So I Stepped In

The face was as Elderly as he remembered.

It was a tad less wrinkly but there was no way Vincel would not recognize the only person he had ever considered a parent.

Ignoring the two others in the room, Vincel ran forward and wrapped his arms tight around Agatha's neck.

"It IS you! I-I never thought I'd see you again"

It was a reunion that Vincel never expected to have and just being able to put his arm around the elderly matron brought tears to the corner of his eyes.

No one said a word and Vincel was happy about that.

'I don't need them ruining this moment'

Vincel had just had that thought when he felt a force grabbing his arms and pulling them away from around Agatha's neck.

Vincel's eyes opened in surprise and he tried and failed to resist the force as it pried him away from Agatha and pushed him away from her.

As he was forced to slide more than two feet away with his arms spread, he saw that Agatha had two fingers (the index and middle fingers of her right hand) up and appeared to be the one directing the force pushing him away from her.

What he saw was confirmed by the words that next came out of her mouth.

"Well, that's enough of that! Any longer and you'd have soiled my robe with your tears"

Vincel's eyes widened in confusion.

'What?'

The voice sounded the same as he remembered but it was dripping with coldness he would never have thought Agatha was capable of.

Agatha lightly brushed her robe as though he had dirtied them by hugging her.

Zay'in stepped forward with a smile.

"Don't worry My Lady, I made sure to clean him thoroughly."

Agatha gave her a look.

"I'll have to take your word for it."

Every word that left Agatha's lips broke Vincel's heart but he couldn't even properly process that in his confusion.

"You've never cared about my tears 'soiling' your clothes before."

'You changed my diapers so tears have to be the cleanest thing you've seen my body produce'

Agatha ignored him and waved her fingers in his direction.

Vincel lost complete control of his body as the unseen force that had pulled him off Agatha levitated him off the ground with his arms still spread.

"W-What are you doing?"

Once again Agatha ignored him.

She still had her two controlling fingers pointed at him but now she placed the index and middle fingers of her left hand to her temple.

For the next few seconds, which Vincel spent silently struggling against Agatha's hold, the hall was silent and the Sorceress had her eyes closed in concentration.

Vincel felt like he was being scanned.

The focus of the scan was specifically on his midsection.

The silence in the hall was eventually broken by Agatha herself.

"Mmm, everything appears to be intact. That's good. With how injured he was, who knows what damage he could have done to the Core?"

Agatha released him and Vincel landed on his feet feeling indignant at how he had been grabbed and inspected against his will.

Back on solid ground, Vincel's mind reversed to a word he had heard her say.

"Core? What core? What are you talking about?"

Agatha paused and then she chuckled before looking over at the trim bearded man in the hall.

"How could someone not feel the presence of an Arcane core inside them?"

The man shrugged and Agatha returned her eyes to Vincel.

"How stupid and unaware can you be?"

The man gave a small chuckle and even Zay'in cracked a smile.

Vincel clenched his fists.

"Agatha never called me stupid. She didn't like that word. You're not her!"

Agatha raised her brow in pleasant surprise.

"Oh, maybe there is hope for you yet.

Yes, I am not Agatha Evans.

Never would I choose to become a Matron to a bunch of snot-nosed brats.

Instead, I have dedicated my life to the glorious Art of Sorcery.

I am Agatha Harkness, the Mad Sorceress!"

There was a chill and authority that backed Agatha's announcement but rather than succumb to that authority, Vincel pushed back against it and stood his ground with a sneer.

"Seriously? 'Mad' was the best you could think of?

I mean, you look and sound insane enough but I would have expected someone who looked like Agatha to be smarter than that"

The man took an imposing step forward with his hand going to the handle of the sword sheathed at his hip.

"Watch your mouth boy!"

Zay'in shot Vincel a deathly glare as well.

"No one is allowed to speak to Lady Harkness in that manner!"

Vincel felt pressure from their gaze and their words but he held his head high while reciting a sentence over and over in his head.

'If they wanted me dead, I'd already be dead'

Agatha raised her hand.

"Gareth, Zay'in, that's Enough! Imagine being so intense to a boy you can so easily get rid of. It's embarrassing.

Besides, I'll take those 'insults' over the sobs of a mama's boy any day."

Vincel furrowed his brows.

"I'm not a mama's boy"

Agatha raised a brow with a mocking smile at the edge of her lips.

"Oh really? Did I imagine your passionate outburst and unwelcome hug when you saw I looked like the Matron you know?"

Vincel gritted his teeth.

"Agatha is not my mother"

"Then who is she to you, then?"

"She- She's- Who she is to me does not matter.

Why do you look like her?"

Agatha took a deep breath.

"It's a bit complicated. A simple version is that I Am Her. And She IS Me."

Vincel was confused.

"What?"

"Agatha Evans exists in a simple universe with simple laws, in the world you know as 'Earth' while I exist in this Universe... In a world where the impossible becomes possible."

"Hold on. So you're telling me, I'm in a different World?" Vincel asked.

His tone made it seem like the very idea of a different world was silly.

Agatha rolled her eyes.

"Is that really hard to believe? Surely you must have seen things within the Gate that don't exist in the world you knew.

Or perhaps, is your mind so weak, that it blocked all that out?"

Vincel shook his head.

"No, I remember everything. But how did I get here then? Also, where are Lea, Knowle, and Jilan."

The man called Gareth was the one to speak first.

"They are safe. We were keeping them until you woke up."

"Why?"

Gareth shrugged.

"We needed to ask them questions about you"

"They don't know anything," Vincel said.

"Of course, they don't know anything about who you are but they have seen you. We wanted to know what they had seen.

The two young men had quite a bit to say." Gareth said with a small smile.

'Not sure I like how he said that' Vincel thought before Agatha called his attention back to her.

"I brought you here. To this plane- To this world."

Vincel still looked as confused as ever.

"Why?"

Agatha put her hands behind her back.

"The disease that was killing you by destroying your organs was a rare mutation that gives rise to an Ancient magical root, known as an Arcane Core.

It should only appear in powerful Worlds such as this but for some reason, you were afflicted with it without the proper foundation to deal with it.

I brought you here to give you that foundation.

Here, you gained the required foundation for the 'disease' to truly take its form as an Arcane core.

I saved your life. You're welcome"

"Why did you do it?"

Agatha frowned.

"That doesn't sound like gratitude to me. Did it sound like gratitude to either of you two?"

Gareth and Zay'in shook their heads but Vincel ignored them and took two steps forward.

"Why did you save me? You had no reason to and clearly you are not the Agatha I know and don't care about me, so why?

Why did you do it?"

There was a few seconds of silence and then Agatha sighed.

"My doppelganger, Agatha Evans, the nauseatingly saintly Matron prayed to her god for your life to be spared.

Her God didn't listen or care- So I stepped in."