Play song: Roaring Tides – Clannad OST
It all started when Mommy cried.
We've never seen Mommy, or Daddy, cried before. That was the first time. We heard uncle Aqua shout something and saw Daddy ran out of our room. We didn't know anything so we followed. It was scary, like something was going to pop out from every corner we turn.
At the corner that led to the entrance hall, we poked our heads out. It was then. We saw Mommy crying and Daddy consoling her. She glanced at us. We, even without her psychic communication, knew that she didn't want us to see this, so we left quickly.
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Things went from bad to worse, I think. For some reason, Auntie Sylvy never appeared anymore; Uncle Aqua kept on attacking Mommy; And Daddy always seemed sad and concerned. Every time Cloud or I tried to ask what was going on, whoever answered always changed the subject and acted all happy and stuff.
We couldn't do anything, so we kinda pretended that nothing was wrong and lived happily. But then, one day, Mommy came up to us.
"Luna, Cloud. Something happened," she said, sobbing slightly. I didn't like to see her like that and instinctively nuzzled her. She smiled a little and I felt happy to have made her feel better.
"What is it, mother?" Cloud asked and we both looked at her expectantly. We were finally going to get some kind of information on what was going on around us.
"Your father… He… He's sick." She looked down as tears trickle down her face again. We could tell instantly that there was more than what she said. Daddy was not just 'sick', it was something worse.
"C-can we see him?" I asked. Surely it can't be that bad, can it? I'm probably just overthinking things and perhaps he's just caught a cold or something. I caught a cold once, it was both awesome and boring. I was told to stay in bed all the time, which I couldn't really stand at all. But at the same time, Mommy and Daddy were very kind and pampered me throughout.
"Sure. Hold on to Mommy." We nodded and held onto her paws. This was the second time that I felt the weird sensation of flying through the air. I finally learnt later on that it was teleportation, where Mommy can move from one place to another instantly. It was cool, but a shame as I couldn't do it myself, nor is it possible that I will be able to.
I found myself in a big, big white room. It was huge! There were two rows of little 'cubicles', so to say, running along the length of the room. Each cubicle was still large and was made to resemble some kind of bedroom, albeit smaller than ones at my home. I saw Daddy lying in one the beds in a cubicle. He was motionless but at least I can see that he was still breathing. Lots of wires connected him to machines I've never seen or heard of before, it was a bizarre sight, if you ask me.
A large bandage was wrapped around his tummy and back. And though I said he was breathing, it sounded like every breath was his last. Wheezing and rattling, I never knew someone could breath and make a sound like that.
"Daddy?" I whispered, then louder, "Daddy?" Respond he did not. It was weird for me since he always responded to me, even if he was sleeping he would wake up at my voice. "Mommy, what's wrong with Daddy?" I asked, looking towards her.
"A… Auntie Sylvy, Uncle Aqua and I will explain to you later," she replied, looking very guilty. I could only deduce that whatever happened, did so between the three of them.
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The next day, we got to speak to Daddy.
"Father, what happened to you?" Cloud asked, his eyes still wide with bewilderment. I am surprised, too, like him. We thought Daddy was the coolest, strongest and kindest pokemon around. What could possibly have made him worse for wear like this?
"Well… I fought with Aqua, that's all. Nothing to worry about." While he said that, I thought he sounded… Fake? Like he didn't mean what he was saying.
"You fought with Uncle Aqua?" I asked, sceptical. I thought Daddy and Uncle were best buddies and happy with each other all the time.
"Yes. It was nothing, don't worry about it." We talked a bit more, about how I went outside and found a friend, Ren. He was a Shinx and he was cool! The whole time I can't help but notice, Daddy hasn't moved his body at all. I tried to raise the question once but he interrupted me quickly by asking about my day. I must find out about this.
"Daddy, can you come over here?" I asked, looking straight at him. I saw his eyes widened for a second.
"Uh… Daddy's very tired right now, sweetie."
"I knew it!" I exclaimed, earning a weird look from Cloud.
"What do you know?" he asked, curious.
"Daddy can't move! He can't move anything but his head!" I shouted. He visibly flinched and it was then that Mommy came into the room. She hastily grabbed hold of us and teleported us back to our blue-grey room.
"Mother, what is wrong with Father?" Cloud asked, determined to find out what had really happened.
"It's nothing, he's sick!" she insisted, but we won't have any of that, will we, Cloud?
"Mother, please. What is really wrong with him?" Atta boy, Cloud! There's my brother! Mommy sighed and looked dejected.
"Fine, you two are more observant than is good for both of you. I'll tell you everything." She sat us down on Cloud's bed and told us the story.
"Mommy did something bad. Something very bad, and Sylvy got hurt because of me. Now, Aqua loves Sylvy very, very much, a lot like how I love your father. Aqua got angry at me and we argued. I was being selfish and thought that it was not my fault that Sylvy got hurt. He attacked me because of his anger, but now that I look back, he had every reason to.
"Pyro, your father, didn't like us fighting so he tried to find a way to stop us. Since telling Aqua would not really do anything, he tried a more desperate tactic. He disguised himself as me and went up to Aqua. Aqua thought he was me and attacked him. By the time I got there, Pyro was injured very badly. But it's nothing to worry about."
"Why did Daddy think that he will be able to stop you fighting by disguising as you?" I asked, utterly confused. She shook her head,
"It is not something you'll really understand right now but I can tell you that it worked. Mommy and Uncle Aqua stopped fighting now.
"How did Daddy disguise himself as you?" Cloud asked. Mommy laughed slightly and patted both our heads.
