AfterDuo: Children's tale

Chapter 31: Something Is Off With Mokali

The sun rose in the morning, bleeding light through the windows and dripping its way through Arachne's eyelids. She stirred, moaning lightly. She tried to sit up from the floor she had crashed on when she noticed something heavy on her chest.

"Huh?" She rubbed her eyes before looking down. It was an arm. She turned her head to see that it was attached to a sleeping Nairo. He was on his belly, his slightly squashed face turned to Arachne. He was snoring lightly, clearly sleeping deeply. Arachne was fascinated by his face, staring at it and trying to absorb every detail. She stayed as quiet as possible, even breathing as light as she could. She didn't want to wake him up. Arachne wanted to savor every moment of this.

Katherine and Sarah woke up with Ryu and Elizabeth, the three took over Meliodas's spot. The twins opened the door and were met with the smell of something delicious. They looked to each other then Sarah went to get Ban, Mogasi and King, and Katherine went down to find out what was going on.

"Well hello, sleepyhead." Meliodas said cheerily. Mokali's voice was heard softly as she shushed the dragon sin. Katherine looked confused then pointed to the kitchen area, and Meliodas nodded. The calmer but confused girl walked in a noticed that her mother was a goddess again, but also had this different feeling about her. That and she had her wings out, one wing gwas holding something.

"Ah, Katherine. Would you wake the others?" Mokali asked in a soft voice, as if she was trying not to wake up someone. Katherine looked at her mother confused beyond hell and Mokali noticed. The goddess gestured her daughter over, the girl following the request and saw what she thought was impossible.

"How did you?" Katherine whispered before realizing something. "The Spirits helped you?" And the goddess nodded. With this now, Katherine turned around and walked out to wake up Diane.

Arachne heard the commotion from the kitchen and decided she'd rather wake Nairo herself.

"Nairo." She whispered, turning to also hold him in her arms. Nairo stirred a little, groaning very quietly. His eyes slowly opened, and he saw Arachne's face smiling at him, her little fangs just peeking out from her upper lip. He smiled and said,

"I'm dreaming, right?" Arachne rolled her eyes and punched him lightly in the chest. "Ouch." He pretended. He pulled Arachne closer to him, holding her close. He rested his chin on her crown as she snuggled into his chest.

"Good morning, Arachne."

"Good morning, Nario." The two smiled and were quiet, content to simply be together.

"Hey, seems like breakfast is ready." Sarah said as she came up, a sleepy King following. Katherine came over while the people heard Diane waking up.

"You couldn't wake up the fox and the owl?" The surprising excited twin asked and Sarah looked confused.

"No, If it wasn't for King I may have had my head torn off." Sarah said. Katherine hurred off and then there was a yell and scream. Ryu came down looking ready to fight as the others came around. Katherine came back down the stairs with an angry Ban holding a smaller spooked Mogasi.

Nairo and Arachne both sat up, hearing the scream. Both stood and grabbed their weapons. They barreled into the kitchen, hammer and sword at the ready.

"What's going on?" Arachne asked, seeing the scene.

Katherine was hiding behind her mother as Mokali put up a barrier to keep Ban out of the kitchen.

"Wait, I have more than this meal for you and King." the goddess said calmly and quietly as Mogasi looked confused.

The teenagers sheathed their weapons, and Arachne sighed.