Chapter 5

The question of adoption never really came up before. Originally it was off the table because they were researching the kids' condition, later when the research angle was cast aside adoptions still weren't considered, mostly because they were scared of the man who was now asking them to start doing it.

Unclear questions like this were supposed to be decided by the supervisor, but they didn't have one.

So after the official scheduled visit, a long back and forth started between Anthony and the caretakers, and when they couldn't come to a conclusion, the issue had to be settled by the parliament since there was no authority below them

It is important to note that the Alliance government originally came about because of a group of individuals who wanted to be rulers without having to fight for the position. To do this they appealed to the old world's democratic principles, and they were successful in establishing their new nation.

But their success became their biggest mistake since they didn't have actual power and were incapable of defending their positions.

Their situation wasn't helped by the fact that a large number of powerful individuals ended up moving to the new country in hopes of avoiding the power struggles present in more dictatorial places.

They wanted to gain more personal power but the moment they tried they would be replaced almost immediately, most likely by force. So this government that was terrified of its people was more than happy to pass up the children that had caused them nightmares for over a decade.

In the following year, most of the orphans would end up being adopted.

The whole process took up the rest of the day so the film crew went home and Anthony decided to sleep in his car, because he wanted to get things over with early in the morning and because there weren't any rental places nearby.

Early in the morning everyone involved had to deal with a long session of document signing. The only thing that would have been interesting was choosing names for the kids but they quickly declared they already chose for themselves.

After finally getting to eat breakfast, or what remained of it, Peter and Sarah Williams were in a car, on the way to their new home.

At first they were overwhelmed by all the new sights, but after more than an hour of sitting in the car they were extremely bored. Anthony tried to start conversations with them, it was mostly pointless since the pair's life was probably the most uneventful in history, but he did get one thing out of it.

"How did you choose your names anyway?"

Sarah replied first, visibly excited.

"It is from this game Ms. Carry would play in her breaks. It was …"

After a quite detailed description of the game in question, Peter could finally say the source of his own name.

"My name's from the book I got, The Tale of Peter Rabbit."

This short exchange was followed by more futile questions, including some about the treatment they received in the past few years. He didn't know if he should be relieved or not after the answers he got.

Most of what he thought of as mistreatment seemed to come from incompetence and not from bad intentions. This was good news on the surface but it also meant he couldn't really catch them on anything.

For the remainder of the journey he started speaking on his phone to arrange the basic necessities for his children.

And after a four-hour long car journey they finally arrived at home. Anthony's house was the third floor of a gigantic skyscraper in the middle of the Norden capital.

In the house they were greeted by James Williams, Anthony's only brother and roommate. He was surrounded by a large number of clothes and some unassembled furniture. He was also holding two books he passed to his new niece and nephew.

Peter got The Tale of Peter Rabbit, this time printed on real paper, and Sarah got a spin-off book for the game she was talking about.

James found the second book in an antique shop. As it turned out the game was ancient, and the only reason Ms. Carry could play it was that the computers at the institute were of similar age.

For the rest of the day The children were shown around the house and were explained the plans for their new life. Basically, they would be thought most things by James, since they would look out of place in a regular school. They would also have to be self-reliant because Anthony's work required him to travel a lot and James was still a college student, so they would spend a lot of time out of the house.

After everything necessary was said, the two new beds were assembled and everyone prepared for a long night's sleep.