Transcendence?

***Norfolk, Sarn-Valley, Sarn***

***Sera***

Sometimes I ask myself why I am doing all this. All the effort to force my parents closer to each other and they manage to thwart it the very moment they are alone.

My grandparents even forgot to fight with each other for a while after Ascathon and Celestial returned. When they learned about Celestial's new position as the Jarl, they almost got a heart attack.

Celestial on the other hand doesn't seem too happy with her new position. She has a constant eye on her new assistant Natasha, who turned out to be the former Jarl's widow.

I think that Natasha poses no danger to her position at all. That's because I think that she is more interested in women than men. Is that a direct consequence of being part of a harem?

Despite that fact my mother is treating Natasha like competition. Although the woman hasn't shown any ambition to do something problematic. Probably mother is afraid that Natasha could actually try something on her.

And Celestial hasn't talked much to Ascathon since they came back. Both of them dove into their work to get the administration of Norfolk under control.

They even already announced Sarn as the new capital! Being the Jarl gives you a lot of power I guess.

Anyway... it's time for drastic measures. I will play my trump card! First I will deal with mom and then with dad. I just need to play my hand properly and see to it that they don't learn that I manipulated them. It has to look like I am actually conspiring with them.

I arrive at my mother's office and take a look inside. She is alone and sitting at her desk. Good! “Mom? Could we talk for a while? I have something important to tell you.”

She turns and smiles. “Of course, dear. Is there a problem?”

“I want to talk about dad. You two buried yourselves in work and didn't talk much recently.” I walk closer and try to look into her eyes, but the edge of the desk is too high! Damn! My puppy eyes attack was foiled by a desk! I planned to look just over the edge to kill her with my cuteness!

“It's nothing to worry about Sera. We are simply a little occupied at the moment. And he tricked me, so I have a little too much work at the moment.” She shakes her head and signs another document.

I walk around the table and hold her shirt while looking up. “But despite everything, he still really likes you.”

Celestial sighs. “Look, Sera. We talked over this again and again. It's nice that you are trying to help in your own shrewd way, but...”

“But I am sure of it! I even have proof!” I grab her hand to lead her outside. “I will show you his greatest secret.”

Celestial's expression turns sharper. “You will show me his weakness?”

“One of his weaknesses.” I lead her down into the basement, where his private laboratory is located.

Celestial becomes a little anxious. “I don't think that this is a good idea. What if he catches us? I promised that I wouldn't rummage through his lab... since that accident.”

“That's fine. He is outside to supervise a new project and won't be back for quite a while. And I am the one who did the rummaging.” I lead her inside and into a small empty chamber.

“Didn't he take better care of his stuff after you threatened him with the contents of a certain box?” Celestial looks around.

“He changed the hiding place and put several seals on the new location. But I was a good pupil and he underestimated me. I bugged him to learn of the new spot. To be honest, I wouldn't have found it without this measure.” I place both hands on the ground and infuse my mana into it.

A magical circle starts to form on the floor. Finally it covers the walls and even the ceiling.

“~~~That which has to be forgotten,~~~

~~~that which is the greatest treasure,~~~

