CHAPTER 501: BLINDING LOVE

The moment her hand touched his, all the tiniest doubts about this man not actually being her son faded away. A jolt of pure elation cried out through her body. This man before her, he was hers. She could feel it even deeper than her bones. Her soul just knew.

’My baby.’

She tried to hold back her tears, but her power began to activate. Below her eyes Purple tear stains began emerging from her skin and just as she was about to pass the point of no return, he spoke.

"Whoa! Are you ok? Your face... That looks so cool. Is it permanent." Forgetting personal boundaries with a stranger... Again, I reached out and brushed my thumb across the stains on her face.

I then pulled away to investigate, there was no change to her tear stains, but I did have a small amount of lingering Psionic energy on my finger and it burnt. "Oh wow, you are very powerful aren’t you?"

Hearing this, Gabrielle’s tear marks faded and she began to play with her hair, giggling softly as her body swayed back and forth looking up at the masterpiece before her. "Hehehehe, do you think so? I have always thought it was a little morbid. Who enjoys looking at tears stains? It can freak people out."

I simply shrugged my shoulders. "I am sure that is true for some people, but I saw the kindness behind your eyes when the tears emerged so I knew you weren’t upset or anything. I hope so anyway, I am kind of meh at picking up on social and emotional cues, one of the downsides of living inside of a cave until you are sixteen."

"You grew up in a cave?" Gabrielle asked, both guiltily and genuinely intrigued about her son’s past. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun actually Orchid and I-"

Orchid had a frown on her face as she stared at the purple haired woman. This wasn’t the usual glare of hatred for anything and everything. This was different. Orchid was confused. The woman seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place where.

When she was away from the hive, Orchid had to purge so much information from her brain due to being an individual, she couldn’t tap into all the hive’s processing power and would be rendered comatose.

Still, seeing this individual... She had a lingering suspicion that the information was still in her mind somewhere, amidst all her memories, most of which are just watching Apollo. This perplexed her to no end as usually she remembered no one as they were not important in the slightest.

"Valerica, I am going to go and have a look around at the other booths, I am so glad that you are here though. We will speak later." I said after the quick chat with Gabrielle, causing Valerica to nod her head.

"Very well baby, I suppose I cant keep ignoring everyone’s gazes who are looking at me now can I? Now give mama a kiss." She said, extending her arms out for me.

Gabrielle couldn’t stand to look at the imposter getting love and had to turn around, she was scared she would pull for her weapon otherwise.

After Kissing Valerica on the head and giving her a hug, I broke off before turning to Hecate. "Um, Hecate, I know you can see peoples Psionics, so I was hoping you could keep our secret? I would be incredibly grateful." I stated, at which point Hecate looked directly towards Janine and smiled.

"How curious... Very well, but as payment, you are to attend my lectures. They are usually reserved for those who have been here at least four years, but I have seen your... Potential. And I know you can handle it."

"Very well, that seems more than a fair exchange, thank you very much. You have a nice day and if Valerica bothers you, let me know and I will just go rougher on her during our next fight."

I turned around to walk away and as I did so, Hecate’s serene expression snapped as she shouted "Wait!" I turned around confused by the high pitched wail and waited until she asked. "You... Actively look to fight this madwoman? Apollo, are you well?"

Hecate then looked at her friend and student whose eyes were narrowed as her smile encapsulated her entire face. "Not only does my baby enjoy fighting with me, he actually holds his ground for a while and can take some serious damage, meaning I don’t have to hold back nearly as much as I am used to. He literally is my perfect child. My one and only."

Hecate could feel the love emanating from Valerica. It wasn’t only motherly love she was sensing, but a twisted amalgamation of that and horniness. The woman wanted Apollo while also being her son...

Hecate shrugged, she had seen much worse pairing than this and besides, the love she was feeling from the one called Orchid to Apollo was blinding, she couldn’t look at it head on. It seemed infinite, she had never seen such a love before and honestly she wasn’t sure how the step siblings were not engaged in coitus every second of everyday.

Even then it wasn’t just Orchid, everyone here held some form of great love for the man, even the agent of Olympus for reasons she was sure were bizarre considering they just met. And then there was Apollo himself. He was an even greater torrent. How one individual could not only receive so much love, but give it back in manifold was just indescribable...

Hecate shook her head, the sight of all the emotions becoming too much before she addressed Valerica. "Your one and only? What about Kathrine?"

"Who? Oh, right, I keep on forgetting about her..." Valerica mumbled. New babies required more attention after all and Kathrine was already a grown woman, Her Apollo, however, was still so young, so full of life and so innocent, he needed her whole attention at all times so she could impart all of her sagely wisdom and keep him safe from the harpies... She then glanced at Hecate and gave her a scornful look up and down, causing the woman to be taken aback by the sudden hostility.

As the two women who should not look that attractive in their old age began bickering for some reason, I turned to walk away to start looking at all of the booths when the new woman spoke up.

"Um, Apollo?" She mumbled, causing me to turn towards her with a friendly smile. "Yeah? Is everything ok?" I asked. The woman seemed really shy for someone who investigates peoples backgrounds. As she looked down to her boots and began playing with the ends of her hair, twirling it around her finger with nervousness.

"I was just wondering... Since I don’t really know anyone here and all that, If I could tag along with your little group? It is ok if not though, I don’t wish to be a burden."

I looked around hastily at my companions. Orchid was frowning, to be expected. Janine was also frowning, but I think she was just still profiling the woman from when she was doing her job and Nerissa... Well she was wearing her mask, but she said that Gabrielle was her friend in the first place, so I doubted she had an issue.

Smiling at the woman I shook my head while responding. "Of course you can, the more the merrier. I am always looking to make new friends and hey, with that hair of yours, you fit right in don’t you? Heck we could pass as being related!"

My joke must have seriously found the right audience as the woman began laughing hysterically for ten seconds before sharply stopping. "Well let go then! Oh, are you hungry? Have you eaten? I heard there is a bar set up in the military building that has amazing burgers."

I shook my head. "Sorry, we ate not too long ago, I don’t think I could eat anymo-" "- What about ice cream? There should be ice-cream by the cryogenics booths." She added, causing me to pause all thoughts and reactions...

"There is always room for ice-cream." I nodded to myself, causing the woman to literally jump in elation. "Yes!- I mean, ok, I’ll let you lead the way, it’s over there, but I will buy as a thank you for letting me tag along."

I saw no reason to refute that. Sure, money meant pretty much nothing to me, but free ice-cream was bound to taste even better. It was like a universal law...

...

As we began walking, Gabrielle and Nerissa took some distance behind and at some point, Nerissa spoke. "I have activated a sound suppressant. Do you want to tell me what happened? From my calculations, I expected you to attempt to push him back inside of you the first time you met so you could start again. I didn’t expect you to become... Shy."

Gabrielle looked up at Nerissa then turned away, blushing.

"I... Panicked."