Unexpected

Matt had decided he wanted to pop back over to his home so he could try and talk to Alise about something that was bugging him. He knew since that it had to do with girls he wanted to get a mom's opinion and since she was the only one he had he wanted to ask her. Of course he had snuck away but he would deal with the consequences of those actions later.

Walking up to the cabin he had heard the voices of his father and Alise and when he heard the mention of divorce he was in shock. He had known that his father was torn when Alise was kidnapped. He could not believe what he was hearing. His father wanted to divorce Alise that this whole thing was just a contract between them.

This whole thing did not make any sense to him he could tell that his father was in love with Alise very much, a person had to be blind not to see it. He patiently waited for Alise to leave before he went in to confront his father about what he just heard. Once she was gone Matt went into the cabin a very pissed off young man. The thoughts of being caught away from school were forgotten.

"What the hell did you just do, are you crazy?" Matt was complete lost at his own feelings at the moment. He was finally coming around to excepting Alise could be his mom and then his father pushes her away.

Sacha had let her go, his demeanor impassive, unmoved. Inside, he felt raw and torn. She'd believed him.

The man had settled onto the arm of the sofa, suddenly weary, when Matthew stormed into the cabin. He slowly lifted his gaze to the boy.

"Yes," he answered simply. Sacha gave a humorless laugh. "You were not meant to witness that. I suppose that does save my having to tell you. I am sorry, Matvei. I realize all this is not easy for you, either. It would seem there is no right that I can do by anyone."

Matt could not believe that his father had just admitted to being crazy and then what floored him the most was when his father gave a laugh. How could he possible think that what just happen be anywhere near funny?

"Well I figured I was not suppose to hear that and I almost wish I hadn't. You could have been a little less rude to her" Matt said a little more calmly.

Matt walked into the kitchen and got himself a glass of juice and then walked back into the living room taking a seat across from his father.

"So are you going to tell me why you just threw the best thing in your life away?

"If I'd been kind, she would not have believed me," Sacha murmured. Part of him had hoped she wouldn't believe him at all. He ran a hand through his hair, gaze having drifted off to the far side of the room, only to snap back to the boy at his words.

"One of," he corrected firmly. "Alise is one of the best things in my life. Not the only."

Sacha gave a ragged sigh, grey eyes overly bright. "Sometimes one must resort to drastic measures to protect the ones they love. I put her in danger and I've brought her little more than pain. She'll be better off in the end without me."

Matt was sipping his juice listening to his father, since when do you have to be rude to hand someone divorce papers.

"Maybe she shouldn't believe you, what you did was very unbelievable and I even witnessed it." Matt sighed

Matt was still in shocked that he even did this and he just shook his head at his fathers comment. "I know that, that's not what I meant and you know it."

Matt was trying really hard to be respectful towards his father at the moment but it was proving to be hard.

"So I suppose if you want to use that logic then your going to send me away too?" Matt said and then stood up turning away from his father.

"What should be and is tend to differ greatly," said Sacha. That was something he had learned himself a very long time before.

"I'm just making certain you know," the man returned. "You are one of the best things in my life. Regardless of anything else, you always will be Matthew. Remember that."

Sacha regarded the boy a long moment without speaking, his silence communicating as much as words. Finally, the man gave a response. "It would be a falsehood to claim it was not considered. However, I decided that at the time being, the guard of freeborns is more than adequate. In fact, your excursions outside of Durmstrang and away from home have been monitored for a while, now. They do not report your actions to me, nor infringe on your privacy unnecessarily. They are there only for your protection," Sacha told him, then gave a heavy sigh. "Alise would never have permitted such protection."

Matt was continuing his pacing while he was listening to his father. He was only 14 yes, but everything that he has been thru he seemed to be a little more mature for his age and he could not understand everything.

"Yeah my life is full of that." Matt sighed, there were many things that he thought should be and they weren't

"Of course I will remember that dad" Matt sighed once again, but then given Matt's past his father probably wanted to make sure he wasn't going to abandoned him like his mother did.

Matt should not have been in shock by the measures that his father was taking to protect him, but listening to him being followed made him a little nervous, there were many things that he did outside of school he was not sure he wanted his father to know about, not that they were illegal or anything.

"Yeah my protection, at that rate I might as well stay trapped in my room forever." Matt glared at his father, "So they don't tell you anything I am doing?" Matt asked with a quirked an eyebrow

Sacha's grey eyes softened, and his emotions were so compromised currently that his entire expression followed suit. The change was very minute, but for a man whose emotions were as controlled as his it might as well have been drastic.

"I know it is, son," Sacha said quietly.

The man gazed placidly at the boy. "I specifically instructed them not to," he replied. "You deserve your privacy every bit as much as I deserve to be assured of your safety. I'm not so old I have forgotten what it is like to be young, Matthew. They guard you, only, not report your movements. You don't have to be happy about it, but you do have to accept it. For now, it is the best option I have - apart from trapping you in your bedroom."

Matt sighed as he listened to his father and then he walked over and threw himself into a chair. Of course everything was for his protection and he supposed that he could try and behave himself so he would worry less.

"I understand dad and I don't want you to have to worry about about me along with everything else you have to worry about." Matt sighed, no he didn't like the idea, but he understood the idea.

"I really think you should have talk to Alise first anyway. She might understand more than you are giving her credit for." Matt knew it wasn't really his place, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to tell his father his feelings about it anyway.

Sacha regarded the boy soberly, then gave a faint sigh. "It isn't that I believe she would not understand," he stated. "Al- She is an intelligent woman. It is rather that in order to explain to her satisfaction, I would have to disclose that which would likely put in even greater peril.

"There is part of my life, a rather significant part of my life, to which you and Alise are not privy. There is good reason for that. You are a target for those who would do me harm for my part as Highmaster. Those people are beneficent in comparison to who would come were I to make even the slightest slip up."

Sacha pushed off from the arm of the sofa. "That is why Alise is safer without my presence in her life and why you shall be continuously monitored until you are of age," he concluded dismissively. "That is all you get to know." With that, he strode across the room and up the steps, Alise's wedding band pressed tightly against the palm of his hand.

Matt realized he was not going to get anywhere with his father. He knew there were many things in his fathers life he did never want to know about and was fine and the more he talked the more Matt understood where he was coming from.

Matt didn't like the idea of people following him, but knowing that he couldn't change that didn't change what he would do anyway. Its not like he was doing anything that could get him in too much trouble. Also knowing that the men were their was not going to cause him to do stupid things either.

Matt watched his father get up and leave the room and Matt was a little upset because he was dismissed a little abruptly. Matt went over to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up them at his father.

"Thats fine you want her out of your life that is your choice, but I refuse to kick her out of mine. I already lost one mother and I refuse to loose another one."

With that Matt walked to the door opened it and then slammed it.

Sacha leaned back against the wall of the hall, gazing down at the ring in his palm. Closing his eyes, he let his head rest back against the plaster.

"Good for you, Matvei," the man murmured fondly. "Good for you." He slid down to sit on the floor, drawing in a shuddering breath. Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes and his stoic mask crumpled, just a bit. A moment later, his shoulders began to trembled. Even alone he tried to hide his emotions, to suppress them. This time, he failed, but even still, Sacha mourned in near-silence.