Malcolm sat in the living room of his home, in an armchair some distance away as he watched Roxy tell Tatiana about their father over the top of a novel he had been reading before they came into the room.
Apparently, with all the drama going on around them lately, both she as Sky had felt it necessary to finally tell his baby sister so that she would not find out the wrong way.
However, judging by Tatiana's increasingly sour expression and her tone, which was quite sharp for a nine year old, no way was ever going to be the right way.
His little sister was being rather blunt as little kids usually were and while their mother looked distinctly uncomfortable with the entire situation, she wasn't dodging Tatiana's questions no matter how much she looked as if she wished she was somewhere else.
"Would you have told me anything about him if all of this hadn't happened, Mommy?" she raised an eyebrow at their mother, who looked rather abashed to be (justifiably) chastised by a nine year old. "Why would you wait until now?"
"We wanted to be sure that you were ready to know. You are so young. It's just that this..." Roxy seemed to struggle to find the words.
"...forced your hand, Mommy?" Tatiana's expression appeared as sour as a lemon, before she sighed.
"I might be little, but I could handle it, Mommy. I'm old enough to know not to go blabbing about it now. I just... wow. Did my brother know before now?" she asked Roxy.
Roxy glanced at her son, who merely shrugged and went back to his book.
It was a rather fascinating book after all.
He put the book back down and stopped pretending to read it altogether when his mother started talking again after several moments of silence.
This was far more interesting than the book.
Besides, if Mother had wanted him out of the room for this, she would have chased him out, wouldn't she?
"Yes, he did. Sky wrote a letter to be given to him on his birthday and they have spoken on the phone at least once that I know of since Malcolm has known." Roxy answered.
"I... wow. Can I... can I talk to him too?" Tatiana asked, her expression going from sour to hesitant. "...as my Daddy?"
Roxy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Yes. Sky wants to leave it to you to call him whenever you are ready to talk. He's done hiding from you and your brother. We... we both are."
Tatiana nodded. "This... this is all a lot. I can't deal with this right now. I think I'll go outside in the backyard for a bit..."
His little sister got up and left the room.
"That... that went better than I would have thought, Mother." Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "She gets excitable about all sorts of little things but this... she was calm. Calmer than I was when I found out, that's for sure..."
Roxy winced at the memory. "Yes... it did go better than I would have thought. I guess I should be thanking my lucky stars that she didn't accidentally blow something up with her temper..."
"That would be something more up Evanne's or Sophia's streets." Malcolm shrugged.
"Sophia's more likely to blow something up in an experiment gone wrong rather than in a temper, though," Roxy pointed out.
"I suppose," Malcolm acquiesced.
"So..." Roxy cleared her breath. "How do you really feel now? I know that you're still kind of mad at me and rightfully so, but..."
"Mother, it's okay." he stood up and put his book aside. "Well, not... okay, but I have put most of that anger behind me. I mean, you and Sky really do care about Tatiana and I. You proved it when both of you helped rescue Tatiana and I during The Dragon Incident, and when those Anti-Magicals attacked me and the others... I remember the look on your face when you first saw me afterwards. You were so relieved..."
"Of course I was!" Roxy exclaimed. "You're my son! No matter what, I will always love you!"
Malcolm smiled. "We've got a long way to go, Mother, but I think we can work through this."
He held out his arms for a hug and his mother gladly obliged him, hugging him tightly.
"You're a good kid, you know. A good young man. You will be fine eventually, I am sure of it." Roxy smiled up at him once they stepped apart.
"Thanks, Mother," Malcolm smiled back.
"Now if you'll excuse me, some friends and I are going out for dinner this evening for a birthday and I have to get ready. Will you and your sister be okay this evening?" Roxy asked. "You didn't have plans, did you? If you did, I can always take her to your grandparents..."
"No, no. I'm fine. I have plans, but not any that involve leaving the house," Malcolm reassured her. "Besides homework, I promised to introduce Colin to Duncan and Nathan in a video chat today. I lent him the MagiTech converter Sophia got me for my last birthday, so he can use his non-magical computer to connect to the Realm Wide Web for this. Colin volunteered to stay home today and do the household chores while his dad takes Diego to get fitted for a new leg, so he won't actually be here, though. "
"Oh wait. Diego has a fake leg?" Roxy raised an eyebrow. "I never noticed!"
"Yeah. I guess it's because he moves pretty well with it now even without the walker. He lost the real one in an accident a couple years ago in the same accident that he and Colin lost their mom in."
Roxy made a face.
"Yikes. Well... don't let me keep you," she glanced up at the clock. "Or myself for that matter..."
She left the room and Malcolm shook his head.
His life was so much more simple before he knew who his father was...
Was this a classic case of being careful of what you wish for?
Then again, there was also the drama of the anti magicals.
Not to mention the significantly less dramatic, but also problematic issue of choosing where to continue his education after his high school graduation in a few months...
