Cetus sighed as he looked up into the air, taking in the sight of the sky. This had been about the fifth or sixth time he had been knocked down today, and it probably wasn't going to be the last either. "Again," his father said, standing over him.

The boy groaned. "Do I have to? You're just gonna knock me down again," he said sitting up. He didn't know why his father kept making him do this. He thought since he started training with his uncle Hody that maybe his sparring with his dad would stop, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"I wouldn't knock you down so easily if you took this seriously," Astro said, narrowing his eyes. "And no, not being a titan is not an excuse. I want effort, not results."

Cetus frowned, but reluctantly got back up to his feet. He grabbed his trident and then got into a fighting stance. Unsurprisingly his father let out a disappointed sigh as he made his way towards him. "Aw c'mon, what now?" he asked.

"Is that really the best defense you can put up right now?" Astro asked. He had seen this very same stance whenever he was training with Hody, and it was different. More solid, like he was bracing himself for a charging goliath. But this? This was half-hearted.

"Yes…" Cetus muttered.

Astro rushed towards him, and Cetus barely even managed to raise his weapon before his feet were swept from under him. He groaned and opened his eyes to find Astro pointing his sparring sword at his face. "You'd be dead in a real fight…"

"This isn't a real fight though."

"That's not the… why do you like irking me?"

Cetus sat up and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, it's one of the few things I'm good at right?" he asked. It was the closest he came to doing damage to his dad anyway.

To say that Astro looked irritated was an understatement. "This isn't a joke. You need to take this seriously, Cetus. If you ever get into a real fight and you're this half-hearted, you'll be killed before you can even draw your weapon," he said.

"Look, I'm just… not in the mood for this right now," Cetus said. "And It's not like I'm even gonna get into any real-"

"That's not always going to be up to you," Astro said, cutting him off. Cetus pouted and looked away from him. "If someone decides to come after you then not being in the mood to fight or being tired isn't going to save you. You need to be prepared to fight whenever and wherever. And you need to learn to fight against more than just your uncle. It's not always going to be other trident wielders after you."

Cetus huffed. "If this is about me using a trident and not a sword then I can just switch. I know you and uncle Hody don't-"

Astro stomped his foot down and growled, his eyes turning black. "STOP JOKING!" Cetus flinched and lowered his head. "Do you think this is a game?! Our family has enemies! Enemies that will slit your throat the first chance they get! Your life could be on the line! Your brother's, or sister's, or mother's lives could be on the line!"

"I know, I just-"

"If you know then act like it!"

"ASTRO!"

Both of them stopped and turned to see Maria making her way towards them. She did not at all look happy. She looked over towards Cetus as she approached. "Go inside, I need to have a word with your father," she said, crossing her arms.

Cetus nervously looked back and forth between his mother and father, and then quickly began making his way off. This wasn't how he'd wanted to get out of training, but he'd take it. After he left, Maria looked back towards Astro. "I know," he said before she could speak. "I lost my temper."

"Something you always seem to do with Cetus in particular," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Why are you always blowing up at him?"

Astro grunted. "I wouldn't if he just took it seriously. He just… he won't even try. He spends the whole time just letting himself get knocked down and snarking me," he said, shaking his head.

Maria sighed. "He's not a fighter Asterossa. You can't force him to be one."

"He isn't going to have a choice. You know what he could run into. You know the type of people who could be after him. He has to learn how to fight."

"Then just let him keep training with my brother."

"Your brother is too soft on him. He's a good teacher but… he's not going to push him. Not like he should. A real enemy isn't going to hold back on him."

Maria sighed and shook her head. "I just… I don't understand. I mean I understand why you want him to be able to fight, but why do you lose your patience so quickly with him? You know he's not as adept at combat as Dorado or Lars. You're never this tough on any of the others. You don't even train Aqua. Why just him?"

"You know Aqua is different. She holds her own in a different way. And I'm tougher on him because he doesn't try. If he was giving his best that'd be one thing, but he just-"

"Maybe it's because you come down on him so much?"

"No, I come down on him because he doesn't try. Not the other way around."

She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're going to push him even further away from you, you know that don't you?" Cetus was always on eggshells around him. He alway told her how he felt like he couldn't do anything right in Astro's eyes, and moments like this didn't help.

