So it is done: Who do you want to be when you grow up? (Patreon)

Jonathan had been in his office for about an hour and a half, but not doing anything stately nor actually all that important. Doing the little things that should have been rightfully unworthy of a Glenn ruler. He was tidying up the teachers' schedules and minor administrative matters that’s not really something the Director of the Academy needs to be handling, like stocking up on food and the ongoing renovation of the training wing.

Though then again, as the benefit of also being the King in addition to being the Director, Jonathan didn’t need to worry about the things that usually occupy the times of other Directors, like securing funding.

Jonathan enjoyed doing the little things, though because of his busy schedule, most of the busy work of the Academy has been delegated to many deputies. So, after only two hours, the backlog of things needing his attention has been finished. Enough time to prepare himself for his birthday celebration, that’s taking place three hours from now.

The only invitees were the small circle of friends and family he has, in order to prevent the event from becoming ‘official’ state business. Jonathan did not want to give up the bit of privacy he still had left, where he’s not under the microscope of the public and… For other pragmatic reasons.

When making magic, don't let others see it. Even if you're absolutely certain that no one will understand your intent.

Sitting back, enjoying the feeling of a job well done, his grumbling stomach informed him that he should take his lunch break, after all, the time seemed right enough for it. Thinking about it for a bit, Jonathan decided to make use of the Academy’s service and headed to the cafeteria that he had guided the prospective students to not long ago.

After all, the food selection was excellent, and he would be visiting a fine dining restaurant later in the evening anyway.

When he arrived downstairs a few seconds later, Jonathan paused for a second, as he took in the long corridor of the academy that led from the students' dormitory to the classrooms. And then at the small, well-maintained park outside the window. It might not be anything special, but the general picture of it looked pleasant enough.

Once, when Jonathan had been younger, in his early twenties, maybe, he hadn't understood the point of parks at all. What was so interesting about moving along beaten paths amidst trimmed vegetation? Now, however, as he grew older, he occasionally snatched small bits of time in his busy schedule to walk along the manicured paths. Immersing himself in his thoughts and letting his gaze glide amongst the picture of tame trees and breathing in the fresh air…

"Am I really getting that old already?" Jonathan couldn't help but chuckle at the thought, as he turned towards the cafeteria, walking at a leisurely pace.

Jonathan was not an old man, and that was speaking objectively, and not by the opinion of the students of his Academy. He could be as young as a spring chicken, but to his students he might as well be an old goat.

He was only a little over thirty years old, not an age that could be called old, but neither can he be called young.

Students and young children could now call him an uncle, and it couldn't be taken as an insult. Even some of the freshly graduated Hunters treated him as an ‘older’ man. And well, it’s not like Jonathan had any attachment to being called young.

Jonathan had no time to keep up with the trendiest fashions, letting Cinder and Neo tell him that ties were once again in bad taste, and belts were back in fashion. He often missed the jokes and new topics of conversation among the students. One could say, of course, that the reason for this was simply because he was swamped with work and had no time for such trivial pursuits.

As a king, he could rarely find time to devote to entertainment or watching films – that would even be true, but only partially so.

Jonathan was far from being able to say that ‘the world was changing faster than I was’, he considered himself to be quite a modern man. Even when talking about more technically complex objects, such as the new model of Scrolls, he could easily list what had changed and what new features they have.

But, he hadn't been ‘on trend’ for a long time. He didn't follow the hottest news, he didn't care about the scandals of show business stars, and even about the next technical innovations he learned more often from the reports of his deputies than from announcements or speeches.

Jonathan didn't want to talk about getting older – at least not using that word…  But Jonathan had grown up.

Sometimes, he is so tempted to call them, when referring to his students, as ‘kids’.

At twenty, going on twenty-five, Jonathan had seen the students as his peers. Maybe less experienced and more youthful, but at the end of the day people that he could easily connect with.

Now, Jonathan was over thirty years old, and more than once he had to bite his tongue when he almost called the incoming newcomers to the Academy ‘kids’. He wouldn’t mean it in a belittling way, not undercutting the knowledge they had already accumulated and the skills they had mastered. But it was an involuntary reflex, as if his mind itself was easily completing the logical chain, one after the other…

As Jonathan entered the cafeteria, he glanced around. And as one might expect, the prospective students weren't too interested in spending much time in the Academy, least of all in the Cafeteria, so those who hadn’t left already would probably be somewhere else.

Most of them just wanted to take one look at their future place of learning, rather than wanting to become overtly familiar with it. After all, they would have years to do so later.

