ok but im getting emo over heinkel again so im gonna talk about him again because yeah hes yet another sad character in a sea of sad characters and i love rezero for that but like he is a character consistently characterized by one loss after the other. it's a rollercoaster and its going straight fucking down and he is so miserable and absolutely alone and its both his fault and not his fault at all. but the way it starts is - its all out of his control. the more you think about the trajectory of his life the sadder it gets.
imagine you are heinkel and your parents are the sword saint and the sword demon and you come from a long line of knights and sword saints so thats almost definitely where youre headed, right? thats whats expected of you. you are nineteen years old and youre a knight in the royal guard, which was expected of you, and you have a wife and a beautiful baby boy, which was also expected of you, but at least you have so much joy and love for the latter while the former is just another chain on the astrea family line of people who are stuck to knighthood whether they like it or not. but your family is also just another chain because youre nineteen and your mother is still the sword saint and youre playing with fate here because either youre going to be the sword saint or your son will be.
your wife, the only equal you have, falls asleep one day and never wakes up. you are twenty-one years old and a single parent and then you are twenty-three years old and your son's fate is so much bigger than youll ever be. having the worlds love means that your love pales in comparison, doesnt it? everyone knows about your comatose wife because you keep searching so much for a cure that its just another thing to gossip about. every year that passes by she just continues to look the same as she did when she was awake and alive and loved you. (you dont know it yet but your son is going to reach the same age as her, because you dont find a cure for another sixteen years and you know that she wont love you anymore because who does? theres no one left because your son doesnt count.)
and everyone knows about you because of your family. because yeah, youre a good swordsman, but youre not liked by anyone in the knights. youre not a friend and youre certainly not a sword saint or sword demon. your son mind controls someone because he loves you so much that he would do anything for you and looks up to you like youre some hero, but youre just a wreck whos scrambling to keep what little you have. youre twenty-four and you lose your mom because you were too scared to go on the mission you were assigned on, because youre a coward and youre in over your head and you know, because everyone knows, that you dont measure up. you could never be prepared for this. in a long line of people who have to carry the weight of the world, you crumble easily. your mom goes on that mission and dies and your son becomes the sword saint like this was always going to happen. this is what being loved by the world means. you just killed your mom because you just couldnt suck it up and die on that mission instead. on top of that, your dad says that your five-year-old god of a son killed your mom. its just you and your son and the two of you both killed your mom but youre the worlds biggest laughing stock and your son is the up and coming hero and monster. but you still love your son. you really do.
right?
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--
A weird sensation overcame Miles suddenly. He could feel his muscles tense in an almost painful manner.
Dad.
He had to go to his father. But before he could step away from the couch, he was overcome with dizziness.
The moment Gregory noticed that something was up with his son, he made his way to the living room to help him. "I'm sure it's nothing severe," he thought to himself, "kids get sick all the time after all. I'll make sure to check his temperature."
But before he could place his hand on his forehead to check for fever, Miles looked up at him with a scared look.
"Dad I- I feel really bad what's-"
Gregory kneeled over to comfort Miles, expecting to see eye to eye with him. Which...he didn't? Did he overestimate how tall his own son was?
Miles's voice broke him out of his short train of thought.
"What's happening? Dad!?"
Gregory stared dumbfounded at the sight in front of him as his own son slowly shrunk down. Miles looked up at him in in terror. Unsure what to do, Gregory picked him up whilst trying to hide his panic from Miles.
He could feel a shaking and still shrinking young Miles in his palms. Gregory started to spiral a bit in that moment. What if this never stops? What is going to happen? Is this normal? None of the books ever mentioned anything about shrinking... And what if-
Gregory was quickly pulled out his own thoughts when he saw that it stopped. They stared at each other, slowly taking in what just happened.
In Gregory's hand now sat a tiny and scared Miles Edgeworth, reduced to barely 5 inches.
--
Gregory asks Miles if he's badly hurt anywhere (and immediately lowers his voice when he sees and feels Miles back away at the perceived loudness of it). Miles shakes his head, unable to speak from shock. They both don't know what to do. Gregory barely dares to move his hands, but slowly, whilst warning Miles, puts him on the salon table.