~~~that which nobody should know,~~~

~~~my greatest weakness! Appear!~~~”

A box starts to form out of thin air and finally materializes completely in front of me and the magical circle disappears. I grab the box and start to fiddle with the complicated locking mechanism.

Celestial kneels down beside me. “You know, that formula sounded like he really didn't want anyone to know. Probably I shouldn't...”

But I interrupt her. “Don't you want to know a man's ultimate shame? He even went through the trouble to hide this in an extradimensional space! And it's even more important because he is your husband!”

*Click*

Celestial grabs the opening box and tilts it. The contents are emptied onto the floor and a pile of blueprints spreads in front of us. She grabs one of the papers and looks over them. “Those are just construction plans. Airships, mana cores, railguns, … nukes!?”

I grab the sheets from Celestial's hand. “Those are just distraction! The important stuff is under the false bottom!” I start to work on the box again. The false bottom is loosened by a few jabs onto the side of the box and I place it to the side.

Then I dive with my whole upper body into the box, which makes Celestial gasp. “No problem! It's a magical box with extra space inside.”

I resurface with a stash of pictures. There is a really stupid picture of mom on top of the stash. And there are pictures of everyone else in the family too. “He has pictures of everyone in his household. And there are especially many of you!”

Mother takes the stash with a complicated face. “That was when I first learned that I was pregnant with you.”

“Oh... seems like I wasn't planned. But I already know that.” Again I dive into the box and get another smaller box out of it.

“What's that.” Celestial asks.

“Those are his emergency provisions! Just in case that you stop making chocolate for him. He stamped all of them with a date to eat. Up until now he stored away enough for about a hundred years. That's if he eats just one piece a month, like planned.” I hand the little box to Celestial and she sighs. “He won't manage to do that. He is a glutton.”

Next I fish a piece of cloth out of the box.

Celestial's eyes widen and she snatches the panty out of my hands. “Why does he have women's underwear inside there!?”

I dive into the box and fish for the stuff which fills up almost the entire space. Panties, bras, sport dresses, swimming suits …

“Th... th... THOSE ARE MY SILKEN PANTIES FROM SECOND GRADE!” Celestial roars. “And my bra from when I changed for graduation!? It disappeared and I never knew where it had gone!”

I nod. “Actually all this stuff belongs to you. Your name is on most of the items.”

Celestial jumps up with a red face. “I will teach him!! To steal my underwear! That pervert!”

I get up and hug her left leg with all my might. “No! No! That's a completely wrong reaction!”

My mother stops in her tracks. “Huh?”

“Don't you see? Despite everything you did to him, he still yearned for you deep in his heart! Look at all this stuff! Didn't he steal your underwear even long after the failed confession.” I point at the stuff on the ground.

Celestial snarls as she looks around. “And even long before that as I see now!”

“Doesn't that show his determination towards you? And if you still don't believe it, look here.” I run up to the box and get a torn and worn book. “Those are his old research notes!”

I open the book carefully and browse to a certain date and start to read. “Today I saw an angel. She has the most beautiful smile I ever saw in all my lives. My heart was smitten immediately.”

A later date has another short mention of my mother. “This year we got into the same class! And I finally learned her name! I can't hide it any longer. If I don't confess, she will probably find it out anyway. I stare at her like a lovestruck idiot, which I probably am.”

Next. “She threw me out of the window when I confessed and I broke some bones. It hurt like hell! But I didn't know that her family is an enemy of mine. I curse my fate, probably I have no chance with her at all!”

Celestial's expression turns guilty.

I smile. “Today she played another bad trick on me! I hate that bitch! But I love her at the same time! Even if her attention hurts, I am still happy about it. At least she acknowledges my existence. That makes me somehow happy. Why does it still feel good to be hurt by the one you love. I am the worst. I am dirt.”

Another page is turned. “She cursed me! I was in bed for two weeks and couldn't move! The doctor started to write a death certificate when Kane summoned one to the dorm! But thinking about her still made me happy. How can you love and hate someone at the same time? I may have to face it. Am I a masochist? Am I deriving pleasure from being hurt by those whom I love? But I absolutely hate my parents for abandoning me! Shouldn't I have the same feelings for them? I have to explore this mental state!”

I smile and close the book. Mother is on her knees, crying. “I never wanted to hurt someone like that. Probably killing him outright would have been the better choice.”

