Madelyn
One stupid mistake.
Kalin Kessler had made plenty mistakes in his life. Mistakes that caused his downfall in Satellite, his friends abandoning him, his suicidal depression and the horrid suffering of others. But, through all the pain and turmoil, he somehow managed to rebuild a life for himself. It was a simple life in Crash Town, where he lived out his days performing small acts of kindness. Anything to repent for the sins of his past.
But now, Kalin found himself sitting outside a hospital room. He had not told Yusei that he was in the city. He had not told any of them what was going on in his life. He barely was able to comprehend it himself. Kalin was waiting outside that hospital room for the birth of his child.
Around nine months ago, Kalin found himself in the company of a woman about his age. The two were complete strangers, but that did not stop them from grabbing a few drinks one night and fooling around. With Nico studying abroad and West taking part in several international junior duel tournaments, Kalin was slowly slipping into the lifestyle of a single bachelor, like any normal twenty-five year old man would. Turned out he had a bit reckless and impulsive teenager still inside of him. And it was only a matter of time before that small part of him reared its ugly head again.
Not even two months after that evening, Kalin was contacted by that same girl, claiming that she was pregnant with his child. He heavily denied it at first. It took five months into the pregnancy for him to even be able to say 'this woman is having my baby'. Although, it still was not real in his mind. The two strangers kept in contact. They even tried forming a real relationship, but she had dreams of traveling and Kalin was happy in Crash Town.
Kalin assumed that the girl would let him see the baby in the very beginning, but then completely separate him from his child. It only made sense for her to be weary of the ex-criminal who knocked her up. Naturally, Kalin was in utter shock when she called him saying that he could have custody of the baby if he wanted. Apparently, her dreams did not include a newborn. If Kalin did not take the child in, then the woman would most likely place it in an orphanage. There was no way Kalin would let any blood of his have to live a life like that. Not after what he went through as an orphan on the streets in Satellite. Still, he was extremely hesitant about taking a baby in, even if it was his own.
He was not allowed in the room during the delivery. Kalin waited outside in the hallway for over six hours, his mind racing in a million directions. He had tried to prepare himself for the arrival of the baby, but how could he when he wanted to keep it a secret from practically everyone until after the birth.
"Mr. Kessler."
Kalin glanced up at the nurse who walked up to him with a wide smile on her face. Maybe if this nurse knew Kalin's background, she would not be so happy to tell him the news.
"Congratulations! It's a girl! We had to take the baby to the nursery, but you may come see her in just a few minutes."
He had absolutely no idea what to say. It still was not real to him yet. All he could do was nod so that the nurse would leave him alone to process what he had been trying so desperately to prepare for.
After waiting some more, Kalin finally stood up and walked down to the end of the hall where the nursery was located. His boots dropped heavy on the floor, so heavy it worried him. He watched the nurse turn around and reach into a cradle. Then, she presented to him a small infant, swaddled in pink. Kalin reached his hands out, hesitation sweating from his palms. The newborn, his child, was placed into his grasp. The moment he felt the weight of that little baby in his arms was the moment time stopped.
Kalin stared down at the her. Her skin was pale with a hint of pink. She had a small amount of blonde hair on the top of her head. Her mouth hung slightly open and one of her tiny hands was reaching for it. Then, her eyes opened, revealing a light shade of green with a hint of gold in them, shaped exactly like her father's.
In that moment, Kalin found himself smiling. Staring down at this...his daughter filled him with an emotion he had never felt before. It was this warm feeling inside of him. He had never known the relationship between a parent and a child. He never remembered his parents and once firmly believed he would never have children of his own.
"What's her name?" Kalin asked the nurse still standing by his side. When he told the mother of his child that he wanted custody, she made only one request to name the baby. Kalin could not think of any reason to deny her.
"Madelyn." The nurse answered him with a soft smile.
"Madelyn. Madelyn Kessler."
The day after his daughter's birth, Kalin called Martha, who was the closest thing to a guardian figure he ever had in his life. After telling her everything that had happened, Martha agreed to visit Kalin in Crash Town for the next two weeks to help him readjust his life to best take care of his daughter. Sure he had taken care of kids before, but a newborn was something else.
