After a shockingly eventful day, Markus decided to take a break from his work, he needed to get out of the grind for the time being. Wu-Fei was more than inclined to agree, considering the rather insane day that Markus had, and felt he needed to destress, or rather, he felt Ai needed to destress. That, and it was clear to him that the two had something fascinating going on between the two of them.

Which led to their current situation right now.

"Ai, for the last time, I am not cooking bacon, scrambled eggs, or pancakes for breakfast, I don't exactly have the right tools to make it." Markus said to Ai calmly as she pouted at him, while the twins were calmly eating some cereal that Markus had in case, he wanted something cold. "If you want something hot then congee is the best I can do for you. Although with a variety of toppings if you want." Markus said to Ai.

Ai started pouting more at him. "You're an American Markus, how could you be eating Chinese dishes as your main breakfast all this time?" She huffed at him as Markus snorted. "Don't snort at me, Markus! I expected you to be eating eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, waffles, or whatever Western dishes that Americans eat." She said to him as she looked at her bowl of congee in minor distaste.

"I just eat whatever's convenient for me, and congee happens to be good for meals any time of the day, and the variety of toppings you can add to it means you never get bored for eating it." Markus said to Ai, as it was true because of that, congee became Markus's go to meal in the morning and whenever he couldn't actually cook anything. But it was also due to the fact that making congee was extremely cheap for him, especially since he found and fixed up that old metal rice cooker while junk diving.

"You're an American in Japan, that's eating Chinese dishes, my disappointment in you is immeasurable." Ai pouted at Markus.

"And you're a guest staying at my place, and you're being nothing but rude while your kids are being good guests…actually considering what Aqua did, Ruby's the most well behaved out of all of you. Imagine that, a grown woman losing to a prepubescent kid in terms of emotional and mental maturity." Markus mockingly retorted in turn as Ai acted as though she had an arrow struck her heart.

Aqua looked suitably chastened as he winced as he remembered how his mother punished him for breaking one of Markus's house rules, despite being a guest. Ruby on the other hand happened to look smug at being called for being the best behaved out of the trio. "Markus, you shouldn't be so rude to a lady." Ai whined at him as Markus looked around mockingly. "Markus!" She pouted at him.

"What? I'm looking for a lady, and I don't see any around here." Markus said as both Ruby and Ai looked offended. "All I see is a silly Idol and a future Lady." He then finished as Ruby smiled and looked appeased and nodded off and continued her breakfast while Ai looked shocked at how her daughter betrayed her so easily like that. "Keep being a good girl and follow the rules for the most part and you will become an outstanding lady in the future, Ruby." Markus advised Ruby, who beamed at that.

"My own daughter betrayed me, what a terrifying twist." Ai muttered to herself as Markus just rolled his eyes at that. "If that is the case then…maybe I should get some revenge on Ruby for this deep and dark betrayal~?" She said even more quietly yet with a more sinister tone that started to worry Markus now. "Maybe Markus's nation can help me out here, there is that one day on the First of April where pranks are common, maybe there's a few tricks that I can play." Ai said, as she just went creepy.

And that meant he had to stop her before she played an unnecessary prank on her daughter just because she had a difference in opinion. So, with that, Markus took a fly swatter and dope smacked Ai on the head, causing her to flinch as the trio gave Markus a look of surprised shock as he simply put down his fly swatter and drank his hot green tea. "Stop being so salty over the fact that Ruby has a different opinion, you're a grown woman and she's a kid, so grow up." Markus said to Ai.

"Markus~!" Ai whined at him as Markus casually ignored her hurt look at him, he had spent enough time with her to know when she's faking it and when she's actually being serious.

"Also, Ai, did the old man mention when he wanted you to come back to the studio and practice with your group?" Markus asked as Ai blinked at the sudden change in topic. "If you need to, I can look after Ruby and Aqua in my place if it's a bit hard, provided they, of course, follow the house rules." Markus said to Ai while giving Aqua a look that caused him to wince.

"Thank you, Markus, but due to the attempt, Ichigo is giving me the time off and he's also willing to push back some concerts that we were scheduled on planning to do." Ai said to Markus. "Besides, a lot of my group needs a bit of a break to deal with whatever personal matters they got, so it actually works out." Ai said as Markus nodded.

