Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
They had been talking about Vers, Slaine answering some odd questions Inaho had about how the system worked up there. The war was over, but there were still issues with the Versian nobles here and there- some acted as if they were entitled to everything Earth had to offer.
Inaho supposed it was just a case of the well-to-do not knowing any better.
Slaine laughed, seated at a table outside in the gardens.
"Vers isn't Oleanna." He said. His voice was a lovely low tone as he sang a short tune, "A beggar here, a Count out there, with riches in full measure!"
He then continued in a normal speaking voice, "There was no wheat to harvest itself into sacks, or salmon to hop into your kettle, put the cover on, and cook for you."
Inaho's expression didn't change, but he was confused. He wished there was a way to covertly search the term on his phone without Slaine seeing him do it. Slaine's expression -a light smile and playful eyes- made Inaho wonder if he had been telling a joke.
But then the expression shifted, and Slaine's eyes took on a faraway look, staring at nothing. It reminded Inaho of old war documentaries with descriptions of a thousand-yard-stare. He wondered if he himself ever had such an expression since the war ended.
Inaho cleared his throat, deciding to just go for it. "What's Oleanna?"
He felt like Slaine might tease or make fun of him, as Slaine seemed ever more eager to do, but his expression softened again.
"Sorry- It's a Norwegian song poking fun at a man who attempted to start a utopia in America. He was swindled, and he disappointed people, so they made fun of him. Like, of course there's not some paradise you can just buy. A sort of, too-good-to-be-true lesson."
CHAPTER 1
Inaho walked down the stone corridor, carrying in his bag quite the precious load.
It was Summer now, and it was so hot outside that Inaho had ditched his usual long sleeves, instead wearing short sleeves. It had already earned him compliments from at least half the staff he passed. He didn't think his bare forearms were anything spectacular, so he figured it must be simply that they weren't used to seeing him like that- it was only a novelty.
Inaho was even thankful for the cold stone walls in the rehabilitation facility. It was much cooler inside than outside, for sure.
The guard up ahead opened the door for him.
Slaine was already seated at the table, swirling the liquid in a teacup. Likely due to boredom, waiting for Inaho.
It had been a long time since Slaine had been required to wear handcuffs- at first it was because they viewed him as a possible threat. Inaho wouldn't admit that he was at least a little glad in those first few meetings they had. Then, when it was obvious that Slaine wasn't homicidal or violent, but perhaps was more self-destructive, the handcuffs became unnecessary. He was then simply under a careful watch.
That had been many months ago, and now Slaine's mood had greatly improved.
When Inaho entered and saw Slaine, he was glad to note he seemed to be in a particularly pleasant mood today.
The room they were meeting in today was a recreational room, with large windows and a bunch of shelves full of activities. With the natural lighting, the table and chairs made of a homey wood, and even a small couch in the corner to recline in, the atmosphere of the room was quite relaxed.
Slaine eyed him when he entered, and stared at the briefcase-bag tucked under his arm. In fact, his head popped up, reminding Inaho somewhat of a curious dog.
Slaine reminded him of a dog a lot actually, and he wondered if he should come up with a new nickname for him.
"What's all that?" Slaine asked, setting his cup aside.
Inaho seated himself across from Slaine and set the bag on the table between them. He didn't say anything as he opened it up and pulled out a single sheet of paper.
"A baby." Inaho said, sliding it towards him.
Slaine's eyes absolutely lit up with curiosity, and he snatched up the photo eagerly. The photo wasn't very good quality, but it was enough to get the point across.
"Yours?" Slaine asked with an excited grin.
Inaho found it rather... Cute to think Slaine would be so interested in his child.
"No." Inaho replied. He pulled out some other papers -forms- but kept those to himself for now.
"Aw, babysitting?" Slaine said. "What, does the military not pay you well enough, Orange? How sad." He teased.
Slaine was in such a good mood today, that Inaho worried telling him about the situation would ruin it- ruin everything.
There was still something... Unpredictable about Slaine, something about him that always perplexed Inaho. Slaine would be cool and calculating, and Inaho would wonder if Slaine was smarter than him, running circles around him- but then Slaine would overreact to something, and wear his heart on his sleeve, and it was like Inaho could read every card in his hand. It confused Inaho to no end, and he was sure he would never fully figure Slaine Troyard out.
At least he seems to like kids, so that's a good start. Inaho thought. Still, he asked,
"Do you like kids?"
"Sure." Slaine replied immediately. "Technically, I would argue we are still children ourselves."
"Did you ever think about having kids?"
Slaine hummed as he thought about it. "I watched a lot of old movies as a kid, and listened to musicals, so I had planned out a whole 50s-style dream life." He shook his head and rolled his eyes a bit.
"But. Life has a way of throwing a wrench in plans like that."