Most of the future students, Jonathan had guided, had already left the Academy as soon as they were left to their own devices. And of those who hadn't done so immediately, it was unlikely that any would have stayed longer than an hour and a half just to enjoy the atmosphere of the empty Academy. At a time when almost all the students were home on holiday and the teachers were on leave, apart from a couple of those who were dealing with routine paperwork and sorting things out in the admissions office.

Or, as Jonathan was about to take advantage of, the small retinue of cooks that were responsible for feeding the small amount of people that are still in the Academy.

So, making his way to the counter, Jonathan paid for a salad, tea and small scone he'd chosen before settling down at one of the many available seats at the large cafeteria table. It took a while for him to realize that he wasn’t alone. It wasn’t hard for Jonathan to recognize the second customer, especially when they had risen from their seat and sat closer to Jonathan.

“Happy Birthday, Jonathan… Um, Your Majesty," Summer addressed him with a smile, before with a gasp, realizing that she was in a work environment and should have been a little more formal. Then, also realizing that the current situation was not too 'work', due to the lack of other students and teachers around, she froze with indecision on what to do. Not knowing whether she should have been more open or more respectful towards Jonathan, considering that their relationship was closer than that of boss and subordinate…

Not in that way, both Cinder and Taiyang would obviously have a question for both of them otherwise.

“Thank you, Summer," Jonathan smiled a little, then waved his hand, both to indicate that Summer should sit beside him and to reassure her that they could talk a bit more freely.

"Thanks, Jonathan! That’s a bit of a light meal, isn’t it? Are you in a hurry to get anywhere?”

“Not really, how about you?” Sipping his tea, Jonathan took a closer look at Summer.

“I'd like to head home right now, to be honest, but alas, the syllabus doesn't seem to be letting me go just yet, so let's just say I'm not. At least I don't mind taking a short break,"

Summer determined from Jonathan's response that their current meeting could not be called a work meeting, and sat down next to Jonathan, exaggeratingly winking as if Jonathan could lighten her workload. Jonathan shrugged slightly in response, what could he do about it? Work was the never-ending problem of all people in the world, and no amount of magic could solve that one.

She seemed to have a new wrinkle. Right there, in the corner of her eyes.

Jonathan wasn't in the habit of scrutinizing the appearance of other people's wives, but the thought of his own age made him look at Summer’s again, carefully.

Summer still looked as beautiful as the first time he met her, a beautiful face, a body in shape forged by Hunter training, and a youthful appearance. Jonathan could only say that Taiyang definitely knew about picking his women. But… She was over thirty-five.

Summer was older than Jonathan by three years, again, not exactly the right age to say that someone’s old, and Summer didn't look old, she looked young, but you could only cheat time for so long.

Even with the most incredible looks, great genetics and excellent body care, even Hunters could only rely on a short period of youth. Summer looked beautiful, but even she was already starting to show the first wrinkles near her eyes.

There was nothing to spoil her appearance, on the contrary, the maturity suited her, but it still reflected the inexorable passage of time…

Jonathan looked away from Summer and she, sensing a slight melancholy in his expression, cancelled her indignant chatter. Inane complaints about forms to be filled out, subordinate teachers and unhelpful students who couldn't cram a year's worth of knowledge into a day.

She looked worriedly at Jonathan. "What are you thinking about?

Jonathan, hearing the question, sighed before returning his attention to Summer again.

“Summer, have you ever noticed that you…?”

Thinking about how tactless his ‘you're getting older’ remark would have sounded, Jonathan looked away and corrected himself. "The passage of time. Haven't you ever noticed just how fast time runs?”

Summer didn't answer immediately, but after waiting a few seconds, she said softly, understandingly, "Yes, I have.”

Jonathan looked down at his salad and ran his fork over it, trying to make out some secret sign in the crushed potatoes before he looked back up at her.

“When Yang came in with a suspicious bruise on her neck, round and about the size of a human's mouth. And since it was unlikely that vampires had switched to a new way of eating? Well, it was easy to figure out where the bruise had come from.”

Jonathan snorted slightly, imagining the hickey on Yang’s neck as the result of a vampire's failed attack, making Summer smile back. “I was taken aback then, I almost screamed, the whole 'what are you thinking' and 'how could you, at your age' thing… I started panicking. How could my child have a hickey? I'd have to call the police and tell the school!”

Although Summer was now speaking mockingly about her past reaction, there was some elusive sadness in that retelling, hinting that she had indeed experienced both those feelings and the subsequent realization at how her daughter is growing up.

