Now that Mary Jane had the world’s strangest lie detector and was catching on to the fact that Levi had thrown her to the wolves, he decided he might as well tell her the truth because he might still be able to have everything, or at least come up with a better lie on the spot.

He went upstairs, to the top of the ship in their bedroom, and found his wife, speaking to The Rock while sitting on their blue and white striped bed, the room lit up by the star lanterns outside in the sky.

“Hi,” Levi said.

Mary Jane glared at him with more intense heat than the twin stars of Paradis, putting her defenses up, ready for another fight. She placed The Rock on the side table, and it went dark, going to sleep, and Mary Jane got under the covers as well.

Still afraid and standing in the doorway, Levi tried to speak.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” he said.

Mary Jane looked at The Rock but it was asleep, and now she would have to take his word at face value. Levi noticed as well, and feeling emboldened, he was ready to lie again.

He sat on the bed next to her, telling her everything she wanted to hear and then some.

Which was the problem.

It was good.

Too good.

She stopped him halfway through, gently placing her hand on his back, and she said she understood. Mary Jane understood everything, even though she didn’t know the truth of what happened because she knew everything she needed to know by then.

“I’m hurt but I can’t be angry at you,” Mary Jane said.

“What-”

“Shut up. You spoke, now it’s my turn.”

She laid back down, pulling the blanket up to her chin, getting comfortable and for some reason, the words were easier, flowing out like a river, and she had accepted long ago that something was wrong, today was the day she confronted it.

“That witch beat up on him like your dad did to you, and now you’re doing it to him,” Mary Jane said. “I can’t be angry.”

“I never hit him,” Levi shouted.

“ That’s now what I meant, ” Mary Jane said. “ Listen or else I won’t ever give you the benefit of the doubt ever again. ”

Levi nodded and didn’t interrupt her any further.

“When I saw Ace at the funeral two years ago, he reminded me of you when we were kids,” Mary Jane said.

“Pardon,” Levi asked.

“Yeah. He had the same look as you. You would always be so sad when I came to visit. Your dad would always beat on you and stuff.”

“What does that have to do with anything today,” Levi asked.

“ Everything . When you guys started hanging out, I didn’t get it,” she said. “You do have some hobbies in common but I thought it has to be something more.”

“You’re reaching for things that aren’t there,” Levi replied.

“No, no I’m not,” Mary Jane said, shaking her head. “I have a lot of time to think while traveling for work.”

“ So what's your point, ” Levi hissed.

“Does it feel good to hurt someone else now that your dad is back in town?”

“You’re the worst. ”

“No, no. You were fine until he came back, then you were back on your bullshit. ”

Levi told her that he hated when she talked like that and claimed that he needed to use the bathroom, but no one needed to use the bathroom for as long as he did, she knew he was avoiding her.

The silverback gorilla finally left the bathroom because he was embarrassed and she was still waiting for him on the bed. Mary Jane wondered why she ever wanted him, a man so foolish to hide from his own wife and his own problems.

“I should have married your dad,” Mary Jane said.

Levi paused on his way out, his hand above the doorknob, and then brought them to his sides because he was not emotionally prepared to deal with this. He was not emotionally prepared to deal with most human interaction, but this was a lot for any normal person.

“Please rephrase that. Please, ” Levi pleaded.

“You and he act exactly the same, more and more, every day . If I married him at least I knew what I was getting,” Mary Jane said. “Now I’m stuck with the same-”

“I am nothing like him! You shut your mouth or else I’ll-”

Mary Jane sighed and Levi realized he was having one of his little moments when everything would just go black , nothing to worry about, of course, mind your own business .

He said nothing, sat back down on the bed, and tried to pretend that he was winning, and so did she, but there were no winners in this argument as his wife continued her armchair psychologist analysis of him.

“That poor boy,” she whispered. “How’d you do it? Did you promise him a car or something?”

Levi laughed, because whenever they fought, sometimes she would tell him that he was so full of himself, that he thought he knew everything when she was now the one that did.

“He told me when we hang out it doesn’t feel like we’re friends. He said he wanted to keep that feeling. ”

“Liar,” Mary Jane spat. “You’re always lying!”

