Drageria

Ch. 22: A Father's Lament

It had been around a week and a half since the invasion by Japan, and things had gone far better than Tachibana had anticipated. Thanks in great part to Izuku's exceptional analytical skills! Once he got his hands on everything that was currently ailing Drageria and what they had available, it only took him a few hours to figure it all out, write out a chart, and present it to Tachibana. When put into motion, things took off like wildfire!

Everything was so easily dispersed throughout the land without missing a thing that needed attention! It might have taken every resource possible to do it, but it worked, and now things are back on course to becoming not only normal but also far more different and innovative. Tachibana couldn't be happier with the results. Things would be more of a hum in the near days or weeks ahead, which put his and everyone else's minds at ease.

It was a few days after things had settled down in the kingdom, and even the castle itself was no longer in an uproar of absolute chaos. A time for those who worked so hard to get some rest and self-care.

One person doing just that was Bultungin, Drageria's Treasury Advisor and Accountant. He was standing before the mirror in his bathroom, examining himself. The days of stress before had done a number on him physically and mentally; he barely had enough time to himself for proper hygiene. In the mirror, he saw how his once-blade head was not starting to grow hair again, something he wasn't too fond of. Little strands like a fresh beach had started to poke out, stands of gold. Not blonde, but gold! Shimmering in the light.

He rubbed his head a few times before turning to his tools. After ensuring his head was hot and wet, he lathered it up with shaving cream before taking a straight razor and rhythmically pulling it across his head, never pulling or making a single cut. A routine he had memorized into his very muscles.

It took only a few minutes to complete, but once he washed the remaining cream away and examined his head, ensuring no hair was left, he smiled in satisfaction. His tribal tattoos were visible again, and his head was completely bald apart from the hyena head poked from the back, its normal blond coat instead of gold.

He sighs a bit, and while looking into the mirror, he says, "You may as well come out. I know you're there. It is quite rude to watch."

A figure emerges from within the shadows of the mirror, revealing it to be Tachibana. Bultungin knew he wasn't behind him and did not bother to look behind himself. Tachibana smiles at him in the mirror, his face and posture calm. He is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You always could tell when I was watching you.", he said with a chuckle as he approached the mirror.

Once he stands in front of the mirror, he morphs into smoke and passes through to the other end, where he quickly reforms.

Bultungin, at watching the god reform his body from the mirror, teases him, "Once you figure it out, you're not that good at hiding."

Tachibana laughs back and admits with a shrug, "What can I say? The element of surprise overrules stealth any day. And I have the power to back it up."

"Did you come here just to boast, Father?", Bultungin asks him.

Tachibana makes a coy, fake-sad face as he asks back, "Is it too much for an old man to see his favorite son?"

Bultungin rolled his eyes at this and replied, "I bet you say that to my older siblings."

Tachibana then gives him a very light punch in the face, more of a run than anything, and tells him flat out, "But with you, I mean it. I can't lie. You always have and will be my favorite child."

Tachibana then trailed off as his eyes followed Bultungin's freshly shaved head. Without realizing it, his hand moved up towards it and gently touched it. His gaze was distant, as if deep in thought.

It didn't take Bultungin long to notice this and ask, "Are you displeased that I have shaved again?"

Tachibana's gaze returns to the present, and he says with a small inward sigh, "I am. But it's your choice after all. I can't make you change just because I feel a certain way." Tachibana traces the lines of his tribal tattoos as he says, "But I wish you would grow your hair out….even once more….just for me."

Bultungin gently grabs and holds the man's hand as he says with closed eyes, "You know I can't do that."

Tachibana gave a sad-sounding sigh, and with a sweet expression and his sweet voice, he cooed, "Tun-Tun."

Bultungin's face turned bright pink at this, and he frustratedly exclaimed, "I wish you'd stop calling me that."

Tachibana chuckled at his change of tone and set to assure and teased him, telling him, "You know full well that even if anyone knew you were a Goldilian, they wouldn't come after you just cause you were the last. You're well protected here and don't even have the Goldeain's quirk. And you know I've been using your pet name forever, and I won't stop using it."

