As White finished his song, he heard a small voice from his earphones.<br/><br/>"White," Cheshire whispered seductivly, "someone needs you."<br/><br/>"Buzz off, Cat." he grumbled as he left the stage, "I'm not in the mood. Didn't I specifically say to do a mother and son theme to the visuals? I wrote this song with a specific..." he started but was interrupted by one of Cheshire's illusions in front of him with the first solemn face he'd ever seen.<br/><br/>"White, your father is here." Cheshire said flatly. The reaction was immediate. White's eyes narrowed, his brow cinched up in fury and his jaw set with determination.<br/><br/>"And he wants to see me?" White said briskly, his anger not well concealed behind his eyes.<br/><br/>Cheshire nodded. "He's meeting with an investor of the club, and he was here for the show. He saw the whole thing." Chesh didn't quite like what had to happen next, but he felt it was necessary.<br/><br/>"Take me." White said, and for once, Cheshire didn't take the time to make the obvious joke, he just led him.<br/><br/>Over by Mari, another Cheshire illusion strode up to her.<br/><br/>"You have time to take a small break?" he asked simply, "I have something to show you." He took his hands and created a square in them, projecting a screen in his hands for her to watch. It was the same corner that Dumas was watching, White was walking towards, and Steven Radcliff was being led too. It was all about to go down, every copy of Cheshire braced itself. This was going to be big...<br/><br/>_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/><br/>Mr. Alrus and Radcliff made it to the corner just as White and Cheshire's illusion became visible through the crowd, and both Radcliff's stiffened immediately. Mr. Radcliff's face was still a mask of absolute passive determination, while White already seemed angry.<br/><br/>"William..." Mr. Radcliff began, but he was cut off.<br/><br/>"No." White said simply, the sudden force of it was enough to stop even the powerful Steven Radcliff. There was a total moment of silence between the two of them. Mr. Radcliff spoke first.<br/><br/>"Son," he said simply.<br/><br/>"Dad," White countered back.<br/><br/>"Son, let me take you home."<br/><br/>White let the offer hang in the air for a long, long moment.<br/><br/>"Does that come with conditions?" he said angrily. He stood defensively, almost aggressively towards his father.<br/><br/>"Why would I..." he tried to explain, but White cut him off again.<br/><br/>"I can't think of a single time when you haven't added conditions everything from money to morning breakfast, so don't you dare tell me you aren't looking for something out of me." White countered. His voice was rapid fire quick and filled with more venom then most snakes could carry. The sound of it made even Mr. Radcliff flinch ever so slightly. Cheshire felt proud at that, even as he felt sorry for putting White in this predicament.<br/><br/>"Why are you living like this?" Radcliff asked. "Why don't you just stop this foolish music nonsense and come home. You can stop scrounging and missing rent checks, stop having to perform like this, and go to collage so you can start doing what you were MENT to do."<br/><br/>White this time let him say all of it, but as soon as his father had said 'stop' and 'music' in the same sentence he stopped listening.<br/><br/>"I knew it," he growled under his breath. "Always with conditions, and always put up in a nice little package with gilded wrapping paper and a silver bow and guess what?" he yelled. "I'm not falling for it anymore! You're not going to tell me what to do and you're not going to use anyone else's death to guilt me into things and you're not going have your heir to your throne no matter how many promises you have to make! Did you really have to come here and do this to me!? Did you really have to try one more time? Wasn't last time enough?!"<br/><br/>White was practically heaving now, and if Cheshire wasn't canceling out all the sound coming from this corner, his yelling would probably made every head in the club turn. Mr. Radcliff on the other hand was still as calm looking as ever. The only difference was that his every so subtle hint of sadness quickly turned to anger.<br/><br/>"William, you're being stubborn." he said in a low, dangerous undertone. "Your mother wouldn't have wanted this and even though I didn't plan on doing this tonight I will not allow you to throw away what you've been given! You will leave these degenerates and come with me or so help me..."<br/><br/>"Or so help you what, Dad?" White asked in a tone that could only be described as a deadly serious threat rather then a question. "Are you going to try and buy my apartment again? Or maybe this club? Are you going to make THEM move across the country just to get your way?" He stared his father down with the kind of defiance only a child can give their parent. "You can try and justify it all you want, but it's YOUR fault this happened. YOU dug your own grave and YOU built your own playground and I don't have to play in either."<br/><br/>This was the line that really hit home with Mr. Radcliff, and the great giant of a man stopped in his tracks. It took him a long time to figure out what to say.<br/><br/>"Will," He started gently. "I know I've made mistakes, but I want to make it up to you. Please, come home. Please."<br/><br/>White couldn't help but look at his father with only a hint of hope.<br/><br/>"Did you get your daughter back?" he asked, "Have you asked Jessica to come home?"<br/><br/>Mr. Radcliff's expression sharpened in anger for only a moment, and then realized the implications. His face drooped in defeat.<br/><br/>"No." he admitted simply. White's face hardened again.<br/><br/>"Then you know my answer," he said. He stood where he was without moving, without turning or softening or changing in any way for a long moment. Finally, Mr. Radcliff accepted defeat. He turned away.<br/><br/>"Mr. Alrus." he called over his shoulder. Cheshire had been so enthralled that he had almost forgotten he was playing someone else.<br/><br/>"Yes, Mr. Radliff?" he asked timidly, both acting and not.<br/><br/>"I'm afraid I have to decline your investment opportunity." he replied simply. In a moment, he was gone into the streets again, picked up by a limo and back off into the city.<br/><br/>The moment he was out of sight, Cheshire released the hologram around him and sent off his illusion of himself, But White didn't move until the limo left from outside. Then he turned and collapsed into Cheshire's hands, sobbing hard yet with only the lightest of sounds. Chesh had predicted an emotional response, but this was a little more then he had bargained for. For the first time in his life, Cheshire wasn't quite sure what to do next. It was so much raw emotion and unabashed weakness from White, Cheshire was actually mildly flustered, if not at least confused. Every hologram he had went blank in the face and lifeless for that one moment while he let White cry.<br/><br/>"You did this, didn't you?" White asked shakily. Cheshire looked at him in his arms and could only make a sound that was something like a yes. White sniffed a little bit and then looked up at him. Cheshire didn't even have his stage face on.<br/><br/>"Thank you," White said as he stood up on his own. "I never had a chance to talk to him since..." He paused. White wasn't sure what to say, what to explain.<br/><br/>"You're going to want an explanation, aren't you?" White said mildly exasperated. "and you're going to tell the others about it." He sighed heavily, "But I guess after setting this up, you kind of deserve it." he smoothed the wrinkles out of his suit and stood with arms wide open. "Ask away then."<br/><br/>Next to Mari and Dumas, Cheshire's illusions became animated again with a wary, tired smile.<br/><br/>"So, here it is, ask away," he told them, "and I'll do my best to ask him in my own way."<br/><br/>This was the moment he'd built up toward, a moment where he could finally let Mari and Dumas see White the way Cheshire saw him. Vulnerable, arrogant, and yet noble and tender. The things Cheshire had found out about White had changed they way Chesh saw him for the better, and he wanted to show Dumas and Mari in a way that would be as spectacular as possible.<br/><br/>"Oh," he added, "And you can ask me a few questions too I guess. I figure I need to explain a few things too."