CHAPTER 42: MUD, MOTHERS, AND MOIST MIRACLES

The air hangs heavy. The streets of Market Town, once murmuring with late-night vendors and sleepy-eyed merchants, now pulses with eerie silence.

A few moments ago, the sky had been torn open by crimson magic, and the most feared being in the known world, the Demon Queen herself, had stepped out of myth and into reality.

Now, people scramble.

Knights try to regroup.

Priests mutter stunned prayers.

And in the center of it all, Pip diligently helps Vuvi out of a puddle of cold, sticky mud.

He wipes at her cheek gently with a soft cloth that emerges from his internal compartment. Her eyes are wide, cheeks blotched with tear tracks and dirt.

"Don’t touch me," she mutters, slapping his hand away weakly.

He doesn’t stop. He just beeps gently, a musical, soothing note as he cleans her face with reverent care.

She looks at him, her lips trembling, eyes welling with new tears.

Penelo sits crouched beside a groaning Veena, brushing mud from her cloak and hair.

"Are you okay?" the bunny-kin asks, her voice soft and earnest.

Veena nods, though her horns dripped mud and her pride feels trampled. "Yeah... just another day in the pits."

Upon hearing Veena’s voice, Vuvi turns. Her eyes locked on the demon-kin princess.

Her nostrils flare. Her teeth clench and her fists fill with fury.

"You demon bitch!"

Before Penelo can register a blink, Vuvi launches forward like a fiery cannonball, tackling Veena back into the muck with a shrill battle cry.

Fists fly. Screams burst from her throat. "You lied! You lied! You knew! You let her take my mother!"

Veena doesn’t fight back. She barely raises her arms to shield her face, letting the punches rain down her with abandon.

"Vuvi, please stop!" Penelo pleads, pulling on the red-heads arm with all her might.

Pip beeps urgently and intervenes, prying Vuvi from Veena with gentle strength. He wraps his arms around her waist, cradling her against his chest like a parent catching a tantrum-throwing child.

Vuvi pounds her fists against his gleaming frame.

"She’s gone! She’s gone and I wasn’t strong enough! You weren’t strong enough! We weren’t ready!"

She breaks down. Her fists slacken and she collapses against him, sobbing into his humming chestplate.

Penelo wraps her arms around Vuvi from behind, her fur soaked and her paws trembling. "We’ll get her back," she whispers. "We’ll get her back. Together."

Veena stands slowly, blood dripping from her busted lip and nose.

She turns, her expression blank, and begins walking away.

Her shoulders sag with something heavier than pain...

Guilt.

Until a small rock hits the back of her head with a dull thunk.

"OW!" she yelps, spinning with her brow furroughed.

Vuvi stands before her, arms crossed, legs spread, smeared in blood, tears, and mud. Her eyes bloodshot, and her mouth twisted into a snarl.

"Where do you think you’re going, horn-head?"

Veena blinks. "Away from you! I’m out, okay! You don’t need to tell... I... thought I could—"

"You thought wrong." Vuvi wipes her cheek with her muddy arm. "Your mother and my mother just threw us into a full-blown family war. You’re not going anywhere until I get my mother back."

Veena narrows her eyes. "Is that a threat?"

"It’s... an invitation," Vuvi growls, but her expression softens.

Veena pauses.

Then she drops to her knees. "I didn’t mean for any of this. I swear—"

"I know."

Vuvi steps forward and hauls her back up. They embrace, clumsily, slipping slightly in the sludge.

"I’m sorry," Veena mumbles.

"I know," Vuvi replies. "Just don’t lie again. If we’re going into hell, I want the full map."

"Wait... so Veena has a sister now?" Penelo mutters beside Pip.

He shrugs, shakes his head and gives her a long, confused beep.

Lihona, still standing nearby with her knights, has tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, the power of divine sisterhood!" she wails, holding her hands to her chest.

She rushes forward and kneels beside them. "Please... let me help. Let me clean you up, prepare you, whatever I can. I won’t get in your way again. I swear it!"

---------------

Later that night, at The Cathedral of Mercy...

Moonlight streams through rose-stained windows, casting dappled light onto the polished marble floors. Incense burns in quiet corners. A fire roars in the grand hearth of the bishop’s reading room.

Veena sits curled up in a thick towel, her skin still flushed from the scalding bath. Her horns gleaming, clean at last. She stares into the flames, hands clasped between her knees.

Vuvi sits beside her, wrapped in a towel of her own, her hair a frizzy mess of red curls. A bandage covers her cheek.

Neither of them speaks a word for a long time.

Finally, Veena breaks the silence.

"She wasn’t supposed to find us yet."

Vuvi looks over. "You knew she was coming?"

"No." Veena says, shaking her head. "But I knew she’d been watching. For a while now."

Vuvi narrows her eyes. "Start talking. You owe me a full explanation."

Veena takes a breath, wringing her wrist before turning to Vuvi.

"I left the demon lands ten years ago. I was born to Vexena. Demon Queen. My father was a human knight. They had a... thing. He broke her heart, she handled it in the worst way possible... and me... one of the first children born after the curse... I was seen as some kind of miracle. That love was still possible."

Vuvi raises an eyebrow. "Wait... so that’s why you have violet eyes?"

"Yeah. It’s a mutation. A... fusion. Demon nobles usually have red or black. But the violet means a... mutation in the blood."

Vuvi stays quiet.

Veena continues. "I ran away because she... because of what she did. To tell the truth, she was an amazing mother. But... this curse, it broke the world. The future. It took away..." she sighs deeply, "... it took away my chance at love. And I couldn’t forgive her for that. So I ran."

She looks up, eyes shimmering.

"And now I’ve dragged you into this."

Vuvi doesn’t respond right away. She lets the silence hang.

And hang.

Then she asks softly, "Do you regret it?"

Veena blinks. "What?"

"Leaving. Coming here. Meeting us."

Veena looks down.

"Never," she whispers, breath hitching.

"Then shut up," Vuvi says, grinning faintly. "You’re stuck with us now."

They both laugh.

Exhausted, completely traumatized, and deeply bonded.

And next door...

The cathedral’s grand bath glistens with oils and floating flower petals. Pip hums softly as Penelo pours water over his plated shoulders, lovingly massaging him with warm cloths and fragrant oils.

"I could get used to this," Penelo sings, humming a merry tune as she works her way around his hips.

The door slowly creaks open.

Lihona stands there, towel-clad, cheeks rosy. "May I join the ritual purification of the Golden One?"

Penelo’s eyes sparkle.

Pip’s interface beeped in delight.

Lihona struts forward with divine grace.

Then she giggles.

Tosses her towel.

And leaps into the bath between Pip’s legs.

"May The Great Mother bless this communion." she whispers, before kissing him between his eyes.

Pip sighs with a long, drawn out whistle as fate wedges him between the slick, wet bodies of two goddesses.