Chapter 9 : A strange boy (1)

No longer immersed in the tank, 3109 found himself suspended above it, his rags soaked, held at arm's length under his armpits by Harry.

His vision was for the most part blocked by the strands of hair that were covering his face, he couldn't do anything about it because his body refused to move and frankly he preferred to keep it that way for now...

He had seen so much today that he wasn't in a hurry to witness more, whether it was on a physical or mental level, he had reached such a state of fatigue that all he wanted to do at the moment was to bury his head in the sand, let himself be carried away by the events and hope that everything would go well for him.

Fortunately for 3109, the giant man who was holding him didn't seem to want him to make any effort either.

---

After having lifted the boy out of the tank, Harry briefly yet thoroughly examined him. One glance was enough for him to determine the general state of the latter, no matter if what he had to assess was the state of his skin, flesh, bones or things with a much more abstract tangibility.

Strictly regarding the kid's physical condition, Harry was satisfied with his observations, 'The bath was as effective as I could have hoped for. The only things that bears witness to his injuries are skin discolorations, the mineral density of his bones is no longer as worrisome as a 70 year old grandma suffering from osteoporosis, as for the other problems related to his severe vitamin deficiencies, same thing, it's not that alarming anymore. The only thing left to do is to put some meat on these bones.'

However, for the rest, he was a bit less optimistic, 'It was to be expected, his 'stay' in that mine didn't only affect his mind and flesh, his body absorbed something there that it shouldn't have. Now, the boy would have definitely died long ago if he hadn't breathed that shit, so saying that isn't totally right. He would have definitely preferred a quicker and less painful death rather than a magical cancer if he had stayed in the hell hole I pulled him out of, but now that I'm here, it doesn't matter, it's far from an insurmountable obstacle.' He thought, punctuating the end of his reasoning with a lengthy sigh.

Lise, with the weird timing she was known for, chose this moment to sneakily approach Harry and remove his unlit cigarette from his mouth, "No smoking in front of the kid." She stated with a petty grin before taking her own cigarette out of her mouth so that Harry wouldn't have much ground for protest.

He looked at her and returned a forced smile barely concealing his irritation, "I don't think that hiding our small vices would do him any favors, giving him an image of perfect parents would be hypocritical and counter-productive." He said slowly while trying to dominate his desire to put his hands around Lise's lovely and inviting neck.

"You are actually making a good point..." She agreed with Harry, to the latter's surprise, while fiddling with the two cigarettes in her right hand...

"But I doubt that passive smoking is an acceptable thing for the kid as he is." She added before purely and simply vanishing.

"Can you believe that?" Harry asked 3109 rhetorically in a voice that was both cheerful and pissed, "What a bitch."

"Anyway..." He changed the subject, "... I thought I would let you sleep for a few hours and then I would come back with something nice to eat. What do you think?"

Not receiving a verbal or non-verbal response didn't stop Harry from giving an enthusiastic reply, "Great! let's do that then!"

---

[2 hours later]

---

Lise was all alone in a large kitchen whose design, despite the current era who was all about efficiency and practicality, wasn't very different, whether in terms of furniture or utensils, from a luxurious American kitchen of the early 21st century. She was skillfully chopping onions while entirely thinking about something else than what she was doing as evidenced by her gaze that wasn't directed at all towards her hands but rather towards the void.

The source of her confusion? Do it even needed to be said? Harry. Him again.

A few minutes earlier he had come to her to answer all the questions she had about the situation and to give her his perspective on the matter, and although he had been extremely direct on every point they discussed, he had somehow managed to make her even more puzzled, especially on one subject.

She suspected that if Harry had chosen this kid to be his 'son', there had to be something special about him, something different that managed to strike a chord with Harry. So, in order to know what it was, she asked where the boy came from, and although she expected an unusual answer, the one Harry gave her exceeded all her expectations.

Apparently, he had found this kid in one of those prisons where captives are treated like pieces of crap only good for digging out mana cores.

That. Made. No. Fucking. Sense. At. All! And it made even less sense when Harry explained the boy's circumstances. There was definitely something fishy behind all of that. Only hardened adult criminals are supposed to end up in that kind of shithole in the first place.

Beyond that, Lise believed she knew why Harry had made the choice to adopt this boy and why he had assumed that she would go along with it.

Historically, the behaviours she and he have exhibited towards children may suggest that they dislike them, or even outright hate them, however, it would be a mistake to think that. They don't hate children, they just hate most of the traits that they inherently have, that is to say; immaturity, naivety and spinelessness.

It might be kind of fucked up and inconsiderate to think like that, but they couldn't help it, because of their past, those were things that they loathed to their core no matter in who they see them.

For these reasons and in the light of Harry's admission of fatherhood desire, what she assumed he told himself when he saw this kid was something like this, 'If he was a wimp, that boy could never have survived in the conditions he grew up in *blah blah blah* He would do a good son *blah blah blah* Let's kidnap him *blah blah blah* Not only am I going to further ruin his life, but I'm also going to ruin Lise's life by emotionally bullying her into being the kid's mother *blah blah blah* At first it will piss her off, but her life is so boring that in the end she will thank me for finding her a meaningful occupation.'

And the worst part in all of that was that even though she knew that was what he was thinking, she was still going to play along, starting with cooking for the boy as she was currently doing.