Nero was not in the best of moods not because of any particular issue but mostly an aching pain he kept feeling along the edges of his back and no matter how many times he meditated the pain would not disappear. Such an occasion arises on the night while everyone was asleep the pain came up again and he had to get up and roam the house and upon reaching the living room realized he wasn't the only one that was awake.
"Ah master Nero", the man spoke as he adjusted his spectacles and closed his book. "Is everything alright?"
Nero was slightly surprised to see him awake and wondered if he should talk to him, he was smart enough to realize that his father and the other men weren't fond of him though he knew his father's dislike was more personal than that wouldn't faze him.
"Yeah I couldn't sleep, bad dreams", Nero answered him as he went to the table and opened the book he had been reading for so long to understand the power of his mother's lineage.
"One way or the other I'll master this even if it costs me my body", Nero stated to himself as he opened the book and got to his reading.
MORNING
Everyone was up early mostly to the luscious smell of breakfast that Amy had been preparing with the help of her daughter and niece, a fresh batch of bagels with cinnamon toast with eggs and bacon. The entire group was feasting and talking amongst themselves as they all shared in the communion though one person, in particular, was missing and was soundly sleeping upstairs.
"Jodi do you think you can go wake your father please", Amy asked the small as she nodded and teleported away.
As Jodi reached his room she was surprised to see the door slightly open as she knocked she heard him say it was open and upon entering it she saw her father was fully awake and looking outside of his window seemingly lost in his thoughts.
"Dad?" Jodi asked as he seemed not to hear her but she realized he was closely listening and seemed to be relaxing before turning to her with a smile and holding her hand tenderly.
This bit of affection was strange but welcoming for Jodi as she had never seen him this conscious of what was going on around him before. As the two reached downstairs they saw everyone invested in what seemed to be a food competition between Mo, Luke and Vic and as the three gouged as many bagels into their stomachs it was clear Vic was leading and eventually won.
"Wow that was a wipeout more than I expected", Kayira quipped.
"I feel like my insides are gonna explode", Mo groaned as Luke himself seemed too full to even make any comment
"Alright step aside boys let someone who's actually a worthy opponent take on this big tiger", Crystal commented all the while having a cocky smirk on her face.
"Care to wager a bet then?" Vic asked with his hefty voice sounding like a playful growl.
"And what would we bet on?" Crystal asked with her eyebrows raised.
"Whoever gives in to their full stomach will then decide the type of fight we have", Vic answered simply.
"Are you sure you want this fight?" Crystal asked still smirking.
"Oh just start already", Imani stated bored of the constant chit chat as the two went about devouring the food.
Amy upon seeing X brought him his container to which he nodded and went out on the front porch with her and his daughter while everyone else was in around watching the food contest between Crystal and Vic.
As the three appeared on the porch of the house just to enjoy the gentle breeze that passed by but as X was eating he suddenly picked up a spark of energy and he walked around until he saw the cause of the energy displacement as he saw Nero and Zane's boyfriend Kar's seemingly training for Nero was releasing a great amount of his power, X watched the two from a distance and while he was grateful Nero was training the fact that he went to train with a relatively unknown person was a bitter pill for him to swallow. Before he could approach them however he saw his communicator go off indicating that Lawrence needed him in his lab and he gave the rest of his food to Jodi as he excused himself. She looked down into the plate to see that he hadn't finished
"Dad must be upset not to finish his breakfast", Jodi noted.
"I suppose seeing his son training without him must be hard to take but I wouldn't take it too seriously", Amy replied.
"What makes you say that aunty? Jodi asked curiously.
"This Kar's character looks like a decent enough person but I can see why X is reluctant to accept him into this little family, he's an unknown and he gives off a very strange energy", Amy explained. "If anything we must be wary of him".
Jodi nodded in understanding as she felt her brother's energy flare again.
X and Lawrence were in the lab as they were surveying the extent of the damage of Tadaraki's brain as his sister sat inches away holding his hand as X looked through the scans and back at Tadaraki he gave off a hefty sigh.
"I won't lie to you Tada if Vaughn had been any more direct with his attack you'd be a cripple", X mentioned.
"Is it that bad?" he asked.
