WINTER'S SWEET EMBRACE

Vincent stared into the hand-mirror held by the Way Guide.

"Whoa... what the heck happened to my hair?!" he yelled while tugging at the blue strands that now fell over his forehead. "And my eyes! And wait... Are those... Are those wings?! Where did you get that mirror?! What in the actual hell is happening!?"

"I keep this mirror for folk like you who suddenly get a change of appearance. Pretty sick, huh?"

"See?" Maribelle pressed her cheek against his and looked in the mirror with him. "Look at my beautiful baby! You have features just like your mama. Do you believe me now, Vinny?"

Carefully looking from his reflection to the angelic woman vibrating with excitement beside him, he let out a defeated laugh. "I... I guess I have no choice but to believe you."

"Eeee! He believes me!"

Overjoyed by his acceptance, Maribelle crashed into him again and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck to drown him in another wave of loving kisses.

"W-Wait! Stop it–!"

Despite him squirming and complaining against her grip, he didn’t actually fight back. There was a warmth in her embrace that he hadn’t realized he’d been missing his entire life.

*Ahem* "I am truly happy for you, Your Grace. But I must ask that you take your family reunion elsewhere. I am expecting a lost soul to arrive at any moment, and I need to be prepared to properly guide them."

"Oh, right! Sorry, old friend," Maribelle giggled.

FWIP!

’Whoa...’

When she stepped back and spread her wings, Vincent noticed that they were easily twice the size of his own.

"Come on, Vinny." Maribelle floated a few inches above the clouds and stretched a hand down toward him.

Vincent looked down at his own back, flexing his shoulder blades. The feathered wings twitched awkwardly which nearly knocked him off balance.

"Uh... I don’t exactly know how to control these things yet."

"It’s perfectly fine, baby," she cooed, smiling softly. "Just take my hand."

The moment their fingers intertwined – BOING! – Maribelle yanked him forward with supernatural force and pulled his face back into the plush, vanilla-scented cushion of her chest.

With a powerful flap of her wings, she shot straight through the towering golden gates while carrying him along like a prized teddy bear.

Down below, the Way Guide shook his head, letting out a soft chuckle.

Shimmer

Right on cue, a translucent silhouette materialised out of thin air, stumbling onto the clouds.

The lost soul blinked, looked at the golden gates, and then stared at the ancient, white-bearded man in awe. "G... God?"

"Oh, dear."

.

..

...

"Hey... while we’re flying... I want to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?"

"Hm~? Hmmmm..." Maribelle’s playful expression vanished. Her blue eyes turned deathly serious as looked down at him. "You may ask, Vinny. But only on one condition."

*Gulp* "... What condition?"

"I’ve already told you this before, but I do hope that you’ll remember and adhere to my request. It’s very important to me."

Suddenly, the serious facade shattered, and Maribelle beamed with sparkling eyes. "From now on, you have to call me Mama~!"

"M-Mama?"

"Yes, my cute little baby boy?" she chirped, taking his stuttered word as full compliance.

Ignoring the baby talk, Vincent plowed ahead with his questions. "So, what... exactly are you?"

"I’m a Goddess, silly!" she replied cheerfully, flapping her wings to climb higher.

"A Goddess? Then what about Dad?"

"Dada? Oh, he’s just a regular mortal... sort of."

"Then what does that make me?"

"You’re a half-mortal, half-divine being~!" Maribelle squealed while squeezing him tighter.

Struggling to process the weight of her words, Vincent stared out into the golden void and, as a gracious old man once put it, he "winged it".

"That’s... quite the revelation. A divine being, huh? It’s so hard to wrap my head around it."

"It’s okay, baby. You have all the time in the world to come to terms with it."

As she spoke, the golden mist parted, and the scenery changed entirely.

"Wow... This is amazing..."

What greeted them could only be described as a utopia.

Below the duo stretched vast, emerald-green landscapes split by wide clear rivers that flowed upward against gravity.

Elegant, minimalist white architecture dotted the land that seemed to blend naturally with the surrounding nature.

Even giant islands of their own somehow floated in the sky, and when Vincent looked carefully, said sky wasn’t blue, or golden like before. It was filled with cosmic wonder.

Massively detailed moons and vibrant planets decorated with shimmering rings hung so close it felt like he could reach out and touch them.

Maribelle watched him, completely enamored by his star-struck reaction.

Snapping out of his daze, Vincent looked back up at her. "So, how did you and Dad meet? Granted you guys are so... different."

"How we met? Hmm... it could only be described as fate. You see, eighteen years ago in your time, due to a horrible accident caused by a higher divine being, your father kinda-sorta died. And so, his soul was sent here.

"At the time, there was no Way Guide, and I was the one on duty to guide lost souls and decide their fate. To make up for the mistake, your father was given two choices: He could reincarnate into his desired world with wiped memories, or he could revive in his old world and be compensated with immense fortune and vitality."

"He chose to revive, right?"

"Mmhm! But," Maribelle chuckled nervously, "let’s just say due to poor administrative management on our end, his revival came with a catch. In order to go back, he had to save a doomed world from being destroyed. Of course, he was just a regular mortal, so the higher-ups granted him one request. He could ask for anything to aid him in saving that world. A legendary sword, infinite magic, a fortress... anything."

"So... what did he ask for?"

Maribelle’s cheeks suddenly flushed crimson. She averted her eyes, looking incredibly shy as she squeezed him tightly against her. "He... he chose me."

".... Huh?"

"He chose me to join him on his quest~! He looked at me and said he fell in love with me at first sight! Of course, at the time, I was so confused and angry! I was a Goddess, after all! My place wasn’t to be with mortals!

