Finding Dad

"Dad...? No, I don't have a son... who are you?" Kire asked. His voice was weakening, and the battlefield came to a halt.

"I never met you... I was taken away, was I not? By Genesis and Hikari?" Ra asked and was met with a stubborn response.

"DO NOT SAY THEIR NAMES! They took everything from me... you... you are my son?" Kire asked Ra again, walking close to him, watching him like a rabid animal.

"I know they took everything from you... they did, they took me, and they killed Mom. I remember them telling me, and I haven't forgotten about it, not now, not then, not ever. My name is Ra Madio, and I am your son," Ra replied again, walking closer to his dad.

Lia walked up beside me and lightly tapped me on the top of my shoulder.

"Thanks for saving my ass. That guy is always full of new surprises... so, what was that? How did you stop that thing from hitting me?" She asked. I took my eyes off of the reuniting family and looked at my own left hand.

My head had a slight ache in it, and I was holding it while explaining.

"It's Sky's Mom's ability. The power to manipulate gravity... however, I never used it to that degree until now, and it kind of hurts me," I told Lia, gripping my head in pain.

"Sky's Mom? Oh, you mean from The First Trial?" Lia asked, and Kire turned his head in curiosity at the things we were saying.

"What? The First Trial? Goddess of Wrath, you had access to that world? How?" Kire asked me.

"What are you talking about? I thought it was accessible to everybody... that's what Eo told me. Illya's Secretary, in case you didn't know her name," I told Kire, and he seemed to uneasily bob back and forth while staring at me. What an uncomfortable look.

"Illya's Secretary...? Do you mean, Genesis? He was undercover that entire time, Eo was his alias? That son of a bitch... I'll kill him..." Kire muttered under his breath.

"Genesis? What are you talking about? It was Eo, not Genesis. We fought and she gave me access to The First Trial," I told Kire. I felt uneasy now, knowing that it wasn't actually Eo that was our friend.

Now that he mentioned it... Eo seemed to be wiped from my memory until just a second ago when Lia asked. That was weird, Eo was a crucial point in why we survived... how could I forget about her?

"I totally forgot about her... why did I forget? Dani, did you remember Eo?" Lia asked me, but I could only shake my head. I don't even know how she died...

"That's Genesis's intervention... he can manipulate your memories, ruin your mind, destroy you without even touching you. I've been trying to find a way to kill him for several years now. I only care about killing him and Nova," Kire told me.

"Nova...?" I thought out loud, thinking about the person Red once told me about on the beach.

That was her sister... I wonder if it was the same person.

"Then, it sounds like we have half of the same common goal, so why are you even fighting us? You're pretty powerful, and you aren't stupid. Why waste your energy here? I'm sure once we explain everything to Sky, he'll allow you to join our ranks," Lia said to Kire.

"It seems to be at the hand of Asterios that I'm forced to suffer every day... until I got to meet Ra again. Ra, can you vouch for the Asterio yet?" Kire asked.

"He's not 'The Asterio', quit using that name. His name is Sky Asterio, if you want to use that last name," I told him.

"Goddess of Wrath, I'm afraid everybody knows his first name, whether you like it or not. He's not exactly a positive idol for history. I noticed you have a soft spot for The Asterio, are you his lover this time around?" Kire asked me.

"I hardly think that matters, but what I do think matters is how this pattern runs. Somebody gets in Sky's way, and they get steamrolled if they aren't our ally. Is that going to be you, Kire?" I asked him. My hand was on my hip, getting prepared to pull out a saber.

"Ra, we're going to leave this city before it gets melted with you in it. I want you to run off. There's a bunker to the east of this position, hidden in a mountain underneath some shrubbery. You go there, and I'll meet you there," Kire told Ra. Ra quickly listened to him, nodding, and starting to run in the eastern direction.

"You're just going to listen to him?! You don't even know if this man is your father, let alone on your side!" I shouted out toward Ra. He looked back before running off to a gate on the wall and shrugged.

"Dani, this is all I ever wanted. To be with Dad again. He's not on our side, I'm on his. I'm sorry if our interests intersect and conflict, but I was only ever in Zealous waiting for him," Ra told me.

It wasn't any skin off of my back, but I sensed bad intentions from Kire right now, and I was afraid Ra was fueling them.

"You both are in on this? Kire, Ra, you both would be great members of the society we're going to build. Why aren't you staying?" Alatus asked them with an alerted tone.

"Yeah, Ra, you were our friend for almost our entire life... and now, you're just leaving?" Fudo asked next, looking at him from behind Alatus.

"I'm sorry, guys. I did enjoy our time together... but Dad and I need to kill Genesis and Nova. After we're done, I'll come back with him, right?" Ra asked. Kire was hesitant at first, and then absently nodded. I highly doubted he heard a word his kid say.

Kire was locked onto my hand.

"You're going to keep us here?" He asked.

He could see me prepping my gravitational ability...