"If that's the case then, I can't offer much to do in my place, I am a bachelor living my den and just working for the most part, so no entertainment here aside from what you can find on the TV." Markus pointed out to them.

"So, you don't have any games or activities you can do or play when you invite people over?" Ruby asked curiously.

"I generally don't invite people to my place to hang out." Markus replied. "So, I generally do stuff by my lonesome here in my place." He said to Ruby.

"Isn't there anything you can do or want to try out with us?" Aqua asked Markus. "I mean, you have to have some ideas for goofing off a bit with others or just to relax right?"

Markus looked thoughtful at that as he thought about potential games or activities to do. Then he remembered something. "I do have a set of cards that we can use." Markus offered up as Aqua and Ruby looked interested while Ai looked curious. "We can play a variety of games with them if you want." He said to them.

"That sounds like fun, let's play!" Ruby smiled as Aqua shrugged but nodded and the twins turned to Ai, who looked excited now. "Looks like we're all in." Ruby said cheerfully as Markus nodded and went to retrieve his cards and brought them back for everyone to see and work with.

"Feast your eyes Markus, because I'm going to show you exactly how good I am at playing games." Ai smirked at Markus, who simply only raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't underestimate my skills, I am quite good." She said with a smug smile.

Roughly ten minutes later.

"This isn't fair!" Ai cried out as she faceplanted into the table as she ended up losing another round as she ended up losing to Markus, who took back the cards after she lost a game of Blitz after she barely managed to beat Aqua and Ruby. And even then, she was losing to them for the majority of the games they played. "How could they be so good at this game, yet I'm so bad?" She whined.

"Maybe you're not as good as you think you are?" Markus pointed out as he pushed the cards back into a deck and began shuffling them again. "Do you wish to play another round of Blitz then?" Markus offered up as Ai made a big groaning noise that told Markus, she was no longer interested in play that. As a result, he turned to Ruby and Aqua. "What about you two?" He asked.

"If it is possible." Ruby soon asked up and gave big adorable sweet eyes at Markus. "Can we play another kind of card game? Because I don't think mama is having so much fun playing this and losing all the time." She said as Ai flinched at that while Markus had to held back a snort, while Aqua gave Ruby a look for being so blunt.

"I don't mind doing that, if that's what you want." Markus said as he turned to Aqua. "What about you though? Do you mind swapping to a different game?" He asked as Aqua shook his head. "So, be it then, how do you guys feel about playing some Cheat?" He asked as neither Ruby or Aqua had any issues, on the contrary, Ruby looked kind of excited to play it.

"Let's do it!" Ruby said excitedly, as she turned to Ai. "Come on mama! Maybe you can win at Cheat this time!" She said cheerfully to Ai, which was enough to make her get up and actually got motivated to win. Something that Markus noted from the return of the smug smirk on her face.

"Let's do it, and this time I won't lose to you all the time Markus!" Ai said in determination at him as he raised an eyebrow and started splitting the cards for the table. "Just you watch, luck will strike my hands and I will be the queen of the card game we're playing now!" She said as she picked up her cards as did Aqua and Ruby.

"Alright then, if that's what you think." Markus said rather casually. His own words seem to offend Ai as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I don't think, I know that I will-" Ai continued with a smug smile.

Twenty minutes later.

"-Lose completely at this game so horribly~!" Ai sobbed as she faceplanted again as she was stuck on another losing streak that both Ruby and Aqua couldn't help but feel bad for her and awkwardly patted her back in minor comfort. "Why are my hand so bad in these last couple of rounds?" She sniffled as Markus couldn't help but feel bad for her this time. Mainly because despite how hard Ai tried, she couldn't win, also doesn't help that she had extremely low numbers for her cards.

Like good god, her luck so far at the two games they've been playing were so bad that you would think that her luck is out to get her or something like that. "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose Ai, it's okay, not everyone wins at card games, lord know I lost my fair share of games that I got involved in." Markus said comfortingly.

