The Therapist

Despite all their attempts to the contrary, Crystal wouldn’t talk with Ridley or Alinyah during their walk back to his home. Upon stepping through the front entrance, Crystal dashed towards her room, yelling, “I want my pawents!” before slamming the door shut.

Alinyah approached Crystal’s room, only to find the door locked. She thumped her head against it, “Khës de,” Alinyah growled under her breath in her native tongue. “Oh, sorry, sweetie. Please tell me you didn’t hear that.”

“I hope she didn’t,” Ridley commented as Alinyah proceeded to bang her head against the wall a few more times. “Kids shouldn’t learn language like that until they’re old enough to understand what they’re saying.”

“She heard a lot worse when Tai was looking after her,” Alinyah moped. “I’ve never heard her say anything crass though. Not yet, at least.” With some reluctance, Ridley’s step mother pulled herself away from the doorframe and joined him in the kitchen. She was gratified to see that he had already poured her a drink, which Alinyah downed instantly. “Was it ever this difficult for you?” Alinyah said suddenly, sitting on one of the stools.

The question caught Ridley off guard. “Was what difficult?” He asked.

Alinyah gestured vaguely in the direction towards Crystal’s room. “When I came into the picture,” She clarified. “Did you resent me… for trying to replace your mom?”

Now knowing what she meant, Ridley realized he needed a drink just as badly as Alinyah did. Fixing himself some bourbon, he felt the spirit burning its way down his throat. “Scott – father – lost my mother when I was maybe one or two years old; She was always a frail and sickly woman.” he confessed, letting the drink sit. “ I don’t really remember much about Elmyra except for impressions and feelings. I knew she loved me. I knew she loved Father. But after she died, he stopped talking about her. Aside from visiting her grave on occasion, he pretended she never existed.

“You never replaced Elmyra,” Ridley said suddenly. “There was nothing to replace. I don’t have memories of her. What I do have are memories of you.”

Blushing, Alinyah smiled into her cup. After a long pause, she mumbled “Why is it that out of all my children, I always come to you when I’m feeling down?”

“Maybe looking my age helps you act your own,” He teased. “But then again, I’d be lucky to reach a quarter of yours, Alinyah. You’ve lived so long. It’s only natural you’d start to learn and relearn some lessons over that long a lifetime.”

“I guess I didn’t really learn how to be a parent until I had to be with you,” Alinyah agreed sheepishly, twirling her finger in her cup. “I’ve had more children than I can count, Ridley. I’ve had to bury more than I thought I was comfortable with. Three hundred years of poor parenting, only to finally get it right with you.”

“You don’t mean that,” Ridley said earnestly. “The times you grew up in were nothing like today. Sure, there’s a war going on now, but you told me yourself, you didn’t care about the threat of the Dark Lords until that Mark showed up on your chest. You were a different person with completely different values. Who you were then, isn’t who you are now.”

“With everything going on, I feel like I’ve become someone different each day,” She confessed. “I had some trouble recognizing myself in the mirror this morning. I don’t feel like I’m four hundred. I feel like a scared little girl, terrified that the next moment will be my last.”

Ridley took Alinyah’s empty glass and refilled it. It was barely lunch time, but with what's been happening recently, decorum didn’t really seem to matter all that much. His Mother took the second drink and emptied the cup without even letting it sit. “We’re not talking about you anymore, are we?” He ventured.

Alinyah stiffened, confirming his suspicion. “Last night, Crystal told me something a bit concerning,” Ridley continued when she made no comment. “She told me her parents left to fight. I’m not one to pry, but you know how my mind acts sometimes, so I need to ask: Are her parents–”

“–Dead?.” She finished. Alinyah’s lip was quivering. After a moment’s hesitation, she finally told him what he feared most. “Yes. They’re gone. Argo and Leonidas confirmed it themselves.”

