one night the fins- the tear on my cheeks were starting to get better...they were healing...but she had to ruin it, she had to ruin everything... I PRACTICED THAT DAY, PRACTICED OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER, SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MOMENT AWAT FROM THAT GROUP IN FRONT OF THAT GOD DAMN MIRROR-...yet...as I stare at that lowly human, the counterpart of my sister, the girl from my dimension that looked at us with only curiosity and amazement...'

'No...this girl knows something else, something that should ever have existed,,, but what? '

'Breathe in'

*Drip*

'And...breathe out...'

I listened to everything around me as my eyes stayed closed. The ripples of the water tapping against my skin, I even listened to myself, my breathing whether I breathed through my nose or my mouth I listened, meditating in a well-protected place away from mutants, Kraangs, humans, and even the others, I was away from them, I needed this, a moment away from the chaos, a moment to myself, a moment to become comfortable with the being I had become.

I knew as a father I should have brought Jay, I should have brought my kids, but I needed this, and neither of them would understand. But...maybe later, when they mature, when Kris and Jay grow up, I'll tell them everything. For now, it was me, sitting inside the once busy, loud mindscape that is now empty, only filled with water—the hidden thoughts that stayed trapped inside my own mind...emotions that can't escape.