Aqua was finding himself getting used to waking up on a hideaway couch bed in a relative stranger's home. Words that he never thought would ever come to his mind in his past life and his current life. But he should probably get used to hearing or knowing about strange words or phrases coming together as part of his norm. Especially since he was living inside the home of Markus Redgrave, whom as far as he could tell, was the least ordinary person in this entire home, which was impressive all things considered.
Ever since that one stalker tried to come for Ai's life, he, along with Ai and Ruby ended up living with Markus Redgrave in the Chinese district, and he was now getting used to having Markus as a fourth member of their meals. And he was also the only person in the entire place to know of Markus's true origins, a time traveler from the far future from an era in which the greatest fear, to the Japanese at least, happened worldwide.
There were so many questions that he wanted to ask Markus about the future where he was from, like how the end of the known civilized world happen. What kind of advances they made in robotics or genetic engineering, or medical tech. There were so many questions that Aqua wanted to ask about and he can't afford to ask any of them, least he told Markus the depths of his knowledge and what he knew.
There was no telling how poorly Markus would take to learning such a thing about his person. So far Markus struck him as being both rational and sensible, but concerning knowledge about his actual past? Aqua would admit that if knowledge about him being reincarnated into a whole new life ever got out, he would not be happy about that kind of knowledge getting out.
Right now, though, after several eventful days at Markus's place, he was actually spending time with the man in question. Going around the Chinese District of all things, and either buying some items or groceries, or some other stuff that Aqua couldn't tell for sure since Markus spoke in Chinese to the people there. All in all, it was actually kind of fascinating to see Markus in his element of sorts interacting with these foreigners.
But for the life of him, Aqua could seriously do without all the cheek pinching he was getting from the Chinese old ladies that happen to coo upon him every time Markus popped in a store or place. And to his own growing horror, there was at least one or two Chinese old ladies speaking something in Chinese and pinching his cheeks. He could only make a noise of complaint but that caused them to gush even more.
"Alright now, ladies leave the kid alone now." Markus said in amusement as the old ladies groaned and let their hands leave Aqua's head. "Come on kid, we got to make some more stops along the way." He said as he picked up Aqua by the back of his shirt, and cause him to help as he helped carried Aqua out like it was nothing out of the store before setting him down.
"Thanks for picking me up and out of there Markus." Aqua groaned, before he glared at him, which if Aqua was an adult like he was, it would have been scary. However, as a kid, it came off as more of a pout than anything else. "Did you have to subject me to being harassed by all those old ladies?" Aqua groaned in annoyance as Markus looked more amused with his reaction.
"They're just grannies Aqua, there's literally nothing to be in danger of from the elderly." Markus pointed out. "Besides, they just wanted to spoil you because they found you to be an adorable child." He added in as Aqua flushed in annoyance at that, something that Markus noticed and causing him to chuckle a bit.
"You stink Markus." Aqua huffed as he ended up walking alongside Markus for another place to stop by in the district. "Is it revenge for the way that I broke your rules?" He asked, as he figured Markus would still be annoyed by that.
"Not really." Markus said. "I did this because kids like yourself shouldn't be indoors all day, not exactly all that healthy for your mind or for your body." Markus said as Aqua looked surprised at that. "Contrary to what I might show or act, I'm not the kind of guy to hold a pointless grudge over something minor." Markus explained to Aqua as he gained a new perspective on Markus before he continued on. "Petty beyond belief? Absolutely though." Markus added in as that caused Aqua's face to fell flat.
"Just when I was starting to think higher of you, you just say and do stuff like that, that causes me to lose all respect for you." Aqua sighed out in a deadpanned tone, truly dealing with a time traveler from the future was beyond his normal sensibilities. Which now that he actually thought about it, the rules of Markus's time would be completely different from current time, kind of like that old Australian movie involving Mel Gibson.
