Volume 5
Ch. 58 Grice
It didn't take us very long till dad found a place for us to stay
After that he managed to get a job at a local mechanic shop
Now the three of us were on our way home
"Hey dad, let's buy a ball tomorrow" I tug on his shirt
"For what?" He asks
Before I could respond I accidentally bump into someone
"Oh s-sorry sir" I quickly apologize
"Careful where you're walking Colt" Sasha says
"Hey!" We hear the man shout
"Oh…" I gasp
I bumped into a Marleyan soldier
"How dare you?!" He growls
"Please I beg forgive my son" Sasha drops on her knees bowing her head
"Y-yes it shouldn't had happened, please forgive me" I drop on my knees as well following her lead
"You scum" he slams his foot on mom's head "disgusting is that the best you can do?!" The soldier rubs his foot on her head
"You! Are you the father of this devil?!" He shouts at my father before he finally stopped stepping on mom's head
"Yes, now what is it you want?" Dad asks with his back to us
"What is it I want?" He storms over to dad "drop to your knees and apologize you devil!"
"Apologize? Unless you are brain dead, I'm sure you heard my son apologize not once but twice already" dad says in a steady tone "not only that you even made my wife apologize for him. Rather petty don't you think?" Dad turns back around to face the soldier
"What?!" The soldier growls
"P-please excuse my husband h-he's had a long day at work" Sasha steps in between the two
"Move Eldian!" The soldier shouts
Dad sets a hand on Sashas shoulder telling her to step aside
"He's only five, why are you getting so worked up over a simple mistake huh?" Dad opens his arms "look if you'd just accept his apology we would all be home now" dad says as if he were trying to talk us out of the situation
"How dare you, I want you to drop to your knees and apologize for breeding this devil that forever stained my uniform with his filth!" He spits at dads feet
Dad moves his foot aside just before the man's saliva could touch him
I look up at dad
His eyes widen
He looked so angry
I felt chills go down my spine
"Hah you know what? Fine then" he looks at Sasha "we'll use your wife here to satisfy the Eldian dogs in the Marleyan army since, she'll be just perfect breeding material to strengthen the army since you dare not say a word" he reaches for her wrist
"No" dad flicks the coolie up so that he could look the soldier in his eye "how dare you" he growls before grabbing the soldiers throat
"What are you doing ?!" Sasha gasps as dad raised him off his feet
"How dare you disrespect me and my family" he tightens his grip
"D-dad what are you doing?" I ask nervously before Sasha throws herself onto me, blocking the horrific view
"How dare you talk to me like that in front of my son" Dad growls
"Ghk-gh-kgh" the soldier struggles to breath
"I-it's okay don't look Colt" Sasha whispers
I was so terrified I hadn't even notice I still had a clear view of what was happening
Dad had dug his fingers inside the soldiers throat he was clenching his Trachea so hard the veins in the man's forehead burst
"Die you scum" Dad says as he crushes his Trachea in two and the soldier drops dead onto the cold floor
"I-it's okay Colt d-don't be scared" Sasha says
Dad looks down at his hand
It began steaming from his body heat evaporating the blood till there wasn't even a drop left
"Come" he says
"C'mon Colt" Sasha helps me up making sure to follow closely behind dad
We quickly arrived at the apartment where we had left Thor
After dad throws the coolie onto the bed Sasha pulls him into the bathroom where she turned the shower on
"What the hell were you thinking?!" She shouts "you just threw this whole mission to hell!" She shouts once more before I hear dad slap her across the face
"Watch that tone" dad growls "why you think that bum lost his life out there huh?" He asks
"Agh" Sasha gasps as I could only assume dad grabs her by the hair
"Idiot! How could you? In front of Colt!" She shouts before dad slaps her again
"I said calm ya ass down" he raises his voice something I haven't heard him do in a while
"I don't give a shit! Hit me again you pig!" Sasha shouts "you're out of your damn mind if you think I'm going to let you do that shit in front my baby!" She shouts only dad hits her so hard this time I hear her head bang against the wall
"Agh!" Sasha gasps after dad yanks her around by her hair again
"Colt is going to join the military you idiot" dad growls "it's only a matter of time till he sees someone whether he cares for them or not drop dead right in front of him" he adds
Sasha sniffs "you're his father, he just watched you kill someone over your stupid pride" she sobs
"My stupid pride?!" dad growls before he slapped her again and then again and again and again, over and over I couldn't bare the sound it he just kept going
"Agh st-stop it!" Sasha cries
