Gilag sighed and plopped down on the couch at the BARian. Alit looked up and tossed him a coke. "Yo! How'd it go?"
"Good! I didn't tell her about the barian thing, but she agreed not to ask or investigate as long as I call in once a week," Gilag explained as he popped open the can of soda.
"Cool! I wish my dad would go for a deal like that!" Alit cried then covered his mouth, "Me and my big mouth! This is why Misael and Vector coined the saying, 'all Alit on security'!"
"Alit, why don't you admit you still care for him? I mean, he's in town. You can talk to him, see if he'll agree to not control you and if he doesn't, you can just leave," Gilag suggested.
"It's not like that, Gilag, it's just..." Alit sighed, "I don't want to talk to him because of the possibility he will try to control me. I guess a little part of me hopes he will give me my freedom and understand that I need to be on my own and if I see him and he restricts me and starts blabbering out statistics and the importance of going to school, then that hope just dies a painful death. I mean, all that stuff is great and all for human children, but I'm over seven hundred years old and an alien! I'm not technically a child and definitely not human!"
"But how will you ever know if your hope ever had any basis for being true unless you talk to him?" Gilag asked.
Alit froze, then looked over at Gilag, "That may be the smartest thing you have ever said."
"Hey!" Gilag complained.
"That was a compliment," Alit deadpanned.
"Oh, sorry. I'm just used to Misael's euphemism insults," Gilag said.
"Huh?" Alit asked.
"That was how Dumon described it," Gilag shrugged.
"Oh, so do you have any idea what that means?" Alit asked.
"Not a clue."
"Oh, okay," Alit shrugged.
"So what happened while I was with my mom?" Gilag asked.
"The usual. Vector caused Misael and Nasch to go into murderous rages, Dumon OD'ed on aspirin and coffee, Merag ignored the chaos, and I ran for my room."
"So I didn't miss anything that doesn't already happen on a normal day," Gilag summarized.
"Yeah," Alit replied. The two of them sat in awkward silence for a while.
"So, back to your dad," Gilag prompted finally.
"Drop it," Alit sighed.
"Come on, you can talk to me about it," Gilag pressed.
"Fine," Alit groaned, "I know my dad, alright? He's a control freak. He thinks because he is so smart and went through his life without any major issues or hiccups that his way is the best way to go through life. He can't even comprehend that there are other ways to live life that are just as good if different. I mean, he wants me to be a scientist because he is one and loves it. Me? You know I can't wrap my head around any sciencey stuff!"
"Yeah, but you can punch like no one's business," Gilag interjected.
"Exactly! I'm awesome at anything physical! But mentally? Pfft, I'm terrible! Remember when we all took IQ tests online and there was an error in the system so on my test it put a negative sign before my IQ?" Alit asked.
"You took the test again and the bug was fixed that time," Gilag reminded him.
"Yeah, but that didn't stop the joke about the bug in the system being on the second test," Alit complained, "Besides, my score wasn't that high in the first place."
"Well, it was around the average human intelligence," Gilag said.
"105, yeah. And Misael wouldn't get off my back for being as smart as a "dirt and dung eating monkey". Of course, Dumon did set a high bar with his score," Alit mused.
"Yeah, we had to give him three different tests and then go to about ten more IQ websites before we finally admitted it wasn't another bug. I honestly did not know it was possible to score that high," Gilag whistled.
"Yeah, I mean, none of the rest of us even came close to his score," Gilag added.
"Oh yeah. Well, anyway, as I said, I'm not that smart! I don't want to be a scientist and at this point I CAN'T be a scientist! You know, with the whole alien emperor and eternal youth thing," Alit sighed, "I can't tell him what I am and I don't think I can convince him to not control me. If I face him, I'll just end up hurting and running from him."
"Alright, alright, good point," Gilag groaned, "I swear, my mom is the only decent parent any of us have!"
"I know! From what I saw and from what you've said, she's awesome!" Alit cried.
Gilag grinned, "Heck yeah! She has got to be the best mom in the world!"
"Yeah, hey maybe once this is all over and my dad's gone, can I meet her?" Alit asked.
"Of course, Alit!" Gilag replied.
"Awesome! Finally, I can meet an adult human who's a good parent! Unlike my dad. I mean, he probably doesn't even really miss me," Alit said, leaning back and taking a sip of his own coke.
... (^0^) ...
Ines wheeled in to work the next morning in a cheery mood. Her son was fine and he was seemingly happy. She had a good, solid job that she enjoyed and she got to check up on her son at least once a week, which wasn't the best situation but it would do. Life was good.
"Good morning, Dr. Juliosu!" she chirped as she wheeled in to the research lab.
Ares looked up at her. "Good morning, Dr. Kivigira! How are you today?"
"Amazing. And you?" she replied.
"Ah, well, actually, I've had a lot going on in my personal life but in my professional life, everything's great!" he answered.
Ines frowned, "Do you keep your business life and personal life completely separate?"
"Absolutely, I try not to even think about my personal life while I'm working," Ares stated.
"That's not healthy in the slightest, you know," Ines sighed, "Not thinking about your personal life for almost ten hours a day will negatively affect your relationships with your friends and family."
"Really?" Ares asked, "Well, I guess that's kinda obvious, isn't it? Maybe that explains why Andre-" he broke off and looked down.
"Andre?" Ines asked.
"My son," Ares sighed, "He's adopted but I never exactly told him all his life."
