Back And... Better?

* * *○■■□°●●■◇* * *

Pushing off what felt like the ground, he found himself waking up in what seemed to be the abyss?

With nothing but darkened dirt under him and the chilling breeze of a strange atmosphere, he felt a strange shiver all around, and as he tried getting up; he needed to know where he was, he needed to know how he got here, and he needed to know how to get back.

Those were his first instinctive thoughts upon seeing himself in an unknown place.

Pushing up he tried standing, but as he did he felt a sharp pain from his ankle, stumbling back to the ground "Ach-" he crashed and grunted, it wasn't all he felt,

He felt his body tormented by the Shadow's touch, remembering back to when he was in his room last, he could feel where they grabbed him, and it was like there was an infection as there was a strong irritation and pain left by their touch.

Before he could attempt to stubbornly get up, he heard something from afar, the sounds of echoes and chanting came to ear, and as the sounds came from one direction, he suddenly heard it all around.

And the first thing that came to mind was,

"I'm surrounded..."

Quickly looking up without any signs of panic from this situation he was locked in, he saw nothing but grey trees dried of life and darkened.

But then something caught his eyes, and he felt a wave of strong magic power from a certain direction.

And in that direction, he cough sight of a blackened figure, a silhouette in the distance.

They were in the background and even though he couldn't see them well, or even know what or who it was, he trembled,

Because as his eyes' cores flickered with a shimmering orange glow, he saw a monstrous magic aura around them,

One so dense that it could have been half of his mothers' magical strength, and coming from him knowing her, that was terrifying.

Was this real? Was this an illusion? Could it have been a fragment of his imagination? He couldn't tell, his mind was in a daze, and his hands were shaking from that tremendous pressure.

Pushing against the darkened dirt he finally managed to get up on his next attempt, but as he did the silhouette got near, and as it did he could see a dense abundant of magical energy swirl around that silhouette and travel to their hands forming 2 spheres.

There was no debating it, he knew this was real.

And the sight of those spheres made me want to cancel my subscription to life because he could feel the strong magical energy radiating from all around her, meaning she was extremely powerful.

But before he could surrender or show them that he was of no harm in hopes of keeping his life, he heard rustling all around him before everything went black again and he felt his back hit the dirt.

Something was pinning him down to the ground and covering his eyes, as whatever it was pressed down on him, he could feel his entire body anguished like he had been hit by a toe truck.

And the dulled snap in his ribs made him want to scream, he felt even more pain, no, it was a suffering type pain from there.

But there was nothing he could do, what seemed like death was inevitable, and all he could do was hope for it to be quick.

But... The fates were a trio of bitches because they were pretty fucking savage. . .Especially towards him.

There were no such things as luck or cheats, and those 3 made it quite clear.

So as he braced himself for whatever was to come, he felt something press against his mouth, his mouth was forced open and-

*Chu~*

***4 Months Later***

"What's this?" Traveler

"Is that a human? Out here off all places?" Travers

"Hold... I know him? That's.. That's Paladin White's son!" Traveler 2

It's been 4 months since Hiro disappeared, and as it seemed if he would never be seen again. . .He was found,

The impossible became possible and as he was discovered in the [Kyuu] Province of the SAN continent, he was picked up by 2 unknown travelers,

But those 2 weren't just some travelers, 1 was a knight and the other was a mage, and as they were returning home to Nefumia from a mission, they stumbled onto something which they should have never touched.

With a mix of bloods and a black murky sludge covering him, the 2 travelers had acquired the unconscious Hiro and took him back with them to Nefumia where they delivered him to a hospital back in Rosa Marine

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ever since the day he blacked out... Okay I'm just going to get straight to the point, he went mission.

Mari left the room to get a wet rag and when she came back he was gone, there were no traces of him other than a mysterious black/purple locket found in his place?

But it wasn't his.

