The Best is Yet to Come [Finito]

[carcinoGeneticist]

Busy. Life was busy, and that was putting things mildly. In the course of less than a full year, Apocalypse had become a father to more children than he cared to recount, been forced rather hastily into the position of King of his Suit, and had aided in the capture of a Joker.

There was a whole different box of worms attached to the last change in his life, one he didn't want to explore. Not yet. Not ever.

The damn creature was pregnant. Xiven had hidden it from him for a long time, worried how he would react. It was a reasonable reaction, he supposed, but as the Queen recovered from her rather traumatic birthing, it had been impossible to hide any longer. The man did his best to put it out of his mind - they'd deal with it when it came time, he supposed, considering it was far too late to try and stop the whole process at this point. Apocalypse ran a hand through his hair, sucking in a deep breath through his teeth and then closing his eyes, elbows propped against his desk.

Sometimes, he wondered if he was really cut out for this kind of responsibility. His Suit pride ran deep, and he wondered for a moment - if he was someone else, would he approve of the strange pale man that had slipped into the Court without a story and, by chance, been raised to one of the highest positions anyone could hope to achieve?

Of course they would. Unless they were a Highlander, of course, but Apocalypse was doing a fine job. He put on a face for the job that was radically different then the one he wore in day-to-day life, and he made his Queens proud.

His hands dropped to the desk, nails lightly raking across the surface of the wood, and he let out a slow sigh. What appointments did he have left today? There were some papers he needed to get turned in, those were finished, and... Right. Of all the people, Eldy had contacted him, requesting a meeting. He hadn't refused her, of course, but something in his gut twisted at the thought. Beyond Xiven, the man genuinely wanted as little to do with Peaches or her other daughter as he possibly could. He didn't think it was exactly official business, even though she had gone through the proper channels to meet with him. Which meant one thing.

The man glanced up at the clock. Five minutes. Was that enough time to develop a rare and fatal illness? Probably not. Instead, he sent for tea.

[Lucca]

It was something she had been dreading. Even though she'd taken up residence in the Court again, and despite the fact she sometimes helped babysit her half-siblings and nieces and...well, whatever other random children were overrunning the damn Courts, she'd gone out of her way to avoid seeing him again. Interacting with him. It wasn't hard; the man wasn't exactly adept at blending in, with his huge cursed hands and his overly pale skin and the trail of whispering female servants he left in his wake.

Eldryia pulled a face. She still wasn't sure what her sister saw in the man, but she'd finally reluctantly accepted the fact that he was here to stay. And now, with him father yet another litter of nieces and nephews, she wanted to clear the air between them.

Did she hope to be on friendly terms with the man? HAH. Hardly even possible. But she could at least hope to be on neutral ones with him. Still, the thought of meeting with him made her stomach twist uncomfortably, and she'd skipped breakfast that morning in favor of trying to pretend she wasn't making escape plans in the back of her head for when--if, no, it had to be if--things went sour.

With a deep breath, and at exactly one minute to her scheduled appointment time, she dropped lightly from her perch in the rafters in the hallway (force of habit; she didn't like her movements through the Palace tracked) and knocked on the door to The King of Hearts' office with a paw, ear pressed back to her head, but a polite smile forced onto her face.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The clock was positively crawling as he watched it, and he stared unblinkingly as the second hand slowly made its way around the face. Five minutes wasn't enough time for anything, but it also felt too long to just sit idly and wait for a conversation he really would rather not have been scheduled to have in the first place. Eldryia had done a fantastic job of ignoring him and staying out of his way, and they'd coexisted. Why did she feel the need to change that? It wasn't optimal, sure, but it... It worked.

Only four minutes passed before a soft pounding at his door pulled the King back out of his own mind, and he rubbed a little harder at his face. He could do this. Of course he could. It was just like meeting with a Club, or any other sap who needed something from his Suit and wanted to get it through him.

The difference being, of course, that this woman needed something from him and was going through his Suit to get it. It was a bizarre reversal of roles.

