Grice

Book Two

Volume 5

Ch. 64 Grice

Pov.

-Colt-

It didn't take dad very long to find us a place to stay

After that, he managed to get a job at a local mechanic shop and bought himself a few cigars

Now the three of us were on our way home

"Hey, dad. Let's buy a ball tomorrow" I tug on his shirt

"For what?"

Before I could respond I accidentally bump into someone

"Oh s-sorry sir" I quickly apologize

"Careful where you're walking, Colt" Sasha pats my back

"Hey!" The man shouts

"Oh…"

A Marleyan soldier

"How dare you?!" He growls

"Please, I beg. Forgive his clumsiness" Sasha bows her head

"Y-yes, it shouldn't had happened, please forgive me" I follow her lead

"Is that the best you can do?"

…

Sasha slowly gets down on her knees and bows her head to the ground

"P-please, forgive my so-"

He slams his foot on her head

"Hahaha, absolutely pathetic!" He smears the bottom of his shoe on her head

"You! Did you father this devil?!" He shouts at dad

"Yes, what of it?"

"Drop down on your knees and apologize you fool!" He steps off of Sasha

"I'm sure you heard my son apologize not once but twice already." Dad says in a steady tone, "Not only that, you even made my wife apologize for him. Rather petty don't you think?" Dad turns around to face the soldier

"What?!" He growls

"P-please excuse my husband h-he's had a long day at work" Sasha jumps in between the two

"Move Eldian!" The soldier shoves her aside

"He's only five, why are you getting so worked up over a little mistake, huh?" Dad opens his arms "look, if you'd just accept his apology we'd all be home now"

"How dare you. I want you to beg for forgiveness for breeding this devil that forever stained my uniform with his filth!" He spits at dads feet

I look up at dad

His eyes widened

He looked angry

So angry..

I felt chills run down my spine

"Hah you know what? Fine." He looks at Sasha "I'll just have to take you into custody. Your wife here can satisfy the Eldian dogs in the Marleyan army" he reaches for Sasha's wrist

"No," dad flicks the coolie up so that he could look the soldier in his eye "how dare you?" He grabs the soldiers throat

"What are you doing?!" Sasha gasps as dad raised him off his feet

"How dare you disrespect Me." He tightens his grip

"D-dad, what are you doing?" I ask nervously before Sasha throws her arms around me, blocking the horrific view

"In front of my son!" Dad growls

"Ghk-gh-kgh" the soldier struggles for air

"I-it's okay don't look Colt" Sasha whimpers

I was so terrified I hadn't even notice I still had a clear view of what was happening

Dad had dug his fingers inside the soldiers throat. He was clenching his Trachea so hard the veins in the man's forehead burst

"You scum!" Dad growls as he crushes his trachea in two

The soldier drops dead at his feet

"I-it's okay Colt, d-don't be afraid" Sasha whimpers

Dad looks down at his hand

It began steaming from his body heat, evaporating the blood till there wasn't a drop left

"Come" he says

"C'mon Colt" Sasha helps me up, making sure to follow closely behind dad

We quickly arrived at the apartment where we had left Thor

After dad throws the coolie onto the bed Sasha pulls him into the bathroom where she turned the shower on

"What the hell were you thinking?!" She shouts "you just threw your whole plan to hell!" She shouts once more before I hear dad slap her across the face

"Shut up!" he growls

"Agh" Sasha gasps as I could only assume dad grabs her by the hair

"Idiot! How could you? In front of Colt!" She cries before dad slaps her again

"You too?!" he raises his voice

"Hit me again you pig!" Sasha shouts "you're out of your damn mind if you think I'm going to let you do that in front my baby!" Dad hits her so hard this time I hear her head bang against the wall

"Agh!" Sasha gasps after dad yanks her around by her hair again

"Colt is going to join the military, you idiot!" he growls "it's only a matter of time till he sees someone whether he cares for them or not drop dead, right in front of him!"