I listen to dad beat her a few more times till he finally stopped "clean this mess" he kicks the door open
Sasha was on the ground behind him her clothes had been ripped and she had another busted lip along with a bruise under her eye and a bloody nose
"Listen Colt" dad slams his fist onto the table
"You think you can commit? Or you wanna go home to your mom, huh?" He asks
"I-I'm ready to commit sir" I look down at the table terrified as to what he'd do to me next
"As you should, now look me in the eye when you speak to me" he says
"S-sorry sir" I look up despite how terrified I was to look him in the eye
"We're on the same level alright boy, don't let anyone tell you different" he lowers his tone
"Y-yessir" I respond
"You My son don't bow down to no one, don't let anyone disrespect you" He says "you're a prince… remember that" he sets a hand on my shoulder
"Yessir" I repeat
He smiles "good boy" he rubs my head
I sigh in relief more then happy I didn't catch a beating
"Eat up, rest up I want you to resume your training tomorrow" he says
"Yessir" I get up
I use a chair to reach the cereal in the top cabinet
I serve myself cereal as dad went back inside the bathroom for a bath
A few minutes later Sasha came out and began washing the dishes that had piled up with dirt and dust from the voyage here
I watch as she drank some water trying calm down
She wipes her face before turning to face me "so" she crouches down infront of me "you see anything you like around here?" She asks
"W-well cars are super cool in person" I say
"Really? You think so?" She asks
"Yeah, though I don't think I'll fit very good with my hat" I say
"Heh yeah" she tears up
"You okay?" I ask
"I-I'm sorry Colt," she hides her face in my lap "no I'm not okay. he's always been like this to me," she sobs
I never ever saw him hit mom like this, so seeing this side of him was terrifying
I play with her hair as she slowly calmed down
"For the past five years, every time he got in a fight with your mother, he would come take his anger out on me" she finally says
"Don't get me wrong he's a good man, he loves your mother so much that he goes as far as suppressing his demons just for her" she says
My dad… a good man?
"Y-you really think so?" I ask
"Yes Colt" she nods "he really is" she wipes her eyes
It made me happy that she'd go as far as to call him a good man, even after how horrible he's treated her
Still.. this can't be right I can't let him treat her like this
"Please do me a favor Colt. I don't want you ever stepping in, not when your fathers angry" she sniffs "please do what you have to, to stay out of his wrath, even so, don't let him change who you are okay ?"
"What?" I ask
"J-just please promise me.." she begs
"I… o-okay" I tear up
"No don't cry, don't cry" she wipes my face as the bathroom doors opened
"Uaghh hehe" dad chuckles before his smile fades away after seeing Sasha with me
"Alright, let's get you tucked in" she pinches my nose
"okay" I giggle before hopping into bed
She pulls the covers up to my chest before stopping suddenly as if she wanted to tell me something
"What is it ?" I ask
"Look Colt.. I don't want you to think I'm trying to replace your mother, cause believe me that's the last thing I want to do to you" she says
"Oh… yeah.. I know" I say
"What?" She asks
"I kinda heard you talking to dad on the boat" I confess to my eavesdropping
"Did you?" She her eyes widen
"Yeahh" I sigh
"W-well how much of that did you see, I mean hear?" She corrects herself
"Oh… well I heard how dad wants to have a baby with you" I say still not knowing how to feel about it
"Oh…" she sighs
"Do you want to have one?" I ask
"Well… I thought it might be too early for me to be a mom" she says "but if that's what your dad wants then… well I don't have much of a choice" she says
"Oh" I sigh "... right"
"Hey" I grab her wrist before she stood up
"Yeah?" she asks
"Do you think dad was happy I was born ?" I ask
He's always so strict about training me and he's so rough
I've never seen other dads treat their kids like he treats me so I just feel like he hates me
"What?" Sasha asks don't be silly of course he was" she says
"Really?" I ask doubtfully
"Yeah, you know he loved your mom so much he wanted to leave something behind with her, just in case anything were to happen to him, it's why they were so young when they decided to have you" she says
"Wow really?" I ask
"Mhmm" she giggles
"Awesome" I giggle with her
"Alright," she leans in pecking my nose "good night handsome" she smiles
"Goodnight" I giggle before Thor laid down at my feet
I watch as Sasha heads over to dad
He grabs her hair "what you tell my boy huh?" He asks
"Agh nothing" she groans as he pushed her onto the bed
I close my eyes trying to ignore what I heard from inside their room before I finally fell asleep wondering what exactly the future held in store for us
-13 years later-
(18 years on the Eldian 360 day calendar)
Pov.
