Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core)
Chapter 57: Where is Aron?

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Where is Aron?

There we were: the family. Not the whole family because Aron was missing.

And... well, I guess the children I saddled Mordred and Morty with were also missing, but those were raised and adopted by Solas and Doran.

I had no intention of trying to connect with someone who was getting their parenting.

I took a nice big muffin, bit inside of it, melted when I managed to find a piece of chocolate inside, and then pressed it to Nate’s lips.

"The kids can bake," I, of course, hid the teasing with good parenting. Said kids were eyeing us so, as if they were taking mental notes.

After their wild youth, I hoped that they would find someone nice and settle down.

Well...

Just someone who wasn’t like Nate would have been perfect.

"Yes," he had the audacity to lick my fingers as he ate the rest of the muffin.

"Do you know what will make them happy?" I began, as I leaned into him. I rested my head against his muscular chest, breathing out a sigh of contentment.

I did eat about five muffins in total. Sugar does wonders to people.

"Yes?" I felt as his right arm went under my feet. Oh, he just wanted to carry me off to my room.

And I wanted that as well. But first! I wanted my Aron back, darn it!

"For them to see their second dad!" I hugged him and giggled like someone who was one sneeze away from being carried away.

The kids began to look uncertain.

"Cough, cheesy meal, cough!" I stated my bribe.

"Papa Nate?" Mordred began.

Nate was not his father. Mordred was made of Aron’s mana.

I didn’t know what Nate felt about seeing the blonde man, who had Aron’s red eyes, but as he didn’t send a fireball Mordred’s way, I felt that I could let the kid fight for his father.

The real one.

"Yes, son?" Nate asked, as he scooped me up and put me on his lap. He was warm, and comfy, and he smelt of vanilla from helping to make the second batch of muffins...

For which he even went to the shop and came back. Something that made him rise in Mordred’s eyes, or so I thought.

"I miss Papa Aron," Mordred said in a whisper.

I could see as Nate began to try and restrain himself. Man, to see that your own son didn’t want for you to be their father was...

"Me too," Morty said. Morty, who was all Nate.

"Aron is... he is... a darn leech!" Nate roared, as he jumped to his feet.

I fell off his lap.

Our sons stepped before me, green mana around their hands.

"What?" Nate asked, as Mordred and Morty made a threatening step towards him.

"Papa Sylvan can’t fight!" Mordred yelled, as he aimed. "But we can fight for him!"

"And not just them, you blonde doll!" Nara said, Mael close behind her. Heck, even Nesta and Nathan had slingshots in their hands!

With... was that tar-coated shrapnel?

"What the hell is wrong with all of you!" I yelled, taking a frying pan off the floor. "We were relaxing! We were pigging out on muffins!"

My sons stepped away from me and my frying pan. Mael took Nara by the hand, got himself a platter with muffins, and retreated back to his corner of my dungeon.

"And you!" I pointed the frying pan at Nate, who took a step back. "Will bring Aron-pooh back!"

"Why?" He yelled back.

We weren’t thinking clearly. Heck, I doubted that we were thinking at all. All I wanted was for Aron to smile at me again!

Was it too much to ask?

"Because we are a family!" I yelled in his face, the frying pan above his head.

His hand closed around my throat. I could feel the necromantic mana under his skin.

"Why can’t I be enough?" He whispered.

He was ready to kill me. Nate didn’t love me. He wanted to own me for some reason.

I wanted to scream in his face until I couldn’t utter a word.

"Why can’t I be enough?" I asked him.

Because I didn’t know what he wanted from me. All I wanted was to have Aron back.

It didn’t matter to me that most nights I fell asleep in Nate’s arms.

Aron, when he wanted to be intimate, did so at a great price. He had to restrain himself.

It was just easier to be with Nate!

As soon as I thought that, I dropped the frying pan.

It was easier to be with Nate.

He was the second choice.

The necromantic mana retreated away from his fingertips.

"Now you understand, don’t you?" He asked me. I nodded. "And yet, you still want him back?"

I nodded once more.

"Then have him back!"

He let go of me. Aron appeared between us!

His white hair was a mess. Almost yellow. He had this crazed and starved look in his eyes that he had had that first night we met.

Back when he was calm, but his eyes told another story.

"Aron!" I offered him my neck.

He bit into it without saying a word.

I felt lightheaded as he drank and drank. Seemingly being about as gluttonous as his son.

I gave him mana. I tried to pat him on the back to get him to let go.

He kept drinking.

"Nate," I whispered because he was my only hope.

Aron was zapped with necromantic mana, and I was in Nate’s arms the next second.

"Aron fought," Nate told me. For some reason, I felt like I could believe him this time. "And he gave much of himself during that fight against king Alexios."

"Why didn’t you tell me?" I whispered, not being able to say anything more.

"How could I?" He asked me, as he kissed the top of my head. "You love him. There is no telling if we can get him to go back to normal. You should let go."

I knew he wanted that of me. I knew it was his greatest desire.

"No," but I couldn’t give it to him. "Families fight for each other!"

And I was going to get Aron back.