Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Neuro didn't know how to feel about the current situation. Her father, Vedal, had divorced her mother and had remarried to a woman named Cerber. Her sister, Evilyn, had taken an instant liking to her new stepmother. Evilyn had always been daddy’s girl and her mother never really tried to build a connection to her younger sister, but still, she should still be a little more torn up about it!

She was also mad at her father because he moved on from her mother pretty quickly. Her mother didn't get much from the divorce since they had signed a prenup and the courts only gave her a few days of the year for visitation. Neuro didn’t even know why her parents got divorced in the first place, only that her mother had been crying everyday after her father served the papers. Still, her mom kept in touch with Evilyn and Neuro and they had a good time whenever they saw her. 

Her dad was the CEO of VedalAI which was a medium sized tech company, mostly contracted by bigger tech companies to implement their state of the art Artificial Intelligence technology. Through this Vedal met Cerber who worked in sales at one of these companies and became friends.

Cerber, as far as Neuro could tell, was a good person. She treated Neuro and her sister as they were her own children. She even signed them up for singing lessons which Neuro really enjoyed(and so did Evilyn but she would never admit that). Neuro was tired of playing OSU and went out of her room to get a snack. In the living room she saw Cerber braiding her little sister's hair while watching some slice of life anime she didn't bother to remember the name of. Cerber had called out to her, “Neuro-wan, we're going out for pizza when your dad gets here so don’t eat anything.” Cerber said in a cheerful tone. Her mother had introduced her father to Chez d’Onigiri and had taken her multiple times for family outings. It was a reminder that Cerber was not her mother, only her dad’s wife. Still Neuro was hungry and her dad told her to be nice to Cerber and treat her as though she was her mother so she didn't get a snack and attempted to walk back to her room. However Cerber said, “Neuro-wan, come sit with us we'd enjoyed your company!" Her sister chimed in "No we wouldn't, mom is too kind to tell you that though."

Neuro flinched from what her sister said. Evilyn insulting her was normal, she even gave her that nickname 'Evil'. No, what was surprising was Evil calling Cerber 'mom'. It had only been a year since the divorce and 7 months since she married Vedal but here was Evil calling this woman her mom. Their real mother might not have been perfect and she might have loved Vedal more than Neuro and her sister but she was still their mother and she couldn't be replaced by Cerber! 

Cerber chided evil,"Be nice to your sister, I love you both equally okay." She proceeded to give Evil a small kiss on the top of her head. Neuro had been holding onto these feeling for a while but this was cherry on top. Who did Cerber think she was! She couldn't replace their real mother who gave birth to them, saw them through primary school, and made her dad happy. She didn't know what Vedal saw in her or why he decided to divorce THEIR REAL MOTHER! How did Cerber even know she loved them anyway! Her mother had to convince their dad to admit that he actually did love them, so how could Cerber claim to love them when they only know each other for months! Honestly, her dad should be on his knees begging for her mother to take him back. "You're not our real mom!" Neuro yelled at Cerber which shocked Cerber and Evil.

With tears in her eyes Neuro ran away from home and into the woods, the woods her mother showed her when she was little. She made her way to a small stream, about a half an inch in height. Close to it was a dead tree, inside the tree was a box that had a variety of worthless items: acorns, a very smooth stone, a rare bottle cap, and beads. There more of reminder of an earlier time, when her mother and father were still together. Neuro sat alone reminiscing about when she was younger. She thought about when they would go on road trips, when her mom would teach her how to draw, and when Neuro and her sister called her parents gross whenever they kissed. Now she only wishes to go back to those days.

A few minutes had pass by when she heard the sound of someone calling out for her, "Neuro! Neuro! Neuro!" It was her father, Vedal. 'How did he even know to find me here' Neuro thought before Vedal spotted her and made his way to her. "Let's go back home, Neuro." he said in soft tone, almost a whisper. Neuro didn't say anything, instead she just hugged her knees. Vedal sat down and told Neuro a story, "You know I told your mother about this place. It was one of our first dates." Neuro didn't respond so Vedal continued talking to his daughter. "I know it's hard for you to deal with this situation, it's hard for all of us, even Evilyn. I want you to know that I will always love and be by your side." Neuro looked up and saw Vedal a concerned expression on his face and she asked, "Dad, why did you divorce mom?" Vedal knew she would ask so he answered, "A lot of reasons, I was only 19 when I had you and married your mother. Neither of us were ready for marriage but neither of us regretted having you two. I tell you the rest when you're older. I still love you and your mother okay? Cerber was there for me when no one else could help me. I don't expect you to love her right now just know that she does love you and will be there for you." Vedal ended his speech a little teary eyed and Neuro got up a dusted her pants off.

