To His Hell and Back
Chapter 292: Bubbly Can Do Anything!-I

Chapter 292: Bubbly Can Do Anything!-I

Bubbly, the small childlike form of Cassius’s power, fidgeted with his tiny fingers, his expression guilt ridden. His wide blue eyes shimmered with the look of a child caught sneaking sweets innocent, harmless, almost painfully pure. There was nothing threatening about the little boy. In fact, he looked too fragile, too gentle. So much so that Cassius let out a weary sigh.

He didn’t like hurting children. Even if they weren’t truly human.

"I can’t..." Bubbly whispered, voice barely audible.

"What?" Cassius leaned forward, narrowing his eyes.

"I CAN’T!" Bubbly suddenly burst out, his small voice rising with frustrated emotion. His fists clenched, face scrunched up as if someone had tricked him. With a huff, he stomped over and gripped Cassius’s hand with surprising boldness.

"You— you-- you’re so mean!" Bubbly cried, swinging Cassius’s arm childishly. "Bal said I could just slip into your dreams, but you never sleep! And when you do, your dreams are like... monsters and knives and cold rooms, and it’s scary! You make it impossible to talk! And your mind is always shut tight— like a fortress made of stone and fire and angry yelling!"

Cassius blinked, startled. His mouth parted slightly.

So all this time... his own power had been too afraid of him?

"You mean... that’s why you never followed my commands in the real world?" he asked, trying to piece it together.

Bubbly nodded sheepishly, twiddling his fingers. "I tried to. Really. But outside, it’s hard. The only time it got easier was when the nice lady—" he beamed, "—the one who’s always with you— she gives me energy! She helps a lot!"

The only one who’d been constantly at his side... the only woman in his life, Arabella.

Cassius’s brow furrowed slightly. "She gave you energy? You mean... magic?"

"Mmhm!" Bubbly’s head bobbed eagerly. "It spills out of her. Like little sparkly pieces. And they taste like warm bread and sunshine! They make me strong enough to help!"

He should’ve guessed. Arabella’s power was unruly, overflowing— perhaps unknowingly nourishing everything around her. Including this... this child like entity within him.

"What’s your real name?" Cassius asked quietly.

Bubbly blinked. "You can call me Bubbly!"

"I figured," Cassius muttered, exhaling deeply. "But you’re older than you look."

"That’s... true," the boy admitted, then glanced up shyly. "Then... can I call you Cas? The older lady in your dreams always says that, and you look really happy when she does."

Cassius’s chest tightened for a moment, remembering the dream— his mother, her voice, the way she used to say his name.

"...Cassius is better," he murmured, gaze soft.

Bubbly giggled and rocked on his heels. "Okay, Cassius! I’ll be good, I promise!"

Cassius watched him, watched this odd, naive, radiant thing that lived inside him and smiled so easily despite the horrors Cassius had endured. Then he leaned forward, voice quieter but firm.

"Then let’s talk seriously. We don’t have much time."

Bubbly straightened, puffing out his cheeks with comical seriousness. He brought his fists to his chest and gave a tiny, determined nod. "What are we talking about, miste— Cassius?"

"How do I make sure you’ll follow my commands properly from now on?" he asked.

To his surprise, Bubbly nodded as if that was the easiest thing in the world.

"Oh, that’s simple! We have to work together more. I think the real reason I couldn’t follow your commands before was because... you didn’t know my name. And you didn’t really want me around." He tilted his head. "But now you do! So we’re already two steps ahead."

Cassius arched an eyebrow. "And the next step?"

"You have to let me in a little more." Bubbly poked his forehead. "Right here. You keep me out, even when you don’t mean to. You built all these walls because of pain and fear and anger. I can’t climb walls like that. But if you open a door, even a small one, I can hear you. Then I can help you. Really help you."

Cassius went quiet. For a long time, he simply stared at Bubbly, eyes unreadable.

To lower his guard... after everything?

"I’ll try," he finally said, voice rough. "But if you try to betray me—"

"I won’t!" Bubbly said instantly, voice soft but certain. "I was born to help you. And I like being here."

He smiled again, a childish, beaming thing full of warmth.

And for the first time, Cassius found himself beginning to believe it.

For some odd reason seeing Bubbly warmed his heart. It was funny to think someone like him, someone so deadly so cursed and so blood soaked to have a power in a form of such a child- so innocent, so foolish, like a lamb who would sing "baa baa" even when he’s in front of death himself.

Subconsciously his hand had moved on top of Bubbly’s head and rubbed it a few times. Bubbly seemed happy by the gesture, his cheeks beaming brightly in a happy smile.

"Let’s test the power a little," Cassius began the work, "What kind of things could you do, Bubbly?"

The child tilted his head back, lips pursed as he hummed softly in thought. His eyes—large and sea-blue—flicked around as if trying to recall something buried beneath cobwebs of forgotten memories. For a few seconds, he stared at the ceiling as if it held the answers, then turned back to Cassius with a resolute little nod.

"There are a few things I can do," Bubbly said, his voice light but brimming with growing confidence. "I can start a fire— anywhere, without needing flint or magic. I can teleport you too... a lot more often than before. Like, really more."

Cassius raised a brow, folding his arms. "And why haven’t you?"

Bubbly’s cheeks puffed in indignation. "Because you never asked nicely and your brain is always going ’I don’t trust anything,’ so my powers got all wobbly!"

Cassius let out a dry huff that could’ve been a sigh or a laugh— it was hard to tell.

"In Hell," Bubbly went on, puffing out his chest with pride, "Bal used me to teleport whole lakes. Entire ones! Big and full of fish and icky swampy stuff! I can do that too, if we train and sync more. So I think we can stretch the time and size limits if you let me try."

Cassius blinked.

A whole lake.

And here he’d been struggling to drag himself ten feet from a battlefield while barely staying conscious.

What a joke.

Bubbly beamed now, brighter than before, his earlier shyness completely forgotten in the shadow of his own excitement. "There’s more! I can stop people’s movement—like freeze them! Not forever, but for long enough. Or make them slower. Or mess with their shadows so they get confused and attack the wrong way."

He looked up at Cassius with something like anticipation sparkling in his eyes, hands clenched at his sides like a child desperate to show his drawings to a parent.

Cassius didn’t speak for a moment. He was processing, not just the power this child possessed, but the fact that all of it had been there— dormant, unexplored, misunderstood.

Or perhaps... neglected.

Bubbly glanced up nervously. "Did I do good?"

Cassius looked down at him for a long moment, and then, rare as sunlight in winter, he gave a short nod.

"You did."

And just like that, Bubbly beamed like he’d been handed the stars.