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Finally reaching his home, Frank went to quickly take a shower in the middle of the night, and then hoped right back to his bed.
Ruby was allowed to get outside as she was able to get into a pretty small size, but Zhulong was way too big, and Frank considered it weird to have Nezhit in the room, as it could scare his parents if they were to see an enormous pale man standing silently at the front of Frank's bed…
So Zhulong and Nezhit ended resting inside of Frank's shadow, which they did not mind much.
Although Frank could send them to the Monster Pet Nursery, time went on very fast there, and he believed that both Nezhit and Zhulong weren't mentally mature enough to be left alone for so long, as it could impact their mind and growth.
Finally getting to sleep, Frank dived into dreams…
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"So Frank, how was school today?"
A gentle old lady asks a little boy who recently entered her house, he seemed tired and his eyes devoid of light.
"Good…" said the boy, walking upstairs and getting inside of his bedroom.
The boy jumped into his bed, with his face over the pillow.
He began to remember the morning and how boring and repetitive it was.
For sure, most kids at his age would be enjoying school, their life was young and they were constantly discovering new things, if they had friends they could talks for hours and hours, not minding at all the tedious school.
But the boy seemed tired of it.
Not exactly of what was taught, but of everything else.
It was not that there were not people willing to make friends with him.
In fact, a few kids had tried to approach him, and he still remembered and saw his faces today, they were gentle kids, those that you usually do not find where he came from.
But the boy was bored of them, he found that he could not properly speak with them.
He found himself relatively out of place.
If he genuinely wanted to socialize, he needed to fake his reactions and emotions, to sound more childish and immature… like a kid of his age would actually be.
But after a person goes through many hardships, their mind matures faster than their body.
This was what happened to him.
His mind was mature, he found it dull and boring to speak about childish stuff with other kids.
Most of the time, they talked about what toy they liked the most or the recent episode of their favorite cartoon…
But the boy could not understand what was fun about all of that, and he often kept silent, as he simply did not know what to talk about that the kids could find fun or interesting.
So in the end, they ignored him, and he ended up being alone once more.
However, he knew that these kids were good people, better than the ones he once met at his previous school.
He simply stood silent on the school, writing, or reading the book, studying at best.
Due to this, he was known as the class nerd, due to his high grades because he often studied when he had nothing else to do, naturally remembering more about what was taught than the kids that were distracted doing their own things.
However, being known as a nerd was not much, there weren't any bullies in this school, so he isn't particularly annoyed by other envious people.
The school was so good because his grandma had paid for an extremely high prestige school for him to attend, where there weren't any malicious kids raised badly, so there weren't people seeking to annoy his everyday life whenever there wasn't anyone to protect him.
The kid, however, sighed.
"It's so hard to fit in… I wish I did not have to always fake my emotions to make my classmates think that I am also like them… Where can I be myself? …Perhaps I will never be able to be truly myself,"
Although he was barely 5 years of age, the kid was already thinking things that were quite profound.
This was due to the hardships and problems he underwent in his life, his mother has been rehabilitating for a few months now, and although he did not particularly miss her due to his treatment of him, he still seemed to be willing to forgive her and once more met her…
Perhaps, because his mind was always clouded with thoughts like these, he was not able to properly think according to his age.
As the boy sighed, he glanced through the window.
The sun was slowly moving down the horizon, and the night would take over the city in a few minutes.
He glanced at the sky and the natural beauty of a sunset, something that always calmed his mind.
As long as he imagined that he was there, floating in the sky and admiring such splendor, he seemed to find comfort.
His grandmother had already done way too much for him, he simply did not want to annoy her anymore with his stupid personal problems, as he thought of them.
So he simply decided to save them all up inside of his mind, deep within his memories, sealing them away within delusions.
For some reason, he felt as if something within his body was strange.
As the sun went away, he glanced at his hands, as they slowly began to glow with a strange blue, white, and yellow hue.
"This again…" he said.
What was happening to him was not something new, it had been happening for a while now...
Ever since he saw his mother for the last time, these strange sparkles of light would sometimes appear within his hands.
He did not know what they were.
But he found them very reminiscent of the sky of the night, filled with shining stars and the darkness of space.
The boy moved his hands, as they sparkled around.