* * *A few days after waking up and leaving the hospital* * *

With 3 other people around Hiro in the main living area of the house,

"What do you mean you don't remember? It's been 4 months! How can you not remember 4 months of anything!" Unknown

As his father named Paul yelled that in frustration as stuff like this doesn't just happen, his mother named Mary put her hands on Paul's shoulders and with a soothing voice she said,

"There's no need to overreact dear" Thank you, it seems as if she's the only reasonable one left in this house–

"It's quite obvious what happened, he was most likely possessed by an Arbitarian, and used in those few months as its vessel~ Trust me, I've seen it before" Mary

Wow... What a mom, not even going to consider anything else? At least act like you care. Oh wait, we already know you didn't care that he went missing... Go fuck yourself!!!

However as she said that, it had rattled Paul, hearing that his son had been used as a tool for some creature enraged him, unlike her, he cared, he cared about his family more than his faith and or life as a Paladin.

So as she said that like it was nothing, he made a promise to himself, he was going to protect his family no matter what, and as for that Arbitarian or whatever his wife just said... Consider it [Bleep vengeful dad!].

.

.

.

Meanwhile, as Yin and Yang over there had different ideals and thought going through their head, when looking at Hiro it's as if he didn't look any different from when he left, besides the facial hair and the scar on his cheek which had mysteriously disappeared, he was the same.

But unlike them, someone had a very different opinion and as his sister named Mari looked at him, she frowned and crossed her arms,

"If you ask me he shouldn't have came back, we were way better without him!" Mari

Hearing her bad mouth him as soon as they were reunited, he signed, he had already expected as much from her, but that was because to him they've only been gone for like a week, and anyways that was nicer than what she could have said,

Or at least what he expected from her,

'It's not like I had a choice, I don't want to see your ugly mug either' Hiro tossed back at her in his head.

Nevertheless as easy as that was for Mari to say, she out of all of them was the only one who cried when he was gone, and now, just looking at him now, to see his fully bearded face, she was brought to tears on the inside as his disappearing act had scared the shit out of her.

And as the morning seemed like a mess, Hiro was confused as he couldn't recall anything, his dad was angry that he wasn't there to protect his kids, and Mari was full of mixed emotions as she was mad and sad,

Mary, getting away from all this droopy shit had a bunch of questions for Hiro, but they weren't actually concerning him...

"Can you tell me what it was like being the vessel to such a powerful being, if you can remember I'd like to know all about it for my research" Mary

* * *

As the day seemed long, he endured it and it was worth it, because as he was finally able to get settled back in, in peace.

He found his room to be fully restored which had fascinated him because it was a win for him as he didn't have to clean or fix it.

But he did think it was strange at the same time because something doesn't seem right.

He couldn't grasp the concept of something and it bothered him a bit. But then again, he forgot about it soon after.

Having been back home his body felt weird, but he didn't know what exactly it was, could it be that it was the headache he had from earlier or the fact that he had a cut on his thigh?

No, he knew, it was kinda obvious to him seeing as it was a big change, anyway, his first pleasure of being back was a fully functional bathroom, so what was he going to do, yao yup, he was going to take a hot bath!

* * *

But that wasn't actually it, he truly just wanted to take a shower and brush his hair, it was so knotted that it was as if he lived in a jungle for a year, because it was so thick he couldn't even put his hand through it and so he spent a long time straightening it.

But after doing so and wrapping a towel around his waist, he looked at himself in the mirror to see what had actually changed, because he was 100% sure he had many scars on his body, and yet he still could see any of them?

Looking at himself, he was an average-looking [Mixed Roman] male with [Light Olivy Skin] and [Brown Eyes]. His skin was radiant and pure and he looked as if he used skin and facial cream, seeing as he had no signs of achy or achy scars like beforehand.

But he did have facial hair due to not shaving in 4 months, and his body was a lot more [Toned] than it had been before? He was completely ripped with an 8 pack and flexible muscles.

But seeing as he did have that, he looked at his own body with discouragement because it was too appealing... Or at least it wasn't the body type he wanted. It might not have seemed like it but his ideal body type wasn't that of athletic, it was of bulky... He was just never able to achieve it.

Anyways if he could, he would rather have an average build, so he didn't plan on showing this to anyone. Not like they would care anyways, who the hell looks at body types anyways, I feel so weird... He thought naively

Looking in the mirror one more time he noticed his high changed, he went from a Medium to a Medium-high(5ft 11in).

.

.

