Side Story: Greed's Family

Just gotta finish this show. Greed told himself. Get it done and then ask the biggest question of your life.

The ruby crab barely noticed the hustle and bustle around him by that point, he was long used to it. The song that had made him the biggest star on the planet was well memorized and he trusted his crew to perform well behind him while he sang, all that was left was getting through it and with only a few minutes left till showtime he already couldn’t wait for it to end.

After all, he had an appointment to keep that mattered far more than any performance. Gennet, the half-dark elf love of his life was waiting, a meeting he’d been planning for weeks with constant, secret arrangements being made behind the scenes, all so he could surprise her with the ultimate question. Would she marry him?

It felt insane that he even wanted to ask it but then, she had him feeling ways he never had before, definitely not anything like how he’d felt in his more lustful youth. He was in love, plain and simple and with the world prepared to fall down around them at any moment, he wanted to show just how much that fact meant to him while he knew he still could.

After all, he wasn’t just important for his musical skills. He was one of the world’s few blessing mages, a holder of a powerful enough awakened magic that meant by the third wave he’d be standing among the crowds of a battlefield to heal and buff where he could and even just the second wave had been enough to leave him with low expectations of how the final one would go. Even if they won he’d still probably be among the dead by the end so why not spend what months he had left making it clear that there was plenty of love in his heart to share?

And if she says no then I go off and give myself alcohol poisoning, nice and simple. He joked to himself, already knowing that the devastation of such a thing wouldn’t just end at the bottom of a bottle but he didn’t care. Whatever she’d say, whether she’d accept or not, what mattered more was getting all of his feelings out there.

“Greed, we’re ready for you,” His bodyguard told him, breaking him from his thoughts and waiting for the okay.

“Yeah, thanks Jeeves, take me away.”

Whatever the future held, he needed to get through the performance first, after that he could worry as much as he wanted before he’d finally ask.

---

The show went well, just as it always did as it ended with thunderous applause, its hype not dying down despite how well-known it had already become.

Even with other bards and musicians singing his piece throughout the land, he still consistently sold out despite his expectations but it was Gennet herself who helped make the why clear to him, it all coming down to exactly what his performance offered.

Hope. Trapped in a world many were expecting to end, hearing the story of two who’d survived impossible odds let everyone who heard and saw his performance believe the same might come true for them too. That no matter how bad things got, as long as they were alive then they still had a chance, only needing the courage and determination to grasp it.

And if I’m out here giving people some of that, it wouldn’t hurt to take a bit for myself, right?

That’s what he told himself at least and with the show done and the crowd dispersed he let Jeeves carry him outside to where he knew his ladylove would be waiting but found more than just her as he spotted her, with Gennet crouching down and looking like she was trying to have a cheerful conversation with a younger girl by her side.

A hominid body plan, he couldn’t immediately spot her race but on a planet of half and mixed-breed groups, that was nothing new. While plenty of areas kept a consistent species since coming to the planet by having cities, towns, and villages populated entirely by their kin, it was just as common to see people whose genealogies were so muddled that spotting their heritage was impossible. While he was a ruby crab, through and through as far as he could tell and Gennet’s dark elf half was exactly that, the other part of her heritage was so mixed it was impossible to trace back to any specific people or world.

So what of the girl by her side? Two arms and two legs, based on other races he’d seen either a teenager or equivalent, with that term failing when a person's puberty period extended past the second decade of their life but none of that was the most striking. No, what stood out was that every inch of her he could see, from skin to hair to nails, glittered in the light, every inch of her a deep red.

With even that bit of curiosity falling behind who was standing beside her, one of the theatre guards, hired to keep anyone from raising a fuss or else there to keep any of his past dalliances from showing up to raise hell, with the man looking more uncomfortable than anything else.

Why do I feel a headache coming? He wondered, half thinking he should just ask Jeeves to discreetly take him back somewhere more private before his bodyguard could go gather some information for him but losing that chance as Gennet glanced his way, the smile that lit up her face when she saw him enough to push away any thought of a subtle escape.

