SkyEarth (Reborn) Book 1: Stratos Rising

Chapter 5: FireRain

     "Shaun? What are you doing in the cellar?" asked a voice. It definitely didn't sound like Melody's dreamy voice. This voice didn't belong to any little girl, but to a man. A clear baritone with a slight hoarseness. Shaun hadn't heard that voice in eight years. He looked up and saw a man in his early forties. He had short, tousled dark brown hair, intense grey eyes, and a strong square jaw with small goatee and five o'clock shadow. The man wore a light blue button down with rolled up sleeves, khaki pants, and shiny brown shoes. One other thing familiar to Shaun aside from the voice was the man's smile. A warm smile, but with a hint of goofiness like he's about to tell one of his best worst jokes.

     "Dad?!" exclaimed Shaun, but before he could do anything, Thomas Warren Ingary looked passed his son and saw the two men in grey suits and bowler hats. That one guy still had his hand on his swordstick and the moustache guy had pulled out his pistol, but they didn't have time to react as Thomas tackled them to the ground, quickly took their weapons and threw them away out of arms reach. Shaun stepped away and, from a safe distance, watched as his father took on the two men in a two-on-one fist fight. Shaun still had the box in his hand, but he was too enthralled by the fisticuff to do anything. He hadn't noticed Melody appear beside him and he jumped when he felt her hand on his shoulder. Even through his clothes, he could feel a chill coming from the contact. He hadn't noticed it when she first touched him back at the Market Circle.

     "Don't do that." said Shaun, shock and surprise written on his face.

     "Sorry." said Melody. "But you did it! You found my box and the Journal inside it. Now promise me that you'll keep it hidden from anyone except you, and maybe your father. I trust him the moment he came running here."

     "Did you call him?" asked Shaun. Melody shook her head.

     "No. He came here on his own. I think I saw him running to your direction after those thugs went after you. He must've seen the pistol while I was messing with them and he knew that you're in danger. Your dad must care about you very much. I like him."

     "He cares about his family." said Shaun truthfully. "He cares and loves his family very much."

     "Then why wasn't he living with you?" she asked, and Shaun sighed wistfully. But before he could answer that, the two men, faces bruised and bleeding and suits ruined, ran away, screaming obscene profanities. They didn't even pick up their weapons, which Thomas had taken care of by throwing them off the edge of the fragment, falling into the endless abyss, never to be seen again.

     Speaking of Thomas, he looked worse for wear, but otherwise fine. A couple bruises and a bloody lip marred his face. Still he smiled. The two of them, father and son, stood a few feet from another, looking at one another. It was awkward. It had been a long time since Shaun last saw his dad and didn't know what to do or what to say. The same was true for Thomas. Shaun wished that his first meeting hadn't been like this, running out of the cellar and into his dad's arms, and then had to watch his dad pummel two thugs. Not your typical way of meeting your dad for the first time in eight years. Melody touched Shaun's shoulder. He looked at her and she nodded.

     Shaun approached his father, his eyes fixed on his father's grey ones. Without a moment's hesitation, he wrapped his arms around his dad in a warm embrace. He hadn't hug his dad since he left for Granoden eight years ago. Sure they would send each other letters and photos, and Shaun felt closer to his dad upon reading the letters and seeing the photos of his dad along with his engineer friends, but to actually be able to hug him was a completely different experience. Dad had grown some muscle, Shaun thought, and seeing that his dad was able to handle two thugs was proof of that.