Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) throughout this revelation… especially for the one who had so many skeletons in his closet.

~保護者~

"Roots"

~保護者~

Kath felt like he had when he'd been nothing but a small, ordinary child. In her presence, he felt small all over again… but also safe. Cared about. Valued. In the past, he had been largely unaccustomed to such feelings. He hadn't seen his father since he'd been a mere eight years old. He'd been apart from his mother for most of his life. He'd led a harsh existence, one where he was enslaved, one where he'd had to do anything and everything in his power to stay alive… even if it meant turning his back on ideals that a kinder person would never have let go of.

But then he'd been visited by Eona at just fourteen years old. She had… changed him. Her words, her gift, her compassion, all of it had helped him truly get back on his feet and start to recover from the darkness in his life. She'd helped him find the strength to someday return home, no matter what obstacle got in his way. He'd still had a lot of problems, yes, and he'd still been a dark and angry person… but he had made a promise to her on that fateful day. A promise to do good with the power he'd been given, to fight to defend those who were just like he had once been - helpless, alone, lost, losing hope…

There had to be limits, however. He was not born of the Light. That he was able to wield it at all came down to a matter of simple semi-Immortal Privilege. But he always had to be cautious, always had to be mindful. His reserves of energy were finite. He'd always known that he could run out if he wasn't careful. Those reserves would replenish over time, but not quickly, and being attacked by as much Darkness as he had been since his recent revival had nearly wiped out said reserves. He'd used what little he'd had left to heal Rose, to ensure that she could heal others.

In a way, he felt as though he had failed to make much difference in this, the war that could quite literally make or break existence as a whole. He had made a mistake, hadn't anticipated the strength of their enemy nor the ferocity that enemy was capable of when pursuing their own goals. As a result, he'd been taken down quickly and easily, and had been out of commission for far too long. And now he was bloody ill again, because his immune system was too weak for his own good. Meaning that visit to Mobius, a place he had never been to before, had been a bad idea from the start.

However, despite his insistence that he hadn't done enough, didn't deserve further help, and would be largely useless for who knew how long because of whatever new illness he'd contracted, Eona had acted as she always did. Generously. With endless compassion. Ever-seeing of the very best in people. By her telling, he hadn't failed, nor ever broken his promise. She'd insisted that he accept her gift once more and, eventually, he had. Her response to that was to smile, apologize for not being able to stay and talk any longer, but promised they would meet again soon enough. He… wasn't sure what to think or feel about that.

It was strange, he decided, having her in his life. Strange, but not unwelcome. That was all he allowed himself to think about the matter, though, before he willed himself to put it all out of mind for now. As he trudged down the hall to his old room (the new queen had earlier surprised him by explaining that his room, like Jet's was still there), he stifled a cough and mentally cursed himself. Azerel trotted by his side and remarked, "You need to to go to bed."

"And what, pray tell, do you think I'm doing?" Kath responded, a touch more snippily than he'd intended. His whole body felt hot from his building fever as he opened his old bedroom door. Sure enough, inside was everything as he'd remembered it being. His bed, his books, his desk, his writing materials… everything. That was comforting, somehow. In the face of all the madness that he'd been thrown into, it was nice to have some familiarity. Yes, the palace he had helped construct was familiar overall, but this was different. Having his own space was more important to him than any political structure. So, more than a little relieved that he wouldn't have to sleep in a sitting room or something, he shut the door and went to bed.

Late into the night, more than an hour after he had gone to sleep, Alana found Sein in a sitting room, doing whatever it was he did when she was away. With a smile, she sat down by his side and happily reported, "I spent time with Jet. He seems to be feeling much better now that the issue of the fires in Li's forge is done and over with. When he returned home, he and I went through old photos I found of him and his friends. He seemed to enjoy telling me about each picture."

Sein smiled brightly to her and nodded. "He loves his friends more than he'll ever be able to admit," the man said simply. "So I'm not surprised that it happened like that. And I'm glad that he was able to deal with the fires with Steam's help. A bit surprised that he suddenly accepted help like that, but I suppose that's a really good sign overall."

"I am not so surprised by him accepting help," Alana admitted. "Fear is often a strong motivator… as unfortunate as that is."

"I'm just glad it all seemed to help. He deserves a chance to relax even in the midst of this war," Sein murmured.

"He does," Alana agreed softly. After a small pause, she leaned against his arm.

Just then, an unnecessarily loud knock came on the already opened doors, Yareis standing in the doorway. "Have either of you seen Kath?" she questioned without any hesitation.

Alana twisted around to look at the newcomer. It took her but a moment to deduce who this must be (surely the ice-woman Kath had mentioned meeting on Jet's world), and once she did she shook her head. "No. I have not seen Father in quite some time. Most likely, he is on the top floor in his observatory. He appears to enjoy spending time in there."

Yareis rubbed at her arm briefly. "Dammit. It's already really warm in here. How many floors up would that be?"

"Many," Alana shrugged. "Perhaps fifty or more. I have not counted them."

