Chapter 54 Patching Her Up
Singe's eyes grew wide. He pulled his hand away with the same intensity that one would use when they are pulling away from a hot stove. He stared at Roy, uncertainty present in every single one of his features.
"How do you know my name?" he whispered.
Despite Singe's apprehension and discomfort, Roy couldn't help but feel relieved and joyful. He had actually found him. The one koopa that he and Celia had travelled all over the Koopa Kingdom to find, the one koopa who had given them so much trouble. He was here, in the flesh, breathing air into his lungs. Roy felt...ohh, he was so happy!
"And why are you hugging me?"
Roy didn't even feel embarrassed by his random display of affection. He held onto Singe, who at this point was becoming less and less comfortable.
"Okaaay," Singe said. "Clearly, there is a story to be told here." He pulled himself out of the embrace, an impressive feat given how strong of a koopa Roy was and how strong of a hold he had. "I suggest that you start talking."
Roy, despite his sadness over the fact that the hug had been abruptly cut short, launched right into the story without any problems. "Well, my friend and I have been all over the Koopa Kingdom looking for you. We...well, she wanted to find you really, really badly."
"And why is that?" Singe asked. He raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips.
"Well…" Roy chuckled. "It's actually kind of interesting, but…that girl? Up in the room?" He pointed up toward the bedroom that the two of them had just exited. "She's your daughter."
Silence. Singe stared at Roy; not blinking, not moving, no doing anything. Just as Roy was starting to grow worried did the cyborg koopa finally find his voice.
"What?"
Roy beamed. "Yep. Half human, half koopa, and all spunk. Her name is Celia Patch, and she has been wanting to find you her whole life."
An intense happiness overtook Singe's face. A tear grew in his eye, one that sparkled with joy. "Celia Patch." He chortled. "My daughter."
"Yep!" Roy said.
A breath escaped from Singe's throat. "I...I've been wanting to meet her for years." In a split second, the positive emotions were replaced with negative ones. Guilt, sadness, uncertainty; all of them visibly came crashing down on the Koopa. He put his head in his hands. "Ohhh…"
Roy titled his head. "Hey. What's the matter? Aren't you...aren't you happy?"
Singe sniffled. "My daughter is upstairs."
"Yes. She is. And she wants to see you. She has been wanting to see you her whole life." He suddenly hesitated. "It would...it would make her really happy."
There was a pause, one wrought with tension. Whether or not it was because Roy was anxious or he was just observing Singe's distraught emotions, he wasn't sure. It wasn't until Singe shook his head that the tension went away.
"I won't make her happy. I abandoned her."
Roy blinked. "What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?"
Singe shed that tear that had been building in his eye, but this time, it glimmered with sadness as opposed to joy. "She doesn't deserve someone like me. After all the bull crap I made her and her mother endure...by themselves…" he sighed, his voice wet with unshed tears.
Roy felt a pang. This guy...he was clearly dealing with a lot of guilt. Whether or not it was deserved was irrelevant. This guilt was preventing him from moving on, from facing the future and fixing his mistakes. On some level, he felt that he wasn't capable of fixing things.
In that instant, Roy sniffled and shed a tear. This caused Singe to blink. "Why are you crying?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just…" Roy pulled a handkerchief out of his hammerspace and blew into it. "I just get really emotional in situations like this."
"What do you mean?"
"You think you're broken. You think that you don't deserve love, even from yourself." He sniffled again. "On some level...you're just like Celia."
Singe's brow furrowed. "Celia...is like that?" When Roy nodded, he looked down at the floor. "Is that...because of me?"
Roy sensed that even though Singe was asking the question, he really wasn't mentally prepared for the answer. Roy had to be very careful in his approach with how he answered this question. So, he cleared his throat.
"Maybe it is, maybe it is. Either way…" he took a step forward… "she needs you. She needs a father in her life, she craves one. You might not be able to cure her sadness, but you can treat it. You can be there for her in a way that only you can." He gestured up toward the room. "You can love her in a way that only you can."
The expression Singe wore indicated that he was moved by that speech. He too looked up at the staircase leading up to the bedroom where his daughter rested.
"You're right," he said. He picked up the first aid kit, wearing a determined expression. "Come on. Let's go patch her up."
…
Roy watched Singe as he washed the cut on Celia's head. There was a tranquility in Singe's features, a certain calmness present, as he stared at her. Perhaps he was taking in her facial features, studying the things that made her who she was.
"She has Ruby's nose." She chuckled. "And her cheekbones."
Roy nodded. "I noticed! We went to talk to Ruby earlier. Celia looks a lot like her." He got up and walked over. "And, I don't know if you noticed, but she has your hair color. Or, colors, I guess."
Singe laughed. "Yeah. I noticed. This means she has Marksmite blood flowing through her veins." He looked at her closed eyelids. "What color are her eyes?"
"Red. They're red."
Singe smiled. "Red." His voice was soft, warm, gentle. He stared at his unconscious daughter, unbelieving but also extremely grateful to get a chance to see her face. "She's...beautiful."
Roy nodded. "She is." He looked at her. Even though he still felt the sting from when she had run away from him in the forest, he still felt that she was gorgeous. Everything about her features just popped out to him. Maybe that was the accumulation of positive emotions he had gathered toward her, maybe that was because of all the times he had helped to pull her out of a rut (in one case, that statement was literal). Either way…
Well, either way, he still wished for the best for her. Whatever that may be.
Singe sighed and turned toward Roy. "I don't think I've heard your name."
"Oh! I'm Roy; Roy Koopa."
Singe's eyes widened again. "Roy Koopa? As in…that Roy Koopa?"
Roy's chest swelled. "Yep! That Roy Koopa! I am here, in the flesh, and in the mind!" He laughed. "Bet you didn't expect to be standing in the presence of awesomeness did you?"
Singe chuckled. "No. I really didn't." He paused before getting down on his knees and bowing. "Your highness."
"Ohhh," Roy said with a smile. "There's no need for such formalities." He helped Singe to his feet. "I just like it when people treat me like a normal koopa."
Singe smiled with his eyes. "Okay. That works for me." He looked puzzled. "How...how did my daughter become friends with one of the Koopa King's adopted sons?"
Roy beamed. "Well, I just so happened to run into her in Neo Bowser City one time. Afterwards, she called me from a...well, she called me and told me that Bowser…"
Suddenly, Roy froze. Should he really tell this to Singe? Would it really benefit him to hear this next part?
"Bowser is what?" Singe asked.
Roy sucked in a breath. He supposed there was no backing out of this now. "She said...that Bowser is her father."
Singe blinked. "Bowser?" He looked down at her. "Why...why would she think that?"
"Because...that's what Ruby told her."
Singe's face crumpled up into a look of despair. "Ah." He lowered his head, darkness overtaking the very fabric of his being.
Roy sighed. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. Especially from me."
"No, it's okay." He let out a hollow chuckle. "I deserve it."
Roy felt a pang, one stronger than a majority of the ones he had previously felt. He was about to speak up again when he heard groaning coming from Celia.
"Looks like she's waking up."