Vedal and Neuro walked back home where a concerned Cerber stood in front of the house's entrance. She hugged Neuro and said, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea you felt this way, I never meant to replace your mother. Please let me know what I can do to make you feel better" Neuro felt awful, Cerber had been nothing but kind to her and Neuro had hated her. "No I'm sorry, Cerber." Neuro replied with tears in her eyes and hugged Cerber back. Cerber smiled and said in a warm tone, "Don't worry sweetheart, I'd never hate you, I don't care how long it'll take me for you to love me I'll always love you and your sister." Neuro still didn't know what to feel about her current situation, only that she felt better about it. "Do you want to get pizza now?" Asked Vedal to which Neuro responded with a small nod. Her father called Neuro to the car where the sisters shared a Hawaiian pizza.

(To be continued..?)

Chapter Text

Flashback

Vedal was out drinking again. It had been a week since he had served his now ex-wife the divorce papers. As finishes his drink he thinks about what actions he took in his life that led him to this point.

Vedal was 18 when he met his soon to be wife. At the time he was attending university, double majoring in computer science and business. One day the university set up an event where successful alumni were invited back to speak at the university. Vedal had nothing to do that day so he went out with his friends to attend some of the seminars. His future wife was one of these alumni, she was a successful artist and was relatively well known considering she made art for more niche genres. She was beautiful, her personality enthralled Vedal, and her unique laugh always made him smile. However, Vedal knew better than to just approach someone like her when he was just nobody. When she finished he left for another seminar.

After attending multiple seminars his friends grew tired and left the university. Vedal wasn't tired, he slept early and woke up late, so with nothing better to do he went to a nearby bar. He was about to finish his second drink when someone sat next to him. He turned around and saw her , she just smiled and said, “Can I get some scotch on the rocks for the both.” The bartender nodded and gave us both a glass. Vedal finished his second drink and with the help of the alcohol he decided to be a little forward. With all his courage he introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Vedal, I’m a student at the university you spoke at, I major in computer science and business.” She just smiled and replied, “Wow double major? You must be really smart, I don't know much about computer science except that it takes some intelligence. I would introduce myself but I guess you already know my name don't you?” Vedal nodded and took a sip of some of the top shelf scotch. He couldn't be sure if she was flirting with him, however he didn't need to speculate for very long as she said, “You’re really cute y’know.” She gave him a smile, “Another round of scotch please!” 

A few rounds in and they both started to get inebriated. They both talked about each other’s interests, what kind of food they like, what they would name their kids. You would never be able to tell at first glance but she had a very crude sense of humor, often joking about how she would really like to see Vedal without clothes to see he if he was “a femboy or secretly well built”. By the end of their drinking session she had invited Vedal to her place. Their Uber had taken them to her home when they both realized they were too drunk to drive. It was an apartment in the city but he couldn't make out anything else as he was too drunk to properly focus on the apartment. The only thing he focused on was getting to her bed.

It wasn’t Vedal’s first time. He had a girlfriend in highschool, however he wasn't a kid anymore and this time with her was different. Vedal woke up in a bed that wasn't his with a headache. He looked around and saw a naked woman lying next to him. As his head was starting to clear up he realized that he made a grave error, he forgot to use protection…

Vedal spent a few minutes calming himself down, reassuring himself that getting pregnant after one time was rare and all the other factors to consider. By the time he was calm she had awoken. They spent the rest of their time together just talking and they agreed to start going out. Vedal decided not to attend classes that day.

She was pregnant. It seems that all it took was one night. He did his best to remain calm, afterall it would only upset her if he freaked out at her. Both her parents and his parents pushed for them to get married so that the child would not be born out of wedlock. The wedding was very impromptu and Vedal would need to take classes over the summer to finish his studies as soon as possible. Still, she had enough money to hold them over for at least a few years without both of them working. They would simply need to navigate through this predicament carefully. 

