His expression was difficult to read, especially since he kept his gaze anywhere but her.

Slender hands desperately gripped onto purple cloth, but she couldn't stop him.

"Please, Forte! I need you here! I can't do this by myself!"

A muscular arm shoved Bansuri back. The force itself was weak, but the fact that he had even done it was enough to stun Bansuri and prevent her from stopping her fall.

Forte was still for a moment, struggling not to tremble as he flexed his talons. He then stormed towards the door, almost ripping it off of its hinges as he shoved it open. A loud bang echoed through the house as the dark skinned namekian slammed the door behind him, and left.

Bansuri sat on the floor where she had fallen, her vision blurred with tears that had very quickly soaked her small face. How could he? She thought he loved her. He always said he did. The way he touched her, caressed her smaller figure and held her close to his heart as if she were his most prized possession made her think he did. She was so sure...

"You liar," Bansuri was hardly aware that she had said it. Her dull claws scraped against the floor as her breath picked up. Her chest felt tight and her stomach hot.

"You liar," she said it louder, her jaws clenched and teeth grinding.

"YOU FUCKING LIAR!"

The fragile namekian had stood up and slammed herself into the door within that moment. Something in her shoulder popped, but she didn't seem no notice or care as she did it again.

And again.

And again.

"LIAR LIAR LIAR!" Bansuri's face was twisted by rage as she began to scream until she grew too tired to even stand.

Her child had woken up some time ago, and his cries could be heard from his room.

Slowly, Bansuri pulled herself back onto her feet, her right arm limp and useless. She might have to replace it later. She had other things to worry about now.

...

Helix's ears perked when he sensed a familiar energy connect with him. He brightened, recognizing Bansuri. Yet something was wrong.

"Bansuri? Are you alright?"

"Hel-x, ca- you come -ver? Wi- Cello?" the connection was fading, meaning that Bansuri was either unfocused, or losing consciousness, none of which seemed good.

"Alright, I'll be there as fast as I can," the connection was cut and the large namekian quickly stood up from his seat, "Cello! We need to visit Forte's place now!"

Another namekian, quite the opposite from his big brother and father as he was small and slender, poked his head out from his room, "now, Father?"

"Yes now!" Helix was quickly pulling a shirt over his head, "something's wrong, and Bansuri requires our assistance."

Cello frowned and quickly went back into his room to retrieve his shoes. He was curious as to why Bansuri would need help. Did she not have his older brother to care for her? What could've happened that needed the rest of Forte's family there?

A large stone settled in Cello's stomach. Something must be terribly wrong.

...

Helix and Cello found Bansuri lying unconscious on the floor of the living room, her right shoulder bleeding heavily. It seemed that she was trying to rip it off but passed out during the process.

Bass, Ban and Forte's child, was standing in the hallway that lead to the bedrooms. He was a mess; his face red and puffy from tears, and unable to form any words as sobs wracked through his tiny body.

"Bass, what happened? Where's Forte?" Cello quickly made his way next to his nephew, who immediately attached himself onto his shirt. He was too busy crying to respond.

Helix, looking grim, knelt next to Bansuri's limp form. He placed a hand on her shoulder, healing her beaten arm. She did not wake once she was healed, but she looked as if she needed rest anyway.

Helix lifted Bansuri up in his arms and gently placed her on the couch, "Forte isn't here."

"What do you think happened?" Cello was rubbing Bass's back as his cries started to quiet, "did someone attack?"

"No. If there was an attack then there would have been some damage done to the property, and besides that puddle of Ban's blood, this place is spotless!"

His father had a point. Cello bit his lip. He knew his brother. He wouldn't just leave, especially if his beloved Bansuri was injured. Plus, he has been very defensive after Bansuri and Bass had been attacked by a feline alien named Leo a few weeks back.

"Papa left," Bass finally uttered, startling his uncle and grandfather.

"I... I'm sorry, what?" Helix got onto one knee, his long ears perked.

"Papa is gone! He left, and Mama hurt herself!" Bass's tears were returning, "he-Papa abandoned us!"

The room went silent, save for a few sniffles from the albino child.

