Rise of the Champions - Chapter Eighteen

Author: Milady Dragon

Daisy Teleported home, a little surprised that Dad wasn't waiting for her. After all, he'd been the one to ask her to come back instead of staying over in Gateway like she'd planned, so she'd expected him to be there.

He'd sounded tired and discouraged over the speaking stone. Daisy could recall the only times he'd sounded that exhausted, and that had been when he'd used too much magic. Which, given how powerful Dad was, would have to have been a lot.

With Skye in her usual place on her shoulders, Daisy headed up into the Keep from Dad's casting chamber, where she's arrived. The upper hall was empty as well, so Daisy cast about with her magical senses, searching for her Dad, to see if he was somewhere in the Keep.

She frowned. He was up in his bedroom, and the Void in him was weakened. So, he had expended a lot of magic. Daisy wondered just why that was, but wasn't about to go and disturb him if he was resting, which was the only explanation as to why he was in the bedroom so early.

Well, there was another reason, but she knew Clint wouldn't be doing that if Dad was that wrung out.

Sometimes it was really icky to think of her Dad having sex. Yet, at the same time, it seemed perfectly normal, and she was pleased that he'd finally found someone to have sex with.

She was even more pleased that it was Clint, because she loved Clint and wanted him for her other Dad. He'd already agreed to it, and had signed the adoption papers in front of Uncle Nick and everything. She just hadn't decided what to call him yet, because she couldn't be like Crystal and use Daddy. That just seemed too immature to the young woman.

Thinking of Crystal…

Once again, Daisy let her senses go hunting, this time for the magical signature of her little sister. She was in the kitchen, most likely eating supper, so she headed in that direction, thinking that Clint would be with her.

He wasn't.

Crystal was seated at the table with Melinda and Andrew, the three of them eating together with Lockjaw on the floor gnawing on what looked like the remains of a haunch of either goat or lamb. The three humans were obviously enjoying a big bowl of something that smelled spicy and made Daisy's mouth water. A plate of bread was strategically placed nearby, and she was willing to bet it was freshly made.

Andrew caught sight of her immediately. Standing, he waved her to chair. "Have a seat and I'll get you some."

"I can get it –"

He rolled his eyes at her good-naturedly. "My kitchen, my rules."

Daisy laughed at that. "Alright, alright." She sat down next to Crystal who greeted her with a hug. "How was your day?" she asked her little sister.

As Crystal babbled on about lessons and about how Wanda really liked Trip, Andrew put a bowl down in front of Daisy, along with a glass of lemonade…which Daisy promptly choked on when Crystal mentioned Wanda having a crush on Trip. Well, she didn't use the term crush, since the young woman doubted her sister knew what that meant, but Daisy certainly got it.

Andrew, who'd been sitting a plate with another, smaller, haunch down for Skye, laughed and handed her a napkin. Daisy glared at him without any real heat in it, coughing into the cloth until she could get control of her breathing back.

"You should be careful," Crystal said with all the naivety of a child who had no clue why Daisy would gag on her lemonade, "it hurts when it goes down wrong like that."

"Yes, it does," her voice was slightly hoarse from the coughing fit. "You're absolutely right." She was going to have to watch how Wanda acted around Trip. She wondered if it was Wanda's first crush, and how Trip would react once he figured out…if he hadn't already. Daisy doubted it, because sometimes guys could be clueless about that sort of thing.

"And Dad went out," Crystal added, "and he came back really tired. Daddy's taking care of him."

From the look that passed between Melinda and Andrew, they knew exactly what had occurred and didn't want to say anything in front of Crystal. Which meant it was either too adult for her to understand; or, they didn't want to frighten her. Daisy wasn't sure which one she would prefer.

"Eat your supper," Melinda urged. The promise that they would talk afterward was silent, but Daisy could hear it just the same.

Daisy was starving, but she was also curious and not a little worried. She practically inhaled the spicy beef and vegetables, barely tasting it in her haste to be done and to get some sort of explanation on what was going on. Why Dad would have expended so much magic. Had he gotten into another duel with someone? Had the Hales finally showed their hands and attacked? Dad had been so very tired after his duel with Alexander Pierce; he'd sounded like that again when he'd called her to ask her to come home.

Gods, she wanted to know now.

"It's bath time for you, young lady." Melinda swept Crystal up in her arms once the little girl was done eating.

Crystal giggled. "Okay, Melinda. Can I get a story after?"

"Andrew will come up and read to you."

"You bet I will," Andrew agreed. "And I'm sure your Daddy will be along later on to tuck you in."

"And I'll be up, too," Daisy promised. It didn't matter what was going on, there was no way she was going to miss her sister's bedtime. Usually, nights were for family, but with Dad being asleep, it would be without him. She didn't want Crystal to worry, so being as close to normal as possible.

