Author: Simone, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:46 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

Simone watched on and couldn’t say much as the Lewis’s fought for her. She would have never thought the emotionless one would have ever defended her but he was doing what was best for her. It broke her heart to hear even a part of Lewis doubting her love for him but they were right this was for the best. If they kept this going any longer it was going to have drastically bad effects on her body. Her body was artificial in comparison to Lewis’s revived one.

There was a sense of relief as she sighed and looked onward to her Lewis, “I feel a lot better…”

Angela appeared and looked between them as she took her glasses off. “The experiment was a raging success. I didn’t expect Lewis to split and drain her though. That was an expected result of the Taura extract. Even diluted it did something, however, it is because of the Taura that Simone’s cultivation of mana is better than it was before now that Lewis is whole. Lewis cultivated mana in two bodies and those two bodies gave the excess back to Simone.”

“You were trying to get Lewis to overproduce mana…”

“Yes, since your body is incapable of fast production and his is… Well, it would make sense that his excess would go into your body. We won’t be doing this experiment again though because it was clearly dangerous. We are on the right path to getting you better though.” Angela held a smile. “And you’ll be able to play with the children full force again here soon.”

Simone let a sigh of relief escape her lips and she smiled up at Lewis, “You reminded me a lot of Xeik… He must have rubbed off on you somewhere.” She teased her husband and put her hand to his face. “You would go so far as to kill yourself for me… Makes me feel very loved.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:37 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

The white haired Lewis could feel his other half approaching. He immediately had thoughts that the other half had come to stop him, the buzzkill that he was. Much to his surprise, though, Xeik and Simone were with him, which meant…

“Simone!” He smiled at her. His hands were covered in blood, but his smile was genuine. “I’m so happy to see you. I was starting to get tired…and there’s so much to [i[do here! You, me, and even killjoy over there can have hours of fun with these people…” He smirked and wiped the blood off of his hands onto his shirt. “It can be a bonding experience…” He looked to Simone, and tried to force a connection.

Only, it never came.

He tried a few more times, and each time his smile faded a little more. “Simone…” He started to look hurt. That pain slowly evolved, and with each attempt, he started to panic. “Simone…why won’t you…” He looked at Xeik, and then to the other Lewis. “No…no no….you said you loved us both equally…you said,…” His voice cracked as he pleaded with her.

The dark haired Lewis stepped forward. “This is for the best.”

“No…I don’t think so,” the silver haired Lewis responded. “I can just…I can take it. I can take it from you…”

The dark haired Lewis started to walk towards the silver haired one. “You’re exhausted. You spent all of your energy. What makes you think an imperfect, half of a soul can do anything here…”

The light haired Lewis started to shake. “No…you turned her against me. You and that bastard over there…you just want to kill my mood. You want me to-”

“We want what’s best for her,” Lewis said, his eyes shimmering blue for a moment. “We always have…right?”

“What’s…what’s best…” The other Lewis looked at Simone, who was in tears. Rejecting him so had hurt her… “What…what’s best…”

The dark haired Lewis produced the blood dagger, the symbolic bond between a whole Lewis and Simone. “Apart we are nothing but a drain…but together…”

“But together we…”

Lewis stabbed his other half, and a blinding light exploded. At once, Simone could feel a full force resonance appear as mana flooded her body.

“I swear to the gods,” Lewis’ voice rang out as the light faded. “That Angela needs to stop messing with that damned mushroom…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:18 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

Simone woke up with a startle but she was easily calmed down with the black-haired Lewis and Xeik talking to her. “We have to get him back.”

Mone wasn’t mad at Lewis for hurting her. It was entirely possible that he didn’t realize he was hurting her. That was her hope anyways. She wasn’t entirely sure what this Lewis was thinking but his emotions overwhelmed her to the point of turning the valve halfway down on him and turning it all the way up on the one who wasn’t feeling anything. She was attempting to rebalance the drain on her own but she had just enough mana to remain awake.

“Simone, you can’t participate at all,” Xeik looked over at her. “Do not cut or try and reconnect the resonance.”

She pursed her lips and thought about it. Would Lewis… be hurt by that? He had no idea what was going on with her and she lingered back behind the two men while staring at the white-haired Lewis. She looked tired but she was still trying to keep up with them.

When she tried to go beyond them to the other half of Lewis the black-haired one stopped her and stared at her. She gave a frown and looked towards the lively one. She had to reject the resonance attempts made on her. She had never done that before with Lewis and it was objectively breaking her heart to do so.