The wedding was nothing grand as it was prepared last minute. At least he was confident they both loved each other. Her mother cried and he wasn't sure why, he just hoped it was for a good reason.

She had changed, no maybe that wasn't the right way to describe it, it was more like the dark parts of her became more pronounced. She had given birth to twins which they named Neuro and Evilyn. By the time the kids had become old enough to start school his company, VedalAI, had started to take off. With the financial situation being taken care of he could only try and help his wife through her mental health situation.

Vedal was tired. He didn't want to see his wife like this, she had given up drawing and just spent most of the day laying in bed. If she wasn't being apathetic she was either in a state of emotional distress or she acted very loving toward him. She also spent less time with the kids, especially Evilyn. He tried what he could and was met with nothing to show for it. If she got worse it would create a bad environment for their kids but if they divorced then it could also impact the kids since they would lack a maternal figure in their life. If she did get better than she could at any point get worse. He had no idea what to do, he didn't want to abandon her but she was someone he couldn’t trust and that was a major problem.

Vedal decided he didn't want to risk it

He didn’t know how many drinks he had, just that he wasn't drunk yet. He was drinking scotch, the same thing that got him in this situation in the first place. No, it was unfair to blame alcohol on his poor decision making. He saw someone sitting next to him, it was Cerber, one of his closest friends. He hadn’t disclosed his situation, not even to her. Cerber looked at her disheveled friend and asked, “Vedal-wan, what's wrong, you look miserable.” Vedal contemplated telling Cerber a lie but he decided to confess what was on his mind, “I'm going through a divorce right now, I served her the papers last week.” Cerber was shocked and asked why. Vedal spilled his guts and talked with Cerber for the rest of the night. Cerber was very understanding and helped him to get back on his feet.

A Few Months Later

During the divorce proceedings Vedal increasingly spent more time with Cerber. She was his anchor during the divorce. He found himself feeling strange around her, something he felt with her …

“That's not fair at all, Vedal-wan. How am i supposed to beat you in a race when you have longer legs.” Cerber was fake pouting which Vedal found extremely cute. “How are you going to make this up to me?” She said, still pouting. Vedal pretended to think for a moment before he leaned for a kiss on the lips. He had been going out with Cerber for 4 months and he was starting to feel better about the situation regarding the divorce. Vedal decided to ask a serious question, “Cerber, do you want to tell my kids about us?” This was something Vedal had on his mind for a while. Cerber would make a great maternal figure for Neuro and Evilyn. The one problem is that he didn't want to see that he was moving on that fast. They had met Cerber before and they both liked her and were close family friends. Cerber laid her head on Vedal lap and closed her eyes, her face showing that she was in deep contemplation. Finally she replied with a simple, “If you think that's best for them then I’d be happy to tell them.”

Maybe it was unfair to his ex-wife that he had fallen in love with another woman so quickly. Vedal still loved her but Cerber had something about her that made him unable to resist.

It was a relatively large wedding and was much larger than the one he had with his ex-wife. Some of his friends came to the wedding. Vedal and his ex-wife’s friend group had mixed so people who were friends with her before Vedal had met them decided not to come to his second wedding which Vedal saw as fair. Both Vedal’s and Cerber’s entire immediate family came. He didn’t really like his mother’s reaction to his divorce and remarriage. His mother was extremely happy about the whole thing, apparently she hated his ex-wife which Vedal felt was unwarranted. Cerber had gotten Neuro and Evilyn dresses for the wedding. Honestly, he was a little shocked at how fast his youngest daughter bonded with Cerber, Neuro was a little more closed off but that's to be expected. 

After the wedding ceremony ended a band that Vedal hired began to perform which signaled the beginning of the party. After a few glasses of wine and dances the celebration came to an end. His friend Miniko drove them home. Once there he and Cerber put the children to bed and went to their own bedroom. Cerber said that she wanted kids and Vedal agreed to it. He wasn't sure about the future going forward but he knew at least that he tried.

And sometimes that's all we can ever do.

Chapter Text

Evil wasn’t sure how she got herself in this situation she got herself in. Her older sister had bet that she wouldn't be able to beat her OSU scores in one week of trying and Evilyn Kayori Vedal wasn’t one to pass up the opportunity to take her sister down a few notches… Unfortunately one week of OSU wasn’t enough to surpass her sister and the penalty for losing the bet was to take care of her little sister, Hera. 

