"SO yeah, they are my grandmothers and your aunts, I guess?"

Mom half-smiled half grimaced. "My mom is dead though." She stared at the ground.

I sighed. "I want to apologize but apologizing won’t bring them back. They died for what they believed in. And we should respect them."

I actually got a lot of stares for saying that.

Mom stared at me. "Wait, which one are you?" She was confused.

"All of them. We’ve merged."

She blinked twice. "What?"

"What?" Elsa parroted her.

The talk kind of just went on and on.

***

We’d come just before evening but we’d talked past midnight. And by that time most of my family members were either sleeping on the floor or in their rooms.

I went to the bathroom and when I came back- it was too damn quiet.

Mom also kind of fell asleep on the sofa. I didn’t see Marg, Elsa, or Enira anywhere. They were probably plotting something.

I probably didn’t have a room so I just walked outside.

I had this urge to go out- go explore and maybe see the world.

For now, though, I didn’t want to abandon Marg and our child.

***

Crickets were buzzing and so were other insects. A moonlit night.

Way too many stars.

Elsa was out here, alone, just staring at the sky, her back laying against the apple tree.

She never really spoke a word to me.

I guess I did make her hate me for real this time.

So, instead of doing anything stupid, I went closer to her.

She’d noticed me and was now staring at me.

"Can I join you?"

She nodded.

The two of us took a seat on the grass.

’There are no bugs... no bugs here Helio.... No bugs at all....’

We weren’t talking, rather just staring at the sky.

I was definitely not distracting myself that there were in fact, bugs in the grass.

And then I remembered. "I didn’t really buy you the tuna, did I?"

"I hate tuna. I just couldn’t think of anything at the time." She buried her head in her thighs.

Oh.

"Sorry about all that stuff earlier."

She didn’t say anything.

Again, awkward silence.

It didn’t really feel that bad though.

I mean- she was my sister.

She’d eventually forgive me.

"So, you’re going to marry Enira?" She spoke softly.

Exhale.

This was probably going to get messy...

"Dunno. I promised Marg that I won’t marry anytime soon. But yeah, I do love Enira. Not sure if you know or not, but fourteen or so years ago I was lost in a forest; I ran away from home. You were probably still a baby. I ate something poisonous. It started raining hard and I got struck by lightning. Never ever stand below a frigging palm tree during a lightning storm, ever!"

She snickered for a second. "And?" She stared at me, head still resting on her thighs.

"And someone saved me." I smiled, staring at the house. The lights just got turned on. Someone must have woken up. "When I later woke up, she told me she was an explorer, and you can guess why I wanted to be one... But I couldn’t remember her due to the seal on my memory and stuff..." I giggled. Couldn’t stop myself. "I love her, and I don’t think I’ll be satisfied if I refuse myself."

Elsa sighed, getting up. "That’s not what you told me when I confessed to you, you know." She sighed. "It’s unfair."

I also stood up. "Sorry about that. But you’re my sister and I love you as a sister."

She shrugged. "Well, I won’t give up."

"What?"

"I won’t give up. We’re not related by blood and-" She came close and just stood a hair’s breadth away, standing on her toes. "I won’t give up and keep trying." She smooched me, winked, and headed back in with a smile.

Sigh.

Well, at least she wasn’t mad at me anymore...

Probably.

’The fuck is wrong with me and my family?’

***

Apparently, the headmaster had survived and he was already in the process of rebuilding the island. I was expelled though.

But not banned from the school.

Almost every one of my friends had survived- it was a miracle.

No, it wasn’t.

It was anything but a miracle.

Everyone had to fight for their lives, they had to struggle to live. Some were injured for life.

Merin broke his knee.

Mike had lost an arm.

Selene broke hers.

Rose’s wings were broken but she’d eventually recover.

This wasn’t a game.

It was life and death.

But I was glad they survived.

The rest of my friends and acquaintances were mostly fine but I knew everyone had their own shit to deal with.

Apparently, Eve went back home and after a lot of drama her parents took her in.

Raea and Aria were overseas doing who knew what.

Leilis was actually missing- though as she was a vampire, I didn’t really worry too much about her.

As for the world- nothing much happened.

The news of me showing up in Australia and wiping out five cities and creating nuclear winter was apparently a thing. And I was classified as a catastrophe class villain just like Gramps.

Didn’t know why but I felt proud.

I didn’t feel proud about getting innocents killed in my struggle though.

Anyway- my daily life moved on.

My relationship with my family didn’t really grow that nicely but they were at least willing to talk to me if I spoke first. They weren’t just shooing me away.

As for Marg- yeah, after the first two days, she did talk to me quite like before. Whenever Enira was near though, her mannerisms turned rather murderous.

It was not a good sign, no?

But so far, things weren’t that bad.

At least I hoped so....

***

I’d achieved what I set out to do.

I’d become a new man.

The family wasn’t completely destroyed and I still had hope to become an explorer.

Maybe things weren’t as great as they could have been.

Maybe I’d screwed up in the middle- maybe I’d just kept on screwing up.

But at the end of the day, as Marg just lay next to me, resting her head on my arm- I did feel bliss.

And maybe a bit of post-nut syndrome too. Maybe doing it six times just because I hadn’t done it in a long while was a bad idea.

Anyway- still life wasn’t so bad.

"Btw, what are we going to name the kids?" She said, circling my chest with her finger.

"Name, huh?" I wondered. "Wait, kids?"

"Yup. We’re having twins." She smiled.

What?

Just one nuisance wasn’t good enough, I was going to be blessed with two?

Why the hell did I come back?

"Maybe I’ll go buy some milk?"

Marg giggled haphazardly before pressing her chest against my face. "You can drink mine too you know." She whispered and then again chuckled.

"Don’t mind if I do." She didn’t have any right now though- which was good cause I was intolerant.

I still didn’t want kids though.

’Wait, if I let’s say married more girls... wouldn’t that mean I’d have more kids?’

Why couldn’t we just have fun and not have kids?

What the hell was wrong with this world?

’Protection! Protection!’

I was definitely going to stack up on all sorts of protection, that was for sure.

Well, at least I’d get to enjoy life for roughly seven more months before all that.

For now though- lucky number seven and a bit stronger post nut syndrome- here I come!