Sein laughed gently the moment Yareis groaned. "If you really want to try and talk to him, I wouldn't mind teleporting you up there. I'd like to see how he's doing anyway."

"I would, as well," Alana admitted. She turned her head to face Sein again, a small concerned frown on her face. "How many days has he been hiding out up there now? Three?"

"Too many for my liking," Sein admitted softly. "That's why I wanted to go up there with her."

"Then let's get going," Yareis said, motioning for them to move. "I feel like I'm melting here."

Alana stood up and teleported to the top of the stairs, taking the pair with her. Though she had only been there once before by now, it was easy to remember where her father's room was because it was down the same hall as Jet's own room, but at the very far end. As such, she began walking there. Sein followed them, not necessarily concerning himself with the fact that Yareis seemed to be making the air around her colder than it was. It was probably for her own sake, so it was fine to him.

Upon reaching the door in question, Alana raised her hand to knock, only to pause and put her ear to the door. After a second, she turned to Sein with a now openly worried expression. "He has fallen ill again. I can hear him coughing."

Sein tested the door to see if it was locked before suddenly bashing the door inward and stepping in. "Kath, you okay?" he questioned quickly. Alana facepalmed behind him.

Predictably, the loud crash very much startled awake both Kath and Azerel. The wolf yipped in surprise much like a pup while Kath's immediate reaction was to snap, "What the hell, Sein?"

"Had to make sure you were all good-" Sein was cut off by Yareis suddenly slipping by him, the air around him causing him to cough from how purely cold it was.

"Kath, are you alright?" Yareis asked, moving near Kath without much hesitation. With the doorway now clear, Alana stepped inside.

Despite being a creature of the cold as well, Kath was visibly shivering as he pulled his blankets up and mumbled a small, "I'm fine."

Yareis frowned and quickly stopped what she'd been doing, crossing her arms. "What happened? And don't lie."

Sein quickly stepped in and spoke up. "He's always had a… fairly bad immune system, to put it lightly. He recently went to Mobius, so he's probably gotten sick because he's never actually been there before."

That sounded like the most probable scenario. "I will see if I can find any useful medicine, Father." She turned and quickly left the room. Meanwhile, Azerel finally allowed his fur to lie flat and laid back down with a snort.

"Sorry about your door, by the way," Sein suddenly said, laughing nervously. "Kinda acted without thinking too much. I'll fix it, though."

"I seem to recall teaching you to pick locks specifically so you would stop breaking down doors," Kath muttered just before losing his voice to a coughing fit.

Sein frowned, then was taken aback by the sudden obvious concern from Yareis as she seemed to move a bit closer. "How bad has it been these past few days?" she questioned. The grey hawk wasn't quite in a position to answer, but Azerel's eyes rolled hard. That seemed to say enough about how bad it had truly been… and how stubborn his companion had likely been about the matter of seeking help.

"It's been… pretty rough," Sein murmured in response for Kath. "From what I can tell, at least."

Yareis huffed a little. "You have people around you that could have helped," she murmured to Kath. "You do not have to act on your own all the time."

Finally, the coughing stopped and Kath was able to catch his breath. Once he did, he muttered something in an old tongue but didn't bother to translate himself. Azerel nipped his arm sharply for whatever he'd said, prompting Kath to smack his snout away… only for him to be nipped a second time. "Knock it off, Azerel."

Sein sighed briefly. "I do have to agree with this woman," he murmured. "I'd really appreciate it if you talked to us when you're not feeling well. You helped me through a lot, so I'd really like to be able to do the same for you."

"I don't need the help," Kath muttered, still shivering with fever. He sounded… barely awake. "I'm fine alone."

"I'm gonna be honest, you don't seem to be too fine. When Alana comes back with the medicine, I'd really appreciate you taking it," Sein said.

To his credit, Kath didn't argue that point. He just pushed Azerel again away, causing the wolf to huff loudly and roll his eyes a second time. Thankfully, Alana arrived back before they could really start bickering, though. She had a small glass of liquid medicine with her, the same sort of tasteless drink that Ako (Kath's lifelong friend and doctor) had relied on - since, due to his sensitivities, Kath would usually be unable to tolerate anything else. She handed it off to him, and he took it without complaint.

Yareis turned to Alana and Sein and frowned briefly. "Is there a reason his immune system is so weak?"

Kath set the glass aside on a bedside table. He seemed to heavily debate answering that question, but eventually he admitted, "Yes."

She looked back to him and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Once again, Kath didn't seem sure of whether or not he wanted to reply. That earned him another nip from Azerel, but this time it was softer, less irritated, and more insistence. Kath pushed him away again, but not as hard as before. A moment later, he let out a small breath and said as vaguely as possible, "I have the Therians to thank for this. There is little else you need to know."

Yareis narrowed her eyes before Sein suddenly turned and left without a word, dragging Alana with him. Alana was too confused to immediately react beyond glancing back at her father. Thankfully, he looked ready to try to go back to sleep. It was for the best. So she turned her attention to Sein as they walked. "Where are we going, exactly?"

