Chapter One
The sun began its descent to the horizon, casting everything in a red, dusky light. A man gazed out to the shaded courtyard as the dying rays illuminated a small girl and her friends. Currently, they were locked in an epic battle of tag. Hopefully by the end of it, there would still be some without a scraped knee or bruised shoulder. Even as they clumsily attempted to avoid one another, it was endearing to watch. As she chased after the others, the children's laughter echoed throughout the pre-night. His ears perked up every time they passed his window, and he couldn't help but smile.
But he knew that he would have to cut their fun short. After all, the stars were beginning to show themselves, and the full moon had started to cast everything in wispy, silvery shadows. Besides, he needed to make sure his daughter ate, anyway.
Sighing, the man pushed himself up from his seat on the bay window and strode out the front door. When his own child passed him again, he pulled her up into his arms and plopped her down on his broad shoulders as she squealed in protest.
"The sun's setting, sweetheart; time to break it up for today," he pointed out, glancing up at her.
Her jade eyes met his…after the completely expected eye roll, of course.
"But I was winning, Daddy," she pouted.
"Well, once is luck. Three times is skill. I'm sure that you could easily pull it off again tomorrow," he said. She mock-huffed, (and he naturally had absolutely no idea where she got that from), but didn't argue any further as he walked back to the family suite of the castle.
Kicking the door closed behind him, he set the girl back down on her feet. It was getting harder to see, even with his keener senses, so he whispered a spell that set the nearby candles alight. The girl, as fascinated by magic as any curious five year old would be, stared at him in awe. As if she hasn't seen magic before, he scoffed to himself.
"That is so cool! Won't you please show me how to do that?" she begged.
"How to be cool? That's easy enough," he grinned, calling on a water spell. As the forming droplets caught the light, the girl made a funny little noise and dived behind the couch. She liked being wet about as much as he did.
"Not like that!" the girl squealed.
"Then you should've been more specific, sweetheart," he teased, releasing control of the magic.
She slowly peaked out from behind the couch, tail twitching sporadically.
"Alright, Luna, go wash your hands; your Aunt Meg will be here with dinner soon."
"Okay, Daddy!" she said before disappearing into one of the back rooms.
Every day, he was reminded of the girl's mother. So little about her was him, besides the obvious things like the animalistic traits. Barring that, she was a child replica of the woman he loved, which was a blessing and a curse. If it were anyone else, he would resent the child for being a reminder…a slap to the face. However, he couldn't find it in himself to resent his own flesh and blood.
A knock on the doorframe echoed through the nearly empty room, drawing him out of his brooding. There stood an elf, adorned with a heavy-looking basket, which he assumed carried dinner. He would have moved to take it immediately, but she looked…less than pleased about something.
"What'd I do? Wait…don't tell me…it has something to do with my daughter," he guessed, flashing his teeth cheekily.
"Huh…? No, Luna's not you. I have no complaints when it comes to her. I was just wondering why you don't cook for yourself every now and then. I mean, what will you do if Porco can't serve food, anymore?" she pointed out.
"Oh, Margaret, I thought you were already married," he teased.
Margaret's scowl deepened, and a slight blush lit her cheeks. "Leon! I was just concerned! Can't you take anything seriously?" the elven woman accused.
"Sure I can. But if I get too serious, life gets boring," he reposted.
"Hmp. And here I thought being a dad would make you grow up a little," she quipped.
"Now you sound like our resident lady knight," he pointed out.
"She has a point!" Margaret pressed.
He chuckled. "Maybe she does. But it could be just as likely that she's wrong."
Margaret sighed. "Geez. It had looked like you would level out until..."
"Until…?" Leon prompted.
"Well, Frey leveled you out…" she trailed off softy.
He stiffened. Any flippant remark the man had prepared died on his lips.
He finally walked up to the elf and curtly took the basket from her hands. Margaret shrunk a little as he did so.
"Sorry…I didn't mean…" she winced.
"Just…go, Margaret," he replied.
But she didn't go. "You're not the only that felt her loss, you know," she pointed out, not unkindly.
Anger flashed in his eyes. Loss? Why did everyone insist on going on as if she was dead? She wasn't. But how could any of them understand? They weren't there when it happened.
"Don't patronize me," he growled.
"Then get your head out of the clouds!" she countered.
"I'm the only one seeing clearly," he responded in kind.
"No, you're not! You're still in denial, even after all of this time! If she hasn't come by now, she's—"
Soft footsteps padded into the room, cutting Margaret off short.
"Who hasn't come by now?" Luna asked, eying the pair quizzically.
A pregnant silence filled the room. The girl was too young to understand, and he had made it a point with everyone not to tell her until she was older.
Finally, Leon managed, "It's no-one, sweetheart, don't worry about it."
More awkward silence prevailed until Margaret excused herself.
"Let's just eat. I got you your favorite tonight, and it'd be a shame if it got cold."
…
Later, as Leon started tucking his small daughter into bed, she looked restless. This wasn't the expected five year old I'm not sleepy and can't I please stay up a little longer restlessness, either. This was a kind of restlessness reserved for when something was on the girl's mind. He was more than happy to call her out on it, too.
"What's the matter, Moony?"
The girl blushed and averted her gaze. "Nothing…" she said. Right. Like he would believe that.
"Alright, so you can either lie to me, and I'll pretend to believe you, or you could tell me the truth and let me help you. Which, by the way, is why I'm here," he offered, unimpressed.
She hesitated, then met his eyes again. Whatever was gnawing on her definitely wasn't nothing.
