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Regina hates arguments; she really does. They only ever break things and make it difficult to fix things up again. This is something she’s seen happen plenty of times before, and not just with friends and family, but with the people in Lestallum as well.
She especially hates arguments if she’s somehow involved in it… especially when it’s with family.
Worst of all when it involves her and her Dad.
Now that doesn’t happen often (thankfully), but it does happen, and today’s one of those occasions. She doesn’t even remember what it was about, just that it was a very bad one. Bad enough to warrant her stomping up to her room and slamming the door before throwing it on the lock. Maybe it has to do with that time again, because it always makes her more emotional, maybe it’s her teenage hormones because she’s just turned 16, but whatever the cause was, it got its damn job done.
Regina’s been holed up in her room for… she looks at the clock… five hours already. Lunch has passed, but she hasn’t come out to eat yet. She doesn’t feel like going downstairs and facing the music just yet. Of course, she’ll have to eventually, just not now. She settles then, and decides to take a short nap, maybe that’ll help her cool off enough to be able to go down without feeling aggravated. She does remember to set an alarm so she doesn’t sleep the whole day away.
Then she lays her head down and goes to sleep.
When Regina’s awareness returns, she groans as she realizes she has difficulty breathing. She’s on her back, and she can tell the blankets have been kicked off, and yet she feels like she’s suffocating. Slowly, she manages to crack open her eyes…
“Mrooooow!”
Regina almost screams—actually, maybe she did—as she bolts upright, the bundle of fluff on her chest easily getting out of dodge before she was even halfway up. “Oh for… You little…! Dammit, you need a diet!”
The black cat merely meows at her innocently, as if he didn’t just scare the living hell out of her. She groans and reaches for her phone to check the time, but just as she does, her alarm goes off and she sighs, before flicking it off.
“I swear… you and your timing…”
“Meow.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, already,” she chuckles as she climbs off the bed. She briefly looks over to the window and sighs as she spots it open again, confirming just how the silly cat even came into her room when she knows for sure she’d shut the door. “Okay… let’s go down and see what’s dinner..”
Thankfully her temper’s calmed, so she feels a little better going down the steps. When she arrives, though, the kitchen and the living room are both empty. Rather than worry, though, she goes to the kitchen and yep, sure enough, she finds a note.
“Went hunting. I’ll be back later.”
Her Dad’s handwriting, so she’s not worried. In fact, it’s only better, since it gives her some more time to collect herself properly without flying into an angry rant.
“Well, guess we’re on our own for dinner… so how ‘bout we go fish?”
“Mrrrrroooow~”
She laughs as she goes to the rack and pulls down her fishing rod and picks up both her bucket and lure box. After grabbing her keys she heads out, making sure that everything is locked and secured, before she starts off, the black cat hot on her heels and his reflective collar’s moon-shaped bell jingling softly.
They reach Regina’s regular fishing spot soon, and after she’s set everything up, she arches her arm briefly before she snaps it forward, watching and listening to the familiar whirring as the lure flies through the air before settling on the water gently. And when it’s settled, she lowers down and settles on the rocks in silence, her feline companion joining her in silence.
Like that, she spends a good hour fishing. It’s not that they don’t want to bite; just that she keeps getting the small fry that won’t fill either herself or her and her companion. And if she decides to cook for her Dad as well, she’s going to need even more than that.
When she’s finally sure she has enough, she picks up her gear and starts to head back, taking note of the falling dusk. Realizing she has little time left, Regina hurries back to the house, flipping on the large beacons once she’s inside to keep the daemons at bay, before she heads on to the kitchen.
She doesn’t often cook, but Iggy’s taught her how to cook her own catches, so she can do that alone no problem. Before she starts, though, she checks her phone, just in case her Dad had called or texted and she missed it. He hasn’t, though, and she’s not sure how she feels about that. She evsntually shakes it off and tucks the phone in her pocket, just so she’ll know immediately when someone calls or texts.
It takes her about ten minutes to fix her companion’s food with a small portion of the fish. Then she works on her own and her Dad’s food. She doesn’t know when he’ll be back exactly, but she assumes it won’t be much longer…
Food takes about half an hour, and she splits it across two plates. She then snaps a picture with her phone real quick and sends it to her Dad, saying she’s already made dinner for them, along with the note that she’ll wrap it up in foil just in case before she does exactly that. And once she’s done with that, she picks up her own plate with the utensils and moves to the dinner table.
As much as she tries to play it off, though, she hates eating alone, and halfway through, she pulls out her phone, just in case… you know? But no, she hasn’t missed anything… and she’s getting worried now.
Yes, they had argued before her Dad left… but he wouldn’t leave her in the dark about where he was for this long…
She forces herself to finish her food, because it won’t do to starve herself to death, but once she’s finished, she unlocks her phone and moves to her contacts… and pauses.
She could call him… but what if he’s in the middle of a hunt, still? She could end up distracting him just enough for whatever his target is to get to him…
Or what if he’s still angry…?