The silence that developed between them became palpable. Ridley tentatively nursed his drink as he struggled to figure out what to say next. Deciding that the harm of nothing being said was greater than saying anything, he took a chance.

“Then the way forward is clear,” Ridley said slowly. “Crystal lost her parents; There is a hole in her heart now. All we can do is fill it as best we can, and hope for the best.” Taking his mother’s glass, he continued. “Growing up, you were my hero. I think it's best that you be her hero too. Win the war for her. And we can do the rest.”

Alinyah’s eyes glittered, and a soft smile graced her face. For the briefest moment, Ridley thought he saw Alinyah debate on her next move before her resolve hardened. “To this day, I still don’t understand how your students fall asleep in class.” She purred, getting to her feet.

He laughed. That particular problem seemed to stem from his specific field of study rather than any actual fault of his own. “Perhaps they just haven’t connected with me as well as we have,” he teased.

A knock at the door put a sudden stop to the mood. Alinyah whirled around, accidentally knocking her glass to the floor with a crash that shocked both of them.

“Were you expecting anyone?” His mother said quietly.

He was, and Ridley felt absolutely ashamed that he had forgotten. “Mom, if you were being followed, don’t you think they would have made their move before now?” He snapped, feeling suddenly tired, and perhaps as a result, more loose with his tone. “I mean, we’re in the shadow of the Academy. It would be too dangerous for them to try something now.”

Perhaps Alinyah hadn’t considered that. As far as he knew, this was his stepmother’s first time outside the battlefront; Ridley let loose a sigh of relief he didn’t realize he was holding as his mother relaxed from her combat position. Another knock came at the door; Ridley patted her on the shoulder in reassurance as he left the kitchen.

A beautiful young woman with striking yellow eyes and soothing magenta hair stood on the other side. Ridley took a double take at her eyes and silently cursed. The woman had white irises; a telltale sign of an Unimus. Of the enemy.

It seemed the woman had the same thought, immediately putting her hands over her head. “I’m not with the Electorate!” She blurted out quickly, eyes widening in panic. “I promise, I’m not armed!”

Before Ridley could say anything, Alinyah had appeared at his side, already transformed into her true form. His stepmother growled, her glowing yellow eyes analyzing the Unimus in front of them intently for any sign of hostile intent. After what seemed like an eternity, Alinyah stepped back, though she didn’t relax.

“Prove it,” She demanded, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

The Unimus jerked her head towards a pocket in her coat. “My name is Adero Orr, I’m a citizen of the Republic and have been in regular correspondence with Deputy Headmaster Mane since I graduated from university. It’s all here in writing, I swear!”

Alinyah glanced at Ridley, and he belatedly realized she wanted him to confirm what Adero just said. With a tired sigh, he reached over and pulled out all the documents from the Unimus’ pocket. The poor girl was shaking at the sight of a fully bestial Cait Sith.

“Put your hands down, we’re all friends here.” he said wearily, folding the papers neatly back into their original shape and handing them over to Adero. Ridley glared at Alinyah. “And by the Divines, find some clothes before you change, you somehow managed to rip your dress in the time it took for me to open the door.” His mother sheepishly withdrew from the doorframe to do as he asked. “I’m so sorry for the scare,” Ridley apologized, turning back to the Unimus. “My mother just returned from the war and is understandably on edge. Please don’t hold this against her.”

To his surprise, Adero seemed to be more in awe than in fear now that the tension had resolved. She tracked Alinyah’s departure before returning her attention to Ridley, beaming with a radiance that hadn’t been there previously. “I never thought I’d meet an Asura at this stage of my life,” she exclaimed.

Ridley grinned, waving her in. “You’ll get used to it,” He assured her. “And I promise, Alinyah is normally a lot friendlier.”

Once Alinyah obtained a fresh change of clothes Adero explained that she had been personally invited by Headmaster Light by proxy through Deputy Headmaster Mane to potentially sign on as the Academy’s counselor once she graduated with her double major of therapy and psychiatry. The fact that she was an Unimus had been disclosed and promptly waived away by both Headmasters, as Ridley understood it. The confusion, however, came from the fact that she was told to report to this place at this time exactly rather than at the Academy.

