BONUS SCENE FROM CHAPTER 23: A HOPEFUL START IN HOUSE HARTELL
Mewtwo still wasn't used to waking up this early in the morning. Not even the mug of tea Cassandra gave him helped. But it was warm, so he carried it into the living room and sat down in the armchair. As he sipped the steaming beverage, he gestured irritably at the blankets on the couch. They folded themselves up and tucked themselves underneath the coffee table, along with the pillows he'd used. After years of sleeping outside, the couch was an improvement, but he did sometimes think about the bed upstairs with longing. That his mate slept in it made the thought even more tantalizing….
He shoved the thought aside when he heard little feet coming down the stairs. He watched Cassandra's children (and his, he thought, his stomach lurching and his mouth going dry) hurry into the kitchen. The little boy – Christopher, his name was Christopher – stopped in the doorway between the rooms. "Are you coming?" he asked, smiling shyly.
"In a minute. Go on ahead, your mother's waiting," Mewtwo managed to say.
Christopher nodded, went inside, and said something to Cassandra. After a moment, Mewtwo followed them. The man – Michael – had come in from taking his houndoom outside. His jaw clenched as he watched Cassandra brush snow off of Michael's jacket and smile at something he said. Mewtwo knew he was reacting foolishly, of course. There was nothing between the two of them for him to be jealous about. So he sat down at the table, forcefully suppressing his fantasy of going over there, wrapping his arms and tail around his mate, and hissing at the man for getting so close to her. He doubted Cassandra would take that well. In fact, he rather thought Cassandra would punch him for that if he tried.
So he buried the urge and looked over at the twins, who were sitting across from him. The girl, Maya, beamed at him over her juice. "Mama says you're gonna watch us again today!" she told him.
"Is that so?" he said, reaching into the fruit bowl and taking out an orange. He carefully peeled the rind back with his claws.
"Uh-huh. Isn't that right, Mama?"
"Isn't what right, sweetheart?" Cassandra asked, spreading peanut butter on slices of toast.
"Papa's watching us today." His stomach did another uncomfortable lurch at that word: Papa.
Cassandra looked at him closely and nodded. "Yes, he will. Ana's also going to be here if you need her."
"And where will you be going, Cassandra? Are you going to see that man again?" Mewtwo asked her, his claws piercing the flesh of the fruit.
Cassandra raised an eyebrow at him. "And what if I am?"
He knew he had to tread carefully with her. They'd talked about this. "I…I merely want to know, in case I need to contact you about the children."
Her eyes softened slightly at his answer. She sighed. "Yeah, that's where we're going. We'll be back in a few hours, tops. Just make sure they don't get into too much trouble, okay?"
"I will," he promised.
They ate breakfast after that, and when Cassandra and Michael walked out the door, he followed the children into the living room. They turned the television on to some cartoon about giant, transforming robots, which they seemed to be familiar with. He sat down on the couch and couldn't help but tense as the guard, Anastasia, came in. He tried not to twitch as she took out a stack of paper and the children's art kit. Of course – how could he have forgotten to do that? He would have to be better at remembering next time….
He resisted the urge to move away as the guard walked over and stood beside him. He wasn't used to people who weren't his brother or his mate getting this close to him. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
Mewtwo considered ignoring her, but that wouldn't accomplish anything worthwhile. "I am tired," he admitted. "I am not yet used to this schedule."
She sat down in the armchair. "If you need a nap, go ahead. I can watch them."
He stared at her appraisingly. "I am grateful for the offer, but Cassandra has tasked me with watching them. She will not be pleased if she discovers that I slept instead."
The guard shrugged. "I can always wake you up before she gets back." After a moment, she added, "I know this can't be easy on you. Getting some more sleep might help."
"…You are very kind," he said slowly. He wasn't certain he deserved such kindness, after everything that had happened. "But I must try to stay awake for them."
He did try his best, but between the white noise from the television and the sunlight pouring in through the windows, he ended up dozing on the couch. He jerked awake sometime later when the art kit crashed to the floor. He reached for his powers and his sword – but no, it was no longer at his side – before he remembered where he was. He held his breath a moment, urging himself to calm down. His ingrained habits from the war weren't of any use here.