"But I lost again." Ai whined to Markus, who could only look exasperated now as he turned to see what the kids think about this. And strangely enough, Ruby was comforting Ai by patting her on the head with her little kid hands. Meanwhile, Aqua was doing a weird good impression of his own exasperated face, he swore that kid confused him the longer and longer he got to knew Aqua.

Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if Aqua was an adult underneath his childish exterior, several Super Mutants he encountered were kind of childish to some extent. Of course, he also heard rumors about there being ghoul kids in the East from traveling merchants, something about kids locked up or what not since the Great War if he heard it correctly? Not that it really mattered at the moment.

As Ai continued to look pitiful, Markus decided to throw her a bone. "Hey Ai." Markus said softly as Ai stopped her whining and looked up with teary eyes. "While I really prefer not to do this, but…do you want some morning ice cream to cheer you up?" He offered up awkwardly.

And like that, Ai's face, and that of Ruby's face brightened up immensely at that. "Ice Cream please!" They both said at once with identical happy smiles, and Markus could certainly see the similarities between the two. Markus could only sigh as Aqua looked exasperated and he went to fetch some ice cream from his freezer, thank goodness he was lucky to have won some free ice cream from a grocery rally ticket event.

"Just be patient." Markus said as the girls were trying their best to be patient. And despite it all, despite how exasperating his guests were acting, he couldn't help but find this kind of interaction to be nice. A nice change of pace from his past world's experience.

After Markus got Ai and her kids some ice cream and now the kids were being distracted by another movie to watch on Markus's television, Markus and Ai moved to a different room, specifically his room to have a bit of a chat. And once Markus closed the door he turned to Ai, who looked anxious. "So should I start to explain myself or do you wish to focus on the matter relating to you?" Markus asked as he took a seat on his bed and gave Ai his workbench chair.

Ai bit her lips a bit, as much as she wanted to know more about Markus's past and she had a feeling that there was a lot more to his past than meets the eye. She figured it was more important to focus on the matter relating to her. Especially since someone found out about her kids and were planning to kill her, that was something she couldn't accept with her children's life at stake.

"If it is possible Markus, I would like to focus on the matter relating to me first." She said quietly to him as Markus nodded. "Have you made any discernable progress on the matter relating to the attempt on my life?" She asked.

"Well, in regards to that question, the answer is yes and no." Markus started off as Ai looked confused. "I hope you remember the fact that when I called you, there was a deranged stalker outside your door yes?" Markus pointed out as Ai paled and nodded her head a bit. "And you also remember me mentioning that the idiot got himself killed by running head first into a death trap, right?" Markus then added in.

"Yes, what about that? Is there a crime scene over by that area now? Does that mean police involvement?" Ai asked curiously.

"That's the thing, there was no police investigation." Markus said as Ai made a noise of confusion as he then gained a serious look in his face. "I was there and there was nothing, including the body and blood." He said as Ai widened her eyes. "Someone covered up your stalker's death and cleaned up the crime scene and ensured there was no evidence to be found." Markus said to her.

"…How? Why?" Ai croaked out as she couldn't possibly comprehend who would want to cover up her stalker's death. And more importantly, what does covering his death mean for her if they would go this far. "What's does this mean Markus?" She asked in a trembling tone.

"What this means? Well…you're not going to like the answer that I am going to give you based on what I can hypothesize based on what evidence and details I can work out. So don't take my word for it." Markus said with a frown while trying to make sure Ai took his words with a grain of salt.

"Just tell me Markus, you're generally not that far off from being able to predict certain matters." Ai said softly as Markus nodded at her.

"Well in all honestly, I assume that whoever covered up your stalker's death, and also sent the others after me…wants you dead for some reason unknown to me. They're also very connected and rather resourceful to be able to pull off this kind of run of the mill attack. It's actually harder than it looks to clean up a crime scene, especially in a more urbanized setting." Markus started off.

"So, what does that mean?" Ai asked with her heart dropping at every word that Markus explained to her as she started putting together a picture. And she did not like the kind of picture that was being formed for her.

"You're dealing with someone very determined to kill you, that means the stalker won't be the only attempt on your life. And that also means you and your children are in danger." Markus said seriously to her. "You should prepare for more attempts on your life." Markus advised as Ai looked absolutely distressed at that and Markus could only give her a sympathetic look. "Tough break, sorry Ai." Markus apologized.

