I'm so sorry for my absence! I've been having a blast writing a lot of other things, but this story fell by the wayside.
However, I can promise that I'm super happy with how this chapter turned out. It only made me love my precious OCs all the more. Hopefully, you'll agree that it was worth the wait.
Also, if you jump over to Brainyxbat's page, you'll find a delightful new story that we've been collaborating on called Wingmen. It's kind of super long because we've been writing it since January. The first chapter is up now, with more coming soon, hopefully.
"Cake for breakfast!" Wasabi announced with forced cheerfulness. Luca groaned and put his head on the counter.
"Why are we up so early?" Luca was always the first one up on the weekends, bright and excited and ready to tackle the day. Now, Sunday morning, he refused to lift his head off the counter.
"It's not early, it's 9. We're going to visit Khary and Scout." Luca sat up now, nodding.
"Good. I want to see them. I need to know they're going to be okay." A lump formed in Wasabi's throat. He'd never been in this position before, where he couldn't promise his children that everything would be okay. Even with all the changes that had been thrown on them this past year, he'd always been able to comfort them, always been sure that things would get better. He wasn't sure, though. He didn't know if Scout's head injuries would have long term consequences, and he certainly didn't know what would happen to the boy, though he and GoGo had discussed it before the twins were up. He didn't know if Khary would be okay, if the monster was gone, or if the trauma from the transformation could ever be healed. He didn't know anything right now.
"I don't want to see Uncle Scary," Reese muttered.
"Don't call him that," Luca snapped, surprising all of them, "it wasn't his fault, Reese. You don't have to forgive him right now but he's not the real monster. Andrew is."
"Just don't make me talk to him," Reese muttered. Wasabi's heart broke. His daughter was hurting, was… He thought about how he'd described himself, tearfully to Leiko during his darkest times. He'd called himself shattered. He looked at the people he loved now and he feared the same for them.
"You don't have to, sweetheart," Wasabi promised. Khary would understand.
"Thanks, dad." She shoved cake into her mouth. Luca didn't eat. No one made him, though GoGo would make sure that he ate something today. There was a silent strain on all of them.
After most of them had eaten they got ready and piled into the car. Luca sat in the middle as if Scout was with them. He rested his head against his sister's shoulder and she laid her head on his. GoGo kept glancing back at them, feeling secure in the knowledge that her kids were there and were safe. She put a hand on Wasabi's shoulder, trying to comfort him. She knew he was super insecure about the future, but she really wanted to assure him that the unsure would be okay. It was terrifying to be faced with so many unknowns, but it was helpful to remind him that they would go into the unknown together. When they pulled up to the clinic GoGo gave him a kiss on the cheek trying to soothe him. Then she wrapped her arms around her twins to offer them the same comfort. Reese and Luca leaned against her as they walked inside, but before they got to the room Reese burst into tears, pulling away.
"I can't see him," she wept, "I'm not ready…" This was the first time that Reese had cried about the incident. Wasabi and GoGo quickly pulled Reese into a hug, comforting their little girl.
"It's okay, Reese, you don't have to. Let's just sit out here for a bit…" They led her to a bench and sat down, Reese crying into her father's chest, GoGo rubbing her back. Luca was left standing, and glanced at the door to Khary's room.
"Can I go see him?" Despite the pain and trauma and the nightmares, Luca loved his uncle and readily forgave him. Wasabi nodded, knowing that Khary was being monitored and that nothing would happen to his little boy. It might do Khary some good to talk to Luca alone, Luca always brought out the best in people.
So Luca slipped into the room, quiet in case Khary was sleeping. But Khary hadn't slept since the sedative wore off. He seemed exhausted but he was wide awake. He sat up when Luca came in, patting the bed beside him, unable to speak for a moment, so heartbroken and remorseful.
"Uncle Khary? I know it wasn't your fault." Luca sat on the bed and Khary carefully wrapped his arms around his nephew. Luca really was like a smaller version of himself, they even had matching bruises littering their bodies. Khary blinked back tears as he looked at how he had injured one of his favorite people in the entire world.
"Luca… I'm so sorry. I'm not as innocent as you want me to be. I let Andrew experiment on me, I volunteered in exchange for a place to live and a little bit of spending money."
"B-but, you can always stay with us…" Luca pointed out, curling further into Khary's arms. He cared about his uncle the way he cared about his friends, always wanting to shelter the people he cared about, and he cared about a lot of people.
