Chapter Text
Okay, look.
When Foolish was abducted one day out of the blue, stuck in a green tube against his will, and dramatically killed in cold blood, he was ecstatic. He’d been hoping to be kidnapped for a long time. Like, a long, long time. On the old island, out of all the other people unceremoniously dumped here, somehow he had been the last possible option. Maybe it was because he had been allied with the Federation and seemed untouchable, but that didn’t explain why the previous inhabitants never decided to turn against him in fury. Foolish was a menace. He was an enemy worth thousands of adversaries. Hell, there was a time he purposefully tried making himself kidnappable, and still, that didn’t spur them into action.
This time around, he played it safe.
He allied with nice people, barely interacted with the Federation beyond their regular visits to the mansion, and despite their interest in hiring him to be a detective, he backed-out.
After all, Foolish already lost everything. He knew it was bound to happen—the mortal life always disappointed him, but the Federation became a far worse enemy than he anticipated when they chose to use Leo as a tactic against him, even if he knew it was an experiment from the get-go. And when his old lover left for months at a time, there was only so much waiting he could do. He decided to stop letting people into his heart. There were still moments he was swayed, like when he followed Vegetta as his king, or created the dragon as a secret memorial for the ones he lost, but he didn’t make the mistake of allowing anyone else in his life.
Until…Until Juan… and still, that happiness didn't last long.
He was the one who turned Foolish into someone who believed in beautiful things again, only to die within months of companionship. It wasn't like the small human could have anticipated his own death. As much as Foolish wanted to blame him for his mortality, nails and spikes protruding past his own throat with every gulp, he couldn't. He could never blame Juan for living. Not when he suggested a mission to save Graf, not when he had been kidnapped again, and not when the green lights flashed rapidly and alarms blared. Juan had dug his way and planted seeds of hope into the very depths of Foolish’s soul. The heart was trapped away where no one else could steal it, no longer beating, but the only ounce of hope pushing the shark totem forward. He promised himself that he would get his revenge. He wanted everyone associated with Juan’s death to rot the same way he did, skin changed and bones no longer supported him, smile drooped and unable to focus in front of him. Green in all the wrong ways.
So, when Multi contacted him out of the blue, the words veering along the lines of ‘meet me alone in a random shopping district alleyway’, Foolish felt his blood turn cold. He rushed there immediately. Teeth bared, eyes zeroing in on the greenish figure hiding underneath midnight darkness, head held low as if trying to atone for his sins.
And Foolish wasn’t a forgiving man.
“What do you want,” he says, voice devoid of patience. No fear, no trust, not even a bit of curiosity. Just unbridled rage. “I’ll give you ten seconds to talk before I kill you where you stand.”
And maybe he was talking head-strongly to someone who downed him just days before, but honestly, he didn’t care anymore. Juan’s blood still dripped from his hands, a red stain that could never be wiped away, no matter how hard he scrubbed. He was in the air whenever someone smiled, or laughed, talked, breathed, and having his killer just in reach—helpless, no weapon in sight or on his person—was like a blessing bestowed by the gods.
The mad scientist opens his mouth to speak. “I…”
“One.”
“Foolish, there is no need to—”
“two, three, four…”
“I want to show you something!” Multi yells, even louder, and Foolish goes up to ‘seven, eight, nine’ before stopping, eyebrow raised in annoyance. He crosses his arms, practically oozing out disgust at the implication he’d trust Multi to show him something after everything that’s happened. Still, he motions him to continue. “I think you will find it very interesting, one scientist to another.” He looks to his left, towards the open exit, and that fucking egg pops it’s head around the corner on command. Foolish hisses. He takes out his sword without a second thought, brandishing it openly, a few steps taken back and his body directed at both enemies alike. “Here.”
“I thought you said to come alone.”
“I never said I would be alone,” Multi smiles, wickedly, before raising a hand at the oncoming egg. In its grip, something floated high in the sky, covered by blue specks of dust clinging to the object, the steps slow and calculated. “But, I needed Nacho to carry something for me. You understand, right?”
Foolish sneers. “No, I don’t.”
He doesn’t let down his guard when Nacho comes closer towards him, the imprisoned item being circled around like a temptation only meant for him. His body freezes when Multi attempts to step near him to enact a dramatic speech, sword held with a firmer grip, and the mad scientist only puts his hands up in immediate surrender.
“I did not come here with weapons or violence, Foolish. Only this small gift.” Multi says. “Open your arms, it is not something that can simply be put on the ground.”
“What? How do I know this isn’t a trap?”
“You came here for a reason,” a hand waves, dismissive, “You merely wanted to kill me, yes, but do you care about traps either? You’re undying. If I really wanted to, I could have Nacho immobilize you right now, and take you to my lab with no chance of return. Keep you there for the rest of your immortal life. I could run experiment after experiment on you, find a cure to death within your very DNA, but we both know that is not what I am going to do.” He pauses, before turning to Nacho and reaching for the encased item himself. “No, I am granting you a gift today, Foolish. Now open your arms.”
He does, but not without a disgruntled look.
