Gemini

'How...' Saivas trembled

'This doesn't make sense! I've never seen my father practice magic even once! It took me 3 years to get to my bright red glow and I was accumulating the whole time!'

Something like this shouldn't be possible, he was sure of it!

But he couldn't deny what he was seeing before his very eyes.

'What am I missing? Is he making his power look larger than it actually is?'

'No, no that can't be right. Why would he possibly want to do that? Even if there WAS a good reason, doing so here at home where he doesn't expect anyone to be able to see his flow just doesn't add up!'

Besides, thinking back, Saivas had already felt his father's mana flow first hand. Heck he was wrapped in it from head to toe.

'Sure he can run super fast, but I don't know how these bodies operate, maybe their limits are different?'

He thought it over for a moment and quickly discarded the idea

'No, I was definitely covered in mana at that time. How did he gain so much magical power. More importantly, if he's so powerful, why does he make mom do all the magic around the house?'

If his father was lazing about for no good reason while his mother slaved away, his father's ass was going to form an intimate relationship with Saivas's foot.

'To top it all off, I don't even have time to explore all this! I still have to figure out how to get more food for the family'

'That nigh omnipotence would really come in handy right about now...'

Regretting his wasted wish once more, Saivas set the issue aside and began to search for solutions to his family's food problem.

Sure they owned a farm, but their crops needed to be sold for profit! If they didn't, they wouldn't be able to afford seeds, tools, labor, mortgage Etc.

'If I was a bit older, I could probably go out hunting while pretending to play with friends. But I'm 3! I haven't even met any other kids my age yet' Saivas groaned

His frown only deepened further. Either he was going to have to find a way to sneak out, or his parents were about to have to get real cool about a lot of things real fast.

'Fat chance though. Besides, even if I could sneak out, how would I explain the sudden appearance of food on our doorsteps?'

'You'd think with how strong my father is he'd do some hunting. Why doesn't he? Surely a good hunt would be as good, if not better than training in our yard' He thought to himself

His problem was the same as before, he just didn't have enough information. He knew a lot of "What?" but came up empty on almost every "Why?"

'I guess there's no way around it, I'm just going to have to ask'

That was a risky proposition. One small mistake, and he could arouse suspicion towards himself. There was a fine line between childlike curiosity, and insightful questions beyond his years after all.

'That, and for all my genius, interacting with people was always my weak point'

Saivas once again found himself regretting his past life.

'You just had to put it off until you had no other choice huh? Thanks a lot asshole!' He inwardly chastised Jason

'Hey! It's not like I wanted to be a loner! I'm a victim I swear!' Jason retorted

This was a change that had happened a while back.

Sure they may have technically been the same person, but trying to go from one life to another without having a identity crisis was a feat to be sure.

For a while, this almost managed to drive Saivas insane.

In response, his brain had decided to separate Saivas and Jason into two different voices inside his mind as an impromptu defense mechanism.

'What kind of psycho has two voices in his head. What am I? Schizophrenic?' Saivas thought

'Yes, absolutely, 100%' Jason agreed

'Still 2 geniuses are better than 1' He continued

'We really are going to need all our brainpower to figure this one out'

'Why can't I just ask father? I'll play it off as a hungry kid asking why he doesn't have food. That's perfectly natural right?' Saivas pondered

'Idiot! That's not going to get you an answer! All he's going to do is feel like shit, then try to reassure his son! We need something better!' Jason reprimanded

'Ugh, why do people have to be so difficult, I wish I had a computer I could look this up on' Saivas sighed

'Well we don't, so we're just going to have to put our heads together. Oh wait, they already are... well regardless'

And with that, Jason and Saivas spent the next few days preparing their conversation.

.

.

.

The morning they had agreed to confront their father on had finally arrived. They didn't want to rush anything, but with a fast approaching deadline, they needed information fast.

They had roleplayed the conversation between themselves in their head until they were satisfied. Still, the problem with people is that they weren't consistent. They could say literally anything.

'It's not like with math or science where the rules stay the same all the time' Both voices sighed in unison.

Either way, the time for preparation was over. It was time for execution.

Around the dinner table, his family sat down to eat. After mentally preparing himself, Saivas finally started the inquiry.

"Daddy? Can we have some meat tonight?" He asked while putting on an innocent face

"Sorry kiddo, we can't afford any meat tonight" His father replied with a sigh

"Can't... afford?" Saivas cocked his head to the side like a golden retriever.