"I... Wh-why would he do that?" Cello stepped back from Bass to look him in the eye, "are you sure he... abandoned you?"

Bass nodded, "yes, because Mama laid an egg."

"An egg? Is that not good news?" Cello asked and smiled. But for some reason he was starting to feel sick.

"It wasn't his egg," Cello's face paled, "it belongs to that ren-mau that hurt me an' mama, an' that's why Papa left!"

Cello swallowed and looked up at his father. Helix seemed to be in deep thought, probably wondering how that was physically possible with the ren-mau being a mammal and not a gastropod like Ban. He eventually let out a sigh and pulled his grandson into his arms.

"Don't worry, Bass. Grandpa and Uncle are going to take care of you and your Mama."

...

Forte found himself pacing again. He had been trying to contact Bansuri for hours now, but he couldn't seem to get a connection. He was still in reach too.

Dammit, something must be wrong. Or Ban could just be angry at him and is shutting him out for now. That made more sense.

'But will she take me back after all of this?' no, of course she would! With open arms! She would understand why he left. He had to! Leo absolutely had to pay for what he had done to his family!

With a shake of his head, Forte turned back to the controls of his small ship.

Everything will be just fine.

...

"So let me get this straight. After Leo had... attacked you, you spat up this egg that carries his blood, and when Forte found out, he just left?"

Bansuri nodded, her eyes fixed on the small, round egg in her arms. Helix pinched the bridge of his nose, "I can't believe this. The Forte I knew and raised wouldn't leave just because the person he loved unwillingly had someone else's child. This is still very difficult to take in."

"I understand. I'm having a difficult time believing it as well," Bansuri muttered. She had been spending most of the hours sleeping after Helix and Cello had arrived, yet she looked and felt completely drained. The little egg in her grasp was normally very light and easy to carry, but recently it seemed as heavy as a mountain, so Helix said that he would keep an eye on it for her while she slept, and Cello chose to take care of Bass.

One of Helix's big hands took hold of hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. Bansuri looked up at the father of the one who left her and gave a weak smile, "thank you."

...

A large cat like grin spread across Leo's face, his golden eyes gleaming from under his tabby striped hair, "my, you are a persistent old fuck! Yet, you came all this way for nothing. Even if you do kill me (and I doubt you can), what will you accomplish? Well, besides killing my boss's favorite, the damage has already been done."

Forte gave no reply, his lips pulled back into a snarl. This only seemed to amuse the young ren-mau even further.

"Well, I shall entertain you with a little fight since to did spend a lot of time looking for me. I've been pretty bored and pissed off! And you won't be escaping with your life, Forte!" Leo's little grin was replaced by the face of a madman as he lunged at a surprised Forte, cackling and tearing into his abdomen.

...

"Waaaa!"

"Mama, Harp is crying again!" Bass scooped his little sister up into his arms and wobbled up to his mother. Bansuri smiled and took the hybrid baby from the child's arms.

"Thank you, baby. Now why don't you go on and play with your grandpa and uncle, ok?" Bass nodded and ran outside, where Helix and Cello were working in the garden. Ban watched her firstborn as he left before turning to comfort her newest little bundle of joy.

Harp looked more namekian than ren-mau, only having some fuzzy blue green hair on her head and back of her ears, and a little tail that was always curled at her side. She even had blue eyes instead of yellow or black, and Bansuri was still trying to figure out why.

They looked very much like... Forte's. Bansuri frowned. No. Harp's eyes are much prettier than that bastard's.

Harp had stopped crying, now gumming on her mother's clothes and letting out a soft purr, another ren-mau trait she got from Leo.

Bansuri sighed and sat back in her chair. Months had passed since Forte's leave, and she was only just managing. She still had a hard time sleeping, even when she was tired. Memories were constantly resurfacing, so she was always trying to keep herself accipies with chores and her children, so ended up stiff and sore by the time thehouse was cleaned and the kids were in bed.

There were often times she glared at her reflection in the mirror and scolded herself for any little thoughts involving Forte. She didn't need him, and she was better off without such a clingy idiot!