“I thought at the time, ‘how can Yang even think about such a thing, since she's only…’ and then I paused.” Summer paused for a second before looking at Jonathan with a slightly sad smile.

"She was sixteen. Yang was sixteen at the time, I think it was far from her first kiss, just the first hickey I'd ever seen on her. Yang was sixteen, and when that information popped into my head, it was like my brain shut down," Summer snorted under her breath.

"’What do you mean, sixteen!’ I thought. She was six years old yesterday, asking me to tie a bow in her hair, shaking under the blanket after watching horror movies and justifying that she wasn't trying to taste the felt-tip pens, she just wanted to paint her tongue purple… right?”

Jonathan could see Summer laughing a bit sadly as she retold her story.

“‘When was that?’, I thought at the time. I mean, it was yesterday, right well maybe a week ago, nothing more…?’” Summer looked away. “And then I suddenly remember stopping, I stopped fretting, sat down and counted the birthdays, comparing the pictures of Yang, what she was and what she'd become. Pulled out all the old albums and pictures… And suddenly I understood that my mind wasn't failing me. Yang really is sixteen.”

After saying that, Summer fell silent, looking away, creating a slightly melancholic mood hovering in the air before she looked back at Jonathan. Seeing the mood she’s in, he decided to share his own story.

“I remember the first time I met Neo," Jonathan reminisced in a story that seemed so long ago now.

"I was young, much younger back then, and making money as a courier. Delivering parcels… I met Neo by chance at a crossroads. She had gotten lost in, and had accidentally got lost in the crowd. She was panicking, I could see it in her eyes, even when she couldn’t voice her fear.”

Jonathan covered his eyes for a moment, trying to remember that very day. Time had made most of his memories of the past dull. Unimportant details like the faces of random passersby and the route he'd taken that day, for instance, had been fully worn away. But, among the gray-black shadows of the past, his first meeting with Neo was still something that he clearly remembered. Her appearance, his thoughts, the fear, and confusion clear in her eyes, reflecting his own thoughts and feelings…

“And now she's my daughter and bodyguard," Jonathan glanced back at Summer, answering her soft smile with his own, commiserating.

"She’d graduated from a Hunter's Academy, and has a license to carry a weapon. And, technically speaking, even without my permission or supervision, she can now go kill Grimm, risk her life in distant regions… I didn't know what I would become when I grew up, and now I have a suit, a personal driver, and the need to fight off the paparazzi… And yet, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.” Chuckling at his own private joke, Summer also laughed with him, though she probably doesn’t know just how far the extent of Jonathan’s self-doubt is.

“I remember when I used to watch cartoons with Ruby. It was good, interesting even, and not just for kids, but also for adults who spent time with them," Summer grinned a little mockingly at Jonathan's words. "The three seasons I watched with Ruby, it felt just like yesterday… And a month ago, I saw that there was a full-length sequel coming out…”

Summer thought about it for a moment, and then leaned closer to Jonathan, as if she were telling him some terrible secret, "Ruby didn't even remember watching that cartoon, she was so young… So, I went to the cinema. Alone. And while watching it, I remembered all the characters, the plot. I even caught a couple of jokes and references made by the animators for the first seasons…”

Summer pulled her face back away from Jonathan's ears, making him think for a second, imagining a grown woman sitting in a movie theater watching a cartoon, and then he grinned and shrugged, looking at her. “Time has power over everything… Except the spirit.”

“That's a little high-minded, but I agree," Summer nodded, smiling a sad smile that somehow seemed more peaceful,

"Kids don't grow up, they just have families, cars, jobs… And instead of doing homework, they start dishing it out.”

“But they suffer from it just as much as they did when they did it.” Jonathan grinned, causing Summer, who was closer to the subject than he was, to let out a couple of chuckles, nodding in response, dispelling the momentary sadness with a cheerful voice.

"That's true. But unlike the students, I won't get a chance to retake my homework. So, unfortunately, I have to keep working or Tai won't see me until tonight.”

“Good luck, Summer," Jonathan nodded, and then went back to his snack, eating it with triple the vigor, knowing that someday, one day…

One day, I'll know exactly what I want to be when I grow up.

***

Cinder neatly tied a folder of reports with tape before setting it aside, nodding at her inner voice, satisfied with the job well done. And before she would move on to the next job, she took the mug of steaming black coffee placed on her desk and took a sip.

