Inconceivable Ch. 26 (Invincible AU) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: The aftermath of Hurricane Argan.

[Heads up, I made some edits to Chapter 22 because I have been sufficiently convinced by readers that the Flaxan Dimension does not work the way I portrayed it in Chapter 22. Essentially, the Viltrumites will not be able to breed back their entire population in a week using the Flaxan Dimension's time fuckery. They can still use it as a secret base and for training and what not however.]

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As Argan flees, Nolan remains perfectly still, staring straight ahead. And sure, maybe it’s a bit uncharitable to describe the Grand Regent’s departure as fleeing, but Nolan isn't feeling all that charitable at the moment. Certainly not in the privacy of his own mind.

How had Argan of all people managed to see right to the root of the issue? No, more than that… the other man was fine with Nolan not taking any more mates other than his wife? He was alright with Nolan only producing with one human woman for the next couple hundred years?

“Maya… do you have a friend you can stay with tonight?”

Nolan blinks as Debbie finally breaks the silence. Not to begin chewing him out, but to ask her daughter a question. His brow furrows as he looks over and watches the interaction. Maya looks caught off guard, but to be fair she’s probably still processing the grand reveal of her ageless nature and the fact that she will live indefinitely, barring death in battle.

“Uh… yeah? I could call Eve.”

“Please do so and ask. Let her know it would be a personal favor for me.”

“O… kay?”

Maya’s eyes dart between the two of them and she looks just as confused as Nolan feels. Debbie sighs.

“It would appear that your father and I have a lot to discuss, Maya. Things you shouldn’t be forced to hear. I expect there will even be some shouting… so it would be best if you weren’t here for it.”

Nolan pales. Deep down he’d known it was coming, but even still, a part of him can’t help but dread this upcoming conversation. He almost wants to countermand Debbie, to order Maya to stay right where she is just to blunt the blow… but he refrains.

He’s not a coward. Really, he’s not. He just… didn’t know how to tell his human wife any of this. Technically, she wasn’t ever supposed to know, at least not until they’d begun taking over the planet. And by that point Nolan had always imagined Debbie would have other things to despise him for. To hate him for.

This situation was better, technically… but also so much worse. It was so much more awkward and Nolan didn’t know what he was even going to say, let alone what she intended to say to him.

Maya, still looking between them, seems torn for a moment between wanting to be there to help them hash it out… and recognizing that her mother had asked for privacy. Finally, she ducks her head.

“Y-Yeah, I’ll call Eve right now and pack a bag.”

Nolan remains seated as Maya hops up from the table and zips upstairs. He hears her placing the call and also hears Eve’s easy agreement on the other end. His daughter’s friendship with the other young woman would have worried Nolan under different circumstances, especially with Eve being a member of the Guardians now. But the Guardians of the Globe no longer had to die, so… well, he had other things to worry about, didn’t he?

Debbie rises from the table and begins to clean up the dishes. Nolan almost moves to help her… but despite his wife having no supernatural abilities or superpowers, he feels a shiver run down his spine the moment he shifts. Almost like he knows if he gets up, he’s going to be in even bigger trouble than he already is.

Within a minute Maya comes back downstairs with a small packed bag. She stops in the kitchen with Debbie first, giving her mother a kiss and a hug and a ‘love you mom’. Then, she hesitates in the dining room, looking at him for a long moment before nodding.

“Love you dad.”

And then she’s gone. No kiss or hug for Nolan, not that he was expecting them. Still, it’s an obvious sign that Maya leans towards her mother’s side on this one.

Nolan… remains seated. Until finally, Debbie comes back into the dining room and sits down across from him, clasping her hands in front of her.

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

Despite telling their daughter that there would be shouting involved, Debbie starts out with a level tone. But that combined with her judgmental gaze is honestly worse than if she’d yelled at him, Nolan finds.

“… Tell you what, exactly?”

He knows immediately from the way her eyes sharpen that that was the wrong thing to say. Debbie’s lips purse and her knuckles whiten a bit.

“Were you ever going to tell me that you were going to outlive me? That you were already a thousand years old?”