Hera was the child her dad and stepmother had together. She was 2 years old with wavy blonde locks and blue eyes. Despite her small stature she often found herself in precarious situations so her parents decided that one of the twins had to watch over her when they weren't. Evil took her phone and decided to check her school’s group chat, Hera decided that was the perfect time to crawl away from her. Evil looked up from her phone and called out to her sister, “Hey wait don’t you dare crawl away from me! Mom and Dad gave me authority over you!” 

Her mom called her and said that when they picked up Neuro from her friend's house that they would get pizza. Evil had situated Hera on her lap and played a movie that would keep her attention. It’s moments like these that Evil liked to have deep interspections. Something she realized is that she sometimes forgets who her actual biological mother is. She felt bad about it, her mother wasn’t perfect but she didn’t deserve to be forgotten. Still Cerber was also her mom in everything but blood and she loved her little sister like she loved her older one. ‘I think they call this middle child introspection’ Evil thought as Hera shifted around in her lap trying to get more comfortable.

“We’re home” shouted Cerber to which Hera’s reaction was to suddenly try to shimmy out of Evil’s lap. “Hey who said you could leave, you shall face fierce punishment for insolence.” Hera blew Evil a raspberry and demonstrated her impressive mobility skills by maneuvering herself off the couch and walking towards her parents.  

Inside the kitchen she found her sisters, Mom, and Dad surrounding two boxes of pizza. Evil and Neuro loved Hawaiian pizza so they got a separate box for them. Hera, Cerber and Vedal were going to share a vegan pizza. “Don’t eat everything, leave some leftovers for tomorrow, we're going shopping.” Vedal said in his monotone voice. 

They sat down and Vedal asked, “Do you have anything to say before you devour your food?” The two sisters both said in unison, “Thank you, Mom and Dad.”

It was only 7 p.m. but Hera had been sent to bed and her parents were in the living room watching something so Evil and her sister decided to go back to their room. Evil decided to practice at OSU and Neuro decided that it was a good day to illegally stream movies and eat from cookie stash.

She was doing well until she got to the hard level and messed up. “Fuck this shit.” Evil said as she dropped her stylus and started her middle child introspection. She remember her first day of school, her birthday party where her mom made her a villain themed birthday cake, her getting praised for her singing skills at her school’s talent show, trying to scare Neuro with a spider only for her to eat it, and her little sister coming home from the hospital(she also saw her dad engaging in coitus with both her moms which was arguably was more traumatizing than the spider thing). She missed her mom , she played favorites and she wasn’t the favorite but she knows that she still loved her. Evilyn felt bad that she might have loved Cerber more than her biological mother, but she hoped that keeping her mom in her heart and trying her best would be enough. 

Oh she was crying, ‘Shit if my sister sees me like this my reputation will go down the drain’ but she heard sniffles coming from Neuro’s side of the room. “Neuro a-are you crying?” Evil said, trying to hide the quivering in her tone.  Neuro honestly replied, “Yeah, I watched Satantango. A wonderful movie, only 7 and a half hours long. It’s about how big change is necessary and it made me think about the whole divorce and remarriage situation.” Somehow the two sisters had been thinking about the same thing.

Both of them talked about their feelings towards their dad, both their mom, and their half sister. Evilyn and Neuro both had complicated feelings towards their biological mother although their experiences were different. 

Evil was too tired to continue the conversation so she went to bed, dreaming of mothers.

Chapter Text

A screeching alarm awakes the three slumbering bodies in the small apartment bedroom. The twin sisters inside awake. The older one is named Samantha while the younger one is named Evilyn, both 7 years old with chestnut brown hair. Their father has woken up before them and makes them breakfast before heading to school. On the small square table lies the same 3 meals for each of them: eggs, toast, porridge, and a glass of milk. Neither of the twins particularly liked either of these foods but they understood the situation they were in. Money was tight and it wasn't like the girls’ father didn't try. When a box of store brand sugary cereal was on sale he made sure to treat his daughters. Their father came from the balcony to sit with Samantha and Evilyn. People referred to him as Vedal. He was a young looking man who wore a faded buttoned green shirt and his hair was a dark grey. Despite only being 23 Vedal had large dark rings around his eyes and he looked more dead than alive. His kids quickly devoured their breakfast, Evilyn trying to finish faster than her sister almost split some milk on her expensive uniform. “Don’t do that, milk isn't free and what if you split it on your uniform? Do you know how much it costs to clean those?” Evilyn apologized to her father and finished the last of her breakfast, losing the competition to Samantha who had perfected the art of eating hot porridge as fast as possible while not burning her mouth.

