Death... and me

Rean grabbed the girl and looked at his mother. "Ahem... what's the chances of her father coincidently having dad's name?"

Juliana approached the girl and smiled. "Don't worry, son. There are plenty of single mothers out there who got by just well with their children. I'm strong, so I'll make sure to be just as strong... after I finish slaughtering your father."

Rean felt a chill on his back, feeling somewhat sorry for Romario, wherever he was...

Juliana then took her attention away from her memories of Romario and looked at Tamires. "So... I guess this makes her your half-sister?"

"That's kinda hard to say, no?" Rean couldn't help but ask. "At the moment, I don't even have your or Dad's DNA. So, strictly speaking, we aren't really related."

*Pah!*

*Ouch!*

Juliana slapped Rean's back head. "Stop spitting bullshit. Do I look like I care about something like bloodline? You are my son; that's all that matters."

Rean rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry... I misspoke. Yes, this would make this girl my half-sister... somehow."

Roan quickly lost his interest, though. "Seems like she knew nothing, and I didn't identify any lies coming from her, so I'm out." Without waiting for an answer, he returned to the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm.

Around an hour later, Rean and Juliana were the only ones remaining with Tamiris, having brought Tamires to a room where she could sleep. As they talked, Tamires finally began to recover her conscience, although she still seemed affected. "This... since you two are here, it means I wasn't dreaming, was I?"

Rean nodded. "That's pretty much it. Seems like Romario put you to sleep and kept you like that all this time."

Tamires sighed before asking. "Can you tell me what happened? Why did he do it?"

Rean shook his head. "The story is very, very long. By the way, I'm technically your half-brother, and this by my side is my mother."

Tamires was taken aback once again as she looked at Juliana. "That... after Mom's death, Father never felt any interest in finding another partner. Still, if the time I was sleeping was really that long, who could tell what happened during it?"

Juliana's expression was a little better now. "So Romario didn't betray your mother with me, uh? Well, at least this much wasn't that bad."

Mom scratched the back of his head, looking at Tamires' sad expression. "Mom... that's the same as saying that it was a good thing that Tamires' mother was dead."

"Ah!" Juliana immediately noticed her mistake. "Child, I'm truly sorry. That's not what I meant... yet that did indeed look like that. Definitely my mistake."

Tamires quickly shook her head. "I know, don't worry, madam." She then looked at Rean. "Can you explain to me what you know? What happened to the spaceship and everything else."

Rean didn't mind and began to tell all the stories he told his mother. Of course, he kept things like the Soul Gem System and other more sensitive parts out. He also only told Tamires about the things related to Romario and the Ruins of the Stars. If it wasn't related to them, he didn't mention it, as it wouldn't make much of a difference for Tamires. "And finally... we found you in cryostasis in this facility. It's as I said, there is no need for you to treat me like some higher-up in your Lingan Universe's army since I'm not really part of it. I just gained this ID because of the help my group gave Tanxan."

Tamires was surprised several times during the tales, but when she heard that it was Romario who orchestrated the sabotage of the Ruins of the Stars, she didn't look so shocked. "I see... so he finally couldn't hold back anymore, uh?"

"What do you mean?" Juliana and Rean asked at the same time.

Tamires then laid down on the bed as she continued. "My father truly never liked the idea of robbing other universes of their Chaos Sources. I could always tell that whenever it happened, he felt very conflicted. That's most likely because of my mother."

"Your mother?" Those words caught Rean and Juliana's attention.

"Yes," Tamires continued. "You see, my mother was someone from a Universe that had its Chaos Source robbed. Not only that, but it was my father who led the extraction of that Chaos Source during that time. Usually, you would think that such an action would lead both my father and mother to be mortal enemies. Yet, due to some circumstances, they ended up falling for each other. It was basically my mother who put the idea of stopping the Chaos Source robbing in Dad's head."

"Yet, she wasn't even supposed to be living with my Dad in the spaceship, so her views about our Lingan Universe's actions were quickly suppressed. At some point, she ended up dying while trying to stop another Universe that was having its Chaos Source robbed. As you know, a Universe without its Chaos Source will simply disappear, dying completely. That would also bring all races inside with it."

Tamires sighed. "Father was never the same when he found out of mother's death. He was even investigated since he was the one who took Mother under his wing. Naturally, he saw himself forced to deny everything, saying that he also didn't agree with her views. That was also for my sake. Nonetheless, the suspicion took him out of the chain of command even if he didn't get involved with Mother's actions when she died."

"I think... that was when he finally decided he had to do something. I don't know if it was just because of Mom's death or if it was also because he was demoted. Nonetheless, I could always tell he didn't like the times we removed Chaos Sources. Yet, even when I asked, he said he was fine and that it was his job. Well, he obviously wasn't fine..."

The rest of the story they already knew. Romario put Tamires to sleep before starting his plan. Now, here they are after all these years.