Chapter 53c: Ess: Dear Dad by warelander
Not too much later, the Tetra living room was filled with Primp High students. Zed, Merigu, Shosu and Emii alike, they were all stunned.
Lagnus, Marvett, Nasos, Draco, Ally, Amitie, Silvana, Arle, Maguro Tee, Ringo, Incubus, and Marle. None of them would have ever thought to see so many people come together for their cause.
Many of them were casually chatting, waiting for the next course of action, some were surprised to see certain ones here, most of all Incubus, nobody's friend. Marle was in the back, busy painting something.
Marvett sat on the couch next to Incubus, rather surprised by the lack of flirting attempts on his part. It certainly was good to know that bringing him on wasn't a mistake.
Lagnus for his part couldn't wait until they finally got to the main event. A small chuckle escaped him, one that did not go unnoticed.
''You look pretty excited.'' The boy heard someone approach him. Turns out, it was Ally.
''Huh? Sorry. It's just a cool thing, y'know? So many of us coming together to do something good for someone.'' He explained. Now it was Ally's turn to giggle a bit.
''I know what you mean. Us all banding together to show our love~ It's like a sidequest in an RPG where the party coming together to help someone in the team!'' Ally gushed dreamily.
Lagnus just stood there stunned. Did he really hear that right?
''Y-Yeah! We're gonna be like RPG heroes coming back together…just without a demon lord to fight or something, but that's not all heroes are about.'' He trailed off a bit, slightly flustered at his sudden, nerdy outbreak.
Luckily, Ally was receptive to it, enjoying seeing him so excited. Less relaxed about the whole situation was Ringo.
''Not to rain on your parade, but how the factor are we gonna convince the TetraTech big cheese to listen to us?''
''We just tell him what's up. It's quite simple. '' Maguro was far more relaxed about it, though Ringo still seemed skeptical.
''It's true. He's her father, he should understand.'' Nasos agreed with the kendama enthusiast.
''A chance to talk to Ex Tetra himself…we have to make the most of it.'' Tee mumbled to himself, trying to hide his own nervousness.
''Of course we have to! Ess needs us!'' Amitie outright yelled with no control on her volume, startling everyone around her in the process.
Draco attempted to calm her cheerleading colleague down. While Marle was working close to them, she continued her work completely unphased.
In their own little corner were the Nadja siblings, neither saying much to the other, keeping to themselves in awkward silence.
''Hey. Pretty cool we are doing this together, huh?'' Arle attempted to break the ice.
Silvana rolled her eyes, making it blatant that she wasn't going to play along. Without a word, she moved away to another corner of the room, much to Arle's annoyance.
''Can you not do that for a change? What's your problem anyway?'' She called after her sister, but got no response.
Marvett and Incubus watched that particular scene unfold, following Sil's steps as she searched for refuge somewhere else in the room.
''Oh my, that isn't good.'' The unsuccessful ladies' man commented on the sibling argument.
Marvett merely shrugged.
''You get used to it. At least Dalida is pretty easy to take care of.''
Meanwhile, in the room nearby, stood Sig, Jaan, Yoko, and Hilda, all of them trying to prepare for what had to be done. Jaan kept making sure to check on her fragile angel friend to try and see how she was doing.
''You feeling okay?'' She inquired, to which the pinkhead silently nodded.
Nobody was all that convinced by that and Sig especially could feel a sense of guilt edge onto him.
''You ca-hahahah~-can be honest with us.'' Hilda attempted to ease Yoko up a little.
''And you really don't have to, if you don't want to.'' Sig added, trying to give her a way out if she wanted to.
Yoko merely shook her head.
''I'm fine. Just nervous being in a large crowd, especially without 'Notty…'' She rubbed her arm with one hand, but tried to show some resolve and only mumbled the last part to herself.
''We're here for snrk! for you.'' Hilda put an encouraging hand on one of the ex-singer's shoulders, which luckily did seem to succeed at calming her down.
''Hey guys!''