"The damage that was done to the right side of your brain has left your powers at a mere 50% of usage", Lawrence explained. "As your vector manipulation relies on your ability to understand and efficiently use the coefficients and variable of each vector you come into contact with it would be extremely risky for you to use more than 30% of your substandard power as if you go above the 50% you would surely die".
The gravity of what Vaughn did to him caused his hand to grip so hard that it turned white despite Tsherahi comforted him he was still downtrodden and X felt bad for the boy after all it was at the risk of Vaughn killing his friends and family that he even did what he did and lost half of his ability to function properly, hell he barely had his sight and had to be using a special ultraviolet glasses that Lawrence had prepared for when he went out into the sun.
"Law surely there must be some way to fix back his brain to the way it was", X pondered.
"There is but it's extremely risky, far riskier than that ridiculous Chrysler Building raid or hunting the 7 Deadly Sins", he told him.
"Well, what is it?" X asked.
"As you see the right side of his brain is still functional or rather it is trying to repair and make up for the loss of power to that side of his body in a sense", Lawrence pointed out "However with the use of a certain technology I would be able to try to recover the dead cells within his brain and allow his power to self heal him".
"Nanites", X stated
"Yes, but it's extremely risky as if it goes wrong then he could likely lose his powers or worse die and neither are scenario is one I would want for the kid", Lawrence admitted.
"When the time comes for that decision to be made I think Tada will make the one he sees best to do", X commented as he looked over Tsherahi cuddling her big brother. "Any luck on finding Melodius's body or rather wherever she got buried?
"I've been searching nonstop the area she claimed that her body would be but nothing has come up as yet", Lawrence told him.
"We may have to use the artifact that we found her in then or worse case on of the Deadly Sins", Xavier responded as the two looked at the screen that was covering the vast oceans
THAT AFTERNOON
Irina was currently in the backyard training, she was letting her hair loose as the snakes seemed overjoyed to be given the freedom to bathe in the sunshine. While she knew next to nothing of conservative she currently was on her room balcony fully nude as she embraced the sunlight as he shone of her. Ayshi was currently in her bed not paying much attention to her elder sister as she was reading on the books she had found within the bookshelf. The book titled The Life Of The Omni King and she seemed quite interested in the novel until a breeze passed within the room which drew her attention, Irina was also aware of a presence in the room and as quick as ever the two siblings drew their swords and threw it straight at the door where it pinned the invisible force that revealed a shining individual.
"Hermes", Ayshi commented with disdain.
"Why such a tone little sister, I'd have thought you'd be happy to see me", he commented with an amused expression.
"I should kill you where you stand but because I know you have some message for us you get to live a little longer", Irina spat as she drew her sword from the man's tunic as he brushed himself off playfully.
"How mesmerizing, tell me sister's when are you going to finally carry out father's wishes after all you've been through don't tell me you had forgotten the oath you took", Hermes chided to which Irina turned her back on her half-brother with Ayshi taking her sword and placing it against his throat.
"We won't ask you again to state your business", Ayshi told him having had enough of the conversation as it was.
Scoffing the messenger indicated that Zeus had been monitoring their progress of late and seeing their growth they would be allowed back in Olympus on the condition they complete one last task.
"And this task, do you know the details?" Ayshi asked.
"Father wants you to kill these people and take the artifacts known as the 7 deadly sins", Hermes stated simply and while the god of speed wasn't known for his serious demeanour he could see the confliction written on their faces. "Unless of course, you have already made up your mind on not returning?"
"So father thinks after forcing us out of our home that he can just make demands to us?" Ayshi asked enraged. "Not only that to add insult to it he wants us to kill these people who we have made our family".
However, Irina was not wasting her time as she threatened Hermes once more raising her sword to his throat.
"I'm not so stupid, he already has sent Hercules and Ares to capture the sins in case we don't follow through on this demand, correct?" she asked to which Hermes simply smiled.
He prepared to leave before turning to his two sisters
"Even though you think ill of me, I came here of my own volition", Hermes explains.
"Why?" Irina wonders slightly confused. "You've always shown disdain for us, so why would you even care".
