2

"Hmm!?" This question came out of nowhere, startling Dean out of his train of thought. Raising his head, he looked at his son as his heart struggled with whether to tell him anything or not. But in the end, reason won over emotion and he shook his head with a smile.

"Nothing." He reached out for Xen's head before rubbing it gently. "There is this project that we need to finish. I was just thinking about ways to solve it."

"Really?" Xen wasn't so easy to fool, till now he had seen his father working on multiple projects, but not once did he show an expression like this, not to mention the fact that he had been away from the family for months.

"Yes... really." Dean ruffled his hair gently before raising an eye. "Don't tell me that my genius son wants to help me out."

"Hmph!" As soon as he mentioned the term 'genius', Xen let out a cold snort. This was his sore spot. Since his childhood, he has wanted to be a great researcher. He wanted to be just like his father, working for the human race, but alas, his talent was too poor. Whenever he saw a book, he felt like falling asleep. No matter how hard he tried to understand it or how many hours he put into it, he just couldn't understand a damn thing. And if by some miracle he managed to understand, he would forget it by the next day.

"Hahahahaha." Looking at his son's distrust expression, Dean finally let out a hearty laugh as his worries seemed to fade. The two of them joked for a few minutes before his mother came back with a tray full of exquisite meals.

"Eat." She spoke lovingly to both her husband and son as she sat on one floating table, silently looking at the two of them with a gentle smile.

"Mum, join us too." Xen raised a piece of vegetable towards his mother, wanting her to join them, but she just shook her head with a gentle smile.

After finishing his meal, Xen turned around and walked back to his room. He closed the door but didn't shut it all the way, leaving it slightly ajar. He wanted to see if he could hear what they were talking about and sure enough, though faint, he could hear his parents.

"Is there no hope?" His mother's voice echoed softly as if worried about the impending sense of doom.

"Huff..." Dean didn't reply immediately but let out a bitter smile. "Sarah... I..." His face was flushed red as words seemed stuck in his throat. He wanted to speak further... explain more, but he just couldn't come up with words. The only thing he could do was to laugh at himself.

"Hush." Sarah gently placed her finger on his lips stopping him from speaking further. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine." She still had a gentle smile on her face as she spoke those words. As for whether she truly believed in them... even she herself wasn't sure.

The two of them headed to their room, leaving behind Xen who was listening in deep doubts. For a moment, a million thoughts crossed his mind. No matter how hard he thought about it, he just couldn't understand what they were talking about. In the end, he just buried it in his heart and fully closed his door before heading back to his room.

However, it was easier said than done. Sitting in his bed, no matter how much he tried to distract himself, in the end, he would come back to the topic of his parent's discussion. And just when he was wondering what was going on, there was a beep in his ear.

*Reon Calling...

After hearing that mechanical voice, Xen immediately replied in a flat tone. "Connect."

As soon as he did, a holographic boy around his age appeared in front of him. Just like Xen, he too was wearing black clothes with golden lines. At that moment, he was ruffling his curly hair, while moving back and forth anxiously.

As soon as the call connected, he suddenly stopped and looked at Xen.

"Xen..." His voice was filled with urgency as he could hardly control himself. "Dude, we need to meet. NOW."

Xen's heart thumped for a moment. First his father and then his friend Reon... The ominous feeling in his heart only grew stronger.

"What's going on? What's so urgent?" Raising an eyebrow, he asked with a frown. "Just talk to me."

"NO." Reon immediately rejected this idea. "Not here. Not on the line." With a brief stutter, he spoke further. "Just meet me at the usual place in three hours."

Without waiting for Xen to say another word, he disconnected the call, leaving behind the stunned figure of Xen who was still trying hard to understand just what was going on.

"Weird." He muttered in displeasure but didn't dare to take his words lightly. Walking out of his door, he immediately left for his destination.

"...." As soon as Xen left, his father Dean looked in his direction as helplessness flashed before his eyes. He had decided to have a chat with his son after gets back.