Sasha sniffs

"You're his father, he just watched you kill someone over your stupid pride" she sobs

"My stupid pride?!" He slams her into the wall

Sasha gasps before he stomps on her again and then again and again and again, over and over

He just kept going

"Agh st-stop it!" Sasha cries

I listen to dad beat her a few more times till he finally stopped "clean this mess" he kicks the door open

Sasha was on the ground behind him. Her clothes had been ripped and the cut on her lip opened again along with a bruise that was barely visible right under her eye and a bloody nose

"Listen Colt" dad slams his hand on the table

"You think you can commit? Or you wanna go home to your mom, huh?"

"I-I'm ready to commit, Sir." I look down at his feet, terrified as to what he'd do to me

"As you should. Now look me in the eye when you speak."

"S-sorry, Sir." I look up, despite how terrified I was to look him in the eye

"We're on the same level, alright boy?" he lowers his tone. "Don't let anyone tell you different."

"Y-yes, Sir" I nod

"You're My son. You don't bow down to No One. Don't take Any disrespect." He sets a hand on my head "You're a Prince… remember that."

"Yes, Sir." I nod again

He smiles

"Good boy" he rubs my head

I sigh

"Eat and rest up, kid. I want you to resume your training tomorrow morning"

"Yes, Sir." I stand up

I use a chair to reach the cereal in the top cabinet

I serve myself cereal as dad went back inside the bathroom for a bath

A few minutes later Sasha came out and began washing the dishes that had piled up with dirt and dust from the voyage here

I watch as she drank some water, trying to calm herself down

She wipes her face before turning to face me "so" she crouches down in front of me "you see anything you like a-around here?" Her voice trembles

"W-well cars are super cool in person"

"Really? You think so?" She tears up

"Yeah, though I don't think I'll fit very good with my hat"

"Heh, yeah" she smiles even though her eyes were full of tears

"You okay?"

"I-I'm sorry Colt," she hides her face in my lap "no I'm not okay. He's always this way, with me." she sobs

It was very rare that I saw him get this angry with mom. Most of the time he walked out before he'd get too angry. So seeing this side of him was terrifying

I play with her hair as she slowly calmed down

"For the past five years, every time he got in a fight with your mother he would take it out on me" she finally says

"Don't get me wrong he's a good man. He loves your mother so much that he goes as far as suppressing th-this.. side of him, just for her"

My dad… a good man?

"Y-you really think so?"

"Yes, Colt" She smiles "he really is" she wipes her eyes

I can't believe she'd go as far as to call him a good man, even after how horrible he's treated her

"Please do me a favor, Colt. I don't want you ever stepping in, not when your father's angry" she sniffs "please do what you have to, to stay out of his wrath. Even so, don't let him change who you are, okay?"

"What?"

"J-just please promise me.." she begs

"I… o-okay" I tear up

"No don't cry, don't cry" she wipes my face as the bathroom doors opened

"Uaghh hehe" dad chuckles before his smile fades away after seeing Sasha beside me

"Alright, let's get you tucked in." She pinches my nose

"okay" I giggle before hopping into bed

She pulls the covers up to my chest before stopping suddenly as if she wanted to tell me something

"What is it?"

"Look Colt.. I don't want you to think I'm trying to replace your mother, cause believe me that's the last thing I want for you"

"Oh… yeah.. I know, I.."

"What is it?"

"Well, I kinda heard you talking to dad on the boat"

"Did you?" Her face turns beat red

"Yeahh" I sigh

"W-well how much of that did you… hear?"

"Oh… well I heard how dad wants to have a baby with you" I say still not knowing how to feel about it

"Oh…" she sighs

"Do you want to have one?"

"Well… I thought it might be too early for me to be a mom, but if that's what your dad wants then… well I don't have much of a choice"

"Oh…" I sigh "right"

"Hey" I grab her wrist before she stood up

"Yeah?" she asks

"Do you think dad was happy I was born?"

I've never seen other dads treat their kids like he treats me so I just feel like he hates me

"What?" Don't be silly of course he was"

"Really?" I ask doubtfully

"Yeah, you know he loved your mom so much. That he wanted to have a child just in case anything were to happen to him. It's why they were so young when they decided to have you."