Harp yawned, pulling Bansuri from her thoughts. Looking down at her baby, she smiled and ran a hand through her fuzzy hair. She needed to stop thinking about Forte. She had better things to worry about now.

...

Leo let out a purr of satisfaction as Forte's body crunched against the rocky ground and remained motionless. His rough breathing could be easily heard, even from his damaged ear.

"Is that it?" the feline alien wiped red blood away from his face and started at his hand with growing anger, "although...ripping my ear apart was a lucky shot that cost your arm in return."

Forte coughed up a mouthful of broken teeth and blood as he pushed himself up with one arm. His damaged arm hung limp and useless at the elbow, his forearm only hanging onto him by a few fleshy strands, "dammit…"

"Quit whining," Leo walked over to the namekian and pressed his padded foot down on the back of his head, "I'll end you soon enough. Toketsu must be mad enough as it is."

Forte let out a choked cry as he felt the pressure against his head strengthen. Shit, shit, shit! He couldn't die here!

He could hear the younger warrior darkly chuckling as he sank his white claws into green skin. Soon he'd crack Forte's skull open and kill him.

"AAAIII!" Leo hissed and leapt back as Forte managed to twist his head and snap at his soft pads, "son of a bitch!"

The namekian grunted as he pushed himself up onto unsteady legs and shot a weak blast at Leo's legs, knocking him over.

The young ren-mau rolled off to the side as Forte leapt at him, but he stretched his arm to grab him by the back of the neck.

A squeal escaped Leo as he involuntarily curled up as the green hand dragged him back to the namekian. Damn his stupid species even stupider weakness! And damn the stupid doctors for being too stupid to be able to remove it!

But cursing wouldn't help now.

With his arm gone and head too damaged to regenerate at the moment, Forte resorted to his canines as he sank them deep into Leo's throat.

Once the young fighter's shrieks quickly died down into choked gurgles, Forte released him, only to smash his claws into Leo's chest before he could understand what was happening.

Forte constantly hammered his black talons into Leo until his arm started hurting. By then, he was long dead.

Exhausted, he fell onto his back and closed his eyes to rest. He hadn't rested properly in a long time, too focused on hunting down Leo. But now that he was finally dead, he felt no sense of victory. As Leo already said, the damage had already been done, and there was no way of undoing it.

...

"Well, we're going home for now. Call if you need anything," Helix gave Bansuri's shoulder a pat. She smiled and nodded, "yes, thank you very much for coming."

Forte's brother and father waved goodbye and went back to their home, while Bansuri went back inside of hers. Harp was asleep in her crib, which was slowly being rocked by Bass. He liked watching over his sister.

Bansuri placed a hand on Bass's head, "time to go to bed, Bass."

"I wanna stay with Harp a little more," the albino child pouted.

"Come now, she sleeps in your room. Grandpa Helix even moved your bed right next to her crib."

"Ok, fine, I'm going to bed," Bass stuck his tongue out and jumped onto his bed, quickly pulling the covers around himself and snored.

Bansuri rolled her eyes, smiling in amusement. She walked out of Bass and Harp's room, quietly closing the door behind her. She knew Bass would fall asleep soon.

Bansuri sat down in the living room, enjoying the rays of sunlight from the windows. A shadow flickered over her face, but she assumed it was some bird flying over.

Until she felt a familiar energy, and her stomach dropped. No way. It couldn't be...

Ban stood up as the door handle trembled and turned.

How dare he...

"H-hello?" a familiar voice filled her ears as the door slowly opened. Rage twisted her features as she walked up to Forte, who brightened when he first spotted her.

Smack!

Forte stared at Bansuri with wide eyes. To say the least, he was very stunned from the gesture.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing here, Forte?" Ban spat his name out like poison. The warrior stepped back, taking this in.

"I... What?" he didn't understand. Why was she angry at him? What did he do?

Bansuri snarled, snatching Forte's antenna and yanking on them. He let out a loud yelp and instinctively tried to pull his head back. That only caused Ban to tighten her grip.

"Ow, stop that!"

