Chapter Text
“You kidnapped a child???” Per yelled, causing Jår to wince.
“Actually, we kidnapped 3 children.” He held up the two small sleeping kids he was holding, Kír holding up the third. “It’s not like they’ll be missed. This one,” Kír held up the one he was holding, “is an orphan, and the other two are runaways.” He defended, and Per let out a long, drawn out sigh.
“Onahh?” He turned to the final Lilgaen in the ship, who shrugged. “If no one’ll miss them, we can keep them. Haven’t you always wanted kids?” Onahh ran his fingers through his white hair, and Jår grinned. “Yeah! Now you have kids!” He yelled, and immediately closed his mouth when the blond in his arms began to stir.
“Oops.” He whispered, and Kír rolled his eyes. “What we’re saying is, now we have children we can raise as our own. Like you wanted. No one loses in this situation. Right, Mother?” The bluenette addressed the ship. “You are quite right, Kír. Would you like me to start the conversion process from [Human] to [Lilgaen]?” The AI spoke, and Per groaned. “Not yet, Mother. Thank you.” He spoke to the ship before pointing an accusatory finger at Jår and Kír.
“You two will explain exactly how you came across these three human children, and not leave anything out. Got it?” The normally quiet redhead snapped, and Jår nodded. “Yes sir. Can we put down the kids though? They’re kinda heavy for being four yövals old.” He complained, and Mother floated three beds out of their dorm out to the living area. “Thanks Mother!” Jår smiled up at the ceiling, and Mother hummed in acknowledgment.
The merc duo set down the children they’d been holding, then went to sit with their companions. Onahh had moved to sit closer to Per, and Per looked almost murderous. “Explain. Now.” He pointed at Kír, who had just sat down. “Well, we found mine first.”
Kír looked up as he heard faint crying from nearby. After a few moments, he looked back down at his locator, assuming a human would deal with it. But after minutes of persistent crying, he shot Jår a message warning him he was going to change locations to investigate a sound. Two roofs down, he watched Jår check his locator, then look up and give him two thumbs up.
With the acknowledgement from his teammate, he jumped down to the source of the crying, making sure his human disguise was still on. The source was a very small child in an alleyway, hugging a very fluffy looking dog. He frowned. Where were this child’s parents? After taking a moment to assess the situation and noting that humans would occasionally look over, see how dirty the child was, then look away, Kír decided to approach.
“Hello there, child. Why are you alone?” He asked, crouching down to be at the child’s line of sight. The small blue haired child looked up from his dog’s fur, still crying, though his sobs had decreased in his confusion. “I- My parents died… And my sis… I killed them…” He mumbled, before breaking out into louder sobs. “It’s my stupid quirk!!” He yelled, and it spooked a few onlookers into walking away rapidly. Cowards. It was simply a distressed human child.
“Was it accidental? It could not have been your fault, you seem to be only four yö-years old.” He tried to calm the small child, noting the fact that he kept both pinkies pointed up and away from the dog. Touch-based. Interesting. He reached into his satchel and pulled out two power canceling mittens they usually used for prisoners or bounties. “May I see your hands, child?” Kír asked, and the child sniffled before complying.
His hands were dry and flaky, and covered in dust. When Kír took one, the child visibly flinched as if he thought something terrible would befall Kír. Though, the Lilgaen was careful to not have all five digits touch him as he gently slid the first mitten over the boy’s hand. He tightened the strap so it wouldn’t fall off, then repeated the motions with the other hand. The child looked at the mittens in confusion, before hesitantly pressing his hand flat against the wall behind him. Nothing happened, and he gasped in surprise. “My quirk is gone! Thank you!” He turned and gave Kír a small smile. Kír nodded in answer, before standing.
“What is your name, child?” He asked. “My-my name’s Tenko… What’s yours?” The boy, now identifiable as Tenko, asked in turn. “I am Kír. It is a version of my name your vocal chords will be able to pronounce.” Kír answered, before his locator beeped. He checked, and Jår had apprehended their bounty and sent them off for the reward.
