Where were we? Ah, right. Vesuvius, My Father, my Home. Things continued as they did for a long time after that. I would sit in my room in my free time, playing the games that my father helped create. I would leave my room to go out with my mother at times, but more times than not, it was to work with my tutor. I liked my life, until secrets began.
"It was all just an illusion. Time after time, he lost everything, but he continued in order to support his allies. When he found out in the end, that every single loss, every single fight that he dealt with was all just an illusion, brought on by a coma, he took his own life." Vesuvius nodded thoughtfully. He had assigned her to read an old book that might challenge her, but it appeared that Magenta's intelligence had increased tenfold since the time he had started tutoring her. It had only been two years, but she was already more intelligent than most grown adults.
"Yes. You know, they say that this was a true story. The man came out his coma and wrote this book before taking his own life." The small girl laughed.
"Funny. Only a myth." The man nodded happily. She easily looked through every test he put in front of her. Vesuvius started looking through his papers to see what they could work on next, but stopped when the girl spoke.
"Vesuvius, when do you think people will come together for a single cause again?" He thought for a moment before answering her.
"I'd like to think that the next time complete unison will be acquired with peace among the kingdoms through a treaty." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, well what do you actually think?" He raised his eyebrows.
"What?" She put a hand out expectantly.
"You said that you'd like to think that, but that wasn't what you actually think. What do you actually think will happen?" Vesuvius smiled.
"I should've known you wouldn't let me get away with that." She laughed and punched his arm playfully.
"Just tell me!" He laughed, but the glee quickly disappeared as he answered.
"I believe that the world will finally come together through hardship and war. People will fight and die, and then come together to resolve their problems in order to evolve as a people." The girl nodded thoughtfully. She thought it was an acceptable answer. "When do you think peace will come among us?"
"I don't think peace will ever arrive totally. There will always be tensions between people that cause the most paranoid to fire first. I mean, we have the discrimination of people of other Kingdoms, of Faunus and Human, of Combat Worthy and Not." The man's eyebrows slipped lower once more in confusion.
"If you don't think peace will happen, then why did you ask when it would come?" She smiled at him.
"Because I find it funny that people think that peace and love is inevitable." She then glanced at the clock in the corner of the scroll she had on her desk. "I believe that's the end of our time." Vesuvius checked the time as well before nodding. He knew that if he agrued with her motives, then he would only be helping her feel more confident in the thoughts. The two of them walked out together, chatting about the work that had been completed and what they could work on in the future. They were stopped when Maggie's mother saw them leaving.
"Vesuvius, are you leaving already?" The man turned to smile at her as she walked over to them.
"Ah, Mrs. Everdale. Yes, the lesson for today ended and I was about to head back to my flat."
"Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with us tonight? Ms. Daniels made much too much lobster for the two of us, and there's no point in letting it go bad." Vesuvius nodded without hesitation.
"I'd love to stay. Thank you." Maggie glanced between the two of them before speaking.
"When are we eating?" Her mother glanced down at her watch.
"In just a few minutes. I was about to call you to eat." The girl nodded before brushing past her mother. The woman put a hand on her head as she past, a small form of affection that Maggie had gotten used to over the years. Her and Vesuvius walked together to follow the girl to the dining room.
"How are you doing, Mrs. Everdale?" She shook her head with a laugh.
"Please, Vesuvius, we've known each other for two years. Call me Emily." He nodded silently. "And I'm doing fine. The house feels rather empty at times with Maggie up in her room, but all around fine."
"Yes, isn't John still in Atlas?" She nodded with a wave of her hand.
"Two months now. Apparently he's been working on getting a game sponsored with some important producers. How've you been?"
"I've been doing well. I finished that book you suggested just yesterday." She smiled at that.
"The Huntsman's Dilemma?" He nodded.
"I found it to be a very good representation of how the Great War happened. I was thinking about having Maggie read it next week." She laughed with a smile.
