From Luna's diary
It's so cold today...
After seeing Leo's reaction to that video we saw on TV, we couldn't help but ask him what was happening. Leo was evidently very worried, and apparently also very frustrated for being stuck at home, unable to go help her in any way.
He had always dismissed every question we made on the topic before, but at that point he just couldn't hold it anymore, and finally decided to tell us what was going on.
Thus he started explaining to us how useless it was to try to erase Claire's memory, and told us about the time they had spent together since then. And he also explained how he decided to keep this secret from us, because he knew we wouldn't have accepted to share our secrets with a person so close to Mr S.
Netheverless, in the end, we were reported to the police by who knows who else, and that girl was the only one who had done something concrete to try to obstacle Mr S.
We owed an apology to both Leo and her, to say the least.
Luna: Sorry, we were definitively wrong about her.
Leo: ...
Luna: Do you think she did that video just to help us?
Leo: Probably not, but... but we could have been the straw that breaks the camel's back, you know?
Since when Claire was arrested, Leo had never managed to contact her in any way. He looks so worried about her, as we are about him. As if we needed any more reason to feel so miserable, right now...
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In the midst of all this uncertainty, what is clear to everyone is that the video Claire made had been extremely effective for her purpose.
After her arrest the authorities verified that she actually was Mr S.'s daughter, and at that point the political credibility of Mr S. sank, literally.
How could it have been otherwise? After all, the fact that the politician who oppressed the alien population with his laws for so long was found to hide an alien daughter, and to oblige her to disguise herself breaking his own laws, had been the biggest political scandal of the last ten years. Even that guy in a llama suit had more political credibility than him at that moment.
It was not long before Mr S., overwhelmed by the gigantic scandal and legal practices, resigned altogether, abandoning politics. For a party like his, so centred on his persona, this had also led to a huge fall in the support from his voters.
Political chaos had resulted, and all the other politicians started a very aggressive electoral campaign, attempting to grab a piece of the cake Mr S. left behind him. And we could only hope that all this mess would end up working in our favour, for once...
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A few months later, from Leo's diary
(the corresponding pages on Luna's diary remained empty)
We knew we would have remained stuck at home for months. Albeit the encouraging news on TV, the slow pace at which everything seemed to proceed made us the most gloomy we had ever been.
And, on top of everything else, we were also very worried for dad. We all knew he wasn't in a good shape anymore, the more the day passed the weaker he got. Mom could see it much clearer than us, and being a doctor was probably perfectly aware of what was about to happen.
At least he was able to see the fall of Mr S., after all the efforts he did when working at his newspaper to contrast his propaganda. This is what we try to think about, because we need to find something giving us the strength to go on...
Also in Leo's diary, there aren't records for the following month and a half
(Brief note: sadly there was also a bug when Hermes passed away, so I wasn't notified when it happened and just found the urn afterwards. Also, I don't want to write several sad chapters in a row as I did at the end of generation 1 because I find it very demanding both for me to write and for you to read. So I prefer to skip those parts in the diary, and return back after a healthy mourning period)
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One month and an half later, end of winter
From Leo's diary
The verdict for me and Aster has finally arrived, we have received a very high fine but at least we are able to leave the house again. As for Orion instead... well, let's say that it is better for him to stay on Sixam and not draw any attention on him for a while.
Aster's girlfriend, Roberta, has been spending a lot of time with us all over these difficult months, he says they're starting to make plans about their future.
And, actually, it didn't take them long before they decided to buy their own little house and move there.
Neither of them has a good job, he draws pictures for children's books and she works in a small retail shop, and after buying the house their finances are more precarious than ever, but they still seem determined in their objective to start a family soon.
Instead, I felt so confused to be unable to take any decision. I was just letting the events drag me along, and not the other way around.
This is probably why I showed up at my old workplace when the Captain of the police station called me, asking me to wear my whole uniform and everything. I had no idea about what he could have had in mind, nor about how my old colleagues would have reacted, but I just didn't think too much about it and went there, as I had been told to.
Leo: Mr Captain, I was pretty sure I was fired...
Captain: I just needed to sign some paperwork to get you back. You didn't undergo any major penal sentence after all, but just a civil sanction. I don't see anything inhibiting you from continuing with your job.
Leo: ...
I was quite confused hearing that explanation, I know the police force rules well enough to know that he had to sign a ton of papers and ask for special permissions just to have me back. Just... why?
My confusion was probably evident on my face, because I didn't need to ask anything before he started explaining:
Captain: I can recognize a good cadet, I don't care if you're green. As far as I'm concerned, you could as well have been blue with yellow polka dots, I don't care.
Leo: But ...
Captain: You have already made a mistake once, but I decided to bet on you. You are clean now, just do your best and work hard, clear?
This is how I went back to my previous job, honestly I wasn't even hoping for it anymore. The Captain remains a cryptic character, he seems to be such a strict follower of the rules to arrest my whole family apparently without any regrets, but that same rigour is now making him help me to get back on track.
Until yesterday I wasn't even sure I actually wanted to be back to this job, during those long months of house-arrest it was so easy to blame the police for our misfortune.
However, the speech the Captain gave me really made me realize that there actually was someone ready to put his trust in me out there, and this motivated me to give my best.
In those first few days I managed to solve a little case of shoplifting, who knows what will come next...
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A few weeks later, back home
Leo: Hello?
???: Leo, is that you?
Her voice was completely different since when she put down her disguise, but there was something unmistakable in the way she spoke that made me recognize her right away.
Leo: Claire!? Did they release you?
Claire: Uh.
She answered in monosyllables, it was a bad sign...
Leo: (worried) Where are you? I'll be right there!
That was the first time we saw each other with our true faces, yet we recognised each other right away.
Leo: Do you have a place to stay?
Claire: ... No, the old man threw me out of the house. Not that I wanted to stay, anyway.
I just nodded, to then propose to her to come home with me.
Claire and mom got along well since when they met, they say to have a lot in common to talk about.
Despite everything she has been through, Claire never stopped to manifest asking for equal rights for us aliens. She also painted a large graffiti in the middle of the neighbourhood, so that everyone could see it.
Claire: ... and this morning the graffiti was finished, and it was beautiful too! Who knows who ended it for me, I would like to thank them!
Leo: Who knows...
Saying this, following an old reflex, she rose her hand to the forehead to brush away her hair. She then snorted impatiently when remembering she didn't have any hair anymore, she just couldn't get used to that new alien appearance of her.
Claire: Stupid bald head...
For me it had been easier, because I lived with my true appearance for my whole childhood. Claire, on the other hand, had been forced to keep the same disguise for her entire life, to the point that she couldn't recognise herself in that purple face anymore. But by now both she and I were registered as aliens, with a history of illicit disguises, in a country where alien disguises remained illegal. So there wasn't much we could do.
Claire: You really look like the aliens of the comics, you know? Even if I miss the red curls a bit.
Leo: You are always beautiful instead.
To be honest, I even preferred her alien look to her old disguise, but I don't think Claire would have believed me. I don't think this is really that important anyway, if disguises teach anything, it is that the external appearance is not really that important, after all.
We have not yet decided what to do, we still have to elaborate many of the events of the recent months. But if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that from now on we want to deal with what will come together.
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