"I…can I ask you a question, Daddy?"
He knew that he should probably take the query seriously, but he loved teasing his daughter most of all. So when an opportunity presented itself, why wouldn't he take it?
If you were here, Love, you'd box my ear, wouldn't you? He mused.
"I think you just did, didn't you?" he said, a small grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.
"But that's not the question!" she replied, puffing her cheeks out in frustration. Such a familiar gesture.
"Then why did you ask that one?" he pointed out, reveling in his daughter's frustration. If he thought her mother was adorable when she made such gestures, it was ten times cuter on the small girl.
She only stuck her tongue out at him, then, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "You make it so easy, sometimes," he muttered, finishing tucking the thick blankets around her small form.
"Seriously, though, what do you want to know?" he asked.
"How come everyone else has a mommy and I don't?"
His hands froze inches above her blankets as she asked. Of all of the questions she could have had, why did it have to be this one? Sighing, Leon thought of a way to answer it.
"Well…what makes you think you don't have a mom?" he finally responded lamely.
"Well, then, where is she?" the girl countered.
Damn. "She's…just not here right now. But if she could be, you can bet that she would be," he answered.
"Then why did she have to leave?"
"To make sure you could live," Leon stated. He was leaving out details, but there would always be time to fill them in later.
"Will she come back?" Luna asked.
That had been in question for a long time, now. Would the love of his life return? Would he hold her in his arms again and whisper sweet nothings in her ear, or argue about the bed sheets, as they used to? Would she ever get to see the adorable girl they created as she flourished? He certainly didn't have an answer to any of these.
Instead, he asked, "Where is all of this coming from?"
"Well, Mariko was just talking about her mommy the other day, and asked me about mine…" the girl trailed off. Ah, yes. Mariko. Well meaning, but oblivious, just like her dad. He made a mental note to talk to Vishnal about it later.
Leon sighed. "Look, your mom loves you very much. She's just…in a bad situation. I bet that she's trying to come home right now, and when she does, I'm sure she'll be delighted to get to know you," he reassured his daughter, ruffling her silvery green hair.
"For sure?" she pressed.
"For sure. Now, it's time to sleep. Growing girls need their beauty rest, after all," he pointed out, moving to the door.
"But I'm not tired!" she protested.
He stopped just short of the door. Of course she wasn't. This child was renowned for being difficult when it came to bedtimes. Though maybe he could use this to nip some of her questions at the bud.
Turning on his heel, Leon made to sit on the edge of the bed. "Want a bedtime story?"
The girl's whole countenance lit up. "Yes, please!"
"Alright. Where should I begin?"
"With once upon a time, of course!" the girl pointed out. Sometimes she had an uncanny talent for reminding him that he was getting older.
"Okay, then. Once upon a time, there was a young man. Bold and confident was he, as people naturally looked up to him. His confidence only grew when the resident dragon goddess picked him to tend to her needs, to be her eyes and ears in the world that she could not see," he began.
"Why couldn't she see the world?" Luna asked.
"Because she couldn't leave her sanctuary. It was her duty to protect the surrounding area, after all, and it's pretty hard to act as a protector if you're not there to stand guard," Leon explained.
"Anyway, so the dragon and the man soon became good friends due to the closeness of his position. They would confide in one another, bicker, or plan some harmless pranks for the villagers. While it was odd for others to think of gods as friends and companions, this god was different…human, in many ways.
"One day, the dragon got very sick. Everyone was trying to find a way to bring her back to health, but none tried so hard as the man. After all, to the villagers, she was a beloved deity. To him, on the other hand, he had a duty to save her…and other much more personal motives. However, an answer wouldn't present itself, and they were running out of time. So the man took drastic measures to buy her the needed time.
"There was a group of special mages that lived in seclusion from the rest of the world, tending the earth and discovering magic to help make people's lives better. There had been a rumor going around that they needed a volunteer to test out a new spell, one that could possibly cure the man's ailing friend. He sought them out, willing to do whatever it took to give the dragon time. But there was a reason they had no volunteers. This was a group of people who pressed for the best in everything they did, not the worst, but this spell would require someone to give up the life they knew and go into a long slumber until a more permanent solution could be found.
"But this was a price the man was more than willing to pay. After all, if it saved his friend, nothing else mattered. So he readily volunteered to give them the time they needed.
"He would only be the first to give so much away, and it would be centuries before anyone could wake him up…"
…
A/n: Should I be working on Black Feathers? Yeah, I probably should be. However, it seems like the hardest parts to write are the ones that you know exactly what you want to happen. So…I'm writing this.
I've had this in my head for a while, now, but I wanted to write it out. Besides, Leon's the sweetest smart-ass I've ever seen (well, not the SWEETEST…but he's up there), and he has an angsty past, so I naturally have to cling on to him. While I don't know much about the child interactions, I can guess. Besides, this is going to have a lot of AU elements to it (or couldn't you tell?), so the canon, as usual, is more of a guideline than a law, and I'm throwing it to the wind from Luna being born on, anyway.
I do know that the monster traits from the Guardians aren't passed on to the child, but I like the idea that the kids DO get those traits much better. So I'm going with that. Yeah…
Anyway, I don't have it all solidified in my brain yet, so if you want to help the writer's block that's bound to crop up eventually, you could leave a suggestion in the comments or something, and I'll see how and/or if I can fit it in. I'm also looking for a betareader, if someone's willing to put up with my…bad habits and help me out.
Alright, I hope you enjoyed, see you next time…(whenever that is)