Chapter Text
Ivan tripped as he stumbled into the sterile home of the Memorial, he kicked aside the shoes left out of their cubby and sighed exhausted. The kids hardly even wore their shoes why the hell would they even take them out of the cubby in the first place?
"Kids, don't forget to put away your belongings when you're done with them! Thank you!" Ivan called out as he put his own shoes into the cubby, he knew they were out in the garden and most likely couldn't even hear him in the first place.
"They're such handfuls, what'll I ever do with them." He mumbled to himself, setting the bags of groceries he got from the aliens onto the counter. Ivan sifted through the contents, toiletries and medicine this time around. "Guess we're doing leftovers for dinner tonight again. I should put in a grocery order soon I suppose."
Though Ivan complained, he loved his children dearly. He would do anything for them, he already does anyways. Ivan worked tirelessly in maintaining the Memorial Garden, and making sure the children are happy and fed. Unsha already tells Ivan he gives the children better lives than he did, though he never knew what Unsha meant by that as he didn't remember much of his life before the Memorial Garden.
Maybe if the aliens actually did truly care about humans instead of shutting down the Alien Stage he wouldn't have to be a father of five. He wouldn't have it any other way though as long as he could protect five souls from the influence of the aliens and the tragedy that was the Alien Stage, Ivan would feel satisfied.
Ivan's stomach growled reminding him that he should start dinner, if he was hungry then the kids were surely getting hungry by now. He opened the cabinets and fridge to see what he had to work with.
A fly buzzed out from the cabinet and Ivan frowned, he looked in the fridge and saw the goulash from last night still in it's large container untouched. Guess they're doing leftover goulash with a few slices of garlic bread. Ivan sighed, if the kids were hungry this is what they're getting. He'd order more food tomorrow, but right now he needed to focus on the now.
As Ivan was putting the leftovers in the pot on the stove to reheat it the backdoor to the Memorial Garden swung open catching Ivan's attention. Ivan smiled softly seeing Hyun Yoo enter the house.
"Great timing Hyun Yoo, I'm starting dinner and you get to help by doing the dishes in the sink." He jerked his head towards the few plates and cups that sat in the sink.
Hyun Yoo glanced at the cups and plates in the sink and back at Ivan, before leaning out the back door and yelling. "KWAN, DAD SAYS TO GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE TO DO THE DISHES." He smirked as Kwan instantly looked irritated, but none the less came stomping inside.
Kwan's messy brown hair fell in his face as he watched Hyun Yoo stalk off to the other room. "Yeah, you called Dad?" He asked gripping the door knob a bit too tightly.
Ivan sighed resigned. "Uh, yeah yeah just I need the dishes done can you do them for me?" He glanced over at Hyun Yoo annoyed with the nine year old's attitude, but his attention quickly went back to stirring the goulash and monitoring the garlic bread in the oven.
Kwan rolled his eyes and trudged over to the sink angrily scrubbing the cups and plates, muttering curses under his breath. Ivan felt a pang of guilt, maybe he should've held Hyun Yoo accountable for pawning the chores out onto Kwan, but he also didn't want to waste Kwan's time when he already thought Ivan had asked him for something.
Ivan sighed and yelled. "HYUN YOO COME DOWN HERE AND SET THE TABLE" to Ivan maybe it was showing Kwan that he will still hold Hyun Yoo accountable for somethings. He glanced over at his son who seemed to be a bit satisfied that Hyun Yoo was being forced to do something.
"Do I really have to?" Hyun Yoo asked tiredly as he ran a hand through his blond hair, his purple eyes glaring daggers at Kwan.
"Don't give your brother that look you did this to yourself. Now get to work on setting the table and after dinner you'll do the dishes like you were supposed to." Ivan said with no hint of argument in his voice.
Hyun Yoo let out a frustrated huff, but grabbed the plates from the cupboard nonetheless and began setting the table.
"See it's not that hard to be a good brother to Kwan, Hyun Yoo. You two are supposed to be a team don't leave the other out to dry." Ivan said politely, putting the lid on the goulash.
