Chapter 34: You Don’t Belong Here

“Are you all right? How is Sebastian? Is he being mean to you?” Kai’s questions rolled off his tongue like a waterfall.

“No, not at all,” Pepin replied as he continued to stroke Kai’s hair and take in his face like he was seeing him for the first time.

Which wasn’t completely inaccurate since that thing with the switcheroo at the cavern could barely count as them seeing each other properly.

“Are you disappointed?” Kai asked the number one burning question on his mind. “I mean, I’m no longer a hunk.”

“I don’t know what a hunk is,” Pepin replied while he continued to run his fingers through Kai’s hair, “but I’m happy you’re not one anymore.”

“Only because you don’t know the meaning of the word,” Kai prompted but didn’t insist since he was too happy to see Pepin to dwell on what various words of no importance meant.

“I’m so glad to be able to see your true face,” Pepin said and kissed him again, lingering and sweetly. “I was afraid I wouldn’t get the chance.”

“Me too. I mean, I don’t know how much longer we can stick around. Galien thinks that we’re in some kind of danger.”

“Sebastian, as well. His mother won’t take kindly to being made a fool like that if she ever finds out the truth,” Pepin agreed. “Is Master Galien taking good care of you? He seemed in high spirits as he sent me here to see you.”

“He must be high on love, that guy,” Kai said with a short snicker. “He couldn’t wait to see Conrad again, and we just followed him. How do you feel? I mean, being ... with child, or whatever you call it here,” he asked after some hesitation.

Pepin offered him a dazzling smile. “I’m happy to hear that you worry, but it’s nothing like what happens when a woman carries a child. My task is spiritual much more than physical. Although,” he said, as he pulled the shard out of his shirt and showed it to Kai, “can you see?”

Kai stared into it and almost took a step back as something moved inside. “Wow. I think I saw ... a tiny finger?”

“He’s growing already,” Pepin said.

“Double wow. And how long, until, you know?”

“Not as long as it is expected in human beings.”

Kai understood what Pepin didn’t say, that he might not be around long enough to meet this child. He felt so helpless all of a sudden. “Will you be okay? I mean, given the circumstances.”

“I will.” Pepin nodded and smiled, but even Kai, as clueless as he was more often than not, could tell that the guy was putting on a brave face for his sake.

“Are you really okay?” Kai mumbled as he rubbed Pepin’s shoulders. “I mean, I came here, and like that wasn’t weird enough, I messed up your life, too.”

“You did nothing of the kind. More so, you helped me find my purpose. And also,” Pepin said and shyly looked away, “you made me fall in love with you, like I was promised.”

“For the record, I have no idea how I did that,” Kai replied.

“It was easy for you, a stranger from a different land,” Pepin said dreamily. “You saw me for who I was, not just a servant created for duty, or a Lelian with a purpose for the kingdom. You gave me more than you’ll ever know.”

“Well, I’d like to know,” Kai confessed. “But first, let me introduce you to some people.”

He took Pepin’s hand. All of a sudden, he felt very shy, like he hadn’t known Milo for years and his sister all her life. This was important, as important as it could get, and he needed to be careful not to mess it up.

“This is Milo, my best friend,” Kai said first.

“Sebastian’s chosen,” Pepin added and threw him an unsure look when Milo turned his head to hide his eyes.

There would be time later to untangle that web of messed-up feelings. Or not. Kai had no idea. Maybe moments like that in life must teach you how young and unknowing you are.

“And this is my sister, Tani,” he continued as he gestured Pepin forward, holding him by the shoulders.

No wonder there, Tani was bubbling with excitement. She didn’t wait for Kai to finish and just rushed into Pepin’s arms, hugging him tightly. Then, she looked up and squeezed him a little more. “I have no idea how this brother of mine managed to land someone like you, but I’m glad he did, because now I have the most beautiful bishie as a brother-in-law, and everyone else can go suck it.”

Pepin laughed but threw unsure looks at Kai as he probably couldn’t understand all the things Tani was babbling about.

Kai dragged his sister away with much difficulty. “Stop putting ideas in Pepin’s head. He’ll really start to realize that he got the short end of the stick with me.”

“I’m not,” Tani protested. “Pepin, I might like to tease my brother, but he’s a good guy and also he cannot keep a secret if his life depended on it. I read somewhere that good people are like that. Plus, he always takes me to school with him, and I know where his secret cash stash is. He might spend all night playing video games and his grades are awful--”

He really needed to stop Tani from talking, so he put a hand over her mouth. “Are you sure you’re helping, butthead?”

Pepin walked closer to them and embraced them both. “I’m glad to meet both you and your sister. You are amazing people and I love you.”

Kai felt his throat getting tighter, and his hand dropped from Tani’s mouth. That was enough for his sister to embrace Pepin again. He really hoped Pepin was okay with having such a clingy sister-in-law.

Only that she wouldn’t ever be that. Pepin was – sort of – married to Sebastian now, although he carried another dude’s baby, and that meant that their time together would be short. Kai took Pepin by the shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he blurted the only thing that came to his mind.

“What for?” Pepin asked, his luminous eyes making his entire face look like something that belonged to a fairytale.

