Book 2: Seven Demon's Hearts

Episode 26: Confessions

Episode 26: C o n f e s s i o n s

"Aiko!" I screamed, struggling against the pressure pushing me away from him. "Aiko! Stop it!"

He screamed, sobbing and crying as his whole body uncontrollably flowed out with immense energy. The aura surrounding him was something in between flames and light, but the color matched his eyes, making it hard to directly stare at its bright reflective sheen.

"Aiko!" V immediately appeared after me, doing a better job with withstanding his powers. "Aiko, control yourself!" This was insane! When it happened before with V, I was at least able to approach him to take the rush of his powers out of his system. But with Aiko, it was impossible to even get close to him without feeling like I'm going to be incinerated by his aura.

"No!" Aiko cried, dropping to the floor and curling up into himself. "Stop!"

"Fuck." V cursed and in a flash he reappeared beside Aiko, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"What's happening to him!" My eyes began to tear up.

V looked up at me, the skin that was in contact with Aiko instantly peeled off. "He's emotionally unstable, there's no other way but taking away the energy and projecting it inside of me instead."

"But...V," I gasped, watching him endure the pain silently.

"I'm fine! I'll handle it!" He gritted his teeth tightly, visibly succumbing to the pain.

"It hurts!" Aiko cried, clutching his head and screeched in pain. Overwhelmed, my breathing closed in on me and it almost felt like my lungs were slowly being dried out of air.

"Aiko! Aiko, listen to me." V proceeded to reason with him, ignoring his injuries as he grabbed on to the boy's shoulders. "Listen to me! Focus on my voice only. Try to block out anything else, okay? You need to stop feeling. Stop feeling Aiko!"

"Oh no, no!" I choked out, hearing Aiko's painful screams muffling insides my ears. My knees locked in together and the blood numbed inside my veins. How could I possibly look at my little boy when he was suffering like this? It's too cruel. One thing after another, we can't ever catch one break.

"Transio!" V's eyes glew bright orange and the holographic aura began to visibly travel up his arms, whirling and sinking into his chest. Gradually, Aiko's cries grew softer and sounded less painful as soon as his head looked up at V's body.

"V!" I gasped and covered my mouth, watching him glow with immense power, so much that it looked unstable for someone as strong as he was to even handle.

"It's okay!" V grunted, squeezing down on Aiko's shoulders until the aura transfer was completed.

"Father?" Aiko weakly looked up at V who then immediately clutching his chest in pain, falling down to his knees coughing and gasping.

I quickly ran over now that it wasn't so unbearable. Thinking of how I couldn't even get near Aiko made me wonder how V even did it. Happily, the kid latched on to me, forgetting all about what had just happened.

"Mommy! I missed you." He rubbed his face against my leg. My brows furrowed up, watching him cluelessly batter his eyes back up at me. Something was off about Aiko, and I couldn't quite understand what it was.

The fact that he physically grew up to be six years with a mentality that didn't match up to it told me that it was only going to get harder for both of us to handle. We definitely weren't prepared to crack his code yet.

"V?" I kept a tight grip on Aiko, scooping him into my embrace as I crouching down with concern.

"I'm fine...I'm--" V's eyes widened and he completely froze. The veins around his neck bulged out like they were ready to explode. That's until he let out an ear-piercing screech, startling both Aiko and me. Visible waves of energy harshly clashed into my face, blowing my hair back. The cuts it left on my skin quickly healed, however.