“Sage♪  

This is your uncle Pinoki.” Zinnia caringly lifts the child in between her arms

The baby boy passes an interested glance at Pinoki through his emerald green eyes, before turning his focus to his mother’s chest

“He just woke up so he’s probably hungry.” Zinnia slips her finger into the baby’s small hand twirling it around,

“Looks like a mini Darius,” Pinoki waves his hand above trying to capture its attention to no avail

“Doesn’t have either of your eyes though.”

“He’s a special boy that’s why.”

“Or he’s born with magic poisoning,” Shiryu negativity inputs and receives a rare scornful look from Zinnia

“Sorry, I I’m just saying, he might have been predisposed to high levels of mana or magic before birth,

It’s not dangerous or anything, 

I didn’t mean to sound negative.” The young man starts profusely apologizing

“Well I never heard of such a condition.”

“It’s extremely uncommon and isn’t deadly or dangerous so when it does occur most wouldn’t think any of it.” 

“griill.” Sage mumbles indiscernibly to Shiryu’s words as if he understood

“This is your long lost uncle Shiryu,” Zinnia lifts his tiny little arm to Shiryu for him to shake

The baby’s eyes sparkle elegantly at him when he shakes it with his fingertips

(I wonder if Kage is the reason for your condition little one…)

“Uncle… I like the sound of that.” says out loud 

“Are any of you actually related?” Mf interjects feeling quite out of place himself

“Zinnia and I have been through enough to be considered siblings, and Shiryu claims to be a brother of Apollo.” Explains Pinoki

“Wait you are actually related to Apollo?

It’s weird how things end up.”

“I am, but we have never met yet regrettably…” 

“When Kage finds him I’m sure you two will meet then.” Mf says reassuringly

“You may even get to meet my best friend Himari, she actually a complicated relationship with Apollo I think…”

“Who?

Who is this Himari?” Both Zinnia and Pinoki perk up with curiosity

“You, mr. Daniel Metal Fingers was it?”

“Just call me Mf.”

“Mf, can you tell me what Apollo and the others have been up to, where even are they, or are you from?”

“To put it in simpler terms I am from a faraway and a little over a year and half ago in my time, Apollo and Lyra was picked up by my former employers, the government,

Apollo was fine for the most part but Lyra was severely injured, I ended getting called in to help creating a cybernetic spine and back plate for her,”

“A what?

I don’t know what those things are.” Zinnia puzzles

“He’ll explain those things after, you will just get more confused if we start going the rabbit hole of tech.” says Shiryu wanting Mf to continue on his story

“Well anyway that is basically how I got aquatinted with Lyra, she came for routine maintenance from me and that was it, around the time my friend Himari was assigned to monitor Apollo, it took almost a year before they actually became friends,

And it was around that time a year later Kage showed up, he was brought in for piracy but he was released the quickly due to having some connecting to the government lead, Kage and I became friends quick, he shared the same curiosity I do, we hit it off, 

There’s some other stuff that happened between then and now, but I honestly couldn’t tell you, I’ve been in the dark about most things.”

“What about this woman, Himari?

How close is she with Apollo?” Presses Zinnia

“I don’t think I should talk her personal business with strangers…” mutters Mf hesitantly

“Hey, if it’s about Apollo then it is our business.” Pinoki pressures

“…..

Ok…

Well about half a year ago, the last time I ever talked to Himari was the day before she and Apollo disappeared and my mother’s passing….

She was panicky, and if you knew Himari you’d know she was the calmest most nonchalant person, but she was actually panicking, I thought something was wrong an–”

“–Was it?” interrupts Pinoki

“No.

 It was not.” Mf answers irritated that he’d been cut off

“ She was stressed because apparently she was pregnant, which was the most surprising thing to me since she has so much discipline she wouldn’t even go on dates let alone…”

“So it’s Apollo’s!?” now Zinnia interrupts excitedly

“Yeah she said it was but that’s the last I heard from her, Lyra died the day after, Kage went missing, Apollo and Himari disappeared, and I became a fugitive because I tried accessing information I wasn’t allowed,

One of my neighbours from childhood was a pirate so I sought them out for refuge,

Half a year later, Kage suddenly turned up again out of the blue, he was a lot meaner and driven than before, said he’d been at the bottom of the ocean for months...

To simplify things as much as possible I’ll say, he gave me that ship I travelled here in, told me look for queen Zinnia, and he’ll get Apollo and Himari,

And now here we are.” Exhales Mf getting exhausted from speaking

“You hear that Sage, you’re going to have a little friend.” Zinnia who’s ears had shut off after hearing about another child now speaks to hers eagerly

“Gahh, this makes me more excited to get going right now!” Emotes Pinoki 

“Kage is on a crazy adventure right, and I’m missing out,”

“Don’t tell me you want to leave already after just returning Pinoki?”

“Of courseee not Zinnia

We’re going to rest first then leave.”

“You are missing an arm are you sure you will be safe?”

“If I knew it wouldn’t be an adventure, it would be a safe trip.” Drawls Pinoki

“Well then maybe you should abandon this love of adventure.” Zinnia challenges

“hahah that is a funny joke…” Pinoki begins to argue

…

....

“What do you mean disappeared?

Who are you fighting against on Tellus that would be causing Kage and Apollo trouble”?” ignoring the other two Shiryu continues to question Mf

“You said you’re from the first ring originally right?”

“Yeah…?”

“Well that’s who we are fighting against, it supposed to be a war.”

“War?” Zinnia and Shiryu gasp out simultaneously 

“Is this about the Wu Tang?” the queen who upon hearing the word ‘war’ assumes an uptight seriousness

“No, we were talking about something else,” answers Shiryu 

“But on the topic of the Wu Tang, those people we saw leaving they were here for war?”

“…

No, well not with us,

They want our alliance for one, apparently we are on the verge of a great war.”

“…”

…

....

***