After All This Time…

Azazel Karlo. The Fool Detective Prince, the father of the next Requiem Child, there his house was, right in front of her… she was entirely alone here.

Ace, Kima, June, Alex, none of them accompanied her. All alone, in the darkness of the night, one week later after she'd located that clipboard. Fiddling with her fingers and scratching her arms nervously, just as she was about to press the doorbell, she remembered the night when she did locate the clipboard; the item they were searching for. When they all reconvened after the Smithsonian incident, after Harbinger attacked Alex, and Katie 'located' the clipboard, there they sat at their home, funded and paid for by ANZEN, the very organization targeting them for treason.

One week ago, after the Smithsonian Incident. The end week of August draws near.

Within the game room, the quartet of everyone had been playing pool once again, with Ace stepping up after rubbing the end of his stick- and getting into position. Kima with the butt of hers tapped against the ground while June had hers resting against her shoulder, Katie had been in the corner watching, with the clipboard in hand. All of them laughing about, smiling as they joked with one another, and once again, though she'd experienced joy earlier that same day, she was resigned… and stood, on her own. Just looking down to the carpet with her hair covering the shape of her eyes, thoughts wondering as the World seemed to darken, and the clouds appeared to envelop her in their grey shade.

After all this time, she had the opportunity to see her father, she'd only heard good things; so why did she feel scared? Why did she feel like she was descending all over again, into that pitch-black void of nothingness where there were only those awful thoughts? These were good people in front of them, but she couldn't help but stare past…

~What are their parents like…? Do I even have the right to worry… they probably have to go through the same thing as me or have righteous lives, parents who love them… what if I don't? What if he hates me…? Why does it feel like he's going to hate me?~

This dreadful sensation she could never escape, even now, when she believed she was taking the first step forward on her lonely journey to happiness and acceptance, was still… inescapable. In the end, to her, she was always destined to be locked behind this mental prison, tortured by the transgressions of her past; believing them to be a result of her 'unfortunate' existence. Things would be so much better - if she weren't here anymore.

And so, she walked right out the game room, Ace noticing this, he reached out a hand, calling to her immediately as he spotted her leaving,

"Kate-" He was interrupted by his sister's hand on her shoulder, Kima giving him a look as he was turned to face her purple eyes to stare within them,

"Ace, this is not your place, neither is it mine or June's. No matter how flawed our parents are, they can never compare to hers… only Mr. Amara can help her now,"

Downstairs, his figure laid sprawled out on the couch, one arm behind his head while the other holding his phone, scrolling through news articles. Some from the most prominent media sources about ANZEN's CEO and Founder, everything seemed to be praising him, the Head of Riverton Island. ~How noble~ Thought the Judge sarcastically,

"Uh… Mr. Amara, sir?" She called for him sheepishly, leading for him to sit up, he stared at her and warmly grinned at her face,

"Lemme guess; you need some help with going to see your dad and all?" Alex questioned as she sat beside him, affirming him correct with a silent nod, he grumbled to himself and mumbled in distinctively,

"Hmm- lemme seeeee. Well, my mom and dad tortured and bred me to be a weapon of Chaos at birth, then they died, I basically turned off my brain and killed anyone I deemed a bad person… then I made a split personality to hide that trauma. One even Rose didn't know was fake until the right moment, so… yeah, I get the parents suck thing, trust me," He said rubbing his chin then turning his head to face her, once again, her head hung sadly as she faced the carpet,

"How did you… get through all of that?" She asked curiously,

"Hm, well, I had a great support system. My wife, my ex, my best friends, they were all with me. They treated me like a normal person even after being told all that, they cared about me and- heh, I just remembered this; when I felt like shit one time, useless compared to my mentor and my mentor's father, Kima's father even tried to deck me in the face. But, I guess it all comes down to yourself. I was born for the sole purpose of raining Chaos on everything in the world, that was my fate, carved out for me before my entire birth, but I changed out. I saved people, the Requiem Judge, working together with the Reaper and the Emperor. I was raised as the Emperor's son, he took me into his family, and eventually, his sister adopted me. Ya, see Kay, all that happened was because I accepted everything in the past, the power is given to me, everything. So, do it. Easier said than done, but when you do... you'll feel like the best version of yourself, without a shadow of a doubt. Do your best when you work up the courage to see him, okay... Kay?"

Those were his words, one week ago, and now, in the darkness of this summer night, birds chirping leaves blowing in the muggy wind, sidewalk illuminated by lampposts... she stood at the doorstep of her father. The Detective Prince of Justice, the Former Crow Assassin. Was this the final step of her mental journey toward acceptance? Had the story of acceptance come to an end..?

