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"Dad?"
Will Shane looked at his bedroom door and there, barefoot, stood his son. For a second, in the haze of sleep, his mind thought he saw blood, for a second he heard gunshots, for a second his chest heaved, waiting for a scream or an emergency.
"Can I sleep with you?"
His six-year-old son watched him from the doorway, and he had to force his mind and heart to calm down; to understand the situation around him. First, he noticed it was night, something obvious on the surface but forgotten for a second; second, that it was pouring rain; and third, that there was lightning.
That must be why he thought he heard a shuttle.
"Afraid of the storm?" he asked calmly.
"A little," Eli replied with an embarrassed smile.
Will gestured for his son to get into bed.
Everything fell into place. He made sure there was nothing that could betray the existence of the surface. It was easy; he'd done it hundreds of times, and yet he still doubted whether he was doing it right, whether he could keep the secret.
"Dad?" His son's voice pulled him from his thoughts.
Will Shane was packing again. He knew something was happening in Slugterra, and the trips to the surface were becoming more difficult and shorter, especially since Tom had started to suspect something.
If it were up to him, he wouldn't go back to the surface. He didn't have much to lose; after all, he wasn't even talking to his wife anymore.
"Is this trip going to be even longer?" his son asked, a hint of fear in his voice.
Will couldn't say anything for a few seconds. Eli was his boy, the strongest of them all, and he loved him with all his heart. He hated lying to him, but he didn't want to break his heart. Eli, his son, his pride, with a natural talent for slugs, is the only reason he keeps coming back to the surface.
"A little longer," Eli's eyes welled up with tears, "but not too long." He said it with a calm smile; perhaps that would soothe him.
Eli looked at the ground, fighting back his tears. His brave little boy was trying to hold back his tears, and he felt that his wife was right: being a Shane would destroy their family.
Slugs clung to Eli's legs, offering him comfort.
"Don't worry, champ," he said, approaching, but Eli didn't react.
"Are you coming back?" his voice was broken, weak, and fearful.
Will didn't know. Being the protector of Slugterra was dangerous; many times he had been close to death, many times because of his arrogance. He knew that lying to his son wouldn't do any good. Even so, he smiled and did what many considered the best thing the Shanes did besides protecting Slugterra: lie.
"I'll always come back, no matter what."
He ruffled Eli's hair. Eli, his child, smiled broadly, the slugs did too, and before leaving he hugged his son with all his strength.
For Will, it was a normal interaction; he always hugged his son before leaving. He went to Slugterra without a thought for his son's fear, forgetting for days his wife who wanted a divorce, forgetting his son's unshed tears. He was simply Will Shane, the hero and protector of Slugterra.
Eli never forgot that interaction.
At sixteen, he can still feel his father's ghostly hand, his tight embrace, and the simple words that seemed like a promise to a child. He can only stare at his father's portrait in the darkness. Pretend he didn't have another nightmare, pretend his father isn't dead because after being dragged away with Blakk, there's no way he isn't.
"You didn't do it," he says softly, praying that no one from his real family, the one he built in Slugterra, is awake. "You didn't come back."
He looks into his father's eyes in the darkness.
"Liar."