Of Love and Death.

The Future Chapter 13: Bonds of Bladers and Beys Pt. 5

     The next morning, Shu finally reached the top of the cliff. The climb seemed longer than he remembered, but the view was just the same. The whole of the world seemed to be spread out before him. The dusty red brown of the desert land made the perfect backdrop for the multicolored Grand Arena and the hotel that surrounded it. The wind blew gently across the ground, brushing his hair across his face.

     Turning around, Shu saw Jamie reach the edge just a step after him. The plan that he and Valt had come up with in bed last night was that he would talk to Jamie in the morning, before anything else. Then they would all meet up at the hotel's breakfast. Although he had to admit, his daughter had not been happy about waking up so early. "It's pretty, isn't it?" He asked the odd-eyed girl.

     For a second, Jamie didn't say anything. She just stood there, taking in the view and dealing with her thoughts. And, while Shu wasn't his husband, he could still make a pretty good guess as to what she was thinking. Which was most likely trying to figure out what he was going to say to her.

    Well, Shu was somewhat trying to figure out what to say as well. He had not been expecting to have this conversation, well, ever. Especially not quite so soon. And most certainly not having to deal with the extra aspect of Jamie running around in a mask battling random people in secret. Which was a parallel he did not enjoy.

     After about fifteen seconds of silence, Shu cleared his throat, in case Jamie had forgotten he'd asked a question. "Oh!" the odd-eyed blader exclaimed, "Um, yeah. It's really pretty." She didn't meet Shu's eyes when she spoke, instead directing her gaze anywhere that wasn't her father.

     She's embarrassed, Shu noted. Not that it took a rocket scientist to figure that out. In Jamie's mind, she was repeating mistakes that had been drilled into her not to forget. She probably felt like she'd let everyone down and ruined her life.

    Swallowing, Shu decided to follow the plan he'd come up with. Which was to go for it "So I'm gonna skip the small talk," He began. Sitting down, Shu hung his feet over the edge of the cliff. Well, even if he was back here, at least he wouldn't be dramatically standing the whole time. Seriously, Spryzen had quite the flair for drama.

    Looking up at Jamie, there was clear hesitation on her face. Shu rolled his eyes. "You can sit down. It's solid all the way to the bottom." Not that he endorsed sitting on random outcroppings of rock many, many meters in the air. He just knew that this one wasn't going to crumble on them. Or anything like that.

    After a moment, Jamie decided to trust her father and sat down next to Shu. The latter turned his head back out, taking in the view again. "So do you want me to start talking, or do you want to explain what's going on in your head first?" He'd spent about three hours last night pretending to try to sleep planning out what he was going to say right now. If not for the fact that Valt had also been up for ages, Shu was pretty sure his husband would have been quite upset with all of his tossing and turning. So basically anything that Jamie said he had a response for.

    Instead of responding immediately, Jamie looked down. "I'm fine with whatever," She finally mumbled. Which was obviously code for "I have a preference but I don't feel comfortable speaking up because I feel like I've already messed up". However, judging by how untalkative she was being, Shu decided it was probably a good idea for him to just start talking.

     "I want to preface this by saying that it's fine that you're you," Shu said seriously. Jamie raised an eyebrow, an expression of "what in the universe does that mean" on her face. It was a face that would have gotten a laugh out of Valt if he were here. And it was a different conversation. "By which I mean that it's not a problem that you're both Jamie and Athena."