Nolan sighs.

“Of course I was going to tell you, Debbie, I-!”

“When, Nolan? In fifty years when I was on my deathbed, perhaps?!”

“No! Of course not!”

“Then when exactly was I going to be informed? When was a good time for your timetable, huh?!”

Nolan shuts up. In this case, the answer isn’t just unproductive, its outright self-sabotaging. Because truth be told, Nolan had believed Debbie would find out just how long he and Maya would live only after he conquered the planet in the name of the Viltrumite Empire. After he revealed his and his people’s true nature, after Earth was transformed into a breeding farm for the Empire’s repopulation efforts.

That was around the time Nolan had figured it would all come out. And frankly, his age or the fact that he would still be alive long after she had died… was always going to be secondary to the rest of it.

Now though, it was pretty much the main issue wasn’t it? Because Argan had taken over, usurping his father as Grand Regent, everything had changed. The younger Viltrumite had gone about things differently and continued to go about things differently. Frankly, at this point Nolan sometimes wondered where it came from… how had Argan developed the outlook that he had?

In the end though, that mattered little compared to what was and would be.

As he sits there tight lipped, Debbie lets out a sigh and covers her face with her palm.

“… I can’t believe you’ve been acting weird for weeks now, all because you were worried about how I would react to all of this. You know marriage is supposed to be a two way street, right Nolan? There’s a little something called communication… you could have just talked to me about this!”

Bristling, Nolan can’t help himself.

“How?!”

Debbie looks taken aback by the raise in volume. Nolan though… Nolan is just getting started.

“How am I supposed to talk to you about any of this? Argan made no mention of us using our sciences to extend human lifespans until tonight. And every Viltrumite male aside from me has already begun seeking human mates… multiple human mates apiece.”

Grimacing, Nolan looks down at the table.

“It seemed… inevitable. That I hadn’t received the orders yet meant nothing. They were going to come, eventually. And I didn’t know how to… I didn’t know how I was going to tell you when they did.”

It’s just as Argan had said. He had been waiting for the Grand Regent to give him orders that would drive Debbie away from him. A harem? The others might be able to get away with such things but Nolan and Debbie had been married for twenty years and never once had Debbie shown any inclination that she was looking to share him with other women.

That had been just fine with him to be fair… he had no desire to spend his time showering multiple human women with affection. One hybrid was enough, he’d figured… and he’d been right too. The experiment had been a success.

But now the experiment was over. They’d moved on to the next phase of the plan. How was Nolan supposed to know that he would be allowed to not partake for his ‘prior service’?!

“You didn’t want to hurt me, is that it?”

Debbie sounds incredulous, but Nolan jumps on her words all the same, treating them like the lifeline they are.

“Yes! I didn’t-!”

“Or did you simply not want to hurt yourself?”

Nolan stops dead in his tracks, his mouth open as he blinks. What? What was she talking about? He wasn’t… he wouldn’t have been hurt by any of this. He was a Viltrumite. He was above it all. She was being ridiculous if she thought he… he cared.

“You don’t understand, Debbie. The last twenty years with you have been great, but they’re only a small fraction of my lifespan. Even with our technology, in another thousand years you will be gone and I will still be here. I… I can’t simply ignore that fact.”

He expects her to get angry at him for that. Nolan would even understand if she did get angry. Looking away, he waits for her to start shouting again. Instead, after a long moment of silence, Debbie speaks in a quiet tone.

“But you have been ignoring it, haven’t you?”

Blinking, Nolan looks to her, brow furrowing.

“What are you talking about?”

“How long have you been hiding from your feelings and treating this like it’s no big deal, Nolan?”

“Debbie, you’re being ridiculous, I’m not hiding from my feelings…”

“Do you love me? Do you care about me?”

“Of course I do!”

Where was she even going with this? Why was she being so strange and-

“When you think about life after I’m gone, how does it make you feel?”

Nolan stops. He scowls.

“I can’t… I already explained my perspective, Debbie.”

“That’s not an answer, Nolan. When you think about life after I’m gone, how does it make you feel?”