Regina groans heavily and swipes a little up to a different number, taps it, and then brings the phone to her ear. It rings a few times, but then it clicks and she hears a familiar voice, but she groans as she listens to the words.
“Yyyyello, y’all jus’ reached Hammerhead. ‘Fraid I can’t come ta the phone righ’ now, but leave yer number an’ I’ll call ya back. Bu-bye.”
Beeeep
Regina sighs softly. “Hey, Cindy, it’s Regina. Hey, have you… talked to Dad today? He said he had a hunt, but he isn’t back yet, so I figured he mighta grabbed one at Hammerhead. Could you call me back when you get this? Thanks.”
And then she hangs up and she sits back with a heavy sigh. She tells herself not to worry, tells herself that it’s going to be fine and that her Dad is just delayed, that he’ll probably be walking through the door any minute now… She keeps telling herself that and hoping that it’s true, because she doesn’t dare to think about the possibilities should it not be the case.
Regina’s too worried to go to bed, so she goes to the couch and lays herself down there, pulling the throw blanket over her for heat. She starts going through some things on her phone, trying to stay occupied and get her mind off of her Dad… but no matter what she does, her thoughts always go back to him. By the time she looks at the clock again, she’s shocked to note that it’s almost midnight.
He’s never gone this long, and this causes her worry to grow exponentially.
She bolts upright and she knows she shouldn’t do what she’s about to do, but she can’t stop herself anymore. He’s told her horror stories about the daemons that come out at night, especially around midnight, making her terrified of the world during the night when she was younger. And while she’s older and wiser now, she isn’t any less terrified of the terrors that lurk in the dark.
Regina scrolls to her Dad’s number, and, without thinking twice about it, pushes down on the call button next to his name. She holds the phone to her ear then, and she listens…
One ring…
Two rings…
Three rings…
Click.
“Hey, sorry ‘bout that; can’t come to the phone right now. Busy busy. I’ll call you back later.”
Regina hangs up before the beep. And then she dials again.
One ring…
Two rings…
Three rings…
Click.
“Hey, sorry ‘bout that; can’t come to the phone right no—”
Regina hangs up. Tries again…
One ring…
Two rings…
Three rings…
Click.
“Hey, sorry ‘bo—”
She hangs up again, bites her lip, and then her thumbnail, as she does when she’s nervous, curling up on the couch. He’s never ignored her for so long, no matter how much they’d fought… and he at least called if he got stuck somewhere…
“…mrooooow!”
She jumps and looks down, at her companion, and she sighs and unfolds herself, letting him hop onto her lap, and she pets him. It helps (a little) in distracting her… but it doesn’t get rid of her doom-thinking…
What if something did happen…?
What if he’s hurt…?
What if what if…?
Her mind is reeling, she feels sick to her stomach, her eyes are watering… and when she lays down, trying desperately to stop her mind from thinking… her dreams are filled with red…
It’s with a jolt of alarm that Regina wakes again… and it’s because she’s heard the door opening. All at once, she feels relief, worry, anger and happiness and she isn’t sure which of them is most prominent now, but she immediately climbs off the couch and nearly scrambles for the door. She’s got words ready at the tip of her tongue, she knows she does…
None of them ever make it out…
She makes some sort of strained, terrified sound as Gladio half-walks and half-stumbles inside, her Dad’s arm pulled over his shoulder and his other arm holding him up by the waist as he fairly drags the shorter man inside. She barely hears Gladio’s words, or those of Ignis as he follows them in; all she hears is the blood rushing through her ears as her eyes focused on the bloody gauze that covered the majority of her Dad’s chest and stomach, poorly hidden with just his jacket slung around him.
She’s shaking, her breathing is ragged and even when Iggy comes over to try and calm her, saying something like it’s going to be okay and that her Dad’s going to be fine, it doesn’t stop her heart from hammering against her ribcage until she feels like they’re bruised. She can’t hear anything, can’t look at anything else as Gladio carries her Dad up the stairs, and she follows on shaking legs as Ignis guides her along.
Gladio puts her Dad to bed, and it’s then, when he’s resting in his own bed, injured and in obvious pain as he is, that she begins to understand words again. Her Dad apparently went out without telling anyone, without asking anyone for assistance, and took on a hunt that was too much for him. No one knew where he was, and the only reason anyone even knew it was out was because Cindy called Gladio and Ignis, after she’d gotten Regina’s message, asking them if they’d seen him or talked to him about a hunt.
And even when Gladio and Ignis had gone to look for him, retracing his steps, they’d been unable to find him… until they’d heard his phone going off.
She doesn’t hear anything else they’re saying; she’s too panicked, too worried, and just too… out of it.
She doesn’t even notice that she’s crying, even as Iggy gently holds his arm around her shoulders…
Regina’s never felt this upset about anything, has never been unable to utter a word, even if only to hum an agreement. She just can’t bring herself to say anything as she lies on the bed next to her Dad. She doesn’t care what the others have to say about it, if anything, as she remains right where she is. In normal circumstances, she probably would’ve hugged him, but his current condition makes her wary of causing more harm than good, and so she remains laying where she is, worried and biting her lip, struggling to not cry any more than she already has.
