"So… how do you think all this fits into your story arc?" Tessa asked after everyone else was gone.

Greg sighed. "I honestly have no idea. When Lapodala said the Republic was just going to tell everyone what happened… it kinda threw me, you know? I was getting amped up for some kind of resistance thing, where we went into hiding, trying to create some kind of rebellion against our oppressive mage overlords, but now… I don't know, they seem almost reasonable. Like, I can't say I agree with what they did, but I get why they did it and they seem perfectly willing to own up to the consequences. How am I supposed to paint them as some evil regime when they're obviously just doing the best they can?"

"Maybe that's why you're supposed to be the villain." Tessa pointed out. "This dark, powerful being working to tear down the noble Republic attempting to save the universe."

Greg snorted. "Well, I can confidently assure you that's not going to happen. Not yet, at least. If the Republic keeps being this reasonable… Do we even really have to do anything?"

"Well, there is still the matter of the massive war with the Technocracy." Tessa pointed out.

"Oh, right, crap." Greg muttered, frowning. "Can we even do anything about that? I mean, I've offered a few solutions, and maybe Lapodala will get back to me on my mana isolation idea, but other than that… well, the question becomes whether there's enough me to really make a difference. How big is this war? How many planets does the Republic… convert each year? Even if they choose to go with my method, can I be enough to even handle a single planet, let alone the amount they regularly convert? And if they don't decide to make any changes… What am I going to do about it?"

Tessa frowned for a moment, before shaking her head. "I honestly couldn't tell you. The scope of all this… it's honestly a little too much for me. Right now, all I want to focus on is helping the world not turn into a total shitshow, and making sure Ash has the best life we can give her. Whatever is happening in the universe at large… I don't think we have the power to affect it. At least, not yet. I think- I think we should focus on taking things one step at a time, focusing on dealing with the problems we can, rather than the problems we can't."

Greg sighed, nodding along. "You're right. We shouldn't bite off more than we can chew. We need a growth arc, right? We can't just jump from insignificant characters stuck on their own planet to changing galactic politics. These things take time."

"Exactly." Tessa nodded with a smile, before pausing. "Which reminds me… now that the Technocracy isn't really a threat… we should probably have dinner with my parents. At least let them meet Ash, right?"

Greg froze. "Oh, that's going to be awkward, isn't it?"

*

It was awkward. It was so, so awkward. "Tessa, why do you have a baby?" Fredrick asked the moment he arrived, giving Ash a sharp look before turning his glare on Greg.

"I- think I should save the explanation until everyone is here, right?" Tessa replied nervously as Fredrick turned his glare towards her. Fredrick grunted, walking over to the table and taking a seat, tapping his finger on the table as he silently waited.

"You didn't tell them?!?" Greg hissed quietly as he leaned in closer.

"It- there didn't seem to be a good way to bring it up!" Tessa hissed back.

Greg let out a groan as Patrick arrived, pausing as he caught sight of the baby. "Huh… are congratulations in order?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the two of them, before frowning. "I didn't think the aliens even allowed anyone to get pregnant… Where did this baby come from?"

Tessa sighed. "It's complicated. Just… take a seat. We'll explain once Mom arrives."

Greg paused. "Mom? I thought it was just your dad and Patrick."

Tessa shook her head. "My mom initially went feral, so we lost her, but… well, she survived, so she's here. It's… a little awkward. Especially since-"

"Ah, am I late?" A woman asked, peeking through the door.

Tessa smiled at her. "No, Mom, you're right on time."

"Perfect!" She exclaimed, stepping inside, before freezing as she caught sight of Greg. "You!"

Greg blinked. "Me?" Had he met her before?

"You're that man! The smoke man!" She continued, pointing at him with a trembling finger.

"That would be me, yeah?" Greg replied, still very confused by her reaction.

"How dare you scare the aliens away like that!" She declared. "Don't you know they were just trying to help us?!?"

Greg blinked as the reason for Fredrick and her being uncomfortable with each other became clear. If she was this supportive of the Republic and he was as against them as Patrick said… "Mom, please not tonight?" Tessa sighed.

Tessa's mom continued to glare at Greg for a moment, before letting out a 'hmph' and heading over to the table to take a seat. "Fredrick." She greeted him in a slightly cold tone.

"Patricia." Fredrick returned in an equally cold manner.

Patricia turned to smile at Patrick. "I heard you were instrumental in the victory over those awful demons!"

Patrick grinned. "I definitely played a part, but Greg here was the real hero. He's the one who actually destroyed the cannons and managed to get me out of there after the explosion knocked me unconscious."

"Hey, if not for Narita, I wouldn't have been able to do anything." Greg sighed. "She's the one who saved you."

Patrick blinked. "Narita?"

Greg blinked back. "Did no one tell you what happened?"

"They told me you got me out of there… who's Narita?!?" Patrick asked insistently.

Tessa sighed. "She's- She's a Technocracy soldier who turned, saving you in the process. We were trying to keep it secret, so that she could integrate without anyone-"

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"You've let a Demon infiltrate our city?!?" Patricia exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Tessa, how-" She paused, blinking in confusion. "Is that a baby?"

Tessa pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, this is my baby. Her name is Ash."

"I'm still confused about how you managed to find a baby, let alone why you would adopt one." Patrick frowned. "Also, I'm going to need to meet this Narita. I must thank her."

"I can arrange that. I have to watch her pretty much constantly anyway, just in case, you know?" Greg replied.

"Of course. A Demon cannot be trusted!" Patricia declared.

"This Demon saved our son's life." Fredrick growled. "Can you not take that blindfold of propaganda off your eyes for one second to see the truth! These aliens are using us!"