“You have nowhere to go, would you like to return to my home with me and my partner?” He asked. Tenko seemed to think about it, little eyebrows frowning. “Your partner? Are you a pro-hero?” The child wondered, and Kír tilted his head to think about it. “No, though I do occasionally dabble in heroics.”
That seemed to be enough for Tenko, who stood up and allowed himself to be lifted. With a series of jumps, Kír returned them to his original roof, where Jår now sat, probably waiting for Kír’s return. Once he spotted his partner, his usual bright smile returned to his face, a stark contrast to Kír’s usual deadpanned look. “You’re back! Oh, and you brought a little child! Hi, I’m Jår!” His loud voice seemed to spook Tenko, who squirmed out of Kír’s arms to hide behind him.
“Be quiet, you idiot. You’ll scare him.” He chided, before explaining the situation to his partner. They switched to their native tongue to discuss what to do next, but paused when they heard vague intonations from behind Kír. Tenko was frowning in concentration, trying to mimic them. Adorable. “Oh yeah, we’re keeping him. Let’s go back home, Per will be ecstatic.” Jår gave Tenko a small smile, and Tenko answered in turn. Yeah, this would work out well.
“That explains how you got the white haired one, now explain the redhead and the blond.” Per motioned toward the other two humans in their living space, and Onahh chuckled. “I can’t believe you saw a human child and your first assessment of him was that he has a very fluffy dog.” He commented, and Kír nodded, all seriousness. “It looked very soft.” He agreed, and Onahh snorted. Per glared at them both, and Onahh shrugged. “It’s funny.” He defended himself, and Jår leaned forwards, his usual smile slightly bigger. “Okay so! We actually found the other two on the way home. They were huddled together, and the redhead looked like he was in pain.”
Jår skipped ahead of his friend, a big grin on his face. They had found a child! And they were keeping that child! He looked back at Kír, who was holding a now sleeping Tenko. It was such a cute sight, he held back a squeal. His normally stoic friend had a small smile on his face, and was holding the child with such gentleness, it warmed Jår’s heart. They were taking a shortcut back to the ship, not wanting to stay out too long with the defenseless child. They were easy targets, Tenko making it so Kír could only use one arm in case of an attack. Though that had never stopped him.
Jår still remembered how they met, when Kír managed to take out 3 guards with both arms tied back. That was the day they became best friends and teammates. He sighed dreamily, and turned to look back forwards, when something caught his eye. Blue fire. He lifted two fingers at Kír, a sign he was going to investigate something, and Kír nodded. Jår made his way toward the source of the fire, only two find two kids curled up together, barely conscious.
“Holy-” He made his way closer, kneeling next to them. The redhead seemed spooked, fire burning on the palms of his hands, while the blond simply looked curious. “Who’re you?” He asked, voice raspy. Sounded like he hadn’t had anything to drink in a while. Jår frowned, before reaching into his satchel. The redhead seemed even more defensive at that, and Jår rolled his eyes, but understood. The kid had probably been out in the streets for a while.
“Relax, I’m just getting water. My name’s Jår.” He smiled charmingly, and held out his metal water bottle. “What are your names?” He asked, and the blond took the bottle from his hand. “Keigo.” He answered, before unscrewing the top and downing half the contents of the bottle, before passing it to the redhead. “...Touya.” The redhead muttered, before downing the rest of the water, fire gone from his hands. “Thank you…” He mumbled, holding the bottle back to Jår.
“Course! Do you kids have anywhere to go?” Jår asked, and Touya was back to being on the defensive. Great. “Nowhere that matters.” Touya snapped, and pulled Keigo closer. “My parents don’t really care where I go as long as I don’t snitch.” Keigo added, eyes oddly relaxed while the rest of his body seemed tense. He looked ready to run. Jår frowned, and began to think.
He could see Kír watching him, locator up to his ear. He was listening in. Okay. “If you two have nowhere to stay, why don’tcha come home with me and my partner Kír? We live with two other people and they’re very nice, promise.” Jår put his empty bottle away, before holding out his hand. Keigo took his hand first, squirming out of Touya’s protective grip. He then held his hand out to his friend. “Cmon dummy, they seem trustworthy! Like pro-heroes!” He chirped, and Touya frowned. “Exactly why we shouldn’t trust them.”