All four's attention was put on Merigu, who ran towards them excitedly.
''What is it? You look like something happened.'' Jaan wasn't sure how to take the younger girl's rush.
''Someone's here, look!'' She pointed towards the door, catching Sig, Hilda, and Jaan off-guard with what they saw.
It was Raina, who let herself be escorted towards the others by Shosu and Emii. She could tell from far away that everyone was very confused by her sudden presence and it's not as if she could act like she didn't know why.
This would take a lot of swallowing of pride, but she knew she wanted to do this.
''Yo. Y-You didn't already start or did you?'' She asked them with an uncharacteristically nervous undertone, that was not lost on anyone in the room.
Sig and Hilda were puzzled and Yoko was intimidated enough by the harsh cheerleaders to try and hide a little behind the senior girl. Jaan noticed that on the spot.
''Well, no, but wh-''
''Why are you here now? You just ran off earlier and now you're back?'' Jaan interrupted Sig, not having the patience with Raina to have a long discussion.
Not like the younger Fielding didn't know that either. Ess wasn't the only handful of the squad after all. She winced a bit being backed into a corner, but all she could do was be honest.
''I think I know what made Ess break down for good and it went too far. I wanna make it up to her.'' She didn't go deeper than that, but the disillusioned tone in her voice gave the blue-haired jinn a good idea of what she was referring to.
She softened up upon hearing this. As much as she'd like to know the exact details, this was a degree of blunt honesty, short as it may be, that was convincing enough for Jaan to leave it at that.
''I understand.'' Was all she said. There was a silent, mutual understanding between the girls, that they were on the same page.
''Glad you're here to help. Really am.'' Sig earnestly said to the younger girl who called him a freak not too long ago.
''Thanks.'' She replied short and to the point. Being in the same boat as him did feel a bit odd, given all the times she talked trash about him, but there were no grudges in the room to keep them from working together.
It was at that moment that Zed approached the teens.
''Shall we begin?'' He asked them. Sig nodded, signaling everyone to meet up with the rest of the gang in the living room.
As they entered, Sig now found himself standing in front of many friends and acquaintances. It felt really weird having to take some sort of leader role and a part of him wanted to be able to stand by Hilda and Jaan for comfort like Yoko did.
Still, he had to do this. Best to just ignore the queasy feeling building in his stomach and get this show on the road.
''Raina? Is that you?'' Draco was the first to notice the current leader of her cheerleading squad entering the room, completely unannounced.
Raina could only wave in a coy manner, before Amitie threw herself onto her with a bear hug.
''Oh thank you for coming after all! Thank you! Thank you!'' She could barely contain her excitement and tears from how moved she was.
''Y-Y-Your choking me!'' The pinkhead's face began to turn red, with the glomp making it hard to even breath, Amitie was far too overjoyed to notice.
''Uhm…hey.'' Sig said into the room, not particularly loudly, but everyone still heard it.
Now everyone's eyes were on him, even Amitie let go of Raina to listen to him. If this whole 'leading a plan' thing didn't feel weird for him before, it sure did now. Everyone was looking at him for directions on how to proceed.
''Thanks for coming. I know it's weird but…I really wanna help Ess and..uhm…uhh…'' He really didn't know how to hold a speech well. This was off to a great start.
''And we're with you! It's really sweet of you to put all this together.'' Arle took the burden of trying to keep a speech up off of him.
Sig did blush a little at the compliment and Arle's smile, he didn't even mean to impress her in any way.
''We're getting our Ess back!'' Amitie cheered, which was swiftly followed by approving cheers of Jaan, Draco, Ally, even Raina, and eventually, the entire room.
''We'll make this work for sure. '' Maguro confidently declared, still being his usual, chill self.
''I'm done!''
Everyone turned their attention to Marle in the back of the room, who finally turned around towards the others. Proudly, she presented her work, as everyone edged closer to see it.