"To be fair, they do have their reasons." Greg interjected. "Esoteric reasons to be sure, but, you know, reasons."

Fredrick raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

Greg shifted uncomfortably. "Well, see, they see mana as the only way to combat the heat death of the universe, which… Well, they probably aren't wrong, you know? So they believe they have to spread mana, and they claim that this is actually the least destructive method they've found to do so. Obviously I think there's probably a better way, but I haven't been the one dealing with this crap for who knows how long, so maybe I'm wrong."

Fredrick frowned. "This war is about entropy?!?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I thought it was weird too." Greg shrugged.

"Can we get back to the baby?" Patrick interjected.

"I was specifically trying to move past the baby." Greg retorted with a slightly nervous grin.

"Oh, then I take it this is your doing?" Patrick responded with a smirk.

"Is your name really just a combination of your mom and dad's?" Greg countered.

"Greg, we need to tell them." Tessa interjected with a sigh.

Greg's expression twisted, before he let out a sigh as well. "Yeah, yeah. So… ugh, basically- you know how I was stuck in the transmutation chamber for two years?" They nodded, Patricia more hesitantly, glancing at Patrick for confirmation. "Well, I basically thought that I was the last human, and the rest had been killed by aliens, because I legit watched humans being killed over and over and over when I got stuck in there. So… I may have gotten a little desperate and decided to try and… repopulate. I had access to the DNA of a few of my squadmates, which included Tessa, so… Well, that's where the baby comes from."

Patrick blinked at him. "You can just make babies as long as you have some DNA?"

"Essentially." Greg nodded. "I mean, it isn't like I can just poof them into existence, but I can make copies of people and biology is biology."

Patrick's eyes widened. "So you made a clone of my sister, and… dude, that's kinda messed up."

"That entire time was messed up." Greg shook his head, remembering some of the things he got up to, particularly early on. Tessa did not need to know the things he'd done with her form. "I… was not in the best state of mind for a lot of that period. I did pretty much whatever I could to distract myself, which unfortunately included hair-brained schemes to 'fix' the situation, like trying to repopulate humanity."

Patrick shook his head. "I get it, but still, it's weird."

"Strangeness aside, that means genetically, this child is still yours and Tessa's, correct?" Fredrick asked and Greg nodded. "And you both are dedicated to raising her together?"

"Completely." Greg assured him.

"Absolutely." Tessa answered at the same time, the two of them turning to share a small smile before refocusing on Fredrick.

"Then I wish you both the best." Fredrick nodded. "This… circumstance that has been forced upon us has brought many strange situations into our lives, but the purity of family remains. Loyalty to you and yours should never falter, no matter how the situation came about."

"I can't believe I'm a grandmother!" Patricia sighed wistfully. "May I hold her?" Tessa smiled and nodded, carefully transferring Ash over to her. "What was her name again?"

"Ashley." Tessa replied. "Though we just call her Ash."

"Little Ash." Patricia cooed, rocking slightly as she cradled the baby.

"Ah, crap, I'm an uncle…" Patrick muttered, shaking his head. "I'll need to work on going bald and developing a beer gut."

"With what beer?" Greg asked, chuckling slightly.

"Oh, don't worry." Patrick winked. "If there's one thing humanity is good at, it's finding ways to turn whatever is on hand into the most effective inebriant they can."

Fredrick chuckled. "Even magic can't stop the moonshiners."

"Or at least, the Republic knew better than to try." Tessa added. "After kidnapping and forcing us into the military, if they'd tried to outlaw booze, they would have had a full on mutiny on their hands."

"If only they could have been so foolish." Fredrick sighed. "Come on, let me see my granddaughter." He gestured for Patricia to hand the baby over.

*

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Tessa commented after her family had left.

"It really wasn't." Greg agreed absently, a bit surprised. He'd honestly expected Fredrick to be… maybe not angry, but at least stern. Telling him off, arranging a shotgun wedding, something. Having him just accept it was… weird. But Greg couldn't deny it felt good. Having family around, just accepting each other, even if they didn't necessarily agree with each other. There had been a few… spirited discussions as the night went on, relating to the Technocracy and the Republic and how humanity should approach them, but the arguments remained… civil. Maybe it was the baby, but no one seemed interested in yelling. They just said their peace and moved on. Greg had a feeling that wasn't exactly normal, given Fredrick and Patricia's attitudes towards each other at the start, but still, tonight was… nice.

"Are you going to miss them?" Greg asked.

"Of course, but… they have their place here." Tessa sighed. Towards the end of the night, Tessa had brought up their decision to travel, asking if they'd like to join them, but they'd ultimately refused. Despite his low position, Patrick was still one of the more powerful individuals in the city, and he didn't want to abandon it right when they needed him most. Similarly, Fredrick believed he could do more to help a city than a traveling band. Plus, Greg could tell he still had some political aspirations, and now that the aliens were no longer in the picture, he actually had a shot at making them a reality. As for Patricia, she just didn't like the idea of spending her life traveling through the wilderness. She enjoyed her amenities, and the life of a wanderer made such things difficult to find.

"I still think we could have convinced Patrick." Greg muttered.

Tessa shook her head. "Maybe, but why pressure him? If he's happy here, then let him be happy. We don't need to drag everyone we know with us all the time."

"We don't have to, but I do like to." Greg replied. "I've had my fill of being alone…"

Tessa turned to him with a serious look. "Greg, you'll never be alone again. Not as long as I can help it."

Greg smiled at her, pulling her into a hug. "I know." *I'm just worried about when we can't help it.* He sighed internally, but he left that part unsaid, simply hugging her a bit more tightly.