POV: Franklin Wynne

Dad called out of nowhere on a random Saturday morning and while that wasn't all that out of character for him as he would sometimes call to catch up with us. What was out of character was that it was a conference call with Iris. I expected something to be going on that needed myself and Iris' skills but at this point both of us were more or less retired. Still, both Iris and I answered the call. He simply told us to meet him at the house before hanging up.

Which is how Iris and I met in the driveway of dad's house. The family mansion was still used but since the rest of the family had moved out dad and mom had moved to a much smaller house only ever using the mansion for reunions or get togethers. Regardless it took Iris and I a few hours to get there as we were the only ones in the system at the moment. Iris was guest lecturing at the military academy and I was visiting my wife's family when the call came through.

Arriving at the house dad was sitting in his rocking chair on the porch of the house nursing a drink in his hand looking solemn. Iris and I exchanged glances before walking up the porch steps and taking seats on either side of him. When we were sat he offered us both drinks and we took them. We stayed like that in silence for a few minutes before he broke the silence.

"Tali's dead… Went in her sleep," Iris chocked on her drink and mine hovered less than inch from my mouth looking dead at him. Before either of us could saying anything though he continued. "I had the body moved already but called in a favor to keep it quiet for now but it won't last a day. That being said, that's not why I called you here."

"Then why did you call us here," I couldn't help the anger in my voice and his head snapped right to me, a snarl on his face.

"Do not mistake my lack of reaction or not suffering or morning Franklin," he took a deep breath before continuing. "I called you here because I won't be far behind her, two weeks at most and there is something you two should know."

"Not the rest of the family?" Iris questioned. She always was the most devoted to dad and it made sense when you hear the story of how he saved her.

"No… Have you two ever heard of the multiverse theory?" Iris and I exchanged glances before nodding out heads. "Good. That makes this easier; this isn't my reality. I died in my first one and was brought here. That's why Liara, no matter how hard she searches will never find my origins."

Both of us were shocked into silene and tried to rationalize a reason as to why he would lie about this but we couldn't find one. This wasn't something that he would lie about. No matter how outlandish his confession was he wouldn't lie. Realizing this we looked over to him and he simply nodded his head.

"I can see why you wouldn't want to tell Julie; she'd want to experiment on ya at the least or just get as much as she could in general. Why not the others though?" Iris asked.

"CJ mostly cause he's slowly turning our family into a clan of sorts and while I do like the idea him finding this out he would put it down somewhere and inevitably that information would get out. The rest, well simply, because they wouldn't be able to keep this secret."

"And the paranoia rears its head once again," I snorted saying the words. "But I do agree, though we could access untapped resources and be the only ones to get them eventually someone would ask how and the secret would be out eventually. Who knows what people would be willing to do for that. It'd be war."

"That's not to mention if we roll snake eyes on wherever we go if it's even possible," Iris continued getting a nod from dad.

"The multiverse is not something we could ever quantify. There's a non zero chance we invite something worse than the Reapers and that's enough for me to never mention it… And I know you two won't either," we both nodded our heads at that.

"Did… did mom know?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Told her the moment we had some alone time af the war ended," he smiled, remembering the moment. "I just wanted to be able to tell someone besides her before I go."

"Why do-"

"I can feel it Iris… The war, the time afterwards, everything in between; it's all catching up to me. Honestly, the only reason I made it this long was because I didn't want to leave her behind. I had hoped to go with her but it was not to be."

"The galaxy won't be the same without you two," Iris answered and I nodded my head. I would miss them both dearly because they were my parents and I loved them but Iris was right too. Their death's so close together would send some shockwaves across the galaxy. There was no doubt our family would be busy for the next couple years.

"I just have two orders for you two now," we both nodded our heads waiting for his words. "Tell no one what we discussed today, ever. No matter what. As for my second order; make sure our mandate never fades: Those who deal in flesh deserve no mercy."

We both gave him vicious smiles. Afterall, when we all started in this family that was the our golden rule. Plain and simple. The Mandate of the Wynne family, founded by my father, Aedon Wynne, will never fade.

Thirty years later when death knocked on my door and took my hand I was given the opportunity to follow my father's footsteps. Though from what I found out, it wasn't exactly the same as my fathers. Instead I woke up as a baby, with a worried mother and father looking down at me.

Still looking for a good place to put Aedon. There's plenty of places I could place him but I'm kinda waiting for something that really catch's my eye that would work for Aedon. Franklin, I've already decided on where he's going and I plan on doing regular chapters with him but will probably be shorter chapters. Also, kind of 50/50 on making it a gamer one for him but that is kind of beaten down.

While Franklin eventually will be overpowered like Aedon became in this story I plan on doing it the same way. IE: it'll take a while for him to get there but when he gets there he deserves the fear he generates. Either way, see you guys next time when Franklin makes his entrance into the Sea.