It was a banner reading ''Cheer Up Ess!'' On it could be made out little detailed doodles that relate to everyone in the room, be it a rose for Incubus, an apple for Ringo, or a beanie for Amitie and Silvana. The background was colored in a pleasant blue, with a green striped pattern for extra flair.
Most strikingly though was the depiction of Ess to the right side, surrounded by Emii, Shosu, Merigu, and Sig with a small ''we love you'' written underneath.
''Aww, that's adorable~'' Nasos gushed over it.
''She's gonna love it for sure.'' Ally agreed.
''Zat pure expression of comradery and care, and zuch impeccable detail as well, eet's beeee-yooutiful.'' Incubus made a dramatic gesture to further demonstrate how much he liked it.
Marle couldn't help but to be proud of the flood of compliments coming her way. This wasn't about her, but it felt good to have her work appreciated.
Sig soon enough stood by her side, looking it over. It didn't take much to see he liked it. Marle watched as he looked it over, letting him have the time he wanted before commenting on it.
''It's great. Thanks for helping, Marle…I know we haven't even talked much yet, but..-'' Sig found himself cut off by Marle giving him a quick hug, one that Sig visibly wasn't expecting and was even a bit flustered by.
''It's a great thing you started. I just wanted to play a part and help.'' She said, finishing it off with a content smile that really moved something in Sig.
In fact, looking around, he noticed everyone bearing a similar expression, even those initially more skeptical of the plan.
Whether he was the leader type or not, it didn't matter. They all had a part to play and he did his, it was as simple as that.
Rejuvenated, the boy gave the signal to Zed that they could start to initiate the call…
TetraTech, In the capital of Pretland
At that very moment, in the headquarters of TetraTech sat a man. A visionary. A brilliant mind trusted and admired on a global scale.
The man sat in his usual place, studying a blueprint, with a laptop close-by to document his experiments.
''If we replace these parts, with that, we may finally have a break-through on how to make robots emulate human-levels of precision and sensibility.''
Ex Tetra
That Robot Technology Wizard Everyone Knows and Loves With the Terrible Fashion Sense
In his ever-ongoing research, Ex was so non-stop and consistantly deeply into his work that one would think he was a machine.
Day in and day out. Constant experimenting, theory crafting, praxis tests and starting the whole process anew time and time again. Thus was the norm for him.
''Mr. Tetra, this is the third break you skipped today.'' The man's secretary came into the room, trying to reach out to her boss.
''Hmm? Oh yeah. It happens." He shrugged. "Work never sleeps.'' He didn't even look up, instead continuing his brainstorming even while talking.
''If you aren't careful you may really endanger your health. Our company is already so far ahead from the rest of the industry, you can afford to take some time off.'' The woman tried to reason with the genius inventor, after one restless day too many.
For once this did seem to have an effect. Ex stopped his work and turned around to face his employee. As she expected, as good as the man was at hiding exhaustion, he was far paler than his usually tan skin and had noticeably bloodshot eyes.
''I suppose I have been neglecting to look out for myself recently." The man understated."It's just that it has been a bit longer than usual since we have uncovered some major innovation. We always prided ourselves o-'' Ex was interrupted by the sound of an incoming video call from his laptop. Looking at it, it came from home.
Ex gave his secretary a sign to let him take the call, to which she complied and left the room.
''Ah, Zed, buddy. Anything to report?'' He fondly asked his proudest creation.
''You look horrible, Master Zed. You should really take up your own care-taking advice you used when you programmed a caretaker robot."
Ex and those sharing the room with the robot could not tell if Zed was being sarcastic. "That can't be all you called me for, can it?" Ex figured. "Gimme the downlow of why you really called me."
"Actually, Master Zed, it is not I who wishes to speak with you. It's them.'' Zed shifted the laptop he was using to point at the others.
Ex was rather surprised. It was rather unusual that a large group of teens would have any sort of business with him. He did perk up though at the sight of a certain girl.
''Oh it's you, Raina! That's way more make-up then you had on the last time we met. What is it you and your friends are meaning to ask me?''
