Authors Note: I'd like to give credit for the idea of this one-shot to Tumblr users docloudscomeinpurple and lesbiandelphidiggory. The idea was far too cute to pass up and so I couldn't wait to write up a fanfiction of it.
It had been years before the Great Nanite event had taken place. Those years before many lost their lives, whether it was to do with actually dying in the heart of the explosion, or just simply getting trapped in the body of a mutated beast, unable to return back to normal thanks to the large set of active nanites flowing through their system.
The world was soon to come to light, before being plunged into darkness.
Until then, the idea was only just that, an idea. Scientists had figured out the source of what could be the world's answer to curing poverty and disease and this couldn't simply go unnoticed. They were a curious bunch and if it meant changing the world for the better, then it was worth every minute of every day on this research.
However, there was one couple that had other things, or people to be exact, to think about especially. Once the idea came out of using microscopic machines in order to save the world, Rafael and Violetta Salazar had their young son, who went by the name Rex, to take care of as well.
Although he wasn't as rebellious as we all know, he was indeed curious, and had a craving for learning, science especially. He had always been wishing to know the secrets of what makes the world complete and frankly, it always ended with his parents having to take him along as he had always asked them, or better yet, sneaked into their lab and watched quietly once they realized.
But for the last few times, it has been different…
"Not now, Rex… You can't come in with us this time. It's going to be too dangerous for you..." The motherly figure said in order to deter her son from actually following along, but from the bright glint that grew in his brown eyes. He was more determined to come than ever.
"But mom, I promise that I will be quiet. You won't even know that I'm there." A young Rex pleaded convincingly, giving large, puppy-dog eyes as a result. After all, whenever he wanted something, (Which was very rarely, or even never at all unless it was to over look their work.) that always seemed to work like a charm.
But it didn't seem to work all that much this time…
It could be that the trick was wearing off the older that he got, or perhaps it was just as Violeta stated: it was far too dangerous for him to be around. When the two parents got involved with the project, along with their oldest son, Caesar, they had all agreed to prioritize Rex's safety, as well as take turns to make sure that he wasn't getting up to any mischief as usual.
"No, Rex… Perhaps next time…" She stated firmly, her stern expression turning soft to make sure that she didn't scare him. That's what she always said, but it was always the same answer again and again nowadays.
"Now, your brother will be around soon to check up on you… Until then, be good..."
With a gentle kiss on the forehead, she gave him a loving smile before returning back to the main lab in order to continue their research, leaving their young child to wonder else where in the building. After all, it was a large enough place to explore, so they trusted him not to leave the premises otherwise, he would be grounded yet again, and he had already learned that lesson the hard way.
Something seemed off this time. He couldn't find any motivation to explore. Just by the look his mother gave at first, he could tell that she was serious this time. He wouldn't be able to go in without asking for punishment.
Instead, he returned to his quarters that he was assigned to during his parent's late night shifts. Upon returning, just the sight of the room made this depressing feeling that welled inside of him even worse than before. Dull, grey walls, a shadows emanating in the far corners to where the light couldn't reach.
Again, he was thankful for even having a loving, caring family but everything at the moment seemed so quiet, perhaps a little too quiet…
With turning on the lights that brightened his bed room quite a bit, he sat down at the large desk that was covered by colouring pencils and blank white sheets of paper, with the exception of one sheet of a drawing he began but never finished. The drawing resembled a large, mechanical robot with bright blue eyes, with a sword for a hand and blaster guns on it's shoulders.
Essentially, Rex was creative at best…
With a sigh, he picked up a red pencil and continued the drawing. Soon enough though, his vision began to slowly go blurry. He carefully wiped his eyes, to find a wet, clear substance smeared all over his hands.
Tears, he thought out loud, sniffling a little to make sure that none of his snot would run out of his nose. He hasn't cried ever since he was a child, but then again for the last few days, he felt a little, unwanted, lonely as per say. Unlike many kids who would be getting up to proper trouble that would usually end up with the police involved, he was eager to learn, which frustrated him more from the fact that his parents wouldn't let him at least witness anything from the far reaches of the room.
Either way, those tears and sniffling was soon to be discovered by someone else who would soon help…
Caesar was the one in charge of taking care of Rex for the day, as agreed by him and his parents. After all, despite just being a young adult, his intelligence was beyond anything anyone his age had, therefore, making him another strong candidate to participate in the Nanite Research Project.
"Hermano, are you o-" Before he could finish, he looked inside the room to notice the little boy just barely keeping himself together.
Rex's body was trembling slightly, the sound of sniffling evident as well as a set of whimpers.
"Hey little brother, what's the matter? Why the water works?" Caesar asked comfortably, kneeling down to look eye to eye with his younger sibling.
"I-I'm not crying!" Rex protested in a panicked stutter, clearing his eyes once again. If he was caught crying, especially by his brother, he would never hear the end of it.
"...I'm just sweating from my eyes..." He then mumbled, his stern gaze looking elsewhere but at him. The denial was enough to make the older sibling smile. He found it cute that Rex was trying to act older than what he was, especially with trying to come up with ridiculous excuses that no one would take a second thought in believing.
But Caesar was the type to just play along…
"Alright Rex, what's the matter that you are 'sweating from your eyes'?" He asked, to which an eight year old Rex seemed less hesitant in answering.
"I don't understand why I can't go into the lab and watch you, mom and dad work… I'm old enough to handle it. I've always done what I'm told when I am allowed in but it just feels like they are trying to hide something… I don't want to be treated like a kid any more..."