“No, it’s true,” Levi replied. “I’m tired of lying all the time. It’s so hard. ”

“You’re just trying to-”

“You already know. Why would I lie? He told me this so long ago...he kissed me first…”

Mary Jane saw a look on his face that she had seen a few times before but did not understand what it meant until then and now she was angry. She told herself that she wasn’t one of those women who needed a man.

She didn’t need to base her self-worth off of someone else, she didn’t need him.

But she wanted him.

“How were you seduced by an idiot,” Mary Jane asked.

“I don’t like it when you call him-”

“I don’t like it when you stick your dick -”

“I haven’t slept with him yet!”

A small, miniature earthquake, possibly a shallow 2.3 on the Richter scale that was confined to the area around Florentine Beach and the Green Bay , was felt that evening, as Mary Jane was hurt that it wasn’t about the sex, that they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company.

Levi was too proud to apologize or beg to stay, so he left.

Legs shaking, clutching the wooden railing, his ears burned as he walked downstairs. The snickering of the parasitic twins giving their two cents about his life was incessant, no such thing as privacy any longer.

“You take two consorts that give you no children. How foolish,” Tair said.

“ Maybe it doesn’t work right," Trom whispered. “Don’t be cruel.”

“It doesn’t matter if you whisper, I can hear you,” Levi shouted.

The snickers continued, and his ringtone went off. Levi sighed, leaning onto the cold wooden wall, preparing himself for another odd call.

A rare smile came over him when he saw the caller ID.

She said hi, and then drawled out his name, Leeeviiiiii, I’ve missed you.

“Mmm, hey Kalei. Did you finally arrive in town? Santos said you would be coming,” Levi said.

“Yup! This place is awesome! The beer is almost cheaper than most food!”

“Yeah… yeah, ” Levi chuckled.

Stomping around, shuffling through the yacht, he caught up with Kalei, who apparently explained to him that no one really died anymore which was somehow nice but very concerning at once.

After finding his cigarettes, carefully stepping over the glass on the deck, Levi could finally relax, or the closest he could get to it while discussing the nature of their lives. The paper star lanterns floated in the breeze, and Levi wished he could leave with them when Kalei told him grandpa was going to kill his father.

“Santos can’t. I mean, he’s horrible but-”

“Why do you call him that? He’s your great-grandpa too,” Kalei huffed.

“Kind of, but that man should not be allowed to raise children, not even a pet rock,” Levi replied. “He can’t kill my dad. If he dies, who is going to run the Academy? All my uncles and aunts are ancient. ”

“You could.”

The trust fund baby did not want to.

Levi took out his lighter, given to him by Ace, red and gold, and lit his cigarette, listening to Kalei tell him more ridiculous things. She confessed that she didn’t come to Paradis for vacation, she came on a mission.

“Are...you going to kill my dad,” Levi asked.

“Oh no! Santos sent me here to find Uncle Rico! He and grandpa are the only ones who know where he hid a bunch of treasures.”

After more prodding, Kalei admitted that she didn’t know what the treasures were, only that Santos promised her she could have one once she found Rico, and that she had to make sure no one else could get their hands on it.

Levi gripped the railing, and he knew what the treasures were. He never thought that Rico’s recent disappearance had anything to do with them. Rico would disappear for months at a time, and then reappear, once he was all out of money.

He took another drag of his cigarette and made a quick plan to find out the truth while keeping others in the dark, but then he stopped himself. Lying was so tiring, and he decided to be honest with someone.

“Kalei, he sent you to find Rico because he hid celestial objects and made himself forget where he put them,” Levi said.

“What makes you think that,” she asked.

“My aunts and uncles stopped using them. I figured they just got too old, but maybe that wasn’t what happened after all…I think he hid them and made some of them forget.”

They decided the only other person they could tell and trust would be Sara, and Levi told Kalei he would call her later. Levi ended the call, and unknowingly a third participant had been listening the entire time.

In the morning, when Maximillian would drink his coffee, black with only two sugars, and get his daily reports of everyone he surveillanced in his email, he would learn that his older brother had betrayed him.

He would slowly shut his laptop, smile, and then decide to pay Rikka a visit to find lost memories.