"We're gonna ask the queen or Jet for access to the records kept on our people, way back when the Therians were attacking and kidnapping people. I've got a bad feeling that I know what he's talking about," Sein explained with no hesitation.

The mere mention of that dark time in their people's history made her stomach drop. Thinking over all the dates, the ages of her parents, and so on, Alana came to a sickening realization. "Mother and Father were both growing up during that period… weren't they?"

He nodded in return as Yareis seemed to catch up to them, though he paid that little mind. "That's exactly why I want to check this out. If he grew up during that time… then there has to be records on his life and anything that might have happened to cause such a thing."

Feeling decidedly grim, Alana nudged Sein down a neighboring hall. "Queen Saraya is in her office. We may be permitted to speak with her."

Sein turned down this hall and moved quickly. He'd almost bashed this door in as well before thinking twice and simply knocking. "Queen Saraya?"

The teen's voice called back without pause. "Yeah, come in."

He opened the door with little hesitation and walked in. It was now that he realized he was still essentially dragging Alana along with him, and so he let go of her. "We wanted to request access to the archives."

Looking up from whatever paper she'd been studying on her desk, the young queen frowned at him. "The archives? What for?"

"My Father," Alana explained. "We know precious little about his past. We… were hoping old documents and files on him could potentially answer some questions we have/"

Saraya was quiet for a few seconds. "...Well, you won't get too much on him," she shrugged. "I read up on Kath and some other historical figures, once. He and, like, two others were really good at staying away from prying ears and eyes. Still, I guess it won't hurt. Knock yourselves out." Standing, she grabbed some sort of holographic jewel and walked over to hand it off to Sein. "This acts as a keycard, basically. Put it into the kiosk in the library on the main floor. You'll have access to all the files on our family, him included."

Sein nodded gently. "Thank you. I'll bring it back when we're done."

"Don't bother, I have another." Saraya returned to her seat without another word.

Alana shrugged slightly, then teleported them all down to the main floor library. It took a bit of looking around, but she soon spied the electronic kiosk their faraway descendant must have been talking about. "I think that is it, Sein."

Sein appeared in front of it and inserted the jewel he'd been given. The machine powered on and immediately provided a list of categories (people, locations, eras, and so on) for them to select from on a holographic screen. Alana was quick to choose eras and then her father's name. Part of her also wanted to choose her mother's, but that would have to wait for another time. Glancing at Sein, she asked him, "Do we select the first item and go from there?"

"Sounds like a good id-" His attention was suddenly pulled away when he heard some idle humming of a small tune in the distance. "Just in case, let me see who that is. I'd rather not make any serious discoveries and it be known to the public." Sein was quick to move in the direction of the humming, finding Cyril browsing through some old physical records of magic and similar things.

The other bird was visibly startled by the sight of Sein suddenly seeming to appear beside him. "Oh, jeez! You scared me!"

Sein laughed briefly. "Ah, I'm sorry about that. I was just seeing who was in here with us."

"It's just me!" Cyril answered with a smile. "I was here looking at some of the records on magic. Wanted to see if I could find anything related to my magic, since Kath said I could take a look around. It's crazy to be meeting him and so suddenly being allowed into an area like this!"

For just a moment, Sein seemed a bit stunned. "Kath let you in?"

Cyril nodded. "Yep. What are you doing down here, though?"

Sein didn't answer for a short time, as if trying to weigh the potential consequences of actually explaining it to Cyril before relenting, "Well, we're actually down here looking for information on Kath. We had some suspicions we wanted to check on."

"Mind if I join? I'd like to know more about him." Cyril's response brought a smile onto Sein's face, then Sein decided to simply pull Cyril over to the kiosk, eliciting a response of, "Woah, I coulda walked myself!" Alana looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"This guy is apparently becoming friends with Kath. It surprised me enough that I thought him joining wouldn't be too bad of an idea," Sein said.

Alana blinked twice. "You and Father are friends?" she repeated, clearly very surprised.

Cyril's eyes widened immediately before looking to Sein. "Who did you say you were again?"

"Uh, name's Sein. I'm her husband," Sein answered, blinking.

"I-" Cyril took a moment to compose himself before suddenly saying, "Oh my god, it's an absolute pleasure to meet Kath's daughter and son-in-law. Wait, does this mean you're Jet's father? Wait are you Immortals? Is that why you're so dang powerful?" There seemed to be more questions, but ultimately Yareis silenced him with a hand over his mouth.

Alana managed a somewhat wan smile. "If it is all the same to you, we will do our best to answer your questions at a later time. But, yes, we are his parents."

Yareis let go of him and he wiped at his beak furiously, trying to warm himself back up. Once he felt comfortable enough, he nodded. "That's absolutely fine by me! I'm just so curious about you guys!"

