It's Time To Move On

"I won't leave you so don't even try leaving me, Fiona," I proclaimed, and lost control of my hands. It struck out, as the silver streak under my nose turned so very slow, and there was Fiona, her breathing slow her eyes losing depth. I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and threw her onto my body again.

…

"AH!" She cried out as she dove face first in my chest with a loud oomph. I was even more surprised than her. She was running and dashing at who knows how many miles per hour, what came over me? How the hell did I grab her at that exact moment while planting my spiritual energy on the ground and not go flying along with her?

She shook her head a few times before she pushed herself off my chest and stared at me in a stupidly cute daze. Her darkening eyes that how had tints of light blinked. One, two, three, each blink warmed the coldness in her eyes—what was it that brought her back? The shock? My words? My touch?

Her small body trembled as her even smaller fingers tugged at the helm of my shirt. "Daddy," she mumbled softly, against the cries of the battlefield. And somehow, I heard it clearly. Her sweet little voice full of emotion, ripe with desire. She—she wanted me.

I wrapped my arms around her. Maybe a reassurance from her loved ones was what she needed, a tight sense of security. Her yearning for her father is really something… and even with my help these last weeks, she isn't improving. When will she overcome this period of grief?

"Daddy," she mumbled with a muffled cough. "You're choking me."

"Treat it as punishment, you break your promise."

"I-I—" she grumbled, realizing she had nothing to say, with my bite and scratch marks right next to her. I could feel her cute pout even without seeing her sulky scowl. My lips curled up into a grin as her body clearly didn't reject the tight hug. Ah, since she's acting so cute and sensible, I guess I can let her relax a little… just a little.

"Daddy, you're hurting Fiona," she whimpered.

I chuckled, seeing her attempt to play coquettish. Appeasing me will take more effort than that--It would've worked if she didn't care about her birth father so much, humph! "I don't know any Fiona, only this fierce but feisty little kitten in my arms."

Her pounds with her fists were a gentle massage to my chest. MH mm, in repayment of the heartbreak I suffered earlier.

"Learn to control your emotions well, Fiona. Look at what happened, you ended up being teased and powerless in my arms," I said, catching her arm.

"Don't stay caught up in revenge and don't stay angry at the dead, Fiona. I'm sure your birth father didn't die intentionally to spite you. He would want you to live well and happily, certainly not go crazy to your own death because of him."

Her arms dropped slowly to her side as I let go. She remained silent as she stared downwards at herself, her lips pursed, lost in thoughts. I slowly set her feet flat on the ground.

"Fiona," I gently intoned and lifted her chin up to face me in the eye. Her face quickly tilted to the side, before hesitating and taking a deep breath. Her eyes closed, and slowly reopened. The hesitance was gone and riled up was a newfound determination.

"Fiona. I'm not saying that revenge is the wrong thing to pursue. Your birth father is gone, but you're not hating on the enemies who killed him, but mulling over the fact that he left you! Even though you're a princess through and through, no one should be entitled that. You're too spoiled, Fiona. You have everything at your fingertips—why run away?"

Tears bubbled in Fiona's eyes. I could sense her shakiness, but she did not waver.

"You claim to seek revenge by getting back to Glendora, but it was you who left in the first place. You claim to love him as much as he did you, but... you want to kill him now? For being a ghost, for leaving you?"

"Accept that he's dead, Fiona. It's time to move on."

"F-fiona is trying, daddy," she chortled in a whisper. "It's hard. It's so hard."

'So why... why did you seek me as a replacement for him?' was what I wanted to ask to her. But I couldn't. The words were stuck in my throat like never before as they reverberated in my mind.

W-what am I saying these harsh words for? Fiona is only seven years old. Telling her about revenge and letting go so easily like she's a matured lady... of course she's trying her best. Her fondness for her father is built on years of relationship, why is wrong with myself to ask her to move on with guilt traps and pressure?

I ran to her side as a teardrop fell from her cheeks in slow motion. There. It happened again—this time, I was in control of my body. My palms stretched open, the teardrop descending before...

I caught it.

"Daddy. Fiona is sorry, she wasn't being fair," Fiona bawled at the same time.

I didn't hug her within the slowed time, I didn't kiss her, I didn't touch her. I simply walked over in front of her—short but steady strides. Kneeling down, my left foot on the ground and right hand up. I opened my palm to a glistening drop of tears and murmured gently,

"I'm sorry, Fiona. I won't let you cry ever again. My grating words—don't take them to heart. You deserved to be spoiled as daddy's little princess, both of ours. I-I was terribly jealous at your yearning for him, I'm sorry."

"D-daddy, I-I will try. I'll make it up to both daddies."

"Fiona, y-you..." I, I was terribly happy. Really regretting all my words I said today—first this, then "Learn to control your emotions." That came back to bite me in the ass, but it seemed like it all worked out. This jealousy, oh boy. How do I control this?

"Aww, this is so touching! Lura! Any tissues?" Rajah asked as I was halfway to hugging Fiona again. My arms wrapped around her waist and my legs were just 75 degrees from standing straight up when we both froze and our faces flushing red from ear to ear.

Fiona's stiffened body delayed the blush. My fingers already gripped the Heartbreak inside the sheath, ready to silence that damnable tiger and Lura when Fiona's face turned bright red from the bottom of her chin to the top of her forehead. She looked away in embarrassment, as a chuckle escaped.

She dug her fingers into my arm again. "I won't try to make it up to you anymore, daddy."

Black lines creased my forehead as black aura erupted from my body as I unsheathed Heartbreak. I can't blame Fiona, so this damnable cat will have to do! Just when things were going so well, he had to interrupt!

"How much did you overhear?" I threatened, even colder than the Fiona from earlier.

"Every—" Rajah answered without thought before Lura slapped his mouth shut and threw a fierce glare at him. Fiona covered her face with her hands. I imagine she'll have a really hard time facing these two from now on, poor thing.

"Ahem, evergreen trees on a moonlit winter night needs more appreciation," he quickly corrected, waving his paws up in the air and slinking behind Lura. This tiger couldn't be more of a defenceless kitten, can he? What trauma… has he suffered under Lura? What's behind her mysterious smile?

She pulled Rajah's ear as she flashed an innocent smile. Scary. I lowered Heartbreak. "Go on, we didn't hear anything. This tiger here is just reminiscing about the days he got stuck high on evergreen trees as a kitten when he delivered himself as a Christmas present for some human children."

I narrowed my eyes. As much as ridiculous as that sounded, I could totally imagine Rajah doing that. However, my attention turned to behind them—what the hell happened to that wave of ghosts?