Chapter 162: Humanoid Road 27 – Resting

Apexus sat against the wall, eyes closed, and indulged in his other senses. Distant, very distant, he felt the tremors of the Myrm, digging and crawling through the walls. The rock that surrounded the healing fountain they were resting at, was too dense for the monsters to get through. They only ever traversed the main tunnels to fight invading adventurers.

Closer was the running of water. Spawning from within the earth, the healing fountain was steadily renewed and depleted, ensuring it stayed fresh. Stale water from a healing fountain quickly lost its helpful properties until it was only water with mana in it, which was toxic for the average person. Adventurers often used the water to refill their potions, but that was only a short-term solution. It didn’t heal them as quickly and had to be splashed onto the wound, which was a bit more cumbersome than gulping down a vial worth of liquid.

Even closer were the steady breaths of Reysha. The tiger girl was laying on the floor, wrapped inside a blanket, and peacefully sleeping in the total darkness of the dungeon. Usually, she would have slept at Apexus’ side, but she had decided the even floor was better than the craggy wall. The last thing she wanted when waking up in a dungeon were back problems.

Apexus couldn’t really understand, but he respected the notion.

Closest to him, were the many sensations coming from the metal fairy by his side. Softly, she breathed, a gentle rhythm that had guided him to sleep several hours earlier and still remained to caress the membrane of his neck. She was warm, something especially pleasant because of how cold he was at the moment. Theoretically, he could maintain his body heat even while he was asleep, having merged the heating core to his nucleus had brought the advantage of making it a subconscious process. Practically, that would have been a giant waste of energy.

In return for her warmth, Aclysia received a little bit of his mana. Every half an hour, Apexus felt a tiny pull, so miniscule that it couldn’t have awakened him. Aclysia was using incredibly little energy, just resting by his side, her consciousness effectively shut down. Still, she was using some, proven by the tiny vibrations that pulsed through her like a heartbeat. Rather than constantly draw from him, her instincts deemed it more effective to only do so when a minimal amount of her reserves had been depleted.

More important than her sounds, her warmth or her dependence on him was, simply, her presence. The way she had nuzzled against him, her head between his shoulder and his cheek resting on her silky hair, made him feel fulfilled. His hand around her waist seemed to be in the best place in the world. His right wing also surrounded her. Albeit a dull sense compared to the others, he could still feel her beyond the feathers. Her own fuzzy, moth-like, wings partly covered his legs. They could be surprisingly limp, when she relaxed.

While that was, doubtlessly, what he enjoyed the most about their current situation, he couldn’t ignore the novelty of her smell. Apexus had acquired a temporary nose before, but he had never concentrated on the sense because of that short-lived stay. Now that he had one that was both to remain and potent, he gave it a bit more attention.

Aclysia smelled a lot like she tasted, something Reysha had assured him was normal. There was the undercurrent of metal, with a smell similar to cherry layered on top. Her fragrance was lesser than her taste, regardless of whether Apexus compared it to her skin, lips, or other delicious bits of her.

“…darling?” her quite voice reached him, “are you awake?”

“Yes,” answered the slime, pulling his wings in a bit tighter. The feathers would muffle their words and keep them from waking Reysha. The tiger girl rolled onto her side and mumbled something about strawberries and stabbing people ahead of her in line at the farmer’s market. She often had vivid dreams like that, although she only spoke in her sleep when she felt comfortable.

Aclysia giggled, something Apexus more felt in the way her body shifted than he heard it.

“What is it?” he wondered.

“I noticed you were awake due to the sound of your smelling,” she told him. “It amuses me slightly, my Apexus.”

“Oh,” the slime sniffed, just to remind himself that the large sniffer on his face did indeed make a considerable amount of noise whenever he used it. Indulging in how she stimulated his senses, he had forgotten about that. “Hope… I hope that didn’t inconvenience you.”

“My rest is a decision taken purely to shorten the experienced time between when we get to talk,” Aclysia’s answer was as wordy as always. “When you are awake, I want to be awake, darling.”

Apexus squeezed her waist a little bit, the happiness he felt at those words making him wish he could hug her more deeply. In the past, he would have flowed around her with his slime. Nowadays, it was a bit too complicated to get all of it moving around her. Hugs with his arms seemed better anyway. The more he understood about social things, the more he understood the importance of reserving them. Cuddles were for people he loved, handshakes for people he knew, engulfing people with slime was for prey to be eaten. Since getting limbs, slime hugs were no longer necessary.

Trying them with Reysha would have been a pretty bad idea. One careless slip or flash of hunger and her skin would have gotten some nasty marks. Also, he couldn’t do that kind of hugging in public. Arms and hands were great for cuddles. The human shape had a lot of great things about it.

Lips, especially the full ones of a woman kissing his neck, were beyond fantastic.

“I love you,” the slime said. Despite the lack of light, he knew she was smiling now.

“I love you too,” she returned, snuggling against him, hoping she could hug him even more deeply. “I love you with everything I am.”

“Even with the bits that get frustrated when I make fun of you?” Apexus asked.

“Yes,” he got a straightforward answer.

Their communication fell into silence, disturbed only by a little song that Aclysia hummed. Neither of them wanted to say something needlessly. When it was just the two of them, their talks were much different from when Reysha was around. Words felt inadequate and unnecessary. The tiger girl’s bantering attitude drew something out of both of them they didn’t get from each other. It was one of the reasons why they also loved the redhead. They completed each other, catered to different aspects of their personalities.