Kwan put the last dish into the drying rack and glared at Ivan. "What else ya want done, pops. Anything else for Hyun Yoo to dump onto me?"
"Kwan, please. Knock it off." Ivan groaned looking at his two sons in irritance. "Hyun Yoo no more passing chores off to your brother, capiche?"
"Capash" Hyun Yoo said lamely as he pulled forks out laying them on the table boredly.
Ivan smiled softly. "Good, now Kwan go get your sisters. It's almost time for dinner."
Kwan rolled his eyes, but sauntered out the backdoor with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
The artificial sun was setting on the Memorial Garden, Io was placing flowers into Jinhwa's hair when Kwan walked up on them.
Io looked up at Kwan with an unreadable expression, her purple eyes met her brother's annoyed gaze. "Dinner time already I presume?" she asked flatly.
Jinhwa let out a fuss of protest. "But I want you to keep putting flowers in my hair..."
"I'll put more in your hair tommorow, I've been hearing your stomach growling for the last hour, let's get you inside." Io scooped Jinhwa up and held her against her chest as she walked past Kwan towards the Memorial Garden's house.
"Hey wait, where's Manak?" Kwan asked gruffly, grabbing Io's shoulder and looking at her with a suspicious glare. "You were supposed to be watching her."
"No, Dad told you to watch Manak today but if I recall someone angrily went inside when Hyun Yoo yelled at him without a second thought. You're so gullible sometimes why would Dad ask Hyun Yoo to tell you to do chores." Io asked listlessly.
Kwan's face heated up with an embarrassed flush. "Th-thats not fair...ugh forget it! I'll go find her..." He stomped off angrily his hands now fists.
"MANAK, MANAAAAAAAK. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU" Kwan yelled through the garden as he approached the glass that seperated them and the actual memorial. He saw Manak once again standing at the glass watching the garden with no thoughts behind her eyes. The pink hair fell in his eyes as she chewed on her thumb. He looked to be concentrating real hard, Kwan recognized that face; Manak was trying to read something.
Kwan walked over to Manak, taking deep breaths so his frustrated demeanor didn't startle her. "Manak, what are you trying to read. Let me help yo-" he faltered seeing someone showing Manak a notepad with directions somewhere, Kwan felt himself get worked up again.
The man looked surprised to see Kwan, but his expression softened. He had the same eyes as Kwan, an emerald green with a passion that can't be snuffed out.
"Get the hell away from her, he ain't goin nowhere with you!" Kwan snapped at the man, pounding the glass with his fist pulling Manak away from the window.
The man quickly scribbled a note onto his notepad. "I'm trying to help them escape if you can get your other siblings I can meet you all at the extraction point and bring you all to the rebellion." He then flipped back to the map showing where they can escape to.
"Rebellion, escaping? No way, we don't need to escape we're happy here with our Dad and Dad told us not to talk to strangers
Kwan scooped up Manak and held her closely to his chest placing a gentle hand on her pink hair. "We're happy here, tell him Manak.."
Manak looked up at the man with a blank expression and gently raised one of his arms. She placed his hand on the glass and stared at the man for a long time. "Happy..." she finally mumbled.
The man didn't seem convinced, he wrote another note on his notepad and held it up to the glass. "Happy here? Are the aliens not cold to you?" he tilted his head as he observed the siblings.
"No way! We don't have an ALIEN guardian, our Papa is human just like us! He takes good care of us he makes us food and he reads us stories!" Kwan said defensively, his face disgusted with the man's implications.
He looked surprised at Kwan's words now curious about who this human caretaker was, but he knew there was no way Kwan would let him know anything more. He didn't know how to establish trust with Kwan and Manak didn't seem up for giving any answers.
"My name is Till" Till suddenly wrote on his notepad, he looked at Kwan with an earnest expression hoping this would show he's not a total stranger.
Kwan furrowed his brow, but hesitantly spoke. "My name is Kwan, Papa says it means. Strong." He held Manak protectively and rested his chin on her head. "This is Manak. my sibling. I won't let you take him."