Before he opened the door, he glanced at himself in the mirror, making sure his professional face was well in place. His hair was neat and in order, surprisingly, and his button-down shirt was crisp, newly washed. For once, the man looked rather respectable. If he could just get the corner of his lip to stop pulling back, showing way too many teeth than a casual talk called for, he would almost look as if he was entirely neutral about this whole fiasco.

Apocalypse opened the door, his orange eyes meeting the Feline's purple, and he gave her his most welcoming smile. "Right on time. Please, come in, make yourself comfortable." The marking on her chest hadn't changed one bit - so much for the last remnants of hope that this was about seeking out a title of some kind. As soon as she'd entered the room, he closed the door behind her, and then returned to his seat. "I've sent for tea, it should arrive shortly. Now. What is it, exactly, that you wanted to see me about?"

If he could keep up his Court persona, this whole business would hopefully be over as painlessly as possible.

[Lucca]

Eldryia felt the fur along her back wanting to raise up as the door opened, but she forced it down, making herself appear as calm and collected as if he were any other noble. Or any of the other Cards her sister had mated with. After all, Eldy felt strongly about her family, and she always wanted to be able to interact with them in a friendly way without getting her head bitten off. Or her...ear. She wanted them to know she'd help them out in a bind. And as much as it soured her to think of Apocalypse as family...well, Xiven considered him so, and she'd had the children to prove it.

Some ties were stronger than grudges. Perhaps it was the fact that she was never able to meet her Father, such an important part of her family, that she had such a view, as if seeking to fill that void. Maybe it was just the fact that, growing up, her family had been all she really had. Either way, it didn't change that she was here, now, and she bowed politely to the King, posture slightly rigid, but the motion was steady.

"Thank you, Your Highness," she replied in a neutral tone, proud of the way her voice betrayed none of her mixed feelings about this meeting. She took the seat in front of his desk, ear perking forward towards him as she choked down the doubts threatening to make her turn tail and run.

He looked so very...strange like this. Civilized. Maybe she could just...pretend he was someone else, or pretend he'd changed (though she knew he hadn't, not really), and this would be a bit easier.

Breathe. Calm. Say the right things and don't stick your paw in your big mouth.

"It's about...your children." Oh boy. This was already going well. "I know you and Xi-and Her Majesty Xiven are busy, and so I wanted you to know that while I'm here, you can ask me to help in any way I can." Her ear went back a bit, watching his face carefully. No dancing around the bush; she didn't have the sort of patience for it, with her nerves as shot as they were. So Eldy just reverted to being blunt, though it was tempered with politeness. "I know that we rather got off on the wrong foot and...well, now we're sort of...family, so I thought we should at least clear the air a bit."

[carcinoGeneticist]

With his mind so focused on the illusion that this meeting really was a part of his position and his title, Apocalypse was finding himself more at-ease, in a way. He had only really spoken to the woman the once. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to miss the familial resemblance between the feline sitting in front of him and her sister. Or her mother, for that matter, but making that connection just made rage at the woman that much easier, so he pushed it aside for the time being.

The man sank down into his chair easily, resting his forearms on the surface of his desk, his lips closed over his face. To someone who didn't know him very well, which Eldy didn't, his difficult-to-read human face would likely look extremely neutral. For Apocalypse, it was actually a carefully tended expression, one designed to give very little of himself away. This game was one that took a lot of concentration, thankfully, and so his mind was unable to stray to the thoughts that had been plaguing him before. A man, a Joker, pregnant with a child.

His child.

The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile as the feline began to speak. Of course it was about his children. Maybe she wanted to tell him she hated him for the effects their birth'd had on her sister, for the way his genes had mixed so terribly.

But she continued, and his expression returned to that level calm, but there was a new curiosity in his eyes. "I appreciate the offer. We need all the help we can get." That much was true. Between the two of them and Heilyn, the court was positively swarming with infants of a variety of mixes. He paused, steepling his fingers in front of himself, still watching the woman closely. He cleared his throat, raised an eyebrow. "...But haven't you been helping already?"