.

Walking over to a clothing basket where he had originally placed a pair of casual clothing for himself, he put it on and he wore long-sleeved clothing to avoid showing skin and or his lithe body.

"It feels nice to be back, but I feel like I'm forgetting about something... Ehh, it's probably nothing if I can't even remember it"

Walking out of the bathroom and into his room he was paying no attention to anything around him till he caught a whiff of a high magical pressure which made him stop and looked ahead.

But as he looked ahead, he saw none other than his elder sister Mari sitting on his bed with a solum expression as she glared at him.

"Dipshit, where the hell have you been for the past 4 months?" she said with pure solemnity as her expression started turning menacing.

But it didn't seem to be doing much for him as he rubbed his chin and looked at her serious face with a questioning gaze on why she was even in here?

"I don't know, I went to go see the gods of Olympus, I fucked a cactus, and oh, I went to go ride emperor penguins with the Last Airbender~"

Hearing him mock her with his tone of voice, she scowled and got up, grabbing onto his shirt collar and looking at him as if she was threatening to beat him up if he didn't answer her seriously.

"Stop bull-shitting me asshole! I know you know! Where the hell did you go!!!"

It looked as if she was going to break down and cry as she yelled at him, she covered it with anger, but he saw right past her as the slight tears in her eyes told it all,

Putting his hand on her head, he sighed.

"I can't answer your question like how you want me to nee-chan... One moment I was attacked in my room by Shadows. The next moment I found myself in a hospital a day before I came back home" he spoke honestly.

But hearing the truth she was dissatisfied and clicked her tongue, throwing him off to the side and storming out of his room as she couldn't stand the sight of him right now,

'I don't believe him for even a second!'

As his back hit the bed, he laughed "my oh my, why so angry nee-chan~‽" as he found this amusing.

But as he giggled like a schoolgirl or probably a hidden psychopath, the bed felt so soft, it was really soft, his eyes were getting heavy and he didn't even bother doing anything else as he thought "fuck it" and he drifted off into the land of dreams...

* * * * *[In His Dream]* * * * *

Appearing in a familiar place, the world around was like a dried grape but filled with gray, the sound of witchy laugher came from near, and the smell of sulfur filled their air.

As he sat on the ground with his knees pressed to against his chest, he looked to outside at an abundance of trees covered in strange symbols carved on them.

It was similar to a sealing rune, or more importantly something inscribed to keep something in. To keep something trapped. But he couldn't exactly tell so he was just left there guessing.

Looking over to where the laugher, he saw a large cluster of light as if someone was using a large amount ot magic or so, and he was completely lost himself after that.

With a dark-iron collar around his neck, he sat there as dirt and soot-covered him.

He was dirty, his hair was messy, almost as if they were knotted.

Was this truly a dream or was it more. . . . . .

As he looked outside it was as if he was under a euphoric compulsion, and as he continued to look out there, his eyes, they were blank, but he was in peace, as he was inside what seemed like a small dirt/dried mud made building, he was in peace...-

But then his peace was abrupted as something came like a jaguar and pounced on him, forcing his back to the ground and digging their claws into his vital flesh.

Biting down on his neck and letting his blood flow into their mouth, as they wanted to taste him,

Taste if he was still good enough,

Vital enough,

'H-Help me'

'Anyone...' he pleaded in his mind.

But then as the pain overwhelmed him, it started to shift, and not in a masochist way... Because it was worst.

[*Dreams end*]

***As Days Came To Pass***

As dusk came to pass he woke up, today was going to be different, today was going to be normal, no drama, no nothing, and that was all he wanted, it was all his choice.

But there was actually something he wanted to do today, he wanted to see someone today, he wanted to see her, and since it's officially been 4 months, he felt the need to see her.

But before he could do that, he needed everyone to wake up, the sun hasn't even risen yet and he knew she wouldn't be awake...

And he knows that because he found his phone that had been on the bed and he tried to text her as he was inpatient and unlike 4 months ago, ye was confident and not feeling cowardly like a little bish.

However, it said error in all capital characters, so she must have gotten a new phone...

So as he was existentially bored as he waited for the morning sun to show its face, he had a bit of time to himself before the others woke up...

