𝒪𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒪𝓁𝓎𝓂𝓅𝓊𝓈 𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝓉𝓈

"Do you care about us...?"

Xylo stood before Femi, Atlas, and Lotus feeling waves of emotions... pity, sadness, disbelief, guilt, dissapointment.

The sky was dark and everything felt sinister with the Seductive Rose revival thanks to the joint work of Drannus, the personification of Doom; someone named Keiran, and his own grandkids...

"We didn't know!", "He said he would help us!", "We were tricked!" They kept on saying, Xylo wanted to say it was all excuses but he knew it was all true.

They were tricked...

Xylo couldn't believe the Seductive Rose had once again return from the dead... he didn't want to believe that the thing that Bryan died destroying was now back.

He was angry, why can't it just stay dead?

He felt pity to his grandkids, they were tricked into doing Drannus's bidding, they thought they could trust him and it turned out to be a trick.

They didn't know what they were doing. It wasn't just their fault, like it wasn't just Bryan's fault all those years ago...

But the dissapointed still radiated off of him.

Why didn't they just go to someone?
Why didn't they talk to someone?
Why did they trust some stranger?

This all could've been avoided if they just went and talked to someone they trusted...

"G-grandpa...?" Lotus whispered, clearly distressed about the whole situation.

Xylo looked at them, "What?" The dissapointment he felt laced the word like poison, the kids each winced at his tone.

"..."

"Do- d-do you care about us...?"

'What?'

"Or do you just care about what we are?" Atlas spat, finishing Lotus's sentence.

Xylo felt time stop.

Why wouldn't he care about them? They're his grandkids for crying out loud. He'd die for these kids, he'd kill for these kids and what does Atlas mean by what they are?

He guessed his confusion sparked Femi to speak up. Her tone though was pessimistic and very out-of-character for his normally happy granddaughter.  "Do you only care us because we are Bryan's soul crystal...?"

It hit Xylo like a ton of bricks...

Xylo's demeanor darkened. He looked at them and their weeping, tired faces, all out of energy due to using it all on resurrecting the SR. The expressions they wore were crestfallen and ready for even more heartbreak.

They don't believe he actually loves them...

After everything, all the lies and secrets they were raised on, his own grandchildren didn't know if they could trust him anymore...

Heck! If they could trust anyone anymore...

Every adult in their lives has done nothing but lie to them and even he has contributed to the lies they were being fed.

The thought of his grandchild spending their whole lives being unknowingly lied to and decieved by everyone they trusted, honestly made him feel sick to the stomach.

It gutted Xylo more than Magnus literally gutting him during Aphrodite's Ball.

Xylo pulled them all into a hug, a tight embrace. "Never say that to me again."

Atlas, Lotus, and Femi all blinked.

"You three, are my grandkids, my family and I love all of you. I'm sorry I couldn't be someone you could trust, I can't imagine how finding out must've felt.

We just wanted to keep youse safe and look what good that has done..." Tears were threatening to spill out of Xylo's eyes.

"I'm so sorry youse thought you were alone. I should've said something. I told Inpu just days ago to stop hiding you all from yourselves but of course he doesn't listen..."

Xylo drifted into rants about how he wished he noticed before, how he wished he could've helped them, instead of just watching and judging them. How angry he was at Inpu for ignoring them, leaving them to think the worst of him... Inpu wouldn't dare hurt them and it killed Xylo that they didn't know that.

These kids - Inpu's bundles of joys - all feared their father. Fearing he would get rid of them.

Tears fell but Xylo didn't care as he held his grandkids close, almost suffocating them.

"Grandpa?" He heard Lotus peep.

"... hm?"

...

"I'm scared..." Xylo felt a surge of protectiveness run through him.

"I know, but we'll work this out. I promise." Xylo swore, he looked at them. Their pure faces, all so contorted in fear.

Xylo was going to figure this out, as their grandfather and the Head of Camp Oasis, it was his duty to protect camp and its campers.

"Do you knwo where the SR went after it flew away?" He inqured. Xylo felt a familiar burn in his bones, a sensation of battle-lust.

He wanted the Seductive Rose to hurt...

To suffer. To feel the same pain all of its victims felt. He wanted it gone. He wanted it begging for his mercy just for him to destroy it, let it scream as he rips it body apart and shatters the sword into a million peices.

"It said something about 'wanting to finish what he had started'..." Femi answered, her voice, hollow and meek.

Xylo almost smiled.

"Okay, stay here." Xylo ordered. He let them go and began shadow travelling towards the Pharaoh's Pyramid, where he knew the SR was lurking.

As Xylo slithered about the darkness, a few things were going through his head.

'How do I kill it?' And

...

"I've got to tell Mitch about this..."

~

I've been meaning to write this for a while and finally finished it. 😅 Sorry if it feels rushed.

Grandpa Xylo for the 🏆

I hope you enjoyed! ✨️

Thanks you for reading! 🤍