Ra isn't sure what to expect. Cynthia Fenton hadn't been a name he thought about in decades. A fond memory, bright and clear when he'd come to North America only to spill blood. How she'd gotten his number, or even his real name for that matter is a mystery.
The more important revelation is that he has a son, a grown adult with his own children. He has two other grandchildren. He sets the phone down, sunlight long gone from this side of the world.
Amity Park, seems a visit was in order.
Jack Fenton is everything and nothing like him. It was interesting to see the nature vs nurture of his bloodline. On one hand, the man has no accuracy to speak of, on the other his body was excellently trained. His mind was brilliant, research directed at the dead and mysterious green substances.
His wife, much like the woman Ra has chosen in the past, is fierce and intelligent. Her strengths match his shortcomings, with both of them sharing a trust in each other that goes beyond loyalty and enters devotion.
Their research, each paper sharing two Dr. Fentons' shines a light into a world so close to his own. Ra has studied the Lazurus pits his entire life and yet he feels an understanding now that long seemed out of reach.
Perhaps the apple didn't fall so far from the tree.
He's in town less than a day before his son's eldest finds him. Flaming red hair and eyes flickering green and teal Her smile is kind and knowing, as she drags him to their home.
Green blobs, that trail behind her like ducklings, seem to whisper something into her ears before vanishing. Every person who passes them waves to her, some with skin paler than sheets of paper give a small bow.
Ra lets himself be led by Jasmine, who has addressed him as Grandpa before he’s had a chance to introduce himself.
What was supposed to be a day or two in Amity Park has stretched into well over a week. The town holds more secrets than he could hope to learn in that time. New ones he learns each time he turns his head.
People and animals, glowing green walk among the streets. Beings clearly belonging to neither fly throughout the sky.
His son and wife are extraordinary, their brilliance laid out with inventions strewn over the house and post-it notes with the world's secrets pinned to the fridge. A fridge Ra has learned contains an interesting warm-up fight.
When his grandson, he now has two, phases through the ceiling with glowing white hair and burning green eyes for the family dinner, he knows he can't leave yet.
Young Daniel, Danny, who complains about about gods as if they were temperamental children. Who wears a burning crown and a ring that he's only heard the darkest men whisper in fear about. He has his grandmother's eyes and Ra's smirk.
He has to leave before two weeks pass. The world does not pause for him to investigate, and he has to return to his duties.
The next time he comes to Amity he brings gifts, weapons, and tomes that suit each grandchild.
The Fentons welcome him into their home, even though he’s made less of a pretense of being normal. His guards walk among the public, and his robes don’t seem out of place. The stories he shares to entertain Jasmine and Daniel don’t seem to horrify them. Death is omnipresent in the city, and yet no one here seems to truly die.
Jack would have no interest in being an heir, Daniel has his own place of ruling. He doesn’t return to Amity Park simply because his heir Damian is now in the hands of his father.
He returns for the food, made by ghosts of his home from centuries ago. He returns for the gods, ghosts and everything in between that wander the city like ordinary people. He returns for the chance to exist in a place where he did not garner a second look.
He returns for the family, not made by him but that welcomes him all the same.
Ra knows he will have to leave, but he is also coming to terms with the fact he will always return.
