Pancake Morning

Alek smiled when her brother let her in.

His room was dark and didn't have glowing stickers like in Aether's room but, he left the curtain open, and it provided a little moonlight from the outside.

They went to where the bed was and got in. Kai was too sleepy to say anything when she hugged him inside. They eventually fell asleep.

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Kai woke up to find his sister still hugging him. She had the lion between him and her and, they were occupying most of the space in the bed.

He slowly left the bed and walked out of the room.

His mother and sister were already in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. "Morning, honey." His mother greeted him and, he greeted back. "You are late today. What happened?"

"Alek happened." Bia answered her mother's question. "She's sleeping in his room." Kai walked away, hearing his sister replied.

"Oh. Why?"

"Because we watched kind of like horror movies last night." Bia told her mother and began spreading plates on the table.

"Bia?" Panacea sighed hearing that. She knew her daughter hated obakes and horror movies.

"What? It wasn't me who chose it." Bia complained.

"Then who?" Panacea asked.

"Jin, Rin and Iris."

"And Iris was okay with watching them?" Panacea asked suspiciously. She couldn't believe a girl half Alek's age could watch a horror movie calmly.

"Yep." Bia came back into the kitchen after spreading the plates. "Jin told me it was her who chose the horror films."

"Wow." Panacea blinked several times before continuing to bake pancakes.

"Yep. Wow." Bia said and Kai into the kitchen with the washed face.

"Sleeping with Alek is one of the things I find difficult." Kai told his mother and sister.

"Welcome to the club." Bia told him.

"She even sleeptalks. And it's loud." Kai complained and took honey and jams to the dining table.

"You'll get used to it." Bia replied and handed out a jag of water to him.

"I hope not. I had enough for a life time." Kai took the jag from her hands and placed it in the middle of the table.

"Something smells good in here." Astraea walked into the dining room.

"Morning, Ash." Panacea greeted her sister. Astraea just raised her hand and walked to stand next to her sister.

"Pancakes..." Astraea quickly walked away from the kitchen after seeing what Panacea was baking.

"Stop complaining." Panacea flipped the pancake and put the lid back on. Her sister wasn't a fan of pancakes or crapes.

"Onigiri demo taberuwa." Astraea told her sister while walking away and disappeared from their sight.

"Ashita sore tsukuttemo, iikamone." Bia told her mother. She didn't consider Onigiri for breakfast.

"Iikamone." Panacea also agreed.

"I think the pancake is burning." Kai told his mother from the counter since he didn't have anything to do.

"Ara yada." Panacea quickly moved the lid and removed the pancake from the pan. "It's a little burnt but, it's edible." She put a scoop of pancake dough on the pan and closed it. She then started removing the burnt part from the previous pancake.

"Yeah" Bia looked at the pancake that her mother was removing its burnt part. "I'll put jam on that."

"I agree." Kai watched the pancake being removed from its black part.

"I'm back. Now let me start cooking." Astarea walked into the kitchen while rolling up the sleeves of her pyjamas.

"You are really doing this?" Panacea looked at her sister disapprovingly.

"Yeah, why not? You know I don't like pancakes and, you made them..." Astraea looked at her sister while pouting her eyes and opened the fridge. "Nee-chan, I'm taking the tuna."

"Okay but, I think you should prepare the rice before that." Panacea replied after keeping the not burnt pancake on the plate and flipped it upside down. Nobody is going to know what she did.

"I know. I have been a mother for almost twenty years." She closed the fridge and opened one of the cabinets that had rice.

Panacea rolled her eyes and sat down next to her son. Her daughter had taken the position of baking the pancake and, she could rest.

"Do you want mango juice?" Kai asked her mother, who seemed tired. She nodded in reply and, he went to the fridge and served her some.

"Thank you." Panacea told him when he handed her the drink. She loved mango.

"Your welcome." Kai told her and sat beside her after putting the juice back in the fridge. "Where is Jin and Rin? I thought they would be awake by now."

"I think they are doing something. I don't know." Astraea answered, washing the rice.

"Iris?" Kai asked again. He was kind of worried about Iris because they watched a horror movie.