"I suppose that's one of the only good things my birth 'father' gave me. Touch of King Midas is not a gift among quirks," Bultungin said with disdain in his voice.

Tachibana looked at him with concern and asked him, "Do you not feel safe here, Tun-Tun?"

Bultungin looked shocked by his question and immediately and swiftly told him in a panic, "Of course I do, Father! I just…..have my reasons…..I guess I'm just not ready to let them know. I fear-."

Bultungin trailed off on his statement, looking at the ground, rubbing his arm nervously, and turning away. Tachibana gave him a sympathetic look, placed a hand on his shoulder, and told him, "Take your time."

Bultungin took a deep breath and admitted, "I fear they may take what you did to my previous country and connect it back to me."

Suddenly, Tachibana grabbed Bultungin by his shoulders and whirled him to face him without warning, half scaring the hyena-faced man! Tachibana then grabbed his face by the cheeks and looked him dead in the eyes with a serious gaze.

Fully frozen in shock and a bit of fear by the suddenness of it all, Bultungin stared back at Tachibana as he rented to him in a concerning yet uplifting manner.

"You have absolutely nothing to do with the genocide I enacted! You have no connection to that apart from circumstances! And if anyone thinks otherwise, then they are stupid! And if they start something, I'll send one of your older siblings to…have a talk.", He said the last part a bit sinisterly while looking off to the side, flashing his sharp teeth as his eyes glowed.

Bultungin's sweat dropped, and begged him in concern, "Please don't do that."

Tachibana then stood erect with his head high and a thumb in his chest as he exclaimed, "I'm your father! It's my job to protect you no matter what, Tun-Tun.", After this declaration, he'd be attracted and with an almost disappointed sigh he told him, "But…if you don't want to grow your hair out, I can't force you. It's just…with long hair or any amount of it…..you look so much like your mother.", He said with a distant and sad sound.

The room was quiet between them as Bultungin stepped out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. He turned the light off behind him and sat on the bed. He knew his father was still inside the bathroom, deep in thought, and he knew he had to get him out of the room and his funk.

So he asked, "Father…..will you tell me about mother."

Tachibana appeared before him in a puff of smoke and asked back, "Haven't I already done that around a thousand times?"

"And I'll ask a thousand times a thousand more. I….want to keep her fresh in my mind.", Bultungin told him with a pleading smile.

Tachibana half smiled back, a bit unsatisfied by this, and told him, "I have pictures of her, you know, and other ways of showing her.", But Bultungin sat there, looking up at him with a pleading and unsatisfied expression on his face. Tachibana sighs at this and rescinds in defeat, "Fine, fine, you win.", Tachibana sits next to his son and places a hand on his chin while in thought. After a bit, he starts with, "I know this may sound cliche, but your mother was…. truly one of a kind. There was never, nor will there ever be, a woman like her again."

"Tell me about how you met her.", Bultungin jumped in, trying to hide his excitement.

Tachibana laughs at him and says, a bit frazzled but happy, "Geeze, switching topics already? Okay, okay.", Tachibana returns to his thoughts and starts off his story, telling him, "Back when I was young and angry at the world, I stopped my rampage in a small and developing country. I planned to rest there before I continued my trail of death. But the country's people learned about me and sent three people to care for me. Your mother is one of them.", Bultungin listened closely and intently as Tachibana continued, "They came with fake bravery in their hearts, but it fell out of their faces when they saw me. They all felt, apart from your mother, who stood in opposition. She was only a child then, but she was braver than all the others. And she stood firm before me and didn't flinch at my bluffs. I was ready to kill her there and then, but I couldn't."

Tachibana stopped momentarily as if to catch his breath, but he looked like he was trying to suppress his rising emotions. After swallowing nothing, he continued to tell in a dreamy yet reminiscing tone, "I looked into her eyes and her into mine, and I could see something I hadn't seen for my whole life…..then she said something to me I will never forget. Four little words that changed me forever."

"I. Love. You…..Tachibana?", Bultungin tried to guess, even though he knew what they were, trying to lighten the mood of father's ever-growing sadness.