Raina figured he'd recognize her out of the group, doubtful he had seen the others before to any meaningful extent.
''Good day, Mr. Tetra." She gave a friendly greeting. "We uhm, we need to talk about Ess.'' She went straight to the point, with a directness that made Ex curious.
''About Ess? Is something the matter with my girl?'' The fatherly concern could be made out, even as the man kept a calm exterior, now it was a matter of delivering the news to him.
''She needs you, Mr. Ex!'' Amitie blurted out right away, not giving anyone else a chance to say something first.
''She needs me?''
''...She's been feeling so lonely.'' Emii gathered the courage to speak up.
''Crazy so. She's been looking for attention everywhere because she misses being with you.'' Shosu continued.
''She's had some mishaps, took it really hard, reached a boiling point that no one saw coming, and now isn't talking to anyone anymore.'' Merigu finished the train of thought.
Ex was visibly shaken by the news of what his daughter was going through, he had no idea of any of it.
The more he thought about it, it really did make sense. He has been closing himself off to dedicate himself to his work. Skipping breaks, working on weekends, even sleeping in the office just to get back to work even faster. Not even five minutes ago his secretary warned him that he was endangering his health.
He remained silent, left to his thoughts, which none of the teens knew how to react to. Being all too familiar with family drama, Silvana took it upon herself to continue the conversation.
''Mr. Tetra, we aren't here to berate you or anything, because we know you care.'' She argued, finally ripping the inventor out of his thoughts.
''You are a brilliant man, Mr. Tetra, more t-than most can ever aspire to be, but you are also a father…surely a great one too!'' Tee added the last part, absolutely terrified at the thought of having sounded disrespectful.
''...Ess needs you. She needs you more than anyone else.'' Sig concluded, being followed up by the agreeing responses of everyone else involved.
This gave Ex a lot to think about, but one thing was clear to him for sure, possibly more clear than anything he has ever had to think about in his life.
''I will call Ess immediately. All of you, I thank you for telling me this, Ess is blessed to have friends like you. She made so many.'' He said his parting words, before hanging up.
The group all gave each other looks, this sounded promising, but all they could do now is wait.
Ess was still lying in the dark confines of her bedroom. She didn't expect it to change any time soon either.
It had been oddly long since her Papa had been trying to get her out of the room, which was a little surprising.
''Maybe he moved on from me, like everyone else…'' She thought to herself, letting out a bitter sigh.
Then suddenly, she could hear her phone go off. A groan escaped her lips, she was not in the mood to have anyone try to talk to her.
Maybe that was how her Papa was trying to get her out now or maybe Emii, Merigu, and Shosu still didn't get the hint. Either way, they could stand to cut it out.
The girl reached out to her phone, taking a courtesy look to see who's call she was going to deny.
That proved to be the move that would make her freeze in place for a bit. She expected several things, but she did not expect to see this on her display.
Father.
He was calling her. She couldn't believe it.
As if on auto-pilot, she picked up the call without a second thought, she just had to take it.
''H-Hi dad.'' She somewhat meekly opened the call.
''Hey, my little princess, I'm sorry for not calling you for so long. How are you?''
Ess couldn't believe she was actually hearing his voice. It really was her dad. A hurricane of emotions welled up inside her, this felt so unreal, but she didn't want to derail the call at any cost.
''I'm okay, dad, and you?'' She lied, not wanting to have the call be about her mess-ups.
''I'm fine, though I owe you an apology.'' He replied to her in a warm manner, surprising Ess quite a bit. She wasn't sure what he meant.
''Apologize for what, Dad?''
''For not being there for you enough, Ess. I have come to realize how much I have neglected you and I'm sorry,'' The regret could be made out even without seeing his face.
Now Ess was really thrown through a loop. This is what she wanted to hear for such a long time and yet… it didn't quite feel justified to her.
''I get it, Dad. You're a really big deal, You have more important things to worry about.'' Ess felt that sense of defeat again, just saying that.
