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The morning tranquility seeped through the Forger’s apartment, the sunlight left an orange trace across the living room, a whiff of scrambled eggs and pork meat made the Forger dog’s tail twitch with excitement.
He knows that he won’t be having any, his bowl will be full with his plain dog food, he could barely call it a meal, but he used to starve under the horrifying facility, so he’ll eat with no complaint. And he hopes that his little telepath girl will be able to sneak some pork at breakfast.
Speaking of the little telepath, “Papa! Is this neat for work?"Her little feet padded across the floor as she rushed with excitement, her green eyes were full of sparkle, like she didn’t wake up groggy five minutes ago.
Her dad, a spy undercover, took his eyes from his cooking duty and looked at his little human, Bond might just be a dog to the eyes of many, but he is observant, like how he can see his large human as he tries to school the softness into a stoic face, or how his eyes wrinkled slightly with amusement at his daughter’s position, twirling her spy costume around.
“Are you sure you want to wear a detective costume again?” he asked, returning his attention to the frying pan.
“Anya finds this dress appro-appri-... good!” She ran to her dad’s side, holding his pants as she tried to inspect the breakfast.
There was a weak chuckle coming from the large owner, Bond’s ears didn’t miss it.
Oh! And he can also predict the future, of course no one knows about it, except for his little telepath, that bubble of comfort grew larger when he realised that there is someone who knew of his pain. Anya couldn’t be more perfect for that.
“Good morning” his other human, greeted softly despite the sharp things she hides in her bedroom,she trudged with slow movement, putting her hand on top of her yawning mouth. Her family responds eagerly to her.
There was an image of a family that is not fake, a family that holds each other with love, support and understanding. He is most certain that nothing could break them apart, even the secrets.
Suddenly, the dog felt a familiar crackle,the future was calling and it made him uneasy.
The picture involved the dad and his daughter in their hospital duty, but what made it scarier was the gun that was pointed at his little telepath while she was running away.
The shot that was fired made Bond yelp in shock, the family didn’t notice that, too busy with their breakfast, the bacon that Anya tried to sneak to his mouth didn’t seem to impress him anymore, he can’t stomach any meat.
His little human didn’t bother to offer it to him once she noticed his lack of interest.
This was bad, Bond is aware of how little he can assist in this situation, usually his little human can see the image when she touches him, maybe he could make her do so.
“Bond?” she asked quizzically, she was putting her little shoes on while the two large humans bid farewell to each other. He could see the little peck in the lips and the blushes shared between each other.
He gently grabbed hold of her shirt cuff. If he could get her hand on his fur, she could see the picture, she could save the day!
“Ah! Bond, don’t ruin my shirt!” she complained, a little frown on her face as she tried to remove his hold from her,but she grabbed his fur anyways.
That’s it! She could read his mind now! And this could be avoided!
But, her face still had this confused expression, “I don’t get what you want Bond, but we’ll get you some food!” she added with a pat to his fur, and jumped to her mother’s arms as she bid her goodbye.
What? Why can’t his little telepath see the future? It can’t be the full moon because he has his own powers, and more importantly they can’t prevent the problem now!
“Bye bye, my darling, be a good girl for Papa, okay?” her mother held her face with her two hands and brought her lips to every part of her face, the little girl giggled.
Bond whined, the worrying pit in his stomach made his tail flap anxiously on the floor, making a tapping noise.
“What’s wrong boy?” The big man softly asked, his hand running through his fluffy white hair, but it did nothing to settle the nauseating feeling in his stomach.
Bond could lose his family. But what can he do in this situation? He is just a dog.
He kept looking at the two humans who waved goodbye and walked out, he saw the door closing slowly at the departing figure of his little girl.
He just hoped that they would get home safe, and that his revelation was untrue.
“Anya, what did I say about touching things without permission?” Loid felt the regret bubbling inside his stomach as he ordered his daughter to put the certificate board back to its shelf.