Nacho is by his side now, letting the item just graze Multi’s fingers before settling it into Foolish’s hands, and from touch alone, the totem notices the squishy feeling of it. He furrows his eyebrows, and one second later, the blue-coated force field disappears, revealing a small lump of clothes clinging to his golden skin.
It’s a baby.
It’s a human baby.
What kind of gift is this? Foolish questions, not aloud, but quietly in the middle of the night, a feeble attempt to seem kind and soft and gentle in the midst of something so small. He looks up at Multi now, taken aback, his eyes searching for something in those irises that only remind him of Juan’s brutal end. He doesn’t understand what this baby has to do with him.
“What is this?” He asks, finally.
“Your gift,” Multi responds with such surety in his voice. “Your child. Created with your DNA, with your genetic makeup, and it’s going to be raised by you.”
Foolish releases a wet cough. He looks down at the sleeping figure still in his arms, cheeks puffed out, the tell-tale fall and rise of its chest the only thing telling him it was alive. Its rosy cheeks, button nose, the small pieces of brown hair cascaded against its skull, and fingers that found themselves intertwined with his. A human in everything but the little portions of shark skin dotted on its hands, feet, and face. A cocktail of his emotions stirred together the sadness with a deep dread that settled into his bones, because it reminded him of… of….
Foolish didn’t understand.
“You’re telling me,” he pauses, staring at the baby still in his arms, “that this baby has my DNA in it? That’s not possible, it looks so…human, and I—”
“I made it in my lab.”
“Oh.”
And, well, that makes more sense. He should have known that. Foolish hasn’t been active like that in a couple of years, and definitely not with a woman. However, that doesn’t explain the human features scattered across the baby's face, nor did it explain the squishiness of its skin. He stares a little too hard. Freckled skin, a light-colored brown on everything and not the heavy golden palette he had, with its curls stuck to its forehead. It's not wearing any clothes, wrapped in a red blanket that feels tattered and scratchy against even his skin, but somehow it looks so peaceful, cuddled up and sleeping.
Something feels wrong about all this.
“This isn’t mine.” Foolish says, panicking, taking no moment to hesitate as he pushes the child into Multi’s open hands, and the scientist has no other option than to hold it. He takes a step wide back, to the other entrance of the alleyway. “It can’t be mine. I’m not raising another lab experiment. It may have my DNA, but I…I never wanted it to begin with. Return it, or something.”
“You can’t return a…” Multi starts, before shaking his head. “I thought you would have liked this gift, Foolish.”
“Yeah, well. I don’t.”
He sneers, pulling his Oscurucho themed hoodie back over his head. Foolish lets his blade disappear into thin air, no longer caring about the threat of a kidnapping or death, only rushing to leave the same way he came. Multi and Nacho were not threats at the moment, and the sooner he got the temple finished, the sooner he could enact revenge on all the people who wronged Ju–
“Not even when I tell you the child is also Juan’s?”
Foolish lurches to a halt.
His blood rushes painfully loud in his ears, his muscles spasming with every flex, and his heart beats against his throat with the sporadic thump-ump-thump-ump. Nothing is alright. He feels sick to his stomach, suddenly, and it's obvious why. Feelings flash through his face, happy, confused, scared, but at the top of the pile lies anger. He walks back towards Multi. If he wasn't holding the child in his arms, he’d end up trying to kill him, not that Nacho would let him do it so freely. Staring at the face of the kid–his kid–it all becomes so clear. The rounded ears, its freckled skin, the tufts of brown beautiful hair on its head, all these features that Juan had now mashed together with his own. He frowns a little when he realizes he lost when giving the kid physical features. Somewhere in the afterlife, the second-in-command is probably laughing in his face. Still, it's so…cute, but…
“Why? Why did you do this?”
Multi doesn’t waste any time explaining, in fact, he seemed overjoyed to explain his thought process. “Well, at first it was only an experiment with your DNA, but this came out instead. Would you say your genes are more recessive, Foolish? I mean, we couldn't just use one set of DNA for our first cloning test, however, it came out more Juan than you… Isn't that funny?” He pauses, as if thinking. “The Federation wanted to experiment with her more, but I decided against it…I thought you would have loved her. Unless, you still want me to keep her? I’m sure Cucurucho would be very happy about that.”
The shark totem frowns at that, a slight sneer on his lips, and he reaches for the baby again. There’s no way he’s leaving it to Multi’s control, not when he knows whose blood it shares. The mad scientist hands it over without a fight. He begins to walk away again, this time with the little bundle of blankets cradled in his one arm–so small it nearly knocks the breath out of him. He doesn’t know if he’s holding it too hard, or not enough, but he thinks this is okay; for some reason it fits in the space in his arm like it was always meant to be there.
“Good luck!” Multi yells after him, yet it sounds more mocking than sincere. “I heard raising a child is hard–oh wait, you already did. What was her name again… Leo, right?”
Foolish flips him off with the other hand.
As he gets further out of reach, he looks down at the baby, fingers brushing the stray hair from its forehead. Foolish doesn't know what the hell to do with a human.