''Nothing will ever be more important than you Ess.'' Ex softly told her, doing his best to be comforting.
''Dad?''
''It is true. I am a big name in my field of expertise and have many eyes on me. However, in that rush to live up to my name, I neglected things that truly matter and nothing will ever matter more than my daughter….I love you, Ess and I'm sorry.''
Ess felt the tears roll down her cheek listening to her dad. This felt so unreal and yet, here she was, hearing what she had been dreaming of for so long.
''I-I love you too dad. I really do.'' She couldn't hold back the sobs any longer, so she just let it all out.
Ex felt like his heart had begun to bleed hearing his beloved baby girl like that and being unable to reach out to her at that moment. It really drove home how important this was to her.
''I'll tell you what, Ess. I am clearing some things up on my schedule and once everything is settled, I will be home regularly again. We can go do something together next weekend like we used to, sound good?''
''...I'd like that a lot, Dad.'' Ess did her best to calm herself down.
''As would I. Listen, I will talk to you later once work is over and Ess…I'm proud of you for making so many friends that care about you.''
The last part left Ess a bit confused, but she didn't care to dwell on that much. This wasn't the important thing.
''Thanks, Dad, talk to yah later.'' With that, she hung up the phone.
"Later, and tell your mom I said hi when she comes home earlier than me." Ex hung up.
It took a bit for the young Tetra to register all of this actually happened. It felt like she was just dreaming it, but there was no doubt it was real, even without the tried and true pinching method.
Feeling a newfound resolve, Ess got herself out of her pajamas, into her usuals. Getting back out of her room was gonna feel weird now, but she just had to apologize to her papa for being so harsh to him.
And the Banshees too, if they even still wanted to be her friends and that's not even getting into Sig or the cheerleaders….
Thinking about it that way, she got more reluctant to unlock the door and head out. Just staying inside wasn't gonna make it go away anyways though.
Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door and prepared to head out, only to be met with something she would not have seen coming in a million years.
''Cheer up Ess!''
Upon exiting, she was greeted by a hallway full of schoolmates and her beloved papa all there to greet her and just a little above was this adorable banner made for the occasion.
The green-haired girl's eyes widened greatly in wonder, she could barely even register what was going on.
''I am so glad to see you back out again, Ess.'' Zed was the first to welcome her back, appropriately enough.
''Papa, what is-is…you all…'' Ess stammered her words, barely able to form a sentence.
''I hope you like it! Made it just for you!'' Marle proudly presented it to the surprised girl.
''Just f-for me? I-'' Ess was swiftly interrupted by Merigu, Shosu, and Emii, who all came to hug her, almost throwing their friend over by sheer surprise.
''...Welcome back.'' Emii tightened her embrace.
''We were afraid we'd never talk to you again.'' Shosu also kept the hug tight.
''We've all come for you.'' Merigu shed a tear in relief.
''All for me…?'' Ess could still barely believe it, even though there was no denying it anymore.
''Indeed, we'fe all gathered to 'eal your broken 'eart.'' Incubus gave out a rose, which Ess accepted.
''We weren't just gonna letcha be down like that. '' Maguro gave the girl a thumbs up.
''Once we heard the full story we all came here.'' Ringo began to explain the situation further.
''We know what was going on with you and hope we could help.'' Tee added.
''You can always come to me if you need someone to talk to in the future.'' Nasos warmly offered.
''Sa-hahaha-me with me~'' Hilda joined in.
''We haven't talked much before, but I can lend an ear too.'' Silvana also stepped up. "I'm a good listener." Arle begged to differ, but now was not the time or place.
''...They have given me another chance. I want the same for you.'' Yoko convinced herself to get over her shyness and offer a sympathetic smile.
''And let's not forget who was leading this.'' Arle teased, giving looks to Lagnus and Marvett.
''Yep.''
''Indeed.''
Arle, Lagnus, and Marvett all gave a shove to Sig, signaling him to approach Ess directly.
