1 Father and Son

Union City, some people call it the city of dreams, dreams that are only seen as fantasies. While others call it the city of fear, where only the strong, rich, and powerful buy their way to be at the top. They walk over the weak and powerless, knowing they cannot do anything to stop it.

As the moon casts its' radiant glow onto the city, a young man with dark brown hair, stands on a balcony of his home and business, looking down upon the people and the city itself. He begins to think about the people wearing their fancy suits, the cars flying above, the various creatures walking amongst them, the robotic machinery, and the families who are living their peaceful lives. Everyone and everything are giving him the dedication to protect them from the bottom of his heart. He leans onto the railing taking deep breathes while rubbing the back of his head where he feels a small scar that was left from a bad experience. He hears a door slowly open behind him inside of his room and small gentle footsteps walking towards him.

"Sebastian, dinner will be ready shortly and your father asks for your presence."

A young lady with dark blue hair that stands behind him with both her hands folded in front of her. She waits patiently for his responds, eager to say something else but hesitates a bit.

"Do you want to eat with your father? I can bring your food here for you if you like."

Sebastian turns around with a gentle smile and walks back inside of his room.

"No, it's okay, I'll be down shortly. You can tell my father I'll be down soon."

Rebecca nods leaving the room and closes the door behind her. He walks to his closet door opening it and grabs his sneakers. He slides them on without tying them and leaves his room to join his father for dinner. As he walks down the long hallway, he glances at the paintings and pictures of his family on the wall. He continues down the hall towards an elevator where Rebecca stands with him. He walks past her and into the elevator and presses the button while she hurries on unaware of how focused and distracted Sebastian currently is.

The tension inside of the elevator grows as the only thing that was making a sound was the beeps coming from the elevator itself. Rebecca glances from the corner of her eye towards Sebastian, worried for his well being and for his attitude towards his own father.

"Just so you know, I made you your favorite dish today, roast beef with a side of vegetables. Your father just wanted soup. I guess he doesn't have the appetite today."

"You don't need to talk about him to me Rebecca. He does not actually care if I eat dinner in the dining room or in my room. All he is going to do is talk about how the business is going and then go off to his workshop in the basement. Nothing will change on how he looks at me, so let us not talk about him."

"I apologize Sebastian, I did not mean to cause trouble. I just think...you should talk to him about- "

Her words were cut off when the elevator stops on their designated floor. The door opens and Sebastian starts walking at a brisk pace.

"There's nothing to talk about Rebecca, he made his decision and it is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Besides, dinner is getting cold, best not to waste any more time, right?"

He continues to walk ahead of Rebecca as she follows behind him twiddling her thumbs. She thought to herself about the day she was brought in by this family. She felt it was the place where she belongs, a place where she can call home and be with a family that cares for her as much as she cares for them. However, everything has changed and got worse. Victor Clouse who is always working in his workshop in his basement or is in his meetings. Sebastian Clouse who is a young man who wants to take care of a city that he grew up in, but his demeanor is like a lost child that is in pain. Rebecca has never seen him like this before and it becomes worse by the day.

She believes there is a reason that she is here with these two men and to this day wants to do her best to bring happiness to them both. Rebecca quickly walks beside of Sebastian and grabs his forearm with her hand. She pulls him towards her and wraps both of her arms around his torso. Sebastian, getting caught off guard, stands there confused and speechless at the current situation. Rebecca continues to hug him for a few seconds longer and begins to release him.

"I do apologize but you look as though you needed some comfort a-and I just thought as a response to your body language a h-hug seems like it would help."

She turns her face away from him not wanting to look into his eyes. Sebastian continues to stare at the young maiden with her back turned towards him. He could not hate for what she did, for it comforted him for the moment but he just cannot come forward and admit it. He reaches his hand out to touch her shoulder but stops before he could. He returns his hand to the side and starts walking ahead towards the dining room.

"Come on Rebecca, we don't want to keep the old man from waiting on his dear son."

She snaps out of her trance and hurries up beside of him and continues to walk together into the dining room. They both entered the huge dining room walking towards the dinner table where Sebastian's father is already sitting and enjoying a plate of food. He heard Sebastian enter the dining area walking towards the table and sits down from across from him. Without even lifting his head he let out a tiresome sigh and continued to eat. Rebecca hurries into the kitchen and grabs Sebastian's dinner plate. She slowly walks back and gently places the plate down in front of him.

