It was the day after we rescued my daughter Kana from the Deeprealm where she was sent to grow up. I left my quarters to go take breakfast with the army. My wife was awake before me and had already left to being preparing the food. Kana was sleeping in her bed. I lingered in the doorway for a few moments before I departed. She looked so small. I was going to wake her up to bring her to breakfast with me, but I decided to let her sleep. She had been through so much in the last day. I left and went to the meal.

After the meal I decided to go back to my quarters. There were no pressing issues facing me today or battles for which I needed to discuss tactics. I had some time to myself. I opened the door to my quarters and began walking up the stairs. As I neared my bedroom, I heard the sound of crying. My wife was still at the Mess Hall helping clean up after breakfast. There was only one person it could be. I rushed to the door and pushed it open. Kana was sitting up in her bed. She was curled up and I could hear her sobbing. She turned and looked at me as soon as she heard the door.

"Papa!" She jumped out of her bed, ran over, and threw her arms around me. She started crying into my chest. I felt my stomach turn at the sound. I hugged her back.

"What's the matter, little one?"

"I-I-I woke up and you were g-g-gone." She could barely get the words out through her tears. "I was so s-s-scared."

"Oh, Kana, I only left to eat breakfast. I thought you would want to sleep because you were so tired after all that happened yesterday."

"B-b-but you were gone and I was scared you had l-left me again." My stomach turned back around a few times. I gave Kana another squeeze.

"Sweetheart, let go of me for a second."

"O-okay." She did, very reluctantly. I knelt down and hugged her. She reflexively hugged me around my neck. I lifted her up and walked over to my bed. Before long she would be too big to carry. But she wasn't yet. I sat down on the bed and put her on my lap. I wrapped my arms around her and rocked her gently back and forth. She started to calm down a little.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. I'm here now. Papa's here. Papa's got you." I felt more of her tears flow into the fabric of my clothes. I squeezed a little tighter.

"Please don't leave me again papa." Her voice was muffled by my shirt.

"No, sweetie, no. Never again." I was starting to realize what was happening. Even though I had been kidnapped as a child and raised in a foreign kingdom, I always had family around me growing up. I had brothers and sisters and, however barely, I had a father. But Kana had never had that. She grew up in a small village, but none of them were family. Of course her mother and I came to visit whenever we could, but even if we visited twice in a week, it may have been months or even years in the Deeprealm that Kana was alone in between visits.

As realization dawned, I reflexively gave her another squeeze. "Oh, Kana, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should never have left you all alone." She looked up at me. Her eyes were still red and there were still tear tracks down her cheeks, but she seemed to have mostly stopped crying.

"But you had to papa. You're fighting and it's important and it would've been too dangerous for me." I could tell she was trying to sound stronger than she felt. She wanted to reassure me. It made my stomach turn some more.

"Yes it is, but you're my daughter. You mean everything to me and I wasn't there for you as much as I should have been. I should have been a better papa." She laid her head on my chest again, but this time she didn't bury her face against it.

"You're a great papa. I just d-don't want you to l-leave m-me." She could barely get the words out.

"I promise I'll never leave you again sweetie. I'm so sorry. I love you."

"I love you too, papa." I started to tear up. That made her start to cry again. I hugged her gently to myself and refused to let go. She rested against me. We just sat there in silence for a while, father and daughter. I wasn't sure how long. Eventually her breathing slowed and she started snoring gently. She had fallen back to sleep. I just held her for a while. My daughter. My beautiful little girl. Papa loves you so much.

Later she would wake up and be ready to start the first day of her new life away from the Deeprealm. When she did, though, she wouldn't have to look around and wonder where papa had gone. Papa would be right there, holding her close and keeping her safe.

I laid back on the bed and cradled her against me. I leaned over and gently kissed her hair. She stirred a little and murmured wordlessly, but didn't wake up. I tried to talk, but there was a lump in my throat. I tried again. I managed to whisper two words.

"Never again."

I couldn't say any more. My throat ached too much. My chest ached. My stomach ached. My whole body ached.

And why shouldn't it?

I was holding the world in my arms.

It's mentioned in one of Kana's supports with Forrest that she cries whenever she's alone, and it's made perfectly clear that she (or he, I happened to be playing with a male avatar) is a very lonely child. She is also the cutest thing and I want to hug her forever so she never has to be sad. And I like father-daughter stuff because I have a strong paternal instinct.

Obviously I don't own Fire Emblem or any characters involved nor do I own the picture, which is a CG from the game.