"No! How dare you show your face after what you did!" Bansuri pulled Forte's face down to hers.

"What did I do?" Forte flinched as he received another slap.

"Are you really that dense?" Bansuri hissed, giving Forte's antenna another tug, "you abandoned us when we needed you the most! When I needed you the most!"

She closed her eyes tightly as tears blurred her vision. She hated looking at his face, hated the smell of him, hated that she was crying in front of him.

And yet she knew that she would accept his touch if he held her again. She would have returned his embrace and buried her face into his warm chest as he told her everything would be okay again.

But he made no move towards her. He just stared at her like a stupid deer caught in the headlights, and did absolutely nothing. How pathetic.

"Get out," Forte blinked, his ears perking as if he wasn't sure he heard it.

"What?"

"Get out!" Bansuri snapped, letting go of his antenna and pushing him back out the door, "get out of here! Don't ever show your face to me again!"

Forte stopped breathing. He tried to say something, but nothing came out. He flinched as Bansuri spat on him, and slammed the door shut.

He stood there on trembling knees as he took this in.

"No… no, no, no," Forte shook his head as his breath picked up. He heaved as he started to feel sick, "nooo, no no!"

What did he do?

...

He didn't leave. Yes, he was out of sight, but Bansuri wasn't blind. She could tell when he was at the windows, either watching the children or her while they slept, when they were reading or playing out in the living room. She kept the kids inside, knowing that she was doing so only to hurt him.

Bass seemed to know what was going on. He was a clever boy after all, and his father wasn't trying to hide his energy, the annoying prick. Bansuri could tell that her child was struggling not to run outside to his papa, and though she didn't want to admit it, she couldn't help but feel the same, and watching her eldest child mope about all day hurt her.

She sent the children off to bed early this time. She stayed by their bedroom door, making sure they were sound asleep before she went outside to meet him.

He was standing outside, looking tired and dirty from staying out in the weather. He even had a few traces from a fight, now that she took a good look at him. It was almost as if he knew she was going outside to see him.

"Bansuri," Forte greeted, trying to keep his voice from trembling. Bansuri frowned.

"I thought I told you to leave," she hissed.

"I know," Forte responded, his bright blue eyes were dull, yet they still stood out from the rest of his dark face.

"Then why are you still here?"

"Because," Forte shifted, his head lowering, "because I... I can't."

Bansuri placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes, "oh? And what is so difficult about leaving us now? You seemed to have an easy time doing so a few months ago!"

Forte flinched, "I know, and I'm sorry. I regret leaving you and Bass, but... It's difficult to explain-"

"What is so difficult about it?" Ban interrupted, "you walked right out the door without a word after you found out the egg wasn't yours!"

"I'm sorry but I couldn't stand it!" Forte snapped, startling Bansuri, "how could I take care of you when I only had one thing on my mind? it would've been miserable for all of us, including myself! I could not allow the bastard who hurt you and Bass to continue on living. It was impossible."

Bansuri was silent and stared at Forte with wide eyes. She wasn't expecting this. Forte sighed, a hand over his face.

"I'm fine that the egg is not related to me. I don't care about that," he continued, "even if the child looks nothing like me or you, I will love him like I love you and Bass, no issues there, but…"

"But," Bansuri shook, struggling to regain her composure, "you hurt us so much more than Leo did, and he was only here for a moment. Taking you back... will be difficult."

Forte bit his lip, "I realize that now. I regret everything I did to hurt you. But... can I at least see the child?"

There was a long pause from Bansuri before she nodded and motioned him to follow her. Quietly, the two namekians walked into the children's bedroom. Bansuri stood next to the crib, watching Forte stand at the doorway. He was trembling, terrified. Soon Bansuri sighed and just picked the sleeping baby up and walked to him.

Forte took a step back, but slowly his eyes traveled down to the little bundle in Bansuri's arms. He moved closer to peer into the blankets, and his eyes went wide.

"Her name is Harp," Ban muttered as she shifted her hold on the baby, allowing Forte to get a better view of her.