He sighed.
"Forget this. I'm going to try to tackle this Math homework." he started heading towards his room. "If Tatiana isn't back inside by the time I'm done, I may just have to join her to cool off..."
Malcolm went out into the backyard, looking for his little sister and found her up in the lower branches of one of the trees there.
Standing under it with his hands on his hips, he looked up into the tree, eyebrow raised.
"Tatiana, what are you still doing up there?" he called up. "It's been ages!"
"Thinking!" she called back down to him.
"Do you plan on coming down any time soon?" he asked.
"Nope!"
"Fine then. I guess I'll have to come up there with you, won't I?"
Without waiting for an answer from her, he began climbing and was in the tree branch next to hers in no time, reclining against the trunk of the tree, just as his sister was.
"Hi," he grinned at her.
Tatiana giggled. "You're so silly sometimes!"
"That's my job. Being the awesome older brother!" Malcolm exclaimed. "You've been out here for quite a while, so I felt like I had to come look for you. Are you okay?"
Tatiana giggled a bit more, but then sighed.
"How did you feel when you found out about... Daddy?" Tatiana's expression was as if the word felt sour on her tongue. "My goodness, it feels weird referring to Sky as that..."
"I know, right?" Malcolm agreed. "Still... I felt so... I felt a bit stupid for not seeing it, honestly. I couldn't have really known, though. Hell, you look more like him than I do, but both of us we have the same..."
"...eyes." he and his sister spoke in unison.
"The same blue eyes," he sighed. "I was beyond pissed off at Mother. You do know the implications of our parentage, don't you?"
"I... I think so," Tatiana looked unsure. "You're only supposed to be with one person when you're married right? And Sky was married to Bloom when both of us were born..." a newfound expression of horror formed on her face.
"It's just hitting you, isn't it?" Malcolm asked knowingly.
"Yeah... it's just... so much!" Tatiana looked ready to cry tears of frustration. "Everyone else I know has normal families. Royals, non royals, magicals, non magicals... even if their parents are divorced or dead... it wasn't like this for them!"
Malcolm remained silent.
"What will happen if anyone finds out? I mean... poor Bloom! Do you think she knows about us? And what about Kendra? What will she think? Her parents might not want her to be friends with us anymore!" she started to cry at the thought of losing one of her best friends. "What about Duncan and Evanne? Their grandparents are really hard-line traditional and I know that Riven and Aisha would stand up to them, but..." Tatiana started to hyperventilate.
"But nothing, Tatiana." Malcolm's tone was firm enough that it startled his sister. "None of this is our fault. Duncan, Evanne and Kendra would not drop us over this. We grew up with Duncan and Evanne as if they were our siblings and Kendra is your best friend from all the people you know in Magix. They will stick with us. I'm sure of it. In fact, they'd be outraged on our behalf. The two people who will have to bear it the most are Mother and Sky... and I call him Sky still, since he hasn't deigned to be a father to either of us for years. He doesn't deserve the title of Father just yet, if at all."
Tatiana looked at him, wide-eyed at the venom in his voice.
"It is not our fault, Tatiana. Let that stick in your head. It. Is. Not. Our. Fault."
"I... I guess so. It's... it's just... It's so... I don't even know what to say... Our... our... our parents a- are..." she stammered, but Malcolm cut her off, reaching over to put a hand on her shoulder and smiling at her reassuringly.
"Uh-uh. None of that, Tati. We will get through this together. I promise you that. Now," he moved suddenly, grabbing his sister and holding her in his arms before jumping out of the tree with her, landing smoothly on his feet.
"Let's go look for some food, shall we? I have a video chat planned with Duncan, Nathan and Colin later and Mother's going out, so we should probably look for some food now unless you want to stick to eating Fruity Pebbles for dinner again." he grinned at her. "That cereal is nice and all, but you really want a bit of variety in your diet."
Tatiana looked at him, stunned, even as he put her down.
"Malcolm, you're the coolest brother ever and I love you and all, but you're weird." she finally managed to say.
"So?" Malcolm shrugged.
Tatiana rolled her eyes and sighed.
"How are you so calm about this? In fact, how are you so calm in general?" she looked at him. "It seems like nothing ever upsets you. You're just there!"
"Believe me, Tati. I can get frustrated, pissed off, sad, terrified... I can. I just try not to make a habit of showing it too dramatically. The world is watching us, you know?" Malcolm shrugged.
"But they're not watching us now," Tatiana pointed out. "Why don't you just let it all out?"
"There's nothing to let out, Tatiana," Malcolm rolled his eyes.
"Fine then. You can make me macaroni and cheese then. You make it really well!" she perked up at the thought.
"Well, last time I checked, we have everything we need for it, so it sounds like a plan!" Malcolm smiled at his sister, glad that he had gotten her to feel better, at least for the moment.