And he really meant it, dealing with random as fuck ambushes from Legion Assassins coming out of nowhere was not something he considered fun. Especially that one time he was clearing out a Cazador nest and those crazy assholes somehow brought in those fucking Nightstalkers from somewhere. Fuck those things.

"Markus…why did it end up like this?" Ai questioned sadly. "Why do I have a target on my head?" She asked him.

"I honestly don't know." Markus admitted. "Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how the hell they know about your kids to begin with." He said as Ai looked up. "You were rather careful with keeping them a secret, that much I do know. So, it bothers me that they somehow figured out that you have kids." He explained to her.

At that Ai gained a thoughtful look on her face and then she started to look…nervous for some reason? "Actually Markus, besides you, Ichigo, and Miyako, there is…another person who knows about Aqua and Ruby." She said nervously as Markus's eyes widened at that and he turned to her sharply with an annoyed look as she giggled a bit nervously. "Don't be mad?" She asked.

"That depends on what I will hear." Markus said in annoyance. "Who is this person you talked about your kids and for what reason?" He questioned.

"…It's my ex." She revealed as Markus's annoyed expression died down in an instant and blinked at that. "I told my ex about Ruby and Aqua…because he's...their father." Ai revealed as Markus nodded at that.

"And who is your ex?" He asked as he suddenly gained a new lead on who could have been involved with letting out important information to people who want Ai dead.

"His name Hikaru Kamaki." Ai started off before she explained how Hikaru found out.

(Flashback Begin)

Ai took a deep breath and inserted the Yen coins into the payphone and waited for someone to pick up, before someone did and answered back. "Hello? Who is this?" A familiar male voice called out to Ai as she licked her lips nervously.

"Hello? It's me, and there's something that I wanted to talk to you about." Ai answered the call, waiting for the surprise to happen.

"…Ai? What are you doing by calling me? What do you mean that there's something you want to talk to me about? Is it important?" Hikaru asked as Ai couldn't help but frown a bit, this sounded like Hikaru to her, but he felt a bit…off since last she spoke to him.

Nonetheless she continued onwards. "Yes, there's something that you need to know." She said seriously. "Remember how our relationship ended?" She asked him.

"…A bit hard to forget, considering you said you didn't know you love me or not." Hikaru said a bit angrily, yet strangely enough to Ai, he sounded rather apathetic to him…as though he was trying to sound angry like it's an act he's trying to put on. "What does this have to do with anything?" He then asked.

"…Not relevant at the moment but…Hikaru…you're a father." Ai said suddenly to him, and the silence encouraged her to continue talking. "When we spent time together, during that time I had gotten pregnant, I didn't know I was pregnant until our relationship ended, and I have been raising our kids by myself for the last couple of years now." She explained to him as clearly as she could.

"…And you kept this from me for several years?" Hikaru asked sounding surprised by that instead of asking about his…kids weirdly enough. "Did you ever plan to tell me?" He then asked.

"Considering how our relationship went…I didn't want to baby trap you, and I was more than ready to take care of them myself." Ai answered. "And I have done so successfully for several years now, Hikaru."

"This is a bit much to take in." Hikaru said, yet sounding not so shocked by what he was hearing. "So, I imagine you brought me here because you wanted to either let me know about them, or want me to meet the kids?" He asked her.

"Yes, if it is not too much trouble for you to be able to meet them if you can." Ai said as she tried to focus on Ruby and Aqua for their sake to meet their father. But the way that Hikaru was taking or acting was simply too much for her to ignore in her current state of mind. "By the way, Hikaru, is something wrong?" She asked him.

"Why do you ask that?" Hikaru asked in surprise. "I thought we were done and over with, nothing else to it now…aside from meeting the kids of course." He then added in as an afterthought.

"Considering what you went through, and what I had learned…I thought you would be more disgusted or horrified by what you heard." Ai admitted. "After all, I used you the same way she did, so why aren't you reacting the same?" She asked.

"…People change Ai, and sometimes people grow up, to either learn or accept events in their past." Hikaru said sounding more stressed out than he normally did right about now.