-------

Three hours later, at the top of the cliff, in an old vintage log coffee shop, Xen was sitting in silence while looking outside the window. No matter how many times he saw it, the sunset from this place looked absolutely breathtaking. Often he and Reon would come and sit here for hours, just silently looking at the scenery.

"One more coffee please." Raising his hand to the maid roaming around, Xen ordered again, but this time, the maid suddenly shook her head.

"Master Xen, you have already drunk more than four cups of coffee, any more than this, and your health might be at risk. Unfortunately, I have to reject your request. But feel free to order any other dishes." With that, her eyes glowed as a small panel appeared in front of Xen listing all the various dishes that he could order.

"Forget about it then." Right now, he was in no mood to order anything, so he just shook his head, dismissing her.

"Have a pleasant day, sir." The maid turned around before leaving.

"Damn it, just how long is that bastard going to take?" Looking at the time that was way past the three-hour mark, Xen couldn't help but mutter in frustration. "Should I call him?"

Just when he was wondering whether to call Reon or not, someone patted him on his shoulder from the back.

"Xen." Reon seemed to be in a hurry as he sat on the chair opposite to him. After gulping down mouthfuls of soft drink, he breathed heavily as his expression turned.

"Xen... It's bad." His voice trembled while speaking as if it was getting harder and harder for him to control his emotions.

"Relax." Xen suddenly raised his hand, signalling him to relax first. He too was curious to know just what this guy was talking about, but that could wait. This guy needed to relax first.

"Relax?" Reon's eyes widened in disbelief as he shook his head. "How can I relax? Xen, it's over... Everything's over man."

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Xen could only take so much. This time he was truly irritated. Everyone around him seemed to be talking in circles instead of telling him clearly about the actual matter.

"You don't know?" There was clear disbelief in his voice as Reon looked at Xen in surprise. But then it turned into an exclamation, "YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW."

"How... Isn't your father a high-ranking official?" The more he spoke, the more he panicked. But before he could do anything, he felt Xen jolting his hand, bringing him out of his state.

"If you are done with your yapping, how about you tell me clearly what's really going on?" Xen had finally lost his patience. It was already a miracle that he wasn't punching this guy in front of him in anger.

"Sigh." Reon took a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions before he slowly began to speak.

"There has been a war going on for the past few centuries Xen." His voice was shaking visibly. "A war with some other lifeforms. I don't know what we are fighting against, but we seemed to be on the losing side."

"Rubbish." Xen snorted in disdain. "We have already conquered the Milky Way and are everywhere, how can we lose?"

It was not his fault that he didn't believe his words. After all, from childhood, they have been living peacefully and the knowledge that humans have conquered the entire galaxy has been deeply rooted into his brain. Even he doesn't know just how many colonies humans have in the galaxy. How could such a behemoth lose a war?

"I am not joking." Reon's voice trembled with helplessness as his eyes looked at the sky. "We have lost everything and the only remaining survivors are the humans in the solar system. We are at our last line of defence Xen. They are already talking about drafting those who have reached the age of ten or more. Do you understand what that means?"

The more Xen listened to him, the more absurd he sounded. For a moment, he even wanted to laugh. Perhaps this bastard was trying some new sick joke, after all, this wasn't the first time he came up with something so absurd.

"Yeah, yeah..." Shaking his head, Xen let out a chuckle and stood up with a yawn. "And here I thought you have some urgent matter." He still couldn't believe that this bastard would make him wait for so long for such an absurd reason.

Even if he were to listen to him seriously, there were a lot of loopholes. If there were really a war that has been going on for centuries, how come no one ever heard of it? It was impossible to hide it from everyone. Second, if there really was a war and they were the last line of defence, then how come someone like Reon knew about it? The more he thought about it, the more absurd it became. So much so, that he just stopped thinking about it.

Shaking his head, he left the cafe under the constant pleading and protest of Reon.

"Well, at least the view is good." This was the only thing that brought him happiness. There was no pollution, no noise, the only sound was the chirping of birds and insects along with the distant sound of people laughing and talking.