It was a free school day due to the renovation of a classroom in Eden collage, apparently there will be a famous politician coming by this weekend, and the administration can’t hold classes with all the noise outside.
Twilight made a mental note that he’ll be spying on the famous figure, he might not be Desmond but he can be anyone with great influence.
“That is not very elegantis behaviour..” she replied, putting the certificate to its own place and circling the floor with the tip of her shoe, looking guilty if she weren’t acting like one.
He sighed, he assumed that bringing her with him today could enlighten her more about his job. Moreover, recently she has been keeping to her room with homework, and barely catching up with Spy Wars, this could be a break for her.
And not that he missed her energetic bubbly presence, not that at all. ( although, this could build his fatherly image among his coworkers, they already love her anyways)
But then again, she is a curious little thing, everything is new to her. As it is for every child.
She finally settled down on the coach and played with the sand box, similar to last time.
“Don’t make a mess now, I’ll finish here then we can go outside, okay?” He said while flipping through the papers, WISE has been giving him a lot of paperwork prior to the missions he finished last week. It might take him the whole afternoon but he can make a break or two in between, he can’t let Anya get cooped up like this.
“Okey dokey, Papa!” she replied with great determination and focused on the game in front of her.
She seems to listen to him more lately, it has been satisfying but also .. he misses her rebellious little quirks.
Maybe she is growing up, the thought jabbed slightly at his chest, but he kept his focus on the paper in front of him.
“Papa?” he hummed in response. It has been only 5 minutes, he hopes she won’t ask him for peanuts right now.
“I want to go pee” he looked at her, fidgeting in her seat.
He sighed at her straightforwardness, at least she had the courtesy to tell him, “It’s on the left of this corridor, do you want me to show it to you?” He was ready to get up when she shook her head and rushed towards the door instead.
“I can do it by myself, Papa,” she said.
“Don’t forget to always look up for-”
“Signs! Yes Papa, Anya knows” she gave him a big smile, proud of her memory and left, closing the door.
Twilight found her independence refreshing and yet the jabbing only became painful. He cleared his throat and focused on the papers again.
The ticking sound crept on the room, Twilight was aware of it, more than he should be. He looked at his watch and noticed that 30 minutes had already flown by and Anya wasn't back yet.
It shouldn’t be taking her so long, did she get lost?
“I have to look for her…” he breathed out in the quiet room, and left to check on his daughter.
On his way, he bumped into Nightfall, or Fiona, his coworker and his nurse. “Dr Forger, your clients for today” she looked at him with her usual frosty eyes, and tight lips, she handed him another stack of papers.
Another pile to handle , frustration stirred in his chest, but he kept his eyes sharp and accepted the papers with no hesitation.
“Have you seen Anya anywhere?” he asked, keeping the files under his armpit. Fiona took a moment to reply, assessing his character under her frigid eyes. “Not that I know of, did she run away?”
“No, she went to the bathroom, she might have been lost” he cracked his head around him, trying to spot a pink haired child, but he saw nothing.
“I could hel-” whatever Nightfall was going to say was interrupted by a woman’s scream.
Twilight rushed to the commotion alongside Fiona, with each step he prayed that Anya wasn’t there.
Once he rounded the corner, he was met with a ragged man pointing his gun at-
Twilight’s breathing stopped, his eyes widened at the sight.
Anya, his daughter, was being held at gunpoint.
Everything seemed to stop except for his daughter’s squirming, trying to escape from the bastard’s hold.
“Sir” he pushed the fellow doctors slowly, the man’s shoulders tensed with apprehension, “If you come closer, I’ll kill her!” he shoved Anya’s trembling body in front of him, and pushed his gun to her head.
Loid held his hands up, his heart quickening with every second.
Anya’s emerald eyes looked at him frighteningly, and bless her little soul, she was trying to keep a brave face, but her tight shaky lips and the tears on her eyes, threatening to fall, sold out her act.
“Papa…” she called out, her tone quivering.
His poor girl is terrified.