Logically speaking, there’s no need to use the colorful binder to keep the piece of paper that consisted of her report together. Staplers, for instance, would do the job just as fine and would take less effort to do. But Cinder, once upon a time, had pursued the goal of exploring every possible way to help Jonathan.

And while she certainly hadn't given up on that idea, and had an unbreakable iron will to explore every possible use of her hands and mind to help Jonathan, she had long ago explored lower priority ways to help Jonathan, like cooking and sewing… And that includes weaving, which she had long ago decided to practice by binding her notes and diaries with beautiful embossing, hoping inwardly that the ornate cover would catch Jonathan's eye and make him want to read her entries.

After all, none of the entries that Cinder made in her diary were a secret to Jonathan. On the contrary, Cinder hoped that by reading her diary, Jonathan would understand her thoughts - without the instant rejection that would surely await Cinder if she had decided to address Jonathan with her feelings directly.

Unfortunately, her plan with her rather descriptive and in her teenage years lurid diary entries, all failed. Jonathan was too perfect of a respectable parent to read her diary, to breach her privacy, allowing Cinder to keep it.

In the end, though, pretty much all of Cinder's wishes and fantasies came true at this point, except for two. But even that was just a temporary obstacle in her way, only a matter of time. So should Cinder have been worried about attracting Jonathan’s attention by decorating her reports needlessly at this point?

Well, yes, of course, everything has to be perfect for Jonathan, and she wouldn’t want to disappoint or worry Jonathan by diverting from her habits now.

Besides, weaving, an act that she had originally performed for a purely practical purpose, had become her habit. And, she quite liked the result of her work. And it’s not like it was a security risk, the documents she had bound were going into her sealed safe anyway, which only a few people in the RATS and the government had access to.

Not that it mattered to anyone at all, though, whether the reports on the removal and elimination of disloyal agents looked pretty or not.

There were few such reports, though, even without Cinder's help, RATS were excellent at reaching both Glenn's external and internal targets. Even if those targets belong to RATS.

RATS is Glenn's most elite unit, and therefore the most elite special forces in the world. Such a position created an influx of people willing to join it, either because they were attracted by its position in society, or simply out of their patriotic duty.

Such a draw however created risks, either from internal sabotage to trivial unprofessionalism within the ranks. RATS needed a strong internal security service to periodically check and purge the structure of such unwanted individuals who managed to slip through the initial selection process.

Besides, being part of the internal structure of Remnant's most powerful Secret Service, and even more so having some power within it, it was extremely easy to slip up and forget why Glenn's servants had been given such power and authority. And when RATS agents forgot that and strayed from their path… That’s when Cinder's department stepped in.

The internal security division of the RATS.

There were no absolute weapons, just as there were no absolute defenses, but RATS came close to that notion in a multitude of areas. From its range of influence to their ability to commit sabotage, either through the economy, through the military or even just politically. It came dangerously close to that notion.

And absolute weapons, especially in the form of people and organization, had one simple problem – they could be turned against their wielder. Especially if it, like humans, possessed a will of its own.

And so its owner had to have either an absolute defense against that, or an absolute guarantee that those weapons would not turn on him later. Both of these functions were performed by the ‘internal security department’ under Cinder's leadership.

The secret of teleportation suppression was a closely guarded secret of RATS’ internal security department, one of the best kept even from other RATS. The powers of the department exceeded even those of RATS agents, causing fear in the organization that caused fear in the rest of the world.

However, perhaps as a credit to Jonathan’s leadership. Cinder didn't have to use the powers of her department all that often.

In the past year, Cinder had opened one hundred and sixteen internal investigations, eighty of which had made it to the internal resolution. Thirty-seven had required the imposition of penalties, twelve of which were serious, and only two of which required a final solution.

For Remnant's most powerful organization, with effectively endless opportunities for personal abuse of power, such a result was not just within the realm of normal or good, it was an incredible level of efficiency, integrity, and honesty.

Not that Cinder could make this information public, though. Reporting details about the workings of Remnant's most efficient and intimidating Secret Service was a foolhardy move. Much less could she report the workings of her department within the service itself, especially making this information public in front of the agents themselves.

It was common sense really, a watchdog is simply more effective when the person being watched didn’t know they were watched in the first place.

Many of the troublemakers didn't know until the last moment that their machinations had been exposed. And many were so unaware that they had ever been under internal investigation at all that they could greet Cinder well, when she was effectively signing their death warrants.

However, such a fact, together with the lack of information, turned into rumors, and ignorance created fear.