"Wow, really?"

"Sure, and I've heard he was super happy when he found out you were a boy" she adds

"Really?"

"Mhmm" she hums

"Awesome," I giggle

"Alright," she leans in, pecking my nose. "Good night, handsome"

"Goodnight" I giggle before Thor laid down at my feet

I watch as Sasha heads over to dad

"That's real cute." He slaps her butt

"Ah! He needs a mother."

"You don't ever shut up, do you?" He shuts the door behind himself

…

-13 years later

Pov.

-Falco-

My ears were ringing

M-My horse… it's… it's dead

I hold onto the hole in My gut

My vision was fading in and out…

This… this is it for me

I'm… im sorry father…

…

"Falco! Wake up, Falco!" I hear my name

"Aghhh?!" I sit up, after someone splashed cold water on my face

"Great, your up!" A boy pats my clothes

"Wh-what? Where are we?" I ask after dirt flies over our heads

Where's My horse? And that wound in My gut?

"What do you mean? Are you okay Falco?!" The boy shakes me

"F-Falco?"

"You're Falco Grice, remember?!" A girl shouts

"Hey Colt, come get your brother, he's being stupid!"

"C'mon Falco quit goofing around!" Colt shouts over the loud explosions

"H-hey, Colt" I finally remember

"Haha great!" Udo laughs

"Man, I got hit pretty hard, huh?" I rub my head

"Yeah you did, Colt had to go out there and save your sorry butt" Gabi punches my shoulder

"Yeah, well whatever. I would've made it if I hadn't helpped you up." I look at Gabi

"Yeah, thanks for that. Hahaha" she laughs sarcastically

"You should've seen her, she was soo worried." Zophia teases

"No I wasn't!" Gabi growls

"Please, General Magath. If we keep going we'll end up the same." We hear Colt trying to speak to the General

"Then what do you suggest we do, Eldian?!" Magath shouts at Colt

"I think it's time we let Piek and Gillard handle the rest" Colt suggests

"No way, it's far too early, we can't risk losing them to the Anti Titan armored train" Magath turns him down

"Man, if only I had four more hand grenades" Gabi mutters

"Too bad we're out of everything" Udo sighs "we've been overwhelmed for the past five hours. Don't expect to find much."

"Yeah, I had an idea but looks like it just went up in smoke" Gabi sighs

We're going to get completely overwhelmed soon

Now that I remember there was a large crater about 20 meters out and it's around 10 meters from the bunker with the gunner spraying us down

I have to at least make it to the crater, then I could throw a grenade just outside the bunker in case they have explosives strong enough to stop the train inside

The grenade should stun them for a few seconds giving me enough time to reach the bunker but that's it

Dammit but by the time I get there they'll be ready to shoot me down, plus I'm not so sure how many of them there are

I should be able to take on two or three at a time but that's it, if there's more than that I'm surely dead

I pull my C96, checking how many bullets I had

Only three

Damn that's not..

I spot something in Udo's back pocket

"Hey Udo, is that a flash?"

"Huh? Oh this thing?"

"Perfect!" Gabi and I shout but I manage to snatch it away before she could

"Hey, give that! I have an Idea!"

"Yeah? Well I do too" I shove her aside as I head over to General Magath

"General Magath, Sir!" I salute "with your permission. I'd like to propose a plan to destroy the armored train"

"Get out of here, Filthy Eldian! How dare you speak out without permission!" Magaths second shouts

"You have a plan?" Magath asks

"This is my brother Falco, Sir." Colt introduces me

"Yes, I've seen he's quite gifted in the strategic field."

"Thank you, Sir." I bow my head down

"On with it then"

"Look, Sir. With all due respect I think we can all agree I don't have time to explain, it's a bit of a gamble but I'm very confident I can infiltrate that bunker and use their explosives to stop the armored train."

"A gamble?! How dare you? We're better off sacrificing all you stupid Eldian trash than waste our time on a gamble" Magaths second shouts

"How are you so sure there's explosives in there?!" Magath shouts over the gunfire

"That's the gamble… Sir."

…

-to be continued