120: PTSD

"I, Aímatis, give you my blessing, from now on, you are my child."

A red glow emanated from Amando, the kid had just been called by his parents when he woke up early in the morning to do a little ceremony, with his consent Zagreus gave him his blessing with the intent to adopt the kid, giving him part of his Divine Energy as well as unlocking the child's full physical and magical potential, Demigods get stronger by training, some are born stronger because of their Godly parent, but every single Demigod can be strong. Now, with a Primordial Godly parent and one Primordial Godly Legacy, Amando unlocked every single ability he could get as a Clear Sighted human.

Klein, or should I say, Katastrophe blessed some mortals to not be affected by the Mist, giving them the potential for magic, the physical potential above normal humans, a greater regeneration factor than humans, and the ability to smell or sense monsters around. These four abilities were not present in every Clear Sighted human, some could sense monsters while others could use magic, and some had even the Gift of Regeneration as the Hunters call it. Sometimes, a Clear Sight human is born within non-Hunters, or they call Natural Born, where a human is born with the ability to see through the Mist without being born from a Hunter.

Now Amando had everything.

He could sense monsters or smell them, he could use magic, he was already sensitive to energy so Klein and Zagreus assumed he had the potential to use magic, his physical body was already stronger than a 7 years old boy and was more like a 24 years old young adult. He could also use Mana, the energy that Gaia naturally releases as she breathes, this energy flows through her veins, creating the so-called leylines or Magic Veins. Using this energy the strong mages can even slightly bend reality! From converting energy to energy: (Example Mana to Heat, Heat to Mana) To using energy to create matter: (Create water or even solid objects) To even destroying matter: (Erase matter with Mana can be done, although with Void Energy is easier.)

As the red glowing kid figure faded, there in its place was Amando.

The kid was practically the same. Only some things changed... His eyes, his scent, and his mortality. As a Demigod, he outlives mortals, but because Amando is both the Legacy of Katastrophe and the adopted son of Aímatis, he can easily outlive even Demigods. His scent changed because previously he smelled like a human to monsters, but now he smells like a Demigod, and because his Godly parents are so strong, his scent is also very strong and is probably attracting a lot of monsters and even Satyrs to their home right now, and at last but not least, his eyes. What changed about them? Well, the coloration of his pupils, iris, and sclera changed completely.

First, his pupils took a golden color, it looked like it was reflecting the light from how shining it was. Second, his iris was blue like Klein's eyes, a beautiful shade of sky-high blue mixed with light blue on his left eye while the right had the same gold pupil but the iris was emerald green, and at last but not least, his sclera was completely black. A unique eye that surprised both Zagreus and Klein as they looked at his eyes, Zagreus's left eye's sclera was also completely black while the iris was red and his right eye was emerald green, meanwhile, Klein had blue iris with a golden halo around them. Looking at what seemed to be a fusion of their eyes, Zagreus smiled happily and kissed his son's forehead.

"What beautiful eyes." A voice soon commented from behind Amando, who spun around to see Sean smiling while looking down at him, the boy made a face like he just stepped on a bug and hid behind Zagreus, making him smile apologetically as his son said: "He feels strange... I don't like it." As Amando's magical potential was unlocked, he could feel the energies around him much better than before, and before he was already sensitive to energy. "I'm sorry, he means no offense to you it's just... Your Unholy Energy that makes him uncomfortable. The boy recently got to feel energies around him, and he is more used to ours." Zagreus explained while Amando held his head close to his father's chest, Zagreus was wearing thin clothes so everyone could see the marks on his body. Zagreus was not ashamed of those because he grew used to them, he just learned to ignore them.

And also because the first few times he and Klein fucked, Persephone came to visit and saw the marks on his body, making him embarrassed until she showed hers. It was common for Zagreus and showed that every lover liked to mark their loved ones, the proof was there as Klein had a big purple mark on his exposed neck. Not only did the two of them had marks, but Sean also had some bite marks on his neck and shoulders, and Brian, who was coming down the stairs, had similar marks as Sean and Zagreus. Poor Amando in his child's mind thought they all had fought against each other, because that they were hurt and with purple marks on their bodies, and sometimes they would hiss when they touched the marks.

His Dad did flinch when Amando touched them, making the child worry for his father. It was at that moment a glowing sphere of light left the palm of his hand and touched the mark on Zagreus's shoulder, making it simply disappear as if it was healed. Klein raised an eyebrow at this meanwhile Zagreus was melting at his son's cute expression, he was sleepy! "It seems he took some parts of your Healing Divinity," Klein commented while catching the body of his unconscious son, the boy used too much energy at once trying to heal a God. It worked, but because it was not Divine Energy, he used more Mana than he should. "I'm happy he took some part of Healing. Imagine if it was Killing or Bloody Death? Or Souls?" Zagreus poked his son's cheek before smiling, making Klein chuckle as the boy on his arms shifted his body uncomfortably.

"We need to tell Persephone... Has it been how many years since we last visited the Underworld? 100?" Klein asked Zagreus who rested his chin on Klein's shoulder, Zagreus commented: "Father should miss me even though he may never admit it, and Thanatos... Hypnos... Megaera." Klein snapped at his name. Brian and Sean who were sitting on the couch in front of the television felt dread as their instinct begged them to run. They looked behind to see Zagreus hugging a monstrosity, with eyes and mouths all over his body, Klein moved his tentacle-like appendages that sprouted out of his back like new arms, they moved fast, and erratically, like they wanted to destroy everything, yet, it did not hit anything.

"Don't say that name." All of the mouths in Klein's body shouted in unison, making strange and weird sounds. "You know i hate her existence!" Klein said as his eyes all focused on Zagreus, who just smiled sadly. "You know every time i hear that name I think of what she did to you. I think of how i was not there for you, how I was not able to help you, of how useless i was... And of how I couldn't know." After Zagreus told Klein what Megaera had done to him without his consent when he learned about consent with Klein, Klein snapped. He made sure to torture the Fury in every single way he could think of, but it still made him feel guilty. It was the feeling of 'If' if he was here if he helped, he could not think about it without imagining the pain Zagreus went through... And that pain brought him pain, making his body reflect his anger.

The moths on his body began to whisper incomprehensible words and Zagreus held the child's head, who was still asleep even though his father just became an Eldritch Horror. Zagreus held Klein's deformed head, a bulbous sphere full of eyes and one unhinged mouth, like a snake, from where a long thick tongue came out, the tongue was full of smaller mouths and the interior of his mouth was full of eyes and teeth. Zagreus chuckled when the tongue moved around, he had seen Klein take many gruesome forms and this one was the prettiest if compared to all the others he had seen. "It's okay. I'm not in pain anymore, you don't need to protect me." Zagreus whispered as Klein's body shifted back to normal. How Zagreus could calm Klein down so fast? Well, it happened before, several times, but only when Klein was stressed and he thought Zagreus needed to be protected.

Sometimes his form would take another different Eldritch Horror, but it would depend on his feelings. It was almost like PTSD, a condition and a trigger that made Klein's body respond to stress differently.

-Scene Break-

Author Note:

Just like Steven Universe, Klein fought almost all of his life and afterlife. He not only fought against others but also against himself, and now that he doesn't need to fight much, his body began to search for danger everywhere, leading to stress. That's one of the reasons he is scared of his feelings, he doesn't want them to accumulate, so he does art. It helps his stress and emotions, which is a win-win for Klein.