The internal secrecy regime in turn both guarded the agents from spreading those and encouraged their own fantasies. Forcing them to look day after day at the small notation on Cinder's usual RATS uniform, showing her affiliation with the department with an increasingly fearful look. Which is funny to Cinder when taking into account that the men and women looking at her so fearfully, were supposed to be the boogeyman for the rest of Remnant.

Unfortunately, it’s for that reason as well, why Cinder had kept meticulous notes. After all, the Internal Security Division holds absolute power over RATS, what if a future problem originates from her division? Who would watch the watcher?

Sadly, it would be impossible to create an ‘Internal Security Division’ for the Internal Security Division. Perhaps one day Cinder would be faced with that question when RATS grew into an even more powerful giant, replicating the state in its complex structure, but for now, control of the department relied on Cinder and her own skills.

Perhaps in the future, when she would become head of the RATS fully…

But it was all speculation about the future, distracted thoughts spawned by the nature of her current state. To put it simply, boredom.

The lack of work for the RATS’ Internal Security Division spoke to the agency's tremendous professionalism and actual incorruptibility, which Cinder preferred to all possible options for the current situation, but it meant that there’s little work for Cinder.

And with that, the inability to demonstrate to Jonathan his usefulness and assistance.

The lack of problems spoke to the professionalism of the specialist, but it certainly made for a considerably less impressive picture than averting a horrific disaster at the last second. A film about a super-agent single-handedly saving the world gave the audience an impression of the agent's power, intelligence, and abilities. While, a film about an agent following instructions and encountering no difficulties along the way could not even appear at the box office unless it focused on the comedic or dramatic aspects of the agent's life.

Conflict was the core of the story, the reason for empathizing with the character. And which conflict was most understandable to the viewer? It was the explosions in the background, the ticking red timer counting down the remaining three seconds to detonation, the cries of millions of casualties in the event of failure… It was action and danger.

The agent who disarmed the bomb two days before the explosion, having calculated its location in advance thanks to the competent work of the intelligence network, was a professional agent, but an uninteresting one. The agent who prevented the creation of such a bomb in the first place, is an even more professional but even more boring agent.

Cinder was the same way. She could be called the perfect employee of the department, precisely because her job was boring. She identified problems in advance, made adjustments long before the problems she spotted would affect the RATS, even the liquidation judgements she made were not terribly problematic, nor were they the result of a mesmerizing chase.

One agent attempted to set up his own underground arms trafficking network, the other had kept a personal slave in his basement. Both agents were found out, investigated and eliminated as a result of ‘coincidence’.

The arms smuggler’s network was found out and destroyed, the girl was rescued and sent to a rehabilitation center and the house subsequently with the basement full of torture implements demolished in a ‘renovation’. Nothing that would implicate a RATS agent being a criminal remained, and the RATS office walls were decorated with two more pictures of agents dying in the line of duty.

Cinder's actions in this case involved a few reports received and a couple of directions, nothing more.

So, sitting in her office now, Cinder continued to knit her ties, peering through the numerous CVs of applicants to RATS, and awaiting the mockingly slow running of the hands on the clock, seconds, minutes, hours… Cinder couldn't expect the unexpected, she was too professional for surprises.

Covering her eyes, Cinder glanced at the clock before rising from the table and wrinkling her nose slightly. Jonathan made excellent coffee, just like his secretary, who had learned his habits, and Cinder's. But, one of the two liquidations carried out was that of the cafeteria cook, who also served as barista, salesman and administrator of RATS’ canteen.

That's why he had decided to commit such a crime in the first place. The opportunities and patronage the RATS represented had gone to his head, but he was not a member of RATS. That’s why he decided to act so stupidly in the first place, thinking that RATS would either overlook or forgive his crimes.

He would find it weird then that it was his abilities to make great coffee that had stayed Cinder’s hands, if for a moment, when she was signing his liquidation order. But, that one had indeed made great coffee. His new replacement definitely didn't.

Cinder took a few steps to the exit of her office, contemplating the unfinished mug of coffee, before shaking her head a little and walking out the door, locking the door behind her.

No, perhaps she shouldn't be heading to the cafeteria right now, Jonathan's birthday was only a few hours away, and she shouldn't disturb her appetite.

Besides, the coffee she'd had this morning from the new chef's hand had made her nauseous for practically six hours straight…

If she weren’t such a professional, she would have already signed his liquidation papers. That was clearly an assassination attempt… But no, he was just that bad of a coffee brewer.