A Thousand Light Year Journey

Chapter 27: Father

Glay woke up again. He was in his containment room. The first thing he saw was Aries sitting on the chair in the corner with his legs wide open and his elbows resting on his knees.

"You wanna know how you ended up in a different maker and not me?" Aries asked calmly.

"What are you doing here?" Glay asked while looking on the floor, his head was hurting.

"Your mother was from Earth."

Glay looked at Aries in shock. He was out of words.

"Yes, Glayden. When I was sent to Earth for a mission, I met a girl. Your mother, Dahlia. Like you, I fell for her. I almost wanted to abandon my mission. But I knew the consequences. I can't risk her life. But I was selfish, you know. I indeed killed that girl's father. It was part of my mission. But Dahlia, she was someone special. I felt something for her because I wasn't drinking those pills anymore." Aries shook his head. "And... And then I got her pregnant. I can't imagine leaving my son there. Ad it was my last mission before I get transferred to a new department. I took you from her, Glayden. I stole you."

Glay didn't know what to say. But his fists were balled and he was looking at him fiercely. but Aries continued.

"I told one of the immigrants from Earth to adopt you and tell that you were theirs. Because I'm not allowed to have a child. People from the fifth sector, who doesn't drink pills are not allowed to have a child because we'll have attachments. But nobody knew I already had. I made sure that I won't lose sight of you. I was surprised that you chose SFR. Happy... And surpised." Aries stood up and walked his way out of the door. "But it doesn't matter now, whether you knew about it or not. At least I was able to talk to you as a son. At least before you forget about everything tomorrow." He smiled.

"So that's it? That's all?"

Aries stopped walking and faced him. Glay stood up and walked to him bravely.

"It's for the better." Aries said.

"No. You know it's not. You know how beautiful love is, you've experienced it. And, fathe-- Commander... Or whatever you are, you know there's so much more that ACRO took away from us. How could you let them do that?"

"I have nothing else I can do." Aries looked away.

"No. Help me. Help me take down ACRO. Help me spread the truth, I know a way and you can help me."

"I'm sorry. I have to stick to my job."

Aries turned back and walked away.

"YOU'RE A COWARD! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A COWARD!" Glay yelled while Aries was walking away.

Glay spent most of his time in his room thinking about his next move. His friend, Azi is not in good condition, his StellarBand was confiscated and he's running out of time. In no time, came his next visitor. He was eating his lunch when someone opened the door. He turned to see who came to visit and saw the Head of ACRO, Dr. Leu.

"Good afternoon, agent." Peteson closed the door and walked towards him.

Glay didn't acknowledge his presence and just continued eating.

"I don't know how valuable you are in SFR that they risked the secrecy of this Organization to bring you back here, but I hope it's worth it." Dr. Leu said. "I know, things are confusing. I can only imagine how mad you are at us for keeping all these from you. But you gotta understand. It's..."

"It's for the best." Glay predicted the next line and stood up, facing him. "Can you enlighten me how is this for the best?"

"You've seen how things were on Earth with your own eyes. You've felt it yourself. Anger, fear. You've felt all that and still, you don't get our purpose?"