What did she want from him? They sit there staring at one another, Debbie gazing into his eyes and Nolan… Nolan lets out a rattling breath that makes him feel like a deflating balloon.

“Bad. Is that what you want to hear, Debbie? It makes me feel bad.”

But that’s not good enough, apparently.

“And why do you feel that way, Nolan? If our relationship is just a blip on the radar for you, if it’s nothing but a single paragraph in the story of your life, then why should it make you feel bad?”

Nolan… Nolan stares at her, stricken. And in the end, the truth comes tumbling out of his mouth before he can stop it.

“Because you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Because in a thousand years of life, you’re the singular brightest spot. Because I don’t know what I’m going to do or what life will be like once you’re gone.”

Debbie’s eyes are wide as she stares back at him. Meanwhile, Nolan feels exposed. No, exposed is too weak of a word for this sensation. He feels raw, like every inch of his skin has peeled back, leaving the muscle and bones and organs all exposed to the elements.

Abruptly, he stands up, fully preparing to flee this encounter. But just before he can…

“Nolan, wait!”

Debbie cries out and her voice stops him in his tracks. Standing perfectly still, he remains facing away from her, even as she stands as well and circles around the table.

“You don’t have to go. I want you to stay.”

It takes a second for the words to process. She… wanted him to stay? But…

“How could you want me to stay? I’ve been lying to you our entire marriage.”

“You have, yes. And we’ll be talking about it for a while, I think.”

The very idea makes Nolan grimace.

“… But you’re still my husband. And I still love you.”

She hugs him from behind, wrapping her arms around his waist under his arms. Nolan’s entire body stiffens up in response, his breath stopping dead in his lungs.

Slowly… he turns around to face her, wrapping his own arms around Debbie in turn. When she looks up at him, there are tears in her eyes but also a smile on her face.

“We might not be okay just yet… but we’ll get there together, alright? And even if I’m not going to be around in a thousand years, even if I won’t always be there for you or Maya… I’ll be here for you now, in this moment. And for as long as I can be.”

Nolan’s throat threatens to close up on him. The sheer amount of emotion he’s currently dealing with makes him want to punch a damn mountain. Viltrumites were not made to feel things. They were not built for deep, emotional attachments. Only now is Nolan realizing that Debbie managed to sneak one in when he wasn’t looking anyways. All this time he’d thought she was just part of his mission… but at some point she’d become something more.

“At least… at least you and Maya will have each other. Along with any other children we have before I’m gone.”

Jolting at his wife’s latest words, Nolan looks down at her in shock.

“You… you want to have more kids?”

For a moment, Debbie looks vulnerable.

“… Do you?”

Truthfully, before tonight it’s not something Nolan had even allowed himself to really consider. He’d expected Argan to order him to start mating with multiple human women and he’d expected Debbie to demand a divorce in response. This… this was not an outcome that he’d envisioned.

Thinking for a long moment, he slowly nods.

“I… yes. Yes I would like that.”

And then… well, he arches a brow, his hands on his wife firming up a bit.

“In fact, with Maya out of the house tonight we could…”

But Debbie shakes her head, albeit with a little laugh to soften the blow.

“Oh no, Mister. We aren’t doing anything like that tonight. Soon, hopefully… but we have way too many issues to work through for me to let you distract me with sex. You had your chance… now you’re going to have to work for it.”

To his own surprise, Nolan actually doesn’t mind being told that all that much. He doesn’t mind the idea of ‘working for it’.

Sighing, Debbie lays her head on his chest.

“Honestly, hopefully the rest of your people aren’t as bad as you, Nolan. If every Viltrumite has the emotional capacity of a brick, Cecil and the GDA have their work cut out for them. At least Argan seems nice…”

Heh, from disliking the man on principle to ‘he seems nice’ in a single dinner. That said, thinking about the rest of his people, Nolan grimaces out of Debbie’s line of sight.

… He wished the GDA the best of luck on that front.

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A/N: I’m sure the GDA will be fiiiiine…

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huUQnu8zSNup5I2hctR2zbTXXO_YEm2Rtw0wdeql9Qo/edit?tab=t.0