Damovotsk, Molkovia, Earth.

Demian's P.O.V.

The sensation was hard to put into words, but if he had to he would describe it like this: 'You spent your whole life alone in a small dark empty room and one day you heard one of the walls breaking apart. Once the sounds stopped, you instinctively walked in that direction. After only a few steps with your arms extended in front of you, you suddenly touched someone. And as if you and the other person were starved for human contact, you both proceeded to touch each other, hug each other, etc.

You both could 'feel' the other's presence in the room with you and when the two of you were in contact with each other, you could even pick up on the other's emotions. The room was still dark and the two of you were incapable of speaking but you were finally not alone in this world. Whatever happened later, you would never feel the crushing loneliness that people tend to experience by just existing.

You were both distinct individuals and a single entity. But you were not alone. Not anymore. Instead, you were finally... Complete.'

After having this realization, Demian could feel a salty taste on his lips, and as his eyes opened, he instantly found the cause. Their Soul Bond was too much for his new soul mate and tears kept running down her cheeks without end. Because he wanted to comfort her, he broke the kiss. However, he did not have time to do anything before she hugged him tightly making him wince in pain from the wound on his side.

He did not pay attention to the ache, to the fact that the shirt he forgot to remove the previous night before going to bed was being soaked by Sera's tears, or even to the fact that the wetness on his face was not only from her weeping but also his. Instead, he hugged her back, soaking in the novel sensation of being able to feel another human being connected to his soul.

A while later, the two's emotions began to settle down, and the tears started to dry up. At that point, Sera, who was rubbing her face against his torso, whispered a few times. “I can feel you... I can feel you...” With a blissful smile adorning her face. A loving smile appeared on Demian's face as well from her reactions, and he instinctively started stroking her hair while stating.

“I can feel you too. From now on, we'll be together forever.” At his words, she lifted her head from his torso and replied. “I can feel your emotions. You love me.” She giggled foolishly, as happiness radiated from her words. Chuckling softly along, he focused his perception on the bond and was instantly overwhelmed by the love and joy coming from her.

“I do. I can see you're the same. Not that I had any doubts about it.” His words drew another giggle from her. Her looks then changed to playful as she patted her way to his face and once her face was right in front of his and her hands holding his cheeks, she said. “I love you.” Before pecking his lips briefly.

Demian froze when he suddenly felt her lips touch his. He however did not have time to process the first kiss that she did it again. “I love you.” A brief kiss followed her words which he was still not ready for. When this time she drew back with a small giggle, he decided to start being more proactive.

He hugged her waist, pulling her against the right side of his upper body, and declared with a dangerous. “My lovely elf, you're looking for trouble.” Before taking the initiative to kiss her deeply. As soon as his lips touched hers, his senses were drowned by a feeling of softness, almost making him lose himself.

The level of pleasure was much higher than what he expected from a simple kiss. Was it because of his Soul Bond? That was the only explanation he could muster. After all, he was not without any romantic experiences in his previous life, despite them not lasting very long, so he was not completely foreign to that feeling.

'Damn it! I need to stop overthinking things all the time and just enjoy it!' He thought before putting his focus entirely on the kiss. What slightly distracted him was the fact that he could feel the surprise from Sera turning into lust. It was small at first but it kept growing until Demian knew that if he kept going it would escalate to the next level, which he was not exactly in the right physical shape for.

Breaking the kiss reluctantly, he noted how Sera did not react for a moment besides puckering her lips in the air before she started complaining sullenly in her silky voice. “Why did you stop?” With an amused smile on his face from her question, he replied. “I'd also love to go further, but unless you've forgotten, I've literally got a bullet inside my body and two serious wounds that have clearly not healed yet.”

His explanation drew an embarrassed expression from her as she responded in a low tone. “I... I forgot. I got carried away... Sorry...” Chuckling at her apology, he retorted while his right arm was gently embracing her waist and his left hand was caressing her cheek. “Don't worry about it. I almost got swept up in it as well. I'm not gonna lie, it was the best kiss I've ever had. And that was with it being our first one. I'm sure we'll get better with more practice.” He said his last words in a teasing tone, which accentuated the blush on her cheeks.

Tapping softly on his right pectoral muscle, she chided him softly. “I told you to stop with the teasing.” Snickering he replied. “Never. And it's too late to regret remember? We're stuck together forever.” At his words, she lowered her head and set her face on his torso with a dreamy smile. “Together forever. It's perfect.”

Because of the emotional roller-coaster, the two were exhausted, prompting Demian to propose. “Why don't we sleep a while longer? It's only 8 in the morning and we haven't much planned for the day.” A cute grunt of approval came from the beautiful woman lying on his body before a soft snoring sound resounded from the same place a few seconds later.

Shaking his head slightly at the speed at which she fell asleep, he decided to follow her lead and closed his eyes, while his thoughts were on what just happened to the two of them. He did not have time to dwell on it for too long, though, as his consciousness faded almost immediately afterward from the exhaustion.