"No need. She's been through it, like every other book in this house." He laughed as they turned into the dining room. The food was being placed on the table as they sat down. Maggie was waiting politely as she flicked things back and forth on her tablet. Overall, the dinner went well. The three attendees spoke comfortably with each other, talking about Maggie's studies and current events. Regularly, Maggie would find the two adults talking with each other more often than with her, but she didn't mind. Maggie ended up finishing up her food first, due to this, and asked politely to be excused to her room.
"Okay, Maggie. Don't forget, no later than 9." Maggie nodded before leaving them in the dining room. Vesuvius sat back in his seat.
"Well, that was a fantastic meal, Emily. Thank you for having me." She nodded back at him, sitting forward with her head rested in her hands.
"Of course, Vesuvius. Anytime." He checked the time on a clock above the door.
"Well, I guess it's my time to leave." He started to stand up, but Emily was standing as well, a hand on his arm.
"You don't have to leave yet, do you?" He raised his eyebrows at her as she sulked around the table to him. "You know, with my husband out of the house for work, the house does seem rather empty."
"God, you can't even keep a defensive line!" Maggie mashed buttons on her controller as she held off two armies at once in her game. She was playing a strategy combat game, and was controlling her forces with flawless efficiently.
"It's not my fault! They've got AV units on my side! Cobra's can't do much against Hunters!" Maggie rolled her eyes as she sent down an airstrike against a large force of infantry that was surrounding her ally's vehicles.
"They would if you actually upgraded them! Look, I can finish off the units on my side, but my Flamethrowers are running thin, and I'm low on resources. If you send a couple, then I can take care of these guys, then I can send over some Hawks."
"Got it." She received the resources she needed and pulled together her army, pushing her side back before joining her friend's fight on the other side. When both sides were secured, they pushed forward and destroyed all the enemy bases. The game was won. Maggie heard cheering in her headset from her friend before laughing as well.
"God damn, Electra! You're fucking good at this game!"
"Yeah, I'm good at every game." He laughed as she checked the time. 8:56. She cursed as she turned back to her screen.
"Alright, I gotta go. I've got school tomorrow." Explaining to her friends that she was a rich 8 year old girl in a mansion seemed like too much work. It was easier for her to just act like any other kid.
"Damn, well, see ya." She quickly gave a goodbye before she shut off her console. Maggie stretched quietly before taking off her headset, placing both her controller and the mic on the coffee table between the couch and her table. She stood up to close the blinds before getting into bed for the night. When she glanced out the window, she noticed that Vesuvius' car was still in the driveway.
"What?" She looked at it for a minute before leaving her room. She wanted to know why Vesuvius hadn't left yet. She walked past the elevator, going for the stairs instead. Better to take the stairs, than explain why she was walking around the house past her bedtime. She went down to the bottom floor to return to the dining room. When she peeked inside, she saw her tutor's briefcase sitting next to where he was sitting during dinner. After a bit more searching downstairs, and not finding him, she returned to the stairs. She walked up them slowly, hoping not to wake up her mother, whom she couldn't find either. When she got to the second floor platform, her foot caught the top step, causing her to stumble to the ground. She landed on her arm, causing a bit of pain to shoot through it. She rubbed it quietly in pain on the ground before she heard something.
She heard a steady rattling of something in the house nearby. She bit her lip in confusion. Nobody was awake in the house right now, so what was the noise? She quietly stood up and started walking down the corridor, hoping to find the source of the noise. As she walked, she kept her ear against the right wall, because that was when she could hear it best. She continued walking until she could hear the rattling clearly. The sound appeared to be coming from her parent's room. Maggie wondered what her mother was doing before she heard a loud screech. Maggie's eyes widened as she noticed her mother's voice. Was she being hurt? Was somebody in there attacking her mom? Maggie's mind was in a blur as she pushed open the door quickly, rushing in to see what was happening. The rattling quickly stopped as she opened the door, but it also brought on a loud crash and several yells. Maggie surveyed the room until she found her mother in her bed flailing back to cover herself under the blankets. There was somebody else trying to cover themself up as well. Maggie quickly covered her eyes as she realized that they were both naked. Then, she processed the only person that could be naked with her mother.