“This is him now, sweetheart,” She told the girl beside her, completely blind to the glare she was shooting his way before looking to the guard by their side. “You should be fine to leave now, Jeeves is with him, there won’t be any problems.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, but I was specifically hired for this exact occasion, I can’t just leave without Greed’s orders.”

“Fine then, Greed, can you order him away so all of us can talk?”

“Um, baby? I think I’m going to need some context before I can do that.”

“Hun,” She said, looking between him and the girl. “Come on, I’m sure you can figure a bit of this out here.”

“No, I really can’t. We got a guard on her, that means she was trying something she shouldn’t’ve, right? So what’s the issue?”

“Ah, during your show she was rather insistent on getting in to see you,” The guard explained. “Threw up quite the fuss too until the lady joined.”

“Alright? Then what’s the problem here?”

“Greed, come on,” Gennet told him, her face slipping to a look of both disappointment and embarrassment.

“I don’t know what I don’t know. If she wants a performance so badly and you’re for it babe, then I don’t mind doing something quick on the streets but I can’t just be giving tickets away like it’s nothing when-”

“Greed,” She cut him off, head in her hands by that point. “This girl is obviously one of your daughters.”

---

Having already earned negative marks on what he was expecting to be one of the most important days of his life, there was nothing else to do but bring the girl along on the short walk to the restaurant he had booked for them, looking her up and down the entire time and ignoring that each time their eyes met, hers were filled with a glare, only speaking as they were seated.

“Nope, still don’t see it.”

“How can you say that, she looks just like you!”

“Only in colour, not remotely in shape! This is prejudice!”

“I take after my mom, obviously,” The girl said, rolling her eyes. “But this was clearly a mistake, I should go.”

“Honey, no, don’t,” Gennet told her. “Even if he’s an idiot, I’m sure he’s a lot better than you’ve heard so at least give him a chance to hear you out.”

The way she said it made it very clear that Greed would be hearing her out whether he liked it or not, lest he end up in a different sort of trouble and with that obvious he gave in to the inevitable.

After all, how bad could it be? At least this kid doesn’t look like she’s gonna try to kill me.

“Uh, yeah, let me hear you out…”

“Saph.”

“Saph, lovely name, yeah. So, you’re one of my daughters?”

“How many do you have that you need to ask that?”

“Let’s hold off a bit on the loaded questions for now, huh kid? And you’re mom?”

“Tantre.”

“...”

“Oh lord, Greed,” Gennet told him, pinching her brow at the very clear fact to both her and Saph that Greed had no clue who she was talking about from name alone, with Saph at least seeming less disappointed for the simple fact that she’d expected as much.

“It’s fine, my mother warned me as much about what you’re like. She said that when you didn’t remember, I should tell you she was the woman you gained a level of sacrilege with.”

“Wait, the priestess?” He asked, seeing the look of obvious disappointment only grow in his partner’s eyes. “Wait, that was a long time ago, how old are you?”

“Twenty. Based on how mom said she aged along with Ruby crab growth rates, I’ll be reaching adulthood in about another ten years.”

So she really is basically a teenager then.

Still, it felt like he was starting to see the bigger picture. Since she knew about his sacrilege level he really couldn’t deny that she was his daughter, nor could he deny that in a lot of ways, he was a garbage excuse for a person. Too many of his dates and dalliances had been left raising children and given how much both mothers and kids alike seemed to hate him he’d made no effort to get closer to either, but wasn’t that itself the problem? He could blame it on being young and stupid but as he matured he really should have put at least some effort into tracking past lovers down to see if any children that popped up might have wanted to meet him but he’d let past experiences keep him from even trying. The idea that some like the girl before him might have wanted to at least see their father’s face wasn’t an outrageous expectation, especially if she was still a kid.

But I’m really no good with kids.

She had to have been only a bit younger than Legs himself but he knew his friend at least was an adult of his race, it was a far different experience figuring out what to do with the one in front of him.

But if she wanted to meet me… What the hell am I doing? If I can’t put on a good show for the daughter I’m meeting for the first time then how am I supposed to ask the lady I love to marry me later? Not that the mood is exactly great for it anymore now, definitely going to have to cancel some of the plans I’d set up for after and try again in a week or two but… yeah, no, even if Saph seems cold, who can blame her? I’ll do my best to make a good impression since she came all the way out here, walk her home or to her hotel or wherever it is she’s staying after and then put in an offer to meet up again if she’s interested and from there hope what a shit dad I am hasn’t made such a bad impression on Gennet that she’s gonna leave me the moment we’re done here cause boy oh boy, from the look on her face it is not going good.

