Chapter 19 – Scars and Forgiveness
The night felt lighter when Damon left the docks.
He told Kuroshi he was in charge till he came back, and that he trusted him to do well — if he stopped smoking.
Kuroshi smirked, the cigar between his teeth glowing faintly. "You sound like my mother."
"Maybe she was right then," Damon said, walking away. "Don't destroy everything."
Kuroshi chuckled under his breath. "No promises, boss."
Damon waved once to the others before turning into the alley.
"You sure about leaving them alone?" Nyra asked, walking beside him.
"They'll be fine," Damon said. "Besides, I still have to see two people."
"Who?"
"Daiki and Father," he said. "But I'll keep it short with Daiki. We need to get to my house early."
Hazel floated near his shoulder, tiny wings dimly glowing.
"Are you hungry?" Damon asked.
"No," Hazel said. "I ate my fill at the Queen's banquet. Time's slower here anyway."
"Good," Damon said. "Rest up. We'll need your energy for the portal."
Hazel nodded and nestled into Nyra's pocket.
Daichi was already asleep, curled up on Damon's head like a small hat.
The streets were silent except for the faint echo of cars far away.
"Damon," Nyra said quietly. "What are you going to say to your dad?"
"You know, I shouldn't be the one telling him," Damon said. "It should've been Mother."
Nyra didn't reply, but her eyes said enough. She felt sorry for him.
Damon's tone stayed calm. "He and I were lied to. Both of us. But he was lied to first… and I was told the truth first. It's unfair."
"Do you still love him?" Nyra asked softly. "Even if he hit you after Mother 'died'?"
"Yes," Damon said without hesitation. "I do."
Nyra's voice dropped. "There's a way to erase his memories, you know. At least the parts about her."
Damon stopped walking. "Tell me something, Nyra. Did Mother ever love him? Did she ever talk about him as a man she cared about… or just as a piece in her plan while she sat on her throne?"
Nyra hesitated. "Mother might have done bad things. But she did them to save Eternum — and Earth too. She's the only ruler taking measures that could save both planes."
Damon looked at her. His eyes were steady but distant.
"If you become a monster to fight monsters," he said quietly, "who's actually won the war?"
Nyra turned silent.
They kept walking.
"She hurt him, Nyra," Damon said. "He drank himself into forgetting. Crashed cars, broke things, screamed at walls and into his pillow just to feel something again. I might be a Woewyner by blood, but I was raised here. And on earth… we prefer physical scars to temporary wounds on the heart."
Nyra looked away.
"So no," Damon said, voice flat but calm. "I won't erase a victim's memory. Especially not his."
They walked until Daiki's house came into view.
The lights were still on.
Damon sighed. "Of course he's awake. What did I expect."
Nyra followed his eyes. "He doesn't sleep?"
"Not when there's Wi-Fi," Damon said.
They climbed up to the roof, crouching by the small triangle-shaped window.
Inside, Daiki was gaming, headset on, the glow from his screen flashing across his face.
Damon smirked. Nyra frowned.
"This is what boys do on Earth instead of sleeping?"
"Some," Damon said.
"What a waste of time," she said — until Daiki won. His grin was so wide it almost made her laugh.
She leaned closer. "What is that?"
Damon blinked. "Wait — you've never seen a PlayStation before?"
Nyra shook her head.
"With all the tech in Woewyn, and no PlayStation…" Damon muttered. "That's sad."
"Are we going inside?" she asked.
"No," he said. "We don't have time. I'll leave him something instead."
"Why not talk to him tomorrow? At the game?"
Damon shook his head. "Only students and parents are allowed. He's neither."
"So what will you do?"
Damon's lips curved slightly. "Daiki loves solving clues. I'll leave him one that'll lead him to Natsuki and figure out the rest."
Nyra tilted her head. "Damon, why are boys here taller than the girls?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"If they don't sleep, how are they taller?"
Damon chuckled. "We're just better."
Nyra huffed. "I wish muscles came with some sense."
He laughed quietly.
Damon slipped the small paper on the window edge, knocked softly, and whispered, "Make a funny face when he looks up."
Instead Nyra crouched, sucked in her cheeks, and made a scary face.
Daiki looked up — saw her face through the glass — and almost screamed.
By the time he blinked, she was gone. A small note drifted down to his desk.
He picked it up. "PG?" he muttered. Damon's handwriting. He could tell.
He climbed up to the window, almost falling out.