"If you say so." Ai said sounding a bit unsure. "You just sound different is all, nothing to it." She said, before she focused on her question again. "I called you because my children were curious about their father, can you meet them at least just once?" Ai asked Hikaru. "It would mean a lot to not just me, but to the children as well." Ai said to him.

At first Hikaru was silent and then he answered back. "I do not mind meeting them, but I would like to know where you are so we can further discuss a meeting at an appropriate time. And do not worry Ai, I will make sure the meeting is a most satisfying one." He said as Ai happily worked out the details of the meeting with Hikaru.

(Flashback End)

"So let me get this straight then." Markus said as Ai finished explaining how Hikaru, her ex, also managed to find out about Aqua and Ruby. "You mean to say that you called up your ex after, from what I can gather to be a bad breakup of some kind, yes?" He asked as Ai nodded at that. "Then several years later you told him that he has kids and now you wanted him to see Aqua and Ruby." He then added in as Ai nodded at that. "And I can now assume he actually knows where you live and the likes as well right?" Markus then asked.

"Yes, Markus, he knows that, where are you going with this?" She asked as she felt a sort of strange tension in her heart right now. "You don't mean to say that Hikaru could possibly have something to do with those men after me, right?" She asked weakly.

"In all honesty it likely is." Markus pointed out to her as Ai looked ready to protest. "Think about it rationally and logically Ai, before I got involved, there were only two other people that knew you had kids, both the old man and his wife that runs your Idol group." Markus said calmly. "You're the Golden Goose in Ichigo Production's eye, they would never risk your safety over anything. I myself am not a suspect as I wouldn't have been jumped by those thugs or desperately try to warn you." Markus then pointed out as Ai looked exhausted.

"But Hikaru is not at all like that though." Ai said weakly. "He would never kill anyone or at least plan to set me up to be killed." She protested. "It's not in his nature."

"Maybe, as I don't know him as well as you do." Markus admitted. "But when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Markus pointed out. "Also, you said you haven't seen in him several years, and that's easily more than enough time for people to change for good or for ill." Markus added in.

"But why would he do this if that is the case?" Ai asked him weakly with small tears forming in her eyes at the idea of being betrayed by someone she was once so close to.

"I don't know much about this Hikaru Kamaki, but is there anything noteworthy about him?" Markus asked as Ai remembered an important detail.

"There is, he's an up-and-coming talented actor, at least very talented last I saw him." Ai said, as Markus hummed at that as he was working out the hypothesis with what he knew of Japan's current entertainment industry. No doubt about it, that having kids outside of marriage would be a massive scandal, but is it really worth killing for? Markus honestly didn't know for sure.

"I see, well I suppose it would be a bit of a scandal if an unmarried actor has kids out of nowhere." Markus eventually said. "That said, you could be right and I could be wrong about this Hikaru fellow, but nonetheless I must say this with absolute certainty." He said seriously to Ai, as she looked into his serious gaze. "Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to end up alone with Hikaru until we know full well if he was involved or not." He warned.

Ai nodded reluctantly at that. "I suppose until we know for certain, it's better to be safer than sorry." She admitted as Markus nodded. "I suppose that is all we can discuss about for the matter relating to me. And now since talking about me is done, I want to talk about you, Markus." Ai said as she turned to Markus with an inquisitive glance as Markus raised his eyebrows at her words.

"Well, I suppose this is the part where you want to know a bit about who I am I guess?" Markus said as Ai nodded her head rapidly at that. "Yeah, I kind of figured this was going to happen, sooner or later, the moment I showed you those scars." Markus admitted to her.

"So will you tell me about yourself?" Ai asked, sounding kind of excited to learn a bit more behind Markus's past, and wonder how much pain Markus endured to become the kind of person he is. "The gunshot scars really caught my attention." She added in as Markus nodded at that.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story, but to give you some idea, I apparently worked as a Courier." Markus said as Ai blinked at the words that Markus was apparently a mailman of all things. "Not one of those official government postal workers or what not, I was a private Courier that delivered important and personal belongings that require a more delicate care or touch that required certain items to be traveled to certain locations on time." Markus said.

