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It was a quiet day at the Wright Anything Agency, most were, and Phoenix had stepped out to grab some case file or another. It was in that little time frame, a short break while he was gone, that Apollo got around to asking a question that had been on his mind for a while.
He sat on the couch that faced Phoenix’s desk, opposite Athena and Trucy on the other. Athena sat on the right, and while she insisted she was doing work, Apollo could clearly see her playing some idle game or another on her holographic screens. He wondered how she ever thought she was hiding it when the screens were translucent.
Trucy sat on the other side of the couch, legs dangling over the couch’s arms as she shuffled up a pack of playing cards she was rehearsing some new trick with. He wasn’t quite sure of the details, but as long as it didn’t risk him losing a limb, he figured it probably wasn’t important. Trucy would probably ask him to watch the trick’s successful execution within the next few days or so anyway.
“Hey Trucy…” Apollo said, voice cutting through the comfortable silence, disturbing the ease. “Sorry if this is a weird question, it’s probably coming out of nowhere, I’ve just been wondering for a while…”
He trailed off, but Trucy was already responding.
“Sure, Polly, go for it! But if it’s about any of my magic tricks, those are secrets! I can’t tell you any of those, you should know that by now!”
She laughed and shook a finger at him, as though he were a misbehaving kid. While she was clearly having fun, Athena appearing amused as well, Apollo kept a serious expression on his face.
“It’s just… this sounds weird, but I’ve always wondered why you call Mr. Wright ‘daddy’.”
He hated how awkward it sounded, but it was difficult to ask naturally.
Trucy just laughed again.
“Well I’m not going to call him ‘Mr. Wright’ like you and Athena do! He’s your boss, not mine, Polly! Or did you forget?”
She laughed and winked, and Athena laughed along as well.
“Come on, Apollo,” Athena chimed in, “What kind of question is that supposed to be?”
Apollo frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Oh, cut it out. That’s not what I meant. It’s just… Isn’t that a childish thing to call your dad? I mean, you’re 16, I thought you would’ve grown out of it by now or something.”
Athena shot Apollo a glare, sans malice, as she waved her screens away.
“Don’t listen to him, Trucy! You’re still young, call your dad whatever you want!”
Apollo would’ve stuck his tongue out at Athena but he refused to stoop to such childish things, so he settled for glaring at her instead.
“Geez, chill Athena! I’m just telling the truth, it’s not like it’s a bad thing. I’m just wondering. It is kinda childish, you have to admit.”
It was Trucy’s turn to cross her arms now, over her legs as pulled them down and tucked them close to her chest.
“It might be, I guess. Though, I don’t really care, that’s not why I call him that.”
Athena’s eyes widened and Widget lit up yellow.
“Wait, Trucy, you actually have a reason? Huh, and I thought Apollo was just going off on a conspiracy theory.”
“Hey! Give me a little more credit than that!”
Trucy laughed at their antics, but it didn’t go unnoticed by either of the others that it was missing the spark it had previously held.
Apollo started to feel a pang of regret.
“Well, kinda?” She said, holding a smile that was beginning to waver. “I mean I guess I have a reason, but I also sort of don’t? It’s… complicated, I guess.”
Trucy stood, walking past the table and over to the window next to her father’s desk. Apollo and Athena both watched her, unsure of what to say.
She looked out the window, her eyes tracing the cars below, reflected in the glass.
“Athena,” Trucy said, voice just slightly off, still facing the window, still refusing to look either of them in the eye. “Did Daddy ever tell you the story of how I got adopted?”
Athena nodded, then remembered Trucy couldn’t see her.
“Yeah, well… a bit? Boss said I didn’t need to know all the details, but he said he adopted you right around the time he lost his badge. He was defending your father, I think, but then he disappeared. I don’t know much more than that.”
Trucy nodded, still looking out the window.
“Yeah… that’s pretty much it. I don’t have to explain to you guys what it feels like… knowing you don’t have parents. No one to look out for you. It was only two weeks, way shorter than what either of you have had to deal with, so I guess I shouldn’t complain, haha…”
Athena bit the edge of her lip, unsure of what to say, but Trucy continued.
“Zak Gramarye, Shadi Enigmar, whatever you want to call him.” She said, waving her hand nonchalantly, “He ran away. Disappeared, really. The only end appropriate for a magician. And it’s not like I even have the right to be upset over it, I helped him do it.”
She said those words as if she was horrified with herself, dropping her hand to grip the edge of the desk, then let out a breath, soft and shuddering slightly.
“He left… and he never came back. But before long… he, my new daddy that is, called me into his office.”
Trucy paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts.
“I remember the look on his face when he told me… ‘no living relatives’. And I remember even clearer… what he looked like when he said would take me in, instead.”
Trucy laughed a little, but it was hollow, empty.
“Did you know it was only supposed to be temporary? Just until ‘daddy came back’. Well… guess who never showed up?”
