Threads of the Soul

Chapter 446 - 446: A Not Date

Alisha laughed softly at Seth's comment as both of their eyes drifted to Titus. Each wanting to know his answers to different reasons. As for the man himself, his face had turned a funny shade of midnight purple, like obsidian glistening in the light, before he simply slapped Seth's hand a few times.They laughed again at his lack of an answer that told all, before finally breaking the handshake. The ice built up slowly started to melt away as soon as he released her hand and stepped away.

"Well, you kids have fun then. I wouldn't want to interrupt your 'not a date' date, haha. I'll be on my way, just promise not to get up to too much trouble."

Seth said with a sly smile as he stepped away. He dismissed his forging tools as he strolled over to the door without much hurry, much to the amusement of Alisha and the embarrassment of Titus. By the time Seth made it to the door, the boy had his hands pressed firmly against his face, doing his very best to hold in his embarrassment and rage.

When he reached the doorway, he intentionally lingered and asked,

"Do you want the door open or... closed? You know what, open is best. You know, just in case you get any funny ideas."

Titus let out a grumbling groan, burying his face in his hands more while Alisha pressed her hand to her mouth, holding in her giggles.

When Seth finally ducked out of the room, Titus stood up straight and let out a sigh of relief. However, just a moment later.

"Remember kids! Don't do anything I wouldn't do, and always wear protection!"

"WILL YOU JUST LEAVE!"

Titus finally exploded, storming over to the door that Seth was once more poking his head through. He shoved his Father out, while Seth was busy trying to get more classic father lines out, before finally slamming the door behind him and locking it firmly.

Banging his head lightly against the door, Titus let out an exhausted sigh.

"I like your friend. He's nice, and It's sweet that he cares about you that much." Alisha said with a gentle tone, running her hand over Titus' forge as she curiously inspected it.

"It's funny though, He kinda acts like your dad."

Titus glanced over his shoulder, smiling at her nervously.

"Ah, haha... Yeah. Funny. He's just kidding around though."

"Well duh, you're too talented to be his son. Plus, you know, your ages. So, gonna tell me all about this? You promised to tell me before we went out for some dinner, remember?"

Titus smiled wider, straightening up and puffing out his chest as he strolled over to his forge.

"Of course I remember, now... Where should I begin?"

Titus led his friend, who was definitely not his date, throughout his forge. Telling her all about the different equipment within and showing off some of his most wonderful creations. Simply because she was a fellow forger who would be interested in such things, and definitely not because he was trying to impress her or something.

That would just be ridiculous. Although... He guessed it wouldn't hurt if she was impressed anyways. No harm in it, right?

***

Seth hummed happily to himself as he strolled through the corridors of the not-so-secret secret facility. It was a place that had once not allowed anyone to even know of its existence, now people were bringing their dates here.

He could be mad at that, but he was too busy being chuffed with himself over fulfilling the most important dad duty of all. Embarrassing your child in front of their date. It was an age old tradition, and he finally understood why so many of them did it.

Because it was insanely fun!

It was just a shame that there was no new slang in the world for him to completely ruin and use incorrectly in front of the kids to make them feel the ultimate pain. Well... Maybe there was new slang and he was just too old to know about it.

Hmm, perhaps he would need to do some investigating into the youth of today's society.

As he was strolling down the corridor, wondering which of his children he should embarrass next and in what ways, Seth realised that they were rather empty and silent. More than usual, that is. Although the facility was far too big for its previous staff to fill, he had sent more staff into it over the last year.

So where was everyone? He poked his head into a few labs and workshops, finding them completely empty. Not even Graham was in the training room.

He eventually found Zero sitting in his office, idly filling out paper work. At least that's what it looked like he was doing, but Seth was convinced that he was just circling and scribbling on random papers to look busy.

Knocking on the door gently, Seth leaned on the doorframe casually as he asked,

"Hey Old man, Where is everyone? Did I miss a rapture or something?"

Zero ignored him for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. Placing down his pen, he raised his head and bridged his fingers infront of him in a very professional, and definitely practiced, manner.

"I gave them some time off. They have worked hard enough and devoted enough of their lives to this place. They have all earned some shore leave. When I heard some of them talking about this tournament, I thought that there was no better time."

Seth frowned, trying to recall the details of the tournament, he only really knew that Titus was partaking in it and that was because he had heard it from someone else. Corvus had briefly mentioned it to him in one of their scheduled catch up meetings, which they held within their soul meeting room, but he didn't think much of it.

So... the show boat had turned his little tournament into a big event, huh? That was totally like him. Maybe it was something to do with the splitting process, or maybe it was just an after effect of them living different lives, but he felt the differences between them growing.

Scar was always so grumpy and serious, Corvus was pompous and always loved the attention on him. But he was happy to blend into the background. Surprisingly it was fun to be boring old Seth, the one armed wonder.

"The tournament, huh..." Seth muttered softly, "You know what, I might take some shore leave myself then, see what all the fuss is about. I know some people have been involved in it, but I didn't think it was such a big deal that even you would know about it.

Speaking of, if everyone is there... Why aren't you?"

"Humph, Someone has to keep this place running in their absence. Despite what you might think, we still do some important work here."

Seth nodded softly, feigning interest as he slowly walked over to Zero's desk and glanced down at the papers he was working on. The man quickly slapped his hand over them and shuffled them out of sight, but not before Seth caught sight of a few very nice anime girls having been doodled on otherwise blank pages.

"Important work, huh... Sure, whatever you say."

Smoke curled off of Zero's head as he tried to contain his anger. Ever since his mutation, he had turned into quite the hot head. Both in attitude, and literally. He already had a bit of a grumpy side, but now he could erupt like a volcano if he got too mad.

Seriously, there was smoke and lava. All of it. He was an actual volcano. That didn't stop Seth from teasing him though.

Laughing softly, Seth stepped away and caught himself on the doorframe. Putting a more serious expression on his face, he glanced over his shoulder at Zero.

"Seriously though, you talk about what these people have devoted. But how much have you given to this facility? How long has it been since you've gone outside these walls? How long since you had a real life?

As some people I know would say, sometimes you gotta step outside and touch some grass every now and then."

Zero stared at the door as Seth finally left, but he didn't move for a few seconds. Instead he just stared at the spot the man had occupied, while his mind wandered and his expression faltered. The anger faded away, being replaced by an exhausted morose that dragged down his eyes and smile like an impossible weight.

He leaned back in his chair, took a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the drawer at the bottom of his desk. Opening it slowly, he gazed inside with a sad smile and started to look through its contents. Spending most of his time gazing at a very old black and white photograph of a young couple.

After perhaps an hour of simply sifting through nostalgia, Zero sighed again and slowly placed the items back into the drawer, taking the utmost care not to tarnish any one of them. He closed the drawer, locked it tight and placed the keys in his pocket.

He stood from his chair, straightened his suit and strode out of the door with measured steps.