"As true as that is, I do not wish for my siblings to suffer", Hermes responds. "I know this one act can never make up for the countless atrocities our father made you commit in his name but I hope you know that I did this of my own volition".
With one more lasting look at the two, he disappeared like a blur without a single trace of his presence. The two sisters watched as he left and decided to discuss their next move.
"Should we leave?" Ayshi asked. "It would be easier that way".
"We don't exactly do easy, now do we", Irina answered her younger sibling. "If Ares and Hercules are indeed looking for us then we can presume Father has sent them for the Deadly Sins".
"Are you willing to fight our brothers?" Ayshi wondered. "Hercules and Ares will be challenging".
"Those two oafs will have a next thing coming if they think we're going to sit back and let them ransack these people, as much as I hate to admit this place, these people especially Xavier is the family we deserve and I am not willing to lose it",
"I should make contact with Kai, he might have information on what the state of this country is like", Ayshi comments and upon seeing the ridiculous plushy face her sister was making she rolled her eyes.
"Are you sure you don't have a thing for him?" Irina teased as her sister casually threw a fireball at her which she dodged easily.
"My feelings for Kai will forever remain platonic, besides you're aware of how non-empathetic he is?" Ayshi pointed out to which her sister siml]ply shrugged as they went back to their activities to take their mind off of the situation that was left before them.
Down in the living room where almost everyone was bar Nero, Kars, Ayshi and Irina. X having recovered from his earlier scene of seeing his son train with someone other than himself conceded to meditate while levitating the Deadly Sins in a circular motion around him, he continued this while exhaling every few minutes until he felt two presences of warm light energy appear before him.
"You were never one to be this focused on your breathing exercises darling", the familiar voice of his wife came through as he saw the ghostly apparition rub his shoulders as he relaxed.
He then noted the appearance of Melodious who had yet to appear since the entire family was now together
"You have questions and I trust that I will be able to answer them", the goddess answered though Xavier was still silent as she spoke. "I don't know where exactly they buried my body but I do know it was a body of water that has a connection to one of the pantheons".
"Yes because that is extremely helpful Melodious", Xavier remarked sarcastically. "Honestly what the hell, you know for all the good faith I've shown I'm beginning to suspect that your withholding information from me because of what I might think of you, newsflash I'm no saint".
Holly couldn't bare hearing her husband speak so ill of himself and clutched at his chest and despite her being unable to interact with his body as she would have liked she went on around the house just to see what everyone else was doing. While she enjoyed seeing the people X had allowed around him she was only ever looking for one particular person and found her speaking with another young woman who Holly sensed while having an uneasy energy signature she was quite harmless and seeing her daughter's childlike face light up with such joy made her heart melt but then she caught some of their convos.
"Hey, Jodi?" Tsherahi asked which the young girl poked her head up from the board she was trying to configure.
"Hmmm?" Jodi sounded while not trying to lose her concentration.
"Do you umm, ever think about your mom?", Tsherahi asked so innocently Holly almost felt bad for the young girl as she seemed so tentative. "I'm sorry I don't know why I asked that if you don't want to answer it's.....
Jodi simply placed her hand on the young girl's forehead telling her to relax, Jodi was thoughtful but radiated maturity despite not even reaching her teens yet. She responded by saying that even though she grew up the majority of her life with her father acting as both parents yet despite the tragedy she felt and still feels for having played some part in her mother's death she believes that her mother loved her enough for her to know that she would make the best of her life no matter whatever obstacles was thrown at her and that she would always be there for those who needed her the most. Holly smiled warmly at her daughter's kind words and kissed her head and though Jodi felt the peck she was caught unaware of what it was until Tsherahi started fiddling with the board they planned on building.
As Holly glided past Lawrence's lab she heard a large explosion outside and went to investigate it, unsurprised she found her son Nero training though her attention was drawn to the tall figure of the man that the boy was training with. His energy while not overly disturbing unsettled her to a great degree.
"Why is it that I don't trust him?" Holly wondered and listened to their conversation.
Nero sent another blast of energy careening towards the sea as he exploded with a giant bang and he was breathing heavily when Kars seemed to be of the notion that they were finished yet Nero shrugged off the idea of rest.
