Home Sweet Home

"Family is not an important thing. It's everything." – Michael J. Fox

The way to reach home proved to be quite uneventful considering how 'big' the welcome 'party' had been.

Sure, people would stop to greet and ask for autographs, mostly from Sienna' side much to the woman's growing irritation and embarrassment, but nobody had genuinely tried to stop us any longer but for just these two occurrences.

And I was kind of glad since I was half-tempted to drop unconscious any moment now. A wave of drowsiness just happened to coat my body in a state of sleepiness, and my craving to hit a soft surface and rest for a couple of hours continued to increase with each step.

Tired and slightly sleep, I opened the front door of our house before spearheading the small group made by Nora, Ren, and Sienna.

The first thing I noticed was the thin layer of dust that had formed over the furniture, the floor and the walls. I stole just a look at the couch and I was swiftly dissuaded from trying to dive-bomb at it with how much dust was there for everyone to see.

But that was just what we could 'see' and not what was 'actually' there.

At this point, I had really hoped to be blessed with a few hours of resting by the couch instead of dealing with some unplanned cleaning session.

I wasn't expecting to find sleep now that I had the kids around, and I really didn't want to skip these precious few hours of being back with them either snoring or dreaming some foul nightmare.

Nora giggled as she rushed inside, glancing around and stopping only as she noticed how 'abandoned' the place looked to be. Maybe it was a little exaggeration, but her confused expression over the state of things just gave off that impression.

Ren was a little less expressive about it. Frowning with a hint of perplexity, the boy remained close to both Tiger Faunus and me as he took a proper look over the conditions of the living room.

"Wasn't Kali meant to pass by once in a while to avoid… this?" Sienna inquired with a tiny grimace, and I let out a tired sigh as I walked toward the kitchen.

"She has her own businesses to go through in her life, and she did say that she had to skip the task in the last few days," I calmly replied, finding some annoyance over this complication. "And it's not that bad."

As to disprove my final comment, Nora gave a sudden punch at one of the pillows on the couch and the effect was instantaneous much to my surprise. The thing swiftly released a tiny cloud of dust that almost reached out for the young girl, but Nora retreated before the dreadful situation could've happened to her.

[I remember when a certain someone would go missing during cleaning days.]

It's more complicated than you make it sound like. I remind you how atrociously things went when I tried to lend you a hand.

[Fire, smoke, and a terrible realization that you and cleaning weren't made for each other.]

It couldn't have been that bad.

John, there is a reason why I had just a tiny room where to rest beside my office.

Grimacing at that rebuttal, I finally decided to give some order of actions to the rest of the… group.

"I will start cleaning the kids' room, the bedroom, and the bathroom," I said as I laid out my plans for this part of the day, getting a nod from Sienna and some curious look from the children as they followed up with my words. "Then I will go for the kitchen and the living room."

"Do you need help with that?" The woman asked and I shrugged, part of me having forgotten about them about this specific predicament.

It wasn't like I was planning to do this all alone, but it's still… odd that I've to share that kind of chore with someone else. I really missed the fact I wasn't the only one taking onto this kind of burden...

"You can clean Nora and Ren's room with them," I offered quietly, giving them the 'easiest' of the options. "I will pick the bathroom and then we will clean the bedroom together."

Instead of finding both children reluctant to go through with that assignment, since the chore was usually seen as a punishment by many, I saw them both somewhat interested on the matter. Which got me confused at first… and then I was enlightened by the more extrovert of the two.

"If we finish quick, can we pick what to eat for lunch?" Nora questioned with a mirthful smile, and I could see why these two were being this 'eager' for the task.

"If you both clean well and thoroughly, then… yes, why not?" I said before giving a shrug, finding that logic as helpful as amusing. "But I hope you understand that it is all dependent to what there is in the fridge."

But Nora had already left the living room for her shared room with a slightly surprised Ren being dragged along for the situation before they both had the chance of hearing the tiny issue presented by the possible… lack of resources.

It's been a while since we were there, and there was a good chance part of the fridge had to be left on the trash can. I wasn't going to ignore the issue presented by expired food after last time.

