Piece 25 (part 2)

"Woah… so this is the ocean." I uttered my excitement as I stared at the blue seas spanning kilometers in the distance, and both Mom and Dad smiled at me.

"Your first time at the beach?" Dad asked jokingly, and I nodded quickly.

"I-It is!"

"Then, let me show you the things you can do! Come on!" Dad started running on the sands, and I ran following him. However, my first foot landing on the sand felt incredibly unnatural, and I fell straight to the yellow sand face first.

"Umph--!!!" I loudly uttered with my face under the sand, and I could feel a pull on my collar from behind.

"Don't run on the sand…" Mom commented while pulling me up from the ground, and I just awkwardly smiled while wiping my face.

It seems that… the battlefield here isn't quite a nice one.

Dad and Uncle John were laughing their asses out, but I got my feet back on the stand right away. It was indeed quite hard to stand, and I'm wondering how difficult it must be to spar with swords on this terrain. The sand just basically eats your shoes, and I noticed a bunch of them have already gotten inside.

After taking off my exterior clothing and shoes, I followed Dad onto the waters. Mom will be taking her time to prepare at the carriage, while Grandma said she wanted a personal stroll on the streets of Felton not far from the beach. Uncle John will be accompanying her, so it's just us three on this beach.

The beach is quite empty. There are people, but since it's currently Monday, it's not quite bustling. I have heard from my classmates that the beach can be reaaaallly crowded when it's the weekend, so I'm glad it's not as bad as I heard.

"Wah!! A crab!!"

I shouted while pointing my finger to an alien animal that crawled from the waters, and Dad walked closer to look at what I'm pointing at. His face turned sour immediately after seeing what I'm pointing at.

"That's a turtle."

"… Oh. Then, what's a crab?"

"It's red, has tiny fingers, and has scissor arms. I'll pick one up for you if we find one!" Dad said while walking over to the turtle, and he bent over to see the crab closer.

"Ah! It's an Evening Turtle! This one's rare!" Dad said while moving his hands to the crab, and I noticed he was trying to pick it up.

W-Why is he picking it up like that? Is that how you're supposed to hold it?

Dad is holding the turtle on the body, right under the turtle's arms like holding a baby. He held the turtle upwards while facing the belly towards me, and I realized why he held it like that.

The body of the turtle had multiple black streaks that went horizontally, and I can't help but feel funny seeing such an appearance. The turtle's arms and head are waving around as if trying to set itself free from Dad, and that made it even funnier to look at.

"Look what I found." From behind, a voice was heard, and we both turned to it. However, we did not expect what we found.

Both Dad and I opened our eyes widely, and Mom only became so confused. Her hand is holding another alien species that I have never seen before, and she just kept her confused stare at us.

"W-What?"

It's… amazing, really. I have never seen her without her clothes like this before, but it sure is nice to look at.

Mom is currently wearing only a bra and a very thin cloth on her lower body. Her skin is pale, and her bust is incredible, but that isn't what surprised me.

There are… quite a lot of wound marks on her body. I'm shocked to find so many of them out in the open like that.

There's a long scar on her chest, and a large mark on her left waist. I was really concerned as to what those marks were caused by, which made me incredibly shocked to see her appearance.

"You look so beautiful, honey!" Dad shouted as he approached Mom, and I realized that he is acting this way for a reason.

Mom is beautiful. I think everyone knows that. But calling her beautiful now made it even more meaningful, especially when she's showing so much scar.

Dad proceeds to hold the turtle with one hand and holds Mom's shoulder in the other. He kissed Mom on the cheek softly, which made her a bit uncomfortable.

"C-Come on, I think I'm well past this phase already." Mom whined after Dad kissed her, but the handsome guy only laughed seeing her so awkward.

"It's still really important to me! Because I know how much it meant for you to show up like this."

"Geez… Well, whatever." Mom looked away rather shyly, and Dad only became happier. Meanwhile, I'm a little bit confused with what's going on, but I think I'm beginning to catch wind.

"Are you… afraid that people might look at you weirdly?" I asked Mom slightly carefully, and she realized I had noticed.

"Yes. For years, I was living a very torturous life as a princess of Veldonia. It was only after I met your dad that these scars stopped popping out. But since then, I still felt uncomfortable revealing these scars to people."

"But you look so beautiful! I think you can show off more skin just okay, Mom!"

Mom opened her eyes widely from my words, and I only smiled softly at her. She proceeded to smile as well, and Dad's hand landed on her waist.

"Told you it's not that bad. I'm not sure who it is that informed you about not showing your skin, but to us, I think it's completely fine." Dad said with all honesty, and I agreed fully to him. Mom only laughs awkwardly while trying to accept it, and she leaned the entity on her hand towards Dad.

Wait. I think I know what that thing is--

KREK!!!

"YOOOOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!------" 

The being had a pair of scissor-like hands, and one of the scissors had successfully caught Dad's chin. I'm not sure how painful it must be, but Mom has completely let go of the scissor animal, and that thing is just dangling in the air while holding on to Dad's chin.

That's… called a crab, right?

"OW-OW-Woi!!! H-Help!?!?" Dad cried so hard while calling for help, but Mom only turned to me.

"Milly, be careful with crabs, okay? These things can snap your fingers easily." Mom said to me as she scooched closer to me, and I only kept my awkward stare between her and the pained dad.

"HELP--"

"I think we should go as far away from him as possible. He's going to attract even more crabs…" Mom said while pulling my hand, and my eyes immediately landed on the scar on her left waist.

It's… incredibly massive. I'm wondering what exactly caused her to have such a wound.

"O-Okay! L-Let's…" I awkwardly walked away from Dad, and the guy has now kneeled on the ground while trying to take off the crab from his chin.

Unfortunately for him, the crab has two hands.

KREK!!!!

"AAAAKKKK----!!!!!"

The other set of pincers has successfully caught his finger.

Rest in pieces, Dad…

"You're probably wondering how I got these scars, right Milly?" Mom asked as we walked on the beach, and I turned to her with a concerned stare.

I was half expecting her to be so afraid of sharing it with me. However, what I found instead was a very confident smile of a powerful lady.

I guess, towards me, she can be as comfortable as she likes.

"T-Tell me, please!" I requested excitedly, and Mom laughed as she recalled the events in her head.

"All right. I'll tell. But, it will be a rather grim story."

"I think the sea water will wash away the grim. How about we sit down on the water?" I suggested it to Mom, and she gladly followed.

"For sure! Let's bask in the sun and enjoy the bath."