The Monster and the Reluctant Groom [Dimentio x Luigi]

(2) - The Old Folks

This was all my own doing, all my own fault, his thoughts continued.

"I just had to try my luck..!" Adrian paused, grunting as he almost tripped over a boulder. "I should've known to not push it! We've already tried everything!"

Not paying close enough attention, his shoulder slammed against a tree as he passed, making him wince in pain. He hissed and clutched at his sore limb, now rubbing his arm instead of his eyes. His lip began to tremble and before he knew it, he had sank down to the forest floor.

Despite his vision being impaired, it seemed that his tears had not been affected by the damage. Adrian felt betrayed, somehow. He was in his element in this forest. After all, the earliest members of his family practically grew it themselves. Whether it was betrayal or poetic justice was up in the air, but what he knew for certain was he had FAILED...

He just wanted one thing, that was it. Adrian had never been a man of many wants. Sure, when he was young he wanted to go see new places, and he even occasionally made bolder trades for items he thought he wanted, but his greatest desire yet... his most heartfelt wish... his biggest prayer... would have to go unanswered.

Adrian tossed his head back, screaming at the sky with empty eyes as he pulled at his messy amethyst hair.

"I FORSAKE YOU, GRAMBI AND JAYDES!" Adrian shouted to the sky and earth above and below. "If you both are so great and generous, then why withhold my and mine wife's wish for a child!? You took away my siblings and father with plagues! Is it not fair that I should be able to continue my bloodline after you both so unjustly diminished it!?"

The poor man was sobbing loudly now as he lowered his face back down to the forest floor, knowing darn well that he probably sounded like a hysterical blubbering idiot. Most fools didn't even believe in Grambi or Jaydes, and he was starting to see why.

"Why must fate always deliver such a cruel hand to those who didn't do a thing to deserve it? Or have I truly been declared 'evil' for wanting to bring a child into these crumbling worlds..? A-ah ha ha haa..." Adrian slowly trailed off.

He uncurled his knees and practically threw himself onto the muddy forest floor, now face down and sprawled out on the ground as he sobbed. It would only be a matter of time before either a wild animal or the elements picked him off. Who knows? Maybe someone even heard his loud hysterical rejection of Grambi and was coming to investigate!

"I'm sorry, Jewel..." Adrian sighed, his face to the ground. "I should find a way home to you...but...I just don't have the strength right now."

The cloaked man concluded that it might be best if he slept for now. It was obvious that there was no use trying to find his way through the woods while this riled up, so perhaps a nice nap was all he truly needed...

"Haa... Any child would do, really..." Adrian quietly whispered to himself with a small smile, slowly succumbing to the tempting promise of rest. "Boy, girl, I don't think we can be very picky at this point....."

"Boy, are you feeling alright?"

The sound of another person's voice snapped Adrian to immediate attention. He didn't recognize the voice, no, but it was still a person's voice! Chances are, that meant he either made it back to civilization, or this person came to save him!

"Woah! Settle down there, don't want to hurt yourself," the mystery arrival stated, noticing how fast Adrian tried to sit upright.

Adrian concluded that this voice sounded like it belonged to an elderly fellow...which would make sense considering he called him "Boy" when he was clearly fully grown.

"Can you stand up?" another more feminine voice asked. "If so, you decided to stop for a nap at a horrible spot in the forest, young man."

The second voice was nearby as well, and seemed to belong to someone of around the same general age. If he had to guess, this elderly couple was most likely out for a walk after the storm and were now looking down on him in the dirt and mud, probably both figuratively and literally.