"Well tough luck Aqua." Markus replied. "You will soon learn that not everything is as squeaky clean or neat as people present themselves on the surface. Trust me, you never judge people on appearances from personal experience." He said ominously as Aqua couldn't help but feel a shiver down his spine at what kind of people Markus could have possibly met.
"Is there anyone you're willing to explain or talk about?" Aqua asked curiously.
"Nope, you're a little bit too young for that, so regardless of how mature you are, some matters are simply nothing more than an adult matter." Markus said as he shook his head as Aqua pouted at that. Even with how advanced he talked, Markus still treated him as nothing more than a kid, a smart kid for sure, but a kid nonetheless.
"I'm mature than my mom." Aqua couldn't help but childishly retort at that as Markus paused and gave him a raised eyebrow look that made Aqua kind of nervous. "What?" He couldn't help but asked as the raised eyebrow look made him far less comfortable with his answer then he would have liked.
"Several things to consider about that statement kid." Markus started off. "You're pretty mature for a kid, if I didn't know any better, I'd say I was talking to an adult, not a kid." He started off as Aqua's insides froze at that and Markus continued on. "That said, your mother is not exactly what I would call the picture of maturity either, considering how she acted in regards to your sister." Markus said flatly as Aqua winced.
That was…a fair point to make.
"Okay you have a point about that." Aqua admitted. "But I'm still pretty mature, so hearing about some people you've encountered and realized the kind of people they are will help me when I grow up." Aqua said, it wasn't just that mainly, he was well aware that someone had sent some thugs after Ai, so being able to read people was going to be important if he was going to keep her safe.
At that Markus gave him a look that looked...older if he had to guess? "Kid." Markus then spoke up. "I understand the need and desire to grow up fast, but you shouldn't try to force yourself to mature just because you want to grow up. Sometimes there are plenty of things that you will definitely take for granted and regret later on in life at not being able to get a proper first chance to do certain things the way they should be." Markus said more seriously. "It's not wrong to want to grow up, but you should not use that as an excuse to not enjoy yourself either, that's not healthy." He spoke.
Aqua paused at that as he pursed his lips, Aqua could get where he was coming from, he was a doctor in his past life after all. Mental Health, even if it's greatly neglected in Japan was still important as a doctor, there were times when you needed to make sure your treatment and care didn't distress the patient otherwise their health will not improve. Trying to force yourself into a whole different mindset without prep or warning could be disastrous.
"Well, anyways." Markus continued on, disrupting Aqua's line of thought. "I think I just got about everything I needed here." He said as he checked his phone for something, as Aqua raised an eyebrow at what he meant by that.
"Got everything for what?" He asked Markus.
"Got everything I need for tonight's dinner of course." Markus said as Aqua's eyes twitched as that did not make a lot of sense, since there were plenty of places that they went to that didn't sell food. "And also replacing all the tools that I lost from that one affair recently." Markus added in casually.
Aqua remembered that, he thought he overheard Ai mentioning that Markus got kidnapped if he remembered correctly? "So that's what we've been doing all day? Replacing your tools?" He asked Markus, who nodded back at him.
"Tools are a necessary replacement, but I also wasn't lying about dinner either." He said as Aqua couldn't help but sigh a bit. Markus's priorities were really strange to him at times, ever since he started staying with him.
Strange for sure, but it was also kind of a nice change of pace, was something that Aqua couldn't help but think a bit as he followed Markus back home while holding his hand. He couldn't help but think this was a nice feeling.
"Oh, my Markus, I didn't expect you to go out grocery shopping and bring Aqua out along with you." Ai noted as she looked at the food that Markus brought back, a lot of it was food, but there was also a separate bag that Markus had brought in for his tools to replace his missing tools from that kidnapping attempt.
"Well kids shouldn't stay inside for too long and since Ruby didn't look like she wanted to go out and spend some time with you, I figured I would take Aqua out with me." Markus explained as he pulled out a replacement tool bag and started unloading his new tools from their boxes. Something that Ai hummed at, and then remembered something.