Iggy tries to get her to eat… but she’s not hungry.
Gladdy tries to get her to jog… but she’s got no energy for that.
She just remains there… just… half asleep and trying not to think…
Thinking is bad… especially now…
And despite how she’s slept the whole night already, her worrying exhausts her to the point where it knocks her out again.
She doesn’t know if she’s dreaming or if what she sees is real, but it’s shifting so many times that she’s starting to dread even opening her eyes. One moment she opens her eyes and her Dad is looking at her, leaning over her in her own bed like nothing’s wrong, the next she’s blinking and staring at his lifeless body lying next to her. One moment she’s waking up on the couch to the door opening and him walking through, telling her he’s home finally, the next she’s waking up to Iggy being on the other side with Gladio in the distance, telling her there was nothing they could’ve done.
Dreams and reality are starting to blend together and she can no longer tell what’s real and what isn’t. She doesn’t know what to believe anymore, and her heart is starting to hurt so bad, that she fears it may break if she’s forced to go through any more of this…
She just wants her Dad awake again… she still hasn’t apologized…
As Regina prays for this, she feels a familiar presence in the back of her mind, a gentle glow covering her vision, a light that feels… safe, protective, and comforting…
Her dreams slowly stop as the soft ruby light envelops her gently, shushing her and promising that all will be fine soon. She has no more dreams after that…
When Regina wakes up, it’s to a warm, familiar touch to her forehead, but she doesn’t open her eyes just yet. She’s still afraid of what she may see when she does… still afraid that she’ll wake up to so much red…
“Princess… time to wake up, sweetie…” a voice chuckles out… and it’s a familiar one, as are the words… but they make her even less eager to get up.
She whines loudly, curling up even further, trying to move away from the touch, as she mumbles sleepily: “Five more minutes…”
A laugh, and then there’s a shake at her shoulder. “Nope. You’ve slept long enough; c’mon, honey.”
Six-be-damned, she wants to say, but she holds it in and merely groans in frustration. She then reaches with one hand to wipe away the dust in her eyes as she stretches herself out with a small yawn—okay, a big yawn, shut up…
When she blinks her eyes open, she almost shoots up when familiar blue eyes are staring back at her, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he leans his head on his elbow… but then her earlier dreams catch up to her and she pauses.
“Morning, sunshine,” he says to her when she remains silent.
“…”
Regina doesn’t answer. Not immediately, anyway. In the end, she groans loudly and flops down, pulling the pillow over her head. “Dammit, not again…” she hisses angrily, but her voice hitches, betraying how her heart is hurting.
“Wha… again? Princess, what’s—”
“Go ‘way…” she mumbles from under the pillow, curling up and pressing the pillow firmly against her ears. “I dun wanna dream anymore… go away…”
She’s so tired of all of this dreaming… why can’t her brain just… let her sleep?!
“Oh, princess…”
Suddenly there’re arms around her shoulders and she’s pulled up against a solid chest, and it makes her gasp in slight surprise… before she starts to struggle.
“Lemme go!”
“Sshh… it’s okay, sweetie… it’s okay… sshh…”
“No! Let go of me!!” she shouts, shoving her hands forward—
“Gah!”
—and freezes up.
Her fingers are twitching, and she can feel the heated skin beneath the pads of her fingers…feel the rough material of the gauze under her thumbs… feel the pulse pounding under her right hand… feel the light sweat drops along the skin…
Slowly, she dares to open her eyes and she breathes heavily as she raises her head so slowly. “D… Dad…?”
He’s smiling at her, but she can see there’s a hint of pain lining the expression. “Heh… easy on the wounds, will ya? Still kinda hurts there…”
Regina tries to talk, tries to say something anything… but all that gets out is a broken sound she can’t even name…
Her Dad’s still smiling, though, and he tugs her close again, hugging her firmly to him and shushing her softly, though why is… …oh. She’s crying… that’s why. Right…
“Da…Dad, I… I-I’m so…”
“Ssssh… sshh sweetie… I know, I know… it’s okay… it’s okay… everything’s fine… everything’s just fine…”
She tries to speak again, but her throat’s clogged up and she can’t make a sound. Her eyes are watering and with every blink the tears just keep coming. It takes almost a minute, but she finally shatters and she lets out a pathetic wail as she buries her face in his chest, sobbing and wailing as her Dad continues to gently shush her, rubbing her back continuously.
“I’m so sorry… I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry…” she chokes out over and over and over again.
“Sssh… I know, sweetheart… I know… sshh… it’s okay… shush now, princess… everything’s okay now… it’s okay…”
The 16-year-old girl is hiccupping and sobbing as she tries to calm herself down again… but she can’t help herself… she’s just so happy that she can’t stop crying… she just can’t…
“I… I’m sorry… I… I love you, Dad…”
“I know, sweetheart… I love you, too…”