Chapter Text
Eden Academy’s stella scholars received first placement preferences to the prestigious Eden University track. While the elaborate system of Tonitrus Bolts and Stella Stars no longer applies in post-secondary education, the students must instead navigate an increasingly complex world of internships and scholarly grants. At the end of the four-year program, Eden U scholars should be primed to succeed in the cutthroat world of Ostanian elite society.
As it happens, this year’s Eden University graduation ceremony corresponded with the ten-year anniversary of the Westalia-Ositanian Peace Accords. Westalian foreign exchange students were a common sight on campus these days, making the mixers and graduation ceremonies ever more important to maintaining the newfound détente between the new nations.
Young graduate Anya Forger was not (publicly) a member of this elite inner circle necessary to international peace. Her beau, however…
“Good morning, Scion Boy!” Anya brought an arm up, trapping Damian Desmond against one of the campus’s ornate wooden bannisters. “I’ve got a very important mission for you. Super important.”
Anya and Damian were roughly the same height now, owing to a last-minute growth spurt on the former’s part.
The hallways were filled with a midday crowd. All around them, their classmates’ thoughts sounded off, silent to everyone else save Anya.
I can’t believe Damian lets her bully him like that.
Before the peace accords, the National Unity Party would’ve put out a hit on her for harassing the son of the party chairman like this.
Damian’s gone soft.
With her extra-sensory skills honed by years of practice, Anya easily blocked out these voices and concentrated on the task at hand.
Damian’s face was beat-red.
“Well, did you remember? Did you tell them? Huh?” Anya said, then grinned.
“Of course,” Damian said. “How could I forget?”
Anya already knew the answer, as she was reading Damian’s mind right now. Still, steering conversations based entirely on reading ahead through people’s thoughts usually unnerved others. It was always best to get verbal confirmation.
“So, you… gave your family RVSP instructions to our engagement party?”
“Of course.”
Anya removed her arm from the wall, freeing Damian. “Excellent. Mission accomplished. Now we just need to survive graduation and we’re home free. See you this weekend, scion boy.”
Anya leaned in to kiss Damian on the cheek, then took off skipping down the hall. Damian’s mind always turned to nigh-unreadable static every time they kissed, which never failed to amuse her. Once she was out of the building and into the early-afternoon sun, Anya took some time to admire the ornate engagement ring on her right hand.
Heh. Mission accomplished.
Becoming a stella scholar had proven difficult as a child; she’d just barely managed to stay below the tonitrus bolt threshold before graduating out of the stella star-awards system. By the time they’d reached the university track, Anya had mastered the art of prying exam answers right out of her teacher’s minds. Maintaining straight A’s past that point was a piece of cake.
A few months ago, Anya had come up to Damian while they were on a mall date and said:
“Scion boy! Let’s get married. It’s essential for continued world peace!”
In truth, she’d been calling him Damian in casual contexts since before they’d ever started dating. She only brought out the old pet names to fluster him. She often embellished this when reliving memories in her mind’s eye.
Damian had bought them matching rings that day. Weeks had passed before his mind had calmed down enough for Anya to read, but he was apparently overjoyed. Fast forward to graduation season and here they were.
Hehe. Anya grinned, slyly. She’d learned the art of spy craft from father and the physical arts of super-assassin-ness from mother. Once she was the lawfully wed Mrs. Desmond, she could use her Super Cool Triad of esper-spy-ssassin powers to maintain father’s vision of peace between Ostania and Westalis. She had her fancy spy nickname picked out since first grade and everything.
Oh! I almost forgot, Anya thought. I sure hope mama and papa can find a sitter for our graduation ceremony this weekend.
One often overlooked aspect of the spy trade is the downtime. Sometimes the point of the job was to remain in deep cover, waiting as a sleeper agent for years.
After the NUP’s gradual change in policy towards Westalia, Twilight had nestled into his role as Loid Forger mild-mannered psychologist to the Ostanian elite. Active acts of espionage had taken a backburner to a quiet life maintaining his existing alibi in outer Berlint. The new Forger home was larger than the old apartment, with a full yard and some undeveloped wooded space between them and the neighbors.
Loid Forger sat in his study, tentatively filing some medical paperwork while trying to sort out the family schedule for the weekend. Between Friday and Sunday, they had to attend: a customary NUP-sponsored celebration of the peace accords, Eden College’s graduation ceremony, and, oh yes, host the Desmond-Forger engagement party here at the house.
“Hmm, perhaps I can call in one last favor from Franky, so he can look after Nadia.” Loid said.
There was a sudden gurgling feeling deep in Loid’s gut. Just because he was in deep cover at this point didn’t mean planning a full three-day weekend wasn’t hell on his gut.
It had been years since WISE had assigned him a proper mission. While he retained all his old contacts and physical fitness (which only grew harder by the day) years on the backburner could only dull his edge. Operation Strix had succeeded in weaning the National Unity Party off its hardline stance to Westalis. Everything had gone so smoothly, that in mere months he would be the in-law of one of Ostania’s leading political figures. But his secret identity as Twilight could be revealed at any time. Just the thought left an uneasy, familiar feeling in Loid’s gut.