He sometimes found this fun, as he let his room be completely dark, while he illuminated it with the hue that his hands produced.
He did not exactly know what this was.
He even thought that this might be some kind of trick that his mind was doing to him.
After all, he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia after the incidents with his mother, and amongst the strange illusions that his mind tricked him with, such glows within his hands were one.
He perhaps thought that it was this mental disease coming back, although the strange lights had become less common as he grew older.
The kid sat down on his bed, glancing as the glow of his hands slowly dissipated.
"Maybe I am really insane?" he thought.
And as he sighed, he glanced once more to the window…
And there it was.
He couldn't exactly see its features in detail.
But there was a person, seemingly a man, glancing at him through the window.
The window of his room was several meters above the ground… so it was very strange that a person could someone get up there.
The kid seemed frightened.
Who was this man?
The man's eyes shined brightly with blue and glowing yellow colors, similar to the colors of his hands.
The man observed him calmly, knowing that the kid had noticed him.
"Hello, Frank," he said.
"…Who… are you?" asked the boy.
The man smiled gently, a gentleness that the kid had never seen in anyone else than his grandmother.
"I wanted to see how big you have grown… Maybe, it is a bit selfish of me…" said the man.
"Eh?" asked the kid.
"Ah… Maybe you don't remember my face? Yeah… It has been so much time since then… I'm sorry," said the man.
"Huh? Why are you sorry? Who are you?" asked the kid.
"I am… No, I should not tell you… It would be better if you simply forgave about me," said the man.
"What…? Why?" asked the kid.
"I know you're filled with questions… So many questions… I regret what I did… But it was the only thing I could do to not involve you and your mother in this whole thing… Even if I had to sacrifice being a father for you… I am… truly sorry for everything…" said the man.
"Why? Why are you even sorry… I don't… Wait…"
Then the kid realized that the face of the man vaguely reminded him of someone.
Someone that he has not seen for a long time, since he left him and his mother.
The man's face was filled with sorrow, as even tears began to drop from his beautiful eyes.
"My little Frank… You have grown so big… But… I do not think I will be able to visit you anymore… So for now… let me… see your face a bit… more… Even if you… do not remember me…" the man muttered, almost breaking down in tears, the boy could feel his tremendous sorrow within his face, as even the energy he released slowly covered him.
"…Why are you crying so much? And why… am I crying too?" asked the kid.
"Always remember… that your father loves you… Frank. And your mother as well… All of this was my fault… I have given her what could heal her, but it is up to her to amend for what she did… And for you… Here, have this…" said the man, as he produced a glowing oval crystal, resembling an egg covered in blue and black energies, alongside sparkling yellow lights.
The oval flew towards the boy, gently sitting on the palm of his hands.
"This will one day make you strong… Make sure to use it well, okay? …I cannot let you remember me now… So… Until that day… This is our farewell…" said the man, waving his hand, as the boy suddenly fell into a deep slumber. The oval crystal merged into his body, as the essence it exuded slowly dissipated.
The man gave once more a glance to the boy, as he disappeared out of thin air.
The memories of such events fragmented back into Frank's mind, as his eyes woke up to the sound of his alarm…
However, he could not help but be shrouded in sorrow.
He covered his face, as tears began to drip out of his eyes.
"So that… was it… To think that… the mysterious man… was my father…"
"But why?"
"Why did he do that…?"
"What was the reason behind him disappearing?"
"Couldn't he… explain me a bit more before leaving me forever?"
"That damn… old man…"
"My lord, are you okay?" asked Nezhit.
"Brat, why are you crying? Did you had some nightmare?" asked Hades.
"M-Master! W-Why are you crying?! Are you okay?" asked Orb, even across worlds, the connection with her soul persisted, and she was able to speak with Frank, feeling his sorrowful emotions.
"No… Nothing! It was just a stupid nightmare, that's all… Anyways, I am starving…" said Frank, cleaning the tears off his eyes as he pretended to be fine, his friends relaxed for a bit, although they knew that he was hiding something from them.
Something that he did not want to bother them with…
As Frank walked towards the shower, he remembered the oval crystal which his father has given to him as a gift…
"Just what was that…? Is it… related to my ability?" he wondered.
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