“Bruce, they’re fucking thirteen! They’re having grown-ass sex, and there’s a goddamn baby on the way! I’m going to be a grandmother!” Alicia's voice pierced through the room.

Bruce's response was calm and measured, “You are right, but it has already happened, and the children don’t seem unhappy about it.” He spoke slowly, almost as if trying to navigate a treacherous terrain.

Zoey imagined it as if he was talking to a child. It would be humorous if her mom wasn’t completely serious about this whole thing. Not that Zoey wasn’t taking this seriously, but the fact her dad had to talk down to her mom like this was embarrassing and funny. It was upsetting, honestly.

Amid the brewing storm, Elizabeth turned to Everett, her voice carrying an uncertain note, "Everett, do you want to have this baby?"

Everett's response was nonchalant, "I don't mind."

“Everett Benton Winters!” Alicia redirected her intense emotions toward her youngest.

Everett's retort was sharp, his voice uncharacteristically raised, "What's the big deal? It's just a baby. We're rich enough to take care of another mouth. I don't get why you're freaking out, Mom!"

Which was a rare occasion in the Winter household. The voice raising was saved for Zoey and Alicia. Mostly Alicia and rarely Zoey. Bruce didn’t raise his voice unless he was being supportive. Everett never liked it when his mom raised her voice, so he rarely raised his voice.

Alicia's response was more of an explosion than a sentence, "It's not just about money; it's about caring and bringing a new life into this world! It's about being responsible, even when you don't want to be! You won't have time for your games or your tournaments or anything you used to find fun!"

“Quit projecting your failures on Everett.” Inner Zoey defended her brother.

“Excuse me?” Alicia turned her highly strung emotions at Zoey.

She looked at Zoey with a look that would’ve made her shrivel with fear. Before she got the box, that is. It was a look that promised punishment in the near future if she didn’t agree and follow Alicia’s orders. Inner Zoey stared into her mom’s eyes and clearly repeated herself. “Everett won’t turn out like you. He’ll be a great parent. He’ll have people that love him and support him while he’s taking care of his child. I’ll even babysit if I have to.” Zoey felt something rising inside of her. Years upon years of buried trauma from her mom’s crap parenting were boiling, wanting to explode.

“I did my fucking best to take care of you two! I had no one to rely on but myself! I worked two-three jobs just to feed you two! And this is how you treat me?!” Alicia made it all about herself, just like she always does.

Inner Zoey couldn't take it any longer, "This isn't about you! It was never about you! Stop playing the victim! This is about Everett and Elizabeth! Can't you see beyond yourself and realize that the world doesn't revolve around you?"

As if on cue, Alicia's emotions spilled over, tears streaming down her face. Zoey's patience for her mother's emotional displays was wearing thin. She held her nose bridge, a mix of frustration and helplessness contorting her features. Alicia's sobs filled the room, but Zoey found herself unable to muster any sympathy.

“The baby is staying. I’ll hit anyone who has any problems with that. And this is the end of our first meeting…” Zoey declared.

William, ever the provocateur, added his own commentary with a smirk, "A productive first meeting between families."

“Don’t push me, William.” Inner Zoey glared at William as the Sinclair Family started to leave.

“Thank you, Sister-in-law…” Elizabeth said on her way out.

Zoey ignored it for the most part. The little temptress was the root cause of all of this by sinking her little claws into her innocent little brother. He was nothing more than a cute little hermit. An innocent hermit who was more than happy to spend days on end just clicking and clacking on his keyboard and computer. Whatever… Zoey would rather not be in this position at all, but Everett has said his piece, and Elizabeth has said her piece. All she had to do was help them out to the best of her ability.

As the family meetup concluded and the two families began to leave the café, the Winters Family encountered something strange. Unbeknownst to them, a complex circle made of intricate symbols and lines began to shimmer and glow with a soft, eerie light beneath their feet. A bright flash of light blinded them as they didn’t understand what was going on. Shocked gasps and yells came from the Winters Family, completely confusing them.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Zoey was not in the mood for any type of shit right now. She activated Overdraft and was ready to pound anyone or anything that was willing to involve her family. As her eyes recovered from the bright light, she saw a large group of young magjistars standing in front of her. Some smiled, some were posing, and the others looked angry.

“Listen, I don’t know why you involved my family in this, but I’m only going to tell you this one time. Let us go, and I’ll play with you all another time. Isn’t there a rule about not involving family or something in the magji world?” Zoey asked.

“Nope. That’s not a thing!” Tink happily added, not concerned in the slightest.