Jår snorted. He could understand the sentiment. “I won’t take you back to your parents if you don’t wanna go, relax. I’m no snitch.” He promised, and the boy seemed to relax at that, before standing. “Ok. I’ll go if Keigo goes.” Touya took Keigo’s hand, and the blond also stood. Jår waited until the two seemed relaxed, before standing up and leading Keigo by the hand back to Kír. After a quick recap, the five began to make their way to the ship.
“This is quite unconventional, I must admit, but it is better than our species’ usual method of procreation.” Onahh tapped his chin, before standing and walking toward the boys. “The redhead, Touya, seems to be older than the others. Mother, could you run diagnostics on the boys, please?” He requested. “Of course. Beginning diagnostics.” The ship began to purr as diagnostics ran, and Onahh looked back at Jår and Kír, and Per’s rapidly softening gaze.
“And you two explained what living with us would entail?” Onahh asked. “Yes! We woke Tenko up and explained all of it.” Jår affirmed, and Kír nodded. “The changing of species, return to infancy and rapid regrowth.” He listed, and tilted his head. “Though, one yöval is not quite rapid.” He added as an afterthought. Onahh hummed, and Mother beeped.
“Diagnostics complete. Subject one, Touya. Age, 6 yövals and 4 matrods. Malnourished, third degree burns on various parts of his body. Quirk is primarily fire-based, though he does not seem to present the usual fire resistance humans with fire themed powers have.” She listed, and Per’s fury seemed to have returned, though not directed at any of his shipmates. Instead, he seemed angry at Touya’s parents, who clearly had not protected the young child.
“Mother, is his malnourishment mild? How long do you think he’s been on the streets?” Per asked, voice strained. “Estimated time on streets is a matrod, though his malnourishment seems to be from prior, as well as his burns.” She answered, and his jaw set. “Mo- '' He began, but Onahh placed a hand over his mouth.
“Mother, continue listing diagnostics results.” He requested. “Subject two, Keigo. Age, 4 yövals and 10 matrods. Malnourishment, mild concussion. Quirk is based around his wings. Brain shows signs of telekinetic mutations. Subject three, Tenko. Age, 4 yövals and 2 matrods. No injuries detected. Quirk has disintegrating properties with a 5 point activation, and seems to absorb subject's skin moisture, causing dryness and irritation.” She listed, and Per’s face seemed to be getting redder and redder.
“I’ll kill whoever hurt them.” He mumbled. “I swear it. As a creature of science, I do not condone mindless violence, but by Empress Mel-” He made his way to their dorm, slamming the door behind him in anger. “Well he doesn’t seem very happy.” Jår quipped, and Onahh glanced at the dorm door, then at the still sleeping kids.
“Not at all. But at least we’re the ones in charge of caring for them now. All is well.” The white haired Lilgaen pulled out his own locator. “I’ll run identification on all three, find any living relatives, and you two can bribe or threaten them. Whatever is needed. Meanwhile,” He didn’t look up from his locator as he spoke, scanning the children’s faces with it. “Mother, prepare the conversion process.” He requested. “Starting up [Three] conversion pods for conversion from [Human] to [Lilgaen].” Mother whirred to life, one wall opening to reveal three child sized pods. Perfectly sized for conversion. The three beds floated over to the pods, and gentle claws came down from the ceiling, lifting the humans to place them in the pods.
Meanwhile, Onahh walked over to the doorway, pulling the hood of his coat over his hair, and grabbing his mask from where it hung at the doorway. “I’ll be back, I need to call in some favors. Keep an eye on the children.” He held up his hand as a goodbye, before pulling the sleek mask over his face, obscuring his features. He had to hide, being intergalactically wanted for being a genetic mutation between Lilgaen and an earthly creature. One wrong move, and he’d be dead.
Kír nodded a goodbye, then made his way to the sparring room, while Jår went to grab a snack. All was well in the Mothership, as the four Lilgaen awaited the transformation of their three new children. They would grow up loved, a far cry from their original destinies. The Lilgaen would make sure of it.