She weakly struggled, a low keening escaping from her lips, and opened tear-filled eyes.

Gorren was at her side in a flash. The fire-child watched him, uncomprehending at first, but then alarm lit her features. She tried to struggle, and her eyes widened even more when she found she could barely move.

Without warning, she started to scream.

“I can’t move! I can’t move!”

Gorren was upon her in a moment. He pressed her down, trying to hold her still.

But the fire-child wouldn’t stop. She kicked and flailed savagely, and just kept screaming.

“What have you done to me!” She screamed. “I can’t move! What have you done!” She snarled and screeched like a rabbit taken into a trap.

Gorren didn’t asnwer. His face was a mask of grim focus as he struggled to keep her down.

Argus watched the scene with eyes wide. It had all happened so fast that he struggled with terror and surprise all at once.

The fire-child screamed shrilly. Her only good foot caught the side of Gorren’s head with a sharp crack. The mage grunted and shrugged off the blow like it was a gust of wind. The hand with which he was grasping her forehead lit up with azure light. With a strangled cry, the fire-child stiffened all at once and slumped down. She kept flailing with her mouth but no sound came out of it.

With terror-filled eyes, she watched Gorren grab a bowl full of liquid. The mage shove it into her mouth, and she chocked. She tried to spit, but Gorren kept her head down, forcing her to swallow.

Some moments of tension passed. Gorren drew back the bowl, now empty, and let her go. The fire-child went limp over the bed, panting. Still, her eyes never left the mage.

Calmly, Gorren set the bowl over the table and started wiping his hands with a cloth. Throwing a glance toward Argus, he met his terror-filled gaze. The hint of a grimace appeared over his features, but it disappeared just as fast.

Putting down the cloth, he grabbed the chair he was sleeping on and turned it to face the beds. Then he sat over it, folding his arms before his chest.

Tense silence fell.

Unsure and scared, Argus peeked from the fire-child to his Father and viceversa. He had no idea why or what had just happened. He just knew that it absolutely scared him.

He swallowed. The atmosphere in the room had became stifling.

The following moments felt like agony to him. The tension in the room was thick enough that one could have cut it with a knife. He could hear his heart drum in his ears.

Gorren watched both, his face an expressionless mask. The fire-child had eyes only for him. Her tiny chest quickly moving up and down, she watched him like a small animal eyeing a larger predator. Defiance, uncertainty, fear and hatred mixed in her gaze.

Argus just felt the need to hide under the blankets. He didn’t like what was happening, nor understand it.

Suddenly, to his great relief, Gorren broke the debacle.

“How do you feel?” He asked, making him feel like he could breath once more. Still, the question wasn’t meant for him.

The fire-child struggled weakly. Whatever the concoction that Gorren gave him was, it had to have done something to her ability to move. Her limbs’ movements were sluggish and weak, like they refused to properly respond to her commands.

“Leave me alone.” She whined. Argus thought that maybe she meant to sound menacing, but her voice was barely a whimper.

Gorren stood silent for a few moments.

“Does it still hurt?” He asked again.

“Leave me alone!” The fire-child cried out, and she had to be a tiny better, because her words came out stronger this time.

Argus felt his fur stand on end at that horrible disrespect of Father. Didn’t she know whom she was talking to?

Evidently not, because she just tried to move again, her limbs flailing sluggishly.

Argus expected Father to get angry, but Gorren’s mask of impassibility didn’t even flinch.

Voice even, he began to talk: “You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep...”

“Shut up!” The fire-child barked, cutting him off. Argus remained scandalized by the sheer lack of respect, and the angry light burning in her eyes took his breath away.

“What have you done to me now!?!” She screamed, flopping over the bed like a beached fish. “I cannot move! I cannot feel my legs! My arms! What have you done! You... you broke me! You broke me! You broke me!” Her voice broke, and, to Argus’ astonishment, she started crying.

Thick tears streamed down her cheeks. The hatred and anger that had radiated out of her like a furnace were gone, leaving her just a small, sobbing mess.

Bewildered, Argus didn’t notice Gorren slowly getting up to his feet.

“You are going to break me!” The fire-child cried. “You’re going to throw me back into the mire! You’re going to…”

Gorren was at her side in a flash. Kneeling by the bed, he grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing her to look at him. Tears-filled, desperate eyes met the mage’s own, full with angry determination.

“As long as i am alive, the mire will never take you.” He hissed.

The fire-child’s eyes widened as those words sink in. Still, before she could muster a reply, Gorren was already stomping away.

He stopped before the chair, and turned. Planting his fists against his sides, he first frowned to Argus, making him immediately jump to attention, then to the fire-child, that was still looking to be reeling.

“Listen up, because i am gonna tell this only once.” He growled, and threw glares around to make sure that both were obeying. If possibile, Argus became even more fearfully attentive, while even the fire-child straightened up a bit, probably out of instict.

“This is how things are going to be in here.” Gorren continued. “First, i am your father, of both of you, and you are my children. That means that i am going to take care of you. I am going to feed you, dress you and teach you how to live. In exchange, you’re going to obey me in all things. Got that?”

The reactions were more different than anything.

Argus felt his head start to spin, happiness fighting with bewilderement fighting with disbelief. Of course he was happy with that arrangement! But why Father was even saying it? He would obey him nonetheless! But wait, had he said children? That meant that strange girl on the other bed was his… his sibling?

Questions and surprise almost knocked him out, leaving him gaping like a fish.

The fire-child gaped as well, but for radically different reasons.

“I won’t obey to…!” She began, but almost cowered when Gorren snarled to shut her up.

“You have been born yesterday.” The mage growled. “You wouldn’t last a day alone out there. As your father, it’s my duty to see that you live and grow. Still, it will come a time when you will be able to survive on your own. When that time come, and i will be the one to decide it!, you will be free to go wherever you want. But not before, got that?”