“It’s okay, Baby, I am here” he assured her, he tried to at least, but there was an urgent tone on his voice that he couldn’t mask it himself. And the truth is, he is equally terrified as her.
Anya clenched her eyes tightly, the tip of the gun was digging deeper on her skull as if it were putting a hole into it.
Twilight felt the urge to kill him.
“Don’t you get any closer! Or I will shoot this girl!”
It was a baseless threat, Twilight can be sure of that, the man’s stance lacked confidence, he knows that he doesn’t have any way out of this, security guards will be taking over the hallway soon.
But there is no proof that he won’t pull the trigger, his attire seemed torn apart, his hair a mess and covered with dust, his eyes were red, as if he were on some type of medication.
His insanity could lead to Anya’s danger.
“Is he a patient?” he heard Nightfall’s question reaching his ear.
It didn’t take him a second to get his memory regenerating, the scene in front of him made him determined to gather intel so he can save his daughter.
“Roswlad Lees, 34 a constructor, worked for 20 years, he lost his family due to the war, he has been admitted to the hospital by his neighbors-”
“You can’t keep me trapped here!” he yelled in anger, spit flying everywhere.
“He is unstable”
“Somebody get that girl away from him!”
“Mr Lees, please, we just want to help you” a female nurse tried to approach him slowly, but flinched back once the man pointed the gun at her.
“I don’t fucking care!!”
It is a dilemma, Twilight must manipulate his way through this man’s mind.
“Mr Lees, You want to go back home, yes?”
The man turned his red eyes at him, the gun raised in apprehension, no reply from him.
“Alright.. We will let you leave, but you need to let go of the girl first, okay?” Dr Forger’s words were considerate, sympathetic and kind, but all Twilight wanted was to get his daughter out of harm's way.
Lees pressed his lips tightly, “this your girl?” he nodded his head towards the pink haired child, still trembling in fear.
Twilight didn’t want to provide him with any private information, but the cat was out of the bag once he called her ‘baby’.
Dr Forger nodded. Lees glanced down at her and back at the man, his gun lowered slightly.
“You know.. I had a child once…”
Twilight’s heart spiked to his throat, the man is rambling about his past, it is never a good sign.
“A daughter.. Just like you..” his tone quivered with intense grief, Twilight’s focus did not waver from the gun. “But the war” he breathed in as he scowled at the floor. “It took everything!” he clenched his teeth, the arm around Anya’s neck tightened.
Twilight has to act fast.
“I get it, trust me I understand” it wasn’t a complete lie, ‘REDACTED’ is- was a part of him, no matter how much he tries to erase the past, the rumbles of the earth and the houses shattering around him will follow him to his death.
“ You don’t understand SHIT! Your daughter is right here!”
The tiny whimper of pain shattered the resolve of Twilight.
“There is no reason for you to hurt a child” Dr Forger strictly said, “think of your daughter” the man froze; Twilight is walking on a thin ice right now but if he could get one step closer, he’ll be able to grab hold of his gun and push Anya from him.
“What would she do whe-” Suddenly, Lees yelped in a hissing pain, Anya bit him right on his arm.
She quickly scrambled for a squeeze and ran full speed towards him.
“You brat!” Lees’s hand still held onto his gun, Twilight's stomach dropped the second he saw him aiming at Anya’s running figure, her face clenched in desperate fear, her little arms ready to hug him, reach him.
“NO!” he screamed out and rushed towards the man, putting his body as a barrier between the gun and his daughter.
The shot was fired.
Fortunately, the bullet grazed his arm slightly, before kicking his hand and jabbing him in the stomach, Twilight pushed him to the floor as he scrambled to get away.
“Let me go! LET ME GO!!” he thrashed as he screamed. His yells filled the hallway as many doctors joined Loid in putting him down.
Finally, the police arrived and he let them take care of him as they apprehended him, his attention quickly shifted to his daughter, who was clenching Fiona’s pants in fear.
He let out a shaky sigh as he grabbed hold of his girl.
Breath Twilight, she’s safe.
