Family Issues

"Doesn't seem too far away, also seems to be open, bleh, my legs barely feel like moving."

Theseus limped his way to the store, he entered with a bright light flashing into his eyes, he quickly covered his eyes a bit until he adjusted himself.

"Ugh, right, the Blau, Hey! You still got my bag?"

"H-huh? S-Sorry sir, you seem to be blee-"

"Right, the gloves, I have to pay you sorry about that, here, just take twenty Solars and keep the rest ok?"

The Blau simply accepts the money and thanks Theseus, seeming almost unable to speak, not only that but he seems to be shivering as well.

Theseus grabs the bag without caring and goes on his way, not much is going through his mind, except for one thing he must do, which is to get back home safely with the groceries.

"Right? it's left I think? For some reason, I feel hot but cold, such a strange feeling."

Some time passes on his way back.

"Mom isn't gonna be too happy either huh, why did I even bother fighting that guy, must've been pride I guess, but why would I be so prideful? I mean I usually wouldn't care too much, but then again my blood just started to boil and I just had to fight, do I even need a reason to fight? What do I even want to begin with."

This thought reoccurs in Theseus's mind several times.

"Yeah I'm not too sure, I never had any big ambitions really, but for some reason when it comes to fighting I just, I have to do it, my body just feels almost moulded to do it, well, I sort of always wanted to experience lots of things in this world, I mean, if all these cool races exist and now these cool powers exist too, what more is even out there, most people just say there's nothing left in the world but with all this new stuff I mean, surely I should just go out and find it myself no? That's a nice dream, right?"

He chuckles to himself a little after realising he's been talking to himself for quite some time.

"Oh well, that's my house." Upon entering he sees his father and mother crying scared, his father with his arms around his mother almost embracing her letting her know everything will be fine, whilst his father on the brink of despair.

"I'm back."

"Theseus just where were you! We heard something about an ambulance and a fight!?." His father finally relieved to see his son.

"Theseus come give us a hug now!" His mother only cared for his well being and how she wanted him to feel loved. Theseus quickly embraced his family with both of them crying, he can barely process what's going on and simply reciprocates their feelings back.

"Sorry Mom, I got in this fight and, I'm not too sure it all sort of happened fast."

"I don't care as long as you're safe now!" They all hug each other tightly and walk to their bedrooms.

"Don't you dare do this again ok! You're stuck with me for the rest of the week whether you like it or not!"

"But, Mom I have things I need to do and-"

"Too bad!"

"Listen to your mother, boy."

"You two don't understand it's that, I finally found something I like and-"

"Listen Theseus, whatever it is you found is it really worth risking your mother's health for? Just think about it, tomorrow we'll have a talk, but for now, just rest, you need it."

"Alright, I guess." Theseus walks to his bedroom, lays down and begins to stare at the ceiling.

"Mom huh, I've never seen her so worried and worked up, but I finally found something I want and just, it seems so nice really, I want to explore, find secrets, learn as much as I can, but then my Mom will be sad, well, I can go for a bit and come back now and then surely that would work? Right?"

Theseus puts his hands in his pockets and finds a note.

"I think I remember this."

He holds it out and sees a series of numbers and some writing saying, "Call me <3"

"Who even is this? Might as well try now."

He turns on his phone to see a bunch of messages from his friends.

"I guess they can wait, it's pretty late anyway."

Theseus enters the number and calls.

Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz, Kacha.

"Theseus!? Is it really you!?" Says a female voice.

"Y-Yeah? Who is this?"

"Awww, you don't recognize me? It's me! Your number one fan! Y'know, the girl that saved you?"

"Fan? Saved me? Just who the hell are you."

"Don't you remember that sweet time we spent? Where I cut you with my scissors? Just thinking about it I wish I was doing it right know…"

"Oh, uh, yeah goodnight."

"What no don't hang up yet!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't block this number and go to sleep."

"Well I have two, One is that I saved you alright, the least you could do is hear me out, and the second is because we have a proposition for you."

"Proposition? And who's we?"

"Our boss has taken quite the interest in you, I mean, I do boast about you all the time, just thinking about cutting you open and-. Right right I was getting side tracked, the boss said he would like to meet you."

"And what if I say no?"

"No one says no to the boss, not even cute ol me, and trust me, he means no harm."

"I don't have that much trust for you to begin with, but, I suppose I could consider his option, where do you want me to go?"

"Well, you could meet right now really."

"Now? I need rest you know."