Khary laughed sadly, holding on tighter to his nephew, "I know you think that, buddy. But I need a bit more space than that. Not away from you, of course! But I'm not an extrovert like you, kiddo. Sometimes I just need time and space to think. Besides, I don't think that my brother will ever forgive me for what happened."
"What? No! He already forgives you! I don't think he, they… I don't think that they blame you at all!" Luca insisted.
"Easy, easy, buddy," Khary noted that tears had sprung to Luca's eyes, "I'm sure you're right. You're good at that kind of thing. Your emotional intelligence is off the charts." Luca continued to sniffle and Khary scrambled to think of something to comfort him.
"You'd be a perfect Travis."
"What?"
"I'm doing a production of A Raisin in The Sun over the summer. You'd be perfect in the role of Travis. Would that be fun for you? You want to audition with me?" Luca seemed to brighten.
"That sounds really fun! We'd get to perform together?"
"Yeah. I think it would be fun as well. What do you say?"
"I'm in." Spirits lifted, Luca remembered what was going on outside.
"I should go check on Reese. She's shook up. I know you weren't in control, Uncle Khary, and Reese knows it too… I think she just needs some time and space like you do sometimes."
"I completely understand," Khary said with a sad smile, "If you think it would help, tell Reese that I'm sorry and that I love her." Luca nodded and ducked out.
While Luca and Khary had been comforting each other, Reese had been opening up to her parents.
"Uncle Khary almost killed Luca last night," Reese sobbed.
"I know baby," GoGo whispered, continuing to rub Reese's back.
"It was really scary," Wasabi agreed, his heart heavy, "but your mom and I will always be there to protect you two. I promise."
"Is that why you guys were wearing those weird costumes? To protect us?"
"Uh, yes." Wasabi and GoGo exchanged a look and decided to spill the secret.
"Reese, when your dad and I were in college, we had a short stint as superheroes. If you've ever heard the name Big Hero 6, that was us."
Reese's eyes boggled.
"That's crazy!"
"I know, that's what I thought too," Wasabi said with a laugh, "but someone needed to protect the city. We hung up the masks for a long time until someone needed to protect you two."
"Do you think Scout will be okay?"
"I hope so," Wasabi said, "we're going to do whatever we can to help him."
"He could stay in Luca's room, on the couch," Reese suggested.
"That's what we thought, and maybe we can make up a room for him in the basement," GoGo said.
"Scout would like that," Luca said, appearing in the doorway.
"Sweetie, we're going to go talk to Khary, is that okay? We could stay with you a little longer if you wanted."
"It's okay dad. Luca will stay with me."
Luca nodded and took their place.
"We should make Scout a get well card. I have paper and pens in the car."
"That's a good idea."
Reese told Luca what she had learned about their parents and Luca told her about the play he might be in, and they googled both together. They even found Aunt Karmi's fanfic. That was fun.
On the other side of the door, Wasabi was relieved to see his brother instead of a beast, and both brothers were immediately reduced to tears. Wasabi wrapped his arms around his brother and held him tight and Khary cried all the harder.
"I'm so sorry, Khary, that I couldn't help you. That I let you get turned into a monster."
"It's not your fault, Wes, I became that monster willingly, I allowed Andrew to experiment on me for cash and a place to stay after my girlfriend cheated on me and changed the locks. It seemed like a good deal, I never thought anyone would get hurt. I never thought Luca and Reese would get hurt…"
"Luca and Reese will eventually be okay, Khary. Bruises and scrapes heal. I was worried that there was no saving you… Everything these past months makes sense now, it was all part of the monster."
"Wes, you can't blame the monster for me betraying your trust."
"You didn't! I can forgive you for how you treated the twins if they can, and Luca already has-"
"It's not that, Wesley! I did something terrible, and that was 100% me, not any monster." Wasabi's heart sank.
"Khary, buddy, what exactly did you do?" Khary turned away, crying harder.
"I'm so sorry, Wes, Leiko, I'm so sorry…"
"Khary, just tell us!" Wasabi was frantic.
"I spent Thanksgiving with mom and dad. I told them everything about Reese and Luca… I told them you lived here now. I was just being petty and I went against your wishes." For a moment, Wasabi turned cold. But he shook that off quickly.
"Lately, Khary, you've had a lot of stumbles. What kind of big brother would I be if I didn't help pick you up off the ground?"