“I was given explicit instructions,” Adero concluded. “That my gainful employment at Eclipse was contingent on aiding in the recovery of the Headmaster’s granddaughter's mental health.”
Ridley and Alinyah exchanged glances. His step-mother shrugged. “Never mentioned anything to me, and he was the one who told me to take Crystal to the Academy.” she replied to his unasked question. “Although, he did mention hiding out here when I finally made it to Aeon.”

“And when did you receive these instructions?” Ridley asked Adero. “I highly doubt that the Headmaster would have been able to contact you in the time since Alinyah left with Crystal.”

Adero had the answer, and once she said it, it became obvious. “I actually started receiving these letters from Deputy Headmaster Mane as far back as a year ago, just before I graduated. It was all very odd, but it felt too authentic and detailed to have been a forgery, even before Mane confirmed their validity.”

With that being said, Ridley realized that this was Alister’s precognitive abilities at play. He had likely reached into the twisted skeins of time to find some advantage against the enemy, and had stumbled upon the tragedy. But then, why would Alister have done this instead of preventing the deaths of his son and daughter-in-law? Did he have to choose between winning the war and saving his family? Surely there could have been an outcome that would have accounted for both? Or was this yet again something Ridley had no true understanding of the matter thanks to his inability to perform magic?

“He knew,” Alinyah growled, perhaps drawing some of the same conclusions he did. “Alister knew this was going to happen, and didn’t do anything to stop it. He’s pulled some shady things in the past, but this absolutely tops it all.”

“Alinyah, wait–”

“– He let them die, Ridley!” She exclaimed, smashing her fist on the counter. Alinyah grimaced. “What parent would do that to his own son? To his own granddaughter?”

Ridley didn’t have an answer. He tried and failed to say something, but could find nothing to argue, justify or defend Alister.

“We’re not here to talk about the Headmaster,” Adero said firmly. The determination in her voice surprised Ridley. “We’re here to help Crystal. It’s obvious that Headmaster Light needed all three of us to make that happen.”

Alinyah looked ready to argue with the Unimus, then reluctantly thought better of it. “I’ll have some choice words to share with Alister when I return to the war,” she grumbled before heading towards Crystal’s room with the newly christened doctor in tow. “Crystal, is everything alright? Can you come out for a little bit? There’s someone special that came by who would like to see you.”

“I don’t want to see anyone,” Crystal’s voice shouted back. “I want my Mom ‘n Dad!”

“I know you do,” Alinyah replied. “And I wish I could take you to them; But I can’t.”

There was a pause. At first, Ridley thought that Crystal returned to ignoring them. What she finally said shocked his breath away.

“Because they’re gone?”

Her question stunned all three of them. When did she find out? Did she overhear his conversation with his step-mother? Had she always known?

After a moment’s hesitation, Alinyah put her hand on the door, as if to comfort Crystal through the wood. “...Yes,” she confessed. “They’re gone, and I know you’re sad, but I, I mean, none of us want you to be sad alone. Will you please come out and join us?”

“I can’t.”

“I understand,” Alinyah said calmly. “You can come out whenever you feel–”

“No, I can’t open the doow,” Crystal elaborated as the doorknob wriggled. “It’s stuck.”

Ridley blinked. Then, he felt his bones groan in humiliation as he realized that the room they chose for Crystal was the one with the door that easily jammed. He had always meant to take care of it, but his duties as a professor kept distracting him from fixing the frame – or was it the hinges that were seizing up?

Regardless of the failure, the door stood no match against Alinyah’s inhuman strength. There was a loud crash as the Cait Sith clawed her way through the locked door, dismantling it piece by piece. In mere moments, the door was gone and Crystal was safely wrapped in his step mother’s tender embrace, though she did look a tad distraught at locking herself up.