Hardly had the words left his mouth when Eldy began to speak again, this time getting to the root of the problem. He went very quiet for a moment, then closed his eyes and shook his head, a short and harsh laugh escaping him before he managed to regain his composure. This time, however, he had a spark of amusement in his expression that hadn't been there before. "I believe in saying what you mean. I'm fully aware that you hate me; I'm sure you have a thousand personal reasons why that is the case and some of them are likely good ones." He gestured towards her ear, then crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back. "I do appreciate your efforts at making nice, Eldy. And I am sorry for what I did to you. I would prefer if you were fully honest with me. You don't... really want to be here, do you?"

[Lucca]

His neutral expression, or at least what she read as such, did very little to calm Eldy down. He could turn at any moment, she thought...suddenly go into one of his rages, like he had before. Like when he took her ear. What if he took the other one? Her remaining ear pressed back hard against her head at the thought, though the rest of her expression remained politely neutral. Though that was hard as he...sort of called her out on something. "I...I suppose I have," she mumbled, but then shook her head and recovered herself. "But I just...wanted to let you know, in case either you or Xiven need someone on short notice..." The more she spoke on this, the stupider it was sounding. Just great. This was one of the many reasons why she knew she was never cut out of Court life. Talking business was hard for her, and so was making polite but meaningless small talk.

She flinched a bit at the laugh, tail twitching nervously, but then...her expression turnee to one of surprise at his words. "I don't hate you...not really," she said before she could stop herself (and she was as surprised by the words as he likely was, since she'd really thought she did hate him, but it was the honest truth...) "I don't hate you. I certainly don't like you, but...no hate. I'm just...a little afraid of you," she admitted, and it was a hard admission to get out. After all, she'd seen a lot in her life, however sheltered it was. She used to go down to the dungeons and watch her Father work, after all. Not much scared her. Death didn't scare her. Not even her own, though of course she didn't want to die. But something about this man, with his unpredictability and his habit of seeming to be everywhere and the fact that her sister -loved- him, for crying out loud, and she'd already been hurt by his ex-summoner...that scared her.

"...not really," she sighed in response to his other question, but since he said he wanted honesty...no holding back. She'd tell him the reasons she was here. "But I really do feel like we're family. Family doesn't glare at each other from across the hall if they catch sight. Family doesn't avoid each other like some sort of awful, contagious disease. Family can...can talk to each other without...fear." Even as she said it, Eldy knew how naive it sounded, and she seemed to shrink a bit in the chair.

[carcinoGeneticist]

This conversation was becoming something rather interesting, though not in the way that Apocalypse had predicted. He'd expected a lot of hissing, a lot of raised fur, and maybe a little bit of blood. A conversation more like the first one they'd had. In all honesty, the man was realizing that he knew nothing about the woman sitting across from him. He had based most of his mental views of her on her appearance, on the fact that she looked more like Peaches than Xiven. Perhaps that hadn't been the case when they'd first... met, but that was the opinion that had slowly started to fill his mind.

The person talking to him now was almost nothing like Peaches. That woman was loud, offensive, could lie herself into a corner and still not blink when called on a bluff. This one was quiet, stumbled over her words when she was exposed, and didn't seem to be afraid to show her weakness.

Huh. The man blinked thoughtfully, remaining quiet as he listened to her speak and considered her words.

"In all honesty, at least a little bit of fear of me is probably for the best. Eldy, I don't know what Xiven's told you about me, if anything, but..." He licked his lips and swallowed, a brief flicker of nerves crossing his face. He didn't want to talk about this, didn't even really want to acknowledge that it was true on his own. But this woman had gotten the worst side of him, and she needed to know why. "I was recently diagnosed by an expert psychologist as being bipolar. It's my own taste of the Bog-madness, I suppose, and I probably... I should have recognized it earlier. Things have been good for a little while, but that's not always the case."