Sein laughed in amusement. "I get it, but like she said, we can answer your questions another time. We'd prefer to get this done so we can try to figure things out. Maybe you can even help?" The response was a quick nod, and Sein motioned for Alana to go on. "Go ahead and select the first thing. Going from there sounds like a fine idea." Taking in a small breath to brace herself, Alana did what her partner suggested and selected the first item on the screen. Immediately, an ancient video feed began to play.

Therian ships were known for being chock-full of free-flying micro-cameras. One such camera was flying over a formerly quiet Babylonian settlement in the far north of the world. Once pristine snow was now heavily trampled and, in many places, stained crimson. There were many sources of commotion. Screaming, fighting, metallic clangs, sickening thuds, minor explosions… and then a child's yell.

Turning to the right, the camera focused on a small house just as a Therian soldier ripped a young child out of it through a hole in a wall. The child, clearly Kath, struggled in a clear panic for several moments before managing to wrench himself free and run back inside, tripping a bit on some rubble as he went. The Therian audibly scoffed as the camera floated silently closer. Spying said camera, the Therian spoke, their words being translated onscreen by whoever had archived this footage. "Record this, and broadcast it to the commander. He may want that brat alive after seeing how much he kicks and screams."

Sein grimaced, obvious anger filling his eyes at the sight of the Therians. Bastards, the lot of them, he thought to himself. Barely anything good came of them. Alana was silent, too sickened by the proof she was seeing that her father had, in fact, been involved in a raid on their homeworld. She almost wanted to turn the video off right then and there, but she refrained.

Cyril seemed… bothered. "I'd heard the raids and everything were awful, but seeing it for myself just… that's horrid." Alana could only nod.

Naturally, the camera gave no reply. It merely flew away from the soldier and into the home via the same hole that Kath had disappeared through. No sooner than he did so, a thin barrier appeared, surrounding the house. Once inside, it quickly located the child, who stood shivering and clutching at the pant leg of who was clearly his father. The man's name, T'alo, was displayed very briefly as a caption on the screen. He was giving rapid instructions to his son in a dialect of Babylonian only ever spoken in that now long-lost region, but abruptly switched to the form of Babylonian that Sein and Alana knew growing up. "He's coming back now. Stay inside, do you understand me?"

Being far more obedient than Alana would have ever expected, Kath offered a tiny nod. "Yes, Father." Seeing him this close, it became clear that he couldn't have been any older than eight. He certainly acted like it, too, in this moment. Looking anxious and afraid, he held tighter to his father's leg for a moment before finally releasing him and shifting backward toward the stairs.

Sein's eyes watered briefly, but his muscles tensed. The conflicting emotions at seeing Kath in this state… it bothered him far more deeply than he would have liked at this moment. If it were just Alana, it'd be okay. Cyril's expression grew more daunted, idly grabbing one of his shoulders to try and comfort himself somehow. Alana, meanwhile, held firm to Sein's arm in silence.

T'alo glanced outside and his eyes narrowed. His barrier was on the brink of shattering. He teleported two things into his hands. Both were weapons, one a standard aura gun and the other… none other than Alkarus itself. "Go," he ordered his son sternly, nodding toward the stairs. "Stay hidden. Only this soldier knows you're here. Keep it that way."

Kath hesitated for the barest of moments. It wouldn't have mattered, anyway. The barrier shattered, the force of whatever attack had been used causing the walls ahead of them to explode inward. In the few split seconds before the house caved in on them, several things happened. Kath tried to grab at Azerel, who lay unconscious already close by. The shockwave pushed the pair away, however, and also knocked his father's weapons into the air. Purely on reflex, Kath caught the sheathed Alkarus (which was longer than he was tall at that age) in both arms when it slammed into him. Then everything came down on and around them.

Cyril winced briefly, a light pain running over his body at the sight of the building collapsing on Kath. "Dear god…" Alana almost opened her mouth to reply, but the video had a few more seconds left on it. As such, she stayed silent to watch.

Somehow, the camera escaped relatively unharmed. It hovered quickly back outside just in time to see the Therian soldier roughly haul Kath free of the rubble and throw him into a beam being emitted from a nearby ship. The beam started pulling the child upward toward the ship in question, no matter how hard Kath fought to get out of it. He wasn't even able to teleport, despite knowing full well how to. Still clutching at the sword, he watched as more Therians descended upon his former home and dragged his father and wolf companion out into the open. He barely had the chance to cry out a desperate, "Tosa!" before he disappeared inside.

The footage cut off at that point.

Sein took a moment and pulled Alana into a hug, both for his own sake and hers. The overwhelming emotions hitting him at this time were almost too much to handle. Seeing any of his family injured was something he hated with a passion. "I think this… says a lot."

Alana took a steadying breath. "There are other files as well," she murmured. "Precious few others, but others nonetheless."

"Are there more videos?" Cyril questioned. "Watching that one hurt… a lot."

Her eyes scanned the screen. "It appears that the final one or two may be videos. The rest are not."

"Time to steel our nerves against it, I suppose," Cyril murmured.

Without another word, Alana went ahead and selected the next file. Much to her surprise, the scanned image of what appeared to be a tattered page of writing appeared onscreen. The writing was in truly ancient Babylonian, but captions on screen translated the words of the apparent journal entry for them all to read.

