NEW GODS: The Awakening

Yet More Strangers

Helios laid Isabella down on the couch. Her fingers clutched onto his shoulder like she did not want to let go even in her sleep. He caught that hand and pressed a soft kiss on her knuckles before leaving it to rest by her head.

A bundle of blankets had been placed by the couch. As they usually were not there, Damian could only assume Helios had placed them there for her.

His uncle rushed over to the kitchen after he had covered her with one, two, four blankets. Water was boiling there.

The feather light sound of the bubbles popping gave some much needed background noise to the nonexistent conversation. A hair towel was right beside the pot and Helios dipped it inside.

Had he somehow known it would end up like this? Then why did he allow it to get to this point? Why did he let Isabella stay in the cold air for so long?

As soon as Helios was more than a meter away, Isabella begun coughing uncontrollably. It was not anything extraordinary but it was the first time he had seen his mother sick.

At the very least now he knew something more terrifying than madam Mochizuki existed.

When he had finally stopped freaking out- which admittedly took a lot more time than it should have, Helios had returned, placed the hot towel on her forehead and kneeled by her side.

She got a bit better but not by much. Every few minutes she would start coughing and Damian would flinch, feeling like he had been punched in the stomach. He crawled closer, laying his head by stomach.

He worried his lip as he glanced up at his mother. Nobody spoke. Words had no worth when one could barely breath.

About half an hour passed before Isabella settled into an uncomfortable sleep.

"How long were you waiting outside?" Damian asked, keeping his voice feather light, not wishing to disturb his exhausted mother's sleep.

"That assumes we went inside at all," Helios answered tiredly.

He was soaked as well, although it did not seem to impact him as it had Isabella. He hardly seemed to register the cold.

"Oh," Damian tried to fight down the bile in his throat "Don't you want to change? I can watch after-,"

"I am fine. I have lived winters much worse than this. I don't think Cuba typically has a climate as cold as Europe,"

"If you knew this would happen, why did you not get her inside?" he asked, nearly accusatory.

Helios raised an eyebrow.

"What did you expect me to do? Drag her inside while she screamed and kicked? Your mother is an adult. She can make decisions for herself. Whether I agree or not is secondary. I tried to convince her and when that did not work, I supported her... as I have done for you all those years,"

"It is not the same-," Damian complained "I never got sick as a result of my actions."

"The only difference is that Isabella understood the consequences," Helios's tone could have almost been mistaken as indifferent, even laidback, but Damian sensed the thinly veiled disappointment and it soured his throat.

"I know what I am doing-!" he burst out defensively.

Helios's brown eyes raced to the slumbering Isabella. Damian's face heated up like a volcano when it dawned on him that he had spoken far too loud. Fortunately, after Isabella shifted for a little, she fell right back to sleep.

"My point still stands..." Damian whispered.

"You should pray that you are simply ignorant. Because otherwise, you did this consciously. You disappeared out of the blue, not even leaving a note, knowing full well that we would be worried sick,"