Shadow Slave | School Days

Sunny stared at the scene before him with a dumbfounded expression, grasping at his arms and his face, he tried to force himself out of whatever dream he was experiencing yet it was all too real. Nephis walked up to him and grasped him by the arms, guiding him toward the cake gently.

Her soft touch helped ground him to reality, yet his mind continued to reject it. As he stood in front of his cake, he heard vague praises echo throughout the room however his mind refused to adapt to the new stimuli. Breathing in deeply, Sunny stared at the ceiling, placing a hand over his eyes as his shoulders began to tremble.

A wide, grateful smile settled itself across his face as he fruitlessly tried to restrain tears pouring down his face. He was seventeen now, and they had gone through so much effort just to praise his own existence, to acknowledge him.

"Thank you, thank you all."

Those simple words were all he could muster as Nephis grabbed his palm firmly, waiting for him to calm himself down as he wiped his tears from his face. Looking downward, Sunny watched as Orion handed him the knife only eliciting a look of confusion from him.

Red velvet cake with a picture of Sunny as he slept and seventeen candles stood before him, it was a beautiful sight, he didn't quite understand how Nephis and the rest had known that red velvet was his favourite, but the thought put into such a gesture made it entirely worth it.

"Blow out the candles and make a wish to yourself dickhead." Orion called, eliciting a laugh from Effie and light glares from Kai and Cassie as Nephis utterly ignored him, her attention fully focused on Sunny as he lowered his head and blew out the candles.

"I wish to be free."

A simple quiet message which was drowned out under the bustling noise of Orion and Effie exchanging banter was only caught by Nephis as Sunny raised the knife and cut out a slice of the cake. Placing it on a nearby plate, Sunny cut off a slight piece and took a bite.

His eyes widened, a satisfied hum escaping his lips as he licked his lips eagerly waiting for the next bite as he walked to the corner of the room and eagerly devoured his slice. Soon, Effie and the rest quickly followed suit with Orion helping Cassie eat properly despite her insistence she didn't need it.

After a while of exchanging pleasantries, Sunny's thigh began vibrating as he sat next to Nephis. Sunny attempted to reach into his pocket, only to find his hands were still sticky from constantly eating cake so Nephis had to take the call for him, pressing the phone against his ears.

Revel's soft voice rang out in his ear as Sunny vaguely heard Rain's voice echoing throughout the background. "Sunny? Are you there?" Sunny's smile widened as she addressed him, nodding affirmatively wouldn't work so he offered her a meek "Yes." In it's stead.

Sunny didn't quite know why he felt so nervous, but all of his lingering doubts were washed away as Revel began speaking. "I just wanted to tell you happy birthday and thank you for being the best son I could ever ask for. You've filled a hole in my life and the lives of others that you'll never be able to understand. I want to let you know that you're loved, never forget that."

His voice was caught in his throat as he wiped away tears with the back of his hand, Nephis arm wrapped around his waist as she pulled him closer, another yes escaping his throat as his voice became distorted with tears. But Revel was far from finished.

"And also, I know you have a lot of weight on your shoulders, I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to help you more than I have but I need to let you know this. It's ok for you to be a child, it's ok for you to act like a child and it's ok for you to be happy. Don't ever doubt yourself and think you don't deserve it because you have, you've earned the right to be happy."

"Thank you... Mom. Thank you for being part of my life, I... don't know if I can ever repay you for what you've done for me." Sunny replied, his voice shaking as tears continued to pour from his eyes. Orion and the rest listened in on the scene with avid attention, the sound of Revel's voice caused a wide smile to settle in on his face as he eagerly awaited taking the phone from Sunny.

"Just be happy, that's all the payment I need. And tell Orion that he's gotten quite close to flipping the underworld over." She finished her last statement with a laugh as the phone disappeared from Nephis hand in a blur. Orion gripped the phone tightly as he walked out of the room with a smile.

"You can tell me yourself beautiful."

Sunny could hear Revel resist throwing up at the compliment as he broke out into a fit of laughter. Effie walked up to Nephis and bent down next to her ear as Sunny's fit of laughter continued to ring out through the room. "He's fucking hot, good job Neph, I didn't think you had it in you."

Nephis turned around and levelled a glare at Effie "He's mine." Was all the glare portrayed as Effie walked back and raised her hands placatingly as Nephis's glare only increased in intensity. Soon enough, Orion walked back with the phone in hand with a wide smile across his face.

A knock on the door tore Sunny's attention away from Orion's bragging about getting a date as Sunny got up to open the door, wiping his hands with a cloth, Sunny pried open his door as a large frown overtook his face. The press of death weighed down everyone in the room as the new arrival smiled widely at Sunny.

Mordret had arrived.

He was wearing a tuxedo with a bowtie, his sword firmly fixed at his side placed in its sheathe as Sunny took a step to the side and allowed the man entry into his home. Orion stared at Mordret passively, walking up to him before looking the taller man in the eye.

"Don't you need to ask permission before you take a seat?" Mordret ignored him entirely, glancing at the birthday decorations that littered the room before a look of shock arrived on his face. "Sunny, it's your birthday!? Aw you invited me into your house on your birthday, I knew I was right to call us friends!"

Nephis wanted to shoot to her feet, Effie wanted to exclaim, Kai wanted to aim his gun, Cassie wanted to grab a knife. None of them found their bodies obeying them in the face of the monster before them, and to make it worse, Mordret wasn't even trying to scare them, not even noticing their presence as he turned to Sunny.

Orion grabbed Mordret roughly by the shoulder, turning the man's attention toward him as he smiled brightly. "I don't like being ignored by those weaker than me." Mordret's smile mirrored his with equal enthusiasm as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Me too! Luckily for you though, I'm not!"

Before the two could escalate things further, Sunny pushed them away from each other with a frown on his face as he glared up at Mordret. "This isn't why you're here and you know it. If you mess this up for me, you know what will happen right?" Mordret sighed dramatically as he raised his long arms into the air.

"Fine, fine. Where do I sit oh great powerful one?" Mordret exclaimed, as Sunny pointed at a nearby chair allowing the man to sit. Sunny too took a seat next to Nephis as the two of them looked at each other in silence for a few moments, Orion's gaze settled between the two indifferently as he awaited for them to speak.

"I guess it's time for me to tell you the secret behind your body seeing as I lost, right?" Sunny nodded gently. "Not just that, and the experiments that was done to you that make you regenerate quickly. Who did it, when and why." Looks of shock resonated around the room as Mordret pulled out his sword slightly.

Orion tensed as he watched Mordret do the unthinkable. He cut off the tip of his own finger, swallowing the disconnected appendage as his muscles began regrowing where the empty stump was. In a few moments, his finger had entirely regrown, drops of blood lingering on his hand as he wiped it with a cloth.

Mordret's next words caused Nephis's hear to drop further than it once had all that time ago with Eubin. Her grip on the armrest of her chair tightened so much so she felt it would break as Mordret's typical smile curled downward.

"Well, I guess we should start off with Asterion, Anvil and The immortal flame."