Chapter 52: Rude Awakenings

"Ugh..."

As the distant sounds of morning traffic leak through, Marianne raises a hand to her thumping head. She grudgingly opens her eyes, recognizing the familiar setting of Daniel's room. Momentarily confused as the throbbing of her head lessens, she snaps wide open to reality with a sharp breath.

"Viviane!"

Attempting to sit up against the new bed, the fusion is immediately pinned down by a weight against her. Barely catching her breath, she feels another heartbeat add to her own. The source can only belong to a covered Daniel, wrapped inside of her, thanks to their late moment of heightened ecstasy.

Or, to be more accurate, Daniel is wrapped in Anne's human layer and folded against Mary's body. Nevertheless, their combined movements stir him as he lets out a muffled groan.

"Anh, L-love!"

Marianne twitches and barely suppresses a moan as her son shuffles inside of her, his member still snug between her walls. While containing such a deep level of connection, she would like nothing more than to let this morning go and keep spending time with her baby.

However, there are more pressing matters than simply her son pressing her.

"N-no, th-this isn't the time! Mama has to, ungh...release you!"

Splick!

Pushing past the arousal, Marianne opens up her coat, revealing the male artist against Mary's darker tone.

Her baby.

"Wake up, love," Marianne gently whispers, placing a hand on his cheek.

Daniel's eyelids tighten before they slowly open. Similar to the fusion's reaction, he jerks up while adjusting to the sudden shift from darkness. Shaking himself from his daze, he catches the hybrid's face.

"M-mariane? You're still together? No wait... What happened with Viviane? Are you okay?"

Recalling the sudden collapse of the dream world and Viviane's disappearance with it, the fusion holds her breath.

'No, she...can't be gone, right?'

Even though Anne originally felt Viviane was foreign, that changed after meeting and connecting with her. She could finally understand Daniel's feelings now, and just like with Mary, how could she not trust having a sister who holds an equal share of Amy and love for her son?

More importantly, Anne finally found someone who was more like her—a true sister. In many ways, it's what Amy has wished for since she lost her fraternal twin at birth. Of course, Anne now carries the name of that twin, thanks to Daniel.

Amplified by loss, the fusion wants to break down, but the shared part of Amy lifts her. Even Mary provides much-needed optimism in their shared heart.

Yes, it's simply too early to give up; especially with her own composition, she knows there's a unique science that must be studied before any conclusions can be drawn.

Further, Anne could've sworn she heard Viviane's voice in her head before everything collapsed. Holding on to the hope that the silver slime still exists in some way, Marianne releases her breath and leans forward, holding her hand against Daniel reassuringly.

"Love, Mama is alright...or I should say Anne and Mary are okay as well," the fusion begins calmly. "Go take a shower first. I'll make breakfast, then we can continue with clearer heads."

Daniel holds his breath. Despite his hybrid mother's well-maintained voice, the slight worry in her eyes is just as apparent as the weight he carries, if not more.

Just what happened to his silver mother and the dream world?

Exhaling out, he tries not to let it grind at him so early. With his merged lover here with him, he locks his lips against the fusion and holds them tightly, afraid of the idea of them disappearing as well.

"Daniel, can we agree that dream world, or wherever we were, appeared to collapse?" Mary begins amid a dour mood at the kitchen table.

Dressed and separated by the time said artist rejoined them, the two girls had conveniently synchronized their observations resulting from their merge; however, no clear understanding exists of the sudden "dream" events. They could only wait for their son-boyfriend's thoughts on the matter.

"That's what it looked like to me, but I think we'll know for sure when we attempt to enter it again," Daniel answers, taking a slow sip of his coffee. He then looks down at his plate, and although Mary and Anne pushed on through to making breakfast, it's hard to have an appetite now.

Sighing, he focuses on his downcast slime mother, easily brimming with self-blame in her eyes.

"Mom, please. I know what you're thinking, and it's not your-"

"Stop," Anne cuts firmly before lifting her eyes with bitterness lacing her face. "After Viviane lost that piece of herself, Mama should've never agreed to continue! I was equally lost in curiosity, and now my sister is...missing."

Missing, but not gone. While it's easy to assume gone, it's the only difference that fills Anne with some hope.

"Then I should've been equally forceful in stopping you two," Daniel insists before exhaling. "Regardless, I don't believe she's gone either. Since you say you heard her voice after she disappeared into you, that should be telling. Not only that, we also saw that she was able to maintain herself after being converted to your slime."

Anne smiles weakly at her son's reassurance. Without knowing for certain, though, she glances away. "Mama hopes so too. If only I could hear her now, but it's been silent."

"You couldn't hear her even before," Mary reminds. "So really, nothing has changed in that regard."

"True," Anne sighs and squeezes her knees with frustration. "Still, why did she have to throw herself at me? How could she know that this would work out for her to come to the real world?"

Sharing his slime mother's frustration, Daniel remembers Viviane's words to him the first time they properly met.