He glared daggers at the fire-child, daring her to reply anything, but she dumbly just stared back.

For his part, Argus just nodded quickly the moment Father’s gaze moved on him.

Gorren stared at each in silence for some moments, his expression grim.

“That is all there is, and all you have to remember. If you have problem with it, too bad for you. ” He barked. “Now i have treated you. If you don’t move, you’re gonna be up and running in no time. And even if you do, mind that i have enchanted those beds to drag you back up, so you’re warned. Try to sleep or something, i don’t care. I have stuff to do now, but i’ll be back soon. And that’s that.”

And just like that, without giving neither time to say a word, he stormed out of the room. A moment he was there, and the next he was gone, the door of the room, that neither had noticed until then, slamming shut.

For Gorren, it felt like escaping from a roaring furnace.

The moment the door closed a weight dropped from his shoulders, the anger that had sustained him draining away from him, replaced by sheer exhaustion.

Putting his back against the door, he passed a hand over his face, finding it covered in sweat. Only after the most mind-shattering sessions of research he had felt such bone-deep exhaustion, or at least something comparable.

“Your first family meeting! Congratulations!”

Gorren yelped and flinched, his heart jumping in his throat.

Nama was right there, dark figure cut out of the gloom of the corridor. The Goddess was happily clapping away, looking as cheerful as a faceless death god in a black shroud could.

Retaking his composure, Gorren glared daggers at her. He was angry at her snooping in his business like that, and angry for having allowed himself to be taken by surprise.

If she was fazed, even a tiny bit, she didn’t show it.

“I’d say that it went well, but it would obviously be a lie, so i won’t.” She said, her tone conversational.

“Fuck off, Nama.” Gorren growled, stomping away and down the corridor.

The Goddess followed him close by, seeming to float between the shadows.

“That said, do you wish some unbiased commentary?” She asked.

“No. Go to hell.” Gorren growled without turning. He was determinated to ignore her.

Nama cheerfully ignored him. “You should really rethink your approach to parenting.” She offered. “I mean, i am quite sure that upping your game in the honesty department would make quite the result.”

Gorren just gritted his teeth and walked faster.

“Eh.” Nama chuckled, following him. “You mortals are always so funny.”

“Shut up. I have work to do.” Gorren grumbled.

“Nice excuse.”

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?!”

“Welp, that’s just mean now.”

After that the bewilderment produced by Gorren’s quick exit had subsided, or at least had somewhat reduced, a tense silence had enveloped the room.

Immobilized as he was, Argus couldn’t do much but try to make sense of the things that had happened one after the other. Really, Father was sharing his company with him, and then suddenly everything had decided to spin out of control.

Father’s words, strangely enough, didn’t disturb him. As much as grim and stern Gorren’s tone had been, something told him that the rebuke wasn’t really meant for him, or a least not completely.

Whatever the case, he swore to himself that he would give his best to Father. He would work and work and work, so that Gorren would be proud to call him son.

Really, for father to recognize him as such! To accept him in such a way! He was more than honored. It was the best thing it could ever happen, the best he could ever imagine.

Argus felt his chest swell with pride and happiness. Father would never regret to having taken him as one of his sons, nor of having given him that new life. He would make sure of it, no matter what. He owed him so much. He would repay him with everything he had.

Those thoughts filled him with a sense of purpose, and he wallowed happily in it.

Still, a doubt, a black dot, remained.

Argus discretly peeked at the other bed. After some moments of stubborn silence, the strange girl had started to writhe. She grimaced, hissed and snarled under her breath while trying, he suspected, to get off the bed. Still, whatever substance Gorren had admistered to her seemed to have reinforced its effect. Between that and the heavy bandaging, she barely managed to shift a bit. Still, that didn’t seem to deter her in the least.

Argus felt a mix of apprehension and curiosity. Father had said that she was her child too. That meant that she was his sibling. But she had been so disrespectful toward him. He didn’t like it. What if Father lost his patience? She would get punished! If she was her sister, he didn’t want her to be punished…

Argus eyed her efforts with concern. Father had said that it was the best for them to stay put…

He fidgeted for a moment, then took a decision.

“H-hey…” Apprehension made those words come out as a barely audible rasp.

Argus blushed a bit. He swallowed, feeling his throat dry.

He wanted to talk to her, to make her understand that Father only meant the best for them, and that she had to obey him. Not only it was for her own good, it was just the right thing to do. He was Father after all!

It felt obvious, and that certainty gave him determination.

“H-hey!” He said, and this time, to his happiness, the word came out as strong as he wanted.

The girl stopped her thrashing. Slowly, she turned toward him. There was surprise in her eyes, Argus noted, like she was noticing only then that he was there also. Still, she didn’t look scary, only a bit scared.

He gave her a tentative smile, hoping to reassure her.

“Y-you shouldn’t f-fuss like that o-or you’re g-going to hurt y-yourself.”

Those words hung for a moment in the air while the fire-girl seemed to register them.

Argus hoped that she would listen. His hope turned into alarmed fear when her gaze became molten hatred.

“Shut up!” She screeched.

Argus felt it like someone had slapped him. He would have jumped back if not for the bandages holding him still. Instead, he just watched her, wide-eyed, struggling for words.

She threw him a hard glare, and turned the other way.

Argus stared at her nape for a moment, still searching for words. He gave up, his ears slumping down.

“Sorry.” He murmured. He supposed that he hadn’t chosen the right words.

Slumping over the pillow, he watched the bare ceiling, feeling very unhappy.

Silence fell over the room and its two inhabitants, until, almost without noticing, both drifted to sleep.

That was to be the start of their new lives.