"Wouldn't it be dangerous to bring Aqua out though?" Ai pointed out to him. "You did say that being under the radar is our best form of security right now, so bringing him would be kind of violating that, would it not?" She asked Markus, who looked calm and composed as her questioning.
"Relax, I didn't go outside the Chinese District, stuck to strictly local Chinese stores here, the food may be a bit more expensive, but they're easily deep inside the district, so nobody outside would be able to see Aqua." Markus explained to her, as she nodded at that explanation. "Besides, the grannies took a liking to him and won't let anything happen to him under their watch." Markus added in with an amused tone as Ai spotted Aqua blushing red at that.
"Ahhhh~ Did someone make a good impression on the elderly ladies in the neighborhood?" Ai cooed as she picked up Aqua and hugged him tenderly as Aqua turned even more red at hearing that. "Such a fine gentleman you are, you will certainly get the hearts of girls like that in the future." Ai teased her son.
"Certainly, is a bit of a lad with a bit of a charm to him." Markus commented. "I expect in the future, you would be fighting off a bunch of ladies after him." He added in as Ai continued to gush over how charming her son is without care for who was hearing it while Aqua was red in the face.
"Ai, Markus!" Aqua complained with a pout to his face, that simply caused Ai to gush over him some more while Markus snorted in amusement. Then he turned his attention to Ruby, who was sitting at den with the tv and huffing and pouting cutely at the affection that Aqua was gaining from Ai.
It was something that Markus decided to address as he walked to Ruby and sat next to her. "So, you jealous of your brother for having your mom's attention?" Markus asked casually as Ruby blinked and stopped pouting at Aqua and turned to him in surprise.
Then she relaxed and then continued pouting at Aqua. "How come Mama's giving bro her attention even though he doesn't like it or ask for it like I do?" Ruby pouted. Markus blinked at that question, though he supposed he shouldn't be that surprised, since Ai was a single mom and it wasn't like she could simply ask anyone around for why Ai acts the way she does.
"Well, it's obvious is it not?" Markus asked Ruby, who raised an eyebrow at his question. "Ai is your mother, and she isn't just your mother, she's also Aqua's mother as well." He said as Ruby tried to figure what he meant by that. "And I don't exactly remember a lot about my family, but I would like to think that a mark for being a good parent is the ability to not neglect any of your kids." Markus said to her.
"But mama never neglected me or Aqua though?" Ruby said in confusion at what Markus said to her. "She's always trying her hardest to look after me and Aqua even with as busy as her schedule can be at times." She said to him.
"And that's the thing, Ruby." Markus said as Ruby went silent. "I think any decent parent can claim they're doing enough for their kids, but I think a great parent keeps on trying to improve and learn so a parent can take better care of their kids. You never stop learning in life after all, you're always learning something new every day." Markus said to Ruby.
Ruby was silent as she contemplated this. It came so easy for Markus to say that, but Ruby knew that people who claim to be good parents were never exactly like they seem. Her past life was more than enough proof of that. Her mother claimed to have loved her, but she never visited her ever, no matter how long it's been, no matter how many birthdays, holidays, and more passed on by. She never came to see her.
She felt her hands tighten up in a grip, Markus didn't know what he was saying, he clearly never had to deal with the reality of what being a parent meant to adults or how much being a parent would take them away from their own lives. Ai was a much better parent, even if she mixed up her with Aqua, at least she always did her best for them.
"Seems I might have annoyed you with my preaching." Markus's words spoke up, cutting through Ruby's dark thoughts as she turned to him and for the first time since they met. Markus actually looked kind of sheepish at that. "Sorry, I'm not used to dealing with kids, and you and Aqua are more mature that I sometimes treat as being older than you are, sorry." Markus apologized for that.
