Disclaimer: I don't own starocean
Blackjack.
Karin:... that's the forth time already. Are you sure you're not cheating?
How? (i'm the author god dammit)
Fayt landed on his feet, at least that didn't change. He looked around him and noticed that they were transported to the backyard of castle Aquaria.
"Nice place to transport down to."
Fayt grumbled.
"What's wrong with the backyard?"
Sophia asked.
"You'll see."
The moment Fayt finished speaking, a blurry figure appeared out of nowhere and at a knife at his throat. Two other figures appeared and had knives at Maria's and Sophia's throat each.
"Told you."
Fayt sighed. The moment their assailants noticed who they were having their knives pointed at, however, they immediately put away their weapons and went down on one knee.
"We're extremely sorry for our rudeness, master Fayt, madam Maria and madam Sophia."
Their leader apologized. All three of their attackers were young girls, symbol markings on their right arms. Their dressing were different from Nel's though, instead of short skirt, a longer one was in place, that reminded Fayt of one of the old Earth's traditional clothing.
The Chinese wear them. A long skirt that reached to their ankles with long slits running from the bottom to the top, which could be said that it looked like it was two seperate pieces. Fayt had to stop himself from looking past the thigh. They had sleeveless shirts which revealed their middriffs though it did not seem to bother them. Armguards, fingerless gloves and the traditional scarf around their necks.
Their leader had long flowing green hair, another had short brown hair and the last had shoulder length black hair. In Fayt's opinion, they all looked rather beautiful for their age, which was most likely around Fayt's as well.
They were the queen's special bodyguards. Trained from young, they were the top elite force of Aquaria. They were incharge of highly dangerous missions, guarding the queen, king and other nobles, assasin missions and were just given the special task of eliminating any excutioners that show up. They didn't have an official name, though they do call themselves the shadow hunters.
"What divine grace of apris brings the three great heroes back this sacred land?"
The leader asked. Fayt felt sort of uneasy with such a grand title. It was different from being called admiral day in and day out. Hero? Fayt didn't think he needed such an honourific title.
"Well, i've come to stop by for awhile and meet my mother. Is she around?"
"Madam Ryoko? Yes, she is currently staying in the castle. Would you like to show you the way?"
Fayt could refuse, but he knew that it was only a matter of respect towards the queen's bodyguards, which indirectly meant the queen herself to accept their invitation.
"Sure. Please lead the way."
"Thank you sir. This way."
the leader got up, followed by her two followers and the leader led the way while the other two followed closely behind. The group made their way from the backyard into the castle. Not much has changed since he last saw it, which was a month.
Somehow, he did not understand how his mother could still be on this planet for one month and not try to contact him. Maybe she tried, but he won't find out until he asked, but he should try to avoid that topic as much as possible. When they finally stopped, Fayt noticed that they were right outside the room where Fayt and Cliff used before.
Right now, Fayt was getting an omnimous feeling from whatever is behind that door. He prayed it would not be a ferocious Fayt-eating mother-turned-chimera. The three shadow hunters bowed and disappeared without a trace. Don't people ever walk nowadays? Fayt trembled as he reached for the doorknob, afraid that it may suddenly send a hundred volt electrical flow into him. Maria placed her hand on top of his.
"It's going to be alright."
She said. Fayt sure hoped so. Fayt opened the door slowly, but it seemed like the door was flung open instead from inside. At the doorway, stood a swirling aura of anger in a form of a lady with blueish hair and green eyes. She still wore the same clothing she wore when they were at Hyda. Didn't she have any change of clothes? Fayt could not speak.
His voice would not come out, words not formed. Everything was running away from this sight except for his eyes and body.
"Hi Aunty!"
Sophia chirped up, popping her head from behind Fayt.
"Sophia! How nice to see you again."
Ryoko Leingod suddenly changed her expression almost immediately and in an instant. Embracing Sophia in a tight hug, she smiled and wispered something into her ear. Sophia suddenly had a large smile on her face.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. I've already talked to your parents about it. They seem to agree that you are mature enough."
Ryoko smiled.
"Yipee!"
Sophia literally jumped in the air for joy. Ryoko patted Sophia on the head like a dog and turned to Maria.
"You must be Maria. Hello."
Ryoko smiled outstretching her hand, though her expression seemed quite sad and happy at the same time. Maria took her hand and smiled back.
"You must be Fayt's mother. I heard many good things about you."
"Did you? My, someone has been awefully flattering."
Ryoko raised an eyebrow to Fayt, who in turned shrugged.
"You certainly are beautiful. How old are you?"
Ryoko asked sweetly.
"I'm nineteen years old, and i don't think i'm that beautiful compared to you."
