Amusement Park Respite

The next day came very quickly, maybe too quickly even. Sirius excitedly rushed to prepare himself for his trip to the amusement park while accidentally burning some of his clothes in an attempt to get dressed.

Xena slowly woke up and stared at her boyfriend, eyes still half-awake. “Did you accidentally go in your Overdrive again? You really need to learn to control your excitement sometimes, my god.”

Sirius awkwardly stared at the half burned jacket he was trying to wear, then back to Xena. “Uh…no?” He nervously laughed while Xena looked at him all confused before laughing with him as well. She gave him a hug that lasted minutes, and both of them silently appreciated each other’s presence before Xena whispered. “I honestly don’t want to let you go…I missed you so much.”

The vampire almost fell asleep, at peace with his girlfriend, but stayed up and once again became excited for his trip to an amusement park. Being stuck inside many books that brought up his past trauma for months definitely caused a number on him, and all Sirius could think about was a single day when he didn’t need to think about his problems, nor did he need to feel guilty about being unable to resolve them.

The two of them went on to prepare for their day together, while their adoptive daughter waited for them in the living room by floating all over the place. “Dad…mom…you two took so long, we’re going to miss the opening!” Greta impatiently exclaimed, even if it was still very early in the morning.

“Sweetie, it’s still very early in the day, we’ll definitely make it! I promise!” Xena grabbed Greta from the air to give her a hug.

Meanwhile, in Wolfgang’s temporary residence, the lycan was the first one to wake up and the first thing he did was shake everyone else into getting up, starting with Ares. “HEY. HEY BESTIE. WAKE UP. IT’S AMUSEMENT PARK TIME.”

Ares woke up, feeling really tired due to his friend interrupting his sleep. “Good lord Wolfgang, we still have plenty of time to get there before it opens, just go back to sleep for a bit or you might regret it”, Ares babbled before going back to sleep. Meanwhile, Atlas woke up, staring at Wolfgang as if he committed several war crimes at the same time. The peryton then got up and went to do his own thing. Then, it was Valentine’s turn to wake up, sharing the same excitement as Wolfgang. And then, both of them had fun trying to drag Ares out of bed while he was still sleeping.

While there was a cacophony in the rooms, Okeanos was already in the kitchen cooking breakfast for everyone else. He made sure to make as much food as possible so that everyone could at least enjoy a little something and even added some magic to make it taste better. The librarian took the extra time to properly prepare the table to impress the ones who allowed him to stay with them. You know, as a little gift of gratitude.

Atlas was the first one who saw the dining table. While Okeanos was not completely finished with it at the time, the peryton knew what he was trying to do and helped the librarian finish up what he had started with a subtle smile. By the time Wolfgang & Valentine ran towards the dining table while still grabbing Ares by the legs, breakfast was ready.

“Holy shit, you really didn’t need to cook this much! I’m definitely going to enjoy this, bon appétit, everyone!” Wolfgang thanked Okeanos, then grabbed as many sausages as he could, leaving a single one for the rest to share. Valentine only grabbed some scrambled eggs and a toast, Atlas only contended with some fruits and maybe an egg and Okeanos grabbed two eggs, some toast and the last sausage since he was the one who cooked all the food. Ares was the last one who grabbed anything, in fact he took everything else that was left for himself.

“For someone who woke up late, you sure eat a whole lot!” Wolfgang gleefully joked around while grabbing one of Ares’s strawberries. Ares looked at his friend while still half asleep and took one of his sausages. It didn’t take long before the half human fully woke up and both him and Wolfgang playfully stole each other’s food while everyone else enjoyed the show.

A little while later, everyone was prepared to go to the amusement park Xena was hyping everyone about and they all had assembled in front of Xena’s house. She told everyone that they would need to walk a little bit before finding a boat that would take them directly to their location. But, Okeanos had a completely different idea in mind. Instead of needing a boat, they would all only need to teleport to the entrance with Xena’s help.

With most of the group being too excited to enjoy the park, they all opted for Okeanos’s idea and prepared to teleport by holding hands. While everyone else did that with no problem, Wolfgang felt a little awkward having to hold Okeanos’s hand, but forced himself to do so anyway. And then, they vanished in the blink of an eye…only to reappear in front of probably the biggest amusement park anyone had ever seen. With a generous amount of rides, and many, many different booths, it felt like anyone would need to spend a few days there to be able to explore its entirety.

Xena approached the ticket master with the tickets she had gotten for free, then everyone was given entry bracelets, allowing them unlimited access to all rides and even free food. By that point, people’s excitement only became wilder. And, it seemed that others agreed, as a very, very long line started forming behind them as they were allowed inside the amusement park. Many things were given to them as well: a map, some free merch & a ticket for a raffle with a ride featuring the winner’s ideas as a prize.

This felt like a dream, nothing was out there trying to kill anyone, there was no one who tried to ruin anyone’s day and everyone was genuinely looking forward to having one day for themselves.