"While I admire your tenacity, we've been training for hours nonstop, you haven't even eaten lunch", Kars reminded him.
"Just....... One...... more......" Nero said through heavy exuberated breaths as he prepared to launch one more energy sphere towards the ocean but something was off Kars felt it and was about to say something before a horrible gust of wind took him back.
Holly immediately feeling the unrelenting pressure rise was helpless to do anything but watch as Nero's energy rose and kept rising to absurd level's. The occupants of the house burst onto the scene with Amy, Kayira both using their own power to try to restrain him but it was to no avail as his energy blocked their energy barriers, finally, X appeared to see what was happening as the atmosphere got colder, and his son was now completely enveloped in a purple hew as his energy-charged and the worry and emotion on his face were warranted until suddenly his body gave way to his exhaustion and he plummeted to the ground with X rushing and shouting his name.
LATER THAT NIGHT CAMPFIRE
After the afternoon's tense events Jon voices that everyone should partake in a family campfire and the thought was welcomed as snacks and drinks were prepared and everyone was readying themselves X was understandably concerned for his son who was laying in the medical bay and was currently asleep. Amy and Lawrence were at the door waiting for him.
"He'll be ok X we checked on his signature levels many times now, if anything goes astray we'll know", Lawrence told him. "Dimo is keeping an eye on him".
Amy rubbed his shoulder as he walked past and they went outside to the festivities. As expected the mood while tense earlier was replaced with some joyful laughter and an abundance of drinking from everyone, Mo had busied himself entertaining everyone with his break dancing even managing to drag Luke into it as the two thoroughly brought everyone to their feet barring one Zalla who had no interest in the festivities, the children had been dancing around Tadaraki though he seemed to be enjoying their playfulness as he sat quite comfortably with his sister leaning on him. Jon called everyone's attention around the fire as they all sat there quietly awaiting what he said next.
"Amazing isn't it, we all were introduced to each other and if I'm being honest most if not all of us were distrustful from the beginning when X gathered or saved most of us", Jon told them as he looked to his friend who gave him a half-hearted smile. "This journey we undertook, we didn't have to, hell I'll go so far that most of us could have abandoned this crazy plan and it probably wouldn't a changed a thing".
He paused for a while looking at everyone and continued.
"That to say this, no matter what happens, we will fight through all obstacles because we are THE FAMILY THAT IS MORE THAN BLOOD", Jon proclaimed.
"I'll drink to that!", Mo exclaimed as he drank his beer in one gulp much to the amusement of everyone.
It was then time where Mo who despite his vampiric nature was feeling very bubbly brought along the idea where everyone shares their stories of the hunting of the deadly sin went where he and Luke decided to go first recalling how Luke made him fly through the windscreen of the taxi that they had driven to his old home, him procuring the golden sword that was left to him by his father.
"So how did Bee play into this, at all?" Z asked.
"Oh she tried taking the sin for herself naturally but for some reason allowed Luke to keep it, even made the castle that had been guarding it disappear from human eyes", Crystal explained.
"Does that sound like the Bee of old to any of you?" Katelyn asked curiously.
"Don't be fooled, she just didn't want to be in a situation of a 3v1", Mo said rather nonchalantly.
"Since when have you been against your mother's plans?" Ellie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We all mature eventually", Mo responded simply.
Luke finished their story by showing everyone the book he acquired from his father's ward though refused to go into detail about what was inside of the book.
Next up was Zane and seeing that Imani, Werner refused to take part in the discussion she went through stating that when they initially arrived in Egypt Imani and Laina were at each other's throats though the appearance of her Archangel sister Ariel made matters worse especially when the evil Egyptian deity Set had captured most of them. Though thanks to Werner they had freed Horus and went to retrieve the sin which was inside one of the Pyramids of Giza and while Zane went over her miraculous survival thanks to Kars it was clear for most of the females that none of the guys X especially believed that he was waiting for anyone but they let the story slide.
"Eventually we had to battle this large serpent that was going to swallow all of Egypt but we used the power of the sin to kill it and let's just say we have one less pantheon to worry about hunting for us", Zane told them.
"But you said Laina sister was there what happened to her afterwards?" Jon asked.