Gray skies covered the whole of England as Vedal and his daughters left the “shithole” of his apartment building and drove to the train station so Samantha and Evilyn could get to their very nice and very expensive private school. Sometimes Vedal questioned whether sending his kids to private school was worth the money, even if the scholarship they got covered most of their tuition, but when his kids returned with stories of their day Vedal banished the thought from his mind. Sometimes he even forgets that he’s too young to be a father…

If the apartment was a shithole then Vedal’s job was what can only be described as hell on Earth. It was an office where people who had degrees but still couldn’t get a job went. Checking in, Vedal made his way to his “desk” which were actually cardboard boxes filled with parts that no longer worked. The office was full of engineers whose dreams came here to die, but even then Vedal felt out of place because they were actually engineers who went to college. Vedal on the other hand had self taught himself how to program and basic electrical engineering as a teenager. His dreams were dead long before he set foot in this dingy office. He must have been looking into space again because his coworker, Ellie, tapped him on the shoulder. “I heard from Chirchie that the bossman is making his rounds today. Try not to get caught doing that in front of him.” Vedal nodded and turned on his computer to start the day.

Ellie had only started working here last year but she can already tell that getting out of this place would be no small feat. The market was terrible and everything seemed on the decline. That never stopped her though, she would make her family proud by getting one of those cushy tech jobs she always dreamed of having. Besides, she made a new friend recently. He was even younger than her and despite looking half dead like the rest of his coworkers his eyes still had light in them. Vedal also didn't mind her scarfing a can of beans for lunch, sometimes he even joined her when he was saving up money like he has been doing for the past few weeks. They conversed for a while, talking about what work they were assigned, how their day was, how much they hated their boss, the usual. Ellie decided to spice up the conversation a bit by asking a question. “Hey what if we started our own business together?” Vedal stopped absentmindedly playing with his food to look up at her. “With what money? What would we even sell?” Vedal replied a little aggressively. “Well you’ve been eating beans for lunch since October and it’s almost February. Surely you’ve been saving up for something. Our jobs pay better than most.” He sighed and responded to her question, “The money is for someone else and I can’t afford to not give it to them.” This piqued Ellie’s curiosity, as far she knew Vedal didn’t have any family. “I thought you said you were an orphan?” Vedal nodded and replied “I have twin daughters and I’m sending them to private school. They’re growing girls and they’re starting to outgrow their uniforms. Also their birthdays are coming up soon and I want to make it special since they’re turning 9 this year.” Ellie was flabbergasted and the only word that came out her mouth was a confused “WHAT?” No one had even bothered to pay attention to the sudden outburst. As Ellie was about to ask a follow up question the bell rang marking the end of their lunch break. She had to do what she could do to help her only coworker she considers a friend.

Samantha was very popular with the students and teachers. Evilyn on the other hand was overshadowed by her older sister at almost every occasion. That's why Evilyn loved choir because it was the one thing she excelled at. It also was the class before lunch time so she could reward herself for a job well done with some good food. For Evilyn it was always chicken, roasted potatoes, mushy peas, soda,  and a biscuit. She also got to sit at the popular kids table because of her sister. “You’ll get fat if you keep having biscuits and soda for lunch.” Of course her sister Samantha had to ruin her reminiscing. “Hey I’m still a kid I can get away with this stuff, unlike dad.” This got Evilyn a few laughs at the lunch table. A girl chimed in asking, “I’ve never seen your guy's dad at those parents' nights things, only your older brother.” Samantha, confused, answered, “That’s our dad, Melba.” The girl looked shocked and replied “No way that's your dad, he looks even younger than Ms. Cerber!” The twins got that a lot from adults but they never really understood why. What was wrong with their dad being young and not being an old geezer like the rest of them? Both twins contemplated the answer before hearing the chime of the bell and heading off to their afternoon classes.