“Let me look at you, sweetheart.” she hesitated to let go of him, her little hands fisted on his neck as he took a look at her body for any injuries, “Papa…” her face was flushed, tears and snot spilling all over her face and lips.
Twilight felt his heart being stabbed thousands of times,if he couldn’t keep his daughter from crying, for what reason is he doing his mission? He should have been there, he should have accompanied her when she went by herself, then none of this would have happened, it was all his fault.
“I am so sorry, Anya”
He wrapped his arms around her again, bringing her head into his shoulder as she sobbed, letting her pour her relief into him, as every father should.
He whispered it to her hair as he placed his lips to it, words of encouragement and love, while keeping his fear under a mask, the world going deaf around him as he breathed in his daughter’s shampoo.
He denied the fear gripping Twilight’s heart, he denied the anxiety eating his belly.
He denied ‘REDACTED’ wrath creeping in inside his limbs, the furious plunge that he wants to take at the bastard for hurting his daughter, all because he won’t accept the death of his family.
And he wondered, if he ever were to lose his child, his wife, his dog.. Were he to do the same thing?
He lifted her in his shoulder, giving Nightfall a look that will lead them to having a private conversation about what happened today.
“It seems that no injury is apparent” the doctor concluded as he examined Anya’s head, looking at the spot where the gun was pressed at her.
Loid breathed out a sigh of relief, his fingers gently cradling her head to his torso, while Anya clinged into her father’s lab coat, eyes downcasted and red, her body less shaky compared to before.
“Nothing a good rest wouldn’t fix, Mr Forger” he sent them a warm smile, all Loid could do was nod at him in gratitude, he finds himself unable to form a word, and it shocked him, a small incident, one that he himself went through before, was a trigger to keep him from functioning as he should.
He glanced down at his daughter, she didn’t utter a word after her cries of relief. It broke him how she is trying to keep herself from looking scared, while it’s completely natural for a child to do so.
“Am sorry papa..” voice hoarse, petite and guilty. Guilty of what? Of being trapped under a sick man? Guilty of not being cautious in a space that should have a protected security system?
Loid crouched down, meeting her eyes while she avoided his, her hands now clenching her brown detective cap.
“What are you sorry for, baby? Hm? “ she didn’t say anything, head bowed in shame. Loid sighed quietly, he grabbed a hold of her tiny hands, his fingers rubbing her wrist in circles , to sooth her aching soul. A soul so young and sweet.
“This is not your fault, Anya.. none of this is” he wanted her to understand her words truthfully, keeping her from self blaming at a young age, what could she possibly know about being fast and witty? At reading people like a book? She shouldn’t be doing this.
“But..Anya should have-”
“You were going to the restroom, right?” she nodded at his question, eyes finally looking up at him, he detected no lie.
“Then you couldn’t have done anything wrong” he brushed her hair with his hand, from top to her face, cradling her cheek gently, she looked so small, and Twilight felt the urge to protect her even more.
“Sometimes…” he went quiet for some time, mulling over his words carefully,” sometimes people do bad things because.. They are sad, and we can’t change that”
He could be talking about Roswald or he could be talking about [REDACTED], he doesn’t know why he even mentioned this to Anya, maybe he felt this sense of responsibility to make her see the ugly side of people in the gentlest way possible, even if he weren’t her real father.
Anya stayed quiet for a moment, her fingers drawing circles on his large palm, imitating his gesture, “Anya?” she sniffed, “Anyas sleepy Papa” he doesn’t know if he did the right thing, or if he scared her, but he erased the uncertainty, he let his daughter circle her arms around his neck and lifted her up with ease, he can feel the ache coming from his legs as he got up.
“Alright, let’s go home” he breathed out, his child in his arms as he grabbed his coat from the office. He did not miss Nightfall’s look as he went to the exit, their talk will be for later.
When they came back home, Loid had to assure Yor that the man was in cuffs and taken to an asylum, it didn’t throw off that angry look in her face -which Twilight found it scary himself- , he will need to give her some time to clear her head, with Anya.