"He was just telling a joke right?" His father's worried expression flashed before his eyes but he immediately shook his head in disbelief. The idea itself was so absurd that he felt like an idiot just for giving it a second thought.

Humming a tune, under the dreamy sunset, Xen made his way back to his home.

---------

"You are here?" As soon as Xen reached back home, he was greeted by the sound of his father.

"Dad?" Looking at his father sitting there silently as if waiting for him, Xen's heart sped up. He had never seen his father like this before; all grim with no expression. Usually, he would constantly smile and joke with them, but now...

"Is everything okay?" He sat beside his father before looking at him with a furrowed expression. He could tell his father was worrying about something since the moment he met him, but since he didn't share it with him, he didn't dare to ask.

"That is what I want to talk to you about," Dean replied with a grim expression.

"Son..." his voice faltered as he took a deep breath, trying to calm down the turmoil in his heart. "I want you to prepare yourself for what I am about to tell you."

"....." Xen's heart thumped as his eyes narrowed into slits. An overwhelming sense of dread overtook him. He suddenly remembered the chat he had with Reon. Earlier he just laughed it off, but now... He was dreading if his father was going to say the same thing. If he was... He didn't dare to imagine it.

"What's going on Dad?" He asked again, but this time his voice wasn't as carefree as before. "Is it about the war?"

"So you know about it?" Dean didn't bother to hide it anymore. He just closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

"It's true!?" This time Xen was truly surprised. Earlier he thought that it was just an elaborate joke that Reon made, but now that his father had confirmed it, Xen felt a deep chill seeping into his bones. He just froze in his position, stunned by everything that was going on that day. The idea itself was so absurd that he was having a hard time processing it.

"How much have you heard?" Dean's voice finally brought him out of his stupor. Shaking his head, Xen cleared his head of any distracting thoughts and replied in a trembling voice.

"Only that we are fighting a war and are down to the last line of defence. This solar system is all that's left of us." He still felt like he was in a dream. How could the once mighty human civilization could fall to such a low degree? It just didn't make any sense. What were they even fighting against in the first place?

"It's correct." Dean's next words were the final nail in the coffin. It didn't take long before Xen began to panic.

"What... What is going on Dad? What are we fighting, what are we supposed to do now? Do I need to go to the war?" The more he spoke, the more he stuttered. His every word was full of nervousness and panic. He didn't know what was going on or why, the only thing he knew was that at the moment, they were in a pretty bad situation.

"Son." Dean's stern voice calmed Xen for a moment. "You don't have to worry about that. The only thing you need to understand is..." His voice grew weak, almost trembling. Even uttering a word took all his strength.

"We all are going to die." He didn't twist his words, but spoke slowly, letting the weight of his words sink in. "We don't know how much time we have left. Perhaps a month or perhaps a week."

He looked at his son with a sad smile before rubbing his head gently, something he always did since he became a father to comfort his child.

"I want you to go and live the best you can. If you have a girl that you like, go and confess to her, spend your days with her, hell if possible, spend a night with her." His every word was like a knife, cutting Xen's heart into pieces.

If it were any other day, he would have joked with his father, adding a few more conditions. But now... He silently gazed at his father who was trying his best to hold back his tears.

"Is there no way?" Everything happened so suddenly, that he was still having a hard time coming to terms with it. It was as if his entire world was crumbling right before his eyes and the only thing he could do was to watch. But Xen refuses to accept it. He wanted to know if there was any hope... any chance that they could subvert the situation. And for that, he looked at his father with eyes full of expectations, hoping for him to provide a solution.

"None." Dean's words were harsh, leaving no room for discussion. Unlike his son who was just a child and had only seen the comfort of home; he had seen what true hell looked like. He wasn't as naive as a fourteen-year-old to think they could turn around the situation.

Dazed, he looked at the ceiling as if lost in his train of thoughts, before a sentence finally escaped his lips.

"There is no way out... But I heard a few rumors."