Blessed by Night

If before all of this, Sei had been told that she had a brother half her age, she would have called whoever told her such a thing an unbelievable liar.

When she still lived at home, Sei recalled that her parents were more like business partners than a couple.

They both had business and household affairs that they attended to with the utmost precision. But they never showed any actual indication that they loved each other.

Not a pet name was shared, not a kiss was given. Sometimes, Sei had difficulty believing that those two had actually laid down to make her. It certainly seemed improbable enough.

With her home experience aside, her father was already in his fifties when she left home. Sei couldn't picture him with the energy to make a second child.

Her mother was a bit different, though… she would have carried the child if she were convinced to. Regardless of the potential health risks.

If Sei let her delusions take over, then she could imagine her father permitting an outside donor. Maybe he was more open-minded than she initially thought?

Those delusions did not last very long once she stole more glances at her supposed brother's face. He just looked too much like the man who fathered her.

'Well... maybe mother got the surrogate then. That would make more sense.'

Malachi and the others could obviously hear Sei's theories running rampant inside her head with perfect clarity.

For now, they just decided to let her have a moment to herself to process things. No matter how delusional she may have sounded.

Sei's brother finally stopped after leading the group into the building. They were taken all the way up to the top floor.

Along the way, they passed at least a few dozen people. Many of whom happened to be evolved, like the men who met them outside.

Joanne was full of sneaking suspicions, but decided to save them until they were alone at the very least.

"We, umm...we're here." He cleared his throat.

He knocked on a pair of doors twice and waited pushed them open without waiting for an answer inside.

"Any trouble?" A gruff voice responded from inside.

Sei recognized the sound instantly and rushed inside.

"I... father?"

Two people looked up from behind a desk just inside of the office.

Sei was floored almost immediately after seeing them.

The man sitting in a chair was almost someone she didn't recognize.

He had neatly slicked hair that was completely grey with age. However, he boasted quite a large and powerful physique that simply wasn't possible for a senior citizen.

His clean-shaven face allowed one to see the strong outline of his jaw.

Sei was most surprised by his formerly cool grey eyes that were now a luminous electric blue.

The only thing keeping her grounded in this situation was that the woman beside him, her mother Ayuka, looked almost exactly the same as she had last time that she saw her.

Her brother tried to introduce him, but didn't know where to begin.

"This is a little awkward, but... Do I happen to have a sister you never told me about?"

Ayuka and Kenji froze like deer in headlights. That seemed to be all the answer that their son needed.

"Why am I not surprised? God, was anyone ever going to tell me?? She has a kid who's my age! I'm an uncle for crying out loud! My niece has pink hair!"

Serana stuck out her chest with pride. "You've got two more, but I'm the cutest of the bunch. I even know how to write my own name."

"You're competing with toddlers." Malachi rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were we embarrassing each other here, Step-DadClassmate? Because I can participate if that's the game we're playing."

Anna and Bianca were terrible at not laughing in serious situations. Serana's inability to read the room almost made their stomachs pop.

For the first time in years, Sei came face-to-face with both of her parents at the same time.

And she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to say.

"I, umm... I came to make sure you both were still okay."

'That's good, just don't puke and keep talking...'

Ayuka stepped forward from behind the desk and stared at Sei with a look of bewilderment. "Oh my god, you... What have you done to yourself??"

Sei looked down at her tattoos with a flushed face. "O-Oh, these..? They're kind of a part of my powers."

"Your powers..?" Kenji raised a brow.

"O-Oh, I can show you!"

Joanne started to stop Sei, but she was just a hair too late.

Sei lifted up her skirt just a bit and made a grabbing motion over her knee.

She threw something into the air, and a moment later, a figure clad in black with a pointed mask was standing in the middle of the room.

Bianca was mortified.

"Where is this? Why am I not in Gotham???" Bianca-Batman roared.

"BABEEEEE!!! TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFFFF!"

Anna, Serana, and Luna devolved into fits of laughter. Bianca tried to set her duplicate on fire, but it flipped out of the way to avoid it.

"All of you, answer my questions now! Or I swear I will bring down the hammers of justice upon-"

Sei snapped her fingers, and the dream disappeared into a silver dust.

Three of the girls were on the ground cackling while Bianca tried hard to make herself seem small and unnoticeable.

"Kill me... kill me right now." She murmured.

Sei thought that, in hindsight, it might have been better to create something to maintain her wife's pride. But she could always apologize later.

"What exactly did you just do...?" Her mother questioned.

"Oh, m-my powers are sleep-based. I can put people to sleep, give them dreams, enter their dreams, and even attach dreams to my skin to be summoned like physical objects. We're... not exactly sure how it works." Sei scratched her cheek nervously.

Ayuka was at a complete loss for words. "That's..."

"Exceptional."

Sei's father, Kenji, stood up from behind his desk and walked around. He was so much larger than he used to be. Even larger than Malachi.

He placed a hand on top of her head, and Sei fet just like a young girl again.

"Your power is quite exceptional. You seem to have finally matured."

Sei beamed with pride. Her cheeks became rose-colored colored and her eyes brightened.

Her father looked past her and towards Malachi. Such a thing wasn't surprising, since they were quite the hot item on television a few years ago.

Even Ayuka already knew about them. It was the whole reason she had come to the States after all.

Sei finally realized where her father was staring and held her hand out for Malachi.

"I-I should probably introduce you... This is my husband, Malachi."

She discreetly gestured for everyone else to step forward.

"A-And this is my wife Anna, Jo, Luna, Celeste, Nadine, Batma- I mean, Bianca, and that's our daughter Serana... w-we also have two more, but they're in preschool..." Sei finally took a breath, feeling like she had said a mouthful. "O-Oh, and there's also our pet Serosh."

"Greetings." Serosh said politely.

Ayuka and Sei's brother were quite surprised to see a giant tiger come in, but they were even more surprised to hear him talk.

Sei felt like it took her father eons to say something next. She wondered if she had piled on too many introductions at once and kicked herself for not taking more time to rehearse things.

However, her father caught her by surprise and displayed a bit of hospitality.

"...You all must be hungry. Let's see if we can procure you some food. We'll sit and talk then."

Sei almost couldn't believe that any of this was real.