“Lewis, we need to go home…” Simone said with an exhausted tone.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:08 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

Lewis was there before she hit the ground, catching her in an instant. He carefully set her down, checking her over with cold, calculating eyes. The dark haired man frowned as he tried to wake her up, but it was evident that she was far too drained. It was easy enough to portal them back home, where he carefully laid her in their bed.

The ex-assassin looked up, and took a breath. “Xeik. I need your help…” He sounded too unenthusiastic about the whole thing, but it got the point across and the Divine Mender walked into the room through a direct portal.

“”Let me guess,” Xeik said as he took one look at the situation. “A hyperactive version of you went off and Simone panicked.”

“Yes,” Lewis responded. “Fix her. Now.” Despite his disinterested voice, there was a deadly edge to the undertone of the statement.

Xeik went to work, doing the best temporary solution he knew how to do. Pump her full of raw mana…

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Xeik commanded Lewis to take her hand, and used him as a conduit to filter the mana into her. After all, raw mana from a Champion of the Goddess could very well make the situation worse. At least with Lewis, it was mixed with their own source…

It didn’t take long for Simone to stabilize, but there was still one problem.

“I need to kill my other half,” Lewis said, turning his attention to Xeik.

“Funny thing,” Xeik replied with a half smirk. “That’s…more or less what you have to do. Well…less kill and more ‘absorb’. Basically, Angela and I worked out that your mana split itself into two halves, which cause the initial drain on Simone, so when they split you dre-”

“Shut up.”

“…You need his mana to become whole again,” Xeik said with a sigh. “No one likes the science behind it…”

“Where is he, then?”

“Well…about that…”

—

Simone had woken up, but her panic was quickly sated by Xeik explaining the situation. Tracking the other Lewis was surprisingly easy; Simone’s part of the resonance was cut, but the dark haired Lewis’ wasn’t. In fact, it was impossible to cut since they were the same person. With that information, the trio tracked the white haired Lewis to a rather large estate off the coast of Nisshoki. From what the dark haired Lewis said, it was one of the rival factions of a notorious drug syndicate that he had been keeping tabs on for their…organization work.

Of course, that was all out of the question now. Sure, Lewis had secretly decided that they needed to be eliminated, but he hadn’t quite decided how to go about it. The white haired Lewis had taken the idea and ran with it. A fun night to paint the town red with blood, so to speak.

“He’s in there,” the dark haired Lewis said. “And he knows we’re on the way. Impossible to prevent that. Idiot probably wasted a lot of energy, though, so he’s likely tired out…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:52 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

“Mmm okay…” She drifted off not long after being told it was alright. When Lewis followed suit Mone instinctively put her fingers through his hair to comfort him like she always did when he was in her lap. Even when she was asleep she did what she could for him.

Her eyes snapped open at the snap of the resonance. There was a wave of concern and fear that ran through her as she pushed the other Lewis off of her. “No… No no… LEWIS!” She got up and started to yell. There was panic. She shouldn’t have fallen asleep. She should have watched him. Where did he go?

Her heart was beating abnormally fast and the flow of mana from her was contorting itself in a weird way. Like she was attempting to reconnect the resonance by force. The flow of mana leaking from her was evident enough by thick black veins that seemed to creep up her arms thanks to her mana being drained dry by her panic.

“I need to find him… I need to find him!” She was panicking but seemingly going nowhere as she tried to force the connection again and again until she actually passed out.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:42 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

It didn’t take long for the dark haired Lewis to sit next to her, almost like a loyal guard dog. He could feel Simone’s exhaustion himself, and he glanced over and met her eyes before she closed them to rest.

“You can sleep. I’ll keep watch,” he stated firmly. It wasn’t that he was lacking emotions, it seemed, more that everything seemed muted for him in lieu of efficiency. He still cared for Simone’s well being, but in his own unique way. Even on some level, he knew that they were responsible for her lack of energy. So, it was in his best interest to keep her safe…

The other Lewis, though, thought that sitting still would be far too boring, and wandered off after getting food. He could feel that Simone was drifting off to sleep, but he was barely worried because that boring Lewis was with her. He might be boring, but he was a killer at heart, so she would be safe.

Time seemed to pass for Simone and the dark haired Lewis, and at some point, he lost consciousness, falling into her lap. Awake, he was like a golem’; an unfeeling mass of magic and cogs. But asleep, he looked almost…normal.

The other, Lewis, though, never fell asleep. In fact, he seemed to disappear from Benin. When Simone would wake up, she would find that her resonance from him was temporarily cut, and that he was nowhere to be found…

After all, despite his love for Simone…being tied down to one place was so boring…..

