Being Grateful (Laurance x Reader) | Aphmau Fanfiction| UNDER IMMENSE EDITING

Stupid Babysitting

"(Y/n)!" Cadenza exclaimed as she ran over to you frantically. "Did you find the baby?" You nodded your head, quickly shoving the basket into her arms.

"Yes," you responded, your voice strained. "I found her in this basket behind some tall grass, bundled up in these sheets." You shook your head before using the sleeve of the sweater Cadenza let you keep to wipe off the moisture from your face. Ugh.

"You found her in a basket?" she asked incredulously. "On the ground?" her eyes widened. "That's a horrible place to keep a baby! How could somebody do that? Let alone, leave the baby all by themselves?" You shrugged, your gaze landing on the now sleeping child.

"I don't know. But it's horrible." You gnawed at your inner cheek as the two of you began to make your way to the inn, where you and the others were temporarily staying.

Which reminded you, tomorrow would be your last day in Meteli. Soon, you'd be back on the boat, heading to a completely vacant island. And once you were on the island, Lucinda could finally create a portal to Phoenix Drop. Your stomach lurched with excitement.

Soon, you'd be home.

'I don't think I've ever been through a portal before,' you thought. 'Does it feel any different from walking through a doorway?' These were all questions you needed to ask Lucinda. You just hoped she wouldn't give you any vague answers.

She seemed like the type of person to do that.

"Oh," Cadenza started, "seeing this baby just devastates me! I can't stand seeing kids all alone and scared like this." You pursed your lips.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" you inquired awkwardly, repeating your words after a few moments of silence. You couldn't exactly relate to how she was feeling. You, for one, weren't a baby-fanatic. But perhaps that wasn't what it took to have sympathy for an abandoned child. Cadenza suddenly turned to you.

"Horrible? It's more than just horrible. It's cruel..." she trailed off, looking down at the baby in her arms. "Laurance and I were orphans. We never got to meet our real parents. They'd abandoned us...left us to fend for ourselves." You went silent, your heart clenching slightly. You tried to imagine a smaller version of Laurance, scared and crying. So vulnerable. It broke your heart.

Why hadn't Laurance told you about this before? He always wondered about you and how you were doing.

But had you done the same?

"Laurance...he's never told me about his before," you started quietly, rubbing the side of your arm in slight guilt. Cadenza suddenly shook her head vigorously, looking toward you with her eyes wide.

"Oh, please, don't worry about it! I don't want to make you feel bad or anything!" Cadenza paused before looking down at the baby girl, careful not to wake her.

"Look," she started, "Laurance doesn't like to talk about anything regarding his childhood. He prefers to keep the past in the past. Besides," Cadenza smiled. "He and I were adopted by Lord Hayden; the former lord of Meteli." You raised your eyebrows, your lips parting slightly.

"Is that how you became the lord of Meteli? Through inheritance?" Cadenza nodded.

"He passed away after the Phoenix War... He was such a good man. He treated Laurance and I like his own children and cared for us like a father should." Her words sent you in deep thought.

'He treated Laurance and I like his own children and cared for us like a father should,' you repeated in your head.

Like a father should.