So this is for ember53608's writing contest (which is fun as heck, I might add, I haven't this much fun writing in ages). I did the prompt a little weirdly, I know, but hopefully it'll still count as following the rules.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sisters Grimm.
"'So what do you recommend to encourage affection?"
"Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable."'
Is it wrong to hate your daughter? It can't be, right? Not when your daughter's part-monster.
X
She's beautiful, Canis thinks, as the little girl (well, woman, now) walks up to him. An angel. He clasps her hand in his, smiling gently, and as soft music plays he takes one gallant step back and they begin to dance. Around them other couples sway, mother-son and daughter-father primarily, and he notices that she's humming the tune under her breath.
"You've heard this before, dear?" he asks.
She shrugs. "My lecturer likes classical music. It's his ringtone."
He chuckles. "I like his taste."
She smiles, and they keep dancing.
Da da dum da-da dum...
A few minutes later, she rests her head on his chest. He looks down at her.
My little girl.
A violin warbles in the background, and he tilts his head a little.
His eyes slide down again.
The percussion roar. BOOM!
Horror rises suddenly in him, and panic churns in his throat and gut, because when he looks down, it's to see the head of the Wolf resting on his chest, humming softly.
What the- he blinks, and it's gone.
He breaks out in a sweat. Swallowing nervously, he rubs his eyes and looks down again. Oh thank God.
Ok, stay calm, he thinks. Stay calm.
Nothing's happening.
They bump into another couple. Canis groans inwardly.
"I see you're dancing with the demon-child," Charming comments drily.
"What a kind way to describe the family who saved your life," he retorts back.
The brunet sniffs. "Still as rude as ever, Canis,"
"I reserve this attitude for the particularly stuck-up airheads."
A hint of a grin touches Charming's lips. "I will admit, the dress suits her."
He dips his chin slightly. "Hank and Jake picked it out for her." He glances down at her again, and his muscles seize up. It's here, again, why, oh God why is it here? He gasps, his arms tense as if he's about to push it off (of course he is!), but then someone touches his shoulder, and the coarse black fur melts back into brown locks.
"Something the matter?" Charming asks, a small frown creasing his eyebrows.
He takes a shaky breath. "Nono, I'm fine."
"I'm not convinced."
"A little indigestion, that's all."
"Should I get Relda?"
"Don't bother."
"Are you sure?"
"I said I'm fine, Charming!" he snaps.
The black-haired man pulls back. He glares at them, and dances away. "Alright. I was just trying to help," he says, before he's lost in the crowd again.
Canis sighs, and his eyes slide shut. He drapes an arm around his daughter.
"What's wrong, papa?"
"Nothing, dear, nothing's wrong."
"Oh I wouldn't say that."
His eyes snap open. He looks down. "What do you want with me?" he whispers.
"Papa? Tsk, lying to your child. Even I wouldn't stoop to so low a sin, Canis."
"You— You were banished from me."
"Obviously not."
"Get away."
A long pink tongue runs over razor-sharp teeth. "You think you're safe, Canis? I will devour you whole."
"Get away."
"But first... I think I will eat the girl."
"No..."
"A little red meat is good for the body, they say. And you can't get much redder than this."
The lingering memory of iron on his tongue makes him shudder. His heart hammers in his chest. "Leave her alone."
There is a deep, throaty chuckle. "I will tear her to pieces before your eyes, Canis..."
"You monster..."
"I will snap her hands off at the wrists and gnaw them dry." Another chuckle. "I always did like ladyfingers..."
Nausea rises. "She's done nothing wrong..."
"Then I will tear the flesh from her thighs, and spit her blood onto her face..."
His throat tightens. "You— You—"
"She will scream, do you know that? She will scream deliciously..."
"L-leav—"
"She will cry also. And sweat. I always liked it when they they did that. A very handy self-salting mechanism..."
"Get away..."
"When I have tired off her screaming, though, then I will rip out her throat..."
"Get away.."
"I will pull her barely-beating heart from her chest and swallow it whole..."
"G-Get..."
"Papa?"
"And then I will turn to you, with her blood dripping from my jaws, and I will claw my hands down your arms..."
"Get away."
"Papa, is something wrong?"
"I will make you bleed, inside and out, Canis..."
"I said get away."
"Get away from what, Papa?"
"I will devour you whole..."
The man snarls down at the Wolf (the girl?). "Get away from me, you monster."
"Papa?"
"You will die..."
"Get away!" he roars.
"Papa!"
"I will kill you!"
"I'll destroy you!" he screams, finally roused into action. Punching the beast savagely in the face, he pushes it away, hard eyes spitting fire.
The music stops abruptly, as everyone turns in horror. Red looks up at him from the ground, her cheek blazing. "Papa?"
"heh"
Her eyes become wet. "Papa?"
The red mist fades slowly from his eyes, and when he looks down at the ground to it is not to the sight of the Wolf, but to the sight of his own beautiful daughter, sprawled out on the floor with heartbreaking tears rolling down her face.
"Papa?"