Nothing but a raven perched nearby, staring at him.
"Gah!" He stumbled back, crashed onto his floor.
Footsteps.
"Daiki," his father's voice came from the hall, "don't tell me you're still up. I told you to GO. TO. BED."
Daiki scrambled to his bed and pretended to sleep.
His dad entered, picked up a fallen suitcase, fixed it in place, and left.
Daiki waited a few minutes, then sat up, whispering. "If this is Damon's handwriting… who was that girl? And why a PG note at—" he looked at the clock, "12:15?"
He stared at the number. Damon left it at 12:10. Daiki's birthday was October 12th.
He smiled faintly. "Oh, Damon. You just made my holiday a lot better."
Back outside, Damon and Nyra kept walking.
His house was quiet.
No lights.
He stood by the door for a while before going in.
No smell of alcohol — only detergent.
The table was clean. Everything was in order. But it was too quiet.
He told Nyra, "Wait here."
Then climbed the stairs slowly.
Every creak felt heavier than the last.
He reached his room. Dust on the shelves, old pictures still standing. He touched one — him, Natsuki, Daiki. Another — his mother, father, and himself as a kid.
He took both.
Light from under a door. His father's room.
Damon pushed it open quietly.
The lamp flickered over the desk. His father sat there, staring at photos — mostly Damon's.
Damon froze.
"Dad," he said quietly.
His father's body stiffened. Slowly, he turned.
For a moment, he didn't speak. Then he stood.
Damon tensed instinctively, half-expecting a slap.
Instead, his father pulled him into a hug.
It was silent.
Then another tear dropped — not Damon's. His father's.
"I thought I lost my son too," his father whispered.
Damon's breath trembled. He hugged back.
The tears came slow — not loud, not broken.
"I'm sorry," Damon said. "There's… a lot you need to know."
So he told him everything.
When he finished, his father sat quiet. His eyes looked tired, angry, sad, proud — all at once.
"So she was… alive," his father said softly. "And she didn't tell me."
Damon said nothing.
His father chuckled bitterly. "I spent two decades loving a woman who was thousands of years old."
Damon lowered his head. "She did love you."
"I believe that," his father said. "But I'm still angry."
He sighed. "I don't care about that… Gamora—"
"Gamishi," Damon corrected gently.
"Right. I don't care about him. I know you'll handle it."
Damon blinked. "You believe me that easily?"
His father nodded. "She healed faster than anyone. Talked to herself too. Barely aged and such a perfect body without ever going to the gym. I noticed, son. I just didn't want to accept it."
He looked at Damon's face, his faint glow, his eyes that didn't quite look human anymore. "You might not be mine by blood… but you'll always be my son."
Damon tried to speak, but his throat locked. His father added softly, "And I'm sorry. For what I did. Four months ago."
Damon shook his head. "It's okay, Dad."
The lamp flickered again. Damon raised his hand and let light flow through his fingers — the bulb steadied.
"No more battery problems," Damon said.
His father laughed, small and real. "You know I hate changing them."
"I remember."
"Can I meet your sister?" his father asked.
Damon nodded.
Downstairs, Nyra was eating noodles cross-legged on the floor, Hazel stealing a strand, Daichi chewing meat beside her.
His father stared, half amused, half stunned. "She looks just like you."
Nyra turned, noodles in her mouth. "Hello, I'm Nyra," she said with a muffled voice.
"Yes, I can tell," his father replied. "You don't even have to say it."
Damon sighed. "How'd you even know how to use a stove?"
Nyra showed the small fire flickering in her palm. "Quick dinner."
His father blinked. "And how are you not burned?"
Damon rubbed his forehead. "She wasn't supposed to use her Eterna."
His father introduced himself. "Richard."
"Nice to meet you," Nyra said politely.
Richard smiled at Damon. "She can sleep in your room."
"What? But—"
Richard ruffled Damon's hair. "That's no way to treat the little sister you always wanted."
Hazel snorted laughing. Daichi barked once. Nyra giggled.
Damon sighed in defeat. "Fine."
He lay down on the couch that night. The city's crickets faint outside.
For the first time in weeks, there was no chaos, no noise, no blood. Just quiet.
He thought about Natsuki's game tomorrow. About his father's smile.
Then about everything still waiting on the other side of the stars.
Hazel's glow dimmed in his hair as he drifted off. Using his hair as a cover.
"Everything's calm for now," he murmured.
And the night stayed quiet.