An unknown time later, Demian's consciousness returned. His eyes fluttered open, as his thoughts turned to his most recent memories, making him tense up. 'Tell me it wasn't a dream...' Noticing his cousin lying on his body partly alleviated his worry, but it was only when he felt the bond and the emotions coming from it, did he relax completely.

After his worries dissipated, his focus turned to the amusement coming from Sera, which betrayed the fact that she was already awake to him. “Did you sleep well?” He asked gently. A soft grunt came from her before she asked in a curious tone. “How did you know I was awake?” Smiling at her question, he replied. “Because you were making fun of me in your head.”

Giggling softly, she retorted. “That's because I also thought that it was a dream when I woke up and panicked. I just felt less stupid when I felt the same reaction from you.” Shaking his head, he caressed her cheek tenderly, while asking. “Shall we go see Big Sis and Aunty?”

“Mmmhh.” She nodded softly while leaning into his touch. Patting her back, he added. “You need to move first or I won't be able to.” “Right! Sorry!” She said before moving swiftly from his side to the bed's side. “It's fine, Love.” He replied before getting off the bed and standing up at her side. A faint ache came from both of his wounds, but due to his high pain tolerance, he did not even let out a grunt.

It may also be because Sera was at his side and he did not want to worry her, especially since it would not take long for him to be completely healed. Shaking his head to remove his useless thoughts, he claimed, while grabbing Sera's hand. “Let's go.” Before they started moving toward the living room, where he guessed that the other two women would likely be.

And indeed as soon as he approached, he heard their voices, with one radiating anger, while the other one tried to calm the former. 'Bryn seems pissed. Not that it's really surprising.' He thought as Sera and he arrived downstairs. The two women stopped arguing when they noticed the couple and rushed to their sides.

“I'm so glad the two of you are okay!” Bryn said while hugging both his cousin and sister. She however let go when she heard Demian groan in pain and exclaimed frantically. “I'm sorry! Mom told me you were hurt but I forgot!” Noticing her chaotic state of mind, he was about to comfort her but Adeliya was faster.

She patted the tall woman's shoulder and claimed soothingly. “It's okay, honey. Demian will be fine. So getting worried won't help.” “I...” She hesitated before taking a deep breath and nodded firmly. “Okay.” She then stared at her cousin intently without pronouncing another word.

Gazing at her with a wry smile, he added. “Aunty's right, Bryn. I'm hurt but it's not life-threatening and I'll be quickly healed up.” She did not say anything, but her body seemed to loosen up slightly. Now that she was done with her daughter, the mature redhead woman turned her face toward her nephew and instructed.

“I need to inspect and clean your wounds. To prevent any infections.” Nodding his head, he replied. “I'll listen to you, Aunty.” Nodding back, she stated. “Follow me to the bathroom then. It'll be easier to do that there than in the middle of the living room.” “Sure.” He hesitated for a second, but after feeling Sera's hand in his, he decided to go through what the two decided together.

“Wait, Aunty!” She turned back toward him and asked with a raised brow. “What is it?” “I... I need to talk to you and Big Sis about something.” Noting the curiosity in their eyes, he continued. “It's about what happened to me since a month ago... I...I want to come clean about everything!”

The two stayed silent at his statement for a moment, before a similar smile appeared on both of their faces. Right after, Adeliya resumed moving toward the bathroom while retorting. “You can tell us while I deal with your injuries.” From their initial reactions, Demian understood that Sera's earlier words were true. They were both simply waiting for him to be comfortable enough to share his secrets with them.

'I may have overthought the whole thing...' He thought while feeling a lot more serene. Still holding his cousin's hand, he started following his Aunt along with Bryn until they reached the bathroom. At that point, before his Aunt said anything, he let go of Sera's hand and removed his shirt.

“Sit on this stool.” Adeliya instructed while pointing toward the wooden stool she set in the middle of the room. After he followed her instructions, she started to check his superficial wounds first. Demian noted the surprised look on her face but did not comment as she then switched to taking care of the two serious injuries on his left side, one on his waist's left side and the other around his left shoulder.

“This...” She exclaimed in a puzzled tone. Feeling curious, Demian asked. “What's wrong?” To which she responded hesitantly. ”Your injuries...” The other two women kept silent but he spotted the worry on their faces. “Did they get infected?” He asked, feeling doubtful.

Shaking her head absentmindedly, she responded, still looking at his wounds in fascination. “No. It's actually the opposite. All your injuries have healed much further than they should have...” “What do you mean?” Those words shook her from her pondering, prompting her to look toward the young man and explain.

“It's like this! The human body has a certain healing capacity that can vary between individuals. It can even vary for the same individual depending on multiple factors like fatigue, substance abuse, etc.” She paused for a brief moment while gazing at the three cousins. “All in all, there are differences. But it's only up to a certain point. But you...”

Shaking her head, she stated. “The rate at which your injuries are healing is beyond anything I've seen before in human beings.” She paused while looking hesitant for a moment, before adding. “Although, I've never been able to study Supes' physiology, so I lack the data to be able to do the comparison.”

'So my physiology Perk is already improving my 'healing factor'...' He thought before declaring while looking toward the two light redheads. “Actually, it's got to do with what I wanted to talk to you about.”