the way he treats you and knox is what matters to me, is what he wants to say. but he doesn't. he bites the inside of his bottom lip and watches the way the grass rustles beneath his gardevoir's feet.

"my mother has never raised a hand to me but once, that i can remember. i was three years old when it happened. she spanked me, once, and from that point on, i knew never to do anything against her that would warrant her rage. instead, i acted my best and did what i could to relieve the stress from her everyday life."

that was how he was raised. she shared how she was raised, it was his turn.

"if i had helped somebody when i wasn't supposed to, if i had helped somebody that my mother didn't like or didn't agree with, like you helped knox, she wouldn't throw me onto the ground and tell me she was disappointed. she would ask me, out of love, to explain myself so she could understand. if she still didn't understand, we would, out of love, agree to disagree."

his brows furrow as he shakes his head.

"perhaps it's simply that we were raised differently but... i honestly cannot fathom that there is a love where it is okay to in any way, emotionally or physically, to abuse the one you claim to love."

it was why he was so careful with his words when dealing with knox. it was why he refused to allow himself to be angry at knox. he instead took it out on the enemies he faced, though only one thankfully so far in hoenn, and sometimes in his work outs or while digging a grave. other times, he'd take up a boxing class at the local gym.

no big deal.

knox prescott

but what if what your father is giving you isn't love? it certainly wasn't to sam, not by definition, and even by disguise. but manipulation, physical and mental, is a tricky thing.

a tricky thing that sam is trying so hard not to use as his excuse to remove their father from existence.

"you're not the danger, summer." if she had been, he would have argued with knox about her being 'off limits.' "you're a victim, just like knox. the true danger is your father, and until you both see that, knox will never be safe. father or not, he's threatened your lives multiple times and abused you both more times than the other night, i'm sure. that's not healthy, it's not acceptable-- not to me, anyway."

standing, he gave summer a soft smile.

"nothing will ever be safe while he is breathing, but knox has tied my hands. so if you both die because of your father, which is the inevitable ending to this story if it continues as thus, then i'll have to carry the burden of obedience for the rest of my life."

Summer Atreides

"that's fine. if he can track me through your phone, i'll be impressed."

war made him paranoid. not only did he have a way of pinging his phone in a different place in every region, but it never pinged remotely close to wherever he was in the current region in which he resided. how? war connections are quite handy. helping the living with their dead earned him a lot of perks.

some he's not terribly proud of. others, useful; like this one.

sam put his information into the flip phone, leaving the contact name blank for her to fill if she wanted. or if she wanted to leave it blank, that was fine with him as well. he did, however, purpose to send himself a text from her phone so he could save her name for later.

"...i know i come of harsh and very blunt, so i apologize if i was in any way intimidating. it wasn't my intention."

he's aware he's the equivalent to talking to a robot. being self-aware is half the battle, right?

Summer Atreides