-I have to write this quickly. I don't know how much time I have to write this before I'm found. My name is Kath. I'm eight years old. Two weeks ago, an attack was led by the Therians against my homeworld of Babylon. I don't know how many people were captured, but I was among them. This was just the most recent attack we've endured. They've been happening for centuries, with no signs of stopping. The constant warring of our two races only exacerbates the problem.

The only reason I'm writing this is because, when I die, I just want to leave behind some proof that I was here. It won't bring Mother any comfort, but maybe closure at least. Then again, I may be hoping for too much. One thing is for certain, though… I will die. No person that I have ever heard of boards a Therian slave-carrier and lives to tell the tale. Escape is nigh on impossible. Surviving through the beatings, the starvation, the constant work, the lack of sleep… even moreso. I'm going to die here. And I never even got a chance to really live.

Sein read this through several times and his mind went back to his own past, finding his parents on one of the last slave-carriers, only for them to die shortly after. He closed his eyes and shook his head to try and clear it. "Damn them for hurting our people like this…" Alana was silent, not trusting herself to keep it together if she attempted to speak. Her eyes were already stinging with unshed tears.

Cyril wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what. So, he set a hand on their shoulders to try and bring them both comfort. "I'm really sorry that you guys are having to find out about this…"

Somehow, Alana managed to get out a small sentence. "I am not concerned for us… but Father…" she trailed off.

Yareis leaned forward and selected the next one, now wanting to see what the rest of this held. "If you need to stop, by all means do so. Don't push yourselves too hard." As she spoke, another journal entry appeared.

-There's so much to try to unload that I don't even know where to start. It's been… two days, I think, since I first wrote. Maybe three. I've since learned a few things.

This particular group of slaves, myself included, were stolen with a particular job in mind. We're to build and repair their ships and other vehicles. That's why we weren't taken back to Therius. We're meant to live on the ship where we work. Day in and day out. We're being kept in deplorable conditions. A few people are already sick. But that isn't all. We each had a symbol branded into our skin on our forearms, denoting us as slaves of this particular vessel. That way, if we ever get out and another Therian finds us, they know where to send us back to.

After that, we were all put through a battery of tests to see if we were strong enough, or at least smart enough, to be of use. We had to watch as they killed everyone who didn't make the cut. There was a little boy among them, younger than I am. I… told him he would be okay. And then he wasn't.

Cryil's heart sank at this and he looked away for a moment. "That's… No…" Alana merely stared at the screen.

Sein glared at the words he read, as if that could somehow solve the problem. "It's horrible."

Stepping forward, Yareis glanced between them all. "You sure you can handle this? It's liable to get worse."

Suddenly, Alana's eyes hardened. "We are not leaving. This is my father. I have to know."

"I won't bow out of this until I know what I can learn about him. He might not be my father biologically, but he damn well is to me," Sein answered.

Yareis huffed with a faint smirk. "I expected that much." With this said, she moved on to the next file. It was a third journal entry.

-Children are nearly always killed. I wasn't. I still don't know why. Apparently I'm not as useless to them as most others are. That's only a small comfort.

Aside from my clothes and shoes, the only thing they've allowed me to keep are this book and my pen. I guess because my writing can't exactly hurt them or get me away from this place. So far, though, I've only had time to do anything is very late at night, when most of the others are asleep. There just hasn't been anything to write about. Everything is the same, every day. Nothing but constant work and pain. I've been forced to work on improving their technology and weapons with their own scientists. I hate them all for it. I hate that I'm helping them capture and kill my people. I hate it.

Sein could only feel anguish from these words, both for himself and Kath. The pain was obvious, and he couldn't ignore it. Alana remained silent again, if only because it was how she knew best to handle her own emotions. I am so sorry, Father… She watched as someone (she didn't pay attention to who) opened the next file.

-746. That may as well be my name now. All I am is property to them, a number with some usefulness that can be thrown away at a moment's notice. I never thought that my life could become so bleak and pointless, that I'd want nothing more than to end it all. But here I am… and this is how things are.

Cyril winced. I'll never know that pain, at least not at the hands of the Therians. But to know that someone else experienced it… This is cruel. Almost numbly, Alana opened yet another journal entry.

-A friend of mine from home is here. Ako is here, and I don't know whether to hate that fact or be happy because I'm not all alone anymore. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I really do hate it. I don't care anymore about my own fate, but why is he here? Why is anyone else here? What did they do to deserve this?

If I ever, ever get out of here… I'll make the Therians pay for this. For all of this. This has gone on long enough.

Yareis frowned briefly. This level of hatred was something she usually felt, but to know it stemmed from something like this for Kath left a bad taste in her mouth. I'm damn glad they got wiped out. Again, Alana reached out in silence to open the next one.

-I refused to work this morning. I was whipped. I never even felt the need to cry. I just felt furious. I still do. I don't know what's happening to me. I've been so angry lately, and I can't control it. It scares me. It makes me feel as though I'm becoming my grandparents… something I swore I would never do.

