Reflections
By Mapu
Disclaimer: Veritas: The Quest belongs to Touchstone and the ABC Corporation
Chapter 1:Looking Backward
Everyone tells me that I have my mother's eyes.
Nikko turned his head from side to side, carefully examining his features in the mirror. His eyes were widely spaced and very blue, just as he remembered his mother's had been.
The hearts of a number of school girls had melted because of his eyes and several had told him how attractive they were. Nikko supposed it was true; his eyes looked nice, but there was something missing… to him they looked soft and weak. They lacked the intensity, strength and commitment of purpose he could see in his father's, they clearly reflected the man's strength of character and self confidence. His father had eyes you could trust. Nikko remembered his mother's eyes had been soft too, but unlike his they had also exposed the force of her intelligence and curiosity. The younger Zond's didn't see any of that vigour in himself… his eyes looked pleasing but superficial. Flashy, but they had no depth to them.
If eyes are the windows to the soul, what does that say about me?
It wasn't just his eyes that made him look soft. He was seventeen, very nearly an adult, but still had a lot of the immaturity of childhood lingering in his features. Where his father had a strong, angular face… the face of a leader, Nikko looked like he still needed help tying his laces… or folding his clothes.
This is why he doesn't take me seriously; I still look like a kid.
Nikko frowned; in the mirror the expression looked more like a pout, he could only describe the result as sulky. He looked like an infant missing out on a treat. He tried several expressions each one stupider than the last. Eventually he poked tongues at his own reflection in disgust. The teenager stoped, pulling faces wasn't helping and he'd never live it down if someone like Vincent or Calvin caught him at it.
Don't I have anything from my father? Maybe he can't see it either and that's why he doesn't want me around.
If his father could see nothing in him that he could relate to it would explain why he didn't want Nikko around him, getting in the way and bothering him while he was working. Both he and his father were tall, dark-haired and fit but that was it. The old man was still taller but Nikko knew that in a few years he'd probably be at least as tall.
That's it… my height, that's all I get from my father?
It was a sobering and depressing thought that the only recognisable physical trait he shared with his father was something as trivial as his height. One thing Nikko was sure he'd inherited from his father was the man's pig-headedness, but he was pretty sure he'd gotten at least some of that from his mother too, she was famous for her stubborn tenacity. Although it would probably help to reduce the number and intensity of fights with his father, it wasn't really something he wanted to change about himself. If he didn't stand up for himself, his father's quest would probably overshadow him entirely and his father would barely notice his presence at all.
We're always fighting; little wonder he doesn't want me around. His life was probably better without me.
Nikko knew he didn't really fight with his father everyday, it just felt like that sometimes, but in reality they often got along incredibly well. Mostly it happened while they were working together, both of them had a love of adventure and felt the thrill of discovery that only those who experienced it could really understand.
Smiling, Nikko turned away from his reflection, it would be embarrassing to be caught staring in the mirror like that, and he had his answer now. There was something he had inherited and shared with his father… the quest.
Maybe we're not so different under the surface after all. I can live with that.