“Alright, well if you wanted to meet your old man then I’m happy to get to know you,” He said. “I’m sure you don’t wanna call a guy like me dad, uh, I mean, unless you do, I don’t want to stop you either but… call me whatever you want.”

“Mom always called you a piece of shit.”

How priestessy of her.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s fair,” He sighed. “So if you wanna call me that too I won’t stop you.”

She looked him up and down as he accepted that, lost in her own thoughts while Gennet nudged him.

“Maybe think a bit about what she just said.”

“Trust me, I’m thinking about it.”

“Harder then.”

What’s that supposed to mean? Gods above, this day really isn't going how I hoped and… Wait, called?

“Uh, Saph? Out of curiosity, what’s your mom up to?”

“Not much, she died a week ago.”

Fucking hell, there it is.

Considering how disinterested in him she seemed, the fact that he was wrong about her coming to see him out of curiosity wasn’t exactly a shock but the news she brought with her couldn’t be anything else. He wasn’t close to any of his exes, considering that his previous relationships could be chalked up to neutral at best and murderous at worst was enough proof of that fact, but to hear one of them passed away was a surprise he hadn’t been prepared for, all the more for the fact that they’d left a child behind.

“I see, so the reason you’re here-”

“I’m not looking for some parental relationship, you don’t need to worry about that,” She said, raising a hand to stop him. “You know mom was a priest so she lived a pretty humble life so she told me to find you and use whatever bit of guilt you might feel to at least get enough that I won’t have to beg on the streets until I can find a job to look after myself. I’d done some restaurant work in the past but with the way things are going a lot of that’s dried up.”

Blatant and straightforward about exactly why she was there, it was enough to make anyone suspicious but he didn’t think she was being so. As surprising as it was, no other kids had popped up yet looking for a piece of his pie and even if they did, considering his absence in any of their lives he didn’t exactly think that they weren’t due if they wanted it and if all she was asking was enough to keep herself alive until she found work then that was all of the more reason to help her, even if what she’d said still circled his head.

She was a kid, recently orphaned and already looking for work instead of doing whatever it was kids her age should have been doing. He’d made no effort to be a part of her life until then but then, she and her mother hadn’t made an effort to reach out to him either. What did he owe her then, a stranger that wanted nothing to do with him before she’d had no other choice?

“Jeeves,” He called to the table from the side where his bodyguard waited. “My card?”

Having it handed over, he could see a touch of surprise in his daughter’s eyes at how easily he’d agreed but didn’t say more lest he changed his mind and instead tapped her card against his own, only showing true shock when she saw the amount.

“That’s too much.”

“Consider it twenty years of missing birthday gifts for you on top of it. Don’t think too much about it.”

“Alright then, I won’t,” She nodded, accepting the statement immediately and getting up to leave now that she’d gotten what she’d come for.

…I mean, she could have thought about it a little.

“Wait,” He stopped her before she could go. “You got that but you mind if I ask you a couple things first? I won’t keep you if you really want nothing to do with me but I’d like to talk at least if you’d spare me some time.”

“...Fine,” She told him, taking a seat once more.

“You staying with anyone? Grandparents, maybe friends of your mom or your own friends?”

“An inn, I’ll find a more permanent place to stay when I get a job.”

“If you’re short on funds then that doesn’t sound great for your finances.”

“There’s plenty of places that offer deals for long-term stays and I’m officially not short on funds anymore.”

“Ha, I guess you’re right there but… are you comfortable?”

“Well, my mother’s been dead for a week but I’m no longer worried about dying on the streets so overall, as good as I can be. Is this going somewhere?”

“Damn kid, you are really not giving me a ton of confidence here,” He groaned before getting to the heart of things. “I have plenty of rooms in my home and you won’t have to pay to stay in one.”

“...”

I’ve got plenty of servants too. Perks of being the most successful musician on the planet right now.”

