CHAPTER 2 - CUTE BROTHER OF MINE

Inhale~ hold!

Exhale~ hold!

"Breath more calmly, put all your worries behind, there will be time for them, for now, let yourself be free.

Meditation is all about calming yourself and finding your own serenity, a serenity that even makes you forget about yourself, and let your brain rest."

"ZZzzzzZZ" Martian acts like he is sleeping while his a month old body is still in a cute cross-legged position.

"You get me?" asks Bertrand flat.

"Are you kidding me? You did not even talk human!"

One month has passed since Bertrand taught Martian yoga meditation to feel the presence of mana in the air, yet as if he is training a stone, there has not been much progress. Especially since Martian rejects doing the poses and merely doing meditation.

"But didn't you always fly to Tibet for meditation sessions? You either go to a sham place or..." Bertrand cutely mocks Martian by enlarging one of his shiny black eyes and giving him a grin as the last touch.

"Why are you so sure that I go there for meditation? What if I go there for Ra's al Ghul like Bruce Wayne did? And who permitted you to look into me?!!" snaps Martian. His cute chubby cheeks kept jingle cutely following the rhythm of his raged speeches as if teasing Bertrand to touch them.

"Why act like the victim? It's not like you never make your grunts peeping where I live anyway, right?" counter Bertrand.

"But I-I..." Martian tries to find the right words to counter Bertrand, but nothing comes to him.

'His speechless face is so cute~' Bertrand is smitten by Martian cuteness. Bertrand stretches his hand and starts to play stretch-release games with Martian cute chubby cheeks, "Does your face always this cute?"

Brushing Bertrand hand from his face, Martian face red from embarrassment and anger. He yells right at Bertrand's face, "You may be a year older than me, but that does not mean you can treat me like your damn doll!"

pat pat

"Easy, easy~" Bertrand patting Martian head, doesn't care much about Martian cute baby rage and then continue to play with Martian cute cheeks,l "My cute little doll looks cute even if he angry~"

"Grrr!" Martian curse the hell out of Bertrand with his eyes. If eyes can kill, Bertrand body would already riddle with holes. "You merely dare to say that because this useless body limits my move, right?!!"

"heh heh," Bertrand chuckles annoyingly, "Of course, how in hell I will dare to mess with this cute little devil incarnation if not?"

"Gah!! I'm not gonna talk to you!" pout Martian, he then puffing his cheeks like balloons so they can't be stretched again by Bertrand.

poke! poke!

Unable to play stretching games with Martian's cheeks, Bertrand changes his way of playing to poking and fondling, "Your meaty cheeks feels nice at the touch!"

"GRRRR!" Martian cursed the hell out of Bertrand with his eyes and then threw an ultimatum out, "You dare to do it, again. I will fight it out with you, even if that's means forsaking this useless body!"

"geez… you and your temper." Bertrand acts like he is an adult dealing with a child. Though, his baby face makes it look more comical.

Still, for a proud person like Martian, it was more potent than the other thing, and now Martian nearly cries out of agony to be ceaselessly bullied by a baby.

"Screw you! Just you wait in another year, I will screw you back!" swears Martian with misty eyes.

"Okay, alright, don't cry~" looking at Martian misty eyes, Bertrand retrieved his hand and gave a kiss to Martian forehead like a loving brother, "Now I will stop it, I will stop it, don't cry~"

Thought that what Bertrand told, but inside he thought, 'So that is how it feels like to kiss a baby? Somehow it feels freshly good! Better I made it a hobby when I still can!'

Snap!

"GAH!!!!" getting a kiss from Bertrand, the switch of rationality in Martian mind broke off. He pounces at Bertrand and then launches punches after punches at his face like king kong losing its mind.

pow! pow! pow!

"Aiya~ what a breezy day it is…" Bertrand merely let Martian let go of his frustration. He didn't dare to move a finger in the fear wrong move would dislocate Martian fragile bones.

"Huff~ huff~ " feeling his hands numb Martian stopping his barrage to Bertrand's face.

"da da da~" Bertrand baby laughs rang merrily in the room, " How is it? Isn't it good to let your emotions go? You can't concentrate when your mind is in a mess! You just got rebirth and left your family behind on Earth. I know how it feels like, but pretty please breathe it out and let them g--"

pow!

Martian get so pissed at Bertrand smart-ass remark and launches another punch at Bertrand's face.

