In the dead of the night, or rather, in the earliest part of the morning.

There was hardly a soul awake at that time.

Men, women and children were all asleep.

The few that were out partying were just about asleep.

The few that had things to do were just about awake.

In those wee moments of the Sunday morning, one could call it the most silent part of the Sunday. Or, rather, that brief reprieve between the monstrous madness that was Saturday night and the chirping of, not only birds, but also life itself. No children, no people, no nothing.

Just... silence, for many miles at a time.

Julianne Hunter returned to the couch seat she was previously in.

She didn't need coffee.

Her eyes and mind were highly alert.

And so, she didn't bother.

All the teens eyes were transfixed upon her.

She could feel them. Every one of them. Even her own son's.

Rose was looking at her, wondering as to what she could have meant by that.

She could already guess that Ken, knowing how smart he was, was already waiting for an answer. And a concise one at that.

And Tiffany, she would expect no less from her.

She knew full well that she was suspicious too.

Luke, as far as she could tell, would be the same as the other two.

As for her son, ...

She sighed.

There was no taking back those words.

There was no way any of them would fail to take it seriously.

And so, with one more deep breath, ...

... she turned to her son, almost as though to motion their eyes towards him, and they did so accordingly.

Julianne: We're.. not exactly protonites

Hearing it the first time was a shock enough. But, hearing it the second time, moreover when she was in this state, seeming calm and collected, that truly was shock.

And, it also affirmed what they'd heard.

Rose: (gasp) Really!!

Only Rose spoke, but Ken, Tiffany and Luke had already started to think of what that could mean.

Tiffany began to prepare for what she might hear, and to gouge out a lie if she'd heard one.

Ken went a step further, already marking all of her possible answers.

Max remained silent.

And Julianne remained silent, all the while her eyes on her son, before....

Julianne: Yes, really...

At that point, something in Rose's heart turned sour.

The girl by the name of Rose Wright.

In this time, she had grown very close to this older woman. Much closer than many would expect in such a short time.

She had grown to love and adore her.

But this.... this lie....

It threatened the way she saw this woman.

Not only as a person who was honest, or at least, cared enough about her not to lie, but also, as a person who cared about her.

But there was more to it.

It also threatened the trust she had for this woman.

Trust that she had already learned to enjoy having.

Trust that she didn't want to let go of.

Rose: Then... what... what are you?

The eyes of the teens were on Julianne Hunter, but having heard that statement, they turned to Max as well, who, himself, was simply looking at his mother.

Ken: (thinking: Why does he look so.... bothered?)

That was the same thought through all of their eyes.

Why did Max seem to be so perturbed?

Why was he looking at his mother like that?

Why was he so....?

But, before their thoughts could travel any further...

Julianne: I suppose it makes sense to start from the beginning.

Rose: The beginning?

Julianne: Yes. The beginning.

They all exchanged glances.

What on earth could she be talking about?

Their eyes turned to Max, whose own eyes narrowed.

Julianne: The beginning of the Hunter family.

Rose: The.... the beginning.... of.... what...!?

To anybody used to the world of familial affairs, one idea would come to mind almost immediately.

In this world, and in many worlds, the idea of a family remains an un-foreign one.

A male, a female and offspring birthed between the two.

And these offspring would eventually come to mature and produce more of their own.

And so on...

This ethos.

This dimension.

Is one known as family.

A single unit of sentient beings living together connected by blood and perhaps more importantly, love.

This singular building block in society has existed for several generations, if not since the dawn of time.

The male and female, most often of different families, simply come together and mate.

And it would seem to be as simple as that. However, what is often forgotten is that this singular block is more than just people living together.

Instead, it is a group of people, who have both biologically and also intrinsically decided to stick together, live together, fight together, survive together and thrive together.

However, it is not just the what and the why that would concern one to whom this concept would be foreign, but also the how.

The simple fact of the matter being, that the family always puts itself first above all else.

That meaning, that members of the family all treat each other as, well, family.

Each family giving its own members priority over other members.

Each family treating its own like something truly special.

Of course, this treatment extends even to branches of the family as a result of its eventual and inevitable expansion.

Children grow and become adults and marry into different families.

However, siblings remain siblings, and those married to, the offspring of and even the close acquaintances of said siblings are treated with great affection as well.

Perhaps a great critique of the familial unit is it's intrinsically seemingly selfish and perhaps somewhat self serving.

But, a perhaps better view may be to say that the family unit, selfish and miserly of its affection as it may seem, perhaps exists because people, being people, in fact do require this insanely selfish love.

A kind of love that puts oneself on a pedestal, simply because of blood.

The kind of love that makes one feel like a part of something, simply because... one was.

So, on hearing this, one may be inclined to ask, how would one get into said relationship?

The answer?

Obviously, being born into it, marriage, adoption, friendship and et cetera.

And one would be more inclined to ask, how does a family start?

Well, when a mommy and daddy love each other very much....

You get the idea.

And then would come the next question?

How did the family begin in the first place?

And that answer being something that could only be understood by a family designation.

For every single thing in the world, there is a name.

A name being, something that people have decided upon to refer to something.

And as for that name, well, words do indeed have power.

A good example would be the name, Hunter, Max and Julianne's family name.

The fact of the matter being, that the patriarch of the Hunter family gave his family the designation, Hunter.

This Hunter being the very first of Max's family.

And so the real question comes in?

What starts a family?

And the answer is quite simple.

Purpose.

There is a pride to a brand, be it a shop or a restaurant, and, in a similar sense, there is a pride to a name.

Each and every family name brings some sort of pride to those who own it.

Almost as though saying that one is a part of some sort of secret club.

One may say, for example, the Fitzgeralds are hard workers, or, the Fergusons are the smartest people I know.

Almost as some kind of badge of honour. One that rings and louds itself out to all onlookers.

And who would be the progenitor of said ideals?

That would, most likely be, the patriarch of said family, or, at least, one along the familial lines.

This ethos...

One that has existed for eons ...

... has held societies and nations together, somehow not completely destroying them.

And so anyone having heard all that Julianne had said would have expected something along the lines of an ancient story.

However...

Julianne: Yes. The beginning of the Hunter family. Or, rather....

She braced herself for their reaction.

Julianne: The story of Max's human grandfather.

Rose: Max's what!?