Ruby shook her head at that. "No, no, it's not your fault, I was just thinking of something is all!" Ruby quickly replied as fast as she could. It wasn't Markus's fault that she happened to have a mother in her past life that ignored her existence the moment she learned she was terminal and left her alone. It wasn't something she had thought about seriously all things considered since she was enjoying her new and current life right now.
But now though? The assassination attempt against her mother terrified her, it made her worried about what would happen to her and Aqua if mama died. Thinking about death again was terrifying to her, she already died once due to a sickness she could not beat and had to waste away on a hospital bed with only a gentle and kind doctor as her sole companion. And now she has to be on the other side as someone tried to kill her mama, unable to do anything.
And even worse, they still don't know who is trying to hurt mama, and the one behind it is still very much at large. Was this desire for death from one of mama's friends her fault? Was this her punishment for trying to ignore the past and tried to hoist her wish for a kind and loving mother on mama?
Was she going to bring misfortune upon the family again?
As her dark thoughts spiraled out of control, Ruby suddenly flinched and blinked in surprise as a warm calloused human hand patted her gently on the head. She turned to see Markus simply patting her on the head with a bit of an uncomfortable look on his head before he spoke. "Speaking as a guy who'd seen his fair share of messes and the likes, I can tell that something's really disturbing you." He said to Ruby as he continued to pat her gently on the head. "I'm not exactly well equipped or trained for it, but…leaving someone out to dry, much less, a kid, is not my style." He said to her.
"…Really now? You're going to mess up my hair, that's a big no for us girls you know Markus." Ruby said softly with a calmer expression as Markus could only look sheepish at that and stopped doing that. "I didn't say you can stop." She said pouting at him and Markus relented and continued onwards. Ruby felt calm in this, she felt safe and secured.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's on your mind that's bothering you?" Markus asked as Ruby tilted her head a bit. "I figure it has something to do with what happened to Ai, but I figured I get the idea from you rather than make assumptions, while the other two are distracted." Markus said pointing his other hand to Aqua and Ai trying to put away food in the fridge.
Ruby felt her mind in a struggle, but eventually she decided it couldn't hurt to reveal a bit. "Hey Markus." She started off as Markus paid attention to her completely. "Say for example if someone never had a decent parent before in their life. And suddenly they get a second chance to have a parent, and they make them carry their wish for them to be a kind and loving parent…do you think that's selfish?" She asked as she somberly waited for the answer that Markus would say it was.
"No." Markus replied instantly causing Ruby to blink in surprise and turn to him fully focused. "I don't think that's a selfish wish at all, I think it's perfectly normal to desire something what you never had before." Markus said. "There plenty of people in this world that are envious of what other people have, ranging from food, shelter, money, friends, and family is no different than that." He said to her.
That was…far more relieving to hear than she had even began to hope for. "And if a wish like that was to set up a curse on someone that the person likens to a parent, wouldn't that still be a selfish wish, especially if they continued on?" She asked.
"I don't believe in curses first off." Markus retorted. "And it's not like you wishing for something and it just happens to come true automatically means that something bad is going to happen Ruby. Life sucks and sometimes people just get a bad hand for whatever reason it is." Markus said.
"Is it really that simple? Even if that desire is tainted?" Ruby couldn't help but ask, was it really okay for her to believe that her wish for a kinder and more loving mom didn't lead to the attempt?
"Yes, it is." Marus said. "People are complicated, life is complicated, so why worry about what ifs? You just do what you can, finding whatever happiness you want along the way and enjoy life as best as you can. Besides, there's nobody in this world that has a truly selfless desire, we all have and want something we want and no matter how pure we or other people think it is. It will always have that smidgen of desire." Markus said as if there was nothing more to it.
"…Even you Markus?" Ruby asked as she wondered what would Markus say to that.