Sein glanced to Alana. "Do we know anything about his grandparents?"

Alana shook her head. "No. I do not think he ever mentioned them. Mother did not, either."

"Tch." Yareis shrugged. "Do you even know their names?"

"I… I may have heard them before," Alana answered slowly, "but I do not specifically recall…" She trailed off for a long moment, but soon frowned. "...His grandfather's name… I believe it may have been Kotek. Or, else, that is a close relative of the man."

"Then look for it another time and see if you can find anything. Who knows, maybe you'll find out if they're deplorable scum," Yareis answered easily. "For now, I say we keep moving." With little more than a nod, Alana selected the next file.

-I still can't get over my anger. I fear it may start consuming me. The thought is almost terrifying. And yet, I'm sorely tempted not to care. I've been acting out lately, admittedly. I hadn't exactly noticed it until another prisoner, a woman named Alaris, pointed it out and warned me quite worriedly to stop, lest the Therians decide to just kill me off and be done with it. Whatever. Just let them try. Even if I do die, I won't go quietly.

The only other thing I can think to mention is that I turned nine earlier this month. As if it really matters. The days blur together so much that I hadn't even realized how much time had passed until I happened to overhear the date from someone else's conversation today.

"So he'd been in there for some several months by then, almost a year potentially depending on when he was captured," Yareis muttered.

Sein nodded. "It… seems to be that way." Alana selected the second to last file. Sure enough, it was a video, and she braced herself for it by hugging on Sein's arm some more.

Another Therian micro-camera spied Kath as he sprinted through the length of whatever Therian slave ship he was on. He was older in this footage, maybe about fourteen, and in a rush that was completely unlike him in any normal setting. He was also filthy, his grey feathers and white clothes tarnished with a layer of filth that took quite a lot of time to build up. To make matters worse, he was also thin, exhausted, and visibly injured. And yet, for some reason, he kept running.

The camera sounded an alarm and flew after him as he skidded around a corner, already being pursued by other cameras and various other things that fired upon him, sounded alarms, and generally just impeded his progress. Despite the formal speech pattern most knew him for, he let out a furious and rather crass swear when one laser grazed his forearm as he ran. Spinning around, he brandished a clearly stolen Therian weapon and fired it until nothing remained that could actively harm him. It was clear that he didn't care about the cameras, tossing a glare at them that almost seemed to convey the thought, "Let them see… I don't care."

Yareis clicked her tongue. "When and how did he manage to escape his captors? Do either of you know that?"

"We never knew he was captured to begin with," Alana answered. "That is why we are here."

Sein nodded. "All of this is new information to us."

With that, he continued on. Turning another sharp corner, he very nearly ran into another Babylonian (this one an adult) who was being made to guard the door leading into some sort of room. "Kath!" she exclaimed in clear shock. "What are you doing? We're all supposed to be under lockdown! We're being fired upon!"

"No," Kath responded harshly, "they are. We don't have anything to do with this damn ship. But we are leaving." Barely giving her any time to respond, he pushed past her and started to pull open the heavy metal door. Pausing, he told her, "There are escape pods. I'm getting everyone I can to them. While the fight keeps the ship stationary, we should have a straight-shot to the nearest allied planet."

"I guess this explains what I was asking about," Yareis murmured.

Sein nodded again. "No shit." Internally, he was far from surprised. It was Kath they were talking about, so this sort of rebellion was far from impossible.

"Kath, what are you thinking?" the woman demanded, fear heavily coloring her tone. "That's crazy! If we go anywhere near those, we'll be killed!"

Just like that, the teen rounded on her. "We're going to be killed anyway!" he exploded. "Do you think we actually matter to any of them?! You and Ako are the only people who haven't referred to me as a goddamn number instead of my name in years! They put us to death for sport! Our lives are nothing to them! Obeying them only delays our death sentences!" He turned back around and wrenched the door open the rest of the way, revealing the faces of multiple other slaves in what was apparently some sort of mass sleeping chamber. Those who were awake had heard the shouting.

Privately, Alana was rattled. She had always known her father to be a calm person overall. Yes, he'd always had a temper, but for him to just blow up on someone like this… "I do not think I have ever seen him so angry…" Yes, he was under undue amounts of stress, but even so… it is not like him.

Sein sighed briefly. "I… I'm not surprised, but at the same time, I have to agree."

"I think it's badass," Yareis answered. Sein gave her an odd look, to which she simply shrugged.

Cyril took this as a moment to tear his attention away from the files. "I… I don't think that's the kind of comment appropriate for what we're looking at."

"So?" Yareis murmured. "It's what I thought. Could have said a number of far worse things." Alana waved a hand to shush them both as the video proceeded.

The woman was shivering. "Kath…"

"Alaris, you tell me about your sister all the time," Kath responded, voice back down to a normal volume again. "If you ever want to see her again, you'll trust me. Go to the pods. Don't let anything stop you." His eyes scanned the faces of those who were sitting up in the dark room before him. "Same to all of you. If you care about anything at all, even if it's just a goddamn store that you miss, you'll run… and you won't stop until you get to the exit. There's just enough space for everyone, but you have to go now."