"She simply left, I'm not sure what happened between her and Laina but since then she's not been the same, hell the only one who's managed to make her talk is Imani for crying out loud", Zane responded with as much confusion as the rest.
Kimiko kept their story brief as they had encountered resistance from their country that was embroiled in a war, not to mention the rebels didn't take kindly to their return specifically Kanuishui's old romance Lin and her brother. But through it all, they managed to lift the curse that had befallen the country restoring some clarity though at the expense of Lin's brother dying as well as the two of them having to slay their father Nobunaga. At the mention of his name, Kanuishui was slightly saddened but Aaron made sure to comfort him.
Lawrence took centre stage as he started off claiming Viv and Jon's arguments drove him to want to find the sin even if killed him making everyone laugh but soon enough they realized that the British Militia had far more stakes in the deadly sin than they could ever have imagined. Viv recounted meeting the kind human Madeline who had sheltered them and gave her advice when she and Jon had been arguing constantly.
"So what exactly caused the arguments?" Luke asked innocently.
Jon sighed as he knew eventually the others had to know but he didn't expect it to be this hard but Viv held his hand soothingly and he finally explained that his ex-girlfriend at the time had kept the knowledge that she had given birth to both a son and daughter from him, to make matters worse she tied her life existence to her own preventing Jon or Viv from murdering her that day.
"That must have been so hard for you to take", Yoshiba mentioned as she finally found her voice.
"Yeah well if it wasn't for the fact that they seemed to fight back against the control that their mother forced on them I don't know what we would have done", Jon lamented.
"We'll get them back darling, one way or the other that witch will pay dearly for the way she hurt you", Viv snarled as her hair flared with fire as Jon smiled appreciatively.
"Let's not forget that Dragovic individual, he's still out there", Lawrence pointed out.
When Kimiko asked how Lawrence came into possessing the large mechanized terrors he admitted that it was through sheer luck and getting his ass handed to him by one of the Militia's top fighters that he procured the robots and the White Tiger Bot that they had seen mimicking dog-like behaviour he went on to explain that a smaller dinosaur robot he had found during his upheaval and he came to care for the thing and the thing sacrificing its life for him made him realize that it was his father who made these robots for him to find though admitted he was no closer to finding any trace of the man.
Yoshiba and Aaron's adventure to China was filled as they had confronted Stanton who had been trailing them but they had met up with a group of defective Shaolin Monks who left their teachings and resided on the Great Wall, while Aaron was passive and didn't like the monks one bit it was Yoshiba who befriended them and learned to harness her chi and manipulate the energy, in between being attacked by a Black Dragon and Aaron being kidnapped an entity which had proclaimed to be a Dragon God. Yoshi rather embarrassingly admitted she dispatched the Black Dragon by herself with this impressing almost everyone as the tedious girl had never been on to take initiative with her innocent nature, Aaron then openly claimed that he managed to get over his past issues but it was all down to Yoshi's tremendous Chi control that caused them to destroy the mighty Dragon God.
"Though I am concerned if Stanton was able to gain anything from his attacks, plus did I mention he helped us in defeating that monster", Aaron admitted.
"Wait, even after almost killing you", Ellie piped.
"He probably only did it cause he had no other alternative", Lawrence responded.
"Even so it was strange, working with him", Aaron mentions.
"At least we got through it together, and the monks were kind enough for us to train and at least have scrolls which should be able to contact them", Yoshiba reminded Aaron to which he nodded.
Now that Ellie had front and centre stage she dramatized the story beginning with her high pitched screech upon hearing Jodi speak clear and coherent words and even more so when it was her name the child spoke so closely made her heart tear up, Z butted in claiming they had changed their clothes due to Zalla not wanting them attracting unwanted attention,
"Yeah grandma doesn't want anyone picking smoke from us", Ellie snorted.
"Says the girl who roundly lost complete use of her powers and had to turn tail temporarily", Katelyn responded with a raised eyebrow.
"Goddamn, these roasts are golden!!", Mo shouted.
"Since when have you stood up for her?" Ellie asked genuinely surprised.
"Not everything is at face value, you have your reasons to despise, but you hardly know anything about her and you spend half the time insulting her", Katelyn responded. "All I'm saying is have a bit of perspective".