'Shit! I have poked the wrong nest! I should have never brought family topic in!' looking at how pissed Martian face is, he knew what would come, 'Should I hit back? But he is merely a month baby! Ah, damn stinky mouth!'

"You know, fart! That damn AI of you has chased me for half an Earth and killed me in the end! Do you think he will leave my daughter behind?!! No! And It's all because of you!"

pow! pow! pow!

Martian gets power from his rage and lands a string of punches into Bertrand's face. "Huff~ huff~ If she is dead, it's all because of you!"

Snap!

A switch in Bertrand mind is flipped at the fact, Martian want to be a good father when it's all already too late, like certain someone he knows. "Why are you suddenly want to act like a good father for your daughter? When it's primarily me who always cheered her up behind the scene!"

Bertrand changes his tone to flat cold, "I hate to say it, but I had done what you do for me before. Be there for her darkest days though mere from the screen. So, don't flatter yourself with your own imagination. I know all what you have made her go through. And because of it, there is no way I let --"

pow! pow! pow!

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Martian, losing his mind in madness, his mind full of his regret, embarrassment, and guilt.

Pow! Pow! Pow!

"hey! hey! Let me finish my word!"

Pow! Pow! pow!

Push!

Looking at Martian that already losing his mind and feeling his face felts numb from unceasing punches from Martian. Bertrand pushes him in the forehead and makes him fall back to the bed.

Thud!

'Hell, that's is hurt!' Bertrand checks his face by gently patting some area, yet they give him out stings of pains as a return, '...Luckily his fists are soft with those fat, or else my face wouldn't be just black and blue. I need at least defending the next time he goes on a rampage!'

Falling to the bed, Martian still glaring crazily at Bertrand, his eyes showing that he is not yet in the right mind, "Why? Why? Are you acting like this rebirth thing is normal?!! It's not normal!! M-My daughter, sh-she may... on her dying breath right now..."

"You have disfigured me, and now you want me to pity you?! Bloody hell!" annoyed at Martian brazenness, Bertrand blow up some fume by lightly knocking at his head, " As for Cleo, didn't I have said to let me finish my word? You damn weasel!"

"What do you want to say? Just say it!" getting light-headed from exhaustion, physically and mentally, Martian doesn't have the energy to banter with Bertrand.

"Tch, rude brat…" Bertrand makes an annoyed face, "Your daughter will be fine."

"What?!" Martian can't believe what he just heard.

Bertrand rolls his eyes and then enunciate word by word, "Cleo Will Be Fine!"

Out of nowhere, Martian got the power to jolt his body up and hold Bertrand face with both his hands. He glares Bertrand right in his eyes, "How damn sure are you?"

"Certainly. Definitely. Hundred million percent, sure!! I set my AI, the Cripple, to recognize mother descendant as my heirs, but not my killer, though! Tough luck, isn't it? If you weren't the one who had killed me. You will get the Cripple easily and not end up here!"

Scrutinizing Bertrand's eyes and knowing he wasn't lying, Martian put his mind at rest, and yet his world suddenly went hazy and then darkened.

"Yeah, great!" looking at Martian swaying body as he loses his consciousness, Bertrand start grumbling, "I'm the one who takes all the beating! And without sorry he just gets blackout!"

Despite his grumbling, Bertrand still hastily grabbed Martian body before it fell and then gently laid his body on the bed.

"Damn, it's sting like hell at my face. Some of my face bones must have chipped."Bertrand analyzes how bad his face condition is, "Still, his little hands may be worse…"

Looking at blued Martian hands, Bertrand gets a sting in his heart, "Tch... not like I can heal his bones anyway. But, at least let's heal the skin so as to not give a fright to mother. Light magic – Light blob."

Woom Woom

Some light mana in the air starts to hover and gather above Bertrand's hand like iron to a magnet creating a glowing liquid that Bertrand called a light blob.

With a thought, Bertrand split the light blob into three. He then made two-portion to coat Martian hands and spread the other one on his own face.

After being coated by the light liquid, Martian blued hands little by little back to red and then pinkish white. Bertrand's black and blue face is also healing at rapid speed, and soon, Martian's hands and Bertrand's face are back to pristine condition.

"That's all I can do, for now, bear up with it, my little doll~ Please, quickly man up. I need someone to bear the world with me…"

Chu~

Bertrand gives Martian a kiss on his forehead.