Till looked at Manak carefully, her eyes reminded him of Ivan, and his striking pink hair reminded him of Mizi. "Promise me one thing, kid." Till finally wrote.
"Yeah? What's that?" Kwan asked suspiciously eyeing the notepad with disdain.
"Take care of your sibling for me, I'll come visit again soon." Till gave him a gentle smile hoping to create at least a shaky bridge between himself and the kids.
Manak nodded. "Visit soon..." She touched the glass again staring at him blankly.
Kwan swatted his hand away from the glass. "Come on Manak, Dad is waiting for us with dinner. We don't need Mr. Till." He walked back towards the Memorial Garden house leaving Till alone at the glass.
Till watched the kids walk off, he felt a pang of loneliness seeing Manak disappear over the hill, she reminded him so much of Ivan he couldn't help but be reminded of the mistakes he made with his old friend.
A page went through Till's headset pulling him from thoughts and reminding him of his mission. "Till get to extraction point, we'll come and pick you up" Isaac gruffly said.
With that Till pulled away from the glass and slid back on his helmet. He walked back towards his bike then sped off through the memorial.
At the dinner table the children all held hands around the table as Ivan led them through a prayer thanking the God and the Universe for giving them this meal.
Kwan picked at it suspiciously, he found it insulting that this supposed God gave them reheated goulash and a small slice of garlic toast when they clearly deserve better.
Io nudged Kwan with an annoyed expression. "Eat your food and be grateful. Wipe that grumpy look off your face" she whispered to him irritated.
"Shut up" Kwan huffed looking down at his food forcing another forkful into his mouth.
Ivan watched the interaction between the two, his heart saddened e watching Io also start to pick on Kwan. "That's enough Io, I'm the parent you don't need to mom him." He gave Kwan a sympathetic glance.
Io just hummed as she ate her dinner boredly, cleaning off the sauce on Manak and Jinhwa's faces.
Ivan looked away guilty, he wasn't sure if Io was naturally motherly and enjoyed taking care of her siblings or if he was too negligent with them, he dwelled on it until Manak pulled him from his thoughts with her soft voice.
"Papa what's a rebellion?" Manak asked quietly, he gently set his fork down and stared up at Ivan listlessly.
"Why are you asking sweetie?" Ivan gripped his fork tightly, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his head. He heard rumours of the rebellion from Unsha how they sought to uproot society and seperate children from their alien families. He looked at the window back at the memorial the tragedy that befell the Alien Stage the one where the rebellion sent a rocket straight into the heart of it. Ivan grimaced, he didn't want Manak to get caught up in such a violent group of people.
"A man from the rebellion came to the garden today, wanted me and Kwan to go." Manak took another bite of the goulash not even a hint of worry crossed her face.
Kwan rolled his eyes. "I told him to leave...we want to stay here not go off and become bloodthirsty murderers..." He pushed his plate aside, his appetite clearly gone.
"Judging by your attitude seems like you WANTED to go with him" Hyun Yoo accused. "What? You so tired of doing chores you want to run away?" He set his fork down, his purple eye gaze scrutinizing his brother.
"Leave me alone Hyun Yoo, I don't want to leave okay?! I just want to know why the hell the man looks like me! We have the same eyes, same scowl, same everything!" Kwan snapped, he looked frustrated.
"Wait what do you mean, do you think he's your real father or something?" Io asked curiously, she too started to stare at Kwan curiously.
"No! Ivan...I mean Father...he's my real...dad and..." Kwan shifted uncomfortably when all his siblings started to stare at him, Manak and his Father's gaze cutting straight to his core. "Forget it! Leave me alone, ALL OF YOU" He slammed the table, making sure Ivan got the message especially.
Manak watched Kwan go and looked back at Ivan unsure of what he did wrong, Ivan just pet her head reassuringly.
"I'll talk to him when he's ready. For now, all just eat your dinner please..." Ivan mumbled, he held back his frustrations, his worry, and put on a mask of neutrality and fatherly care.