Once Melinda had carried a laughing Crystal out of the kitchen, Lockjaw trailing along behind, Daisy turned to Andrew and demanded, "What's going on?"

Andrew's fond expression turned grave. "We found out today that Loki's escaped."

Daisy turned cold with terror. "The asshole who killed Dad…"

For once, Andrew didn't call her down for her language, as he was wont to do. "Yes."

"Is that why Dad sounded so tired when he called me?" If he'd faced Loki…

"No," he reassured her. "Clint said he'd explain. He's waiting in the library."

"You couldn't have led with that?" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She would have gone to him immediately if she'd known.

"He made me promise to feed you first. Which I have done." Andrew shook his head. "Besides, I think he wanted to get his thoughts in order before he talked to you. I get the feeling something else happened, but he hasn't mentioned anything to either me or Melinda. I'm hoping he talked to Phil, but I doubt there was time before Phil and the other Grand Masters left here earlier."

Dad had been with Ianto and Stephen? Now, Daisy was even more worried and curious than before. But she was also worried about Clint, if he was acting weird and Andrew had noticed. But then, Andrew noticed a lot.

Picking up Skye and putting the dragon up on her shoulders, Daisy said, "I'll go talk to him now."

"Wait." Andrew went to the cold box, removing a plate from one of the shelves. He handed it to Daisy; on it was cheese and meat, and he placed several slices of the bread from supper on top. "Get him to eat that. He hasn't had anything since he got back from his errand with Captain Harkness and Lady Toshiko."

She knew they were going to go to speak to someone Clint had known, who'd worked at one of the many traveling shows that crisscrossed the country, hoping that getting the word out on the Hales would bring some new leads. Traveling shows went everywhere, and no one really paid attention to the travelers, except to watch their performances. Daisy thought it was awesome that he'd known people who worked the shows, had actually been in one for a while, but she couldn't help but notice the sadness in his eyes when he reminisced.

Had that been what Andrew had noticed, that something had happened at the traveling show? Daisy thought that made sense. Hopefully, Clint would want to talk about it; if Andrew was right, then chances were he would want to speak about it to someone and, with Dad sleeping off what must have been some sort of magical bender, Clint wouldn't have him to comfort him.

Daisy would just have to be a stand-in for Dad. It was the least she could do for the man who was now her second father.

She accepted the plate. "I'll do my best." It had to have been really bad if Clint wasn't eating. While he hadn't lived in the Keep for long, Daisy had yet to see him voluntarily miss a meal. "Got anything for Lucky?"

Andrew laughed. "Gods forbid I should forget Lucky."

The second plate had a whole chicken on it. Skye chirped in her ear, inquisitively. "No, silly," Daisy scolded her lightly. "You've had yours."

There was a warm puff of breath on her ear as her dragon huffed disgustedly, then laid her chin on top of Daisy's head, dropping it a little harder than strictly necessary.

Ignoring her dragon's antics, the young Wizard made her way out of the kitchen and toward the library. Daisy was a bit surprised that Clint wasn't staying with her Dad, but maybe he didn't want to disturb him if he couldn't sleep? It was still early enough that the Elf might just not be tired yet.

Clint was seated in one of the chairs by the large window overlooking the valley, staring outside and lost in thought, if the fact that he didn't react to her presence was any indication. Lucky had crawled up into his lap; the dragon really was too big to be a lap dragon, but Daisy could understand his need to be close while his companion was upset.

The dragon's nose twitched, and then he was bounding out of Clint's lap, the scent of chicken summoning him like a dog with one of those high-pitched whistle things. He must have pushed off just wrong, because Clint made a distressed "Oomph!" and curled himself up over his lap.

Daisy couldn't help it. She laughed, as she set the plate down for Lucky to attack. Then she moved over to her second Dad, as he straightened up and breathed out. "Damnit, Lucky," he groused. Then he glanced up at Daisy, giving her a wan smile. "Hey. When did you get home?"

She decided she really liked it that he called the Keep, 'home'. "Long enough ago to eat and to have Andrew tell me to bring you this." She handed over the plate.

Clint accepted it gratefully, balancing the plate on his knees. "Thanks. Kinda lost track of time."

Daisy pulled a chair over to sit next to him as he ate. He looked pale, his forehead furrowed as he dug into supper. Usually, Clint had a smile in his eyes – which Daisy attributed him being happy to be with her Dad – but now, that lightness was gone, replaced by old pain. In fact, it looked as if he'd aged a couple of decades since the last time she'd seen him, yesterday before he'd left to meet up with Jack and Toshiko, to go over their plan to visit the traveling show.