"Whaaaat, but you're the great Theseus, the human who beat the minotaur, the man written in legend, no?"

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Ugh, just, meet him now alright? I prefer things quicker."

"I thought patience and doing things with time was better?"

"Yeah yeah well not with this girl, here, I'll come pick you up."

"Pick me up? Hello? Did you hang up? This girl, I wish she explained more."

"Heya!" The Mouthless or well, Mouthful girl appeared in Theseus's room with her mask to the side.

"HO-" She quickly covers up his mouth

"Stay quiet, will you? Or would you rather I rip out that throat of yours now?"

Theseus pushes her away and starts to get into whatever fighting stance he can, he seems extremely fatigued.

"Or maybe I can play with you some more, you're so sweet and full of life I love it, but I must control myself, now come on, let's go see the boss, he doesn't like waiting."

"Just be quick about it."

"Always." The girl walks towards Theseus with a big smile on her face, in this exact moment, she seemed so innocent and pure, almost as if she were a normal high school girl, it's not often one gets to see a mouthless smile, all of this filled Theseus with safety, until he was stabbed in the neck with scissors along with some sort of liquid that seemed to pour into him. The girl then grabbed him and took him to the meet-up point.

Theseus surely was near the brink of death, surprisingly enough because of this his body reacted back to when he first got his Second Wind, it pushed through his body and woke him quickly.

Upon opening his eyes all he could see was the city below him whilst being carried, the girl was skilful and strong, she carried him from building to building.

"Ugh, the fuck did you do to me?"

Her eyes lit up as if she just had witnessed the biggest miracle of her life.

"What? I'm sorry, what? Did he just, no, there's no way, my poison is extremely strong there's just no way he could have simply woken up." She quickly stops on a nearby building

"T-Theseus? Are you? Awake?"

"Of course I am, ugh, this headache hurts so much, just why did you even do this."

"This isn't, how, there's no way he just, ok calm down Kancer calm down, maybe you just didn't put enough in him, but… this is just, too remarkable, it's amazing for such a human to be so strong."

Kancer seemed to become bright red and almost had a fever, her movements deteriorated a little.

"Just, just play along for a little ok? We're almost there, please Theseus, you wouldn't be rude to a woman would you?"

"Ugh, just don't drug me or whatever, I'm going back to sleep."

"He's so impressive, I might just keep him for myself if he keeps this up, I want to cut him up so badly."

Eventually, they arrived at the hidden location, it was under a bridge with darkness all around, Kancer placed Theseus upright and woke him up quickly.

"Wakey wakey beautiful." Kancer softly put him on the ground and greeted him with a smile

"Huh, oh, right, this boss." Theseus quickly stood up

In front of him was an old man, he wore an all-black suit along with a black hat, but something seemed off about them, overall he seemed to blend in with the background perfectly, he had a small white beard and moustache and spoke a little raspy yet sweet.

"Oh you must be Theseus, I can see Kancer took care of you then, come here boy, don't be scared."

He slowly walked forward with his guard up, until he was face to face with him.

"You seem so young and full of potential, has anyone ever called you amazing? Because you sure are young one."

"I mean, not really but-"

The man put his hand out over Theseus head, Theseus instantly reacted by going into a boxing stance ready for any attack, just to receive a simple head pat.

"Haha do not fret child, I won't hurt you, here, what's your dream kid? , What do you want in life?"

"Well, I'm sort of struggling on it."

"What? Why's that."

"It's sort of complicated, what I truly want seems, pretty hard really, and I'm doubting myself a bit."

"But, you're human."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Oh you haven't heard the tales?"

"The bedtime stories, about a Human Hero saving tons of people in the world? Or about Excalibur and King Arthur?"

"Well I guess but, what about them."

"They're real, boy, people may think of Humans as disgraceful and inferior but, whether they like it or not, out of everyone only us Humans can truly realise whatever dreams we want." The old man levels with Theseus and takes his hat off whilst getting on one knee.

"Trust me when I say this, you are special, you can do whatever your heart desires, and the sooner you help me, the sooner I'll help you."

"I, well, Uhm, I want to... I want to know all the secrets of this world! I want to explore everything! All that there is! How all these races came to be and the entirety of it!."

"Haha that's a great answer my boy, well here, I'll give you my card, call me whenever you want to join our organisation, I assure you I will help you achieve whatever you want, we even have one of the most prestigious libraries, but, you will have to do some jobs for me."

"I will, greatly keep it into consideration."

"Good on you, I won't force you, but do whatever your heart desires, there is nothing in this world that can stop a human's heart, always remember that young one."