I also noticed that they left without even picking up the tools they would need to go through with this tedious task at hand.

It wasn't an easy job for kids, which is why Sienna was supposedly going to take a large portion of their work on herself and leave just the things we knew they will be able to go through without any issues.

Sighing, I turned to one of the cupboards and retrieved a couple of dusters and two mops.

Sienna blinked, but still accepted the mop I offered for her to use while handing on her free hand two dusters.

"You really mean it that it has to be a thorough cleaning," She muttered with some surprise.

I nodded back at her. "Yeah, and it's best we get this going as quickly as possible."

"We could've just dealt with the dust today and then cleaned the floor tomorrow morning, while the children are sleeping," The tanned woman pointed out and I sighed.

"Just… I don't want to deal with anything that tiresome early in the morning for tomorrow," I rebuked calmly, showing more of how drained I was. "We would've to be fresh and well-rested when Zardula will receive us for our reports."

Sienna nodded, keeping quiet for a while as we both started to walk toward the main hallway. Just as we made the first step towards our respective 'objectives', she decided to speak up once more.

"So… how do you feel right now?" The woman probed with some concern. "Are you sure you don't need some rest?"

"I'm a little tired, sure," I offered as a curt response. "But I can tell you're not far from falling asleep yourself, and I'm not planning to leave you to deal with the chores alone."

She tried to sober up and display a 'more awake' look, but a yawn betrayed her efforts and she groaned at the annoying noise.

"Seriously, I would've thought that spending most of our time resting and sleeping would've avoided this much of an issue," The Tiger Faunus remarked. "And yet I really want to catch some sleep right now..."

It's pretty common for people to get sudden tiredness when they return home after a business trip. It's… odd but-

[It's mostly impossible to explain. I could remember times where I would've trouble keeping awake during my travels despite the fact my body was fine and my mind was far from drained.]

Travels?

[I moved a lot around what was once Terra when Ozma first died. You should know that I didn't linger by my former domains when I first sought the support of all human civilizations…]

It was in that moment that I realized how that topic was bringing up unpleasant memories. Thus I moved to divert the attention elsewhere.

I bet you got some interesting stories to tell.

[A couple. But I can't say if those will genuinely entertain you.]

I'm sure they will.

[...Heh. You should know better than try to appear overly-sweet to lift up a lady's mood.]

It's only natural for anyone to be genuinely intrigued by tales of the past. Don't try to coat any act of interest as a lie just yet.

[Only if you offer your own stories. I… I want to hear more of what happened after… when you died again.]

I tuned out before hearing Ozpin's response, my attention being stolen away as Sienna moved and stopped right in front of me.

"And now you're thinking of something else."

"My brain is kind of messy right now. I'm sorry if I wasn't listening," I apologized instinctively. She sighed, giving me a slightly annoyed look.

"I can forgive you just this once because I can relate to the… drowsiness," The woman accepted, but her stare was still on me. "But I guess I will also leave what I was saying as a surprise."

…

"What?"

"I mean, I'm feeling quite tired myself and I don't want to repeat myself," She continued with a half-mocking tone. Frowning at that response, I stared down at her smug smirk and I sighed.

"Are we really doing this?"

"I mean, do you want to do this?" The Faunus remarked, almost parroting what I had just said.

I sighed in faux sadness. "I guess we're not."

Her eyes narrowed on me and she took a step closer to me, clashing her chest onto mine and boring me a serious look straight onto my eyes.

"So you don't want to snuggle with me after lunch?"

How did this turn in me not wanting to spend time with her?

[You ignored her. What did you expect her to do?]

Weren't you two the ones that distracted me to begin with?!

Maybe, but now you've to solve this. So keep up with the focus.

"Of course I do," I rebuked fiercely. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Then what was that 'I guess we are not' thing there?"

"Me reacting to your poor attempt to trick me?" I retorted tiredly. "And don't give me that look- How about we just keep up with that plan and forget about this?"

…

"Only if you prepare some snacks for us to eat."

I sighed. "Deal."

She offered a quick peck on my lips, swiftly retreating to the kids' room as I ventured inside the bathroom.