Soooooo....

He decided to look around his room because he was just that bored. . .

Regardless, as he searched the room, looking around to see maybe if there was candy or such, he saw something random, it wasn't his so he got interested almost immediately.

And since it wasn't supposed to be in there... He went to take a look at it.

Waddling over to his work desk he saw a locket, it wasn't very appealing and it looked odd as it was purple and black?

How strange, why does it look so familiar?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

With his heart about to burst out of his chest, he had never run so fast in his life!

That locket did something to him, it made him panic, his mind was ruined, and he was trembling!

He ended up having a panic attack, lost in the moment the darkest of what was in his light had started bubbling from the inside.

Finding himself on the other side of the room, the farthest away from it, this was his fight or flight response, but duck that, because this wasn't flight, it was terror.

And as he was in that corner for what had seemed like hours, he was curled up in a ball, with his knees to his chest and his hands holding his head as if this was apart of an act of trauma.

* * *

But then it broke...

What exactly was going on with him? And who was was the one to break it, was it himself or was it a third party?

It was a third party and it was none other than Tina as she busted into his room calling his name excitedly as she wanted to hang out.

After all, it had been 4 months, and she wanted to be the first to greet her friend after hearing that he was finally back home from the city? Or grandparents or sum?

Either way, it's been 4 months and she wanted to hang out.

And it was lucky that she had busted in when she did because he was terrified in there, don't let him tell you otherwise, because this was like some bullying from a webtoon comic.

It was as if his mind, body, and soul were slowly sinking into the darkness of insanity and mere madness. And not the good one either,

Whatever the hell that was, was unknown, but he didn't feel safe in his room anymore, especially with that thing being in there.

* * * * *[Tina N-PoV]* * * * *

Bursting into his room happy to hear that he was finally home, she was surprised, no, she was stunned, shit she had never expected this from Hiro, he had never acted like this before?

As she burst into his room, catching his attention, he jumped at her, knocking them both into the hallway,

At this point, she was going to hit him over the head telling him to cut it out, but as she raised her hand ready to tap him, she had felt him hugging her tightly, it was really tight.

She didn't get it, but she took this as a sign ya dude missed her greatly, and just like a red dragon,

she took this as a sign of greater respect!

But little did she know he was trembling, she had freed him from whatever the hell that was and he was like a puppy not wanting to leave its mother, or whatever the hell she was?

.

.

.

After getting him to let go, she really did think he just missed her and as she was happy to see that, she grabbed him by the hand not caring for his opinion as she didn't give him a choice,

"There's a new ice cream shop in district 3's market, let's go, hehe" her charm had worked wonders as he didn't resist.

But who'd resist, her she like God... At being a... uh... Pervert.

* * *[L: Near the Market, district 3]* * *

"Ice cream is the best from Mama Latina's~" Tina

Licking her ice cream with joy all over her face, Hiro wasn't so lucky as he had brain freeze.

"Yeah, but It's too cold..." he groaned.

"Dummy that's why it's called "ice" cream, it's not ment to be hot!"

"I know! I know!" He didn't know, he thought there were variants of ice cream including. Hot cream, spicy cream, and all the wonders when it came to this magical delight~

'I... Doubt that'

Looking at him, he was flustered and she already knew he didn't know, but then something occurred to her... Did he get taller?

Looking at him he was a whopping 2+ inches taller than he had been 4 months ago?

"Do guys still grow after 18?" Tina

"Hm? I think so?" Hiro

"Wow..." Tina

'That's so unfair!'

Looking at herself she was [Medium-sized](5ft 8in) and the last time she saw him, they were practically the same height?

Looking at him now, she was completely bothered by it, it was just throwing her off, even though it wasn't that much of a height difference, it was just bugging her.

"Imma kick you" Tina

"Huh?" Hiro

"Nunnn~" Tina the Benevolent

Continuing their walk, she walked a bit slower to get behind him, and as she stared at him she noticed that it wasn't just his height that had changed? He seemed more willful/confident and even his posture was better too?

Also, his personality wasn't the best, but today

she noticed how funny and happy he was? And it was quite shocking?...