A fairytale that had no place for a teenager soon to become a full-fledged NEET in it. Kai didn’t like the feeling of sadness creeping in, but for the first time after many years, he realized that he couldn’t escape from it. “I’m sorry for coming here and making you fall in love with a good for nothing like me. I’m sorry that I have to go, although I don’t want to. I’m sorry that I won’t ever be here long enough to meet--”

He stopped as the words lodged in his throat, cutting off his speech. His fingers wandered to the shard hanging from Pepin’s neck and caressed it slightly. Pepin placed his hand over his. “Don’t be sorry. I met you, and I now feel love. What more could I ask for?”

Tani’s sudden sobbing caused them to stop. Kai took his sister by the shoulders in an effort to comfort her, and Pepin did the same.

“You could ask for a lot more,” Tani began, without stopping her sniffles and sobs. “And my brother will be an awesome dad, I just know it. And doesn’t this world have magic, anyway? I bet there’s something here that could help you get together somehow. Or maybe Pepin could travel with us back home. He will totally be scouted the moment he sets foot in there. He’ll be an idol in no time. Can you sing, Pepin? It doesn’t matter, you can just be a model.”

Kai didn’t have the strength to stop Tani from talking anymore. It would be so nice to take Pepin with him. But was it possible? Was it safe? That shard was made from magic, and who could tell what would happen if they traveled to the real world? What if it got disintegrated? There was more at stake than just their feelings for one another.

Pepin caressed Tani’s hair. “As much as I would like to entertain such dreams of happiness, my little sister, I cannot. I have a duty here.” He pressed his hand over the shard.

Tani looked down. Oh, no, this wasn’t a good sign. The next moment, she stomped her foot. “This isn’t fair! Where is the happy end?”

This time, Kai covered Tani’s mouth to stop her from shouting. “I’m afraid there’s not one this time,” he whispered.

Or maybe there was, and he hadn’t discovered it yet. It had to be like in those anime series when everything seemed lost, only for the hero to appear and save the day, or for some magical girl to come to the rescue and such. “Are there any magical girls in this world?” he asked Pepin.

“Not that I know of. I mean, there are people with magic, but they’re not girls. They are mostly older people,” the reply came.

“Good enough. As long as there’s magic, there must be a way,” Kai said with conviction. “We just need to find it. I know! We’ll have a brainstorming session! Milo--”

He turned to ask his friend for his opinion on all that, but there was no one standing in the place where Milo should have been.

Kai Martin was wrong about his being overpowered, Sebastian decided as he scribbled down the shortest routes he would need to take to reach the people with magic in the kingdom. It would take days and weeks to pay everyone a visit, which made him feel quite helpless. Usually, he would have sent word for them to come to the palace, but that risked drawing Reya’s attention, who would wonder why he needed the advice of magic wielders all of a sudden. No, at this time, he needed her to believe that everything was fine and dandy in the kingdom of Ifigia. Not that people from a strange world were roaming about, one of them being no other but a boy Sebastian happened to be in love with.

He rose to his feet. Maybe a little stroll would help him clear his thoughts and find a better, quicker solution for sending off the little group. He pulled open the doors, still lost in thought, and almost crashed into someone standing there.

His eyes clashed with a green gaze he knew too well.

“What are you doing here?” Sebastian hissed and grabbed Milo to pull him inside his quarters before anyone noticed this stranger happening about the palace.

At least the young man was attired per the Ifigia custom, so he wasn’t that suspicious, but it made Sebastian wonder what his guards were doing if they hadn’t caught Milo while heading over to his quarters like it was the least unusual thing in the world.

“I was searching for you,” Milo replied as soon as Sebastian closed the doors.

“You’re in danger. You don’t belong here.” Sebastian felt the words flying off his tongue. Yes, it was painfully clear. Despite having his hair brushed differently and wearing clothes fit for a young noble living in Ifigia, Milo wasn’t part of this world, this place. His place, Sebastian added in his mind, and it took him all his willpower to stop the squeeze on his heart to put a brake on all his rational thinking. If that happened, they were all doomed because Sebastian wanted nothing else but to take this young man in his arms and kiss him until they would both stop breathing altogether.

Milo rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and grimaced. “I suppose that should have been my line all those times you tried to warn me about who you truly were.”

Yes, but then none of those other amazing things that happened between the two of them would have taken place. Despite the wrongness of the situation, Sebastian didn’t have it in him to regret it. Like a man dying of thirst in the heart of the desert, under a relentless sun, presented with the sudden mirage of crystalline waters, he stared at Milo, unable to tear his eyes away.

It took moments like ages to remember that Milo wasn’t safe, and it was madness to give in to his heart’s desires. “How did you find this place? You must leave at once.” His voice was tight as a string, and he couldn’t stop it from vibrating as if plucked by the gentle hand of a musician.

Milo gave him a crooked smile. “Come on, man. Admit it, this is fucked up.”

Sebastian felt his cheeks hurting. Under another sky, in a different world, he would have smiled back. “Yes,” he said noncommittally. “I admit it, if it makes you feel any better. That doesn’t change the fact that you and your friends are in danger. Did that useless cousin of mine bring you here? I’ll make sure to have a word with him. Now come.”