Ines frowned, "You shouldn't have hid that from him. I have a son too who was adopted but I never hid it from him."
"Yeah, well, I think your way was probably best because when I told Andre, he ran away," Ares sighed.
Ines blinked. His son ran away?! "Was that it?"
"What?"
"I don't think just telling him he was adopted would've prompted him to run away," Ines replied, "Did anything else happen?"
"Well, we always fought. A lot," Ares admitted.
"That would do it," Ines sighed, "Over what?"
"It was mostly him being foolish. He's not a very good student and messes up on simple assignments, and not always because he was being sloppy. He always begs me to let him join a sports team or go to the gym, but that's out of the question. Sports don't lead to anything so of course I said no-"
"Oh dear God," Ines pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned, "You have got to be the worst parent ever, unless Vincent has kids."
"What?" Ares asked, "What's wrong with the way I parent?"
"Have you ever heard of the word fun?" Ines asked.
"Of course! But science is fun!" Ares protested.
"Has it ever occurred to you that science was NOT his idea of a good time? That maybe he wanted to play sports because it was fun?" Ines prompted.
"Well... still, if he focused all his time on sports, he couldn't get a good job in science and make a lot of money from his job," Ares countered.
Ines facepalmed, "How can you be so smart but so stupid?! If he doesn't enjoy science or academics in general and prefers to pursue a career in sports, it's your job as a parent to encourage him! Choosing a job because it makes a lot of money is NOT the way to go! I can't believe I'm saying this, but no wonder he ran away. After all of that and then being told he was adopted, the only thing that would make that situation worse would be shouting it at him in the middle of a fight!"
Ares was silent for a while and found the corner of the room very interesting. Ines slammed her head on the counter. "Oh dear sweet Lord, what exactly did you say when you screamed it at him?"
Ares bit his lip. "Now that I replay it in my head, I can safely say you probably do not want to know."
"Oh dear God... take some freaking parenting lessons, Christ!" she shook her head and started to wheel away.
"H- hey! Wait!" Ares called.
"What?" she snapped.
"Do you want to meet me for coffee after work and give me some tips?" Ares asked.
Ines sighed, "There's a place on third street. I'll meet you there."
"Thanks," Ares muttered.
"It's mostly because you really need some pointers," Ines groaned and left the room.
Ares frowned after her. "Am I really that bad of a parent?" he wondered out loud.
... (^0^) ...
"Nasch."
The violet-haired king looked up from his seat on the couch at Merag. "What's up?"
"I was thinking... about dad- our adoptive dad," Merag replied.
"What about him?" Nasch asked, his voice becoming cold and foreboding.
"What do we do about him? We can't let him stay around for long!" Merag cried.
"I know that, Merag, but I don't have the trust or authority with the human governments to get him kicked out, yet. As soon as I believe I can safely do it without conflict, believe me I will. But for now all I can do is try to make him want to leave," Nasch growled.
Merag plopped down next to him. "I can't stand putting up with him, Nasch. I remember how he treated you, how both of them treated you. I want him to realize it was wrong, I want him to realize how horrible it was."
"So do what I do, belittle him or ignore him completely unless he starts running his fat mouth," Nasch shrugged.
"True, eventually he will realize he is being treated the same way he treated you," Merag stated.
"Possibly, if his ego shrinks down about a million sizes. Honestly, I doubt he'll ever think about his actions towards me paralleling my actions towards him," Nasch snorted.
Merag sighed, "I hate how he treated you, but that's in the past, right? You know, the more I think about it, the less I think of them as parents. They adored me so much they made me a spoiled brat but participated in child neglect towards you. And I did nothing about it..."
"Hey, don't think like that. You were confused, you weren't responsible for your actions." Nasch soothed.
Merag snorted bitterly, "Funny, because when I was hurting you or others, I felt like my mind was completely clear. I was planning who to pick on days in advance, too. I was planning how to get you in the most trouble as well. I was fully aware of what I was doing, I just have memories of what harming people really does now."
Nasch frowned. "I felt bad about what I had done to people when you were unconscious. You just have to move on and do good things. I'm not saying you can just let stuff like that go, but you can try to put it behind your. You are not like that anymore, Merag, you hear me?" Nasch grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her so she was facing him, "You're not like that."
Tears crept into Merag's eyes. "Are you certain, Nasch?"
"One hundred percent. Our parents and the kids at school screwed you up, that thing that Jenny was is not you!" Nasch assured her.
"But what if it is, Nasch?!" Merag cried.
"Merag, you have lived four different lives. In your first as a priestess, you were a good person. In your second and current as a barian, you were and are a good person. In your third as Rio, you were a good person. In your fourth as Jenny, you were horrible, but are you seeing the pattern?" Nasch asked softly.
Merag bit her lip and nodded. "I can't believe I let myself be so cruel to others..."
"Well, you won't do it again, right?" Nasch asked. She nodded. "Then stop worrying. Jenny is dead. She is gone forever, understand?"
Merag took a deep breath and nodded. "Thanks, Nasch."
"No problem. Now I have a phone meeting with some of the diplomats. I hope our damn adoptive dad is on the line too..." Nasch muttered as he got up and strode away.
Merag shook her head and smiled. There was no doubt why Nasch was the leader of the seven emperors. He always knew how to comfort the others, in his own way of course, and he could make the tough decisions that were necessary for success. She would always obey her brother, and king's, commands.
Even if one day he had to order her to hurt, or kill, their parents.