It was the next day when Neban woke up to someone throwing something at him. He opened his eyes while moving his hand around, touching Theo's back. His son moved around but did not wake up. 

When he felt something small hit his head again, Neban turned towards the direction. He saw Siren standing at the door, throwing small pieces of crumpled paper at him. They had a smirk on their face when Neban looked at them. 

Neban sighed, closing his eyes to countdown for a second and opening them again. "For someone who said they lived for over a thousand years, you are a child," Neban told them. 

Siren shrugged, "They should not have sent me to wake you up. Breakfast is ready, by the way. Then after, we will have to go to the town hall." 

"I will have to go. You will be in my sub-space or staying here?" Neban responded. 

Siren waved off Neban's question as they walked out of the room. Neban sat up, shaking his son to wake him up. 

Theo opened his eyes, looking at him before closing them again. "Five more minutes, papa." He sleepily said. 

Neban chuckled before shaking him again, "If you do not get up, I believe Siren will eat up all the food." 

Theo popped up real quick, already jumping off the bed as he stumbled a bit. "No. Not my food." Theo ran out of the room. Neban laughed at his son's response before getting out of the bed himself. 

He walked out of the room, making his way to the dining area. When he reached it, everyone was already sitting down while Theo and Siren were fighting over muffins. 

Neban shook his head at them before taking a seat between Theo and Wey. Once he sat down, Wey put a plate of food in front of him. 

"Thanks," Neban told him. Wey hummed in response.

"The government made an announcement a few minutes ago," Neban's mother started, "in an hour, they want the hunters to go to the town hall to talk about what to do next." 

Neban nodded, "Thanks for telling me." He looked towards Isona, who was already staring at him. Neban still has not talked with Theo about going back to fighting. And he could tell that Isona knows too. 

He glanced towards Theo, who was trying to sneak food off of Siren's plate. Neban internally sighed. He will talk to Theo about it when he gets back from the meeting. 

The rest of the breakfast changed to simple talks as they did not want to ruin the atmosphere. 

****

Neban entered the town hall with Siren in his sub-space. He walked to the meeting area, bumping into Angel, Tessa, and To along the way. 

He sighed, wondering if he had terrible luck. 

"Oh, look, it is the guy who never knows how to say thank you," Angel commented. 

Neban was going to ignore the man, but he felt like acting petty. It was probably due to Siren's childish nature affecting him, but he would do it anyway. 

He turned towards To, "How is Xan? I haven't seen him in a while." 

To look at Angel as he heard his brother clicking his tongue from getting ignored. He did not want to answer, but he talked anyway. "He is fine." 

Neban hummed before facing forward. 

Tessa grabbed Angel's arm, stopping him from complaining about Neban ignoring him. 

'It would be better to kill him.' Siren commented. 

'I agree. But, we will wait until everything is over because Angel is still needed.' Neban replied. 

Siren huffed as they rolled their eyes, but they did not say anything. 

When they entered the meeting room, the hunters were already there, sitting down while there were two people at the front of the long table. 

Neban took a seat in the back as Angel, Tessa, and To sat near him. He wanted to get up and sit somewhere else, but he decided not to move. 

A few minutes passed as the surrounding hunters whispered when the two people at the top called for everyone to quiet down. 

The hunters quieted down as the people started talking. 

"We called you here to talk about the barrier break that happened." The first guy started. 

"This shows us that we are not safe behind those barriers if they can get in. It is time to get rid of the monsters once and for all. We called you here to tell you about our plan on getting rid of the monsters for good." The second guy finished. 

The hunters remained quiet as they let the men's words sink in. The first guy started speaking again, "We thought of taking out the clans first before we got to Mother. From what we have observed and collected, we have made an account of the weakest clan to the strongest." 

The second guy was already opening his mouth after the first one stopped speaking, "The Germa Clan is the weakest one, and it is the one that is closer to the barrier. It will be the first one that we want all of you to take out." 

Both were already standing up while the first guy started speaking again, "In the evening, we want you to head out to the clan. Once you finish, return, so we can tell you the next one to attack." 

They left from the back door after speaking. 

Once they were gone, the hunters started speaking again, talking about what the two men told them. Since it was over, Neban was already standing up. 

'They love to have short talks. They should send messages instead of having people come out for no reason.' Siren complained. 

Neban ignored it even though he agreed. As he was walking out, Angel and his group were already following him. He swore that the man had nothing better to do than mess with him. 

He wondered if he should use [Shadow Travel] to leave, but Tessa was the one to stop him. "Neban." She called, rushing towards him to stand by his side. Angel and To stayed behind. 

Neban did not stop walking, but he did answer her, "What is it?" 

"Can I see Theo?" 

Neban snorted, "Why would I let you see my son? You do not want him, so why are you asking me that?" 

"I know. But, what if I die? Shouldn't he see his mother once more?" 

Neban stopped, causing her to too, as he turned and looked at her with fierce eyes. "You gave him away, Tessa. It shows that you never wanted him. He does not need to see someone who has never been in his life. So, no, you cannot see my son." 

Tessa crossed her arm as she clicked her tongue, "I took care of him for a year, so I was there at one point. So, I should be able to see him." 

Neban snorted, "Tessa, leave me alone. And if you come anywhere near my family, I will kill you." Then he used [Shadow Travel] to leave. 

He reached his house, unlocking the door, closing it behind him. Neban pulled Siren out of his sub-space. Once they were out, they turned back into their human form and walked towards the kitchen without any words. 

Neban walked to his room, seeing that his father and Owain were in the living area watching TV. As he passed the dining area, Isona was reading a textbook with Wey sitting next to her. 

When she saw him, she called him over. 

Neban walked over to them, kissing Wey and Isona on their cheeks but did not join them in sitting. "What's wrong? You don't look good. Did something happen at the meeting?" Wey asked. 

"Are you going to talk to Theo?" Isona simultaneously asked. 

"I am fine. Nothing happened at the meeting. And I was getting ready to talk to Theo right now. Is he in my bedroom?" Neban answered. 

Wey did not believe that Neban was fine but nodded anyway. And Isona nodded to Theo being in the bedroom. 

Neban cut the conversation short as he walked away, going back to his original destination to the bedroom. Once he entered there, he saw Theo lying on the bed, reading a book. 

Theo looked over at him as they both smiled at each other. Neban sat down before saying, "You are turning into Isona with the way you are always reading." 

"Well, Isona said that I've been watching too much television," Theo responded.

Neban shook his head at that before saying, "So, I need to talk to you about something." 

Theo set his book down, closing it as he used his finger as a bookmark. "What is it, papa?" 

"The government wants all the hunters to go out and fight this evening, and I know that I promised you that I would not fight anymore, but I have to do this. For us to finally get rid of those monsters, I feel that I should join in the fight." 

Theo was silent for a second before grabbing Neban's hand, squeezing it. Neban looked down, watching the small hands clutching his big ones. "I understand, papa. Even though I wouldn't say I like it, I understand." 

"You can tell me to stay, and I will," Neban answered. 

Theo shook his head as he laid it on his shoulder, forgetting about the book he was reading. They were silent for a while until Neban picked up the remote, "Do you want to watch a few movies before I go?" 

Theo nodded at that. Neban leaned more into his son before flipping to the movie channel. He was going to stay with his son until it is time to go. 

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