As I entered inside, I paused at the noticeable black spot forming near to the shower. My nostrils flared in disgust as I recognized the stench originating from it.

"Mold? Are you kidding?"

I stared at the unpleasant spot for a couple of seconds, recollecting my thoughts as I started to pray that I had bought some stuff that could work on this kind of problem.

This was going to be quite the tedious task alright...

Luckily for me, I had bought some products that were meant to fight back a case of mold of that severity. It took me much longer to get it all cleaned, but I ended up just in time to join the rest of the group inside the bedroom and… it turned way easier than the previous task.

Maybe it was because there was no mold to fix, nor I did need to go through the effort on my own, but still it felt good to be spared anything too draining as I was partly expecting.

Once we were done with that, I allowed the kids back to their room while Sienna and I finished with the cleaning operation by going through the kitchen and the living room.

We finished by the time I had to start preparing something for lunch, and so I waited for everyone to come at the table and see what the kids wanted-

"Pizza!" Nora demanded with the hungriest of tones.

And I didn't feel surprised at all considering how the girl had taken a liking for the dish. Pancakes might still be her number one food, but Pizza was easily her second favorite.

Still, I felt quite sheepish as to prepare a proper pizza it would take a full morning to get the bread dough, and I didn't have anything ready for that.

"Sweetie, you know that I can't prepare Pizza if-"

"Carbonara?" Ren quipped quietly, gaining Nora's attention as the girl gave him a confused look. "He can't do Pizza for today… but maybe he can do it-"

"The day after tomorrow," I offered and the boy nodded.

"Yes, that."

The orange-haired kid continued to stare intensely at her partner and… she smiled.

"Okay."

"Are you sure you're-"

"You just got back, Papa," She interrupted happily. "And I… I forgot that it takes a while to get the ingredients ready."

That was… surprisingly tame.

She is still a child. While some of her 'known' hyperactivity is here, she is a far cry of what I remember Ms. Valkyrie being.

With that situation solved, I shifted my attention to the kitchen. Preparing everything took me less than half an hour, but the result was a delightful meal to share with the family-

…

[Is everything alright, John?]

It's… fine I guess. I'm happy with how things are going but-

You still miss your family.

I… I know they're doing fine. Maybe they are worried, maybe they are afraid for me but… I know they're not going to hurt themselves over it and… and maybe they will forget about me.

[That's sounds so sudden. Why would they need to-]

Hoping for him to return would just increase the pain each time they remember him. The chances of him going back are null and… that leaves him with just that fickle prayer.

[But what if there was a way?]

Then I would've to ponder if I want to lose the family I have now to return back to… them.

The inner discussion didn't continue after that, and I managed to mask my uneasiness away from the other occupants of the table.

Soon we started to eat and enjoy some pleasant chatting as we went through a simple lunch together. It was genuinely the happiest and 'lightest' moment I could've asked for and, in that moment, I was reminded that despite them not being there with us, I still was going to find people to rely on.

I spared a couple of glances to Sienna, and from the smiles she would return I could tell that she took notice of those quicker than expected.

Twenty minutes went by in the most peaceful of scenes, and then I found myself alone in the kitchen to clean up the used plates.

I had to remove my cast and put on some gloves to properly handle the dish-washing, but I quickly realized how the damage was mostly gone. Only a barely-noticeable aching remaining from the previously stinging sensation.

Humming quietly, and looking to the side to see the Tiger Faunus playing around with both children.

Nora was giggling madly as she dodged with her tiny and nimble self the taller woman. Sienna was trying to catch her while Ren stared at the scene from behind the 'safe wall' created by the couch, an unusual but endearing eager smile on his face.

Soon the giggling doubled as the girl was caught by the chuckling Faunus, with the woman's hands reaching for her sides and tickle there. My smile widened at the sight, and I went through my chores as quickly as I could without breaking anything in the process.

But just as I handled the last plates, my attention was stolen by the familiar sound of the doorbell reaching my ears.

The little playtime between Tiger and children was stopped as Sienna went to personally check on the door to see who it was at this curious hour.