"His species, like Luna's, allows him to create illusions that tricks a pokemon's eyes. But Cloud, our species can transform, not create illusions, sometimes more useful but other times not," she replied. "Now, I think it's time for both of you to go to bed. It's late." She tucked us in, sung us a lullaby, and then left the room, turning off the lights. Cloud, as usual, had already fell asleep from the lullaby. I haven't, though, and thought about what Mommy told us.
She did something bad? What could she probably have done to make kind Uncle Aqua attack her? And why can't Daddy move? So many thoughts were running around in my head. Maybe I could discuss them with Arno tomorrow.
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The next day, I went to Arno right after breakfast (served to me by the scary chef, Blaire). I found him cleaning Daddy's room on his own.
"Oh, hello there Luna!" he greeted when he saw me.
"Hi Arno!" We've become pretty friendly towards each other. Did I mention he's pretty cool? Because, if not, he's pretty cool! He's also fun to talk to, and always have stories to tell when I wanted to be told one.
"Arno, can I ask you a question?"
"Go on," he replied, cleaning the room at the same time.
"Why can't Daddy move?" He froze up instantly, the duster in his mouth dropping in surprise. It was a few moments before he slowly bent down to pick up the duster again.
"Wh-why do you ask that?" he slowly said, stretching out the words as if taking the time to consider what to say next.
"Arno..." I said threateningly, "Tell me what you know."
"I-I'm sure Lord Pyro's just tired, nothing to worry about," he replied, avoiding looking at me. It was the first time that I snapped.
"Nothing to worry about! Nothing to worry about! I'm sick and tired of hearing that, Arno! Everyone says that there's nothing to worry about. But I am worried! My daddy, for some reason, can't move! Because he went and got beaten up by Uncle Aqua for some reason! And Uncle Aqua didn't know it was him, for some reason!" I yelled at him, making him flinch, "I can't not be worried! What if Daddy's dying?! What if he and Uncle Aqua are not friends anymore?! What will happen to Cloud and I then?!"
"Luna, calm down," Arno said soothingly, dropping the duster to brush up to my side.
"I can't calm down; I need to know what's going on!"
Then Arno sighed a big sigh.
"I guess you'll have to know sooner or later. But please, don't tell anyone I told you this since I could lose my job if Lord Pyro or Lady Mew does not want me to tell you," he informed me first. I nodded in compliance. "Lord Pyro is severely injured. He is paralyzed; this means that he will not be able to move any part of his body but his head forever. But to make matters worse, his wounds have been infected and he will pass away soon."
The news shocked me to the core. It made me fall onto my rump.
"S-so Daddy's really going to die?" I asked, looking up at Arno desperately, hoping he'd say something like he's joking. But no luck, he just nodded. I knew it. I knew something was wrong from the moment I first saw him on that bed like that. It's no cold. It's death.
Cold, unforgiving, inevitable death that will soon grip Daddy's heart and tear the life away with its icy hands. I was just beginning to come to terms with it when Uncle Aqua entered the room, his twin tails swishing behind him. A half-smile on his face as he looked around the clean room and at us.
"How're we doing? Are you finished cleaning, Arno?"
"Just about to, Lord Aqua," Arno bowed his head before going back to cleaning with the duster in his maw, ear twitching once slightly.
"How about you, Luna? Having fun chatting with Arno? Better be careful not to disturb him though, okay?" he asked me next. I turned to look at him and stared for a second. Those golden eyes gleam with content. Did he not know that Daddy was going to die? That he was the one who essentially killed him? That he has no right to be happy in a time like this?
Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and ran out of the room in a hurry. Behind me, I heard Arno apologize to him.
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Play song: The place where wishes come true (Clannad OST)
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Days passed, Daddy was moved to the picture room and stayed there, lying still and probably growing weaker. Ren came to visit a few times, we had a lot of fun.
Ever since the infirmary room back then, I haven't really talked to Daddy at all. But today, I'll confront him. I'll talk to him about what I've learnt, and he'll have to tell me the truth, with details, about what happened and why he hid it.
As I approached the room, my ears twitched and I could hear light snoring. Daddy's asleep? I stopped for a second, contemplating going away and coming back later when the snoring stopped, followed by his voice saying,
"Come in, Luna." I obeyed, slowly slinking into the room. I saw him, lying on the cushion, staring back at me and smiling. "Do you need anything?"
"I want to know, Daddy." His expression turned to that of confusion.
"Know what?"
"What happened? Why did Uncle Aqua attack you? Why did he hurt you to the point that you're dying? Why is he not sorry?" His expression softened.
"Luna," he said lightly, "Nothing's wrong. We just got into a little argument but everything's okay now. You don't have to be worried-"
"Don't say that, Daddy!" I snapped, "I know that he did that to you. And I know for sure that you can't move and you're dying! So don't say that nothing's wrong because things are definitely not right!"
"Luna, don't say that," he pleaded. Why wouldn't he take all this seriously?! What is wrong with him?!
"Why does everyone have to be so secretive?! Why won't you tell me anything at all about what's going on, why does everyone try and hide things from me and Cloud?!"
"Be a good girl, Luna," he told me, sternly yet still softly. "Be reasonable-"
"I won't be reasonable!" I shouted back, unable to control myself. "Why can't you just tell me the truth?! What's so wrong that you would lie to me that you are okay?!"
"Luna-" he said, raising his voice a bit.
"I HATE YOU, DADDY!" I yelled at him before rushing out of the room; I could remember the feeling of tears trickling down my face then.
And that… was the last time I ever heard Daddy speak…
{A/N} I guess I decided to post this as an apology for the long break due to exams (Which is still yet to be over) and how LToD will be even later than I thought as it is hard to type it up and think of ideas. {And for some of you out there: no, not all of the chapters in this story will be sad/depressing theme or something like that}
I promise I'll try my best with the LToD. Sorry