The moment she stepped inside their apartment, Yor didn’t let her go from her arms. It’s natural for a mother to do that. Bond didn’t leave the presence of the pink haired girl for even a minute, Anya seemed to embrace his nearness, if it served her as a comfort, then Loid let it be.
After dinner, Anya’s appetite didn't seem to be affected by the incident, Loid found relief in that, he on the other hand found it hard to munch on the portion of the food, he even declined Yor’s tea.
Twilight knew he was being compromised. It wasn’t hard to tell, today was frightening to his soul, watching his own child, not from the same blood even, being held so close to a gun, and what’s worse is that the bastard found it so easy to fire a gun at her.
He couldn’t shake the terrifying image of his daughter getting shot, what if it happens when he is on a mission? What if someone unhinged will find Anya on her way home? It left him sitting with his hands clenching his head.
I’m a failure.
Whether it was about his job, or his position as a dad, or both, Twilight failed to accomplish his task.
“Loid?” There was a sharp knock on his door that jolted him from his misery, it took him a moment of breather to get his bearings, and went to open the door.
“Something wrong, Yor?” He mastered his best smile as much as possible, but her frowned eyebrows were proof that she didn’t buy his act.
You are getting sloppy, Twilight.
“Are you alright?... not that I’m trying to get into your space or anything! But… well as your wife I do need to know how you feel and-and also.. I am genuinely worried about you, you didn’t finish your dinner and you didn’t want to drink the tea-” in seconds, Yor’s overthinking drove her into a stuttering mess, it was endearing for Loid to see it, and comforting after a long day of stress and fear.
Before he got to assure her, Anya pitched in from behind her, Bond was already dozing in his space next to Anya’s bed, “Mama is thinking too much” she mumbled a direct comment, not too far from the truth. Yor looked back at her then at Loid.
“She’s right, I am completely fine, Yor. Besides you aren’t invading my space, you kind of helped me when you knocked on the door” this time, there was no mask to use as he assured Yor, he doesn’t know why he thought of telling her the truth, but then again… he was compromised.
Accepting that idea was like lifting a baggage from his shoulders.
He grabbed her hand and softly rubbed her knuckles, she gasped with a face so red like her shirt she’s wearing. “Thank you”
It took her a minute, blinking at him in wonder. Anya grabbed a hold of both his and Yor’s hand and looked up at them, “can we sleep in Anya’s bed? Please?” His daughter asked with the same voice tone as before in the hospital, so scared, quiet, and shy.
How can he deny his girl’s request after today’s scary events? It’s the least he could do.
“Of course” Loid and Yor both replied with no minute’s hesitation.
As they both tried to settle on Anya’s small bed, Yor on her left and Loid on her right, Bond still sleeping on his own spot, Yor started to hum his childhood’s song, the one his mother used to sing to him when things were terrifying.
He noticed how melodic her voice was, it coaxed him to sleep as he did to their own girl. Anya’s eyes were dropping slowly,hands holding both her parent’s fingers.
“Papa..”
“Hm?”
She yawned, eyes tired ready to fall asleep, “Papa protected me today” she rolled her small body towards his stomach, dragging Yor’s hand with her. “You are my hero, Papa” it was said in a whisper, and it pierced his heart in two.
He felt something wet emerging from the corner of his eyes, and he tried his best to blink them away while Yor looked at them in affection.
“I guess she knew what was bothering you” Yor said, rubbing her free hand on Anya’s hair. All Loid could do is look the other way, avoiding his wife’s gaze as he tried stifling his snifflings, but he knows that it won’t work.
“Y-Yeah” he cleared his throat, he kissed Anya’s forehead and stayed there for a good minute, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to keep away all the what-if scenarios off his head, and they began to melt, picture by picture.
He hates that he doesn’t know what the future will hold, his job is to prevent any dangerous shortcomings to children, and his resolve became stronger after today.
He will do whatever he can to protect his family, no matter the cost.