“I appreciate Relkir sending you all these pictures…” Kuta muttered as they sat on the bench next to Ret. “Even if they accidentally also gave you some horrible information which I accidentally found out about…”
“I am sorry about that, by the way…” Ret muttered back. “That must feel rather awful.”
Kuta sighed. “It… it is awful. To the point that I do not really know how to feel about it. I mean, the fact that I only have one ovary and the other was in fact a parasitic, technically dead twin is an awful thing to learn about. It is even worse knowing that a deity tricked me into thinking it was a cancer and removed that parasitic twin from my body without my knowledge. And then it becomes beyond bad when said deity turned that parasitic twin into a base to merge all of the Bloodline Traditions into a single living, breathing baby, forced that baby to immediately grow up into a teenager and then deified it, forcing them into an eternal life of solitude. On the “Yikes Scale”, that is… about a 100 out of 10.”
Ret glanced at Kuta. “I feel like there is more you want to add to that.”
“Oh, indeed. The yikes keep on piling up. The fact that they named it after my twin sibling, the fact that this other Litvir never got to have a childhood and, worst of all, I should have been vaguely aware of all this.”
“Why… why would you have been aware of this?”
“Well… I told you that I was born three times, yes?” Kuta hesitated slightly.
“Yes, somewhat.”
“Well… Um… My second birth, when I reformed myself… Well… The parasitic twin that I had instead of an ovary? That was a common problem with many Kaldieridoi. Including my brother. Using fluctuations in energy in the Periuniversal Void… I… I used the dead parasitic twin ovary inside of my own brother to form a new body and resurrect myself.”
Ret blinked. Kuta understood Ret’s mixed up emotions and sighed some more.
“Sorry. That was too much.”
“I guess…” Ret decided to alter the topic a bit. “Will you speak to this other Litvir?”
“At… at some point. When I am emotionally ready. Because, well, in my mind, that other Litvir is what I spent my entire childhood trying to avoid, and I killed, repeatedly, because of it.”
Ret went back to blinking. “But… you… you said you wanted kids with me.”
Kuta turned around to properly face Ret. “That is very different. You are everything that is right with the universe. And I do want kids with you. I am choosing that. The difference is, when I was a kid, I was definitely not choosing. Now I am an adult, you have helped me overcome my pain, you have made me happy and I want to settle down and have kids with you. Although, looking at Gath and Relkir’s kid… we might just end up making even more little Retviks.”
Ret glanced down at his communicator, at the pictures that Relkir had sent. “You think?”
“Rethianos genetics are very strong, clearly. That baby is going to grow up and look exactly like you. Except maybe a bit taller.”
“Do you not think your white plating will not be passed down?” Ret perked up. “Oh! Imagine if our kids had your white plating but my gold higher-caste strips!”
Two shadows suddenly loomed over Ret and Kuta. The two Rethans looked up to see two other Rethans standing above them.
“Are you two done yet?” Retvik growled, having overheard the conversation about kids.
“Done with what?” Ret asked. “We were waiting for you to finish up, so you could give us instructions and we could head back to the Pink Paradise.”
“You are sitting there, prattling on about kids.”
Ret tutted, then climbed to his feet. “You said you did not have anything for us to do right now. We are literally waiting for instructions. Do you have a problem or something?”
“I have a problem with you, yes!” Retvik snarled. “I do not like you in the slightest. Everything seems to go right for you.”
“Really? That is what you think? That my life has been nothing but sunshine and rainbows? That is insane, coming from a person who was a genuine hero to all, who was a General and was famous for all the right reasons! I have not even done anything to bother you!”
“Your existence angers me!” Retvik snapped. “You have literally everything you want! You are literally replacing me.”
“I am not! I just exist in the same spaces you do! Do you feel like you need to prove something? Because I am just happy to be here and be married and maybe one day have kids. You though, you… I do not know what is wrong with you! Maybe you are just a bastard.”
“What.”
Ret smiled a little. “You are just a grumpy, selfish bastard with a superiority complex, who cannot get over his own mistakes and instead takes it out on others. But I know that whatever I say, you will dismiss it, out of sheer petty hatred.”
Retvik leaned over Ret and growled. “What are you implying?”
“A fight. A physical fight. So we can get our grievances out.”
A second growl interrupted the two of them.
“Do not take the bait, Retvik.” Litvir hissed.
“Oh no, please do!” Kuta taunted. “It will be amusing!”
Retvik turned to Kuta. “You think I will not beat your husband into the ground? You think that little of me?”
“Right now? Yes. Because my darling Ret is right, you are being an utter cunt right now.”
“Very well!” Retvik shouted. “We will settle this with violence, as you so desire! Child, I will make you suffer for being the insufferable bastard you are. The end of today, five hours from now, you and me, on the beach by the lake. I will hurt you.”
With that, Retvik stormed off, presumably to go and fetch his armour and weapons. Ret growled to himself, then marched off as well, leaving Kuta and Litvir on their own.
“That was mean…” Litvir eventually muttered.
“It is mean, but you are clearly not doing anything to reign your partner in, so Ret and I are helping!” Kuta smiled. “And I am certain Arkay would agree. Where is Arkay anyway?”
Litvir sighed. “He is literally flying through the void on his own, doing a job for Deathven.”
“Oh. A shame. He will miss the fight…” Kuta shrugged as they got up and wandered off, to see where Ret had gone.