"I didn't expect him to do something like this," Sein admitted. "That's just… unusual."

"Father has never been the sort to try and give people… hope," Alana murmured. "He always… let Mother deal with that. I suppose, in a way… it is good to see that he is just as capable of it."

Sein smiled faintly. "He did it with me, but in a sort of indirect way."

Yareis rolled her eyes in faint amusement. "All things considered, sounds about right. Doesn't seem like the kind of guy to just do it openly."

An error appeared just then, showing that the data was corrupted. The video skipped ahead an indeterminate amount of time before landing on a point where Kath finished picking some sort of high-tech lock on a door to what appeared to be a cell. Pulling the door open, he hurried inside. The feed went to static for a moment or two, recovering just long enough to show Kath shaking awake a brown hawk his same age as he insisted, "Ako, get up, we have to go!"

The same error message appeared. When video feed returned, the camera was hovering just outside of the ship, still blaring its alarm as it watched two escape pods shoot out and rapidly disappear into the distance. A huge battle audibly took place somewhere offscreen, with multiple fiery explosions bursting into view and narrowly missing the third escape pod. The fourth and fifth, however, weren't so lucky. The fifth one was consumed in flames and knocked back into the side of the ship, where it promptly exploded.

Cyril winced again, the pain of knowing that anyone in that pod was most likely dead hitting him fairly hard. Despite having fought large battles, death still weighed fairly heavily on him at times. He didn't like it.

The fourth one, having been just ahead of the fifth, managed to escape the worst of the blast by the skin of its teeth. However, the shockwave caused it to veer sharply off course. It, like the others, rapidly started to disappear into the distance. Just before it was gone, however, the camera zoomed in close and took a quick scan… revealing that it was Kath inside. Then the feed ended.

Sein frowned. "That… I don't even know what to say about that."

"I do not understand," Alana admitted quietly. "If he was separated from the others he was escaping with, how did he manage to get back home?"

"There's no telling. He could have found a way to make it back on his own, or some sort of team doing exploration could have found him," Sein answered.

Alana grew quiet. Eventually, she opened up the last file. There was no indication of who was responsible for the writing they were seeing (or when they had written it), but it clearly wasn't her father's handwriting. Nevertheless, she read what was on the page.

A scattering of reports showed that a group of ten or so Babylonians, all bearing the same branded mark on their arms, crash landed on the planet Adal via Therian-made escape pods. After giving their story to the present officials, they were safely transported back to their homeworld for treatment and, eventually, reunited with their loved ones. When news reached Princess Laralei that Ako was among the survivors, she went to him and asked about Kath, only to be told that they had lost him during the escape.

It was unclear for the duration of one year (when basing a year on the way a hawk ages) whether or not he had survived, until a team of scientists bound for home from an expedition brought astounding news. They had gone to the long abandoned desert homeworld of the Erukti, one of the four beginning races, in search of artifacts. As that race had been eradicated near the dawn of time and the world had never sustained any other forms of life, they expected to find nothing but bones and the remnants of old tech and architecture.

However, they also found something remarkable: a crashed Therian escape pod with a message carved into the metal side with a rock. The details of this message remain unclear, but it led to the discovery of a barely-alive Babylonian teen who was quickly whisked away to Planet Babylon. Upon regaining consciousness, he gave his name and was soon reunited with his mother. When asked publicly for comment, the King and Queen expressed their supreme relief over the finding of the boy they viewed as part of their own family. Princess Laralei was noted to have wept silently, a clear departure from her normal character, in the background as she, too, was given the news.

Yareis smiled briefly. "So it seems you weren't too far from the truth, kid," she murmured to Sein.

Sein huffed. "Yeah, I can read." Though seeming annoyed, it was obvious that the news of him being recovered in that amount of time was… wonderful, in it's own way, but also bittersweet. It could have taken longer, especially given the unusual location, but on the other hand... that was a long time to be alone on a dead world. Even still, though, Sein was happy. Sure, he wished it would have been sooner, but the fact remained that Kath had been found. Now that he really had time to think about it logically, all of this really made sense. It played perfectly into the depression he knew Kath was prone to, why his immune system was awful, and even where his temper had come from. It also explained why the man had such issues making friends, outside of any mental disorders.

After taking a small amount of time to collect herself, Alana almost whispered to him, "I do not like that I understand so many things better, now that we know this."

"I don't either," Sein whispered back. "It's… painful."

Cyril scratched the back of his head. "I… honestly didn't expect to be in for this kind of a rollercoaster today. Mostly expected to be reading about magic… but this does explain why Wave brought me here."

"What do you mean?" Alana questioned, looking over at him.

"Well, she seemed really intent on having me meet him. I guess it was to have him get to know someone who could become a friend?" Cyril wasn't fully sure on this, but it made enough sense to him.