"Thanks Rebecca."

"You're welcome Master Sebastian."

Victor glances up at Rebecca as she catches his attention and walks away into the kitchen. The Father and son continue to sit in the quiet room refusing to talk to each other. Rebecca watches around the corner of the kitchen door twiddling her thumbs again. Sebastian grabs his knife and fork and begins to cut through his roast beef. He chops it up into small portions and begins to eat piece by piece. He smiles and nods to Rebecca signaling the food is delicious. His father grabs his napkin to clean off his mouth and checks his phone.

"Rebecca make sure to not forget to pick up my suit downtown tomorrow. It should be ready at 10 o'clock in the morning."

Rebecca nods and bows respectfully towards him.

"Yes, Master Victor, I will make sure to leave first thing in the morning, so I won't be late."

Sebastian puts down his knife and fork while looking at his father with a disgusting smug.

"Why can't you do it yourself?"

Rebecca turns and looks at Sebastian in shock while she quickly tries to think of an answer for his father.

"S-Sebastian it is fine, your father is a busy man and- "

Suddenly Victor raises his hand to cut her off.

"It's okay Rebecca. The boy does not know what it means to be the owner of an important business. Just so you know, I have an important meeting to go to in the morning and I have no time to waste with little trips. So, I hope you don't mind if I ask our wonderful maid that has been with this family for five long and memorable years to do it for me. Which is, the reason why she is here, right Rebecca?"

"R-right Victor, I will make sure I – "

Sebastian raises his hand this time interrupting Rebecca.

"Right, so a grown man can't do his own errands and needs someone else to do things for him. Do you need to be fed too?"

"You will watch who you are talking to Sebastian. You maybe have some ill will against me, but I am your father, and you will respect me."

"Respect is something that needs to be earned and you lost that respect years ago. You are not some high demanding dictator. If this meeting is so important, then there is no problem for you to do things on your own like I have been doing."

Rebecca steps in between their line of sight towards one another and raises her hands towards both.

"That's enough from the both of you. I am here to aid you both and I can speak for myself if I am troubled. You two need to stop this father and son argument before it gets out of hand."

The two men looks at each other and they both sat back in their chairs. Rebecca lowers her hands and steps away slowly between the two and walks towards the kitchen. Sebastian reaches down to grab his knife as his father fixes his collar.

"You're overreacting over little things Sebastian, your mother and I raised you to be better than this."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Victor sees a knife being thrown across the table, being aimed at his face. He freaks out as he falls backwards just in time before the knife could reach.

"Don't bring up my mother from your mouth! Do you hear me?!!"

Sebastian cries out with a furious look on his face as his father reaches inside of his jacket pocket for a small device. Rebecca runs back into the dining room and hurries towards Victor who is on the floor, hiding behind the table. He presses the button that is in his hand as the walls around them open just a bit. Two giant mechanical bodyguards fly out from behind the wall and towards Sebastian. The one on the left grabs him by the throat and flings him down onto the table face first onto his plate of food in front of him. The other flies behind him and grabs him by both of his wrists, locking his arms around his back.

His father stands beside of Rebecca slamming the remote onto the table in front of him. He rubs his temples with the tip of his fingers and sees the knife that was thrown at him on the floor. He bends down picking it up and tosses it onto the table.

"Are you done now Sebastian or do you anything else to say huh? I am sorry it has come to this, but you left me with no choice. I love your mother just as much as you do but she is not here anymore. So, stop living in the past and move on."

He grabs the remote that he placed down and presses the button again. The two giant robots released Sebastian and went back inside of the wall. He wipes the food off his face and starts walking back into his room. Rebecca stands back up from behind the table and starts cleaning up the mess. Victor fixed his suit and looks at his watch on his wrist.

"I'll be downstairs in my workshop, clean up this mess Rebecca and don't forget my suit tomorrow"

Victor storms off mumbling to himself and leaving Rebecca behind to clean the dinner table. She watched the two men walk their separate ways, neither of them not forgetting the past and mourning to one another.

"Like Father like son I suppose…"