Marvel: I'm a Symbiote-Symbiote 0264: Unnatural

As Natasha and Xialing slept, Alex was fiddling with the lockets that would lead him to Ta Lo.

‘Qingming Jie is still half a year away. I don’t have any intention of waiting that long. The only other way is to analyze these lockets and use them as a pathfinder. On the other hand, I could also kidnap that faker Mandarin, but he’s useless without his pet that’s native to Ta Lo.’

While deep in his thoughts, Alex threw the lockets up in the air as a red glow appeared on his palm and made the lockets float before him. He idly twirled his fingers and caused the locket to twist and turn with his movements.

“What are you doing?” Natasha woke up as Alex channeled Chaos Magic.

“Trying to find a way that would allow us to go to Ta Lo right now instead of having to wait six months for Qingming Jie when the entrance opens,” Alex said without stopping his actions. Slowly, the Chaos energy started seeping into the pendant as the pure green of the lockets began to distort.

“Why Qingming Jie?” She asked him.

“Maybe it has a spiritual significance to the village,” Alex told her. “But it should be possible to traverse the maze that blocks the entrance to Ta Lo at other times as well. We just need to find the way.”

Having spent so long with Alex, Natasha had learned not to question how the slime man knew so much information without any credible source. While curious, she knew that she wouldn’t be getting an answer from him. She had long given up on trying to dig into Alex’s sources.

As Alex continued fiddling with the lockets, Natasha shook her head and snuggled closer to him, holding Xialing tighter in her arms as she went back to sleep.

…

“How long will the refueling take?” Natasha asked Alex while holding Xialing’s little hand as the three were about to get off the plane.

Alex gave her a knowing smile and said, “A couple of hours. We can play around in the city for a while if you want.”

“What do you think Xialing?” Nat asked.

“Father’s people will find us,” The girl spoke worriedly, her eyes darting around. “They have eyes and ears all over the world.” She suddenly felt a hand on her head and found herself face-to-face with Natasha as the woman knelt before her.

“You don’t need to worry about any of those things. I’ll take you to Disneyland and we can play on all the rides there. Okay?” An excited smile made its way to Xialing’s face as she nodded vigorously, the braid that Natasha had made for her bounced with each movement of her head.

“Are you also coming with us, Uncle Apex?” She looked up at Alex with unblinking eyes. “To Disneyland.”

Natasha burst out laughing at Xialing’s address, receiving a nasty side-eye from Alex as he answered, “Of course,” He said with a smile, “After all, I have to protect you two in case something happens, don’t I?”

“Are you also as strong as shifu?” Xialing asked straightforwardly.

“Something like that, yeah.”

…

The three soon went to Disneyland and Natasha couldn’t help herself from indulging Xialing with everything the girl asked for. Alex tried to restrain her a little, but Natasha wasn’t having it. She was willing to throw hands against Alex just to let the girl have her way. They did everything according to what she wanted. The rides, the different sections relating to Disney’s most common IP, and more. Both Alex and Natasha clearly saw her fascination with Toy Story and the likes, having spent well over an hour and a half just in that area.

Eventually, Xialing was finally out of energy, after running around the entire park for the past four hours. They then moved to the food court to get some evening snacks.

Xialing and Natasha sat on one side while Alex was on the other, all of them sharing a large platter of snacks, some unique to the Chinese market and some common ones like fries and chicken nuggets.

“Is everything okay, honey?” Natasha rubbed Xialing’s shoulder. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”

“Mhm,” She nodded naturally, but Natasha could see she was distracted. She didn’t push the girl into opening up and the three of them ate in comfortable silence with Natasha and Alex making some random comments.

Once they were done with the snacks, their next destination was the sound and light show. Halfway through the show, Xialing was sound asleep in Natasha’s arms, holding her tightly.

[I’ve found a way into Ta Lo. The lockets can indeed guide us through the outer maze.] Alex told Natasha as she gave Xialing a reluctant look.

