Notes:

warning there's some blood mentioned and some not so pretty violence for one line when Khun asks Kiseia what she had told him last time they saw each other.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

How humiliating, thought all of the Khun children at once as their father struggled to find something inside his Pocket. This man-child, the Head of one of the most powerful families in the Tower, was holding his children hostages in order to bond with them. The same man who made them fight to the death as infants. The irony was there, shining brightly like an all-mighty God, and the younger Khuns wanted to die right then and there.

“Should we help him?” Marco asked. Before any of his siblings could answer, Eduan grabbed a bowl and cheered.

“Found it!”

“Please be poison, please be poison, ple—”

“We’re going to play charades.”

“Hey, cous,”—Aguero turned to Kiseia—“remember what you said last time we met?”

“Sure. I said I’d gouge your eyes out and paint our sister’s portrait with your blood.”

“Great, please do it now.”

“We’re forming teams.” Eduan continued completely ignoring the graphic desires of his children “Marco and I will be the leaders.”

“Only because you don’t remember anyone else’s name,” Aguero mumbled with an annoying grin.

“You pick first.”

Marco sighed. Loudly. If craving-death had a face, it would be Marco’s at the current state. “Maschenny.”—Eduan proceeded to point to Maria—“The rogue.”

“Feels great to be wanted,” Aguero whispered to himself as Eduan pointed to Hachuling.

“The little murderous one.”

“Alisa.”

“It’s Kiseia.”

“That’s what I said!”

.

”I went through incredible hardships, I’ve been trained to kill since birth, I have—”

“For Jahad’s sake, just start already!”

Hachuling yelled repeatedly hitting his head with his hands. Kiseia scoffed and cleared her throat. She placed her one fist on top of the other and moved them once forward and once back.

“Dancing! Wii Dance! Just Dance!”

“I don’t think I’m allowed to say. This one,”—Eduan pointed to Ran—“looks underage.”

“Knife!” Maria shouted and Kiseia clapped twice “Sword?”

“Pen!”

“How would it be a pen? How do you even write? Do you write to begin with?”

“You’re not allowed to talk—”

“I will cut you!”

“I’m your Father!”

“All is fair in love and war.”

“Okay, this is tiresome, let me try,” Aguero said and sent Kiseia back to her seat. He unravelled a paper from the bowl Eduan had given them and sighed. He continued sighing while unbuttoning his shirt. As soon as he was done, he crossed his arms.

“Mazino?”

“Urek!”—Ran turned to Maschenny who had found the answer almost immediately and silently judged her—“Shut it, gremlin.”

“Unfair, I could have found it as well!” Hachuling shot back at the other team.  Aguero groaned and looked at his father.

“Why do you have Urek Mazino in this?”

“I have many people in this. And some not people. It’s mostly people I either want to fight or—”

“My turn!” Maria cut him off and grabbed a new piece of paper, “Okay, this one’s easy.”

“I doubt it.”—She pointed at where Aguero was sitting— “I don’t think she’s allowed to point.”

“Let them have a consolation prize.” Ran told Marco and the two boys chuckled.

“A disappointment!”

“Not as good hair as mine!”

“Gay and in the closet!”

“Hey!” Aguero told them sternly “And for the record, I’m nowhere near the closet, I have a boyfriend!”

“I hope he’s someone important,” Eduan said while Ran struggled to hold his laughter. Marco buried his face in his hands. He would like to be excused from this family.

“Is it Viole? I hope it’s Viole.”

“It is Viole.” Maschenny told Hachuling “The amount of effort it took to get them together was enormous.”

“Lightbearer.” Maria cut in “The world was Lightbearer.”—the family nodded, realization suddenly striking them all at the same time— “Also, you should listen to how I, not Ran and not Maschenny, got them together.”

“Kiseia, I’m begging you, murder me!”

.

“We’ll be playing Monopoly.” Eduan announced with excitement that should never follow the word ‘Monopoly’. Maria clapped at this but she didn’t manage to look any less tired than she was. Hachuling, who was sitting upside down on a sofa, groaned loudly while looking around the room. He stopped when he saw Marco rubbing his eyes.

“Are you crying?”

“No, something got in my eye.”

“What was it?”

“Emotional pain.”

“If you even look at the blue ones,” Maschenny told Ran, “I will shove you inside a yoghurt bucket.”

“Maybe I would like that until I get out, I wouldn’t go hungry!”