"Especially me." Markus affirmed. "Besides having desire is not a bad thing in my opinion." He said as Ruby blinked at that. "It's not enough for someone to simply want to survive, they also must have desire to want as well, that's part of living, that's part of being a normal human Ruby. So, if you ever feel bad for being greedy, then let me tell you." He said as he turned to her very seriously. "You are not the only one with desires and you should not be ashamed of it." He spoke.
Ruby couldn't help but stare at Markus who simply looked around and looked exasperated as he mentions something about improperly stuffing his fridge. He was at first a weirdo that disliked mama, but then became her friend, and now he was kind of the family friend. As she raised her head up and stared at Markus berating Ai and helping her correct the wrong places she's been shoving in her groceries.
She couldn't help but find her heart has lighten up a bit now, the guilt that she's been hiding since that moment no long as all consuming as it once was. Now she had a different thought, she wondered what it would be like if Markus was their father now. And she found that she didn't dislike the idea.
Having someone as understanding as him, plus the fact that he did save Ai and literally ran all the way to stop the creep from going after her already gave her a good opinion about him.
Markus couldn't help but notice that Ruby was relaxing around him and seemingly leaning into his head patting. Well. he supposed that was preferable to Ruby not liking him as she did when they first met, which in hindsight was his fault for making a bad first impression. But since she was living in his place for the time being, this was far more preferable to her being in some kind of emotional distress.
Seeing how his random talk with Ruby seemed to have calmed her down, it became apparent that his words had an effect on calming her down. While he is glad that Ruby no longer seems in distress, it bothered him that Ruby was distressed like this to begin with. The attempt on Ai must have affected far deeper than he expected, then again…he wasn't exactly used to dealing with kids and their psychology, so maybe this is a normal reaction?
…Shit, maybe he should actually read up on child psychology if he was going to continue hanging out with Ai, and now he knows about her secret kids. It would not be a good thing to accidentally distress some kids, or maybe figure out a way to help out kids. Or maybe figure out the dos and don'ts of interacting with children, especially young impressionable children.
Markus resolved to talk to Wu-Fei later for advice, considering he's a parent and raised Kai-Ming quite well to be both emotionally and mentally sound. And also, he just remembered that he was also took care of Frill for a time as well, and while Markus did not hope to end up as her babysitter again, he had to prepare for the possibility of future interactions with her, and also potentially taking care of her again.
Then he heard his new phone ringing and raised an eyebrow as he picked it up and saw an unidentified number on it. Figuring he was going to need some privacy, he had to get up and leave Ruby pouting at him as he stopped his head patting thing for her and entered his room for privacy. Once his room was locked, he answered the phone call. "Hello?" He asked cautiously.
A familiar voice answered back. "Ah hello Markus, it's me, Chika, how have you been?" Chika asked happily and excitedly as Markus blinked in surprise at that.
"Chika? How did you get my number?" He asked. "For that matter, how would you even know where to get my number to begin with?"
"Oh, you know how it is, a few know how here and there, learning you lived in the Chinese District while you were fixing yourself up, back at my place, a few contacts and calls from a few people, and soon I found out how to reach your number, especially when I was asking for a Handyman." Chika said brightly on the other end, as Markus raised his eyebrows higher and higher at how she managed to reach him.
"On one hand, I am a bit disturbed that you managed to figure that out." Markus admitted. "But on the other hand, I am also impressed and honestly considering the solid I did for you, I imagine you're not actually trying to do anything malicious to me for any reason, rather you wanted or needed to talk to me about something." Markus noted to her.
"Quick on the uptake, and yeah, there's something that I needed to talk to you about." Chika said jokingly at first before it became serious. The tonal shift was enough to set Markus on edge, and he didn't like what was about to be told to him.
"I assume you remember that we were kidnapped very recently by armed thugs that turn out to be mercenaries after me for typical hostage ransom reasons, and then you managed to initiate a gas attack of some kind on the warehouse and managed to get us out there before engaging with someone there?" Chika questioned him as Markus frowned at that.