If Apexus and Aclysia were locked into a room forever for eternity, they would have been content. With Reysha in the mix, they would have been fulfilled. Theirs was a complicated triangular relationship. Complicated and wholesome. Apexus wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.

Still, a little bit of doubt gnawed at him making him question if the metal fairy felt the same. “Are you happy?” he asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Aclysia wondered, puzzled by the question.

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“It’s all different from when we fell in love,” the slime said. “I’m different. Very different. Membrane to core.”

The metal fairy tilted her head. “I have not pondered much about that proposition,” she said. “I do not find much about you, darling, that is different from the reasons I fell in love with you. Your appearance changed, you learned to speak and your character grows more complex as experiences accumulate, all of that is true. Much of the last also applies to me. The angel that was created to present a Divine Quest differs from who I am today in numerous ways. She was simpler and, yes, you were simpler too.”

“You were never simple,” Apexus responded. “From the moment I was able to understand what you were, I knew you were beautiful. You saved my life. You were patient with me, when I knew so little. You helped me, guided me, and you figured out so many things I just couldn’t. You’re brilliant, perhaps a bit inflexible, but your ability to reason and to calculate are wonderful. They contrast with your strong morals in ways that are far from simple. You did, and do, what is right by your principles.”

“Not always,” Aclysia quietly mumbled. “I almost tried to convince Reysha she shouldn’t have helped Nudru…”

“We aren’t perfect.”

“And you think of me higher than I deserve regardless,” Aclysia responded. “Yet, that honesty is what drew me to you in the first place. When we first met, I served you out of obligation, but… when you managed to remake this shell of mine, I saw a little more in you. You never stopped trying to learn things in the months we spent with Gizmo. That drive, those earnest attempts, and the interest you showed towards me, they let me discover this beautiful emotion. That moonlit night in which I sung for you… and the jealousy I felt in Clearwater. They let me realize this love I felt for you. Even when you couldn’t talk, even when you looked like a monster, you proved not to be.”

The slime didn’t know what to do with all of these compliments and confessions. In the absence of any adequate response, he only saw two options: silence or humour. ‘I still look like a monster,’ he thought to say, but he didn’t. He just held her and they sat together, two minds who had expressed their emotions as best words could.

A while later, they heard a drawn-out groan. “I’m awake… or am I? It’s so dark, I can’t even see my voice.”

““You don’t see a voice,”” Aclysia and Apexus remarked at the same time.

“Aren’t ya two in sync this morning,” Reysha asked and yawned. Apexus got to see her teeth clack back together as he created silver light from his fingernails. “Pffft,” the redhead held back her laughter upon seeing Apexus and his humorously enormous nose. “It’s still funny… anyway, did I miss anything?”

“We exchanged a few confessions of love,” Aclysia informed her.

“Huh, hope ya skipped me there. Would’ve been a waste to talk about me when you’re both so darn wonderful,” Reysha tossed her blanket to the side. “I mean, I look good, but that’s about it.”

“You’re funny,” Apexus remarked.

“Your spontaneous nature is refreshing,” Aclysia added.

“I like the way you laugh.”

“And you challenge my decisions in ways I appreciate.”

“Okay, okay, stop, before I vomit from the sweetness you’re throwing at me,” Reysha giggled and visibly blushed. “Seriously, what wholesomeness crawled into your breakfast and bloomed into a whole fucking Summer Leaf?”

Apexus pointed at Aclysia, then at Reysha. “You two. You’re all the summer I could ask for.”

“That’s so fucking corny,” the redhead laughed.

“I find it to be sweet,” the metal fairy swooned and kissed Apexus’ cheek again.

“Ya would, bubble butt,” Reysha’s friendly mockery accompanied her rising to her feet, showing the entirety of her naked body. “Well, if we’re confessing why we love each other… let’s see… Apexus is a mess of the most practically minded predator and a strong batch of goo and I love it and you. Aclysia, you are an insufferable cunt that preaches way too much about morality, who knows way better than me in every regard, and who I just want to kiss until you turn silly and I love that too.”

Apexus found that very oddly worded, but Aclysia suddenly started laughing. Every little sound of joy was like a purifying note in a complicated melody. It didn’t last long, the metal fairy quickly regaining control over herself again. “It occurs to me that you may be the simplest of us,” she blurted out in a jovial tone.

“Sure, sounds like me, honest to a fault and prone to absolutely idiotic mistakes,” Reysha grinned and strut over to tap the metal fairy on the nose. “Hope ya don’t mind me indulging more in being around you, miss divine brain.”

“I do not and you should not sell yourself short either. For all your faults and hasty decisions, you are not stupid and your sass brings me joy – even when it annoys me. Somehow,” Aclysia wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into the embrace. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Apexus echoed, adding his own arm and wing to the mix.

Reysha was stunned. Something about the tone of their voice or perhaps just the mood of that morning made the moment hit harder than it usually did. No banter and no joke came to mind. Only a wholly inadequate, “Thank you,” while she let herself be cuddled by the two of them. She blinked away a hint of tears in her eyes, while the mistakes of her past, of the great missteps and cruel decisions, were dulled. While she was there, she was safe. She was complete.

They all were complete.

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