Author: Simone, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:25 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

Simone sighed a bit as she tried to keep up with it all. This was the duality of Lewis. The person he was on the inside and the person he was on the outside. Together in one package, she could handle it but this was exhausting to her no matter how much she loved him.

“I think you’re both wonderful…” She sighed a bit as the exhaustion started to set in.

That didn’t take long at all… She didn’t mean to have it go through the resonance as she thought about it. Her wave of exhaustion was real and she found a seat to sit in. “You can buy some food and sit down. I’m just going to rest for a minute or two.” She pat the seat next to her for the black-haired one.

Simone closed her eyes and lightly stretched her legs. While the pregnancy had gone well Simone was still recovering on some level from the magics that had been used. The mana deficiency she suffered from had been postponed during the pregnancy and she had known ahead of time that it would take some time for her to go back to ‘her level’ of full strength.

Most of the time she had been soaking in a mana-infused bath soak that Avery had made for her. Even Llywellyn was trying to jump-start her mana reserves in his own way… but Lewis was still her best bet and now that he was split in two… Well, he was feeding off her instead. Still, she didn’t look too concerned as she felt the breeze on her face.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:13 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

“Of course I remember that!” the eccentric Lewis said with a smile. “I was so proud that they were able to take flight like that. Watching them soar through the air was amazing. Those kids are the most amazing ones ever, you know?” He was practically bouncing as he talked with her.

The other Lewis seemed confused as to why he was even present. “I…could have just stayed home,” he said with a bored expression. He seemed to brush of the question about the kids flying, as if it meant little to him.

The silver haired Lewis frowned, “You know…we were BOTH excited.” He crossed his arms. “It couldn’t help to admit it…”

“No,” was the only response that the dark haired Lewis had. It was spoken with a sense of finality that brought an awkward silence across the three.

“Well fine,” Silver Lewis said with a defeated tone. It was quickly erased, though, as he pointed. “Food! I’m hungry. Can we go to that one place with the meat on a stick? That’s my absolute favorite place.” He smirked. “I’ll race you…” He was talked to his counterpart.

“That would prove nothing,” the other Lewis replied.

“It’ll prove you can’t do it,” the mirrored ex-assassin said, sticking out his tongue. “Just means you can’t do it.”

“We’re the same person.”

“Nah. I’m MUCH better than you are. You’re waaay too boring.” He didn’t wait, and darted off towards the food stalls that sold his meal.

“What a pain,” the dark haired Lewis said, clicking his tongue.

Author: Simone, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:03 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

Mone was in for a tug-o-war between the Lewis’s if only to keep them safe. “Of course, my love for my husband is the greatest gift.” Simone gave a smile, “Even if he doesn’t realize it right now.” She was splitting her attention as evenly as she could between the two.

“Now, now… Please get along for me. It hurts my heart to hear you both talking like that with each other.” She sighed a bit and walked through the portal. “We just have to be careful.” She looked back at the other Lewis and offered her hand to him. “Come with me?”

She wanted to keep both of them with her for a lot of reasons but the biggest was the unpredictability of Lewis himself. “I tire out easily so… Please don’t forget…” She reminded the energetic Lewis as she trailed behind him. “The children like kites too. We took them to the meadows not that long ago to fly them. Though we had to stop because Janus and Lila decided to experiment flying on their own…”

She tilted her head, “Do you both remember that? You were proud of them.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:56 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

The dark haired Lewis stared at Simone blankly for a moment, and shrugged. “It doesn’t much matter to me what we do.” He sat back in on the couch, and merely stared ahead.

“Okay,” Xeik sighed as he shook his head. “Just contact me immediately if something changes…” And with that, the Divine Mender went back to Elysia, to where Angela patiently awaited the results of her ‘experiment.’


The white haired Lewis looked at Simone with such caring eyes, smiling at her. “Your concern for me is appreciated, love. What about you? You seem very worried about us…there’s so much love and warmth coming from your heart. It almost movies me to tears..” Once more, he started to tear up.

“You’re overreacting,” the other Lewis said without moving. “It’s a waste of time and energy.”

“But can’t you see that Simone is worried? Surely that means something to you?”

“She’s alive and well. That is all that matters, is it not?” The lifeless Lewis turned his head to look at them both. “Everything else is useless information.”

The silver Lewis huffed and stood up, taking Simone’s hand. “Fine. Well I guess we’ll just have to spend a day having FUN, instead of being a dreary sourpuss.” He winked at Simone, and without waiting for an okay, opened a portal to the town.

“Oh wow…LOOK OVER THERE, SIMONE! THAT MAN OVER THERE HAS A KITE! IT’S SO COOL!”