“You... you can still make up for it mom!” I walk to her and pat her shoulder.

“How? How can you make up for eight years of pain?” Celestial hugs me and sniffs into my shoulders.

“M... Maybe eight years of ~pleasure and love~ would be a good start?” I point at a certain set of panties with a bra.

“~He said in his journal that he especially likes that type.~”

***

Haah... dealing with mom was troublesome. I had to console her for two hours after my little revelation. I didn't think that reading dad's journal to her would be that effective. I even read some more passages afterwards to change her opinion of him.

Of course some of them were completely faked by me. I got a little creative and added some short sentences to dad's research journal. His habit to doodle down short notes made this very easy. Hopefully I didn't lay it on too thick.

Anyway. I managed to clean everything up before dad came back. And I managed to get the promise from mom to not reveal anything to him.

Right now he is in the kitchen and eating some cold food. He was out till late at night to work on a new project.

And mom is already sleeping in their sleeping quarters. The perfect chance! I walk around the corner while staggering a little.

“Sera! What are you doing here at this hour? It's not good if you treat yourself like that at such a young age.” He looks at me with a concerned expression.

I smile and nod. “You are right, but I simply couldn't sleep. Mom was very worried about you, always looking outside till late in the evening. I guess her worries rubbed off on me.”

Ascathon huffs. “Somehow I don't believe this. You are playing one of your games again, aren’t you?”

“No! You don't have to become angry. I will prove it!” I run up to him and use my puppy eyes, this time I won't fail like with Celestial.

“Err... whatever. You should go to sleep.” He looks at his food with tired eyes and doesn't even spare me a glance!

NOOO! My puppy eyes failed again!

“I will show you. Come!” I grab his arm and start to pull until he finally decides to move.

Five minutes later we are sneaking through Celestial's office like a couple of burglars.

“Please explain something to me.” Ascathon grumbles behind me. “Why do I have to crawl?”

I wave upwards with my light spell and point at several hooks on the walls. “Mom installed a trap against thieves and to protect her private notes. She spanned a very thin thread between those hooks. It's running through the entire room and just touching it is enough to activate the trap!”

“And why should a thread alone be a trap?” Ascathon is dumbfounded.

“It's spanned with so much force, even mom has to apply it with both hands! Just touch it and it goes *snap* and you will come apart like slaughtered cattle! Ever seen a tense wire rip?” I crawl further to a plank at the left wall of the room and hit it.

The plank loosens and I pull it off. Then I reach inside and pull a notebook out. “Those are her personal files!” I drop myself on Ascathon's lap and open the notebook while he lights the sheets with a light spell.

I open it on a certain date and start reading.

“I feel so guilty about everything! But I can't take back neither my words, nor my actions. I guess remembering so many lives has a price. I feel like an old senile hag, who isn't able to deal with changing circumstances. I already tried many different approaches to improve my relationship with Ascathon. But every time I try, I run into a wall or something else unfortunate happens. Can't we just become a normal happy family?”

I turn the page of the small book.

“Today I made some chocolate for him and he smiled at me. My heart jumped! I wish he would always smile like that. But when he stole a glance at Natasha, I wanted to pluck his eyes out of his head! Sometimes I wish he would put just a little effort into this, otherwise I am on the verge of giving up. There is only so much I can take.”

I turn to the last page.

“Ok! That's it! That's my last serious try on making up! I will try to be a good wife, I will get into my best dress and give him the night of all his lives when he comes home! He will even get a full bowl of chocolate. And if he tells me just a single nice word, that's enough! I don't need more. Just one earnest nice word. Haah, I hope he won't be too late tonight. What if he is taking his time in some brothel? I don't want to think about it.”

I stop reading. “Ohohohoho...” Seems like my like excursion into the basement was a success.

Ascathon sets me down on the ground and crawls towards the entrance. In the middle of the room he stops and turns around to whisper. “If you'll excuse me. It was nice and all, but I am needed somewhere.”

“Hey. We aren't done yet!” I didn't even get to the part which was completely made up by me!

But he doesn't turn and escapes... great! And what about me? You just left a little child alone in a room with a deadly trap! Where is your common sense!

Hmpf. Well. No helping it.

I guess all that's left to do is cleaning up and covering my tracks. That means removing all the made up parts of his journal and her notebook.

Oh, hell. This will be a looong night.

.