The Fight
That afternoon, Yugi and his friends gathered together to talk about what happened. Emily told them all that her father had arrived into town and now wants to take her back. "You won't let him take me, will you," she asked desperately.
"Not a chance," said Joey. "We're not going to give you up without a fight."
"What's that guy's problem anyway?" Tristan asked. "He disowns Emily and now he drags himself all the way out her to take her back? I mean, he hasn't had any contact with Emily in, what? Five years? Now suddenly, he wants to be her dad again?"
"He may have disowned Emily, but he's still her dad by blood," said Duke.
"But he was never much of a father to her," Téa was saying. She still had some of the letters Emily wrote to her and most of them described how much he mistreated her. Yugi still had some of the letters too.
Joey seemed to understand more about the situation Emily was in. He didn't have much of a father either and went through hell growing up. That gave him the feeling that Emily would go through the same hell if her father took her back. She would lose her freedom, her independence, her security, and be forced to change into something she's not. She left her father and returned to Domino to have a better life for herself and not have to turn into the kind of person he was. This was a fight he was not going to back out of and he was not going to leave his friend to face it alone.
Yugi spoke up and said, "I heard you guys yelling. Were you fighting?"
Emily nods. "He grabbed me and was about to drag me outside. I lost it and my powers got out of control and I hurt him."
"Say what?" Joey asked.
"I couldn't control it," she explained. "My anger started to build up when he said he wanted to take me back and I lost it when he grabbed me. But I didn't mean for it to happen, but because it happened, I had to heal him."
"And he has no idea what happened," Tristan asked.
"He seemed pretty freaked out," Emily replied. "But he didn't spend a lot of time fretting about it. He's still going to try to get me to come back with him."
"That's a little weird of him," said Joey. "He wants you back concerning the thought you used magic to heal him. I thought he'd have the impression: 'my daughter's a mutant freak with magic powers, I don't want that.'"
Emily sighed. "Yeah, I guess now that that secret slipped, he's going to have to know."
"You didn't tell him," Duke asked.
"He wouldn't have believed me if I explained," Emily replied. "What could I have told him? 'I'm happy here with my friends and my job and, oh, by the way, I found out I'm a princess with magical powers.'" She sighed and told them, "Not everybody has to know that about me, you know." That was true. Emily had plenty of friends who didn't know those details such as her bosses from work and all the other kids at school and even some of the friends she made on her past adventures with the gang.
She sits down with her cheeks in her hands. "He was never able to love or appreciate me for just being me. He still won't if he takes me back. He'll continue to nag me and try to make me change into something I'm not." Thinking about it made her start to cry. "He'll come back tomorrow. I don't know what to do."
Téa sits next to her to comfort her. "We'll think of something. We're not going to let him take you away from us."
"Thank you all," Emily sobbed.
After their discussion, the gang decided to head out to think of a plan to keep Robert from taking Emily back. The blonde girl decided she needed to be alone for a little while, so she fed Avalon, locked up the house and left to take a walk in the park. As she was walking, a motorcycle stopped next to her. The rider got off and removed his helmet. It was Rafael. "Hey, Emily."
"Hi, Rafael," she said quietly.
Noticing the distressed look on her face, he asked her, "Are you okay? You look troubled."
She sighed and replied, "It's complicated."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He wondered. Seeing her nod, he parks his motorcycle and together, they sit down near the fountain.
It didn't take long for Emily to explain her problem to Rafael. She told him how her father unexpectedly dropped by and said he wanted her to come home with him and things got aggressive between them. "I can't go back with him, Rafael. I don't feel safe around him."
"Your father's an idiot for going through all this trouble," Rafael told her. "He was never much of a dad to you and he's trying to take you back when you're legally old enough to live on your own." She nods in agreement. He places his hand over her cheek and promises her, "Emily, listen, we'll get through this together. I'm not going to let him take you."
"That means a lot to me," she said sincerely.
Rafael looks directly into her eyes and says truthfully, "I would never let anything happen to you. You know that, right?" Emily did know and that was why she appreciated Rafael being here for her to help her in this fight.