Alana thought this matter through carefully, then came to a decision. "Regardless of her reasoning, if you are able and willing to befriend my father… I will be grateful for it. Ako, the other boy mentioned in these files, has been his only friend aside from my mother and one other girl since… Really, for the whole duration of his life, I suppose. I would be happy to see that number grow, even if only by one more."

Cyril grinned. "You can count on me!"

Sein laughed softly and smiled to Cyril. "I am. If you'd like some help another time looking for things about magic, I'd be more than happy to help, but for now I think I'm gonna go talk to Kath for a few minutes."

"I will stay here and help him," Alana volunteered gently. "You go ahead, Sein. I will speak with Father later."

Hearing this, Sein teleported up to the top floor and went to knock on the door, only to remember that it was lying on the ground. He sheepishly tapped his knuckles against the doorframe before stepping in. "Hey, Kath?"

Apparently, the older hawk hadn't actually fallen back asleep yet. He looked up from Azerel (who was now laying in front of him being petted) toward the door. "You can come in," was all he said, and he said it in the sort of dry tone that indicated some level of sarcasm. Since, of course, Sein already had come into the room.

"I figured," Sein said before walking over. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Kath had a sinking feeling that he knew what this was about. But he didn't bother to delay the inevitable. "I can tell." He felt a small urge to cough, but thanks to the medicine he'd been given he was able to hold it back. It wasn't bringing his fever down by very much yet, but at least it was suppressing his cough. He was grateful for that.

The younger man sat down and sighed. "It's about a little while back, when we were talking about what Cere mentioned and all, and I pushed a bit. I wanted to apologize for asking you about something you weren't ready to talk about."

"You do not need to apologize," Kath answered quietly. "You had no way of knowing. My refusal to speak on the matter prompted you to ask more and was ultimately the cause of my own upset."

Sein shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I figured it was just too much for you to really be ready for. I really want you to know that you can talk to us about anything. I will never think less of you, no matter what your past was. You'll always be my father."

Though he hadn't quite meant to, Kath let out a tiny sigh. "I know." He was quiet for a moment before deciding to let himself ask, "What… exactly, was it that you wanted to know?" He knew he'd been told before, obviously, but with the fever and his current headache… it was just hard to remember. Which was irritating.

"I wanted to know what your life was like, obviously now I know that I'd have to ask for things after the Therians. Cere seemed… concerned about something, and I really wanted to make sure that we could try and keep you safe in this war," Sein murmured. "So… I suppose I should actually ask. What… exactly happened after you came back?"

Kath was quiet for a time before answering, resuming idly petting Azerel as a subconscious means of comforting himself. "After leaving the hospital, I was sent to live with my mother. Too many people believed I could simply… assimilate back into normal life. When I could not and no one around me seemed to understand, my anger began to grow out of control again." He looked away, gaze distant. "I could not stand the worry in my mother's eyes and, being idiotic and young, I thought it best to leave. So I did."

"Kinda like I did for a short while after finding out about my parents?" Sein asked softly.

"In a manner of speaking," Kath agreed. He hated the reminder of Sein having done that (his own worry was not an emotion he enjoyed), hated remembering this portion of his own life, but he pressed on. "However, I did not come back having grown more or learned anything, as you did. I was angrier than ever and felt… alone. I got wrapped up in the criminal underground as a means of physically venting those emotions. My life only spiraled downward from there."

"And… that's how you got involved with drugs and such… right?" Sein asked carefully. "If you don't want to answer, you don't have to," he assured.

Kath shook his head, but said, "It was. Consequently, I do not have total recollection of that period of time. But that may be for the best."

"Sometimes things like that happen for the best," Sein answered, nodding. "I'm just… glad that you were able to open up with me."

Unexpectedly, Kath huffed and half-jokingly murmured, "I blame Lari." For several reasons, he failed to notice his own use of his old nickname for Laralei.

Sein snickered briefly. "Whatever the reason, it makes me happy. I like to be able to return the favor for all the years of you teaching me to become the man I am today."

Azerel made some sort of silent comment. Whatever it was got him pushed right off the bed and dumped unceremoniously onto the floor. For a supremely rare moment, Kath departed from his usual speech-pattern long enough to mutter an annoyed, "Asshole."

Amused, Sein simply stood back up. "In any case, you seem pretty tired. You used mom's nickname, so I'm gonna assume you could use the rest."

It was only when he looked back that Kath realized he had in fact done that very thing. He huffed a little, but didn't argue the point as Azerel jumped back on the bed. You only get to stay if you can shut up, jackass. Azerel didn't reply, fortunately for him, and just laid back down.

Sein laughed (he knew full well how to tell when those two were arguing by now) before motioning for Kath to lay down as he turned to leave. When he approached the doorway, the man turned his attention back to Kath with a gentle smile. "Love ya, dad." With that, he stepped out and used his aura to pull the door back up where it belonged.

~保護者~

9,069 words this time, and I hope you all enjoyed. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 10:00 a.m.) 11-12-20.