A family portrait sat on Loid’s home office desk. It was two years old, but the whole family so far was present: Loid, blonde hair having gained some grey streaks near the temples; Yor, looking about how she did on the day they met, just with slightly shorter hair; Anya, now college-age, with the same pointy hair decs and having grown out two long streaks of hair stretching below her ears; and lastly, little Nadia. Nadia Forger, with her father’s blonde hair and her mother’s face, had just turned four when the portrait was taken. Now she was about as old as Anya had been when they first met.
There was one last thing on the Forger family schedule. He’d almost forgot! Loid wrote down “Yor’s checkup” on the family calendar for next week.
Thinking back, there hadn’t been any single one moment where Loid and Yor’s marriage had become “real.” A few months of platonic dates to maintain appearances turned into a few months of less-platonic dating. Which turned into mutually blowing off steam every now and again. Which turned into combining bedrooms for simple efficiency and to save space. By the time they decided to try for a kid the old-fashioned way, Doctor Forger had muscled his way into influencing NUP policy as Donovan Desmond’s personal psychologist. And, if they’d mutually agreed to try for a third earlier that year, well…
Having his cover burned and his previous exploits as a spy revealed was always a possibility. But Loid’s home life provided as solid an alibi as possible.
Yes, having a second biological child with Yor can only further allay suspicion and strengthen the Forger-family cover story. Excellent thinking. You’ve still got it, Agent Twilight!
In a way, the fake cover family had grown to be Twilight’s true identity. And when he looked at how happy Anya had been since the adoption, and especially at little Nadia’s wild smile, he had no regrets, not one bit.
“Mommy! Mommy! Jaws keeps trying to bite Honey.” Pouting, Nadia Forger ran into the living room, carrying a beleaguered-looking black-tan-and-white dog larger than she was.
Yor Forger maneuvered her six-months pregnant belly around a rocking chair on her way in from the kitchen. She took the dog from Nadia and performed a quick check for injuries. Jaws, a slightly larger male dog who was mostly white with some black markings around the feet, came sulking into the living room with a whine.
“Now there, Honey’s okay.” Yor put the black, tan, and white dog down. “They were just playing.”
Besides, if they were actively fighting there’d be bite wounds near weak points like the neck. Yor imagined the easiest places to strike a killing blow, then shook off the thought. There’s no time for that! She hadn’t needed to take out a dog in years.
Nadia Forger looked back at Jaws, wagging an accusatory finger. “No more. Bad dog!”
Jaws crawled off in silence.
With this latest emergency resolved; Nadia turned to her mother.
“Mommy is going to have another kid,” she said, then grinned.
“Yes I am,” Yor said. This wasn’t the first time she’d had this conversation with her younger daughter. “You’ll be a middle child. There’s no way to know for sure, but I think it’ll be a boy this time. Would you like a baby brother?”
Nadia looked the spitting image of her mother, albeit with Loid’s blonde hair. She’d borrowed some hair decoration styling from her sister.
“Mama and Papa have been flirting, haven’t they?”
“Of course. Sometimes when a mom and a dad love each other very much they flirt.” Yor leaned down slightly. “Sometimes they even… kiss!”
Nadia’s face contorted. She ran off, grimacing all the way.
“Kissing makes babies!” Nadia said, then: “I’ve gotta tell Anya that kissing makes babies, so she doesn’t kiss Damian before the wedding.”
The as-of-now youngest member of the Forger household ran off after Jaws. Meanwhile, Honey stayed and pawed at Yor’s stomach.
Yor gave Honey some pets. “Good girl. What do you think, boy or girl?”
Honey gave a single bark. Perhaps that meant ‘boy’?
The phone rang. Yor rushed to the set on instinct and put the receiver to her ear.
“Hey mom, I’m out on a celebratory ooting – er, outing with Becky. Dorm’s packed up, I’ll be coming home tomorrow to prep for graduation and the engagement party. Just letting you know.”
“Hello, Anya. You’ll be here tomorrow? That’s great! How’s Damian?”
“Excellent. His whole family will be here for the engagement party. Might want to order catering instead of trying to cook for them yourself.”
“I’ll have you know my cooking’s getting better every year.”
“Even so, Damian’s brother really likes tacos. Make sure the caterers bring some of those. Bye, mom, love you.”
With that, Anya hung up.
Yor was left in the hall with the dog and the silent phone set.
Sixteen years ago, she never would’ve imagined that the fake Forger family would’ve bloomed into a very real family in the legally recognized and even consummated sense. Now here she was, adopted mother of one college grad, biological mother to a wild implacably strong elementary schooler, and expectant mother of a bouncing baby boy.
Four years had passed since she last received any calls from the Garden. They were still aware of her location and status, but simply hadn’t called upon her assassination services. While she was more than happy with her life as a mother, days spent tending to the Forger family’s modest collection of back yard flowers, she was surprised that Garden didn’t give her more contacts in her current state. Back when she’d been expecting Nadia, her targets had always been utterly flabbergasted.
Nobody ever expected to get assassinated by a pregnant lady.