'Of course, he's only 3, he doesn't understand about money' Stuart thought

He decided to use this opportunity to give his son a lesson.

"Yes Sai, can't afford. You see, everything in this world costs money, so if you don't have money, you can't have things, you see?" Proud of himself for his explanation, he smiled at his son.

"We don't have money?" Saivas dug deeper

"That's right sport, we don't have money" his father congratulated his son on his listening skills

"Why not?"

This was the master plan he had come up with. It was a tale as old as time in the toddler handbook.

The "Why?" train.

If he was lucky, he could ride it all the way back to the station.

"Well Sai, because in order to get money, you have to sell things or do things for other people" His father elaborated

"But how can you sell things if you can't buy things" Saivas asked

"Well you can make things to sell" Replied his father

"Can you make meat?"

"Uh, kinda? Not really though"

"Why not?"

"Well because meat comes from animals"

"Where do animals come from?"

"From nature"

"Then why can't we go to nature?"

This line of questioning continued until it finally got to the peak point Saivas was looking for.

"Saivas, the closest animals are in the forest, and we're not allowed in the forest" He sighed

"Why not?" Saivas pushed

"Well because it's dangerous!" Stuart said

"But my daddy is the strongest!"

"Well yeah but..." Stuart couldn't help but inwardly cry

His son was right after all, the forest was definitely no threat to Stuart, he had even tried hunting there a few times when things had gotten tight.

But without guards nearby, the amount of attempts on his life was not small.

While there were few people who could take Stuart in a fair fight, in an ambush, even he might be in a bit of danger.

Besides, if he could help it, he tried to avoid hurting people, even if they had it coming.

'How the heck do I explain all that to a kid though?' He thought to himself

Saivas could see his father was about to cop out, with no other option, he decided he had to twist the knife a bit.

"Daddy, I'm hungry. If meat's in the forest, then can't my daddy go to the forest?" He said with the saddest face he could muster

Stuart's heart broke on hearing his son's words. What father could bear the thought of letting their child go hungry.

Pushing further, Saivas continued

"Why is it dangerous? Are there monsters? My daddy can beat up the monsters and bring back the meat!" He said while putting on a face filled with pride towards his father.

His mother was on the verge of tears, she knew just how much Stuart had endured after all.

"Saivas! Apologize to your father, now!" she remarked

Stuart however, intervened "Why should he? He's just a hungry kid"

After a long pause his father explained

"Sai, the monsters are dangerous for sure, but you're daddy is strong enough to beat them up no problem!" He said, attempting to regain a bit of his pride

"But kiddo, there's more dangerous things than monsters in the woods. For your daddy, there's a lot of bad men who want to hurt him" he said crestfallen

"But... you can beat them up too right?" Saivas prodded

"No Saivas!" He yelled

"We don't hurt people, even the bad ones! Not unless we absolutely have to!" He reprimanded his son

"But daddy they want to hurt you!" Saivas replied

"Yes, but they leave us alone if we stay in the town!" He gripped his silverware, clearly protecting Saivas from something

"But daddy, why do you have to listen to bullies?!" He was close to an answer he could use, he could feel it!

"Because Saivas! If I go to the forest, I'm going there looking to fight with them! Then who is bullying who?" Stuart lose his temper for a moment, then realized where he was and who he was with.

"Sorry kiddo, but things aren't always so simple. We can't hurt people just because it's convenient for us, ok?"

"Ok papa" Saivas replied putting on a dejected look

Inwardly though, he sighed a breath of relief.

After all, he finally knew what he needed to know

'I can't believe it, I'm starving over something as stupid as pride!' He inwardly complained

'You can't blame him too much' Jason replied

'He says "Hurt", but I'm sure he means "Kill". It's only human nature not to want to kill somebody'

'Yeah but here we are starving because of it! They started it!' Saivas reasoned

'Yeah, but good luck making your father see things that way' Jason sighed

Saivas thought for a moment, then came to a conclusion.

'We don't have to. He may have a problem with it, but I certainly don't'

He thought back to his murderer, his parents, and all of the people who used him along the way.

He was done being oppressed by bullies, users, and otherwise nasty individuals.

For the first time in his two lives, he wasn't going to give in or run away.

It was time for him to make his life his own!