“Don’t laugh!” Crystal whined, burying her face in Alinyah’s shoulder as Ridley tried to keep his face straight.

“I promise, I’m not!” Ridley mused. The perception of the little girl was honestly scary at times. “I just can’t believe how fast Alinyah broke down the door.”

Once Crystal finally calmed down, Alinyah set her gently on the ground and allowed her to get her bearings. She didn’t act surprised at all by Adero, in fact it seemed like she knew her already.

“I saw you,” Crystal declared.

“Oh, is that so?” Adero replied, amused. “Have we met before?”

The little girl shook her head. “Nope. But I saw you.” She insisted, tapping her head. “Up hewe. You were in one of my dweams.” Her gaze turned distant. “But where is Grampa? He was hewe too.”

Ridley chuckled. “I’m afraid he isn’t here, he’s still fighting the robots,” he began, then winced after he realized one of those ‘robots’ was in the room with them. He glanced at Adero, who rolled her eyes and shrugged it off. “But he did contact us in a, well, roundabout way. He was worried for you, and wanted to make sure his granddaughter was doing okay.”

The little girl seemed disappointed that her dream vision was partially wrong. He supposed that she really wanted to see her grandpa in this sea of unfamiliar faces. His heart broke for her.

“Hello Crystal,” Adero said warmly. She pulled a wrapped candy from her pocket and handed it to the little girl. “My name is Doctor Orr, but you can call me Adero. I’m a ‘feelings’ doctor that your grampa wanted to talk with you for a little bit now that you're back from the war. Would that be okay?”

Crystal paused, thinking hard, then nodded, too busy to say anything as she was devouring the confection. Adero pulled out some more candy and placed them on the coffee table before continuing. “Now, if my memory is correct, you were being looked over by an ‘Uncle Tai’ since the war started, is that right?” Another nod. “I see. And did you enjoy your time with him?”

“Is this really necessary?” Alinyah interjected. “We’re supposed to be talking about Crystal, not Taiberias.”

“It is incredibly so,” Adero answered calmly. “A large period of Crystal’s time at the warfront was under the supervision of her assigned guardian. Because of that, he was just as much a parental figure to her as her biological parents were.

“And I have to say, if these interruptions are going to be a continual thing, I am going to have to ask you to leave.” She continued matter of factly. Alinyah growled under her breath, but did not say anything in retaliation.

Satisfied that there wouldn’t be another interruption, Adero resumed her work. “It’s okay,” she reassured Crystal. “Go ahead and tell me anything.”

“Well, at first Uncle Tai looked after me at Mom ‘n Dad’s house,” Crystal said, resisting the urge to eat more at the moment. With a start, Ridley realized that the therapist was bribing her into talking with candy! Or rather, distracting her so she’d be more willing to talk. Clever. “But after I told him they were in twouble, we weft to go fight wobots ourselves. Then everyting got loud and it was hawd to sweep at night. An’ it kept happenin’ evewy night. And Uncle Tai would get mad and gwumpy.”

“I see,” Adero had produced a notebook and began taking notes. As much as Ridley wanted to contribute, this was something he knew nothing about; even if he could, it was likely that he’d be dismissed from the room as Alinyah almost was just now. All he could do was sit and watch as Crystal was grilled by the therapist. “And did he get mad very often?”

“No.” Crystal said rather too quickly. The energy she had before seemed to vanish the moment she answered Adero’s question.

“No?” Adero repeated, arching an eyebrow, concern dripping from her voice. “He didn't hurt you...he didnt lay a hand on you did he?”

“No!” Crystal insisted. At that same time, her gaze grew distant, as if she was struggling to remember something important.

The therapist glanced at Ridley and Alinyah, but didn’t say anything to them. “Do you remember what you and Tai would do during the war?” She continued.

Crystal blinked in confusion. “We would fight wobots.”

“And what did you do to fight the robots?”