"Wrench, such as?"
Slaine gave him a look, and Inaho got the feeling he was editing what he wanted to say.
"The biggest one being, my father ever getting the opportunity to move to Vers, I suppose." Slaine said in a gentle tone, and waved a hand.
"Enough of that though. Tell me more about your gig. What's the child's name?"
"He doesn't have one."
"Oh." Slaine sat back against his chair. "Thennnn, he's an orphan, I take it?"
"No." Inaho's eye narrowed and his voice took on a serious tone. "His situation is complicated- but the main point is that his mother is in a position where she can't keep him, for either of their safety's sake, in addition to other things. There's been concerns expressed as to the child's safety, in particular. Which, is how he came to be one of my cases."
Slaine frowned. "And the father?"
"Complicated. Unavailable at the moment."
"What a shame."
Inaho sighed impatiently. "I'm not good at beating around the bush like this, so let me just come right out and say it."
Slaine blinked at him, caught off guard. "Alright?"
"Were you aware of your genetic material being stored?"
"What do you mean? Like, the blood tests?"
Inaho shuffled through the papers in front of him, and slid a stack across to Slaine.
"There were Versian scientists running DNA experiments."
"Project Ares. Subject A-531-R-0..." Slaine read aloud.
"What is this-" He muttered to himself, brows knitting together as he quickly skimmed through the stack.
The report went over top secret experiments, blood and DNA stolen, pushing science to its limits- using Aldnoah.
"Can you understand it?" Inaho asked, as the report was a scientist's report, written in a very formal and technical way.
Slaine paid him no mind, and just kept reading. His eyes darted across the page. Then, he abruptly took up the photo again.
"He's a clone." Slaine said in a whisper.
"Not exactly." Inaho laced his fingers together. "Rather than create an exact replica, it seems they were interested in creating entirely new life."
Slaine shot him a glare. "Calling what he has parents is quite a stretch, Orange!"
"Considering the kid is made up of two people's genetic material, I don't see the issue with considering you and Princess Lemrina as his parents."
Slaine sighed. "And she knows?"
"She's the one who discovered it- she and Seylum did."
Slaine quirked a brow. "And they entrusted this specifically to you?"
He nodded. "They did."
Slaine banged a fist on the table. "How long have you kept this from me?!"
"I didn't know until recently either!" Inaho argued, before relaxing with a huff. He always felt so in control- until it came to Slaine Troyard that is.
Slaine fixed him with a hard stare. "Get me out of this place." He said. "I will not waste away in here in some eternal rehabilitation," He said in a mocking tone. "-while I have a child growing up out of my sight!"
"Oh, now he's your kid though?" Inaho teased. "Of course I can ensure someone takes him in and-"
"Absolutely not." Slaine said in a perfectly level voice, despite how furious he was at the notion.
"I knew children in foster homes as a kid, and if I can keep this child out of one, I will do so. I am perfectly willing and able to take care of him!"
"I understand what you mean, but it's difficult to suddenly-"
"MAKE it happen. Come on-" He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're Earth's savior, for crying out loud! You above all other should have a reason to want me locked up forever, so surely they'd listen to you if you said I deserved to leave."
"Still-"
"I'm well enough! You know this. The threat was never is he mentally unstable, or, will he kill someone? It was always will he off himself? And we're well past even that being an issue."
Inaho opened his mouth but Slaine already cut him off again.
"Please, Inaho." He said gently, imploringly. "I don't want him to grow up in some strange place. I don't want to be a stranger to him. Every child should have at least one parent."
Inaho looked away from his pleading eyes, and in that moment, promised himself he would never tell anyone just how much that statement affected him. How biased it made him, immediately.
How it made him think of his own parents, for the first time since he was very young. Making him wonder, just what kind of parents they would have been to him.
Inaho had never known his parents, and Yuki hardly remembered either of them anymore. With no stories, no pictures, no one who used to know them... Inhao's parents were strangers to him. And he'd never had foster parents or anything either. The concept of a 'parent' was practically foreign to him.
"I'll see what I can do." Inaho said finally, fully resolved.
Slaine reached out and, to Inaho's surprise, grabbed his wrist.
"Please."
"By which I meant, I'll make it happen."
Slaine's face lit up, and Inaho knew he'd never forget it. How could he, when it was the happiest he had ever seen Slaine?
"Thank you."
Inaho nodded. "In the meantime, while I work on it, you should come up with a name for the proper birth certificate."
"Lemrina didn't say anything in that regard?"
"No. She didn't seem particularly attached, perhaps knowing she had to send him off anyway. Or perhaps, like you said earlier, she considered him somewhat of a clone."