However, she liked it.

But then something occurred to her as he turned and did a silly thing,

'Did he go to one of those military summer camps or something?'

She didn't get it, but yeah, he's definitely changed?

* * *After around the inner parts of district 4* * *

"Tina, you up for a bit of excitement~?"

Pulling out 2 sports tickets, her eyes sparkled as she knew... He knew... She was a sports freak.

"Hell yeah!"

* * *

As the day came to an end, they split ways,

and as he was walking the dim streets alone, he heard clattering behind him with the sounds of squeaking and childish laugher,

As the street lights started turning off, he looked behind him and as he saw many mysterious silhouettes of people glaring at him, he...–

He dipped...

Fuck that, he wasn't about to die over some "stranger things" Gorgan shit, he valued his life way too much for that!

* * *

The following day he woke up from a nightmare and as he was reaching for the stars, he recalled the past, and it made beads of tears roll down his face,

Lately, those things have been fading because his eyes haven't been wet with waterworks in a while. But today, today was different.

"Today's the day I get her back" He swore to himself, seeing as he wasn't over her yet.

But how could he? "From what he could recall", She was his first and only true love.

.

.

.

Today was the first day of his life at Ross imperial University! And it was an exciting time in his life as he's been waiting 18 years whole for this moment.

He was going to make it despite being a dumba, and let's just forget about the fact that if he missed just 1 more question he wouldn't have been here with his own skills.

As he entered the campus with his older sister who was a few feet behind him... He saw her, it was Remi.

With her beautiful silky blond hair glistening through the wind as it blew by, it was as if time itself had stopped, because his heartbeat was kike that of a jack-rabbit, and as it throbbed, it thumped, ooh, it tingled, he found his heart beating fast then when they were dating and this was only at the sight of her silhouette.

With her leaning against the entrance of the main building with her bag in her hands, he sucked up the last bit of manliness he had within himself and he started walking over to her, he had this,

He knew he did too,

After all, this was his chance to get back with her, and despite her saying she had feelings for another man, it might not have been true

It's only been 4 months and she couldn't have moved on so easily. Could she?

'Does she still think about me? Heck I know she still thinks about me, after all, we dated for a whole 6 months! Those memories can't be replaced!"

But as a wave of confidence waved over him, the fates had literally told him he could go fuck himself.

'Who the hell is this!'

There was a [Large](6ft 2) wolf boy with black fur and eyes, and as he walked up to Remi, he grabbed ahold of her hands, making her blush, and making her look up at him with her sweet delicate smile.

This was who she dumped him for, a literally fucking furry, and a wolf one at that...

.

.

.

He froze at the sight of this, that was Derek, the guy Tina supposedly asked out.

Hiro's eyes clenched and it was as if he was a hunter because a strong emotion took ahold of him,

And it was that emotion that made people do stupid shit, and as it enveloped and shrouded his body with a burning passion,

This one emotion filled him down to his core, and it was jealousy, it took ahold of him...

Until felt someone pat his shoulder,

"Haha, dumbass y'all broke up 4 months ago, you really expect a fine lady like her to ever look back at your sorry ass. Grow up, you were just a paperweight to her true happiness... After all, how could she ever think... No, how could you ever think she'd ever take your trashy ass back" Mari

She laughed as she took it way too far,

And personal.

"At least my partner didn't cheat on me with a guy" he scoffed

Half a year ago, Mari walked in on her now ex-boyfriend getting fucked by another guy and it seriously fucked her up for a while,

She's still not over it, as that was a heartbreaking moment for her and how could she? She loved that guy and right now, as she thought she could forget all about him, Hiro made her remember.

So let's just say her dislike for her brother just grew right then.

"You motherfucker! I'll-" Mari

But her words came to a halt as he grabbed her face and basically threw her back, she stumbled back as it was like he pelted her with that he pushed her with, and her eyes widened by that sudden push and she gritted her teeth as that action was like fighting words for her. And due to let's say some anger issues, she suddenly got super pissed off.

"You're done for! ! !" Mari

-

-

"the hell were the both of you thinking starting a fight so early in the morning!" The both of them were getting yelled at by their father as they were in the chairman's office.