"I do remember that, why? Did new knowledge or Intel about who was behind the kidnapping attempt showed up or something?" Markus asked.
"The warehouse was burnt down completely Markus." Chika said seriously as Markus's eyebrows rose at that, he didn't remember setting anything off that could have been used to burn the place down, as far as he remembered. "There are also plenty of dead people inside, from what little I discovered, someone or a bunch of people either shot them or gunned them down or used considerable strength to snap their necks and the likes based on what the remains can tell." She said as that alarmed Markus.
"I only took out a few people though, not fought my way out of that warehouse." Markus said as his eyes narrowed at that, and started to come to something. "…Someone else was cleaning up, erasing evidence or traces of themselves from that location." He then deduced.
"Yeah, someone or a group of people are trying to stay under the radar Markus." Chika said emptily. "And there's no telling where they're going to strike from next, especially if they're willing to go this far to get me." She said with a tinge of fear in her voice. Okay was he going to have to play the rational stable guy again?
"Chika, calm down." Markus's firm and solid voice cut through her fear. "You are currently alright and you are safe, and you now know that there is more to this operation than originally entailed. So that means playing it safe, stick to very public places where kidnappings would be impossible or go in large groups, as that would be too much danger, you are not alone here, okay?"
"Yeah, you're right, thanks Markus." Chika said thankfully before some other noises are heard. "Sorry but I have to go, we need to talk some more, and don't worry if some more unknown phone numbers call you. I shared it with Kaguya, Yu, and Shirogane so they can contact if anything requires your help, bye." Chika said before she ended the call.
Markus looked at the phone for a moment as he frowned at what he heard. Someone or a group of people went through the trouble of wiping any possible traces that they existed, Mercs did fight and die for the job is one thing, but to turn upon themselves and die like that? That was an entirely different thing, he wasn't aware of any merc group back from where he was from that was that fanatic about do or die on the job.
If anything, this kind of behavior reminded him of the way that Caesar's Legion operated with the Cult of Personality and Zealotry that the Legionnaires operated for Caesar. But Markus had a feeling that it wasn't exactly that either. Markus had too many questions and not enough answers, he hated being in the dark but he simply can't go around walking and talking into the nearest shadiest bar.
Locals don't take too kindly to strangers after all, and he had a reputation to maintain for the Chinese locals as someone who stayed on the clean side and didn't dabble on the dirty side. Well technically he was an illegal immigrant, but so were a number of the residents in this area. He was also a support pillar for the community that he found himself growing to care for and desire to protect with everything he's got.
And he still had the issue to try and figure with Ai's ex who may or may not be trying to kill her to cover up the fact that she had his kids. And may be trying to kill Ai so it doesn't ruin his acting career and sent him to the bottom of the actor list or whatever category they worked on here.
And now that he thought about it, someone cleaned up the stalker's death way too cleanly too…kind of like how this warehouse mess was kind of cleaned up. Markus usually wouldn't put too much faith in it, but his heart was telling him that there was a connection of some kind. It was a loose connection at best, but a connection all the same.
Maybe Markus could check it out later to see if there was a connection, his Luck did run wildly at times, that sometimes Raul and Arcade mentioned he had the Devil's Luck when it came to survival. While others like Rose and Boone mentioned that it got him involved in all sorts of crazy shit. And considering what he's been through, that wouldn't be an off assumption.
Then he heard a knock on the door and heard Ai speaking through it. "Markus, we're about to try and make those pot stickers with those dumplings you got." Ai said through the door. "Ruby and Aqua want to see you try and cook them." She added in.
"On it, see you soon." Markus said as he decided to lay his concerns down low for now, maybe it was important. But as Markus walked through the door and headed for his kitchen, he couldn't help but think as he started cooking the dumplings and seeing the excited look on Ai and the kids' faces, that some conspiracy in his mind can wait with this family by his side, as Markus cooked the dumplings with a small but growing happy smile on his face.