He gave a small shrug, trying to ignore the heat rising to his cheeks. This - this whole damn situation, his brain chemistry... It embarrassed him, on some deep level. "I'm not saying it excuses what I did - what I've done, for the love of the Suits. But I can tell you that I wasn't... That isn't me. Not always." Part of him wondered why he was doing this, why he was even bothering to try and explain something so personal to this damn woman.

But he was. The words had come out, and now the truth was on the table.

Perhaps it had something to do with what Eldy herself had said - they were Family now, and in his Bog-mindset, Family was as important as things came. "I wish I could promise you that I'll never do something again." His lips twitched. "...But I can't. I've... I want you to be able to talk to me without fear, but I think it's wise of you to keep a little bit of that in the back of your mind when you're around me. Just... for self-preservation."

[Lucca]

It was ironic, really. The very thing that was making Pale hate Eldryia less was the very thing that plagued her in those moment of self doubt, the thing that made her sometimes hate herself. No matter how much she wanted to be, how much she tried to be her mother...she just wasn't. She could learn all her skills from her, learn how to be a spy, idolize her and meet all her old friends...but she could never actually BE Peaches. Her personality was too different. She really had come into her own.

It was a bit distressing.

Of course, none of that was on her mind right now...what was, was that the King was opening up to her. It felt...well, it felt fair on some level; after all, she'd exposed herself to him in a way she half-wished she hadn't. But part of he didn't want to really know why he was the way he was. Part of her very much didn't want to hear that yes, he was unpredictable, and that it in fact had a name. Bipolar. She may have heard that word before, somewhere, but she didn't need to be told twice what it meant.

She knew enough of this man to know what he was like, to know about his violent mood swings. She agreed that, no, it didn't excuse him...and it didn't make it any less of a reality. But there -was- an apology, in there, somewhere.

And Eldy blinked up at him, finding herself shocked and uncomfortable, but...but accepting. For a moment, she was silent, not sure what to say to all of that, her still rather limited social experience not preparing her for this conversation.

"I...understand, Apocalypse," she said, softly, forgetting about keeping formalities now that he was being more candid. "Thank you for being honest." she couldn't manage a smile, as she looked up at him, but she did manage something...hesitantly accepting in her gaze.

[carcinoGeneticist]

There was some part in the man that twisted violently at the words even as they left his mouth, but it was too late for him to change the fact that they'd been spoken. He didn't want to let on that he was damaged in any way, that he had any lack of control in his life. He was the King of Hearts, for the love of the Suits, and he was crazy. That was what he hated most of all. He was so crazy that he couldn't even recognize it, not until the moment had passed and he was left reeling in the aftermath of what he'd done.

Eldy had been one example of that, and now, it made him feel... Wary, almost. Especially with the change in the way she was regarding him now, something new in her expression. Apocalypse leaned back in his chair, trying to seem casual.

He wanted out. He wanted to jump right out the damn window. At least that would bring this hated conversation to an end. He met her acknowledgement with a small nod of his own, forcing himself to actually look at the woman. "Everything I told you then still stands now, Eldy. I may be the King, I may be your sister's lover, but I'm still in danger. If anyone found out, I..." he shook himself lightly, trying to force the uncomfortable feeling down again. "My children are at risk now, too."

The children. The ones he'd wanted to have so badly, along with five others. They were his seed, and so would almost prove equally interesting to anyone looking to cut into an ex-weapon.

[Lucca]

Eldy still couldn't quite stop the shiver that came over her as the King looked down at her. The gaze was just...so unnerving. Maybe it was just the Bog eyes. Or maybe it was the fact that she'd seen such anger, such rage in them before. His words brought a surge of protectiveness, and her claws came out, digging into the seat. Her tail lashed, and she was silent for a long moment, practically glaring at him--until she realized that wait, he wasn't actually attacking her.

After a tense silence during which the Feline took several deep breaths to calm down, she looked up at him again, an apology now in her eyes. "I've never told anyone," she said, managing to keep her voice even. "And I never will. I keep my promises." The thought of anything happening to Xiven's children, even though she had so many, even though they were also the children of this man, sent a chill down her spine.