Maria blushed as she replied. Ryoko smiled.
"My, a sweet and beautiful girl. You certainly know how to choose a girl, Fayt."
"Mom, you called us here, so what is it?"
Fayt grew rather tired of girls trying to flatter each other.
"Right. Sophia, would you excuse us? I have something to say to these two alone."
"Yes, aunty. Bye Fayt, bye Maria!"
Sophia grinned, skipping out of the room and closing it behind her. Ryoko sat onto the chair, gesturing the two to seat themselves on the bed.
"So, i see that you two are already committed."
Ryoko stared hard at the ring on Maria's finger.
"Yes. We are."
Maria replied, fumbling with the ring as though it was the only prized possession she had.
"Well, i won't stop you, and i would want to encourage your relationship, however, there are certain issues that you must know about each other."
Ryoko smiled sadly.
"What is it that we must know?"
Fayt asked.
"First things first. Maria, did your mother, Jessie, i mean, tell you anything before she died? I know this is a difficult question, but please, bear with me for awhile."
Maria did not really like to talk about it, but if it would help, then she would contribute as much as she could.
"She... she told me that she wasn't my real mother, but she still loved me as her own."
"Good. That was what i expected of Jessie. She always cared for children. After that, you have been searching for your real parents, haven't you?"
"Mom, why all these questions?"
Fayt suddenly asked.
"In a minute, Fayt. I will get to my point. I must first lay out the facts before i can come to a conclusion. Maria, please, answer the question."
Maria bit her lip, but decided to answer them anyway.
"Yes, i have. I recently found some evidence that may lead me to my real genetic parents."
"And what may that be?"
"The genetic sequence number."
"You found it in the lunarlab, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"As expected. All right, i'll tell you what you want to know. Maria, you don't have to look any further for your parents."
"Wha- what do you mean?"
Maria looked puzzled.
"Mom, you found her parents?"
Fayt asked. Ryoko sighed, shaking her head.
"I didn't 'find' her parents in a normal way, Fayt. I will tell you two something. When we heard the devastating news from the time gate about our destruction, i was pregnant for a week. When i heard that your father wanted to implant symbological genetics into our own children, i knew that i needed to prevent this from happening. Your father already knew that i was pragnent so i couldn't hide you, but i thought i could help the other."
"The other? Mom, what are you talk-"
"Fayt, you and Maria are siblings."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silence. Fayt's mind did not even want to try to make sense of what his own mother said. Siblings? That was impossible. There was no way they could be siblings. Fayt turned to Maria, and saw that even she had a difficult time wanting to comprehend what this meant.
"Mom, what are you talking about? That's impossible. There's no way that we could ever be siblings. Our age are the same!"
"You two are twins, i thought that would be clear on its own."
"But we have different birthdays!"
"Let me explain. I was pregnant with twins. A boy and a girl. I didn't tell your father about it and he only expected one child, a son. When he revealed his plan to implant symbological genetics into you, i wanted to protest, but the facts were clear. I thought, at least i could give you the opportunity to survive, to fight for yourself. For the other child, i had to hide her. At that time, Jessie suffered a miscarriage. It was devastating to her and i thought... i thought it would a perfect chance to hide the other child. I told both Jessie and her husband about my plan, they both were reluctant at first, but eventually accepted the other child. I told them that they could raise the child as they saw fit, but the name Maria was the name i intended to give to that child, after the name of my mother, whom i look up to every much. So they did. They named you Maria. Leaving you, Maria, was my biggest mistakes in life. I shouldn't have let you go. I should have just faced the truth, but... i wanted at least one of you to live a normal life."
"Normal? How normal can this be!"
Fayt demanded, without stopping himself. The room was filled with sadness. It was driving him crazy. His mother wiped the tears that flowed from her eyes, while Maria still sat there, shocked and surprised.
"Jessie refused the project very openly, as did i. But eventually, she gave up. After a long debate, she finally backed down. The facts were too clear. Maria, if you read that you were scheduled for disposal, remember that it was not actual disposal, but rather, it was a way for me to get you back. If Jessie failed to protect you from the project, i would want to tak you back, to raise you as my own once again, but Jessie fought back. She wanted to prove to me that she could make it work. There was no way i could refuse her. It was simply too late."
"Why... why mom? Why did you keep a secret from me? Why!"
"Because i wanted to protect you from the secret of the project! If i told you about your past, you would not have handled it as well as you could when you found out four months ago! Why don't you understand what i did was for your own good."
"My own good? Did you ever think! Since when has anything that you've done has EVER been for my own good? When? This symbological genetics... it gave me more pain and suffering than safety! People chase me for something i don't even know about myself! Has it ever done any good to Maria? HAS IT? I don't care if you wished for her to live normally, your wish never came true! Do you have any idea of how much Maria has suffered? HAVE YOU?"