"S-so you're not mad at me?"
"I'm hurt. You betrayed my trust and put unnecessary stress on my family. If she tries to interact with any of us I'm likely going to have to file a restraining order, which is something I never wanted to do to my own biological parent. But I forgive you for it because I know at heart you're a good person." Khary sobbed.
"No, I'm not, I'm a monster-"
"Shh, Khary, shhh. It's okay. It'll be okay. You're not a monster, you made some mistakes. Listen, I know better than anyone else how hard it is to forgive yourself. But hard is not impossible. So I'm going to forgive you, please, please try to do the same. You deserve forgiveness and love and compassion."
"Thank you. Please don't feel guilty for what happened, either. I know how you are. None of it was your fault, Wes. And you shouldn't blame yourself because you wanted me to stop staying with you, you shouldn't try to rectify it by offering me the couch again. This morning I set it up with my new boyfriend that I'd stay at his place at least until I could get my own. If that falls through, Damon said I could crash in the guest bedroom for a while. I don't want to put any more stress on you."
"You're not a burden, Khary."
"I know. But I'm not your responsibility, either. Thank you for watching out for me, but please don't take it personally when I slip up. I love you too much to see you beating yourself up for my mistakes. You got two beautiful children and another one on the way to worry about. You shouldn't have to protect me too."
"I'm never gonna stop trying, though," Wasabi promised.
"Yeah, I figured you'd say that."
"We're going to go see Scout. His family is all in trouble with the law. He says he doesn't have anyone else, so it's up to us to be there for him."
"You're a good person, Wes."
"So are you."
"I'm working on it. Trying to be better."
"I believe in you. We'll visit soon, Khary."
"Thanks. See you soon."
A few minutes later they went to the hospital. The Morris-Ginger family had stayed in town a little longer because Damon had insisted on staying with the poor kid until he could be discharged. Damon and Wasabi switched places as soon as the Tomagos arrived, the former looking forward to returning to his family. Luca ran ahead, excited to see his best friend although he was obviously worried. He and Reese had made a cute little get well card, with a chibi robot drawn on the front. Reese and Luca had agreed on one thing that was in Scout's favor, he hadn't had to see Khary's transformation. Still, they didn't envy him at all, his brother's betrayal was nightmarish enough.
Scout must have realized it. The side of his head was bandaged, and he looked really tired and sad. He tried to brighten up when Luca walked in, but he couldn't force a smile for long.
"Hey, man. We're so, so, so sorry about everything that happened to you," Luca said, "I know it doesn't really help much, but we also made you a card. It was kinda last minute, sorry."
"Luca, you're rambling," Scout said with a small smile, taking the card and looking at the little robot. It was a little bit harder to read the print inside, his vision blurry ever since his brother's attack.
"Sorry."
"You're okay. And I'm okay too. I will be, at least. It's fine." Scout didn't sound like he was fine, as he squinted to read the card.
"Scout, we were talking," Wasabi started, "we think that you should come live with us. I'm sure that right now everything seems overwhelming and we don't want to add to that, by any means, but our home is open to you, and we want to do everything we can to help you through this difficult time."
"Thank you, sir. I don't want to impose-"
"No. I'm not gonna deal with another sweet as sugar guy who doesn't want to impose," GoGo interjected, "You're family, Scout. We want you to live with us. We care about you. You're not imposing, and even if you were, you've had a crap life. You deserve to impose. So, just, think about it, okay?"
"Okay."
"It would be cool! We'd be roommates for a bit until we set up a proper room for you." Luca was grinning. Scout was a little stressed out but he appreciated Luca's enthusiasm.
"I… I guess that I don't have anywhere else to go." Scout was doing his very best not to cry.
"You'll always have somewhere to go. You can always come to us." Reese usually stayed quiet around people who weren't family, but Scout had become family. Luca was his best friend and Mr. and Mrs. Tomago had always been really accepting, but Reese was always the one who made Scout feel the most welcomed simply because he knew how hard it was to get close to her.
"Thank you. I appreciate all of you… I'd be happy to be a part of your family." Luca cheered.
"I think they'll release you today, so you can come home with us then."
"Awesome," Scout said tiredly.
"We'll hang out with you until you're discharged, but if you need to rest we don't mind." They settled into a quiet peacefulness, waiting to take Scout home. The days before were hard and the days to come wouldn't be much easier, but their sense of family had not been wounded.
