Chapter Text
How long has it been since I've been here? How long has it been since I've lost c00lkidd? I don't have any ideas or answers anymore. I did everything I could to find him, only to have no results in the end. Does that make me a bad father? I can't be sure. Maybe this is my due punishment.
Cutting through the fog that clouds my vision with each step, I can't help but have a strange feeling. I've come accustomed to this fog, this dark mist of this realm, but it feels... different. A good kind of different, but why good? What have I done before arriving here that was ever good? Nothing. I don't deserve anything good that happens to me. I always attribute it to dumb luck.
It's okay for me to wish for good things to happen, right? I've done so many terrible things, but I can still be optimistic, right? The fog seems to be... cheering me on somehow. I can't explain this feeling. The fog is telling me that something good is just around the corner, something great, even. I clear my mind, and keep pushing on through the fog.
And then I see it. I stop in the fog. Through the fog, I can see someone standing in the distance. Someone shorter than me by a fair margin. The fog could be distorting my vision, as it often does, but I can see... red. Red and small. Where have I seen that combination before?
The realization hits me. I've nearly given up hope, I would have been stupid to keep believing, but it appears I'm not so foolish for once. It's c00lkidd. It just has to be. My years-long search for him has finally meant something. Maybe, just maybe, good things can happen to me?
"Son," I call out into the fog, "is that you?"
"D... Dad?" The figure calls back, in a faint voice. The voice matches with my... bleak memories. It truly is him.
The fog seems to thin out, just for this moment. I get down on one knee and open my arms out wide as c00lkidd comes running to me. As he approaches, I can see him clearer and clearer: the horns, his tail, and the bandana tied around his neck. It is all just as I remember him. He runs closer and closer to me, and I can see him crying. I can't help but do the same. The tears blind my vision, just like how the fog used to.
He runs into my arms, hugging me tightly. I warmly receive him with a hug of my own. Neither of us speak, cherishing this long-awaited moment. The tears don't stop. These tears are, for once, tears of joy. A kind of sensation I haven't experienced in forever.
After a while, I finally hear his voice once more, "Dad, I've finally found you." His voice stutters through his tears, but I can hear the joy all the same.
"I've finally found you, my son, c00lkidd," I respond. My breathing is heavy, my heart melting with joy.
I keep c00lkidd in my arms, knowing I could never let go of and lose him again. I pat him on the back as the last of his tears leave his eyes. I take the bandana around his neck and pat his face dry.
"Thank you, Dad," c00lkidd replies. "Could you carry me please? I haven't grown much, I bet you could do it, just like how you used to do it." His voice still full of the same childlike emotion, just as I remember it being.
I stand up, carrying him in my arms as he rests his chin on my shoulder.
"Nothing will ever separate us again, c00lkidd," I promise him. I mean it this time. Nothing will separate us.
"Love you, Dad," he answers.
"I love you too, son," I respond. The words that I speak surprise me. They feel so natural, despite how long it's been since I've said them.
Good things do happen to me in the end. This is the best thing to happen to me, after he first showed up at my doorstep. I, once again, begin to walk through the fog, with c00lkidd in my arms.
He is fast asleep, with a peaceful smile on his face.