"She's doing fine, I guess." She put the washed rice in the rice cooker and set the time. "Nee-chan, nori tte doko?"

"Dokka." Panacea didn't even bother to answer her sister's question properly.

"It's on the right top. We don't use it that much." Bia told her aunt and removed another pancake from the pan. That was the last pancake.

"Thank you." Astraea stuck her tongue out before finding it.

"Stop being a baby." Panacea told her sister, who was only five years younger than her.

"I am mum's baby. I can't stop that." Astraea shrugged her shoulders. Panacea sighed at the reply and stood from the seat. "Can I leave you guys here? I will be in my room."

"Okay." Kai answered and took the remaining juice from his mother's drink.

"Seriously?" Bia looked at her brother before giving him a cup of mango juice.

Kai smiled. "I knew you would give me."

Bia sighed before going back to her room to get rest. She had been standing for hours and, her feet were sore.

"Morning." The nonidentical twins ran into her in the corridor.

"Morning." She replied. "Did you guys wake up now?"

"Not exactly. We are both not a morning person and, we need time to fully wake up." Rin told her and smiled.

"Alek's also like that." Bia chuckled. "Well, breakfast is ready. It's pancakes and, your mother and Kai are there."

"Thank you, Bia." They said in unison and, it sounded comfortable in her ears.

"Your welcome. You can use anything for the pancakes and if you want anything, just ask Kai."

"Got it." Jin told her this time and, the three people walked away in different directions.

"Morning." Alek walked into the dining room at the same time as the twins.

"Morning." People in the room greeted her and, she yawned.

"Pancakes..." Alek looked at the kitchen table where the pancakes were. She didn't exactly like them but, when she was served, she would eat them. If she had a choice, she would not eat them.

"Drink juice with it." Kai advised her before she went to wash her face. He was already eating with the juice that Bia gave him.

"What are you doing, mum?" Jin asked his mother suspiciously.

"Onigiri." Astraea made a third one and, she then began to make the last one.

"Okay." He said because he knew his mother wasn't a fan. "Do you have any plan of going out today?"

Alek came back to the room. "Actually I do. I am planning to meet you guys with my old friends." Astraea looked at the children in the room who were looking at her suspiciously. "I'm not going to trick you guys again. You will be prepared for it and, the same thing doesn't work twice."

"So, who are your old friends?" Alek asked after sitting next to her brother. She looked at the pancakes that Kai was eating and made up her mind to eat them with a lot of juice.

"That's a secret." Astraea smiled mischievously before going to the dining room with four onigiris on her plate.

Again, the kids did not seem to trust her.

"Oh, come on! At least let me see your reactions when you guys meet them. I think it would be harder than the harpies." Astraea took a bite of her food.

"Why do you call them harpies? I mean they are harpies." Alek asked.

"Exactly, they are harpies. It's a fact." She served water in a glass and took a gulp. "Plus, they said they don't mind being called harpies when I asked them a long time ago. You know it's kinda long to call them bird-humans."

"I agree." Alek cut the pancake in half and started eating them.

"When are we meeting them?" Her sons asked their mother.

"As soon as we all finish eating. They live further than harpies and, it will be a long drive."

"How many hours?" Rin asked.

"Maybe around two?" Astraea told him.

"I'll wake up Iris then." Jin quickly stood up and left the room.

"I think that's a great idea." Right at that moment, Bia came back to the dining room. "Bia, could you tell you parents that we are meeting our old friends?" Astraea asked her niece who came in. She and her niece and nephew couldn't go because they were eating and, she knew her son would feel a little awkward going to his aunt and uncle's room.

"Okay." Bia went out of the room.

Iris was rubbing her eyes as she came into the dining room with her brother.

"Morning." Everyone greeted her and, she nodded her head in reply. Her throat was dry and, she couldn't make any sound. She usually slept with her mouth open.

"I didn't know that we are going out again, Ash." Panacea, Robin, Lake and Bia came into the room.

"Well, you know now." Astraea told her sister.

"Anyway, who are we meeting?" Panacea took a seat that she usually sat and the rest of the people followed.

Apart from Kai and Alek, they were all sitting at the table.

"Fumizuki and Nagatsuki." Astraea told everyone.