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I gave a heavy sigh as I looked out the window overlooking the entire city. In my hand was my favourite beverage that R̶a̶y̶ ended up getting me before leaving. The quiet was broken when I heard footsteps. I quickly turn to look at a familiar small figure approaching me, my daughter. She looked just like me and Ray, it was like someone had taken a good mix of our appearances. I gave a small smile as she sat beside me at the window, she looked tired. But, I couldn’t blame her though, R̶a̶y̶ (Binary Star) hasn’t been particularly good with her.
I feel her lean her head up against my shoulder, she normally does this when she needs some form of comfort. My grip on my cup tightens, I want to ask what's wrong so badly but I already feel like I have the answer. She got back from training with h̶e̶r̶ d̶a̶d̶ (Binary Star) and knowing him he probably pushed her too far. I couldn’t understand how he could do that to our child. I briefly remember our argument over the matter from a few weeks ago.
·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
“I can’t understand why you’re doing this, she’s only 11- A kid her age should be playing with her friends not being trained like a soldier!” I hissed out.
“Well if she’s going to take on my abilities she needs to be well prepared… Training her early is a good thing if she’s going to be better prepared,” He had that dead-eyed look on his face. Looking down at me while he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Besides she’ll be better, no… she has to be a better version of me, most importantly” he added. I just stared into his eyes but it’s not like they were going to tell me how he was feeling.
There was no indication of how he could be so cruel.
·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
I wrap an arm around her and pull her closer. Sometimes… I wonder if letting those aliens destroy the city would have been easier. At least I wouldn’t have brought an innocent human into this mess. She doesn’t deserve this. But then I shake my head at the thought, at least I saved the world in a way but at the cost of this? I took a sip of my drink before my daughter spoke.
“What did I do wrong? Does dad hate me?” She whispered softly.
I looked down at her, rubbing her arm with my thumb softly. I couldn’t bring myself to answer her question. What would I even say? ‘Oh yeah, your dad is training you to prepare you to be better than him???’ I cringe mostly out of anger for her.
“Do you want to talk about it? You know I’m always here for you if you need anything” I finally brought myself to say something. She shook her head, looking up at me, I could see she was crying which broke my heart even more.
“No… I think I’m… I think I’m just going to lie down for now… could you cuddle me later?” she asked before getting up.
“Of course, I’ll come by when I’ve finished my drink,” I replied. She headed off towards her room not bothering to close the door. I stared after her, it felt like a part of me was taken away when she left. Then I realized just how awful of a parent I was for letting this continue for so long.
·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
“I’m surprised at this point you haven’t thrown our daughter off the roof of a building to see if she can fly” I spoke. R̶a̶y̶ said something about going too easy on our daughter when they were training. It seemed like all the time we argued about her. Though I mostly blamed him for that.
“Besides our daughter hasn’t shown any signs of any powers… I’m pretty sure that means she doesn’t have any… So, why don’t you lay off her for now?” I tried reasoning.
“What do you mean by that? She’s my kid of course she has to have something” was all he said on the matter. It didn’t even seem like he gave my words much thought. Typical.
“Anyway I don’t have much time to talk I need to go now, I’ll see you in the evening” He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before walking out the door. I watched him leave and something inside me just felt so defeated.
·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
I thought about running away (of course with R̶a̶y̶ away because who knows how he would react) I couldn’t help but be terrified since he would definitely search for us. Plus, there's this annoying feeling that makes me not want to leave, it makes me too scared to leave R̶a̶y̶ (Binary Star).
I finished my drink and headed to the kitchen. I rinsed my cup, placing it in the sink as I heard the front door open. R̶a̶y̶ (ɹɐʇS ʎɹɐuᴉꓭ) came in and he let out a tired sigh. He walked up behind me and just stood there for a moment.
“You were thinking of running away?” He spoke up and I froze in place. I berated myself for a moment before turning to face him.
“I think you know why I’m thinking of running away,” I spoke sharply at him.
“Is that right…?” He looked off to the side in thought. I’m not sure what he was getting at but then he just gave me one of those empty smiles. They were always so eerie… I absolutely hated them.
“You do realize it’s necessary that I prepare our daughter for the things I wasn’t prepared for?-” He started explaining before I cut him off.
“Yes, I understand since you explained it when we argued about it a few weeks ago… It’s just… That doesn’t make your treatment of them any better” I added. He looked a bit surprised, it was the first real emotion I’ve seen in a while. But as soon as it hit his face… it was gone. I know my words probably go in one ear and out the other.
“You know what?… Never mind, clearly you’re not listening and I rather not have us fighting when our daughter can hear us,” I spoke softly before heading over to my daughter’s room. In my anger, I almost didn’t hear what he said next.
“When you’re thinking of running away I want you to remember that I’ll always find you no matter where you go… no matter how far you go, Star,” ɹɐʇS ʎɹɐuᴉꓭ spoke as I shakily shut my daughter’s bedroom door.