~I'm just not ready...~

Was she ready now? Well, if she wasn't, why was she here in the first place? Why was she here if she wasn't going to go through with this? Stare at the door and ponder about the infinite possibilities about the encounter? How useless was that? No one could predict the future, no matter how intelligent they were, as her eyelids shut over her dark blue eyes, tightening her hold over the colored orbs, she took a deep inhalation. In the end, this was unknown territory for her, while it would be easy for her to run away, was it right... to her, to her friends, who encouraged her to be true with herself, be happy for herself, and accept the transgressions of the past so she could grow- for herself? Her finger pushed the doorbell, "No turning back," and the sound rang out through the household.

DINNG-DONG! The audio was muffled, far, beyond her hearing range, yet as he inched closer, feet stomping against the floorboards, he scraped his nape. Inch by inch, she could feel her heartbeat increasing with each passing second he took to arrive at the doorframe, every heavy stomp he took, sent chills down her spine. But even halfway across the City where Alex lived, at home with his wife, the redheaded sister of the Detective Prince hugging him as they watched Naruto, Alex had faith in her like she was his child. He had hoped she would be alright, and because of that fact, so did she, so she stood proud, hopeful for what laid beyond this door as the knob turned and the contents of her father's home's interior were revealed... she was met with another unfamiliarity. His voice- it wasn't at all like she'd expected,

"You're... you're alive...?" Vocals breaking, tears squishing out his eyes' corners, he couldn't help but smile through the sorrow, there she was, right in front of his face. His daughter who looked exactly like him, was here, alive, in this world... not gone.

These tears weren't that of inconvenience, she could tell that much from that big grin over his lips, was this reality? The true world, the planet she called home where she had suffered ever since her unfortunate birth? It couldn't have been, right? A father who cries of tears upon seeing his biological daughter after believing she'd died for some unknown reason to her, had he existed all this time; did he not know about her...? ~WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING THIS FOR?!~

And just like that, Katie Moon and Azazel Karlo, distant relatives disconnected unfortunately thanks to the mother, finally reunited as they embraced one another, the duo of father and daughter crying into each other's necks. Another step toward acceptance had been taken.

And yet another started with entering this new home, another of hers that would become another haven from the atrocities of the world set out to torture her. Azazel and Katie entered the home of the Former Detective, each taking their respective seats with one another on the couch in the living room she was met with as soon as she walked in.

The layout for this area of the house went as follows: couch some inches away from her as she entered facing the TV, the kitchen to the right of the television embedded into the wall with a curving island top. A stairway beside the lengthening countertop to the right, curving and swirling to an upstairs where two rooms stood at the beginning of the hall, one for the bathroom, a laundry room, and another for his sole bedroom, where he slept. Behind the couch where they now sat together to catch up, there was the blazing fireplace where the flames burnt away at the wood plank.

Following the chilly air of the night creeping in from the open windows above the inactive heaters on each side of the door, and the warmth from the fire heating the room, it made the perfect home. In every possible way, the best way to describe Azazel Karlo's home was the perfect haven of hope to protect against the pits of despair reaching out from the outside world to infect its victims. Now, sniffling after their emotional reunion, Azazel held a cup of hot joe he'd made earlier that night, sliding it around his fingers, he sniffed yet again while Katie nervously rubbed her arms, shedding herself of her leather coat. The air was stagnated, neither of them knowing what to say to the other, what exactly COULD you say after being disconnected from your parent/child for basically their whole life? In the end, it seemed she was the one to take initiative, after all, this was what her whole journey had been leading up to so far.

Lips parting, her voice gentle as his sister's, Azzy smiled at the tone of her vocalization as she asked,

"How... how didn't you know I was alive?"

Of course, such a rough question would be the very first one she asked, one he was ready for. At times, people aren't made out to be parents and that's okay, but unfortunately, from the bandages over her arms, her mother wasn't carved out to be a good person in the slightest. And so, he explained thoroughly the history of how she ended up here,

"Your mother and I, Blaire Rivera, we started dating in high school. We had sex without a condom, and she got pregnant. Turns out... she didn't have an abortion like I thought she did, she only had the option to put you up for adoption, so she did, maybe hoping you'd have a loving family better than me or her. But... she lied to me. I thought this whole time you were dead, but in actuality we were living on the same Island while your mother's the one who's dead," Azazel said with a chuckle in his voice, rubbing his eyes, wiping away a tear with the tip of his finger, Katie tilted her head,

"W-wait, how did Mom die?" She curiously asked her father, to which he had to momentarily wonder about his memories to estimate,

"About 11 years ago when America fell," He stated... what? 'When America fell.' That's what he said, right? She wasn't imagining things, was she? She couldn't have been.

The Outside World was gone? They were the only living 'Americans' left in this part of the World, or just, the only living part of the world in general? How could that be? What was the point of destroying the monsters then? Working for ANZEN, doing all that; was it just to attain Rivers' secret goal? All these limitless possibilities running through her head, she couldn't firmly wrap her head around one as her eyes continuously darted from side to side within the confining space of her eyeballs,

"Dad!"

"Hm?"

"Tell me everything you know about the construction of Riverton, before and after... please."

This is a story of acceptance.

To Be Continued.