The way Inaho came to collect Slaine personally, sans guards, in the middle of the night, made Slaine wonder if Inaho was in fact sneaking him out. But he walked so sure through the halls.... Though they also never ran into any people.
Where are the guards...?
Inaho gave off an air like nothing was wrong or suspicious- he wasn't looking around corners or telling Slaine to be quiet anyway...
The two made it outside easily, where a car was waiting. The headlights were bright in their faces- Slaine winced and squeezed one eye shut, the lights stinging.
Inaho's calm demeanor assured Slaine this car meeting them was part of the plan, and not them getting 'caught'.
Inaho instructed him to get in the backseat, while Inaho himself opened the passenger-side door. Once they had both pulled themselves up and into the vehicle, the car pulled out.
Inaho leaned over the seat. "There's a bag there with a change of clothes. I suggest putting them on right now."
Now Slaine was about 85 percent sure Inaho had just busted him out.
...Not that he was complaining.
Slaine began undressing in the backseat, while listening to the conversation taking place in the front seat.
"Thanks, Calm. I owe you one." Inaho said.
"Dude, are you kidding? This is exactly my kind of excitement. I feel like I'm in a drama series!"
Slaine snorted, and Inaho sighed.
Then Inaho glanced over his shoulder at Slaine, who caught his eye and shot him a look.
"Can I help you?" Slaine asked. He had needed to arch his back and stretch out weird in the backseat to finishing pulling on the pants he had been given. He had just finished zipping and buttoning them. From what Slaine could tell every time they passed under a streetlight, they were brown and had cargo-style pockets.
"....You're not done yet?"
"Bite me!" He said, throwing the light blue shirt he had just taken off at Inaho's face. Inaho caught it easily enough, and dropped it into the floorboards for now.
"I'm not exactly well trained on how to change in a car! And stop staring!"
"I'm not." He insisted, turning back around to give Slaine his privacy.
Calm chuckled, and Inaho glared at him for finding humor in it.
"I wasn't staring." Inaho said to his friend.
"Okay." Calm said, not sounding like he believed him one bit.
"It's okay, Orange." Slaine said in a kind voice. "You're a teenage boy, so I can't blame you for getting distracted by a man's fine figure."
Calm burst out laughing.
Inaho shot Slaine a harsh glare from the corner of his eye. "I was not staring!" He insisted for the last time.
Slaine then leaned forward between the two seats, and gave Inaho a wolfish smile.
"I'm dressed, Orange, so you can stare at my boring old face without any shame again."
Inaho sighed, but did turn to face him. "There's a soft leather briefcase behind your seat, in the trunk. Inside are any important documents you'll need."
Slaine leaned back and reached over, feeling around for it. When he found it, he pulled it over the seat and into his lap. He turned the lights on above him, and looked to see what was inside.
Birth certificates (one each for Slaine and the child), driver's license, passport, and a paper with bank account details. A large amount had already been deposited within.
"Kaizuka..."
"I didn't give you that much money, just FYI. When I went looking into things, turns out your father still had one open somehow, and when he died, his life insurance policy deposited to that account, which your name was also on. We took possession of it and deposited it into that account there."
Slaine remembered the bank account, vaguely. He was only supposed to use the bank card his father gave him for emergencies, and because he had never really gotten in one, had ended up content with whatever allowance his father gave him instead.
But he could've sworn one needed to apply for life insurance to be payed out, no? Perhaps Kaizuka had done something he wasn't fessing up to.
Or a clerical error?
Inaho clicked a pen and handed it to him.
"Did you come up with a name? I need to take a picture so I can process it and have a copy in my records, just in case."
Slaine took the pen, and set the birth certificate on top of the briefcase, so he could have something somewhat solid to write on.
"His name is Aveiro."
The drive was hours. Slaine had fallen asleep at some point, stretched out in his seat, feet just tucking under Inaho's seat, his head against the window.
No seat-belt though.
"Maybe he's still too self-destructive..." Inaho muttered.
"Relax. Once he realizes he has a responsibility, he'll shape up."
"Hm."
"That, or he'll kill himself the first chance he gets."
"That's not what I worry about. I worry that he'll wait, and he'll do it when we least expect it. When we've begun to trust him. When we stop checking up on him."
"Don't be so paranoid. Have a little faith in the guy, Inaho."
"I'm trying. He just doesn't have a very good track record so far."
Calm pursed his lips, and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
"Do you really think this is a good idea? In general, I mean."
"What?"
"You know... With him being... Him. You really don't think he'll do something, like start the war back up?"
"No. I have that much faith in him at least. He's told me bits and pieces by now, and I don't think he wanted to fight in the first place. He just didn't see any alternatives. The war's over now, so I don't see why we can't be cordial."
"I guess so." Calm smiled a little. "Do you think you'll ever be friends?"