Astro looked down for a moment, and then sighed. "If he doesn't learn how to protect himself, he won't live long enough for that to matter. So if that's what it takes then-"

"Are you serious?!" Maria snapped angrily. "Are you honestly saying all this pushing is going to be worth it?! Just because this is how your father taught you doesn't mean it's the right way to teach him!"

Astro let out a grunt, and then narrowed his eyes at her. "You think if there was another way that I wouldn't do it? That I'm just being harsh on him because it's how my father was? I don't want to do this. If I had my way none of them would have to fight at all. But that's not the reality of the situation," he said.

"And what is the reality? Enlighten me?" Maria said, irritated.

"You think you're doing him a favor. Coddling whenever he comes running to you. Stepping in when I make him feel bad. You're not," Astro said. "You're setting him up for failure. And it's going to come back to haunt him in the long run."

"You're such a loser…"

Cetus looked up from where he'd been walking down the hall and frowned when he saw Lacerta. "I'm not in the mood right now," he muttered.

"You're never in the mood. Spineless little wimp," Lacerta said as he sat up in the window seal. "I mean, seriously. Are you gonna rely on ma to bail you out every time you get into trouble?"

Cetus kept on talking, but Lars suddenly jumped down and landed in front of him. The younger monster sighed. "Lars, c'mon. Can we please not do this today?"

"Why?" Lacerta asked, annoyed. "Why don't you ever just fight back. You know if you just stop half-assing it the old man would cut you some slack." Cetus tried walking past his brother, but Lacerta stuck his tail out to block him. "I'm not done talking to you half-pint. Ma and Uncle Hody might let you get away with that crap, but the rest of us?"

Cetus tried to turn around and go the other way. Being balled out by his dad was bad enough. He didn't need to get it from his brother too. Laceta grabbed the back of his shirt. "You're not always gonna be able to walk away, you little punk," Lars growled towards him. "What if we were in the field and Dorado or me were in trouble? Huh? You gonna run away then?"

"Stop it Lars…"

"What if Sagitta and Aqua were in trouble? What if someone was attacking the castle and Ma and Mom were in trouble? What then? You just gonna punk out?"

"Would you just leave me alone!"

"Make me."

Cetus glared back at him, and Lacerta bared his teeth. For a moment it looked like Cetus was about to reach for his trident, but then he loosened his grip and looked back down towards the ground. Lacerta gave him a disgusted look. There was no way Cetus was dumb enough to think could take him in a fight.

But he would have at least respected him for trying.

"Are you two dum-dums done?" They both looked over and saw Aqua making her way down the hall, skimming through a book. "Because if you keep whining and distracting me I'm going to get annoyed. And you know what happens when I get annoyed."

Lacerta scoffed and looked down towards her. "You gonna start coming to his rescue now too? That'll totally help his reputation," he said.

"I'm not coming to anyone's rescue. I just want things to be quiet. Now don't you have something else to do? Go find Bergljot or something. I'm sure she feels like punching you in the mouth for spouting your nonsense," she said, waving him away.

Lacerta rolled his eyes, walking off and flicking the back of her head as he left. She hissed back at him angrily as he left. Once he was gone, she turned towards Cetus who was still looking down. "Uh… Thanks for-"

"Do NOT thank me," Aqua said, looking more than a little irritated. "He's not wrong, you know. Someone isn't going to always be there to save you. From him, or from our enemies."

Cetus held his hands up. "I don't have any enemies."

She shook her head at him. "Wow, you really are a dum-dum. Look who our dad is. He's isn't just the ruler of mewni, he's the king of titans. There's a mile long list of enemies who'd want his head. And they wouldn't think twice about using us to get to him."

Cetus frowned at her. "So just because we're his kids we have to learn how to fight? Don't you think that's kind of unfair?" he asked.

"Life is unfair," she said before poking him in the chest. "And you already know how to fight. Stop acting like you don't."

She turned and began walking off, and Cetus felt his stomach drop. So, it looked like everybody was dogpiling on him today. For a moment he thought about going to talk to Dorado or Sagitta since they tended to be a bit more understanding, but he got the feeling that they'd end up telling him what he didn't want to hear.

Ruby was busy on a hunting trip with her family, so he didn't feel like bothering her. Ravana was more likely to make him train than hear him out. And his grandfather… Well, he didn't know what he would have said. It didn't look like he was going to get the chance to leave and find out either.