"So, something an Express Specialist or something like that?" Ai asked.

"Close enough." Markus said. "But anyways, one package that I was tasked with delivering was a special kind of package, that I didn't know was hot, and had value to certain people. Valuable enough that they ambushed me, knocked me out, took my package, before I got shot in the head twice and then buried in a shallow grave." Markus said as Ai gulped at the words she heard.

She knew that Markus got shot already, but hearing it again and what he endured soon was horrifying to listen to. "How did you survive?" She asked.

"I was apparently very lucky; a nearby good Samaritan dug me out and dragged my corpse to a private doctor. Doc spent the entire the entire night and then some to keep me stable and against all odds he did save me. But that came with a cost, I literally lost every last bit of memory I had and no longer knew who I was or what not." Markus said in a toneless voice, though Ai could hear the pain in it.

To lose track of who you were must have been terrifying beyond belief, and memories help define people and their personalities. It's the core part of what makes someone who they truly are. Ai could only feel her heart go out to Markus.

"After the Doc saved my ass, I was, as you can imagine, hungry for answers so I went ahead and tracked down the guys who did me in. While also doing a bunch of other jobs and other events that I don't feel comfortable getting into." Markus said as he stuck to the truth while avoiding mentioning anything about the Mojave Wasteland. "And eventually I caught up to the guy." He said, skipping most of the legwork involved.

"What happened?" Ai asked, completely engulfed in the story so far.

"Turns out the guy who tried to off me, needed the package I was carrying, because apparently it acted as some kind of key of sorts to an old massive fortune of some kind that could be used to control an entire city or whatever." Markus said as Ai's eyes went wide and he casually edited the truth of the Securitron Army being some kind of fortune, which it was for House. Certainly, helped secure his control of New Vegas without doubt or issue.

"What happened next?" Ai asked.

"He wanted to offer me a spot since I was strong enough, but I told him to piss off since I wasn't going to be working with the guy who shot me or any of his cronies either since they were planning to backstab a number of people to get power." Markus said as he rolled his eyes, there was no way in hell he was going to trust someone as slimy as Benny.

"And I assumed it led to a fight that you won?" Ai asked, figuring out bit by bit of what was going on in Markus's past.

"You can say that, it was a fight that was long coming and I ended up winning big." Markus said as he went into the Tops Casino, managed to secure a secret meeting with Benny and had his companions on the side to back him up in case Benny tried to run. Good thing he didn't, since he was sick of chasing Benny by that point. "Next thing I know I got control of the key and one of the cronies that survived tried to convince me to take control of Benny's schemes to gain power and fortune." Markus then added with a snort at the offer Yes Man made.

"Did you accept?" Ai asked with wide eyes.

Markus snorted again. "Heck no, I was going to return it to its rightful owner, and the way that the bolthead described it as, he wanted me to take charge." Markus said as he rolled his eyes. "I was a bloody courier, I don't know the first thing about ruling, and he wanted to be my righthand man to make sure things flow perfectly fine." Markus said as he shook his head.

There were many reasons for why he refused to take control of New Vegas from House and try to control his own army. The first thing was that he had no interest in running New Vegas at all. The second thing was that he knew fucking nothing about how to rule and would more than likely run New Vegas down to ashes. The third thing was that he highly doubted he can do better than the NCR or House at running a nation, and anyone who thought otherwise clearly never thought about what it means to run a nation.

The fourth reason he refused was that he wasn't a power-hungry egotistical warlord who thought he knew better than anyone. True there were dumbasses in the waste like Fantastic, but anyone who thought that having an army and being able to run a nation with it was just fucking stupid. That's a Might makes Right situation, the same shit that Caesar did as an excuse for all his shit.

Fifthly, the army would never be loyal or under his control, they would always answer to Yes Man first before him, and considering how fast he was to jump ship to try and serve him. Told him that Yes Man was as much of a fucking rat like Benny was and he could easily let someone try to kill him to change ownership. He would never be able to trust anyone ever again.

The sixth and final reason was that he preferred his freedom and ability to move, to run a nation proper, means you have to give up a lot of your previous hobbies and desires to run a nation. He already ran into that issue when he was drafted into becoming the Chief Diplomat for the Mojave between House and NCR, and various other factions, he didn't want to lose his ability to go out and fight evil and do good when he can.