She raised a hand to her eyes, wiping away tears that neither Apollo or Athena could see.
“And the funny thing is… I should be upset. I am upset… but not in the way I’m supposed to be. Because every time I think about it… Every time I get scared… w-worry that I’ll be all alone… a-again… I remember what Daddy told me.”
She raised her head just a little higher as she spoke, eyes closed as she quoted her memory.
“‘You can call me ‘daddy’, if you’d like. It doesn’t have to be today, or anything.’... That…. is what he said. And I, a foolish child, accepted it the second he said it.”
Trucy lowered her head again.
“He was so willing to just… let me into his family. Just like that. Before he knew about the Gramarye gift, before I had done anything for him but caused him misery. A-and I was pushy and upfront, I wanted him to be my dad right away, and I’d just lost the first. Maybe that makes me a horrible daughter, willing to abandon someone that quick. Maybe I just really wanted him to like me. I leapt at the chance to be someone's daughter again like I was jumping to a life raft off a sinking ship. Maybe… I was scared that someone would leave me behind again. But the thing is… Daddy never did. It was supposed to be temporary, just until Zak Gramarye made his return. And when he never did, Daddy never said a word. He just kept on caring for me, kept on loving me.”
Trucy took a deep breath in, shuddering again, stronger this time. It was sounding more like a sob.
“It’s different for him, I’m sure. But the moment he told me I could call him my daddy is the moment he became mine, to me. The moment he told me he’d be there for me, like a daddy should be. And every moment after that… even if he was busy, even if things were desperate, no matter what.”
Her voice was choked now and Athena knew she was crying, the same tears she knew were stinging Trucy’s eyes beginning to sting her own. The sound of Trucy’s pain pierced her like a knife slashing through her heart.
“He always comes back.”
Trucy’s voice cracked on the final words, and by now Athena had already stood up, closely followed by Apollo.
“I should probably tell him all this someday… but for now it’s just my little secret. Can you promise me you’ll keep it?”
When Trucy finally turned to meet Apollo and Athena’s eyes, she found both of them looking at her with equally teary expressions as her own.
“Of course.”
“Absolutely.”
Trucy smiled, and it was real this time.
Athena opened her arms, and before she could blink, Trucy had hopped off the desk and into her arms, gripping her tight in a hug. Athena held Trucy close, feeling the slight shake of her body as she hugged her securely. It wasn’t long before another set of arms, Apollo’s to be sure, joined in the mix.
They stayed there for a moment, Apollo and Athena holding Trucy, protecting her from anything outside that might harm her, though of course, nothing was there.
And then, as soon as it had begun, Trucy let go, and the hold gently dissolved.
“I’m alright, I really am. I’m still scared, sometimes. But I know Daddy will be there for me. And you’ll be there for me too… I hope.”
“Of course we will!” Athena cried out, and it took her a moment to realize that Widget had called out the same thing.
“Athena’s right. Widget too. We’re here for you, Trucy,” Apollo added. His voice was more stable than either of the girls, but he couldn’t hide the slight tremor in it from Athena.
“Thank you. Both of you,” Trucy said.
And as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand once more, Phoenix stepped back inside the office, files in tow.
“Hey gang, I’m back!” He called, smile dropping as his gaze landed on his daughter scrubbing the tear tracks off of her cheeks.
“Trucy! Are you alright? What’s wrong?”
He rushed forward, eyes scanning over Trucy’s body for any signs of physical injury.
“Nothing! Everything’s fine, Daddy!”
There were still tears at the corners of his daughter's eyes as she looked up to her father’s concerned face with a smile. He reached down, opening his arms to allow Trucy to hug him, which she gladly did.
“Are you sure?” Phoenix continued, shooting a worried glance at his employees over Trucy’s shoulder. “Apollo, Athena? Should I be worried?”
Athena shook her head.
“All good here, boss!”
Apollo twisted his bracelet around his wrist as he spoke.
“Nothing to be worried about.”
It was their words that allowed Phoenix to relax.
“Well if Apollo says it’s nothing to be worried over, then I’m sure it’s all fine,” He said, the teasing in his tone reassuring the others in turn.
He straightened as Trucy let go, smiling as he went.
“Alright then, is everyone good to get back to work?”
Athena pumped a fist, Trucy grinned, and Apollo crossed his arms over his chest with a smile.
That was answer enough for Phoenix.
“Great. Let’s get back to it!”
And back into the quiet sort of comfortable the office had previously been in they slipped.
As Trucy returned to practicing card tricks, Athena glanced at Phoenix, pretending to be tidying her desk as she did.
She couldn’t say for sure if Trucy was right about one thing… if Phoenix really did see his Trucy as a daughter later in their relationship rather than sooner. But as she watched him pull the locket out of his pocket to look at the picture inside, she was confident Trucy had been right about the other.
He would always come back for her.