"How dare you, Canis!" Veronica shouts, storming towards, him with Henry and their daughters right behind him.
"I... I—" He swallows nervously. What just happened? He reaches down to help her up.
"Don't touch her!" Puck roars, sword drawn and flying towards him like a bullet.
"I'm..." He looks down at his hand. He looks around at the people advancing on him. "I'm s-sorry," he stammers to the girl, and flees.
X
What is wrong with me? he thinks, as he runs down the hallway, what just happened? Was that the Wolf or not? He shakes his head like a dog, trying to clear his mind. Will I never be free of him? He throws open the doors and stumbles outside, the cold night air painful but oddly refreshing. His head begins to clear.
What is wrong with me? He slumps down against the wall of the building. Did the kazoo not work? Does he still lurk within me, in the corners of my head? Is he still there?
He looks down at his hands, feeble and old with surprisingly big knuckles. What happened in there? He stretches his fingers out. Did I... What happened after the Wolf taunted me? He clenches his fist, and then suddenly he remembers. Horror rises in him, and panic churns in his throat and gut. Oh no, oh no I didn't... Oh God.
Yes, he remembers now, he remembers. The hitting, the shouting, the— the crying. "Oh God," he whispers, and puts his head in his hands. "Oh God, I hit her. I hit her, I hit my own daughter, oh God." And then another realisation. "I thought my own daughter was the Wolf..."
The door creaks open. He looks up, and a dark figure walks out. It turns at the sound of his sobs.
"Papa?" it says, and walks towards him. At the sight of the red patch on her cheek, Canis whimpers.
"My dear," he rasps, his tongue thick in his mouth "I'm... I'm so sorry..."
She stops beside him. He faces the floor.
"I'm sorry..." he mumbles, his breath hitching in his throat with every word "I didn't... I'm so s-sorry..."
She sits down beside him.
He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand.
"It was the Wolf, wasn't it?" she asks quietly.
He turns to her. "What?"
"It was the Wolf, I know. You wouldn't hit me like that..." she trails off, touching her cheek briefly, but then she shakes her head (like a dog shaking off bad thoughts) "you wouldn't."
"Red..."
She acts as if she hadn't heard him. "I hear it too, sometimes. When it's quiet, or when I'm tired, it'll talk to me. It'll say cruel things to me. And sometimes I get really scared and I start crying, and sometimes I'll get really angry and I'll start hitting things too."
"You don't understand..."
"It'll talk about how it's going to eat you, or eat me, or eat our family. And it always scared me the most, when it did that, because the way it described it was always so vivid, and it made me want to punch some...thing too."
"Red, listen..."
"I know you didn't hit me because you were angry at me, papa, I know it. You love me, and you wouldn't do that to me if it wasn't for that..."
"Red, listen!"
She looks at him.
"I saw you as the Wolf!" His chest heaves with sobs. "I saw you as the Wolf! Me! Your father, your teacher! I looked down at you and I saw the Wolf! Don't you understand? I thought... I thought the Wolf was you."
To his surprise, she shrugs. "You're right," she says simply. "You're not wrong if you think I'm the Wolf."
What? "But— But you're my daughter..."
"I'm your daughter, and I'm the Wolf as well. You can't change that anymore than I can." She sighs, and leans against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He tenses at her touch, but as she keeps talking, his muscles begin to relax. "I am the Wolf," she repeats "and because of that, you should hate me. At any moment, I could change and kill you. You should fear me, papa, you should fear me and hate me and want to kill me." She looks up at him. "But you don't, do you?"
"No..."
"Exactly." She smiles. "And that's why I love you, papa. That's why I'm your daughter. Because you know what it's like to be... it. You know what it's like to want to... kill everyone all the time. And even though you've managed to break free of that, even though you've managed to escape the Wolf, you're still here, aren't you? You're still dancing with me, even though I have everything you hate right here," she points at her chest "because you love me. You love me, even though I'm a monster, and that makes this... you weren't hitting me. You were hitting it, I know you were." She settles her back fully against his arm. She takes a deep breath. "You love me, papa, and you weren't hitting me, and I know all that, and that makes... that makes everything alright."
Her understanding brings a fresh wave of tears to his eyes. "Dear..."
"I'm right, aren't I?"
"Of— Of course you are."
"Then stop apologising."
He smiles, and takes a shaky breath. "I love you, dear," he says.
"I know. I love you too, papa." She takes his hand in his and begins to play with his fingers, running a thumb over his knuckles.
"Does it hurt?" he asks softly.
"A little."
"I'm sorry..." he murmurs.
She smiles.
"Don't be."
X
Maybe it is a little wrong to hate your daughter. Or maybe it isn't.
Because Canis knows he hates his daughter, a little, and loves his daughter, a lot. He knows that even though she'll always be a part of something he hates, she'll also always be the one person he ever managed to save in his hellhole of a life.
She is his angel on earth, even if her halo flickers a little bit.
She is his shining star, even if around her lies the desolate emptiness of space.
She is his daughter, and he loves her a hell of a lot.
And that makes up for it.
So that's my submission. I hope you liked it.