CH 84

"I'm sorry..." A downcast Emilia had tears in her eyes as she looked at her feet while placing her hands behind her back.

She still couldn't take in the fact that she just puked on her husband as soon as she had her memories returned to her. She felt even worse when he forgave her and even blames himself for it. She can read his mind after all.

"I told you, it's fine. No big deal." Zel had taken off his uniform because the puke reached even his pants. The only thing unstained was his socks, as even his shoes got some under it. 

Right now he was wearing his P.E. uniform, except with no underwear. It felt quite vexing and liberating to do so, which caused contrasting emotions to fill the boy. Still, he had finished what he wanted to do here. He wondered now if they should go back now or finish creating the important buildings today.

"Well? How is the new body going for you?" Zel went to Emilia's side and lifted her bowing head to make her face him. He couldn't help but smile as he looked at her cute, little face.

"... You look so cute as a little boy. Do you think our son would look like you?" Emilia who wanted to make Zel feel better winked at Zel. It was then that his thoughts became clouded. A sign that he had blocked her ability, making it impossible to see his thoughts again.

"Ahh... I guess we're meant to be after all." Crossing his arms across his chest, Zel nodded to himself. He was looking at Emilia with a satisfied expression, even grinning like a proud husband.

"What do you mean?" As her mind tried harder to see through the veil that Zel created around his thoughts, Emilia reached a conclusion. She won't be able to get through no matter what. Might as well ask him in the proper way.

"I did the same thing as you did, I also said the same thing." Zel pointed at himself.

"You mean, like, if our daughter would look as cute as me?" Emilia smiled and hugged Zel's arm. Looking at him with a loving expression.

"Pfft. No, it's that I'm so cute!" Zel took advantage of their position and embraced Emilia as he rubbed his head against her shoulder. Tickling the young girl as her neck was always a sensitive spot.

"Ah, hey! Haha. I give up!" Emilia was caught off guard and was unable to shake Zel's naughty hands off. She also missed him, even though it was a strange experience. It felt like she lived nine years before finally being able to take back control of her body.

"Haha. Stop! I take it back!" But since Zel wasn't letting go, Emilia went on the offensive.

She gave up on protecting herself and used both of her hands to tickle his sides, switching their positions. He was always weak when his sides were caressed, as it was a spot she utilized well in the past. Turns out she still knew her man best.

"Hey. I'm really glad to have you by my side again. Honestly, I felt a little lost without you. I didn't even know what to do, especially when there's a lot to do." Zel stopped being too handsy and placed his arms around Emilia.

He placed his forehead against hers and looked at her eyes with sincere gratitude. It was hard to try and place everything back together, especially when he still had no control over his body. It only felt like he was complete when she's around. She was his home.

"I know, I know. I'd probably be the same too." Emilia rubbed her dainty, little nose against the boy as she felt his strong emotions.

When she thought about how he must have experienced all his memories once again just to make things better for them, her heart couldn't help but ache. If there's anyone in this world who understands his pain, it was her.

"Nah, you'd probably rule the whole school already! All hail Queen Emilia, the symbol of beauty. Breaker of hearts and loving wife of an idiot Tiger!" Feeling better now, Zel raised Emilia high in the air by her waist. She was much stronger than him in a lot of ways, he knows that in his heart. He trusts her with his life, even more than he'd trust himself.

"Pfft. As if you'd lose out when you have that foresight ability of yours." Feeling happy being appreciated, Emilia pinched Zel's nose while giving him a smile. Her eyes contained no amount of negative feelings, merely pushing him on to be the best he can.

"About that... I don't think I want to use that anymore. At least, not when I can help it." Zel placed Emilia back down and gave her a look of shame. He knows that his ability is useful in many regards, but he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Really? Why not?" Knowing that her husband wanted to confide in her, Emilia held his hand and asked. She never let her eyes leave his and gently pushed him on. She wanted him to be able to feel safe with her.

"When you see the things that I've seen, and lived through what I had to through. It breaks you, not because it happened but because you don't really know if it did. I've lost you hundreds of times, I've lost everything everytime. I don't want to go through that hell again. I don't know how, but I survived." Zel looked back on his journey through hundreds of lifetimes and felt nothing but regret.

Even though he learned a lot, even though he smiled and laughed through some of it, the loss he feels is much heavier. He didn't even know what was real and what wasn't at some point. He was lucky to keep his state of mind relatively sane. Though nothing about being a time-travelling, future-seeing king is really normal, he at least wants to try and keep everything linear now.

"Hey, that's great isn't it? Now I can have you all night!" Feeling that Zel was looking a little better now, Emilia went in for a kiss. Though it was blocked by Zel's hand as he akwardly scratched his temple.