"You are my goal.", Tachibana spoke the words like sacred golden text. He took a shaky breath and babbled on, "And for the first time in my whole life, I saw the side of humanity I hadn't seen before. I looked into her eyes and saw a warmth stronger than the cold I felt in my soul and a bright light that broke through the darkness that had swallowed me up for so long. And for the first time, I felt something I freely gave but never had been given…..love. And in time….I came to love her too."

A tear welled up in his eye as he said this, and a single one fell off his cheek as he wiped it away; he said in a reminiscing yet thankful tone with happy nostalgia, "Your mother and your mother alone did the impossible. Without sword or fist she managed to kill the unlikable monster and freed the man within.", He paused again, as if trying to find the words, then said in a small tone on the verge of tears, "She was…..amazing….and I lost her. One of my biggest regrets."

It was at this point that he finally broke down. Tachibana dropped his head, relaxed his body, and let tears freely roll down his face. He didn't whine or whimper or even sob. Just let tears run down his face and soak his pants.

Bultungin took a rag nearby and began to dry the man's face as he reassuringly told him, "That wasn't your fault. You were-."

"Weak and foolish, and for the sins of those people, I-.", Tachibana interrupted him while wiping away the remaining tears before Bultungin cut in himself and finished his statement.

"Took all souls of every living creature there, leaving it as an uninhabited land where nothing dares enter to this day.", He said this with as much sympathy as he could muster but still had the tone of somebody who had heard this too many times.

Tachibana sighed at this as his wings dropped on the bed, and he told him in a bitter and regretful tone, "I wish I had taken her away from that place long ago. I could've helped her and her people. I could've helped her forget the tragedy of her past, made her a queen, and had you as my son!"

Bultungin asked, a bit worried, "Do you….represent the fact that I'm not your son?"

Unlike last time, Tachibana didn't act so suddenly and so dramatically as he said in a soft and comforting tone, "Not at all, never. Though I do wish you were mine by blood, I still consider you my son, no matter what. But wishing is just that…wishing. And I wish I could've been stronger or at least a bit smarter back then."

Tachibana then started to recede into himself like a turtle, pulling its head into its shell, which he then proceeded to do, making his whole head disappear into his body.

Bultungin touched his headless dad's torso and asked gently, "If you could, would you bring her back?"

Tachibana brought his head out once again and told him in full disclosure, with sadness still lacing his voice, "I wouldn't even think twice about it. But that is truly wishful thinking. The dead are just that, dead. No force can truly revive someone gone. And no time quirks exist, no matter which ones I take and mix."

Things were quiet once more as Tachibana looked off to the side, his head down, his hand on his knees, and his face fallen and on the verge of crying. So, Bultungin changes the subject slightly.

"Can you tell me how mother looked?", He asked hopefully.

Tachibana's smile and posture return at this question. He still looked off into the distance of the wall, and deep in thought, he spouted, "Your mother, to me, was more beautiful than anything else. Her eyes were like pure deep cuts of obsidian, her skin was the most gorgeous shade of ginger snap, her smile could bright light to the darkest face, her voice was like a wind chime in a soft breeze, and her finger and now nails were always painted seashell pink. Her hair…", he pauses especially upon this and reaches out his hands, as if stroking or caressing something, then saying with a shiver, "God, her hair was the best thing about her. Even though it was like all other Goldilians, her's was different in my eyes. Her length, gleam, glitter, and how it hit the light and flew through the wind….she was amazing. If it wasn't for her, well…..let's just say things would be different."

"I guess we have her to thank for saving the world.", Bultungin observes with a chuckle.

"I guess we do.", Tachibana agrees with this, his mind returning to reality.

He then stands up from the bed, rubs his son's bald head, and tells him before walking out, "Now go to bed; it's late. I need you at your best for tomorrow."

Bultungin smiles as he leaves and says, "Good night, father."

"Good night to you as well, my son.", Tachibana replies with a fatherly smile over his shoulder before closing the door and returning to his office to continue his paperwork.