"...But isn't this...unfair? When I died as Amy, I thought I had abandoned you, just as I had abandoned myself and a child I no longer remember. Even though a part of me was there for you, why...can't I be with you too? Why am I always trapped? ..."

The artist shuts his eyes, even more ashamed of not stopping his slime mothers when he should have. Viviane's desires are clear, but he failed to consider how far those intentions to act might go.

"I think she might've stopped caring what could happen," he carefully answers. "You remember me retelling her story of how she arrived in that place?"

Mary looks up for a moment. "Right, she was trapped in a different plane until a green fire appeared to her. I mean, if I were trapped for ages, I might dive into whatever showed before me as well."

'Ah...so that's what she meant.'

That reminder helps Anne to similarly recall Viviane's resigned words before making the entire push into her mass.

"It seems there's only one path I can take then. Once going into fire, one must enter the waters..."

Wiggling her lips, the slime mother narrows her eyes with annoyance. 'So am I the 'water' that's supposed to carry you? How can you possibly decide that on your own?!'

Despite criticizing her sister, who may not be anywhere to listen, Anne agrees with Mary's empathy. Without knowing enough about her sister's pain or history, she still can't place any blame.

The table goes silent for a bit as everyone is left to their thoughts. It's not until the British artist stands from her chair and exhales. "For now, I know what I need to do."

Daniel raises a brow. "Learning more from your uncle?"

The female artist hums affirmatively, but curls her lips. "Although I do question how Viviane came up with the conclusion that my dad's side of the family may be related to a famous wizard. I know it's because she recognized the symbols I remember him drawing as a child, but still...why hasn't Anne gained any similar realization? It just seems like Viviane's knowledge and connection to Anne is one-sided."

"No, you're right," Daniel agrees. "She's not a part of mom in the same way as Amy, or even you are. I think the way she could only join mom shows that."

"Well, I'll try to find as much as I can without being too specific. We saw similar symbols leaking out of the crack in the sky, so maybe my uncle will help me understand why it happened after Viviane disap-"

Stopping as she hears herself, Mary covers her face and groans. "Before that, I don't even know how to approach the topic without seeming crazy. He might not even be related!"

Daniel can't help but slightly smirk. "I'm sure you'll work your...magic."

Such a mocking jab doesn't deter his artistic counterpart, who grins. "Ha, you say that, but you better believe it, love!"

Anne suppresses a giggle as the artist's optimism lifts her as well. Before allowing Mary to leave, she reaches over to squeeze her hand. "Will you be okay, Mary?"

"What do you...oh! I'll be okay, love. I haven't been leaking so far, but I'll make sure to stock up on some pads for when I can't be here to nurse our baby."

She sneakily eyes a frozen Daniel with a cup up to his lips. Despite the unfortunate timing of taking another sip, the male artist somehow manages not to spit out and instead forces a hard swallow.

"Hehe! Still embarrassed by Mummy's milk, love?" Mary asks playfully.

Clearing his throat, Daniel snorts back. "A little by some coffee, but I know my Mum is very sweet and wouldn't tease me like that."

Mary gasps, then lowers her lips, ashamed. "Love, you can't just turn on me unexpectedly like that!"

"I know, right?"

"Alright, touché," Mary gives, raising a hand in sign-off. "I also have a few appointments that I can't reschedule; otherwise, I'd stay. After that, I plan on coming back here as soon as I can, so don't try sleeping in Anne without me!"

"Hehe, no worries, Mary. Let us know if you manage to discover anything," Anne reassures, smiling a little more.

With a satisfied hum, the artist takes her leave after hugging Anne and pecking Daniel. When the front door within the hallway is heard closing, Daniel focuses on his plate and picks up his fork.

Anne stands up with her own plate finished, her eyes now filled with motiviation. "Mama is going to do some research on your computer!"

"On what?"

"Well, I figure that since Viviane has some relation to Merlin, there's bound to be some records and literature on them that might help to better understand. Not only that, there's also the witch-burning vision I had that mentioned the Goddess Isis during the movie theater."

Daniel hums. "Good idea. I remember reading the basics on Merlin and King Arthur in high school, but there are so many interpretations. As far as Isis goes, isn't she an Egyptian goddess? If these are memories from Viviane, I can't even see how that's related."

The slime mother shrugs. "Well, then you know more than me! Amy forgot or never read up on any of those, so I wouldn't know either. Either way, there's bound to be some clues."

"I hope so. If we need to, we can hit up a library, but I think you should find what you need online."

Anne hums, keeping up her optimism about her fellow sister. Before leaving, she leans forward to lock lips with her son. They hold for a few seconds before she passes him out of the kitchen.

Exhaling, Daniel returns his attention to his plate but flinches.

"Huh?"

Although he thought he had only started eating the eggs and some toast, all of that had just disappeared.

'Did I really have an appetite?' he thinks.