Anyways

"After that sordid little affair, I decided to go on a soul-searching tour of sorts." Markus then continued, which could accurately describe his foray into the Sierra Madre, Zion Park, Big Empty, and then the Divide. "Met a wise fella named Joshua Graham, talked to me about a lot of things. Then after some time, he baptized me as both a religious initiate and gave me my name." Markus said as he smiled at the memory.

Meeting Joshua Graham was legit one of the most fascinating encounters that Markus ever head, to meet someone who fell so far and managed to claw his way back out of hell bit by bit. Even knowing that he could never fully redeem himself yet still continue to try was…inspiring. After the Battle of Zion, Joshua Graham thanked him and Joshua baptized him in the waters of Zion and christened him Markus Redgrave.

"He must have been quite the man." Ai noted seeing the sheer level of respect that Markus had for this Joshua Graham.

"One of the best, after he gave me my current name, I've been going by Markus Redgrave ever since." Markus affirmed. "Might not be who I was or who my past self is, but Markus Redgrave is me, and I do not think I would be comfortable being anyone else." He confidentially spoke.

Ai looked at him for a time before she sighed and looked down. "I wish I can be as confident in you with who I am." Ai revealed as Markus paid attention to her. "You know that I care so much about figuring out what love is and why it's important to me right?" She asked.

"I do recall that, yes." Markus said wondering where she was going with this.

"…My mother never loved me." Ai suddenly revealed, catching Markus off guard. "She hated me so much and would not only abuse me, but when she got caught for a crime, and stranded me at an orphanage, she never came back for me and abandoned me." Ai said as Markus's eyebrows widened at that.

"…Ai." Markus breathed out.

"And for as long as I can remember, I've been wondering if I ever did something wrong, and then traveled on my own to do my own thing. And then I was told that lying is a form of love and since Idols were liars I could easily exceed as an Idol, and then I would get all the love I wanted." She said before she smiled bitterly at Markus. "And then you came along, told me that my viewpoint was wrong, that what I was dealing with was not love but obsession. And now everything I thought I knew turned out to be a lie." She said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"…" Markus could remain silent as Ai continued onwards.

"After that stalker came for me, I was wondering what the hell have I been doing all this time? I was searching for love or trying to figure out what love is, and then I'm told that I've been looking for love in all the wrong places, and next thing I know, I'm being hunted down by the fans I thought loved or I loved, and now I am left back at the start with no answer." Ai said as she turned her tearful smile to Markus. "Isn't that pathetic? I can't even love myself, and yet you can do it so easily." She said slowly breaking down. "In the end, nobody truly loves me, not even me." She whimpered out as the stars in her eyes became dark and black.

"I'd say you're wrong." Markus's voice sharply cut through her own self delusions and causing her eyes to gray now. "If you think nobody loves you, then I can name at least four people off the top of my head that loves you." Markus said with a frown. "First we got your kids, Aqua and Ruby, they clearly love you and nothing will change that." He pointed up two fingers. "Then we got the old man and his wife. I may only have interacted with them a few times, but they do care about you, if anything I'd say the old man sees you as a surrogate daughter." He said as he got up from his bed and walked towards Ai.

"Markus." Ai murmured with her voice full of emotions, as her eyes started to return back to their bright white colors…and were somehow become even more white.

"Besides…even if I don't love you in that way." Markus said as he fumbled a bit with his fingers before he composed himself and patted her on the head. "I still love you as your friend Ai, never forget that." He said to her rather tenderly.

At that, the sorrow that once existed on Ai's face vanished slowly until she started smiling brightly with her eyes shining and twinkling even brighter than before. Before she then jumped up and hugged a surprised Markus tenderly as she felt her heart beating fast and her cheeks became red.

'Markus.' Ai thought to herself, as she didn't know that Markus was flushing a bit as he awkwardly hugged her back. 'I don't know what love is, and I may never even find out what love truly is, but...' She leaned into Markus's body.

'If you're there, then I wouldn't mind finding love with you.' She thought tenderly to herself.