Chapter 1.6: Guilt

  Fenton walked into the shared bedroom and saw Ace on the top bunk.

"Hey…", said Fenton. "Can we talk"?

"Not right now", moaned Ace. He was in a terrible mood. Fenton shifted uncomfortably.

" Did Candy break up with you"?

Ace shot up quickly and alertly. "Who told you"?! Fenton was surprised, but it was a common occurrence at this point and he figured that maybe it would be over soon.

"No one," said Fenton. "It was just a guess. Sorry".

" Don't pretend like you care. You never liked her anyway".

" That…. Is true", Fenton admitted. He scratched the back of his head, his shaggy hair now going from slightly unkempt to bedhead.

"But I want you to be happy", Fenton groaned.

"I don't want to talk about this".

In the blink of an eye he teleported away to his father's apartment.

It was simple and small, with a half kitchen- half dining room, a living room with a teal pull out couch for when Ace came to visit, and Tyreceus' small room. They didn't need much as Tyreceus still owned his house, albeit far from the academy.

Ace's father, Tyreceus was standing at the dining room table. He was cleaning out his guns and polishing his sword. Ace always wondered why he even bothered.

The old sword looked rusted and faded. Tyreceus claimed that he was the strongest sword in existence, but he had never seen him use it.

"Hey Dad", said Ace.

Tyreceus almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden intrusion. "Please, stop popping in unannounced", he groaned. "You always give me a scare".

Ace chuckled, loving every moment he got to bother him.

He's so big, what could he possibly be afraid of, Ace wondered.

"What brings you here anyway," asked Tyreceus. "I thought you wanted to be independent in the dorm that I pay for".

Ace felt the insult in his chest but chose to ignore it.

"Ah it's nothing, just wanted to see how you're doing".

His father leered at him. He knew he was lying, but was glad he came to visit anyway.

"Since you're here you can help me with cleaning my guns. Can you get me another cloth from the bedroom? I left some in the closet".

"Sure".

Ace walked into his father's room and took a look around. It'd been a while since he'd been to visit so everything felt kind of foreign to him.

Oh… Ace realized. Now's the perfect time to snoop around and see what he's got.

Ace's dad was a retired fighter and had all kinds of cool weapons. Ace was in training, but he never got to touch any of them.

Too dangerous, his father always said. You can't touch anything I keep in there.

Ace hated how his father went on missions and did dangerous things, but said he couldn't.

Ace opened the closet and didn't see any rags on the top rack. He bent down and looked at the bottom to see them there. He picked them up and saw a panel in the back of the closet.

"That's weird", he mumbled.

Ace pushed on it slightly and it opened. Inside the false wall were various boxes.

Maybe he keeps valuables in here, he thought.

Ace's curiosity got the best of him and he took out a small cardboard box from the false wall's opening.

Inside the small box was a watch. It was old but very beautiful and ornate. It was red and black, a strange color for a metallic watch, especially one that looked so old. When he held it in his hands he felt like it was whispering to him.

Weird, he thought. I feel like I'm meeting an old friend for some reason, just looking at this watch.

He held the old watch close to his ear to know if it was still working.

Instead what he heard was a heartbeat.

"Ace, I'm waiting!"

Ace panicked and stuffed the watch into his pocket.

"I'm coming, Dad".

He put the panel back into place and left the room. After cleaning and having some dinner, Ace had fallen asleep on the couch, watching TV. Tyreceus sat next to him, feeling uneasy.

Ace was now eighteen and would soon graduate from the Union's Defense Program. He would leave home and fight meaningless wars, join meaningless conflicts for the sake of the homeland.

Tyreceus tried to convince Ace that it wasn't the right thing to do, but he knew that he couldn't stop him.

Ace was relentless in his pursuit of anything he did in his life, and absolutely stubborn. He never gave up. It's something Tyreceus absolutely loved and despised about his son.

Tyreceus couldn't make Ace understand the only reason he enlisted was for their citizenship. No one wanted to take in refugees from a war-torn planet. Tyreceus was a history professor, but he taught the history of his home land. It couldn't help them get citizenship on Earth.

They were denied citizenship based on their nationality. They had left the Empire when Ace was still an infant and lived on Methuselah. On Methuselah, they didn't have equal rights. They could never become full citizens.

No one trusted the Empire, and no one trusted anyone from its capital planet, Ionadis. He didn't want to subject his son to never feeling like he belonged.

So he enlisted.

Maximilian Slater promised if he did as he was told he would give Tyreceus and his son safe harbor. But over the years the guilt and the lies had eaten away at Tyreceus. He had justified lying to his son to spare him from the truth. He had helped him forget his memories of the war so he could heal as he grew.

But he couldn't stop him from growing up and making his own choices.

Omission of the truth was no better than lying, Tyreceus told himself. But the truth is sometimes worse.

At that moment Tyreceus was ready to come clean. He knew he had to. Of course, Ace was fast asleep, and Tyreceus was only gaining bravery in that moment because he was asleep.

Start small, Tyreceus told himself. Admit something small and the big lies won't seem so bad anymore.

Tyreceus opened his mouth and shut it again, feeling absolutely silly being afraid of his teenage son.

Just practice while he's asleep, Tyreceus reasoned with himself. Nothing major.

"I know about Ronnie," Tyreceus whispered.

Ace heard nothing and was fast asleep. Tyrceus continued with more silly and inane confessions, trying to work up his bravery to the harder ones.

"Sometimes I pretend I'm busy so I can be alone," he mumbled.

"It's hard to find a date because no one wants to date a man with a kid."

"My name is Ta-"

Ace mumbled something in his sleep and Tyreceus froze up, wondering if he heard all his confessions. Instead he simply shifted onto his back and mumbled something about cheese.

I can't do this, Tyreceus thought. Just leave things as they are.

Another day had started with Tyreceus tricking himself into thinking he would finally come clean. Candice yet again had left Ace for no reason other than to keep him on his toes. The day had ended with Tyreceus chickening out, promising himself he would do it tomorrow, and Ace wondering if Candice left him for someone taller.

It was a regular Monday like any other.

The same that had repeated 3,652 times.