Unbeknownst to the two blue-eyed blondes, Robert was in the park and he didn't like what he was seeing. He figured if he was going to be staying in town for a few days, he might as well get familiar with the city. He came to the park to have ice cream and relax after dinner and when he saw Rafael caressing Emily, his blood began to boil. He stormed over to the two blondes and demanded to know what was going on. "Emily, who is this?"
Rafael repeated the question right back at the old man. "Who are you?"
"I'm her father, punk," he retorted. "And don't you dare touch her like that," he cried, pulling her away.
"Stop it," Emily cried, trying to break free.
He let her go and raised his voice. "Are all of your friends street punks and thugs? It's no wonder you're such a rebel. You're like a gypsy and you have no place anywhere, so you choose to hang out with a bunch of lowlifes and bums. You're just like your mother."
"You're wrong," Emily yelled.
"But that'll all change once I take you home with me." Robert grabbed Emily by her arm and began dragging her away.
Around the corner, Alister was passing through the shops. When he saw a few familiar faces in the park, he recognized that they were his friends and it looked like they were in trouble. He immediately went to the park to find out what was going on. When he got there, he saw a struggle. Robert and Rafael were trying to pull Emily away from each other. The redhead didn't know what it was about, but he knew he couldn't stand by and watch. He had to break it up. Alister tackled Robert, causing them both to fall in the dirt.
When Emily was free, Rafael told her to escape. She nods and begins running. Robert tried to get up and pursue her, but Alister kept holding him down until Emily was out of sight. When she was gone, Robert got back up and looked around. "Emily," he called out.
"Leave her alone and get out of here," Rafael told him.
"I won't do that," Robert protested, "she's my daughter."
"She's not yours anymore," Rafael argued. "You disowned her."
"She's coming with me!"
"She's staying here with us!"
Alister gets up and rubs his arms. "You're Emily's dad," he asked Robert. "What are you doing here?"
When Robert looked at Alister, his disgust grew. "Don't tell me you're her friend too. How nauseating. What are you, some kind of whore she met at a bar?"
Alister was outraged. As much as he didn't take kindly to hearing people speak ill of himself and his friends, Alister also didn't take kindly to being mistaken for a girl. "I am nothing of the sort. I'm actually a man, for your information." To Robert, this was even worse than disgusting; a man coming before him looking like a girl with the hair and the clothes revealing his slender features.
"As for you," continued Alister to Robert, "I don't care who you are. You can't just come here acting like you want to be Emily's father; let alone pretending to be her father."
"I don't have to pretend to be what I am," Robert argued.
"You can't take the place of Emily's real father," Rafael protested.
Robert raises his voice and shouts, "I am Emily's real father!"
Emily didn't really leave. She hid beside the fountain and listened to their fighting. In many ways, that last statement was true. Robert was Emily's real father, and yet, he wasn't. "I already have a father," she silently whispered.
Rafael and Alister continued to try to reason with Robert. "If you are her dad, then act like it and show it," said Alister. "If you really want what's best for Emily, then you'll let her stay here with us."
Rafael agreed. "It's not right to take her away from the people she loves. It's not even fair to take her from the people who love her."
Robert growled and said again, "I am her father and I will decide what's right for her."
"Then let's do it the right way," said Emily's voice. She left the fountain and approached the men. "A court order was filed when you legally surrendered me. If you want me back, take it up with the judges."
"We'll be there," said Rafael. Alister nodded in agreement.
"You guys?"
"All of us will be present," said the redhead. "Because Emily is our friend and we love her."
"That's right," said Emily. "My friends and I all look out for each other like a family."
"And Emily is part of our family too. That's why we're going to help her win this fight," Rafael finished.
Robert saw that there was no point in dragging this out any further and there really was only one way to settle it. "Well, in that case, I'll see you and you 'family' in court." And with that, he began leaving the park. Knowing the dangers he pose, the blonde and the redhead agreed that it wouldn't be safe to let Emily go home on her own. So they escorted her back to her house.
