Although the couple were exhausted from a long day of caring for Aegeus, they didn't hesitate to spring out of bed when they heard the gut-wrenching sound similar to an animal getting slaughtered echoing through the house.
"NOOOOOO"
In perfect synchronization, they bolted towards the source, after exchanging a brief glance with each other.
Jean, as always, was the first to arrive. As she approached Aegeus's room, she could hear a buzzing sound followed by the sound of objects being thrown around.
"SLAM"
She pushed the door open, only to be met with a sight she woukd never forget for the rest of her life.
~~~POV Aegeus~~~
Aegeus was running on all fours, and a cockroach was hot on his heels.
Something warm and electric under his skin, the same something he had been chasing since the day he first saw it on his status window. Unfortunately, he had no time to celebrate his newfound magical abilities, he barely had time to process them before he was using them to hurl toys at the relentless creature, but the undying creature wasn't to be stopped that easily by mere toys.
Suddenly, Aegeus noticed the door swing open, momentarily distracting him. In that split second, the creature closed in.
'Oh no,' he thought.
Taking advantage of his distraction, the evil creature was merely inches away from him.
'What do you want from me?' Aegeus was in tears. But at the same moment, his gaze met his mother's at the door.
The next moment he vanished with a 'bob'.
~~~Jean Pov~~~
One moment she saw her baby running on all fours from a flying insect, the next moment he was free-falling right in front of her.
"Aah!" Aegeus.
Instinctively, she caught him mid-air.
"...."
She held him close in her arms, and for a moment they just looked into each other's eyes.
"bzz"
Not willing to give up, the cockroach was about to resume chasing.
"Mama," said Aegeus in a frightened voice, he clung to his mother's clothes for dear life and closed his eyes, then buried his face in his mother's chest, waiting for his inevitable doom.
As for Jean, she very calmly took her slipper and smashed the bug to death before it could even think of launching off again.
"...."
While that was happening, Aegeus still had his eyes closed. Jean smiled and softly poked his puffy cheeks, his eyes trembled a little, but he didn't open them. And upon discovering how fun it was to play with his squishy cheeks, she started to push them together until his mouth opened up like a little duck.
"Jean?"
It was at this moment that Adam walked into the room, he looked around. The room was a mess, nothing was in its original place. The crib was upside down, toys were everywhere. He then looked at the cockroach squished on the ground.
"??" Adam thought, 'What the hell happened here?'
Meanwhile, Aegeus finally opened his eyes and started looking around. He gasped when he saw his nemesis's corpse, he then felt pity, for such a mighty foe to die such a merciless and humiliating death— HE SURE DESERVES IT!!
Aegeus then looked at his hero with shining eyes full of admiration.
Jean, upon noticing that, went a little shy, then she shook her head, remembering the moment he was about to get caught by that cockroach, how he disappeared and appeared right in front of her.
Upon inquiring, he answered.
"Magic~" he said.
"There is no such thing as magic, honey," said Adam with a patient smile... then he froze.
"YOU CAN TALK!" he shouted excitedly.
He then tried to get him to talk more, but Aegeus stubbornly sealed his mouth, and only when Jean asked him something did he answer. Needless to say, Adam was very sad...
pov Aegeus
After ensuring the window was tightly shut, Aegeus was left alone once more.
[Name] Aegeus Granger
[Age] 1 year old
[Strength] 3
[Intelligence] 5
[Magic] 4
[Defense] 3
[Control] E+
[Skill] Empty (...)
He tried to do it again. He stood very seriously in the middle of his crib, fists clenched, face scrunched, and tried to will himself to disappear.
Nothing happened.
He even tried holding his breath, scowling at the wall. He then tried throwing a toy, the same way he'd thrown one at the cockroach, but he barely got it to twitch before it bounced off the crib bars and fallen to the ground.
"..."
~~~~~~~~~
After returning to their room, the couple sat down to discuss the strange incident.
"Are you sure that you saw him disappear?" asked Adam, very skeptical.
"How many times do I have to tell you? He was 2 meters away from me, but in the blink of an eye, he was free-falling right in front of me," answered Jean in a tired tone.
"Is he a mutant?" joked Adam.
"That's not a joking matter," Jean scolded him and said.
She was panicking, she couldn't help but imagine Aegeus in all sorts of danger.
Although Adam and Jean weren't that much of comic fans, they knew what happens when someone with unusual power appears, when the heroes in these comics awakened extraordinary abilities, they either are experimented on or brainwashed into soldiers. And she definitely didn't want this kind of fate to befall her son.
Adam didn't believe what Jean saw at first, but after looking at how worried she became, he didn't dare to take this matter too lightly, but unlike his wife, he didn't think any of these scenarios were very likely.
If someone does indeed awaken a superpower, and if they really want to study an ability like that, he reasoned, at most they'd take a small tissue. They won't really cut the flesh, store it in a freezer, and sell it by the pound.
Over the ages, humans developed far superior weapons, rendering the added power of magic or laser eyes obsolete.
What he was actually worried about was something entirely different. That having a power like this might go to Aegeus's head and turn him into a brat— assuming, of course, his wife had really seen what she thought she'd seen.
They then both went to sleep, each carrying a worry of their own.
_________________________________________________________________________
TO BE CONTINUED
~~~
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