Rewritten Past

Auntie Yue's breath hitched. Then her eyes watered. "Oh, Alex..." She hugged me tight. "...You have me now. You'll always have me. Okay? So don't be scared anymore."

Persuasion check, success!

Also, extreme guilt, inflicted! On me!

Seriously, I felt terrible selling this half-truth to Auntie Yue.

But it was necessary.

I'd just make it up to her in the future.

"...Okay, Mom." I hugged her back. "Love you."

Auntie Yue pressed my face into her chest. Her long hair draped around me like a curtain, blocking out the outside world. Then she kissed the top of my head and murmured, "Love you too, Sweetheart."

I let out a content sigh and just rested against her.

...So this was what having a proper mother was like, huh?

It was nice.

...Sadly, I'm not a normal kid. So sorry in advance, new Mom...

===

November 15th, 1999. One week since the incident.

Miss Serena had, officially, become our live-in housemaid.

I personally thought it was weird. But again, 90s. Apparently, this was a thing.

...Which made sense. It would explain the history of the 'he was sleeping with the maid' trope.

Anyway, that meant that April lived with us now too.

The small family of two living in Mama Yue's condo had become a small family of four. Me, Mama Yue, Miss Serena, and April.

...Also, I'd subconsciously shifted from calling Auntie Yue to Mama Yue at some point in the last week.

Mom was going to be heartbroken. But honestly, couldn't be arsed.

You could call it ungrateful or unfilial, but unconditional love AND unconditional attention did a lot to win you over.

I knew my mom loved me unconditionally. But Mama Yue loved me unconditionally AND naturally prioritized me by shifting her life around. She was always present, unlike my mom who always seemed to have a thousand things on her mind.

For once, I'm playing the 'I am just a kid' card and saying that I pick Mama Yue because she's the better mom, okay?

Plus, I already spent one life being filial and doting on my mom. 30+ years even.

I think I'd earned the right to choose who I called mom in this new game plus, okay?

Anyway.

Miss Serena had moved in with us, taking April with her. That meant we went to and from school together, with Mama Yue dropping me and April off and picking us up.

Today was another day in that modified routine... or it would have been.

But when I woke up around 4 AM like I usually did that morning, Mama Yue was already up.

I blinked and said, "Mom? You're up early."

Mama Yue blinked and let out an exasperated smile. "I should be saying that to you, Kid. But you've always got so much energy anyway. You seriously get up this early every morning?"

"Yep~"

Mama Yue rolled her eyes. "Ridiculous... But anyway. Go pack your stuff. Enough for like a week or so."

"Huh?" I blinked. "...Are you taking me back to my parents or something?"

Mama Yue scoffed. "As if. Those two are still on vacation in San Diego. No." She coughed and then said, "...I'm filming. For a power ranger thing... kind of."

I blinked.

Then it clicked.

Mama Yue had been sending out audition tapes. And I remembered seeing an audition for the replacement pink ranger for the latest power ranger series at some point.

My eyes lit up and I ran up to hug her. "MOM MADE IT BIG!"

"Shh!" Mama Yue immediately covered my mouth and said, "Quiet, brat. Serena and April are still sleeping, dummy." After that, she released me.

I let out a sheepish smile and said, "Right, right... But that's amazing, Mom!"

Mama Yue smiled and said, "Yeah. I'll be filming for a week." She hesitated and said, "It's probably going to be all day... Will you be fine without me?"

Although Mama Yue was asking me, I could really tell that she was the one who'd be missing me.

I smiled and said, "Don't worry! I'll make sure to have Miss Serena bring us to have lunch with you!"

Mama Yue laughed and said, "I don't think you can do that... but we'll see." She reached out and ruffled my hair.

I kept up a bright smile and said, "Are we going to leave when they wake up then?"

Mama Yue nodded. "Mmhm. I already let Serena know. We'll leave around 8." She gave me a teasing smile and said, "Can't let my son miss his important training, right?"

I laughed and hugged her. "Love you, Mom~" After a quick peck on her cheek, I jogged off to continue my training on the wooden wing chun dummy as always.

Since I was aware Serena and April were still sleeping, I kept it light. But even as I did, I couldn't help but notice that I'd changed.

'Hm... the moves are sharper.'

My body was completely in sync with my intentions. Punches flowed freely into palmstrikes, elbows, and kicks. Even when I switched to my rapier and a meteor hammer, it all flowed with ease.

'Is this because I had... practical experience?'

It hadn't even crossed my mind. But I DID murder a bunch of people. ...Allegedly.

Maybe it unlocked something primal in me? Like how a tiger cub knew how to pounce?

Either way, I was DEFINITELY not at the level of a normal five year old anymore.

Not superhuman level. That'd be amazing. But definitely on the level of a trained MMA fighter. Maybe a bit more?

I wish I could say I'd cleared out those bad guys because of my raw physical skills, but it was more because they sucked at tactics.

If I faced a trained group of mercs, for example, I'd be dead meat.

I'm pretty sure I could take ONE guy out. But a whole team? Nope. Dead man walking is what I was.

But just wait until I grew up properly. I was definitely going to take the world by storm. Definitely.

But anyway...

Time for the usual self-reflection session since a lot had happened.

The elephant in the room was definitely the out of left field sudden action subplot with April and Miss Serena.

I'd made sure there weren't any loose ends there. But it DEFINITELY reminded me that the 90s were a different time.

Since there weren't as many cameras out and about, people could get away with a LOT more. While I wouldn't say people were BOLDER than the 2020s, they definitely weren't as hesitant about taking blatant action.

The 2020s were more 'I dare you do to something.' Right now seemed to be 'no one will ever know.'

Which helped me out, at least. Just meant that violence was a very convenient tool.

...Hm. Okay, maybe something WAS wrong with me. Guess all the childhood trauma from the first run around left its marks.

Probably should have figured that from my first life when I was always calm in life threatening situations. and how I never got drunk because I was always worried I might slip and resort to my default mode of violence.

I had the answer to that now at least. I was DEFINITELY capable of violence. And I was also not even a bit guilty about taking lives.

Allegedly.