"Here. It's all warmed up." Martha handed the fresh bottle over to Kalin, who was sitting in on the floor in the living room with his daughter.
"Thanks." He propped Madelyn up on his lap, holding her head in his hand. He slowly brought the bottle to her and watched carefully as she started drinking the warm milk.
"I have to say, Kalin, you're handling this very well." Martha watched as Kalin locked eyes on his daughter as she fed. She was slightly worried Kalin might turn into a helicopter parent. "I mean I know you've taken care of Nico and West, but the way you've managed to take care of a newborn is pretty amazing."
Kalin let out a long sigh. "I just don't want to screw anything up."
"You're doing great."
Kalin quickly laughed, which was more of a cover up for the anxiety he was feeling. "Now I'm more worried about telling Nico and West."
"You didn't tell them either?" Martha put her hands on her hips in disappointment and shock.
"Nope. And West should be coming back next week from a tournament, and I'm sure Nico is going to be surprised to see that her room has been turned into a nursery."
"Kalin, those kids look up to you. After everything you've done for them, I'm sure they'll understand and support you."
"I hope so, Martha."
"Why don't you let me finish with up here and I'll put Madelyn down to bed. You could use something to eat and a hot shower."
Before Kalin could protest, Martha set down a freshly made sandwich in front of him. There was no way of debating with her, so Kalin handed Madelyn over. He hated that feeling of passing his daughter off to someone else.
After retreating upstairs, Kalin stepped into the shower and let out a long yawn. He really had gotten little to no sleep over the past week. He had even cut his hair short, back to a similar style when he was growing up as it was easier to manage. After drying himself off, Kalin slipped into a pair of clean boxers and immediately crashed down onto his bed. It did not take long before he fell asleep.
Sometime later that night, Kalin was awaken by the sound of soft crying. Kalin instinctively shot up and made his was to his daughter's room. He walked up to her, finding her sobbing. She did not need anything, but showed no signs of wanting to fall back to sleep.
Kalin took her back to his room and sat on his bed with her. Madelyn's cries were slowing stopped, but she still seemed wide awake. Then, he reached over into his bedside table, pulling out his old harmonica. It had been sometime since he had played it last. It was the only thing that let him clear his mind when he was suffering from severe depression all those years ago.
The young man brought the instrument to his lips, closed his eyes and he began playing a familiar melody that was soft and slow. He hoped it would calm Madelyn back to sleep. However, if he had opened his eyes, Kalin would see that his daughter was entranced by the sweet music her father was playing, her eyes glued to him.
After two weeks, Martha had to return home to her orphanage in Satellite. She made sure Kalin was well stocked with supplies and reassured him that he was going a great job with raising his daughter. Though it was hard for him to believe that yet.
While watching over his daughter, completely alone with her for the first time, Kalin heard a knock on the front door. He set Madelyn down on the living room floor and went over to see who it was. When he opened the door and saw an all too familiar face grinning back at him, a wave of anxiety hit him. "Crow?"
"Long time to see, Kalin!" Crow said, happy to see his old friend.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were going to be in Europe for the next month." Kalin asked, glancing back over his shoulder.
"The tournament got pushed back two weeks, so that gave me a week vacation." The younger man explained.
"Oh."
Crow was taken back by Kalin's hesitations. "Are you alright? If this isn't a good time-"
"Crow." Kalin cut him off mid-sentence. "I'm sorry. I just...I should have told you guys before...I'm..."
"Kalin, what's wrong?" Crow's mind immediately went to the worst of possibilities. This was Kalin Kessler he was talking to. "Are you okay?"
Kalin had no idea how to say it. Might as well just show him. Crow did have a soft spot for kids, so it was probably best he found out first. Kalin let Crow into his home. It did not take long for him to notice the small baby laying on the floor.
Crow had no idea what to think. "Um...are you babysitting?"
"No, Crow. She's mine."
"What?"
"Crow." Kalin went over and picked the baby up. "This is my daughter, Madelyn."
"What?" Crow paused for a moment, needing to process this new information. "Wait...what the fuck?"
"Crow!"