“...”

“And well, whether you want to work or not… I’m not sure what you’ve done about school before, I’m sure you’ve done a few years at least but if you’d rather continue on with that instead of getting straight to work then that’s an option or if you really enjoy restaurant work then I could even try to help you set up your own-”

“Thank you,” She cut him off. “But after all of this time, I don’t need you trying to act like a father now. I appreciate that you were willing to give me so much money but I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I get it,” He sighed. “Listen, your mom was right, I am a piece of shit but I’m trying not to be. I know I haven’t been a dad to you, I didn’t even know you existed before you showed up but now that I know about you I don’t want to leave you be. It doesn’t have to be forever, it doesn’t even have to be for more than a couple of days if you hate it but give me a chance to look after you a bit until you figure out what you wanna do.”

“Why?”

“Because now that I know about you I wanna know that you’ll be okay.”

She turned her eyes away from him as he said it, making Greed think she wouldn’t accept it and leaving his heart to sink. It wasn’t like he could blame her, no matter what blood they shared he was a stranger but her coming to him for help changed that. Despite how many kids he knew about and all of the ones he didn’t, this was the first to come to him for help and he found himself wanting to give it.

But if she doesn’t want it then I guess that’s that.

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

“I said okay. You’re not going to change your mind already, are you?”

“Huh? Ah, no, course not,” He told her, easing her pointed glare. “In that case, what say we finish eating and then I’ll show you home. I picked this place special for, well, reasons but trust me, you’re gonna have one of the best meals of your life.”

“Hmm”

Even if still distant, he couldn’t help but feel lighter to have her agreement, leaving him to do his best to make conversation with her as the evening went on and only barely noticing how his efforts had managed to brighten Gennet’s expression by the end.

---

“Looks like she’s asleep,” Gennet said as she quietly closed the door behind her. “You okay?”

“Eh, unexpected day, a lot didn’t go to plan but it’s fine.”

“Ha, there was a plan?”

“Ah, well, kind of. Surprise though, I’ll tell you when things are a bit less hectic.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to look forward to whatever you have in store.”

“Ha, you better. Until then though, well, you think the kid’s gonna stick around for a while?”

“I hope so, she seems sweet.”

“Yeah? Maybe I’ll get to see some of that sometime.”

“I’m sure you will. I bet you’ll even enjoy being a dad.”

“Lord knows I’m due,” He sighed. “More kids than I even know about and it’s still my first time trying to play parent. Her mom was right, I am a piece of shit.”

“Well, at least you’re trying now,” She told him. “You could even try to reach out to some of your others too, you know. Never too late to build a relationship.”

“Mmh, I’m sure most would be happier without me reaching out to them like that but… Maybe.”

“Maybe’s good enough for now. I guess we’ll see how things go with Saph first.”

“Yeah, if she doesn’t decide to kill me after the first day or two then I’ll take it as a sign.”

“And if she’s here for long enough, I can always help.”

“Nothing I’d appreciate more, baby.”

“Maybe I could even help a lot?”

“Hey, I’m not saying no. I’m definitely going to be bad at this so whatever time you can give I’ll take.”

“Hmm, you know, for a musician, subtlety seems pretty lost on you.”

“Uh, I mean, you’re probably right but why in this particular case?”

“You should marry me.”

…Well, looks like I’m not going to need to reschedule all of my plans at least.

“Yeah, nothing would make me happier babe, let’s do it.”

Author’s note

Man, let me tell you, Patreon does not make it easy to find the exact number of votes an option got. Normally, not something that’s the biggest deal but when violence and family were both shown as having 27% of the vote I needed something slightly more specific and finding it was a pain (For those curious, family won by 3 votes).

Anyway, while it was fun to see the closest poll I’ve ever done, I’m honestly not certain if I’m going to do one like that again for the simple reason that after seeing the result, I’m comfortable saying I’m pretty bad at sticking to one theme. I don’t think I did terribly at it here but I think it’s probably easier in general to stick to one character than to one thematic element. Not certain, might do a poll like this again in the future but that’s going to be something we wait and see.

Anyway, regardless of my own uncertainty on the matter, hope you all enjoyed and hope you all have a good one.