"We need to talk."

He flinched when he heard the sound of his father's voice. "Do… do we have to?"

"Yes," Astro said bluntly, leaving no room for argument.

Cetus sat on the ledge of the castle and nibbled at his snack. Astro sat beside him, munching on his own snack as he stared out into the distance. They had been sitting in silence for a while now, and Cetus honestly didn't know what his father was up to.

"Do you know why I'm so hard on you?" he asked.

Cetus thought for a moment. "Because I'm not as strong as Dorado and Lacerta?"

Astro looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What? No."

"Because I'm not as strong as Sagitta and Aqua?"

"Why would-?! Are you snarking me?!"

"Lil bit."

Astro sighed and palmed his face. "Cetus, look me," he said before running his hands across his face. Cetus noticed he was tracing his finger across the scare on his face. One of the most famous of his battle scars. "I'm strong Cetus. Your grandfather and uncle, your cousins, your brothers and sisters, are all strong. You're strong. The strongest beings in mewni."

He reached up and grabbed his shoulder, and Cetus took notice of the scar there as well. Between that and the two on his chest there were four in total. Most people didn't know about any but the one on his face, and given when he was fighting and who he got it from it wasn't as if it was a shock.

"But we're not invincible. And I have responsibilities as King. Hard as I try, I can't always be around here to protect you all. And I've made enemies over the years. I know it isn't fair that you and the other might have to deal with them, but that's just how it is. If it was up to me, you wouldn't need to know how to fight. Not unless you wanted to. But it's not like that. And I NEED to know that you all can protect yourselves while I'm gone."

Cetus could hear the sincerity in his father's voice. It wasn't something he heard very often towards him. Usually it was… admittedly deserved annoyance. He usually had something snarky or sarcastic to respond with, but he didn't have anything right now.

"I'm not as strong as you guys," he muttered. "I'm not as strong as you think I am. I can't do what you guys do. I get you want me to be strong but-"

"You are strong," Astro said. "I just… I can see it plain as day. And it frustrates me that you can't. You are so much stronger than you realize. If you just tried you'd see it."

"Or I might just disappoint you."

Astro reached up and patted his shoulder. "You could never be a disappointment to me Cetus… not unless you turned out like your uncle Hody. I think that bar is low enough to be considered fair, yeah?" he asked, smirking.

Cetus chuckled. "Does fighting like him count?"

"I'll let that slide," Astro said before looking back down at the courtyard. "Your mother is going to give me an earful later. You have no idea how many times we've butted heads over this. But she's come up with an idea I think will work. Let's make a deal."

Cetus looked at him curiously. "What kind of deal?"

"If you promise to start taking training seriously, you won't have to train with me anymore. You can train with your brother, or Sagitta, or whoever else. It just has to be something different than your uncle so you learn how to fight against other people. I won't ask you or any of them about it. Just do your best, don't think about what I think. Okay?"

Cetus sat in silence for a moment, and then nodded. "Okay. That sounds fair." He still had to train, but at the very least he wouldn't have his dad breathing down his neck. That would take a lot of the pressure off. "I'll do my best. I promise."

He patted Cetus on the shoulder. "That's good. That's all I want," he said. "And trust me. If you put in real effort you're going to realize just how strong you are. Before you know it you'll be knocking Lacerta on his ass."

Cetus clicked his tongue. He still thought his father was overestimating him. He could train his whole life and he probably wouldn't become a titan. "Thanks for the vote of confidence I guess… by the way, you know I don't hate you, right?"

Astro looked at him surprised. "What?"

"Mom said you think I hate you sometimes. I don't. Just thought I'd tell you, because… you know, I love you and stuff…"

They both sat in an awkward silence, and Astro eventually cleared his throat. He tried to look calm, but his cheek marks were glowing rather brightly. "Well, that's… that's good to know. You better get off. From the smell of it it's almost time for dinner," he said, nudging him.

"You're not coming?" Cetus asked.

"Well, your mother is cooking and she's still mad at me so… no, I don't think I will."

Cetus hummed and then handed him what was left of his snack. "Here you go. I think you're gonna need this more than me…"

"Thank you."

A/N: Some future au father son tension between Astro and Cetus. Out of all the parents/kids they probably have the rockiest relationship. They have their moments though.