He assures Miles will be alright. But in Gregory's head all sorts of thoughts start spinning around. He would definitely have to call him in sick for school tomorrow. But what then? Would his son just... be tiny forever? Could he never go back to school? What about his future? He felt his thoughts spiraling again.
Gregory takes a deep breath and gathers himself. He makes a makeshift bed for Miles for the night and he will sleep on the couch next to him.
Calming Miles down took several hours. It was painful for him to see his son so upset while he could not do a thing, not even hold him in his arms to comfort him. Besides, he could see Miles give him a scared look now and then. His own son was scared of him.
They both eventually fall asleep. Moments before the sun rises, Miles wakes up from a similar sensation over his body. The dizziness starts again and through his confused state he sees the table he slept on get bigger.
He calls out to Gregory, who wakes up upon hearing Miles's voice. The first thing he sees is his son growing back to his original height. So it wasn't a dream.
Gregory still decides to keep Miles home "sick" from school and tells Miles to spend the day with him in the office. He tries to focus on his work and his clients while keeping an eye on Miles. Everything seems to be fine now? They're both cautiously optimistic.
They eat a bit later than usual that day. Miles helps Gregory with cleaning the table after dinner. But Miles drops his plate in shock, overcome by the same sensation again. He calls out to his father, who immediately assumes the worst. He pulls Miles away from the glass shards and feels him shrink in his arms. He puts him on the dinner table to give him some high ground.
It happened after dinner again. Was it the food? No that doesn't seem right. An Allergy? But he'd never heard of people shrinking from allergens before... Gregory checked his watch. Around the same time as yesterday. Could it be..?
When he looks up at Miles he noticed that he backed further away from him. Of course he was still scared. Gregory assures that surely Miles will grow back again like last night, and that he can sleep with him again tonight to be safe. Miles nods in understanding, but doesn't come closer to Gregory. In fact, he doesn't really want to be close to him until they go to bed.
Miles wakes up at sunrise, feeling his body grow back again. Gregory calls him in sick for another few days. He's quite sure about the pattern but...he feels uneasy about sending Miles to school now.
Miles is a perceptive kid. He asks his dad if this will happen every night now, and if he will actually grow back or just suddenly be tiny forever. His father reassures him that whatever happens, he will make sure that Miles is fine and, most importantly, safe.
It becomes clear to both of them that this is likely to be a pattern. Gregory decides to test their theory the following day. He tells Miles to sit on the dinner table at a certain time, all the while Gregory checks the time on his watch. And it checks out. At around the same time, Miles starts shrinking again. He repeats this for the remainder of the week, concluding that this only happened at night. He almost called it a relief.
Gregory has to send Miles back to school again, despite both being anxious about it. While Miles is out for school, Gregory uses what free time he has to figure out how to make the house more accessible. This feels...kind of bad. Doing so would confirm that Miles's situation might be, well, permanent? Besides, it feels a bit degrading to give his son tiny materials for him to use.
Over the course of a few weeks, Gregory figures out that the times that Miles shrink are in accordance with the sunrise and sunset. Which doesn't exactly make this "condition" any more sensible. Furthermore, it takes Miles several weeks before he is finally able to be in the presence of his father for a longer amount of time. After the initial shock wears off, Miles starts wandering around the house in the evening a bit more.
Miles starts to realize the limitations of his condition. From time to time he needs to rush home after having a playdate. Or sometimes missing out on events for school.
As time passes, they both learn to adapt better. Miles gets less scared of walking around the house, and asks to be picked up to get places more often. Despite that, Miles one day admits that he is still kind of sad that he can never stay over at any of the kids' for too long, or vice versa. Gregory tells him that maybe it's time that he told one of his classmates about this, if he wanted to of course. Miles is very wary of this idea, but he thinks it over now and then. Who of his classmates was really his friend? Who wouldn't laugh at him, or pity him, or think badly of him? He didn't think he had a friend like that in class at all.
That is, until a certain class trial rolls around.
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