Embarassment.

The woman got down to one knee, her breasts threatening to spill out their holdings at any moment.

She looked warmly at Eldric "Hello, little one." She paused, taking the scene in front of her once more.

"I see you're already acquainted with Bella." She had a teasing smile on her face, seemingly bemused by this whole situation.

Eldric's hand never left her daughter's head from the beginning. And Bella didn't seem to mutter any complaints; other than the occasional groans.

That sight warmed her heart. Two cute children cuddling was too much for her to ignore.

"Come here." She encased the two of them in a warm motherly hug, full of affection.

Eldric didn't know why, but as the hug prolonged, small tears started to stubbornly spill out of his ocean blue eyes. The once slow spilling tears were transforming into a waterfall.

He simply gave in to her hug and clutched the outline of the black dress in front of him. No matter how he tried, he couldn't stop the tears streaming down his eyes.

His mature side felt humiliated; his childish one felt immensely comforted.

So Eldric cried, he cried like the small child he was.

Sarah panicked, she didn't know what to do at all. She would have never guessed that the calm child from before would start sobbing on her chest.

She had a bitter smile as she looked at the child crying his heart out.

Sarah did the only thing she could at that moment, she just kept hugging and patting Eldric's small back.

The sobs started to slowly dwindle in frequency until they were no more.

'I can't believe I just did that.' thought Eldric, completely ashamed of himself, his cheeks burning red from embarrassment.

'No matter how much stressed I was, I can't believe I just balled my eyes out on the chest of a stranger.'

He couldn't even meet the eyes of the woman that just hugged him to tears.

'Being a child again sucks… Well, maybe not as much as being crippled.' Eldric shook his head, deciding to abandon that line of thought.

It might take some time to get used to the emotional instability of his childish body, but he would do his best to control any emotional outburst from this moment onward.

No matter if he was in a child's body, his mind wouldn't be able to endure any further humiliation.

The other girl that was included in the hug looked at Eldric and giggled. She hoped to help him stop crying.

Alas, the message was misunderstood, and Eldric fell into a deeper pit of embarrassment. He quickly put both of his hands on his face, hopefully covering the massive blush he had.

'Great. Now even a child is mocking me.' He groaned.

"Bella, stop bothering your brother." Sarah lightly chastised her daughter.

"Bwadar?" Asked the angel, tilting her head to the right to show her confusion.

"Yes." Sarah simply nodded without further comments.

Bella tilted her head yet again, she turned her head around to look at Cenric. The older boy was still grimacing, a scowl forming whenever Eldric would remotely move.

The little angel didn't know better, she thought that expression was meant for her.

"Hmph! Bwetter Bwadar." She cutely said, crossing her arms and pulling out her small tongue.

Bella then grabbed Eldric's hand and put it back on her head. She looked provokingly at the older boy, raising her eyebrows childishly. That seemed to aggravate the already angry-looking Cenric even further.

Eldric's other half-sister, Elah, was gazing intently at his hands that were placed on Bella's little head. An eye twitch kept coming back and forth from her contorting visage.

Eldric caught that longing stare, he kept tracing his hands, but Elah's eyes never left the top of Bella's head.

Elah and Eldric locked eyes, blue eyes met green ones, and no one said anything or made any moves for a second.

A gradual blush was growing on Elah's face for getting caught, but she refused to change her flat expression. That didn't last long, she was starting to fidget slightly under Eldric's 'accusing' gaze.

She sighed in relief when Eldric looked away from her. 'He almost caught me. I'm the cool strict big sister, I'm the cool strict big sister.'' repeated the girl in her head over and over again.

Eldric would surely not have been able to suppress his laughter if he had heard what she kept repeating in her mind.

Sarah asked the child after she noticed he no longer cried." Are you ok now, sweetie?" She rubbed his back one more time for good measure.

Eldric simply nodded briskly, trying to restore whatever dignity he had left. Alas, the damage has already been done.

This little emotional outburst was going to haunt him for years to come.

"No need to feel embarrassed." teased Sarah, still on one knee.

She took a deep breath," I've known your mother long before you were born Eldric." She smiled amicably.

Eldric grimaced at the grim reminder, that he had no mother this time around.

"And Bella likes you. So if you have any problems, you can come to me. Right, Bella?" She asked.

"Uh-huh. I like bwig bwadar." the little munchkin nodded wisely.

Sarah laughed even further when she heard her daughter's reply.

She ruffled both of their hair.

Although Eldric wasn't completely comfortable with her, she had the same genuine warmth that his mother; the same one his mother, Clara, would deliver to him when he was a child.

So, he just nodded to her.

What he didn't know was that, although Sarah was an amicable and generally good person, the only reason she suggested that was due to his actions.

Multiple factors were involved when she made that decision.

Mostly because of the way her daughter seemed to enjoy his company.

"How about you call me Auntie Sarah?" She asked him all too happily, a finger on her lip. She bobbed her head up and down as well for good measure.

That motion doing wonderful things for her breasts.

Met with such overwhelming enthusiasm, Eldric took a step back.

He didn't have it in his heart to refuse such a heartfelt preposition. Besides, he wouldn't refuse a supposed ally in this unknown situation.