Aguero rumbled his temple at the sight of Kiseia trying to slip away. She wouldn’t manage to even leave the room without Eduan noticing her. How sad for all of them.

“Go see your dad, maybe it’s important after all his data version wasn’t so bad, he said. What’s the worst that can happen, he said.” Aguero mumbled bitterly, “He’s sleeping with Rak when I return.”

.

“The game has been kind of a mess so I brought some wine, mostly for me, but you can—” Eduan stopped himself as he entered the room(which he had abandoned for only two minutes after Hachuling threatened to set Aguero on fire)” what the f—”

“Vive la résistance!” Hachuling screamed while throwing pillows at Maria who in return was also using other pillows to attack.

“Show me your hands!”

“No!”

“Show me your fucking hands!”

“You want my hands? Fine!” Kiseia yelled back at Aguero and flipped him off with both hands.

“Open your fists!”

“No!” Aguero smirked, formed an Ice Spear and struck her hands. Kiseia yelped, opening her fists and Monopoly money fell from her hands. “I have no idea how that happened.”

The worst part of this circus, however, was the fact that Marco held Ran up in the air like some wild stray cat while the second one was hissing. Not shouting, not yelling, not even swearing. Just hissing. Eduan, after several minutes, turned to Maschenny who was happily counting her dollars.

“What happened?”

“You see, it all started when some idiot, that’s you, by the way, thought this would be a good idea.”

.

“I don’t know how to play Poker, though.”

“But Ran does?” Maria asked, “What has Mrs Maschenny being teaching you?”

“Murder mostly.”

“Also, psychological torture.” Ran added and high fived Maschenny. Both Aguero and Maria were traumatized from this exchange.
After the cards were given, Maschenny spent five minutes looking at them before giving up. Kiseia chuckled and reached from beneath the table to scratch her ankle. They managed to play three rounds before both Marco and Ran folded.

“I’ve noticed something.” Maria mumbled and turned to Kiseia “You copy AA.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

Kiseia looked at Aguero biting his cheek. “Shut up, I’m just trying to detect whether he’s bluffing.”

It wasn’t Aguero who commented on this but Eduan. “You know,” he began, his tone slightly educational, if you rely on others, you’re going to lose. You need to risk.”—he pauses—“Try making a bet.”

“A bet?”

“Yes, after all, poker is only fun with gambling.”

Kiseia thought about it for a while. She checked her cards. “If I have better cards than you, you let us leave. If you have, we can—”

“You can have Manbarondena.” Aguero cut in.

“Manbarondena has been stolen from my treasury. How could you possibly bet—” he stopped, his mouth slightly opened, and smirked, “how interesting.”

“Do we have a deal?”

Eduan checked his cards. “We do.”

“Fold,” Maria stated and waited for Eduan’s turn.

“Full house,” Eduan smirked.

“I can’t beat that, unfortunately.” Aguero smiled and turned to Kiseia. The girl let out a sigh before putting her cards down.

“Straight Flush.” Hachuling, Maria and Marco cheered while jumping whereas Maschenny could be heard thanking the Tower’s God. Ran, Aguero and Kiseia all exchanged a look revealing the existence of a hidden secret. Eduan had spent enough time around enemies, Khuns and not, to know that something had been planned. Something he had overlooked entirely.

“I tend to think that we’re stronger together.” Aguero told his father “The best card combinations in poker are achieved by pairing different kinds of cards. Even Full House has two different card types.”

It’s not a lie, Eduan thinks. But even if different types can give you the winning combination, they also can make you lose everything. It’s a big risk, his thoughts continue, a risk not worth it from where he stands. And yet, his own words interrupt this pessimism because ‘it’s only fun with gambling’.

“Your strategy isn’t bad, father.” Aguero finally says “But the King never wins by itself.”

Eduan doesn’t continue the talk any further. He simply stands up and smiles, in the same way, he smiles when he sees the other Family Heads, his resentful wives or King Jahad. “Dinner before you go?”
 
 
 

Notes:

Thank you all for your support of this mess, I love you. Also, I hinted that Khun and Kiseia highkey cheated on the game by trading a card when Kiseia reached beneath the table and her talk with Eduan was a bit of a mind game that she and Khun had already planned. This is why Aguero bets immediately, bites his cheek and doesn't comment on what Maria says about Kiseia copying him. I figured that, as I've shown Ran to be able to read Aguero, Kiseia would also be very good at reading him and he her.
Fun fact, I don't know Poker however after some research I saw that the stronger card combinations have different card types and....well....this happened.