Caesar could understand how he felt. When he was still an only child around Rex's age, he couldn't fit in with the others as well as he hoped. It was always the case that everyone would copy his homework otherwise, considering how he was the 'over-achiever'. Then again, it never really bothered him, especially when he had two loving parents in his life, and now a little brother that he would look out for.
"I know it may seem that way, but we are on the verge of a very important discovery… If anything was to go wrong, we wouldn't want you in the middle of it all. Besides, you don't need that project to discover science. There's science all around us! Look..."
With straightening back up onto his feet, he looked around the room to notice a slightly wrecked soccer ball laid in the corner, collecting dust. Those games that Rex and his friends played back in Mexico definitely brought back memories. The laughter, the happy grins on the kids' faces when they scored. He would never forget any of that.
But in the meantime...
Caesar walked over and picked the ball up in his hands, turning to Rex who looked at him, intrigued and confused at the same time. It was until he raised the ball in front of him for the demonstration, dropping it so that it bounced off the ground with a few subtle thuds that echoed across the walls. It was then that Rex knew precisely what the demonstration was about.
"See, gravity..."
That seemed to do the trick…
The bright glint returned in the young one's brown eyes, his motivation to explore returning once again. For a kid, especially at his age, it was mind blowing, as if he had been given the secret to the universe itself. Although little did he know that it was just common sense.
"Have fun… Don't get into too much trouble, alright?" Caesar said, giving the black and white ball to Rex, who was grinning brightly.
"I won't, I promise."
Caesar smiled at him, ruffling his dark black hair a little before removing himself from the bedroom, leaving the young scientist to his doing. After all, how much trouble could he actually get into with just a harmless ball and dropping it? He was soon to find out…
For the majority of the day, he had been running around the building, dropping the ball from different heights within reason whilst yelling the world 'Gravity!'. Big or small, it didn't really matter. It kept him preoccupied after all. In fact, he had completely forgotten about the Nanite Project. He was having too much fun for the project to ruin his happiness.
But as everyone knows, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
And that person who would soon to find himself hurt was none other than Van Kleiss…
He wouldn't have been more than in his thirties, with slick back black hair and a neat attire. Although he was rather trusted by his work mates who also were working with nanites, Rex didn't like him one bit or more so, he didn't trust him.
It was just the look in his eyes, that queer way that he would sneer. It seemed rather… evil…
Either way, he had always been told to behave around others, especially his superiors. But what would happen if it was an accident instead?
With a rebellious yet mischief grin plastered on his face, he peered over the barrier, aiming the ball so that it would strike the man directly on the head.
He aimed, holding the ball there, awaiting for the right moment…
No… That wasn't right… If he dropped the ball then, then he would be no better than what he believed the older man to be.
He was about to pull back from the railing when his hands became sweaty, the ball slipping from his grip at the last minute.
Oh no…
The ball luckily missed the man below, alerting him to someone's presence up on the other floor. He glanced up.
No one…
Whoever it was, either ran away or the ball escaped the corridor and launched over the barrier. Either way, it was going to be something that he was going to remain cautious about although within just one step, he wasn't cautious enough yet…
He took a step forward, the heel of his foot touching the surface of the ball. But even that was enough for the ball to move on its own, sending the grown man flying into the air. The shock had overcame him before he could even make a noise resembling a scream or yelling. Van Kleiss crashed onto the ground, hitting his head upon the hard surface which therefore, knocked him unconscious for the time being.
He soon enough woke up in the infirmary, his head throbbing erratically so much that he couldn't get a single thought through about what happened without the irritating pain taking over at the back of his head. Thick strands of his hair dropped over his eyes, his teeth grinding together until he came back to reality.
The man soon noticed four people standing beside the bed, all varying in height but physically had similar attributes such as skin and hair color.
"The Salazar family… To what do I owe this… delightful visit?" He asked, his voice perked up and polite as usual although his body was stiff, making it a challenge to sit upright from a laid back position.
Rafael and Violetta stared down at their youngest child, who was holding the football in his hands. Rex stepped forward.
"Sorry for causing the accident sir… The ball just slipped out of my hands..."
Van Kleiss simply smiled at the young boy, although Rex could clearly tell just by the glint in his eyes that he was mad, that he had found his perpetrator. If he could, he was pretty sure that he would wrangle him by the neck. However, Rex wasn't alone so he was safe…
He placed his hand on Rex's hair, rubbing it quite roughly so that it hurt a little but judging by his parents lack of movement, the man must have had a friendly expression on his face.
"Oh, no matter young one. Accidents happen. I'm sure you will learn this for the next time you are playing..." He stated in what seemed to be a forgiving tone but Rex would never forget the look that he was given, the look of murder and hatred.
In his parent's eyes, it seemed to be that everything was going to be okay. After all, Van Kleiss didn't get too badly injured. Perhaps a concussion and a few scrapes and bruises, though nothing major. It was only a matter of apologizing to which Rex did.
"Come, let's go and let him get some rest..." The father said with a warm expression.
Everyone had already left but Rex. He got to the door and turned his head to see what the man was doing. Frankly, it was enough to send him running out of the room.
He turned around to take a glance, and what he saw instead of a fake smile was a darkened expression, a frown and furrowed eyes to the young boy.
The moment that Rex saw this, he bolted out of the room without a second to spare. He knew he made him mad. All he hoped was that he would never cross paths with him again. Although the good news was that his parents wanted to supervise him more frequently, so that meant he could witness the research stages of the Nanite Project with his own eyes.
Despite making a new enemy, it was a good day for the eight year old...
Thank you for reading folks! ^-^ Please review of what you think of it. I would love to hear from you guys.