The old man puts his hat back on and starts walking in the opposite direction, Theseus seems confused and starts to slowly believe in his idealistic dreams, he quickly glances at the old man, and as he walks away he snaps his fingers and glares at Theseus before becoming completely invisible to the naked eye.

"So then Theseus, did the boss convince you?"

"I'm, still trying to take everything in." Kancer walks closer to Theseus hugging his arm.

"Think about it Theseus! We could work together! nd that way I wont have to hunt you down or anything, although I'd love to and all, I'd rather a nice warm living Theseus than a dead cold one."

"Is this supposed to be threatening? Or flirtatious?"

"Why not both? You know I love your blood."

"Listen alright let me just talk with my parents first, and if anything I'll call you."

"Hmm, fine, just say my name, Kancer, I'm always watching you anyways."

"You're always what?"

"See ya!"

Kancer quickly runs away and hides.

"Ugh, this is so much information, I'm not sure what I even want, I'll just go home and sleep this, this is terrible."

"Wait a minute, where even is home anyway, ugh, Kancer, could you please just, tuck me into my bed, you can drug me or whatever."

"Finally what I've been waiting to hear!" Kancer swiftly puts their poison in the same wound as last time, afterwards they send Theseus back home and as they tuck them in their bed they kiss him a goodnight sleep.

With a soft tone, "You really are special Theseus, just you wait, you'll be mine and only mine, I may not be human but I'll make sure you're mine."

They leave quickly without making any sound and sleep in an area near the house.

Theseus has a peculiar dream, within it he sees the vast possibilities the earth could have, magic, more powers, maybe even more unheard races, secret ruins, artefacts unheard of, and dungeons, this all excites him more and more until he eventually wakes up.

"Dreams are always nice, though reality isn't sometimes, why do I have to make such tough choices when I'm only fucking sixteen."

After some time he gets up from his bed, he checks his phone to see only more notifications and becomes uneasy.

"Theseus! Breakfast is ready!"

"Coming!"

Before he goes downstairs his father approaches him.

"Hey, listen, I know you're having a tough time and that you have things you want to do, I'm just, I'm sorry you're stuck in this circumstance, I haven't told you yet but, once you become a Second Wind user there's no real going back, not only that but, Second Wind users attract each other, sort of like gravity or magnets, no matter where you go realistically you will most likely bump into one, but whatever you do just, don't do anything too stupid ok?"

Theseus is simply shocked by hearing this.

"You're fucking kidding me, you're telling me either way if I do stick with my Mom? I'M GOING TO HAVE TO KEEP ON FIGHTING EITHER WAY? I'VE BEEN BARELY SURVIVING AS IT IS ALREADY, ugh, I've made up my mind at this point I'm just, I'm just going to go."

He goes downstairs and confronts his Mother.

"Listen Mom, I, I love you a lot ok but, there's something I must do, I need to go out and explore this world, I just can't sit still knowing there's more stuff out there I don't even know of."

"Theseus, be a good kid and sit down and eat, your food will get cold."

"I'm not joking around Mom, I'm being serious." His father starts to go downstairs.

"My boy please just, think about this, who cares what's out there y'know, just focus on your studies and you'll live a good life."

"Dad what's the point of studying if every second I'm out there some random guy could turn me into slush or liquefy me!"

"There's no reason to raise your tone with me young man! Go back to your room!"

"I think it's better for all of us if I just leave." Theseus begins to walk towards the door

"No you don't!" His dad starts to grapple him and stop him in his path.

"Just let me live my life!" Theseus attempts to struggle against his dad but doesn't want to hurt him

"You can live it here just fine!"

"Stop fighting you two! You're only making things worse!" His mother cries out only for his father to push him to the ground.

"What's the point of doing all this! Is this what you really want!"

"The point is that this is the way I want to live my life so let me do what I want!" He attempts to push his father off of him but is unable to.

"Theseus, you are the best thing to ever happen to me I'm not going to let you go this easily."

"Right, well learning about this world and getting these powers were the best thing to happen to me." He struggles with all his might to leave and get out until he finally yells out.

"Kancer! Come!"

"Cancer?" Kancer breaks in through the door and quickly snatches Theseus kicking his father out of the way, surprisingly wearing her mask and not speaking, she puts him on her back and quickly runs away.

"Theseus come back here! We're not done yet!." His father pleads with his hand out just wishing he could grab him and bring him back.

In a couple of minutes, they end up in a safe place.