[Can we leave after the show ends? I want to let her sleep for longer.] Alex noticed that Xialing was clutching Natasha’s clothes tightly in her sleep, afraid that she would leave her. He gave Natasha a slightly dismissive shrug, telling her that they could take as much time as needed.

Eventually, the show was over and Natasha tried to wake Xialing up the girl woke up with a single light shake of her shoulder yet pretended to still be asleep. Both Alex and Natasha easily noticed the initial tremble as she woke up and shared an amused smile with each other.

After a couple more shakes, Natasha sighed to herself, “It seems that she isn’t going to wake up,” Her words made Xialing’s grip over her clothes tighten.

“Let her sleep,” Alex said. “Can you hold her, or should I take her?”

“It’s fine, I’ll hold her,” Natasha said and stood up with the girl still in her arms. Xialing’s arms naturally wrapped around Natasha’s neck and she rested her head on her shoulder while continuing to pretend to be asleep.

As they walked to the parking lot, Alex asked Natasha, “Did you think about my proposal? About Gaia.”

“I did,” She nodded. “You’re right about going to Gaia for some time, but I can’t make the decision by myself. Once we go to Ta Lo, I will talk to her about it and ask her what she wants to do,” She lovingly caressed Xoialing’s hair, aware that their conversation was heard by the girl as well.

While Xialing wanted to stay awake and listen to the entire conversation, it didn’t take her long before she drifted to sleep once again on the way back to the airport.

Xialing, my love~ Come to your mother. Did you have another nightmare?

Natasha felt Xialing trembling in her arms alongside some wetness on her shoulder that made her frown.

"Mommy ..." Xialing cried out weakly.

"Honey?" Natasha spoke softly and ran her finger through Xialing's hair, "Is everything okay? Honey?" She gently shook the girl in an effort to wake her up.

"Mhm," She responded with a weak squeak in Natasha's ear.

"Do you miss your mother, Xialing?” Natasha pulled her back to look at her face. Xialing's eyes were reddened, but there was a sense of confusion and excitement in them. Natasha read all those emotions momentarily before then disappearing into a mask of sadness, making the woman narrow her eyes in contemplation.

"I had a nightmare," Xialing spoke up with a tremble as if she was about to cry.

"I'm here with you. You don't need to be scared ..." Natasha cooed as if Xialing was two instead of twelve.

Alex couldn't help but roll his eyes at Natasha's actions. Still, he understood her mindset as well.

The Black Widow had finally found an opportunity that would allow her to express her maternal instincts that she had been suppressing for who knows how long.

I just hope she doesn't take things too far and make Xialing resent her ...

"Do you want to talk about it?" Natasha asked Xialing as the girl once again rested her chin on her shoulder and leaned her head against Natasha's.

"Mn mm," She shook her head, causing her braided hair to hit Natasha's face.

Alex laughed from the side, "We should start moving, otherwise we will have to wait until tomorrow night before the entrance opens."

"Does it open every night?" Xialing asked with a sense of enthusiasm in her voice.

[I guess she wants to distract herself from the nightmare ...]

Alex heard Natasha's words and refrained from shaking his head. She was looking at Xialing through maternal goggles, which skewed her objectivity. Unlike her, Alex was observing and analyzing the slightly changed behavior that Xialing was exhibiting at the moment.

"The main entrance opens during Qingming Jie," Alex told her, "But every night at midnight, there is a window that opens in the maze that can only be traversed by someone who holds the key to the village."

"The lockets ..." Xialing spoke with a whisper.

"Exactly," Alex nodded and took out the lockets from his pocket, "These lockets will allow us to traverse the maze for a brief duration during midnight."

"They look so beautiful ..." Xialing spoke up with interest in her eyes. Unlike before, when the lockets were pure green, there were now swirls of red within them.

"I will give them back to you once we reach Ta Lo," Alex said with a smile.

"Let's go!" Xialing spoke up excitedly, "Quickly!"