"Where have you been all this time, Max? Here I saved a seat for you during lunch expecting you would come," Flintheart began when I finally came back from my lunch with Cammie.
"And why do you look so happy too? Your friends said something funny?"
"You don't see me asking about your lunch. I have no obligation to answer any of your questions, especially those ones," I answered him.
The rest of the teachers looked to be enjoying their break, and it was then that I realized that I was called in for absolutely no reason.
"Wait, why I'm I even here? I thought the next event was in play,"
Flintheart patted the seat next to him, "It is. Come take a seat here and let me explain it to you, just like old times,"
I folded my arms and stared him head on, "What, got no friends? Need a kid to fill that void for you?"
"Ouch! You don't mask anything, do you? No, I have friends. I just want to have a one on one talk with my kid,"
"Not your kid. You lost that right some five years ago. But since I have no idea what's happening around here, I guess I can sacrifice myself for you,"
Flinty looked offended. "Is sitting next to me really that bad?"
I took a sit next to him and made a show of gagging like I was next to trash. For some reason, that seemed to make him laugh instead of what expected from him.
"So, about the next event. It's a one on one fight. That's why they are taking so long. They've been requested to bring in two of their best, male and femele, cause essentially, the main point of a war is fighting,"
"Hmm... That's not a bad idea. I guess you're giving the crowd what they mainly came here for, right?"
"You're not wrong there. This has always been the last event to be held, or at least, I'm told so, cause just like you, I came to the camp just this year,"
That caught my attention. "Oh? Here I thought this is where you've been investing your time after prison,"
"Nope. I had some other priorities to finish before coming here. I didn't even want to come to camp in the first place. I mean, me, a teacher, really?"
I felt a pain in my heart when he said he had 'other priorities' before coming here. So I wasn't part of those said priorities? Or was I just a hindrance to him?
"What's wrong, Maxy? I can tell your mood has shifted all of a sudden. Was it something I said? Or is something bothering you? Maybe I could help,"
"I think you've already said enough. I knew it was a mistake sitting with you,"
I was about to get up and leave, but Flintheart placed his hands on my shoulders before I could.
"Listen, Max. I'll never know how to fix our relationship if you keep on giving me the cold shoulder. I can tell you are mad at someone, and I feel like that's me. I don't know if things will ever get back to like they used to be between us, but I can at least try to mend some parts of it,"
I slowly placed my hands on his, then lifted them off my shoulders. "You wanna know what I went through after you left? I, at first, thought you had gone for a short trip without informing me and would come back soon, as you always did,"
"Hours became days, days became weeks, and weeks became months until by the fifth month, I was sure you either left me to fend for myself, or died somewhere. Do you know that I was in so much pain while thinking you were dead, I–I even mourned you! Then, the government at some point took pity on me and one of the officials informed me that you were alive, just on a different planet, living the best of your life,"
"Max, I wasn't living–"
"Let me finish, please! After hearing that you were not dead, dark thoughts started swirling my mind. For a seven year old, I thought that I was the problem, because of my race. That I was too much for you to handle. Maybe because I was,"
I took a deep breath before continuing, "Wanna know a fun fact, do you know that even if the government provided you with the bare minimum for your survival, they offered no protection?"
"For a Furrha to survive in that planet of ours and not get sold out to some rich sick monsters in the black market, I had to result in joining a gang. A GANG! Tell me Flintheart, WOULD YOU HAVE HELPED ME THEN?!" I found myself shouting.
Flintheart stared at me in shock. Around the snacking area, I could tell the teachers were listening in together with the generals, with the obvious silence.
"Max...I had no idea–"
"Of course you didn't! Cause you left me to fend for myself! And then you waltz back into my life again, thinking everything is just peachy, and tell me that even after prison, you had "other priorities" to deal with?! I knew I was a liability to you, but the least you could have done is had some decency to admit it to my face! Not get up and leave me all alone!"
"MAX! Calm down," Principal Kelly came in out of nowhere to try and diffuse the situation. Mr William and Mrs Lily were beside her, probably to offer some help.
"Not today, Principal! I want him to explain himself! Why...why did I have to suffer..."
At this point I was standing up in anger and hurt.
I promised myself I wouldn't cry, and I aim to keep that promise. But that doesn't change the fact that I went through hell in those five years I was alone. All the while the one person I trusted went up and left me all alone.
The principal placed her had on me with a look of sadness, but I didn't need anyone's pity. I stared back at Flinty's devastated face.
"Just as I thought. Nothing to say to me," I murmured and turned to leave but then Flintheart said something that stopped me in my tracks.
"I went to look for your family,"
I turned back at Flintheart surprised. What is he on about now?