Andrew had been correct: something had happened, and Clint was bothered by whatever the hells it was. "You wanna talk about it?"

Clint sighed. "Not really, but I probably should. I was gonna talk to your Dad, but…"

Daisy really wanted to know what had caused her Dad to be so tired, but that could wait since he would eventually be just fine. "Eat first. Then talk. I'm here to listen." She considered. "Want something to drink with that?"

"Yeah." He considered. "Mind getting me some of your Uncle Nick's good wine out of the cabinet?"

"Be glad to." She got up and went to fetch the wine.

Dad didn't drink all that much, but he always kept the wines fairly stocked up, and they were usually the stuff Uncle Nick was always providing. There were credenzas in both the library and the study; that was where Dad held most of his meetings, and this one was a perfect example of her Dad being prepared, as there were two bottles of the wine Uncle Nick enjoyed as well as a couple of different sorts of liquor, including that stuff from the United Kingdom that he liked to indulge in every once in a while. Daisy had wondered why he'd always been keen on being so prepared, since up until a couple of months ago Dad had been a semi-hermit, but he was like that in other ways so she just figured it was a carryover from his life before.

Besides, Uncle Nick did visit quite often. And he was fond of making a big deal out of Dad 'being all alone in this stuffy old Keep and not socializing like a normal person'. When that happened, Dad would just roll his eyes at his oldest friend and threaten to tell Andrew that he was insulting the cleanliness of the Keep again.

Andrew had looked scary when he'd been cursed, so that threat really had been something to take into consideration at the time.

She poured him a glass, then one for herself, thinking she'd probably need it. Dad allowed her wine on occasion, although Daisy didn't do it all that often herself; she didn't want to risk the loss of control. Her magic, even though she had much better control over it now that she was older, still could get a little wild if she was even the slightest bit tipsy. She still blushed at that time she'd gotten drunk at school, and had taken down a chunk of wall in the Novice dorms…

Dad had simply asked her if she was pleased with herself, and if she was ever going to do it again.

It had been a hard 'no' to both questions.

Clint thanked her as she gave him the goblet, and she settled back into her chair to wait. She wanted to ask all sorts of questions: about Loki, and why Dad had expended so much magic, and what had gone on at the traveling show. Daisy knew she could be as curious as a cat, and usually wasn't afraid to ask, but her instincts were telling her to wait, to let Clint finish eating, before launching into him in order to satisfy her natural curiosity.

After a few moments, Clint remarked, "You're being awfully patient."

Daisy snorted. "I can be, you know."

His eyes met hers, and some of the heaviness within them was gone, replaced by a knowing twinkle. "This is coming from the person who isn't afraid to use the Keep's secret tunnels in order to listen in on meetings that she shouldn't know about."

She waved that objection off. "It's not like Dad doesn't know I do it. If he cared, he'd be putting up wards." Which he did, from time to time. Daisy fully expected him to do it more often, now that he would be conducting Wizard Guild business at home. "And it's not like I go blabbing to people what I happen to overhear."

"Point." Sighing, Clint set his plate aside on the table next to his chair. Lucky, finished with his own meal, curled up on the nearest sofa. Not to miss out on a dragon pile – even if it was only two dragons – Skye was off Daisy's shoulders and joining Lucky, draping herself over the larger dragon, sides heaving as she let out a breath of contentment.

"First of all," he began, "Loki. I'm sure Andrew told you that he escaped."

Daisy nodded. She couldn't help but shiver a little. After all, Loki had killed Dad. Sure, he'd come back, but that didn't matter.

Although, she had to admit that Loki stabbing him had been the catalyst for a lot of good. That still didn't mitigate the pain and trauma involved.

"We don't know how he did it, but we have to assume Hydra had something to do with it. Whitehall bragged about being able to get in to see him, past all the wards and whatever the Asgardians had used to keep Loki locked up, just to ask him about Phil and how he'd survived. It's entirely possible that at least one of the Hales used the same way to get him out."

That…that was terrifying. Loki and the Hales, teaming up…none of them knew exactly how powerful either Catherine or Ruby were, so that made it even more frightening.

"Dad…he didn't fight Loki, did he?" Andrew had claimed not, but she wanted that confirmation.

"No, nothing like that. It's just that the spear Loki used to mind control all his puppets and to murder your Dad is in the deepest, darkest part of the Archives at the Wizard's Tower, and everyone thought it would be a really good idea to destroy it, so Loki couldn't get it back. Unfortunately, not even the three most powerful Wizards ever could do it. That's why Phil's asleep; he, Ianto, and Stephen tried to break that damned spear, and failed."

Impossible. Daisy couldn't believe that anything could stand up to the concentrated magic of three Grand Masters.

