Never Bend

Mom/Dad

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Oblivious of the family story,
No one can grasp what pushes them through life.
MJ
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I look at the footage of my two kids on my way back while the driver takes me back. The girl's brain that I tended fried, a bit. My ability is getting better and her being alive is proof of it. She will make a good soldier and she won't be a brainless one. It's an improvement. Soon, I might get my family back to what it was.

I huff,
"Julie and Luc."

It's been a little over three months since I saw them in the flesh and 5 since I saw Annie. They've grown, but I can't keep breaking my promise to keep them safe. To do so, I must remain in the shadows.

I kept my promise in a way. There are no tutors, only Mom and them. It isn't me, but a staff wearing my face with a spell. She stays with them full time and is the mother I can't be for now.

"I am too unstable." 

Neurotically and physically I am not the same. I nearly got a stroke a month ago due to the pain. My crises are killing me slowly and painfully, but they are also a sign that he is alive. I can't lose hope. He will find his way home.

In the screen, I see Richard entering the house. He kisses them on their forehead and Isabella2 hugs him welcoming him ack. Joy and sorrow builds inside me at the same time, this was the best outcome.

They play the happy family eating and laughing.

Walking in by a secret door, I get to my room.

Richard doesn't admit it but he is growing fond of my kids. Somehow this is an opportunity for him, filling the void left by his family.

The one Tom destroyed, as Richard likes to remind me and complain, but I know this is just his way of pushing aside the guilt of losing his mate. He just can't bear the guilt and pushed the blame on his kid.

Since the event, he makes Tom suffer, as often as he can both physically and emotionally.

" Sometimes I wonder if he forgets he is still his child."

I lay back on my chair as I look at the screen.

◁◁ ◁◁   (Flashback) ◁◁ ◁◁

He was 17 just like Annie is now. I was asked not to erase his memories, I was only to switch a few.

The other dimension needed to remain a secret. His mother was taken back from where we belonged, kidnapped. A tragedy that couldn't be avoided since his usual security team was incomplete. The remaining Security was unable to protect them; they were easily outnumbered turning the evening into a tragedy.

Tom was to believe that a pack was against the council and with his father's refusal to join their forces, they decided to retaliate and eliminate them from the equation. It was a nice alternative, all the events were logically explained.

As a result, Tom hoped for a ransom for weeks until the bodies were found. Richard used it as punishment, but I had to cut it short. Tom had suffered enough, he needed closure. I was the one to bring the news to him.

Shaking his head and trembling like a leaf,
"No. Dad, it can't be them. Please," he said his voice breaking into a plea.

The father looked at his son with deadly eyes.
"Its them, look at them and remember, this is all your fault. It should be you in that coffin."

▷▷▷▷ (Time elapse) ▷▷

"You have mourned enough, it is time for you to become a man," Richard added after a few months of mourning. "Isa suggested sending you to a training camp. There you will make yourself useful."