When his breathing and heart rate slowed to normal, and when some of the tension in him unwound, he sat up and looked at the children. They looked back at him curiously. They were both levitating spilled crayons back into their box. For a moment, he felt a stirring of pride as he watched them. For them to do something so delicate with their powers at this age…they would surely be very skilled and strong when they were older.
"Sorry," Christopher said after a second, looking embarrassed. "It fell."
"Do not worry about it. I should not have been sleeping." He looked at the armchair and saw that it was empty. "Where is the guard?"
"Ana's making lunch right now," Christopher told him, putting the box back on the table. Maya had already returned to her drawing.
Mewtwo felt himself twitch again. He should be doing that. He was their father; he should be taking care of them, making sure they ate something, making sure they were safe and…. He leaned forward and rubbed his brow, feeling his teeth grind and a headache coming on. He didn't want to admit that he didn't know what to do in this situation, but it was true. Of all the things he'd imagined finding when he was reunited with Cassandra, finding out that he'd gotten her pregnant and that she'd been raising the children on her own…no, that had never occurred to him. How could it? It shouldn't have been possible and yet here they were.
The girl, Maya, hopped up onto the couch with him. "We made you pictures!" she said brightly, not seeming to notice his mood.
Mewtwo, a bit uncertainly, took the pictures and looked at them. They were difficult to decipher, but he picked out a few trees and green blobs that he figured must be bushes. Maybe the picture was supposed to take place in the park? That could be it. After staring at it some more, he made out a crude representation of Cassandra, who was pointing up at something. There were shapes in the sky, which he knew from the colors couldn't be clouds. They appeared to be dark purple and red boxes. He remembered that the children had been watching a show about robots, so maybe that was what these were.
He decided to ask. "And what are these, exactly?"
"They're bug robots. They're trying to take over the park and get Mama. But you're gonna stop them," Maya said, pointing to the other, curvier blob in the sky, which was colored light purple. Christopher's picture had one as well, though his seemed bulkier, as if Mewtwo had suddenly gained more muscle and additional layers of bony armor around his shoulders. Why those layers were colored dark purple like his tail, Mewtwo wasn't sure.
Of course, Christopher's depiction of him was normal compared to Maya's. "Why is my tail on my head?" Mewtwo asked after a moment. That didn't seem like it would be good for his balance or his neck. "And why do I have a handle above it?"
"Because then you can whip it back and forth like the shampoo girls," Maya stated, as if that were obvious. "And the handle's so Mama can drag you back home when you're done fighting."
Mewtwo's lips twitched. "I am certain she would enjoy that. So I am able to change into both of these forms, then?"
Maya nodded. "Yep. There's magic stones buried in the park, but you find them and transform into a Mega Mewtwo! You have super-speed in my picture," she said proudly.
"And you're super strong in mine," Christopher offered shyly.
"I see. So I am switching between these forms to battle these robots insects, then? There is not another Mewtwo who is fighting with me?" he asked, since that was what it looked like when he put the two pictures together.
"No, it's just you," Maya confirmed. "I could make you a girl in mine, though."
Mewtwo smiled slightly at that. "That is quite alright. I am quite content with my current gender," he said, carefully setting the pictures on the table. "Why robots insects, if I may ask?"
Chris looked a little embarrassed. "Aunty 'Rina said psychics can't fight good against bugs and steel types. So that's why you need Mega Forms – so you can beat them," he explained.
"And Mama doesn't like beetles," Maya added. "She said a lot of bad words when she found some in the kitchen."
Mewtwo's smile widened. He could easily imagine Cassandra cursing up a storm at that. "I see. Well, thank you for these. It was very thoughtful of you to make them for me."
They both smiled at him and said, "You're welcome." Then Christopher squirmed and asked, "We can make you more, if you want?"
"I would like that," Mewtwo said, warmed by the offer.
The children both grabbed new sheets of papers and handfuls of crayons, looking determined. They squabbled over who would get what color, though after a minute it became clear that they had a system of trading back and forth. A little while later, the guard came in and announced that lunch was ready. The four of them ate soup and sandwiches, with the children telling them what had happened on their favorite cartoon. Anastasia volunteered to do the dishes afterwards, giving Mewtwo an encouraging nod to go back into the living room with the children. There he watched them draw, feeling strangely peaceful and hopeful. They had a long way to go before they'd be a real family. He knew that.
But it was a start. He could work with a start.
Mewtwo watched his children and allowed himself, for at least this little while, to feel happy again.