Vector woke up one morning, and felt Second sleeping next to him. How weird, he thought, rolling over. Usually she'd getting the kids ready for school at this time. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them quickly and looked at the time.
"Shit, she overslept!" He got up and leaned over her.
"Second, oh Second, you need to get up," he said, putting a hand on her. She ignored him, and wrapped the blankets tightly around her. He moved the blankets so he could see her face and noticed the redness of her cheeks. He put a hand on her head and it felt unusually hot.
"Ah, dammit." There was no point in getting her up, he decided. Vector quickly got dressed and started walking up Michio and Mieru.
"Hey, wake up you two," he said, turning on their lights.
"Wait, where's mom?" Michio asked, rubbing his eyes.
"She's not feeling good, so I have to take you to school," he said.
Michio was dressed and went to get breakfast, but Mieru was being slow.
"Dad, can you help me?" she asked. She was in the bathroom brushing her hair.
"Maybe...I think."
"Can you put a bow in my hair like mom does?"
"Um." He looked at the brush, not really sure how to do it. "I don't think so."
She stuck out her lip. "But mom always does it."
"Yeah, but I don't know how she does it," he said, looking through the drawers, hoping Second had put a pre-tied ribbon somewhere. Instead, he found a black headband with a bow on it and smiled.
"Here, how about this?"
She looked at it and smiled. "That works. Thanks dad!" She kissed his cheek and ran downstairs to eat.
"This isn't too hard," He said walking down.
Both of the kids were eating and he sat down by them.
"Did you make lunch?" Mieru asked.
"No..."
"Oh, mom always makes lunch for us."
"I didn't know that."
"So what are we going to take then?"
"I don't know," he said shaking his head. "Here, we can stop by the store before school and you can get something. How does that sound?"
"Oh, mom's never done that. Sounds good!" She smiled. Michio nodded in agreement and put his dishes in the sink. He got his bag together and help Mieru with hers and then they were ready for school. Thankfully there was a small store along the way.
Right by the door was an area filled with premade lunches, which he figured would decent meals for them.
"Just pick out something, don't take too long," he said.
"Wow, never thought I'd see you again," he heard from behind the counter.
Vector looked up and saw Mizael glaring at him. He had his hair pulled back and he was wearing fairly normal clothes with a black apron. Vector also noticed that he didn't have any red marks on his face, either covered up by makeup, or they weren't even permanent in the first place.
"I can say the same about you," he said with a smirk.
"Yeah, yeah." He went back to cutting some vegetables. "I swore you were dead."
"Yeah that's what I was trying for," he said. "And I'm shocked to see no one else gave you a status on my existence."
"I'm shocked to hear that too." He looked up for a second. "So why have I been graced with your unsightly presence today?"
"Oh no reason, just getting some food."
"I see that." He looked down. "I never expected you to go as low as to kidnap kids."
"Well you're wrong there." He smirked. "They are actually mine."
"Oh how could I have missed something like that?" Mizael said, not looking at Vector.
Vector leaned on the counter. "Mhm, and I never would have expected you to be working in a place like this."
"This is only a side job," he said holding up a knife. "I need the extra money. I'll be done here in a few months."
"Oh I'm sure it's just that."
"I could say the same with you and those kids. How did you manage to convince someone to deal with you, much less have kids with you? Or were they dropped on you because you got some poor girl pregnant?"
"No, nothing like that, she was very willing all the way."
Mizael raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And who is this poor girl then?"
"Remember Zexal?"
"Vaguely but yes, but why does that matter?"
"The second one was told to watch me, and it turned into something more." Vector said with a big grin.
"I would have never guessed." He got up and wiped his hands. "So are you going to buy something or keep gawking at me?"
Mieru walked up to Vector and grabbed his hand.
"Dad, who's this lady you're talking to?" He glared at her.
"I'm not a lady," he growled. "Please control your kids or I'll have you kicked out."
"Fine fine, both of you get what you want." Vector paid for the snacks and sarcastically waved to Mizael.
"Bye Miza," he said with a grin.
"Yeah yeah, bye."
When Vector got home from dropping the kids off he found Second still in bed. She seemed much better compared to how she was that morning. He put a hand on her back.
"Still asleep?"
She moved a little and opened her eyes. "Mm, not anymore." She yawned.
"How are you feeling?"
She shook her head, and then grabbed it with a wince. "Hurts, my head hurts. I feel like I did before I had Mieru."
"Do you want me to get you anything?" he asked.
"Um, just some tea, if you can."
He nodded.
"Thanks."
He came back a few minutes later and handed her a cup.
"Mm, better," she said. Then her eyes widened when she realised something. "The kids! I overslept! Dammit!" She began climbing out of bed.
"I got it covered."
"Oh, oh good." She sat back down. "Thanks for that. I didn't even know..."
"Yeah, I kind of guessed that." He shrugged. "I took them to a store to get lunch. Ran into Mizael. It was fun teasing with him." He laughed.
"Oh really? Well I'm glad you enjoy it taking them. Maybe you can do it again," she said, sipping her tea.
"Ah, well I might if I get up in time."
"Of course." She put her cup down and went quiet.
"Something wrong?"
She shook her head. "No, well, not exactly. Just...I had a weird dream."
"Well what was it about?"
"Heartland was destroyed, and on the ground there was cards, but on them were people. They looked like they were screaming and trying to get out, or like they were taken by surprise." She said, her tone noticeably dark.
"It sound more like a nightmare."
"Honestly, it was. It felt so real. Maybe—" She stopped herself.
"Maybe what?"
"It's nothing, I just remembered something Eliphas told me. But I'm sure it's nothing," she said with a laugh, trying to hide her nervousness.
"Are you hiding something from me?" He asked, seriously.
She covered her mouth and looked away. "I guess I said to much already." She sighed. "Eliphas told us that someone, or something, has been trying to come here—something from what we think is a different dimension."
"Hm, interesting. I wonder if it means anything."
"I don't know. I haven't been told anything about it lately."
Vector stood up. "Well, we'll find out soon enough.".
"I rather not. But you never know." She got up with him and started getting dressed. "I should talk to Eliphas soon, now that I think about it. Maybe I'll learn something new."
Once Second was dressed, Vector followed her out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
"If you need to leave just tell me, okay?"
"Of course. Actually, could you get the kids from school? This might take awhile..."