"I DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER SHE WAS ALIVE OR NOT! As a mother I SUFFERED AS WELL! The pain of not even knowing whether your own child is alive or not."
Ryoko shouted back, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"When i heard that Jessie died, i was heartbrokened. I thought that Maria had died as well. I could not let it slip that i had twins and so..."
"Was this such a big secret? So big that you could not even weep for the death of your child?"
"But i knew she could not die! Somewhere, within my heart, i knew that Maria was not dead. Call it superstition, i don't care. the only thing i know is that i knew within my heart that i would be united with Maria once more."
Fayt snorted at what his mother said.
"As if. This is rubbish. I'm leaving."
Fayt said, walking first out of the door, but stopping at the doorway.
"Maria, if... if you want, you can stay, but i'm not forcing you. When you're ready, come find me, i'll be in the town."
He said, leaving and closing the door behind him. He left Maria and his own mother sitting alone by themselves in the room. Silence fell upon the room. Maria sat there, her mind not wanting to fit the pieces. How could this have happened? Her own family had been in front of her eyes the entire time? The boy she fell in love with is her own twin brother? Why? Why was this all happening to her again? Why? Nothing she loved was ever permenant. Nothing. What was the point in gaining something she wanted, if it only fell apart almost immediately?
"Maria..."
"Don't talk to me."
Maria hung her head low. Why was everything against her? What did she do wrong? Why? Why does she still have to be one who suffers?
"Tell me one thing."
Maria spoke up.
"Anything."
"Did... did you really miss me?"
"Of course i did, you're my child, after all. How can a parent not miss her child?"
"Then why didn't you see me, during my days with mother?"
"Jessie? I couldn't... I cannot explain it very well, but... if you have your own child, and you have just lost that child. What would you do if you saw him or her again? Even if it was just for a glimpse?"
Ryoko patiently asked. It was tough on everyone, not just Fayt and Maria, but on Ryoko herself.
"Even for... a glimpse... i would... want to hold them close to me."
"Exactly. It was painful enough if i couldn't see you, but it would be even more devastating if i could see you, but not touch you, not talk to you, not even tell you how much i love you."
Ryoko tried to place a hand on Maria's shoulder, but Maria slapped her hand away.
"Don't touch me. I'm not done with the questions."
"... alright. Ask then."
"Why did you give me away, and not Fayt?"
"... The scans showed at that time that i only had one child. You, however, were hiding behind Fayt. It was confirmed that my first child was going to be a boy. Your father, your real father, wanted to name him. Back then, we were happy together, not worrying about any form of destruction of the universe. We made a silly bet. If the first child was a son, he would name him, if a girl, i would name her. After the incident, i went the check once again whether i really had a son. At that time, nothing was going the way i liked it. I love Fayt as much as i love you, Maria, but at that time, i was desperate for a daughter. I was hoping, that at least my husband would take into consideration about the project if it was a girl. It was then, did i find out that i had twins. I was surprised, and happy at the same time. I knew that at least there was some hope. I wanted my daughter to be pure and raised as best as a normal human being would be. I entrusted that responsibility to Jessie. She wanted a daughter badly, and was nearly lost her mind when she had the miscarriage. I knew that it was the only way. If there was, i would have gladly taken it."
Silence once again issued among the two.
"May... may i call you mother?"
Maria suddenly spoke up. Ryoko was caught off guard by this, but she smiled.
"Of course, but the term 'mom' would do fine as well."
Suddenly, Maria leapt forward, into Ryoko's open arms, crying. She cried loudly on Ryoko's lap. She cried and released her pain, her suffering into her tears. Voicing her joys and happiness through her throat. She cried, for she had found what she had wanted. She had found a family.
AN: See? I told you wouldn't like the twist, alright, since i've practically eliminated all of my readers, let me continue in peace. As i said before, this fic is dedicated to my loving mother, not the part about lying or eating me up. I'm saying that even though my mother does things that i may disagree strongly with and may even hurt me just slightly, the wieght of what lies ahead is always better. That is what i am saying to my mother, thank you for everything and everything you have done for me. the greatest gift was the fact that i was born. This chapt is also going out to my older sister. We're practically like twins, even though we're two years apart. We look alike, almost, we use to sound exactly the same, we share loads of interests and we basically have the same character. Don't worry, i love my sister as my sister. To my older sister and to my mother, i love you both! of course i love my whole family, but this chapt is especially going out to them. This whole fic, in fact, was built around the idea of doing something for my sister and mother.