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Lloyd and Sora laughed as they walked past shops and restaurants, both with a bag in hand as they made their way through the Crossroads.
“Ana?”
At first, Lloyd didn’t pay mind to the woman’s voice, but Sora whipped around, much to Lloyd’s shock. He turned around as well, meeting the gaze of a woman and a man who were both either in their 50’s or their 60’s.
“Can we help you?” Lloyd asked, confused about the sudden tension in the area. He looked at Sora, who looked shocked and uneasy.
The woman looked at him, her gaze judging his every feature and move. “Excuse us, we wanted to have a talk with our daughter.” The woman stepped forward, but Sora shook her head.
“Sorry, but I don’t want to talk with you two, not anymore,” she told them, but her parents both looked insulted.
Her father also stepped forward, but Lloyd stepped in front of Sora. “Sorry, but Sora doesn’t want to talk with you,” he carefully said, not wanting to escalate the situation.
The man scoffed, looking Lloyd up and down disapprovingly. “We can talk to Ana as we please, understandably, a non-Imperian like you wouldn’t respect your elders.”
Lloyd was a bit flustered, unsure of whether he should say something or not. He knew the man was wrong, he knew how to respect anyone, even these two who had both neglected Sora, it’s why he has yet to say anything insulting back.
Sora narrowed her eyes, glaring at her parents. “Don’t talk to him like that, respect is earned, anyways,” she snapped, and her parents turned their attention back towards her.
“Ana—“
“It’s Sora, now,” she corrected, her mother stuttering a bit.
Her father looked at her disapprovingly. “Don’t talk to your mother like that, you can’t just change your name,” he scoffed, and Lloyd grew irritated, but he wanted her to take the reins, not wanting to overstep.
Sora stood her ground, however, as her mother continued. “Ana, we just want you to come home. I promise that we will change, just please, come back.”
Her mother’s words stabbed through her, but Sora refused to back down. She walked back in front of Lloyd, facing her parents face to face. “If you refuse to use my name, then you have not changed, you even admitted that you have yet to change,” she took a deep breath, continuing, “I won’t come back with you to your home, I have my own now,” she finished, and her mother looked down, but Sora didn’t give in. Her parents were manipulators, always trying to control her and get her to be something and someone she wasn’t.
Lloyd looked at her, proud as he watched Sora defend and protect herself. He was proud to call her his student. He even thought back to the night prior.
—
Lloyd walked into the monastery’s kitchen, curious on why the light was still on this late at night. “Hello?” He called out, and was met with no response. He frowned and looked around, his eyes meeting the dining room, and spotted Sora sitting alone.
He walked over, taking a seat at the chair next to her, when she turned to him. “Are parental relationships always so complicated?” She suddenly asked, sending a wave of shock through him at the sudden question.
He thought about his own relationship with his parents, fiddling with his thumbs. “Probably not, I wouldn’t fully know, I only have one set, and while they aren’t the best, they try and have tried. I guess it could be,” he answered, trying to explain the best he could.
Sora nodded, leaning to the right to rest her head on Lloyd’s shoulder. “Everything is so difficult with my parents, I hate how they treated me, but I feel terrible when I know that I hate them, it’s like I’m obligated to love them,” she admitted, a tear ran down her face.
Lloyd frowned, and wrapped an arm around Sora’s shoulder. “I understand, my mother abandoned me when I was young, I hated it, my father…he was brought back with a shattered mind and soul, hurt me real bad, and then replaced me with a fern, I hated that, but they came back for me,” Lloyd took a deep breath before continuing, “if your parents came back, it’s either out of love, or it’s because they want to have a perfect family image, you can tell which is which when they don’t apologize, don’t respect boundaries, or they make you feel obligated to love or listen to them,” he finished, and Sora had the feeling that he was somewhat like her, having had a bad past with his parents.
Sora sighed. “I think they might want a family image, it’s what they always wanted. They made me play perfect daughter, so when I went against Dr. LaRow, they rejected me and only did the things they were required to do,” she admitted, and Lloyd looked horrified.
Lloyd frowned, he could never think of doing anything close to that to a child. Leaving a child to fend for themselves reminded him of Darkley’s, and It made him sick just thinking about it. He stood up, walking into the kitchen, much to Sora’s curiosity.
“What are you doing?” She asked, and Lloyd rummaged through a cabinet.
“Making hot chocolate, want some?” He asked, and Sora eagerly nodded. “It’s a bit late, but my insomnia will only keep me going even if I lay down,” Lloyd admitted, and Sora understood.
Lloyd popped a small container of hot chocolate powder into the instant coffee machine, pouring water into the machine, and let the machine do its magic. Once the hot liquid poured into the mug, he repeated the process. He pulled out marshmallows as Sora watched, handing her one and popping another into his mouth. He brought out milk and poured it into each of the mugs. He stirred it and sprinkled marshmallows into them. He handed Sora one, and the two blew on the mugs to cool them down, taking a sip of the sweet drink.
“Thanks, I needed this,” Sora admitted, smiling.
“Of course,” Lloyd replied, happy to help her.
Once they finished, they washed their mugs and Sora, who was tired, looked at Lloyd.
“Thanks for being there for me, dad.” The word came out before she could stop it, but Lloyd, stunned, also seemingly brightened up. “Sorry, I uh, guess this is the most parental thing that anyone’s done for me,” she tried to defend herself, but Lloyd brushed it off.
Lloyd was bursting with happiness, being called ‘dad’ was something he’d wanted for a while, he’d always wanted to be a parent. “It’s fine, call me that if you really want to,” he responded, trying not to cry tears of pure joy.
Sora, who was heading towards the hallway, looked back at Lloyd. “Night, dad.”
—
Sora’s father looked at her with rage, feeling utterly disrespected. “We gave you a roof over your head, a wonderful and professional name, food, and funded your hobby before you betrayed the Good Empress Beatrix, and in return to disrespect us, ran away to these hoodlums, and now that you and you’re pathetic team have brainwashed Imperium into hating the empress, we have a rock bottom reputation!” Her father shouted, snatching her wrist into a painful grip.
Sora yelped, grabbing at her birth parent’s hand. “Let go of me! You’re hurting me!” She shouted, trying to get her father to let go of her.
Lloyd felt his instincts kick in, the ones telling him to save his cub, to destroy the one hurting her. He shook from those thoughts, not wanting to go to jail for murder. Lloyd grabbed the man’s wrist, nearly crushing it with his powerful grip.
The man squealed like a pig, grabbing his wrist as it throbbed with pain. “You little—“ he was cut off as Lloyd looked up at him, his gaze piercing.
“Hands off my daughter. Next time, you’ll have more than a broken wrist,” he threatened, snarling as he turned around to gently grab Sora’s hand, pulling her away.
Sora tried to ignore her birth parents’ calls and screams, but her mother was too much of a coward to chase her and she knew it.
“You okay?” Lloyd asked her, inspecting her now red wrist. “He didn’t hurt you too bad, right? If he did, I can get him arrested,” he told her, but Sora shook her head.
“I think your threat was enough,” she assured him, and Lloyd smiled. She sighed as they walked. Perhaps she would never get birth parents who loved her unconditionally, but she had Lloyd. He was enough for her. “I love you, dad.”