“Hold on to me.” Nikola is showing Mono around on ‘Moby Dick’ - one of the greatest spaceships of the Federal. It currently lies on the rear of the Solar System, and is planning to move soon, in a few months. She has just got out of bed for a few hours, yet is getting dragged everywhere without knowing why, but she doesn’t complain anyway. “Where are we going, father?” She asks, as she’s dodging the walkers on the pavement. “Somewhere, you will like it when you get there.” Nikola hums some song as he’s leading his ‘daughter’ to ‘somewhere’.
On their way there, Mono notices a few things.
“Hey, father. Why are those people wearing white clothes, unlike me and you who are wearing blue clothes?” She asks
“Ah, they are on their way home. They’re Eden’s understudies. That reminds me, they are around the same age as you too!”
“Am I an Eden’s understudy too?” She asks even more.
“Well, you are not, but-” Not letting Nikola finishes his sentence, Mono cuts through half of it,
“Why am I not? Shouldn’t I be there?” She stares at him deep in the eyes.
“Well..” Nikolo stutters for a moment. “You will, soon, just not now.” He seems confused about finding a correct answer, hence why he said that without thinking at all. Ironically, he is one of the greatest brains in the present, yet can’t deal with a teenage girl.
“I see.” Mono seems disappointed. Nikola stops walking, turns around and pats her on the head. “I promise you will get everything that a child would get. Now let’s go.” He smiles softly. Everyone who is walking nearby starts gossiping. “Y-yea, I get it! Now can we stop this, you’re embarrassing me..” She got flustered hard, making some guys who are walking on the side unable to stop looking at her adorable expression when her ‘dad’ pats her on the head. “So cute…” They all thought.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hey dad.” A young child, around 6-7 years old, holding her father’s shirt’s hand.
“Yes, Mono?” He replies gently.
“Will I be able to make friends at school tomorrow? I tried today, and no one wants to befriend me.” She looks down on the road with a sad face. Her father holds her by the hand, and leads her to the park on the other side. “Come here with me, I will tell you a few things.” He takes her to an empty grass field, with a swing and a sandpool. He helps her get on the swing, although she can just get on by herself.
“I love playing swings, but what does this have to do with the earlier thing I said?” She looks happier after getting on the swing, with a little twist of confusion on her expression towards her dad. “You see, the Havengate family is like a swing. Sometimes we go up really high, and sometimes we go down really low. My job here is to make you go higher than an average Havengate, so don’t worry.” He pushes her gently.
He stops her from behind the swing. “I may not be the best father in the world, but I will do anything to make you live a good life.” Then he pushes forward with a little force. Little Mono is shouting in pure happiness. This is one of the few moments in her life where she actually was herself.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mono and Nikola stop in front of a big building. It’s an apartment building, around 20 floors. “Welcome home, my daughter.” Nikola pats Mono’s head as he’s standing next to her, while she is still amused by the building. Maybe this is her first time seeing something this high. “Are you saying this is our house?!” Excitement jumps out of her eyes, it appears very obviously. Nikola nods, then proceeds to lead his ‘daughter’ inside.
They both walk inside, into the lift section. Nikola presses on the button with the number 13 on it. Mono suddenly hugs his arm. “What’s the matter my dear?” He asks gently. She replies with a small voice: “Isn’t 13 a bad number? Why’d you pick it?” The excitement turns to anxiety in her expression. “Hey now, numbers here mean nothing alright?!” Nikola quickly resolves the conflict in her own self. “Look! If you want we can change the floor too!” He shows a pile of keycards inside his white lab coat. Mono hugs him even harder. “It’s fine, as long as I’m with my father.” She rubs her head on to his chest, which turns into an awkward situation for Nikola inside the lift. Some ladies in the corner whisper to each other “He must be a really good father”, and it keeps getting louder and louder to the point where Nikola can hear it. “Hey can you stop, Mono?! You’re embarrassing me now!” His face turns tomato red, as he’s trying to pull her out of him, but her hug is way too strong, it’s like she’s holding on to him on purpose. She whispers to her dad: “This is my revenge for what you did earlier.” Then smiles at him dangerously. “This girl..” Nikola’s face is still tomato red, the ladies behind are giggling while Mono is just enjoying her ‘revenge’.
This is the beginning of a new life for Nikola. It is also known as “Life with a Nephalem”.