"But the deed was done. The divine system granted to him had already accepted his request, and we both got transported to that doomed world together before I even had the chance to protest."

’What the hell dad?!’

"Haaaa~ We went on so many adventures. Slowly over time... I fell deeply in love with him, too. And at the very end of our journey in that world, we created you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You just skipped over a massive chunk of the story! What about the doomed world?"

"Oh, after ten years of trial and tribulation, we saved it," Maribelle waved off nonchalantly. "In fact, your father is still worshipped as a legendary hero in that world. There are statues of him everywhere."

Vincent rubbed his temples, feeling his brain overload. "Okay... then what about Katherine? All I remember is Dad bringing home a baby one day, telling me she was my new little sister."

Maribelle’s expression turned bittersweet... "You see, once a year, for a full twenty-four hours – Earth time – as an additional reward for saving that world and being connected with me through you, your Dada and I are allowed to meet.

"During those precious moments, we make sure to use our time together fully... if you know what I mean~" She winked playfully, causing Vincent to groan in secondary embarrassment.

"Through the divine prophet and Her Majesty, I found out that half-divine children like you and your sister cannot handle the pressure here... at least until you pass the age of eighteen. That is when your bodies are finally ready to acclimate and unlock your divine blood."

"Which is why you looked so terrified at the gate..."

"Yes," Maribelle whispered. "I was so scared your body wouldn’t accept it again like when you were a newborn. I am so, so happy it worked."

"So... If I can only come here after turning eighteen, does that mean you can only see Katherine in four years?"

Maribelle’s smile suddenly turned painful. "Time here in the Divine Realm flows much, much faster than any mortal realm, Vinny. One single day out there... equals one hundred years over here."

"..... Wait. If one day out there is a hundred years in here, then the eighteen years it took for me to grow up and see you again..."

"Six hundred and fifty thousand years. That’s how long I had to wait. Maybe a little more."

"..."

Silence fell over them as they glided through the utopian sky.

Six hundred and fifty thousand years. Vincent couldn’t even fathom a number that large. While he was complaining about high school, studying, and wallowing over getting rejected by a girl, his mother had been waiting for over half a million years just to hold him again.

A wave of guilt settled into Vincent’s stomach as he looked up at her. "I-I’m so sorry..."

"Oh, no, no! Don’t look like that, baby! Don’t feel sad. None of this is your fault. Your dad and I knew exactly what we were doing, and I don’t regret it for a single millennium. Holding you right now in my arms... it makes the entire wait worth it~ Besides, how long do I get to keep you for this trip? Before you have to go back?"

"Uh... I have university starting in five days."

Maribelle’s eyes went wide, and a radiant, slightly predatory smile spread across her face. "Five days? Oh, baby... five days in the mortal world means I have you all to myself for at least five hundred years!"

"Five hundred?!"

"Yes! And even after that, now that your divine blood is awake, you can come back here whenever you want! We can see each other for even longer! So, while I wait for the day, I can finally see Katherine... I am going to shower you with all the love I’ve been saving up!"

Vincent looked at her overjoyed face and his defenses completely crumbled. He gave her a soft, genuine smile. "Okay... Mo– Mama."

*Gasp* "Eeeee~!"

While gushing over him, her expression changed.

Her pupils dilated, drool pooled at the corner of her mouth, and she let out a creepy, obsessive giggle. "Hehehe... my baby... all mine for five centuries... hehehe..."

’Oh no...’

"Oh! Look, Vinny! That’s my place!" Maribelle snapped out of her creepy daze and pointed toward a large, beautiful floating island in the distance.

Perched on the island was a magnificent white house surrounded by glowing flora. Maribelle angled her wings and dived down, landing gracefully on the spacious lawn. She set Vincent down on his feet, finally letting him go.

"You can think of this as your new home. There’s no need for you to be reserved." Maribelle opened the door and gestured inside.

Following her inside, he stood in the entryway completely in awe of the soaring ceilings, floating light fixtures, and breathtaking views of the cosmic sky through the massive glass windows. It was beautiful.

Maribelle suddenly snatched his hand. "Come, come! I want to show you around, and most importantly, show you your new room!"

She practically dragged him down a long hallway. Reaching a set of double doors at the end, she threw the door open. The room was big. Way too big. Featuring a bed the size of a small apartment, plush rugs, and balconies overlooking the floating rivers.

"Wow... I mean, I’m grateful, but this room is way too big for me."

Maribelle’s cheeks flushed bright pink.

She twisted her fingers together as a shy but deeply unsettling grin on her face. "Well... who says you’ll be sleeping alone~?"

Vincent heard his internal alarm bells blaring.

"Hehehe... Vinny~" Maribelle wiggled her fingers in the air as she slowly advanced toward him like a predator cornering its prey. "Vinny... my precious baby boy... all mine for five hundred... hehehe~"

"Wait, M-Mama, hold on–"

"VINNYYY~!!!"

With a joyful shriek, she jumped through the air and tackled him directly onto the giant bed. She pinned his arms down and instantly attacked him with a relentless flurry of aggressive, smothering smooches.

In the chaos, Vincent’s jacket and shirt was torn off, leaving him half-naked trapped beneath his overly affectionate Goddess mother.

SLAM!

Suddenly, the bedroom doors burst open.

"There you are! I’ve been looking all over the realm for you, Mari–"

Standing in the doorway was a striking woman with fiery red hair wearing the same elegant white dress, flanked by a second woman with blonde hair.

The two newcomers froze at the scandalous sight before them: Maribelle pinning a half-naked, blue-haired teenager to the bed while smothering his body and face in kisses.

Vincent managed to lift his head from the mattress and look toward the door.

"H-Help.. me..."