Author: Simone, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:48 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

Simone watched as Lewis’s hair changed color and her hand rose to run through it. “They are both fine but…” She made a concerned face. The other Lewis hugged her and she was overwhelmed before hugging him back. “I’m fine.” She pet his head and kept an eye on the other Lewis.

“I suppose she is but…” Simone crossed her arms. “This should have had a negative effect on me as well. I took the pills but it isn’t affecting me… At least I don’t think it is…” She gave a questioning face as she looked between the two Lewis’s.

Putting her hands on each of their cheeks she let out a gentle sigh. “As long as both of you are alright… That’s all that matters.” She kissed both of their foreheads and looked over at Xeik. “Go discuss with your boss what exactly she was experimenting on this time.” She seemed annoyed with it.

She was more concerned with the black-haired one as she couldn’t even get a read off of him. “Are you tired? We can go lay down upstairs if you both want.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:43 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

The first Lewis who recovered and spoke looked up at Simone with questioning eyes as his silver hair drained to a dull black. “S,,,i…m..o..n..e?” The light in his eyes seemed to fade, the spark of excitement and concern gone. “Oh…you’re fine.” His voice was the same monotone as usual, but there was something different about it. There wasn’t the usual undertone that Simone could pick up on.

The other Lewis perked up at the sound of Simone’s name. “Mone? MONE!?” His eyes widened as he looked to her. His usual bored gaze has been replaced by shimmering, watery eyes as he jumped up and hugged Simone. “By the Goddess I’m so happy you’re okay! I was so worried about you!” He burred his face into her neck, and shivered a little as he exhaled. He held her for a moment, sniffling.

“I…will have this immortalized in my memory forever,” Xeik said as he stared in absolute shock. “Okay…so this is definitely the effects of the taura…” He glared upwards, “Damnit, Angela…how many times is that mushroom going to cause more problems…”

He didn’t wait for the okay, and went over both Lewis’. It didn’t take long as both were surprisingly cooperative. The black haired Lewis seemed to not care, while the white haired Lewis was more than happy to sit still. He even smiled once Xeik said he was in perfect health.

“I…guess the only thing to do is wait, as usual,” Xeik said with a sigh. “…Something tells me Angela is watching…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:34 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

Simone was scared as she felt the world lurch but it was mostly because she was scared of hurting Lewis. Little did she know the lurching was coming from Lewis himself. Once the children came to get her Simone picked up her skirts and ran down the stairs as fast as she could.

“Lewis!” The wife was terrified as she saw him laying on the ground. “Let me help too maybe our resonance…” Her voice trailed off as she laid her eyes on the second Lewis laying on the couch.

“What was in that medicine that Angela gave you?” Simone glared at the divine mender. “It had Essence of Tarua in it didn’t it!” She was poking Xeik’s chest after she laid the other Lewis down. “I don’t know the consequences of multiplying my Lewis!”

She looked at the kids and sighed, “Make sure the younger children are on their best behavior. We don’t know how this is going to pan out. I refuse to lock my husband up until it wears off… SO HE BEST NOT BE HOMICIDAL!” She was poking Xeik again in anger.

Soon she got some water and gave it to both of the Lewis’s. “They look okay… I can feel them both but not as intensely as usual.”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:28 PM, Post Subject: Two is Too Many [p/r]

The day had barely started for most of the Terrowin house, but Lewis had already been up for a few hours. It had become a daily routine of his to go out and take care of the grapes he had so carefully been growing, and a morning routine was quite easier than anything in the afternoon.

Today also happened to be a day that Xeik was visiting for a regular checkup. Xeik had warned them both that Lady Angela had a new medication for Simone to try, so there might be some weird effects to look out for throughout the day.

Simone was awake and about around the time Lewis finished up with his morning plant care, and Lewis sensed that Xeik had already arrived. As the ex-assassin approached the house, he felt a strange sensation. That new drug that Angela had developed. Lewis frowned as the world started to spin, and he barely made it indoors before passing out.

It was Lucas and Rex who caught him as he fell, and the two boys quickly pulled their adoptive father over to one of the lavish couches near the fireplace in the next room. Lucas ran upstairs, telling Xeik and a panicking Simone what had happened. The two rushed down with Lucas…

“Lucas?” Xeik exclaimed. “I thought you said you dragged him to the family room?” The healer pointed to Lewis, still laying on the ground at the entrance.

“W-we did?” Lucas exasperated. “Here, help me! He must have tried to move!”

It was much easier for Xeik alone to carry the fallen Lewis, and the Divine Mender walked Lewis into the family room, and froze when he saw Lewis laying on the couch.

“….shit.”