"No. I can't believe this!" Crow stepped back and began to ramble. "There's no way! You're a father? What kind of shit? When did this even happen?"
"She's only a few weeks old." Kalin started to explain.
"Biological?"
"Yes."
"Dude!" Crow brought his hands up to his face out of habit when he was stressed. "Who's the mother? You got some girl pregnant and now you have a baby!"
"Believe me, it was not planned. Her mother didn't even want to keep her and there was no way I was letting her end up in some orphanage."
Crow took a deep breath to calm down. "Kalin, why didn't you tell any of us? Or did you just not tell me?"
Kalin sighed. This was what he wanted to avoid. "I didn't tell anyone. The only person I told was Martha and that was only after Madelyn was born. Nico and West don't even know yet."
"This is huge. Why keep it a secret?"
"I don't know. I...I barely was able to accept it myself. I thought her mother would take her away, so I wouldn't even be part of her life." Kalin brushed a piece of his daughter's hair out of her face. "Crow, after the shitty life I've had I never could have imagined having a kid of my own."
"Well, you apparently have one now." Crow chuckled through his sarcasm. Internally, he was still screaming.
"Yea. And I'm anxious as hell about it and your comments aren't helping." Kalin shot Crow an annoyed glance.
"I'm sorry, dude. I just wish you would have told us, so we could have helped you out."
"You and Jack are flying all over the world for tournaments and Yusei is so busy in the city there was no way he could stop by."
"Still, this is a big deal." That was when Crow realized Kalin's eyes were fixed on the baby in his arms. Kalin never seemed to be the fatherly type, but something about the way he looked at his daughter told Crow that his ex-leader had a real connection with his infant.
After noticing the moment of silence, Kalin looked back at Crow. "Do you want to hold her?"
"I mean...I maybe good with kids, but I've never handled a baby before."
"Just support her head."
Crow reached his hands out, ready to get yelled at for doing something wrong. Kalin passed his baby to Crow, who immediately pulled her in to support her head like he was told. "She's so light. Madelyn Kessler, uh?"
"Yea."
Crow watched as Madelyn started yawning. He smiled. "She's kind of cute. You do realize you're going to have to tell people about her."
Kalin sighed at the inevitable truth. "Yeah, I know. I just want to wait until I get better with taking care of her myself...oh no!"
"What?" Crow asked as he started rocking Madelyn in his arms.
Kalin covered his face with his hands in distress. "I just realized she's going to grow up into a toddler, then teenage girl. I'm stuck with this kid for the rest of my life aren't I?"
Crow started laughing. As much as he hated seeing Kalin this worked up, humor was one way he dealt with stressful situations like this. "I hope you at least had a good time making this kid."
"If you're gonna talk like that, I'm taking her back."
"No!" Crow moved Madelyn away from Kalin, which probably was not the best idea seeing how attached he was to her. "I want to hold her a bit more. She's so calm and I think actually she likes me." Without saying it out loud, Crow made a promise that he would help Kalin out in raising his daughter. It was the least he could do for his old friend.
After putting Crow up in West's room for the night, Kalin sat with Madelyn on his bed again. He had his daughter cradled in his arms as her eyes were slowing beginning to drift asleep. As much as he was nervous about the future, he knew that he never wanted to let this little baby girl go. He had this overwhelming feeling to hold her and protect her from the horrific world he knew.
Suddenly, he became afraid. Not of the world he had brought his daughter into, but of himself. How was he supposed to face Madelyn when she grew up and tell her that her mother did not want her, and her father was a criminal and former Dark Signer? Kalin felt ashamed. For so long his problems were his alone, but now he felt that he was passing them onto her. He was not a good person no matter who told him otherwise. Even West and Nico could not help Kalin completely shake the feeling that in the end he was worthless.
If only Kalin knew...if only Kalin could look into the future and see that the infant now quietly sleeping in his arms would be the sole reason why he would find the strength to continue fighting in the next battle he would have to face. It was true his worst days were behind him, but that did not mean bad days were never going to come again. But this time, he will more than willingly put his life down for the one thing, the only thing that truly saved him from the darkness.
His daughter was no mistake.