"Haha, well. We're gonna have to wait a while." Petting Emilia's head while pointing at his face, Zel laughed bitterly. It was quite strange to kiss a little girl, even if she is his wife. He'd rather wait a little bit more before doing anything more intimate. It's never too late to have more skinship after they go back to being adults. 

"So what about that ability then? Are you going to just stop doing it forever?" Realizing the situation, Emilia smiled and merely intertwined her hand with his. They can do this much at least.

"Foresight just uses Time Energy to let my soul share senses with my future self. I don't really need to experience all of it, just parts that I want to see. That's why I made the Memory Hall. With this, I can just see a glimpse without having to live through all of it. Toph will sort it out for me, all that I'd need to do would be to use up Time Energy." Zel slapped the wall beside the door of the Memory Hall.

The many lifetimes of pain and happiness took a toll on his soul. Even the thought of doing that again made him tremble. But he has already made preparations for things he could improve on so he can be more 'himself'.

"That's great! Does that mean we can leave this place now?" Seeing that Zel is back to his old self, Emilia looked around before realizing that they must have been gone for a while now. 

"Yeah, I think we should." Zel saw her anxious expression and smiled. He raised his hand and commanded the ring to open another portal so that they can leave. He didn't even bother checking his Kingdom Status yet, he'd leave that for later. He has a lot of time to waste away anyway.

Even though there are more things he can do here, it already felt like he had done so much. A proper rest would do him some good, and his decisions might just be better because of it. There's also the fact that they might be tardy and their parents would be called. He really didn't have an excuse for that.

"Let's go back."

...

"When will they be back?" A troubled youth was pacing back and forth beside the classroom door. He looked at one end of the hallway to the other, looking for any sign of activity. It was almost time for class and the two still aren't back. Carlo was already sweating bullets.

"I don't know! They've been gone for ten minutes already! What do we tell Ms. Jessica?" Von was also panicking beside Carlo as he kept his hands inside his pockets. He really didn't like the feeling of waiting for a scolding. Though it was expected that they'd be called out, he didn't know that it would make him feel like this. It's making his skin crawl just thinking about talking to a teacher.

"Zel said it would only be a few minutes! That's why I'm worried!" Jed who was still in fighting mode was getting suspiscious. Complicated thoughts ran through his head like water in a river, eventually, he reached a conclusion that made sense to him.

"Worried about what?" Von who was already twitching from anxiousness looked at his agitated friend. He looked like he was about to run off himself, which made him even more anxious so he held him down with both hands on Jed's shoulders.

"What if they got into trouble already? Maybe Jared and his crew took them!" Slamming his fist against his other hand, Jed gave off a menacing expression. But his misplaced anger was washed away as soon as a finger tapped on his shoulder.

"Why would we take them?" Jared looked at Jed with a mocking expression as if that was too low of a move for him. If he wanted to take care of those chumps, he would do it outside the school. Besides, what's the point of doing that when Zel might just be an asset?

"Anyway, I already talked with Ms. Jessica and came to a conclusion with her. We apolo-" Jared was about to give Carlo and the gang an apology when a loud sound disrupted him.

"Boom!"

In the far distance came a sound that was then followed by the ground shaking just a little bit. This caused the children and the adults within the building to panic, before finally looking towards the direction that the shock came from.

"What's going on!?"

"Look! There's something near the cafeteria!"

"The tree! The tall tree over there just fell! I saw it!"

"Oh my god! What's happening!?"

Jessica was about to enter her next class when the ruckus happened. She was also curious as to what happened when the fire alarm sounded out. A signal for evacuation from the school Principal himself.

(Attention! This area is under a code Blue-01 protocol. All units under Green are advised to leave the premises immediately. I repeat. This area is under a code Blue-01 protocol. All units under Green are advised to leave the premises immediately.)

A toneless voice can be heard from Jessica's phone as she wondered about what was happening now. It was hard to imagine that a situation like this could happen here, especially when this place doesn't even have a gate close by. How is there a situation like this happening here?

As soon as she opened the classroom door, the children had all stood up and looked out the window. Comments and noise from the outside made it hard to think so Jessica slammed the door open to catch the students' attention.

"Everyone keep quiet! Don't open your mouths until I say so!"

Only silence greeted Jessica as she scanned through the children in her care. She was not about to leave these children here to die, Blue means that the situation is escalated to a 10 km mile radius danger zone. The number code 01 meant that if the situation demands it, they will send out a first rank squadron to clear out the area.

That means every person inside the range can either get hurt or even die if things get out of hand. Things are getting bad, but it doesn't mean they won't give these children a chance. She'll get them to safety.

"Get your bags and fall in line! We're going out of the building!"