"She has your face," Forte subconsciously whispered as he trailed a finger over Harp's cheek. One of her ears twitched and she slowly looked up at Forte with large blue eyes, and once their eyes met, he could not stop large tears from falling down his face.

Bansuri calmly watched as Forte hunched over, trying to hold back whimpers as he rubbed at his eyes. Harp yawned and squirmed a bit, unhappy that she was not in her comfortable crib and curious about this strange new person in front of her.

Bansuri turned to place Harp back into her crib, and stiffened when she felt Forte lean against her back.

"I'm so sorry for being such a fool," he muttered behind his hands, "a horrible, selfish fool."

Bansuri swallowed a growing lump in her throat as she briefly glanced back at the dark green namekian, "no, you're just an idiot."

A weak chuckle filled her ears, causing her to flinch. His laughter used to be a pleasant sound, but this was different. It was a sad, choked sound, with no humor behind it like she was used to.

Bansuri turned around to face him. His face had changed drastically. It was so dark and drained, almost difficult to recognize. She had a feeling her own face was the same.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I know apologies won't let you have me again, and that's my fault. Just know that I still love you and the children so much."

Forte rested his forehead against Bansuri's, his antennae twitching against hers.

She was so tempted to lean back into him, yet she couldn't. A part of her told her it was wrong and she needed to remain strong. She mustn't allow herself to look weak in front of him anymore.

"I'll visit. For Bass's sake," Forte pulled away as he stood up straight, "at least…if you allow it."

Bansuri frowned. This was incredibly difficult to say.

"No. Don't you dare visit us," Forte's ears drooped as he sagged.

"Alright. I understand-?!"

But Bansuri grabbed his hands and pressed her cheek against his chest, "stay here. Stay with us, please."

She could hear his heart beating rapidly and his arms immediately wrapped round her in a warm hug. Forte choked out a sob as he buried his face into Ban's neck, nodding.

"Yes, yes of course!" he smiled and started laughing, "I'll never leave you again, I promise!"

Bansuri only pressed her face into his shoulder, choking out a sob into it as her fingers desperately entangled themselves in his shirt.

Bass turned in his bed and sat up, woken up by the sound of laughter and crying. Before he even looked at the source of the sounds, he immediately recognized his father's energy, and blindly bolted into his parents, almost shrieking.

"Papa!" Bass sobbed and he grappled onto Forte's leg, "you're back, you came home!"

Forte freed one arm from Bansuri to scoop his child into their embrace, "Bass! Oh, I missed you so much, my son!"

"Are you staying?" Bass grabbed Forte's face and stared at him hard, "forever?"

"Forever and ever," Forte grinned and poked Bass's nose. The child squealed and squirmed excitedly in his father's grasp.

"Waaaaa!"

Harp's cry interrupted the reunion, and Bass quickly jumped out of his dad's arms and scurried over to the crib to comfort his little sister.

"Oh, Forte," Ban started walking out of the bedroom, "before anything else, can we have a quick talk out in the living room?"

Forte ducked his head but nodded and followed the smaller namekian out into the next room.

Ban turned on her heel to face him, her hands on her hips.

Forte blinked, "what? Did I do something else?"

"Yes," Bansuri stated, "if you really do love is like you said you did, then why didn't you at least contact us?"

"Oh, that?" Forte scratched at his neck, "I tried to, honest to gods I did! But for some reason just couldn't get a connection, even when I was in reach. I don't know why."

Bansuri frowned, but something in the back of her mind told her it was kind of her fault. No one has really been able to get a good connection with her since Forte had left, now that she thought about it.

"Well, whatever. It's done now," Ban puffed and crossed her arms, "so how was killing Leo?"

"I… didn't enjoy it," Forte admitted, "I've killed before, you know that, and let's be honest, he deserved to die. But I just..."

"I think I get it," Bansuri lightly smacked Forte's forehead to shut him up, an amused grin on her face, "but I'm ever going to forgive you for leaving. Got that?"

"Yeah, I get it," Forte sheepishly smiled and pulled Bansuri up into his arms, resting his head against hers, "but for now, can we just move on?"

"Fine," Bansuri wrapped her arms around Forte's neck, "for now, anyway."