Jaden opened his mouth to say something, but stopped.

"Ah..." he stammered.

"Huh." he said.

"Interesting..." he mumbled, pondering this new information.

"That's... kinda cool, actually." he told her.

"Means I'm an interesting mix of ethnicities." he said with a small chuckle.

"But why bring that up?" he then asked.

"Dad disappeared and left us, so... yeah, we moved on, right?"

"....hm." Jaden muttered.

"I... see." he said.

"And yeah, I guess it's not THAT weird..." he then admitted, thinking about it some.

"Oh well." he shrugged.

"Anyway, why bring that up now?" he asked her, as they heard footsteps coming down from the upper floor.

"...guess they're done upstairs." he said further.

"Looks like it's time for me to meet this hunter."

Jaden froze when he heard that.

"I... I..." he stammered.

"What!?" he exclaimed.

"I'm half-mana hunter!?" he asked her further.

Dom just sighed, shook his head, and went to get his sandwich.

"Thanks, Sydney." he said to her.

"So, this is the boy, eh?" he asked, looking at Jaden.

"Looks a lot like you." he said with a smile.

When she pulled Jaden's hat off, his long blonde hair came flowing out from beneath it.

"Woah!" Jaden exclaimed, trying to get his had back... and failing.

Dom, meanwhile, just laughed.

"Yep!" he said. "He sure did." he agreed.

"Looks good in my hair as well." he added.

Jaden then ceased his attempts to get his hat back, and looked at Dom.

"....YOUR hair?" he asked.

Jaden's jaw would have dropped to the floor if physics would have allowed it.

"F-F-F-F-Father!?" he exclaimed.

"Yes." Dom replied. "I'm your father." he confirmed.

"It's nice to finally see you again, Éliás." he said. "Or 'Jaden', as you seem to go by, now." he then added.

Jaden was silent for another moment, before shaking his head vigorously.

"...why the hell are you here!?" he demanded.

"To see my family." Dom responded.

".........ok, but WHY?" Jaden asked, clearly a little unimpressed.

Again, Jaden froze.

"Wh-wh-what!?" he exclaimed.

"Indeed. It's true." Dom confirmed.

"Then we need to STOP them!" Jaden insisted angrily.

"The Head of the Council knows." Dom replied. "She'll do everything she can to try and stop this before it gets out of hand." he assured him. "So will I." he added.

"...wait, what?" Jaden asked.

"Yes." Dom said. "And we still have a few days before they arrive, anyway." he added.

"Ok, fine, but... why would YOU help?" Jaden then asked pointedly.

"....." Jaden was silent, and pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

"...all right... I'll rephrase..." he said.

"Why have you decided to come back into our lives NOW?" he asked.

"...mostly because I JUST managed to find you." Dom replied.

"Also, a lot of other, smaller circumstances, piling up on each other." he then added.

"..." Jaden was silent again for a moment, before sinking deeper into his chair.

"So why'd you leave us in the first place?"

"..." Dom was silent for a moment, and nodded.

"I'll get a mug of it." he told her.

"Just give me a sec, and I'll tell all to you both." he then said to them.

With that, he started to make himself up a mug, as Jaden looked at Sydney.

He was silent, but she knew what the look he was giving her meant.

Is... this real? He's really my father...?

Jade froze again when Sydney spoke, essentially exposing him.

Dom, meanwhile, just sighed.

"It's simple." he replied.

"Some hunters learn their lesson." he said.

"They learn that perhaps things aren't as black and white as we're led to believe." he went on.

"Surely you know of someone like that?" he asked knowingly.

Jaden just looked to the side, and bit his lip slightly.

"......yeah." he replied with a small smile.

Dom nodded in response.

"Right." he said.

"Well... where to start..." he then muttered, gathering his thoughts.

"Éliás..." he addressed his son, but stopped. "Sorry, Jaden." he corrected himself. "You wouldn't remember this, as you were so young at the time, but your mother can tell you that when we were still living together as a family, it was a bit of a dangerous time." he said.

"In what way...?" Jaden asked.

"Well, the thought of other species and beings not all being bad was still a fledgeling idea, and those like me that had learned the truth were considered traitors to the cause." Dom explained. "And those like me that had received a gift or blessing, as they were called, were expected to uphold the beliefs and such, so it would have been a bigger fiasco if I were to have been found out" he continued.

"Anyway, I remember it so well. Painfully well. I was out gathering information, as your mother and I knew that there was a strong chance that we would need to make ourselves scarce. Rumours were spreading, and some of them, frighteningly so, had truth to them." he continued.

"I knew that within a week, we would all be discovered. So I needed to gather the two of you and we needed to flee. So I was making my way back to the modest little place we had... but as I neared it, I realised that if I went any further, I would be condemning us all." he went on.

"How...?" Jaden asked.

"I realised I was being followed. If I hadn't suddenly smelled the scent of tobacco on one of them... I would surely have led them straight to you." Dom explained.