-Falco-
My ears were ringing
What the hell just hit me?
My vision was fading in and out before..
"Falco! Wake up Falco!" I hear my name
"Aghhh" I sit up suddenly as someone splashed cold water all over me
"Falco great your up" a boy says
"Wh-what?" I ask "where are we?"
"What do you mean? Are you okay Falco?!" The boy shakes me
"F-Falco?" I ask
"You're Falco Grice, remember?!" A girl shouts
"Hey Colt, come get your brother, he's acting weird!" She shouts
Colt huffs "c'mon Falco quit playing man we're in the middle of a war" he says as he poured water over his head
"H-hey Colt" I finally remember
"Haha great!" Udo laughs
"Man I got hit pretty hard huh" I rub my head
"Yeah you did, Colt had to go out there and save your sorry butt" Gabi laughs
"Yeah well whatever, I could've made it if didn't get trampled all over after helping someone up" I look at Gabi
"Haha yeah thanks for that" she laughs
"You should've seen her she was soo worried" Zophia says
"No I wasn't!" Gabi growls
"Please General Magath if we keep going we'll all just end up dying" we hear Colt trying to speak to General Magath
"Then what do you suggest we do, Eldian?!" Magath shouts at Colt
"I think it's time we let Piek and Gillaed handle the rest" Colt suggests
"No way it's far too early we can't risk losing them to the Anti Titan armored train" Magath turns him down
"Man if only I had four more hand grenades" Gabi mutters
"Too bad we're all out of everything" Udo sighs "we've been getting overwhelmed for ten hours straight don't expect to find much now"
"Yeah I had an idea but looks like it just went up in smoke" Gabi sighs
We're going to get completely overwhelmed soon
Now that I remember there was a large crater about 20 meters out and it's around 10 meters from the bunker with the gunner spraying us down
I have to at least make it to the crater then I could throw a grenade just outside the bunker in case they have explosives strong enough to stop the train inside
The grenade should stun them for a few seconds giving me enough time to reach the bunker but that's it
Dammit but by the time I get there they'll be ready to shoot me down plus I'm not so sure how many of them there are
I should be able to take on two or three at a time but that's it, if there's more than four I'm surely dead
I pull my C96 checking exactly how many bullets I had
Only three
Damn that's not..
I spot something in Udos back pocket
"Hey Udo, is that a flash?" I ask seeing something sticking out of his pocket
"Huh? Oh this thing ?" He asks pulling it out
"Perfect!" Gabi and I say in union but I manage to snatch it away before she could
"Hey, give that! I have an Idea!" She shouts
"Yeah? Well I do too" I push her aside as I head over to General Magath
"General Magath sir" I salute "with your permission sir I have a plan to destroy the armored train"
"Get out of here filthy eldian, how dare you speak up without permission!" Magaths 2IC shouts
"You have a plan?" Magath asks
"This is my brother Falco sir" Colt introduces me
"Yes I've seen he's quite gifted in the strategic field" Magath says
"Thank you sir" I bow my head down
"On with it then" Magath says
"Look sir with all due respect I think we can all agree I don't have time to explain, it's a bit of a gamble but I'm very confident I can infiltrate that bunker and use their explosives to stop the armored train" I say
"A gamble?! how dare you? we're better off sacrificing all you stupid Eldian trash than waste our time on a gamble" The Magaths second in command shouts
"How are you so sure there are explosives in there?!" Magath shouts over the gunfire
"...that's the gamble sir" I say
~to be continued~