“Um… I don’t know.” She admitted. “Uncle Tai would talk to wots of gwown ups and make me point at pictures. Like that one!” Crystal exclaimed, pointing at Ridley’s hand drawn cartographer map of the Aeon Islands; It had been a gift from Alinyah when he secured tenure at Eclipse.

Doctor Adero’s pen scribbled something down. The fact she likely understood what Crystal was trying to convey better than either Ridley or Alinyah ever could grated his nerves.

The session went on very much like this for another hour or so. As time marched on, Crystal got more comfortable with talking to Adero, and the Unimus would talk less and less, letting the little girl vent out her feelings and frustrations. When it came to Crystal’s thoughts about losing her parents, she once again fell silent, and Ridley thought he saw her eyes darken. It seemed every time this uncomfortable pause started, Adero found something enlightening and wrote something down. The marks of her pen against the notebook felt awfully loud to Ridley’s ears.

“Thank you so much for telling me all this,” Adero told Crystal at the end. “I had so much fun talking with you. Would you feel comfortable if we did this again another day?”

Though she looked like she had finally gotten sick of the candy, Crystal agreed to another meeting. On the condition that Alinyah and Ridley could join them as well, something to which the doctor eagerly consented to.

“I hope you enjoyed the candy,” Adero went on. “Next time we meet, I’ll make sure to get something else you would like. Do you have a favorite?”

Crystal groaned. Ridley had lost count how many sweets the girl had inhaled over the course of the meeting. “Uuugh, I like… stwawbewwy,” she answered. Crystal lifted one of the caramel treats to her mouth, then thought better of it and limply dropped it back onto the table.

“Ooh, I like strawberry, too,” Dr. Adero agreed. “I’ll make sure to get some strawberry sweets for next time. But is it okay if I can talk with Ridley and Alinyah for a moment?”

Once Crystal had gone outside, her smile slipped away. The cheer she had while talking and listening to the little girl was gone, and in its place was only sorrow.

“While I will need to confer with some colleagues back in the Republic,” She began. “It does seem that Crystal has started to repress her participation in the war. While I think some part of it involves consistently being near the war’s front and prolonged exposure to the chaos of that kind of environment at her age, I feel confident that the main catalysts somehow involved Uncle Taiberias and the death of her parents.

“While we can’t rule out abuse from Taiberias just yet, I’m not inclined to believe there was any based on some of the more subtle cues she displayed while defending him,” Adero added after noticing Alinyah’s scowl. “More often than not, abuse victims will try to protect their abusers in some way, or feel like they deserve the punishments they receive from them. Crystal however, it seems, is locking away painful memories of her parents and the war by association, which includes Taiberias to some extent.”

“What do you suggest will help her?” Alinyah asked.

Adero paused before answering. “I think we should wait for her to feel comfortable to talk about these things,” She replied. “Forcing anything at this point would only cause negative developments to occur.”

Alinyah volunteered to take Crystal to the Academy, as well as offered to bring Doctor Adero along for a tour, to which the Unimas agreed to. Ridley opted to stay behind to clean up the mess that his step mother had made breaking down the door to Crystal’s room, insisting that there were better things for her to do when she had offered to help him. The chipped splinters that remained weren’t as important as the little girl, he had argued, who needed love and support from a parental figure.

His bones groaned in protest as he kneeled down to sweep up the wood. Age had not been kind to him, but he felt he still had some time to go before the end came along. Enough time to care for Crystal. Enough time to raise her right. And perhaps, Ridley mused as he began dragging the larger scraps outside towards the dumpster, Crystal would be able to grow and heal from the traumas to help others avoid the fate she herself fell victim to.

Yes, he quite liked the idea of that. And it was something Ridley felt was entirely possible after all, with his own step mother to help her. Ridley didn’t know how the War would end, but he knew that Crystal would be safe as long as Alinyah was around. She was his hero and soon, would be her hero too.