Daryl held onto Cindy and looked around in awe. The air was clear, the dark motes and circled her like a hurricane as she screamed out in defiance. It seemed to soak into her skin as she stood there. The cracks looked so prominent on her skin until it all disappeared and the marks receded back towards her heart. Now in her pure white toga she looked like she was in fitful sleep, thrashing and kicking her legs.

Daryl’s head still swam from when he was headbutted, if it wasn’t for his enhanced body Daryl was she he would be dead. All the skin that was touched by acid itched horribly while it healed. It was miraculous that his body was recovering so quickly. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Daryl cupped Cindy to his chest and limped away.

His feet felt leaden as he walked, half dragging his soles along the ground as he followed the healing damage left in the wake of the monsters. It wasn’t nearly so prevalent now that there were no dark motes to guide him to the center of the darkness. Cursing himself for not being more aware of his surroundings Daryl moved through the woods. Life was returning to it as monsters materialized out of thin air. Small, medium and some far off large monsters pulled themselves from nothing and stood around. Most of them appeared confused like they were waiting for the command for nature to take back its place.

By the time he got to the edge of the forest the beasts all around him started acting normally. Grazing, fighting, and moving around on trails long used. The plains they crossed were filled with some monsters like they should be. All of them though paid no mind to Cindy and Daryl as they walked through them like a man through shallow waters.

The town looked just as decrepit but the people seemed relieved of some weight that must have been on their minds. The sight of monsters returning seemed to have more of a positive effect that Daryl would have thought. Considering it was monsters that did this to the town in the first place.

It was a return to normal though. They were used to a life with monsters around, where they could be farmed for food, materials, and so on. Daryl looked down at the little girl he helped raise. She almost pulsed with black skin as whatever internal struggle she was going through raged on. Daryl didn’t find a giant’s inn in this town and he was exhausted. The one field was torn up beyond recognition so while Cindy rested he went about completing the quest, turning in some of his monster parts and just like everything else the man slapped unseen things together and the field fixed itself.

It was so alien not to see the villager bust his butt off and fix it himself when it was like brushing away dirt with a broom instead. “You can use this for a night but in the morning we are going to make it into growing fields to help the town recover quicker,” The ancient farmer had a thick accent deep from the south. Almost a caricature of real life.

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Daryl nodded and found a piece to sit on near the wall. He rested the back of his head against it and thought about that monster.

…

“Poor Badger,” Marilyn said over coffee. Her black hair draped down her back in a thick wave. The steaming mug in her hands smelled like heaven. The amount of cream in it making it almost as pale as the woman drinking it.

Daryl looked across the table at his wife while he sipped at his much darker coffee. “What do you mean, love?”

“The nightmares keep coming. I was thinking about my childhood though and what helped me. I described the nightmare and if I could my grandma would make me draw it out the best I could. I would tell her about everything the creature I could think of and grandma would have me write a story on how I defeated it.” Marilyn stirred a small spoon in her drink while she was thinking. A far off look of contemplation that Daryl loved seeing in her.

“I think that is a little silly. What if you just skipped the middle part and went to burning it? Just like my high school conselor said about my anger in school. ‘Write all the bad feelings down and burn it from your mind’. Worked for me.” Daryl shrugged as he took a deep drink. His worry for his wife on his face as she stared into her untouched coffee.

“Maybe I will try a little of this and that. Either way she and I are due for a mother daughter date day. While you are at work maybe we will go to a dog park and get our kicks out there. Since you say it is always a bad time to get a dog.” Marilyn smirked at her husband and pushed the coffee away.

“You didn’t touch your coffee?” Daryl reached out and cupped his wife’s hand. “What’s going on?”

“Well, I went to the doctor for the migraines.” Marilyn started as she gripped his hand tight. “The imaging came back and it looks like I need to talk to some more doctors. I’m sure it will be nothing but I can’t stop thinking about it all. Maybe once I get answers I’ll feel up to coffee.”

“Honey? What do you have to talk to more doctors about?” Daryl didn’t like when his wife was vague with descriptions. It always meant the worst.

“They found a tumor is all. Just a little thing in there. I gotta get a biopsy done,” She shrugged as if it was nothing of importance. “I hate that they have to shave part of my head away so that they can get at it but I have an idea for that.” Marilyn was waving a hand back and forth like she was waving off a bad smell. “Don’t worry about it darling. It’ll be nothing.”

Daryl’s heart sank. Her family had a history of medical problems. Though none had been as vigilant as Marilyn was. She always made her yearly check ups on time. Got all the testing that they would do to make sure she was in tip top shape. Pregnancy was such a wild time of going to and from a dozen appointments a week it felt like. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? When is the procedure?”

“They want to do it as soon as possible. I didn’t want to bother you about it and was just going to find a babysitter.”

“Honey, they’re cutting your skull open, that isn’t just a small little trip to the babysitter. We better get on this.” Daryl would remember that as the moment his life changed again.

…

Cindy finally stirred, her body back to its normal pale self. She looked up at her dad. “Where are we?”

“Back in town.”