The breezes climbed the mountain slopes until the air became cool enough to condense its vapor to drizzle. On the mountain top, the rocky peak, everything beneath seemed so small yet beautiful. Michael and Lailah landed on this lonely mountain peak. Along with thunderclaps, the streams of lightning on the horizon indicated the coming heavy rain.

  Lailah stood on the edge of the mountain peak, looking at the distant horizon. Michael remained silent, expecting Lailah to speak whatever was in her mind. As though she was battling a war inside her, she opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and closed her mouth again.

  "I assume you don't bring me here for sightseeing," said Michael,

  "I need to tell you something"

  "No shit" Michael took several steps forward to join Lailah on the edge of the mountain peak.

  Lailah turned her head sideways to see his calm face. She just stared at his face for a couple of minutes before finally letting out a heavy breath,

  "I am pregnant with a spirit child of yours" Michael almost fell down from the mountain top. His calm face immediately took a one-eighty turn. His heart started to pound against his chest as he slowly remembered what happened inside the Treacherous ocean.

  "System" Michael growled in his mind,

  [What? The system informed you that there is a chance of a spirit child forming inside her. The system made sure the spirit child won't inherit any of your characteristics and talents]

  "The child will see the world in a few weeks"? For the first time in a long long time, Michael's mind went blank. Since the system told him there's only a tiny chance of a spirit child to form inside her, he subconsciously hoped there won't be a spirit child. Not at this moment, but he never wanted to be a father ever.

  Every time Gaya talked about having children, he always changed the topic or ignored her. The last thing he wanted was to have a kid and raise that kid in this fucked up world. Nonetheless, fate played another game in his life.

  "Lailah…that's…"

  "What happened between us was my fault" while Michael stuttered, Lailah opened her mouth.

  "I know how hard it is to grow up without a father in this world" she turned her gaze back at the distant horizon,

  "The fate and my fault together forced you to be the father of my child. I want to give my child a family, Ghost. I really do" For the first time, Michael saw Lailah's eyes tearing up in sadness. Even after he spirit walked her, she was furious but not sad, at least he didn't see her sad.

  "But you can't be my child's father Ghost. Not after everything I've seen. I would rather rise my child alone than letting the child inherit the darkness inside you"

  "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Michael lost his cool when he heard Lailah. Although he was not perfect father material, he couldn't keep his mouth shut when he heard her talk about darkness.

  "You people are talking like I'm the only bad guy in this world. You think Andrew is a saint because he is in love with the princess and was prepared to die for her '' His anger towards the people's hypocrisy overshadowed his worry about the spirit child.

  "Andrew killed a guy who never showed any intention to kill him with your help. So according to you, Is it okay to kill a guy for love?" Lailah sensed a murderous aura radiating from him. He was sick and tired of people judging him and branding him as the big villain. The so called Guardians had done worse things than him. If someone ranked the evil in this world, he would certainly be not first except everyone thinks he's on the top spot. He almost mixed up his Lucifer persona with Ghost when he talked.

  "No one is an innocent Ghost. I'm not naive to believe otherwise. But there's something inside you, growing stronger every day. I'm not afraid of you, I'm afraid of that darkness inside you" Michael clenched his fist. Perhaps, it was coincident, or perhaps, it was influenced by Michael, the sky suddenly turned darker.

  "When you lose to the darkness within you and you will if you continue your path, I don't want my child to be enveloped by the same darkness surrounds you"

  After these words escaped her mouth, silence enveloped the mountain top. Except for the claps of thunder, no sound could be heard in the area.

  With loud booming sounds of thunder, the heavy downpour made its appearance like a sudden guest. The downpour was so heavy that each drop was as large as a cartoon tear and they fell like gravity had been turned up a notch. In a few blinks of an eye, the two of them were completely drenched in rain.

  As though the rain had washed off the burning anger inside him, Michael sighed.

  "My so-called darkness won't harm your child Lailah" Lailah saw a smile dosed with gloom on his face.

  "You know I never wanted to have kids of my own. Even with Aelia" He looked at the distant horizon.

  "I was abandoned by my parents. The last thing I want to do is to do the same to my kids. But you are right, the spirit child will be better off without me. I never considered that maybe my parents too abandoned me because they thought I am better off without them" The thunderclaps reverberated the mountain top as though they were agreeing with Michael,

  "I know even you don't understand but if your child asked about its father and why he abandoned him, tell the child I had no choice and I did it for its own good. It is the truth" Michael was almost certain that his enemies would find a way to use the child against him. He was trained to take out any potential enemies before they could become a threat to him. He always abided by this rule. Still, even when he knew the child would be turned against him by his enemies, he decided to let the child be. The child was innocent and pure.

  He knew how painful it is for a child to grow without a family to feel belonged to, without a mother to love, without a father to guide and protect. Michael had already punished this child by deciding to leave the child instead of being a father to it. He couldn't get himself to hurt the child anymore despite he knew the child might become a threat to him in the future,

  "However, remember this Lailah" He turned back his gaze from the distant horizon to Lailah.

  "Protect your child"

  Lailah was threatened by the sound of his grave voice,

  "Protect from who?"

  "Me"

  Another thunderclap boomed just after he said,

  "Do not let your child be used against me. My enemies will stop at nothing and so do i" Michael warned. Although he decided to spare the child, if the child tried to kill him in the future, Michael would end the child's life in a blink of an eye. Even if he didn't, Gaya definitely would.

  "Ghost, for the sake of our child, why can't you just leave everything behind you and come with me?"

  Although she already decided not to let Ghost be a part of the child's life, after hearing him, she tried to change him one last time, for the sake of their child.

  The tears drops mixed with water droplets rolled down on her rosy cheeks,

  "I can't Lailah, even if I wanted to, I just can't. Like you said, I'll do more harm than good to the child if I'm around" while tears rushed out of her eyes without her control, she saw him walking towards her.? He lifted her palm? before placing a rather normal looking chain with a coin sized sun attached to it in her hand.

  "Maybe if I didn't meet Aelia and fall in love with her, we might have ended up different instead of being like this" Lailah saw a smile that hid the sorrow in his heart.

  He picked up the chain as she put it around her neck. She wanted to stop yet she simply couldn't.

  "The child is lucky to have you as its mother Lailah" every single fiber in her body wanted to embrace him despite how he made her feel before. All the anger, fury, and everything faded away from her heart in an instance.

  But before her heart could overpower her mind to make her embrace him, he took several steps back from her.

  Both of them looked into each other's eyes in silence for a couple of minutes. Then, Lailah said,

  "I want something else from you, Ghost. This will be the last thing I would ask from you" Her voice was shaking in a mix of emotions.

  "Ask"

  "I need your blood to give the child a physical body. That-"

  Her words were interrupted when she saw him unsheathe his sword from his back. Without uttering a single word, he cut his palm with his razor-sharp sword. The thick dark blood oozed out of the large cut. A vial immediately appeared in his hand as the blood drizzled into the vial, rapidly filling it with his blood.

  The vial slowly floated towards her as he turned back. The blood was still gushing out from his hand

  "Spoiled milk is still white Lailah. Everything you see and believe is not always right. Raise your child showing it how this world really works Lailah" He looked over his shoulder to give her one last look,

  "Good-Bye Lailah"

  As a strange emptiness and sorrow were filling up her heart, she looked at Ghost disappear into the dark clouds.

  ******************************

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