Astra's OCS - Criminal Case

Vukašin Zima

History

Vuk was born on Earth despite his father being from Xandar. His parents met while Zavier had been stationed in Siberia for a long-term mission. The two fell in love, got married and had Vuk. Thankfully Zavier and Viktoriya were able to keep Vuk's alien heritage a secret but he grew up with the fear of being found out always weighing in the back of his mind.

Vuk grew up watching his older brother struggle with his mental health. Aleksey was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and addicted to a cocktail of drugs. Their mother had drunk and taken drugs during her teenage pregnancy and Aleksey suffered the consequences. His brother lived with anxiety, anger issues and depression on top of the physical health issues he suffered from. While their mother eventually got clean, Aleksey could never seem to overcome the addiction he had been born with.

While Aleksey had it worse, Vuk also struggled with depression and anger issues. But unlike his brother, Vuk was able to commit to therapy and take medication to manage his mental health. He was part of the reason why Marina chose to go into psychology as he sometimes needed to take her along to his appointment as he couldn't get a babysitter for her. Those therapy sessions focused on lighter matters and Marina asking Vuk's therapist questions about their job which they happily answer as the little girl's enthusiasm always seemed to put a smile on their client's face.

Aleksey resented his younger brother for having it "easy" in comparison to him. He was jealous that Vuk didn't have to struggle so much against his own mind and body and wished that his life could have been like that. But deep down, a part of him loved his little brother. Sadly Aleksey had buried that part of himself long ago and grew into a cold and shellfish man. Aleksey could also never accept Zavier as a father even though his biological father abandoned his mother the second he found out she was pregnant. It wasn't for lack of trying on Zavier's part, Aleksey just couldn't bring himself to trust anyone other than Viktoriya, the woman who did everything she could for him and was the only one who Aleksey believed truly understood the struggles he faced with addiction.

Vuk's mother tragically died in a car crash when he was 9 years old. Their car had been hit by a drunk driver who ran right into the driver's side of the vehicle. Viktoriya died almost instantly and Aleksey, who was sitting behind her, sustained a broken leg and multiple cuts and bruises to his body. Vuk and Zavier survived with minor injuries as they were on the passenger's side of the car.

When Aleksey, who was 19 at the time, recovered from his injuries he moved out, unable to cope with the grief of his mother's death. Vuk didn't hear from his brother for several years and in that time he would become an Immigration Agent for the G.I.A. stationed in Siberia. When Vuk was 27, he received an invitation to his brother's wedding to a woman named Natasha Romanova. He attended, happy to see his brother making something of his life after so much tragedy.

Though Vuk seemed to be the only person to realize that Marina had been born barely eight months after the wedding. But he kept his thoughts to himself.

The day Vuk met his niece was one of the happiest days of his life. From the moment he held her she had him wrapped around her finger. Marina was a calm baby who only made a fuss when she wanted something. Vuk often volunteered to watch her for his brother and this led to him witnessing many of her first milestones. Such as her first time crawling, taking her first steps, her first word (which strangely sounded like "Vuk") and when she started teething.

With how much Natasha worked and how much his brother hated taking care of children, Marina spent a lot of time under Vuk's care. So much so that people assumed him to be her dad at first. Vuk attended all of Marina's special events including ballet recitals, piano concerts, school performances and competitions. He always received the first ticket from her for every event she was a part of.