353 Encounter

Alex smiled widely as he stretched his arms back, and admired the view before him on one of the most beautiful places on earth, Hawaii.

He was currently spending the last couple weeks in this world on one long vacation with his family, with no other business to occupy his attention. Before him was every single one of his wives and lovers, as well as each and every one of his children as they frolicked and played on the beach. Even the vampire Elmenhilde, who didn't have the same resistance to the sun as Yue, Moka, and the others was present after applying a thick layer of extreme sunblock for vampires.

Meanwhile Alex himself was currently lounging in the shade of a tree as his family played, his foot hanging off the side to gently rock the cradled that his two youngest children slept peacefully in. He glanced down quickly at the sleeping faces of Ryoto and Shuri, before looking back up at the rest of his family.

"Say it with me~Nya, Kur-o-ka!" Kuroka said for the tenth time within the last several minutes, before Edith giggled at her and declared while pointing at her,

"Kitty!" Kuroka cried out in frustration at Edith's refusal to even try to say her name, and declared while poking her cheeks,

"You stinky little brat~Nya!" Edith however giggled happily from Kuroka 'playing' with her, until Mai made her way over and intervened, seemingly jealous from Edith hogging the attention of her favorite auntie. Meanwhile Gabriel and Koneko watched the scene from the side, both smiling warmly from watching even Kuroka play with the children.

And then off to the side Myuu's infectious laughter echoed as she worked to build the best sand castle ever with Sun and Elaine's help, something neither girl had ever done before. The only thing 'unusual' about this scene was the fact that the sand castle in question was actually big enough that Myuu could walk through the front gates without even needing to bend over, a sight that stunned the locals that were currently working for them.

Though the awe they felt at the sand castle still fell short when they saw the waves Ingvild was creating for those who wanted to go surfing, making the local Hawaiians want to run back to their houses and grab their own boards. Or the scene of Mizore and Tsurara making their own castle with Yuki and Aurora, except theirs was completely made of snow and ice, something none of the present locals had ever seen before.

As he watched Xenovia and Irina happily surf, the Shuzen sisters start making their own castle to compete with Myuu's, Rias and a few others sunbathe, and his children waddle around after their mothers, Alex couldn't help but let out a sigh contentment.

"It's quite the sight, isn't it?" A new voice suddenly said, making Alex glance up at the speaker to see an old man dressed similarly to him approaching. Normally Alex would be alarmed that he hadn't noticed the man approaching until he was practically right on top of him, or he would think he was referring to the bikini clad girls as the sight he was referring to, but curiously this wasn't the case.

Instead he was fairly calm about the old man's sudden appearance, and instinctively knew that he was referring to the scene of his family playing as a whole. Nodding his head in agreement, Alex said,

"Indeed it is, one I'm the most proud of." The old man smiled sagely at Alex's response as he stroked his beard, and said as he lowered himself onto the chair next to him,

"It is rare to find someone in the pursuit of power that will occasionally stop to admire the things they've built around them. Typically a person will say that they'll stop to enjoy life when they reach a so-called certain point, but it usually never comes. Instead they let their lives pass them by without ever stopping to cherish the things they already have, even if it's just for a single moment." Alex was silent at the old man's words, seemingly contemplating them, before he changed the subject and asked,

"So what brings you here old timer?" The old man laughed at the question, and happily said,

"I'm in the middle of celebrating my retirement, just thought I'd take a brief break from the festivities." Alex cocked his head to the side curiously at the man's words, and asked,

"You're just now retiring?" This earned him another laugh as the man explained,

"Not just yet, but hopefully soon. There's just a couple more things to take care of before I can do so." Alex smiled wryly and was about to comment about how contradictory the man's advice and actions were, but before he could the sound of a baby fussing came from the cradle.

"Oh Shuri, what's wrong?" Alex asked as he carefully picked his daughter up out of the cradle, doing everything he could to keep from waking Ryoto as he did so. He then checked her diaper and, when it appeared she didn't need it changed, Alex got out a bottle to feed her, but it appeared as if Shuri didn't want that either.

Just when he was about to try something else to get her to calm down, the old man brought out a ukulele from somewhere, and started playing it softly. Shuri's fussing settled down a little bit when she heard the soft music, before the old man started singing,

"Aloha Oe

Aloha Oe

E ke onaona noho ika lipo

A fond embrace

a hoi ae au

Until we meet again"

Another verse or two of the song, and Shuri had completely settled down, and was soon fast asleep once more on Alex's chest with her monkeys tail occasionally twitching whenever he hit a certain string. A warm smile on his face as he watched the sleeping baby, the old man eventually put down the ukulele when he was sure she was really out, when Alex carefully passed him a coconut with an umbrella and straw in it while saying,

"Thank you for that, I was worried about her waking her brother up." The old man waved away Alex's thanks, and said while taking a drink,

"It was nothing, I also know what it's like to have children, and how it is to only want them to be happy in life." Though Alex didn't notice as he kept his attention on Shuri, the old man then glanced at Elaine right as she flashed a brief smile from Myuu's antics, as the pint sized Dagon declared herself queen of the sand castle.

The woman in question then suddenly got the feeling as if she was being watched, but when she glanced in Alex's direction she only saw him sitting by himself in the shade with Shuri laying on his chest. Shaking her head to try and clear the feeling, Myuu then demanded her attention as she hurled a water ballon at her, immediately drenching the 'Angel' in freezing water.

With a twinkle in eye as he watched Elaine try to get her back, the old man then suddenly stood and turned to leave while saying,

"Well it was a nice chat young man, but I better get back to my own party now. I'm sure we'll meet again some day." Glancing back at his retreating figure, Alex only nodded in affirmation even as he looked away, and the old man immediately disappeared into the void without so much as single ripple.

For the next several days Alex would think on the old man's words as he spent all of his free time playing with his family, until the day his countdown to reach world's finally reached zero. It was now time to go.