"Dad? Why didn't you tell me you were home, Dad?" Silence. Then a few quiet murmurs before Maggie finally opened her eyes again. She then saw, in bed with her mother, was Vesuvius. He was staring at her in silent fear as her mother murmured to him to hide. Her mother noticed that she had saw them a second later, quickly grabbing a blanket to cover herself, so she could walk to her daughter.
"Maggie, please go back to your room." She didn't listen, though. Maggie was deep in her thoughts, staring at the man that had just been with her mother. She didn't need to be a genius to realize what was happening, or maybe she did, she honestly didn't know or care. All she knew at that moment, was that it was wrong. She stared at the man as her mother came closer, then at once, she turned to her mother and put out a hand.
"No." Her mother closed her mouth and stopped.
"Maggie, please, please, please go back to your room." Maggie glared at her mother.
"And leave you alone with him! No." She pointed at Vesuvius. "Get out of this house. Now."
"Maggie, stop this and leave at once!" Her mother was getting fed up with her, but she didn't care.
"How about you shut the hell up, Mom!" She yelled at her mother. "And you! Get the fuck out now! I never want to see you in this house ever again!" Her mother was surprised by her aggressive behavior, but Vesuvius merely nodded, reaching down beside the bed to grab his pants. Maggie turned around in disgust to let him get up and put on his clothes. When he had his clothes on, he stood in front of Maggie with a sad look on his face.
"I hope we can work past this one day, Maggie." She snarled in his face.
"What are you still going here?" He sighed in regret before past her to the door. Shen turned to her petrified mother. There was a solid minute before Maggie finally spoke.
"I will be informing Dad of this as soon as I can. What happens afterward is up to him." Her mother burst forward quickly, falling on her knees to her daughter.
"Please don't tell him, Maggie. I made a mistake, that is all! Please!" Maggie looked at her mother in disgust. Begging her eight year old daughter to keep a marriage straining secret for her? Pathetic. Maggie merely turned and left the room. She could hear her mother crying quietly behind her, but she didn't turn around. She closed the door behind her and headed for the stairs. By the time she was entering her room, the tears were already streaming down her face.
"Hi, Daddy." Maggie had brought up the call with her father on the large television screen in her room. His face was looking at her from a laptop on the other side. He smiled at her, even though he looked exhausted from work.
"Hey, Darling. How's it been in Mistral? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"" She laughed and smiled like nothing was wrong.
"Things have been little hectic. With Tutoring and all piling up, I've had my hands a little full." She leaned over to pick up the case of the game she was playing the night before up. "Been playing this game you sent lately." He smiled at that. He gave her the new games his company produced when he got them regularly, and since she was usually in the beta for the games anyway, she had gotten pretty good at them.
"Really? How is it? Any kinks that need to be smoothed over?" She shook her head.
"Nah, all good. I kick ass at it."
"Language." She smiled at him.
"I kick butt at it." He smiled with a nod.
"Better. How's Mom been? Why didn't she join you to call?" Maggie frowned at that.
"Actually, that's what I wanted to call you about." He raised his eyebrows innocently. He had no idea anything like this would ever happen. Maggie knit her hands together as she looked down. "Mom…" A million thoughts raced through her head. What was she supposed to say? She was sleeping with my tutor? She was just sleeping with another man? Or should I just get rid of Vesuvius? She finally looked up when her father spoke.
"Is something wrong? You can tell me anything, Maggie." She looked up at his trustful face. She loved him so much.
"Mom wanted to tell me that she loved you. She couldn't make it for the call for some book club thing." He nodded happily.
"Oh, well tell her I love her, too!" She smiled at him grimly.
"I will."
Of course, My father found out when he returned. Vesuvius told my father what happened when he returned, and my mother said nothing. Later, he ended up getting a divorce with her. My mother kept her half of our belongings, and my father got the other half. The only problem was that I couldn't be cut in half. There was a lot of fighting in court, neither wanting me to be in the other's hands. In the end, my father ended up winning out. My mom moved out, and I rarely saw her again. Not that I was angry, though. I resented her for what she did. After that one fateful night I lost two of the three people that meant the most to me in the world. It was later that I lost the last.