"It was a surprise to them, too," Clint replied, when she'd said as much.

"What about tomorrow?" They'd been going to start on Sir James tomorrow…

"That's still the plan. None of them want to put it off."

Daisy nodded. She could understand not wanting to leave Sir James in the Zero Cabinet any longer than need be. None of them liked that thing, and she hoped Ianto would be burying that damned box as deep in the Archives as it could go. Hopefully, in the same room the spear was in, if what Clint had said was accurate, and she had no reason to doubt him.

"But there's something else." She didn't want to pin him down, but it was obvious he was bothered by more than Loki…not that that wasn't bad enough, but this was different, it was personal, and Andrew was right…he needed to talk about it. She couldn't say what was telling her this, but she thought she knew him well enough by now to figure out that there was a lot more weight on his shoulders than this.

She'd heard the story about what Loki had done to Clint. That he'd been one of those 'mind-controlled puppets' he'd just mentioned. He still felt a lot of guilt over that, although some of that had vanished when he'd learned that Dad was still alive; while he hadn't said it, Daisy could tell he'd been upset that he hadn't been there to watch Dad's back when he'd gone in to fight Loki. And Dad had admitted that one of the reasons he'd done it was because Loki had taken Clint, and had gone in after revenge and to get him back from whatever magic Loki had used to take him over. They hadn't been together at the time, but that hadn't mattered to Dad.

He may have been in full-on Dark One mode at the time, but Daisy took that challenge as meaning Dad had really cared for Clint, even back then when he hadn't believed he deserved that sort of thing.

So, just from the expression on Clint's face, Daisy could tell there was more to it than just Loki, and Dad's not being able to destroy the thing that had killed him and had taken Clint away.

Clint huffed a laugh. "You are your Dad's kid, that's for sure. I should know I couldn't hide anything from you, either." His face turned wry. "In fact, Phil and I were gonna talk about it when he got back, but that took a step back when I saw what condition he was in. He knows part of it, but not all of it…"

And so, Daisy learned that she and Clint had a lot more in common than she'd thought.

She listened in growing horror as he told her about his childhood; how his own father had been an asshole who'd managed to get the entire family kicked out of Hawk Enclave. How he hadn't accepted the responsibility for it, and had taken it out on his own wife and children. And how, one day, both parents had gone into the nearby town for supplies and had never returned.

It made her realize just how lucky she'd been in not having ever known her own parents.

Daisy had hated the orphanages she'd been placed in. They'd been awful, and not equipped to deal with her, her intelligence and inquisitiveness and her impulsive nature making anyone caring for her want to pull their hair out. She'd run away as soon as she was able, but she'd always been caught and brought back, often transferred to a different orphanage when they'd determined she was 'incorrigible' and unable to follow their strict rules.

Clint's experience in orphanages matched up with hers, but he hadn't been alone; he'd had his brother, and they had always been together. And their running away the first time had been the success hers hadn't, since they'd found a home in the traveling show.

The Carson's Traveling Show of Wonders and Delights.

The very traveling show he, and Jack, and Toshiko had gone to.

It had been good for a while, he told her, his voice full of pain and memories, but one day it hadn't, his brother had ended up betraying him and leaving him for dead. He'd never seen his brother again, until…

Until just today.

When he'd admitted that, Daisy did the only thing she could.

She got out of her chair, went to him, and wrapped him in her arms.

Yeah, she was really glad she'd never met her biological family. At least the only thing they'd done to her was abandon her.

Not like what they'd done to Clint.

He wasn't crying. Daisy was surprised. But then, he was a lot stronger than she would ever be, and was probably used to all this emotional shit by now. Still, having all that come back to bite him the way it had, when he'd been expecting to only see an old friend and to ask for a favor. Not to have to face the one person who should have loved him and protected him, and had done the exact opposite.

And now, Barney was back, and wanted forgiveness.

The young woman wondered what she'd do if her real parents had suddenly come back into her life, asking for her to forgive them for leaving a defenseless infant on the steps of that first orphanage. She thought of Ward, back when he'd claimed that Hydra knew who those parents were. She told him then that she didn't need them, that she had the only Dad she'd ever need.

And now, she had two. Plus a little sister who needed her. Also, a scary ass uncle, as well as Melinda and Andrew, who may as well be her aunt and uncle as well. Then there was Nat, who could be the best aunt of them all, since she was Clint's adopted sister and all.

She had all the family she needed. She didn't even want to see anyone from her original family ever again.

Clint, though, was being faced with the family he'd thought he'd never see. Her arms tightened around him, wanting to make sure he knew she was there for him. That, if her Dad couldn't it, then Daisy damned well would be.