“Heh, you should’ve thought about this when you decided to involve our families with your little prodigy hunt.” One of them snarked.

“Do you know how hard my father forced me to train after that day?” One seemed filled with rage.

“These are the consequences for defying the Connate Faction, gully!” Another one shouted.

A group of prodigious magjistars, young and brimming with ambition, emerged from the shadows. Their eyes were sharp with wrath as they assessed the individuals before them. A spike of anger rushed up Zoey's spine as she recognized the faces of some of these prodigies. They were from the prodigy hunt she went on with Victor, and these fuckers still haven’t gotten over it?

It looks like there was no need for prodigies in the OM if they had the time to set up a fucking ambush for someone that was exiled from the magji community. Sure, she was here, but she wasn’t like working for the OM anymore. All of these assholes had the time to be here and do this for her. Over one little fucking lost. They were willing to involve her family in this petty shit.

‘I told you we should’ve torn this place to the fucking ground.’ Inner Zoey dug her claws into Zoey’s weak spot.

‘It’s not what Victor would’ve wanted…’ Zoey softly argued.

‘Do you think he would’ve wanted your family to be in danger?’ Inner Zoey retorted with spice.

‘I’ll… deal with it…’ Zoey could feel herself being tempted by the deepest part of herself.

“Stay behind me,” Zoey told her family.

The prodigies slowly surrounded Zoey and her family. Zoey saw little need to hold back against people willing to threaten or hurt innocent people. Non-magji people, at that. If these were what the magji world considered prodigies, they were better off without them.

“Attack!” Someone yelled.

“Combo Volume I: Combo Time!” Zoey wasn’t kidding around.

They really didn’t hesitate to attack her family with magji… Zoey vanished in the sights of most as she appeared near the magjistar, rushing toward her family. He manifested a large blade of ice and swung it toward her mom. In an instant, Zoey shattered the sword into pieces of ice. Her fists landing on his chest forced his body to dent inward.

Right upper chest, left upper chest, right middle abdomen, left middle abdomen, right lower abdomen, to left lower abdomen. Almost instantaneously, the bones in his body were broken as Zoey grabbed him by the face and tossed him toward the female prodigy kicking toward her brother. The ice magjistar was sent flying into the kick as Zoey blinked behind the high-flyer. As the girl’s foot sunk into the already broken ice magjistar, Zoey grabbed her from behind and suplexed her directly into the concrete ground. Her neck nearly snapped if the sound of the crash was anything to take note of.

Zoey circled around her family, brutally crippling or nearly murdering anyone who was brave enough to charge at her or her family. It wasn’t until crying, groaning, and moaning plagued the battlefield that the prodigies understood that close combat wasn’t an option. So, they began firing ranged magji. To Zoey’s frustration, they did it while surrounding her instead of all from one direction.

In her desperation to protect her family from harm, she hugged her family before blinking away to avoid the magji attacks. Lightning, fire, water, sound, and all sorts of other magji were used. Zoey unlocked several more of her sealed magji gates, raising her power to an all-new level but at the same time straining her body more than ever.

At this point, Zoey was nothing but a blur as she blitzed her way through all of the prodigies. One unlucky prodigy suffered a vicious punch to the face that was damaging enough to knock them flat off their feet and bury them head-first. There was a genius that took a blow to the side, and his body lurched like a shrimp before becoming an art piece in the wall. It didn’t take long before a majority of the prodigies were beaten down and unable to get up.

The survivors fled with magji tools suited for escape. While the rest took a nap for the time being. Unfortunately for them, Zoey didn’t know the number for the magji ambulance, nor did she particularly care to do so. She led her family out of the dark building while she still had control over her body despite the severe muscle tears and internal injuries plaguing her all over her body.

Tink tried to help with the magji they knew was suitable for healing, but that magji was meant for small injuries like cuts and stuff. To remedy this, Tink activated Overdraft of their own to gain more mahna to heal Zoey with as she led them out of Luminaurora and back home. A horribly aching pain plagued Tink’s body, but they didn’t surrender to the pain as they healed Zoey, knowing the pain she was going through was ten times worse than what they were going through.

‘We need to destroy it to the ground!!! There’s nothing worth keeping here!’ Inner Zoey continued to tempt Zoey.

‘It hurts…’ There was no part of Zoey’s body that didn’t hurt right now. It hurt to walk, it hurt to breathe, it hurted really, really badly!!! Tears flowed down Zoey’s eyes as Bruce lifted her up and gave her a piggyback ride once they made it out of Luminaurora.

‘I’ll uh… talk to you when you’re sleeping…’ Inner Zoey could tell this wasn’t a good time.