Chapter 402: Bonding Session

They stayed for hours.

Food, conversation, laughter, and the kind of relaxed atmosphere Ethan had almost forgotten was possible filled the room. Nobody had anything particularly serious to complain about anymore. Aunt Clarissa was in better health, and thanks to the resources Ethan had accumulated, none of them would ever have to worry about money again.

It was an unmatched feeling, watching the people who raised him simply enjoy themselves without a worry in the world.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Everyone except Mark.

At some point, Mark stretched out on the couch and fell asleep.

He barely participated in the surrounding conversations, and even when he was awake, he seemed completely out of it. It was so uncharacteristic of him that everyone noticed.

But nobody said anything.

They let him be until eventually it was time to leave.

"Heading out now?"

Ethan hummed in response.

He had a lot he wanted to speak to the others about, and more importantly, he had even more questions. Kaela, Elara, and Ethan began making their way out, while Mark remained asleep on the couch.

Ethan stopped and looked back.

"Mark."

There was no response.

He walked over and nudged him.

Still nothing.

Ethan sighed before grabbing him and yanking him upright.

"You ain't got a choice."

Mark groaned, rubbing his eyes.

For a moment, Kaela and Elara both looked prepared for a fight.

Given everything Mark had been through recently, neither of them knew how he might react to being dragged around. And whether it was conscious or in that monstrous form, they were prepared to suppress it before anyone got hurt.

Instead, Mark simply sighed.

"Fine."

He stood and followed them.

Ethan shook his head.

"That was easier than I expected."

Before leaving, Ethan remembered his daughter.

"Isabelle?"

She had been upstairs playing with Adonis, and judging by the noise earlier, the two children had possessed an almost endless supply of energy.

There was no response when Ethan called her.

He headed upstairs to find them, and when he reached the room, he found both children fast asleep.

Ethan stared at them for a moment.

"I guess she is just a kid."

He smiled before carefully picking Isabelle up.

She barely stirred.

After carrying her downstairs, Ethan called someone to come pick her up.

That someone was Nathan.

The man arrived surprisingly quickly, pulling up outside in a flashy sports car that looked far too fast for someone who acted like him. Ethan strapped Isabelle into the child seat already installed in the back.

"Take her back to her mom and drive safely."

"Yes, boss."

Nathan's sarcastic response was followed by the roar of the engine as he quickly pulled away.

Ethan watched the car disappear.

He sighed, somewhat trusting his newfound brother.

After all, he had been helping Jessica take care of Isabelle throughout his absence.

'And even if they do crash, with his ability, they'll be fine.'

It was a ridiculous thought.

Yet somehow, it was oddly reassuring.

Ethan turned around to find the others staring after the car, confused that he had another friend.

"Who's that guy? Is he fine to leave your daughter with?"

He laughed.

"It's a long story."

And he knew exactly where that story needed to continue.

The roof of Mark's home.

It had always been a place Ethan went when he needed to clear his head. It was also where some of his most important conversations with Elara and Mark had begun.

Now, all four of them were heading there together.

Strangely, it felt like a full-circle moment.

Kaela reached the roof first, effortlessly jumping up without even so much as bending her knees.

Ethan followed.

He sprang upward with considerably more effort, but even without assimilating with one of his beasts, his enhanced body was enough to get him there.

Elara simply used Instant Displacement and brought Mark with her.

Blink!

After everything that had happened in Canada, she clearly didn't want to risk letting him monster out again over something so trivial.

The four of them stood together beneath the night sky.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Ethan looked around at them before breaking the silence.

"So... how was your day?"

He could already sense that whatever they had experienced hadn't been ordinary, yet somehow that had become the ordinary for them.

Neither Elara, Kaela, nor Mark immediately answered.

They exchanged hesitant glances.

Ethan sighed.

"That bad, huh?"

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

The small act gave him something to focus on while he gathered his thoughts.

"Well, I'll go first."

He began telling them everything, starting with what had happened with Victor.

Reliving his father's life in that odd vision that felt both like years and a matter of seconds, and discovering that the man he had shot all those years ago - the incident that had ultimately sent him to prison - had actually been his own father.

He told them about Jessica.

About Isabelle.

About the fact that his daughter had been born from his high-school girlfriend before he ever went to prison. Then came Nathan, his half-brother, who was the man who had been stalking them and was known as Phantom.

And finally, the part that sounded almost too ridiculous to say aloud.

"Oh yeah, and my dad is that Cyclops dude."

Kaela stared at him.

"Are you sure?"

Ethan had never seen her look that shocked before.

The insane family story was one thing, but the identity of his father was what seemed to have shaken her most.

"Yup."

Ethan took another drag from his cigarette.

His response was almost ridiculously casual.

Elara looked at him with concern.

She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to discover all of that about himself at once.

Mark looked even more shell-shocked.

The man Ethan had shot all those years ago had been his own father. Suddenly, it made sense why Ethan's father had hesitated to shoot Ethan. The realisation only made the whole story more twisted.

Kaela, however, eventually started laughing.

"That's one crazy but strong family."

"Tell me about it."

Ethan laughed too.

It wasn't a hearty laugh.

It was the kind of laugh that came when someone had absolutely no idea how else to process everything that had happened.

None of them could quite believe it.

But then it was their turn.

And Ethan quickly discovered that their day had been just as insane.

By the time they finished explaining everything, Ethan stared at them in disbelief.

"So you went to Canada and took him with you into a Gate. And now you're an immortal idiot, you're a stupid monster, and you're..."

He looked toward Elara.

His expression softened into a warm smile.

"Perfect."

Elara smiled.

Kaela immediately pointed at herself.

"Hey! How's that fair?!"

Ethan laughed.

Despite everything, he had expected crazy shit from them and took most of it surprisingly well. There was no point throwing blame around, nor was he exactly in a position to do so.

But beneath the jokes and disbelief, there was one thing that concerned all of them.

Mark.

Ethan listened carefully as they explained what had happened after, including Greg's facility and Elias's warning about Mark's condition. When Greg's name came up, Ethan's expression hardened.

"I wouldn't trust Greg as far as you can throw him."

He paused before glancing at Kaela, immediately realising that he had chosen the wrong saying.

"I think I can throw him pretty far."

Kaela laughed, flexing one of her enormous arms.

"Fair enough."

Ethan laughed as well.

The conversation continued late into the night.

Kaela and Elara also shared pieces of their own pasts, though neither went into anything particularly major. Ethan did the same, and for once, nobody felt the need to hide behind jokes or avoid uncomfortable subjects.

It was a nice bonding session.

But eventually, they came to an important conclusion: Mark should avoid using his abilities until they understood how to slow down the effects.

"In theory, if you don't use your ability, the effects that freak mentioned won't happen."

Ethan knew it probably wasn't quite that simple.

Still, it was a place to start.

Mark agreed.

As fascinating as supernatural abilities were, and as much as they had drawn him in, the consequences unnerved him far more.

'Imagine I accidentally hurt someone I care about.'

That was what worried him most.

He could handle pain and the transformations.

What he couldn't handle was losing control of himself and doing something he couldn't take back.

So he had no reason not to agree.

For a while longer, the four simply sat beneath the night sky and talked.

There was still a great deal they didn't understand.

There were still secrets waiting to surface.

But at least they were facing them together.

Then, after everything they had discussed, Elara turned toward Ethan and said that she had a surprise for him. Judging by the look on her face, he already had a pretty good idea what it was.

And somehow, that made him even more nervous...