Z interrupted them stating with the loss of their powers well their werewolf powers for the most they had to do without it and had to contend with a bunch half baked Nazi's but she mentioned quite embarrassingly that they did meet allies in the form of the hunter Brudues whom Mo picked up clearly that she was fond of. In the end Ellie and Z despite their inability to use their werewolf powers fully summoned them through sheer will to defeat the Nazi's.
"However we lost the half of our sin to that woman, wherever she is I can bet she's preparing some bargain for us", Z made them aware. "I'll be ready to make up for my mistake of trusting her".
It was finally time for X for his part and while he wasn't entirely comfortable he still managed to lift his head and begin his tale.
"I went back to my old home, it was weird at first especially sleeping in the bed there and a bit creepy I must say but to allow Jodi and Nero a chance to remember their roots was a bit of a nice touch", X told them.
He paused and it was a long drawn out pause, thankfully Ayshi and Irina surprisingly piped in to prevent the situation from becoming awkward.
"Shortly after we met Amy and her children we had an unexpected guest arrive in the form of her younger brother, and let's just say he isn't X's biggest fan", Ayshi told them.
"He still wants you dead?" Lawrence asked.
"You sound surprised", Xavier muttered. "Couple of years licking his wounds was never going to stop him from hating me".
"Regardless it was Nero who pummelled him into the ground and would have killed him had you not stepped in Xavier", Irina reminded him.
At this everyone wondered what they meant with X waving his hand to create a holographic encapsulation of what happened during that fateful as it jumped to Nero using the Dark World Magic, the images shifted towards their eventual meeting with Vaughn, the initial arrival of seeing that Vic was under the control of the terrorist group.
"What the hell is he?" Ellie asked in awe and slight fear of the power she saw on the display.
"His powers stem from being able to create any power in existence, however, his abilities were limited to anything that was based on Earth itself, which was why he needed the Deadly Sin so he could assume a godlike vigour", Tadaraki explained.
As the holographic images continued rifling through countless of the scenarios but one stuck out like a sore thumb, X's fight with Nero surprised and shocked everyone in the vicinity. Even the disinterested Werner had taken note of the images seeing the battle between Father and Son and a single piece of dialogue voiced through
"Nero, it's ok don't be sad", X said as the hologram spoke so tenderly.
The images shifted to X taking the gigantic world-ending bomb into space as he exploded with the bomb shattering into pieces as the images died out as well.
Things were tense as everyone didn't know what to make of it.
"Well, that was a thrill", X said half-heartedly. "I'm gonna get some air".
As X got up slowly and walked away without even a second look but he knew everyone was watching with concern earnest.
"He's been holding in his emotions since that day, Nero became so reclusive and now this", Ayshi stated.
"Poor X", Ellie voiced and seeing Aaron ready to go after him she held him back. "He needs to be alone".
"But.....", Aaron started looking to argue against it but Ellie didn't allow him to finish.
"I know how you feel, it's how we all feel", Ellie pointed out. "He's our leader, and to see him withholding his feelings is scary enough, but we have to trust him enough to know he'll pull through".
While Aaron knew she was right a part of him still wanted to be there for his long time friend, to make up for all the lost time apart and be the man he was supposed to be but he simply nodded as everyone went back to their festivities as Mo looked to lighten the mood again.
X walked towards the sea taking his time and it seemed like an eternity for him to reach where he wanted to be, as he finally reached the water it took him several moments to relax but then with everything that had been playing on his mind, Nero, especially how he wished for his pain to be so easily subsided yet he knew it would never be his decision for him to be better.
"Damn you, Frank, you and the Dark World", X muttered and finally he snapped. "GODDAMMIT!!!
Spreading his wings which took on both his light and darkness the energy brimming around him as he roared to the heavens in anguish and the longer he screamed the more pain he felt in what would be his greatest test yet as not only a leader but also a parent. As he calmed down to some degree as his energy flowed more calmly than his wild outrage he was thoughtful and fearful at the same time.
"Is history bound to repeat itself?" he wondered looking to the sky seemingly hoping for answers that he knew would never come.
END CHAPTER TO BE CONTINUED