Inaho leaned his chin on his hand, staring at the dark passing scenery through the windshield. There were hardly any more street lamps way out here.
"It would be nice, wouldn't it? Maybe one day, we can be."
Slaine feigned sleep for just a little longer.
They arrived at the intended location, the darkness of the new-moon night shielding them from anyone too nosy. A simple single father and his new son moving in with a military car for transport would be too suspicious in broad daylight.
Actually it's weird at night too. Slaine thought, before getting out the car.
He followed Inaho and Calm through a small gate in the front yard's fence. The grass was overgrown, but cut in the middle as a sort of path. Inaho fumbled with the front door for a bit, not having any light to see the lock by.
It was so dark, Slaine had no idea where the were, or what the surroundings looked like. They were somewhere in the countryside, that was all Slaine could tell.
Key in lock, door opened, all light flicked to on, and setting foot inside the house... It finally felt they had stopped escaping.
"This is yours." Inaho handed Slaine the key.
Calm grinned and put his hands on his hips. "The place has already been decked out, but of course feel free to make it your own."
Slaine nodded.
Calm and Inaho showed Slaine through the house. The floorboards creaked where they stepped, and the walls could use a fresh coat of paint, but Slaine didn't care about any of that. There was a kitchen, there was a bathroom, and there were two bedrooms. Slaine didn't need anything more than that.
"Aveiro is being transported here discretely as well. Should be no more than 2 hours." Inaho said as they walked back to the living room area.
"There's a backyard too." Calm pointed out, pointing to a door.
Slaine went to check it out, this time with Calm and Inaho trailing him. It was a thick wooden door, and a screen door too, that required a strong push to open.
The backyard had a working porch light, though most of the light was still swallowed up by the thick darkness outside.
"And just so you're aware, the front and backyards are connected." Inaho said, pointing towards the side of the house, where one of the living room windows looked out.
"But only on this side."
It was wide enough so one could drive a car up, Slaine supposed, but only barely.
Slaine trailed his fingers over the top of the wooden fence, about chest height on him.
"A white picket fence and all..." He said softly.
"It's not a perfect house. It could stand to be repainted, and the wood is old, but it's not going to fall apart."
Slaine shook his head. "It's perfect. Thank you."
Calm yawned. "Well that's that then, right? Inaho, you wanna crash at my place for the night?"
Inaho nodded, and Calm headed back inside. Inaho hung back for a moment.
"With that money, you don't need to work to support yourselves, at least for a long time. However, if it's something you'd like to do, we can talk about it next time. For now, it's enough that you get settled in. Within that briefcase is also a map of the area, and there's a bike in the shed over there."
Slain looked where Inaho indicated, but couldn't really make it out in the darkness.
"I don't know if you know how to ride one however. In any case-"
"Hey, Inaho?" Slaine cut him off, voice soft, a gentle smile on his face.
"You've done enough. Thank you, again. But I think I got it from here. Go," He jerked his chin. "Get some rest."
Inaho stared at him for just a second longer. "Alright." He turned and the two went back inside.
Slaine walked with him to the front door, which Calm had already left through.
Inaho turned on the doorstep to face Slaine once more, and held out his hand. Slaine took it, and the two shook hands.
"Good luck."
"I think I can handle it." Slaine grinned.
"There's a house phone in the living room, and a paper with my number, in case you need anything."
Slaine pulled his hand from the shake and shoved Inaho further outside.
"I got it!" He said, sounding irritated- though he still had a smile on his face.
"You worry too much! Go home!"
"Good night!" Calm called out from the driver's seat of the car, waving a hand out the window.
Slaine waved back.
"Good night, Slaine." Inaho said to him as well.
"Good night, Inaho."
Slaine closed the door.
Slaine was getting himself acquainted with the house- checking out the bedroom (the bedding was all fresh and clean, and the other room was already outfitted as a nursery) and the kitchen (some basic food had been stocked, as well as baby food), when a car pulled up.
He heard it before he saw the lights shine on the windows behind the curtains- the rumble and the crunchy sound of tires on dirt.
Slaine stood on the other side of the front door, poised and waiting to open it when they would knock.
Something inside him was pounding- his heart, he supposed.
Later, if asked to recall what seeing Aveiro for the first time was like, Slaine wouldn't be able to say exactly. One moment he was standing behind the door, waiting to see him. Then, next thing he knew, he was standing in his living room with a sleeping baby, still in his car-seat.
Gingerly, he set the car-seat down. Then he sunk to his knees, hands on either side of the carrier.
Truth be told, all babies looked the same to Slaine. But he searched that face for remnants of him, remnants of Lemrina, and committed every feature to memory.
You may be my copy, but...
"...I will make sure our lives are nothing alike." He whispered. "You will be happy, and free, Aveiro." He promised.