Ess could feel her face heat up at the thought.
''S-Sig, you did all this?'' She could barely contain herself anymore.
''Yeah, I did.'' Sig wasn't sure how to say the next part, best to just say it honestly.
''Ess, sorry we can't be more, but I still wanna be friends with you, okay?''
That was said pretty directly. A part of Ess was let down, the other fully expected it at this point. Still. He put all this together for her, there was no doubt he cared. He cared a lot even, just thinking about it that way made it feel a lot less bad.
''I'd really like that too, Sig.'' Was the last thing Ess said before throwing herself into Sig for a big hug, one he gladly returned.
Their embrace shot a feeling of comfort and warmth through Ess' body, if just being friends could make her feel that way, then maybe this was all she ever needed to begin with. One thing was for sure though, she wanted it to last for a bit.
As the two kept on hugging, the others all looked on pleased with the outcome, most of all Arle and Hilda, who looked at Sig with an air of pride for what his surprising move had accomplished.
Eventually, the two did break the embrace, they were, after all, still not done.
Without another word, Sig stepped aside to dodge Amitie, who was rocketing towards Ess for her next embrace, picking the girl up and swinging her around with surprising strength.
''Oh Ess! I'm so glad we have you again! I'm sorry for everything! I-I-I-''
''It's fine really! Just please put me down!'' Ess pleaded to her fellow cheerleader and classmate, not prepared for a hug this intense.
'Oh! Sorry!'' Amitie swiftly let her back down, slightly embarrassed.
Not far behind were the remaining cheerleaders.
''We know, it's all cool.'' Draco assured her.
''You were seeking love, we understand.'' Ally agreed.
''If anything I feel like I need to apologize for stuff too…'' Jaan rubbed the back of her head in shame.
Before she could even elaborate though, came Raina. Despite her help, nobody was sure of what she would have to say.
There was an air of tension as a result, hopefully the friend part of frenemy would win out for good today.
The two girls made eye contact with each other, it was clear a lot needed to still be said from both sides and neither were quite ready yet for it.
Fortunately, they didn't have to. Raina's neutral expression turned into a smile more gentle than anyone was used from a Fielding and it didn't seem fake either. She closed the distance between herself and Ess and only said one thing.
''Welcome back, leader.''
That was it.
Ess couldn't hold back anymore. The tears were back stronger than ever. Fortunately for her, she had many people around her to make them go away….
''So, you're meeting he-pfft!-her tomorrow?''
Later that day, Sig and Hilda were on their way home, gradually getting closer to the point where they'd go separate ways.
''Yep. Maybe I can get her to hang with Lag and Marv too.'' Sig hoped so for sure.
''I'm sure that would be snrk!- good for her.''
It was then that they arrived at the crossing where they'd have to split.
''Well, see you Hil-''
''Wait up Sig, I sti-hihihi-ll got something.'' Hilda grabbed into the bag she'd been carrying around the game story all day, pulling out something that surprised Sig.
It was a plushie, one of a girl largely clad in green and with a white tank top. Sig recognized her all too well.
"Kui." A Kui plush in fact.
''Hehe~ Yep. I really enjoy you watching the show with me and thought you'd like it~'' She handed the plush to her friend, who got a non-cursed induced giggle out of her, with an adorably dorky expression of joy.
''Hehe…thanks, Hilda.'' He looked at the plush, grinning at having a little something of his favorite anime heroine in front of him.
That wasn't the only surprise though. While Sig was still looking at his gift, Hilda leaned forward to give the boy a quick kiss on the cheek.
''I'm proud of you, hehehe~ You have really grown up.'' Hilda went on her way, waving her friend goodbye, with Sig responding in kind.
He did still remain where he was for a while though, still taking time to let what happened sink in. A content smile colored his face once more, as he wrapped his arms around his Kui plush and continued his way home.
The warm color of the sunset was his companion for the remaining stretch, this day ended on more than a couple optimistic notes.
And Sig would make sure to make them count…
End of Season 2.