There was silence at first, and I kept looking to try and see who was at the door. Yet the quiet was interrupted when a pair of quick footsteps reached the living room before Nora realize who they were and rushed to greet the closest of the two.

"ILIA!"

The young chameleon Faunus tried to match with her own smile the rambunctious reaction from her friend, the two girls sharing a quick hug while Ren preferred to greet her with a smile, a nod, and a curt greeting.

My attention moved a little bit away from her as I took notice of the second newcomer as he waved at me.

"Mr. Bukharin!"

The red-haired Bull Faunus greeted loudly and I nodded back at him while giving a kind smile.

"Hello Adam."

Vibrant blue eyes glinted a happy reaction to my reply, and for a moment I forgot the kind of person the boy could've turned into if I had left his mother to die.

He still can become that monster.

[I think his mother will teach him more about morality. And don't act as if people can change from this 'little'. A parent can still do the difference.]

It took me a brief moment to realize that he looked 'cleaner' than the last time I saw him. The boy's life had clearly improved from how happy and properly-dressed he looked to be.

Maybe his mother did find a good job the moment they both arrived at Menagerie, and maybe they were indeed living a better life than the one they had in Atlas.

It's not much of an improvement considering how squalid the standards of life are for Faunus right now.

Before I had the chance to keep up with Ozpin's comment, I saw a certain girl finally taking notice of me and rush to greet me.

Wrapping her arms around my legs, she looked up with a big smile while her chameleon features acted up.

Her hair turned blue, with her freckles becoming yellow, and her eyes a warm shade of red.

Is that… her happy reaction?

Blue, yellow- those are generally colors to highlight happiness. I'm unsure about red but-

[She looks so adorable! Look how happy she is!]

"Mr. Bukharin."

"Illya," I replied quietly but mirthfully. "I'm happy to see you this lively."

She smiled and freed my legs from her tiny restraint. "I've heard from Adam that you've helped his mother," The inquisitive girl muttered. "Is it true that Faunus are treated badly in Atlas?"

I took a moment to blink and… realize how the situation had gone from a simple greeting to a very awkward question I was surprised to find myself answering to.

But still, that was quite an unexpected assault from little Ilia. I thought she was more shy than this.

You forgot how accustomed she got to your presence. Shyness is an element that can selectively be removed when the 'shy person' can trust the people around themselves.

"I wouldn't say the situation as tough as it might sound to an outsider, and I can say that from now on conditions are going to improve since Nicholas Schnee has announced he would take over once again until his daughter is ready to take over," I replied carefully, knowing that bringing up mistaken terms could genuinely get an odd and unwanted situation going. "Let's just say that Adam and his mother suffered through some unquestionably bad conditions."

The boy's smile faltered a little bit and I gestured him to come closer the moment I saw this.

He glanced up, expecting me to say something more but first… I reached for the top of his head and started patting.

"You still showed a brave look before the trouble. I hope you know you should be proud of holding up against the absurdity that existed in Atlas."

His smile was renewed at those words.

"And I see you two have formed quite the bond with each other."

Adam nodded. "Ilia writes the best of stories."

The compliment warranted a quick blush from the chameleon Faunus and the girl's face tinged in a deep red at that.

"It's… I suppose many like what I write."

"Your stories are more than good, sweetie," I replied kindly. "I can assure you that it's not just a flattering compliment, but a badge you should wear with pride."

She gave a nod but… she then gave me a quizzical look.

"By the way, Mr. Bukharin, do you know who else is invited for tonight's dinner party at the Chieftain's mansion?" The girl asked with a less serious tone. "Mom and Dad couldn't say, and not even Adam knew about it."

"Mom said that we were invited with Doctor Watts. And that Mr. Bukharin was going to come too."

I stared at both children, confusion growing more in my head as I tried to make sense of what I was hearing about.

A dinner party? And it was going to happen tonight at the Chieftain's mansion?

Why didn't Kali or Ghira say anything-

Wait, we're invited?!

[Too many questions!]

And so little notice. What a troublesome situation indeed.

I looked up at Sienna, the woman returning my confusion stare with one of her own as we both confirmed that we were clueless about this development. Could it have been something planned out after we returned?