"Flintheart, I don't think this is the right place–"
"Let them talk, Kelly. Everyone else, come. Let's get ready for the event," The head general had appeared to call us, but was probably here a lot longer to know what was going on.
All required personnel groaned and reluctantly moved out with the general. All except me and Flintheart. We waited for everyone to move out to the next event before we continued.
"What do you mean you went to look for my parents?" I asked, taking a seat back in my chair with my arms folded.
"I guess it's time I told you why I left you all alone. You have a right to know that much at least. Let's start with the day I actually left you. A month before that, I had decided you needed to meet your parents. Just so you know, I was in contact with them for a little while, like, once in a year, they would always check up on you,"
"They never told me why they didn't want you to stay with them. They just said that they had their reasons and left it at that. Before you ask, no, it wasn't your entire family I was in contact with. It was just one person, a Furrha just like you. Or at least I guess it was a Furrha. I didn't see much of him either in that period we were communicating,"
"Wait...so all that time you were in contact with them, and you never told me?!"
"I wish I could, Max. But we had an agreement with each other. They kept my secret, if I kept theirs. And I did keep it for a good while, until they suddenly stopped contacting me,"
"Hold on. I'm trying to keep up here. How have I never noticed that you were in contact with them. And what about my memories? I don't know why, but I think you played a big part in that,"
"Yeah, one secret out at a time, kid. You're still not ready to face the truth about why your family left you. At least, that's what they told me. Anyways, when they cut contact, I thought that something terrible must have happened to them, cause even if they kept a lot of secrets away from you, they looked like they cared."
"One year had passed since they contacted me, and then I got worried that you would never see your family again. So one day, I decided to make a short trip to where I thought they were, or at least, where the location of the last transmission came from,"
I shook my head in disbelief, "A bit of info would have sufficed, a letter even. That was all I asked for. I really thought you left because you didn't want me,"
Flintheart shook his head furiously, "I would never have left you willingly, never saw you as a liability either. But maybe I should have left something to alert you if I had known I was walking into a trap set out for me. Being a fugitive and all,"
I thought it through, then suddenly burst at him, " You think I'm stupid or something? Even a toddler could come up with that story!"
Flinty had tears in his eyes at this point, "Max please! You've got to believe me! I never meant to hurt you. But even if you don't believe me, then believe this,"
"After getting out of prison, when I said I had other priorities to deal with, that was because of you. I immediately returned to the Razor planet, but never found you where I left you,"
"Duh! Had to move out at some point. The government could only do so much,"
"In the entire planet you were unknown, that even searching for you there became impossible. It took me some time, but I willed myself to leave the place it was certain you were, to other planets since I was desperate,"
"Then I came to Earth. And when the Beast king heard that I was around, he issued that I was to work for one of the camps as a teacher. Of course, I refused at first, cause at some point I thought you had gone back to your home and was on my way to search for your parents. But then, I remembered I still owed the king a debt."
"Guess how much surprised I was when I was forced into the camp Mars and saw one of my students' names was Mandrax Randolff,"
"I'm I supposed to believe that tall tail you just came up with at a moment notice–"
Flintheart snapped his fingers and all of a sudden, I found myself in a different time.
"What is this?"
"Prove of what I said is true,"
Sure enough, what all Flintheart had told me was true, as he clearly showed me through his memories. I have no idea how he did it, but I could suddenly feel like I was with him all the time he traveled in the universe, which, may have been just a few seconds, but those were enough to see what I needed.
Once we were done, he moved us out of whatever we were in, and we just sat there silently, no one with anything to add on.
I finally broke the silence, " I know it's not right, but let me just say that that was unnecessary, you going to search for my parents. I had already come to terms with my life without my parents because I had a cool dad to take care of me. I didn't need anything for the people who keep secrets from me, even if they are my family. I just needed you, dad,"
"You've never called me dad before, ever. It's kinda nice,"
"Well, enjoy it this one time cause that's the first and last time I'm calling you that, Mr Flintheart,"
He looked at me confused before asking, "Aren't we good?"
"You can't erase the past, Flinty. That's just how it is. The same way as I can't talk about everything that happened to me when you were gone. I passed through a lot of pain and torture when you were away, and yes, I know it's not your fault, but no, we're not good. But thanks for telling me the truth, maybe we can start making our relationship from here on out,"
Flintheart's eyes narrowed,"Wait, what do you mean torture? Max, what exactly happened when I was away?"
I tightened my mouth. I didn't want him to ask that question cause now I would feel obligated to tell him the truth.
"I guess you have a right to know as much as anyone. So, you see the gang I spoke of–"my voice suddenly failed me. Then all of a sudden, my vision started to blur.
"Max? MAX!" Flintheart screamed after me.
"Oh no, I don't feel so good,"