That would be incredibly awkward to mention to us if we were meant to be among the invited guests.

The doorbell rang once more as I continued to ponder over the situation, prompting the Tiger Faunus to check at the door again.

The new entry to this unexpected scene was… someone that I hadn't expected to see this soon.

"Arthur," I greeted with a grin. "Good to see you."

He huffed. "John, I see that I've… intruded while you were busy," The scientist replied after nodding at me. His eyes turned to see Adam and the boy looked slightly… nervous? "Adam, you shouldn't have rushed so quickly. Your mother wanted to ask you to do a couple of things before running off with your friend."

"Apologies, doctor."

My eyes widened a little bit at that deflated response, prompting a proper look at the Bull Faunus as he looked quite somber after that admission. But before I had the chance to inquire about this odd reaction, my ears caught Watts sighing again.

"Adam, I remind you that I'm not angry at you for behaving your age. The only thing you should mind is that you did leave your mother a little bit worried by running away like that," Arthur muttered calmly. "You may seek games with your friends, just don't forget to bring up this to either me or your mother."

The tension in the boy's posture eased up at these words and… I realized what was wrong with him, my blood boiling at the mere thought of the possible reason.

He was expecting a punishment.

It's rare for someone this young to display this much fear for misbehaving. It's a clear sign of abuse.

[Poor dear… thankfully he is doing great now that he is away from that horrible place.]

Patting the boy's head again, I managed to unravel his nervousness even more.

"And since I'm here now, I guess I can tell you already that you've been invited-"

"To a formal dinner at the grand manor?" I interceded with a curious tone, drawing a surprised look out of him.

"I guess the children told you."

I nodded. "But I want to understand why this news arrived this… 'late'."

"I confess I'm to blame about this," The scientist apologized calmly. "I've been asked by Mrs. Belladonna if I could've been the one to give you two the news and… I ended up spending too much time at my workplace for today."

"Are you still getting accustomed with your new living conditions?" I questioned with a hint of fascination, starting to feel intrigued over the fact Watts was this close to the Taurus family.

"I would be lying if I said that I'm adapting smoothly. Some elements, like the different climate and the smaller size of the community compared to what I was accustomed to, are work in progress. But the workplace afforded for my newest role as leader of the R&D group for Menagerie is… refreshing," He explained with a polite smile. "I've also taken a liking with my living conditions. The chieftain saw it fit that I shared a house with young Adam and his mother."

"A liking?"

Arthur looked quite nervous for a moment, but soon he answered.

"Mrs. Taurus… Emma became something of a trusted assistant," The man explained slowly but truthfully. "She is a hard worker, and she has backbone to mention I'm wrong when I try to go through some possible failure."

...No, that's not happening.

I'm… I'm unsure what you're talking about.

Sally merely giggled in the mindscape, clearly aware of what I was implying considering the thoughts I was having on the matter.

Maybe I was being too quick with my suspicions, maybe this wasn't going to end up in a way I had totally not expected to see.

But… But what if 'that' happens.

[Lots of fun shenanigans!]

And you would love all of them.

[Guilty as charged~!]

Still, I was glad that Watts was in the 'Anti-Faunus' spectrum of Atlas' population. The fact he seemed quite genuine over his respect over Adam's mother and how… 'carefully' he was treating Adam's distrust for Atlesian it was kind of…

Surprising? Disgusting? Shocking?

Heartwarming.

And that's a 'Disgusting' from me.

The conversation didn't trail for too long. With Watts still having work to do and with Ilia having promised her parents to return home quickly to prepare for the dinner, the house was soon freed of any guests.

And while peace quickly regained control over the place, I still pondered about the situation at hand.

Kind of sudden for Zardula to be indicating a dinner party for our return… so quickly. I was surprised, and confused.

But still, I decided that maybe it was just a thing he came up because someone told him to. Maybe his daughter.

Maybe Kali had plans I wasn't aware about and…

Despite my endless musing, I still managed to hold well thorough the day as I managed to get the promised snuggling time with Sienna while the children went back to their room.

Tonight was going to be a long night after all, and I needed all the cuddling I could get.