~ Right. Let's get ambitious here. If we're going to start redeeming villains, let's go BIG. 'Look, Raist, bunnies...'~
13. Ashes and Ghosts
LIONEL
Lili, you left me too soon. Took your warmth and laughter. Left me with the ashes of memory and a hostile stranger I could not deal with. He has your eyes.
I tried to make him in my image, couldn't live with the reminders of you. But he went his own way. Always.
This child that Lex has found. At first, I thought her beneath notice. Then, a possible weakness. Then, a possible enemy.
Now...
She's young, but she has potential. A fitting mate for our son?
She can teach him the things I cannot. Things that you would have taught him.
She won't be bribed or bought. She struck me. Only one woman ever hit me before. You would like her. She has your fire and spirit.
Perhaps they met too soon. But life is short, and must be lived. You taught me that.
Maybe now he will understand what I am trying to achieve.
I do not want him to become a carbon copy of me. I want him to be greater.
A carbon copy. But subject carbon to great pressure - it becomes diamond. Hard, brilliant, facets hiding the heart. Unbreakable. Precious and rare.
Power comes from many sources. Wealth. Fear. A desire for Vengeance.
Love.
He could have killed me back in the hospital. The child raised in my image would have done. But the boy who wishes to be a man in his woman's eyes? He stayed his hand. He needs me to be the villain to his hero. So I will play the part for him.
We have come too far to reach across any chasms between us. You took all the love that I had in me with you, Lili. And duty and pride would not do. He will not reach back to me. But he will reach forward, and any love that he has in him, that part of you that never died, will be given to her.
Our son, Lili. Alexander. Grown up and ready to take his place in the world. Gone beyond me. A man of courage and vision and compassion. You would be so proud of him.
I am.
13. Ashes and Ghosts
LIONEL
Lili, you left me too soon. Took your warmth and laughter. Left me with the ashes of memory and a hostile stranger I could not deal with. He has your eyes.
I tried to make him in my image, couldn't live with the reminders of you. But he went his own way. Always.
This child that Lex has found. At first, I thought her beneath notice. Then, a possible weakness. Then, a possible enemy.
Now...
She's young, but she has potential. A fitting mate for our son?
She can teach him the things I cannot. Things that you would have taught him.
She won't be bribed or bought. She struck me. Only one woman ever hit me before. You would like her. She has your fire and spirit.
Perhaps they met too soon. But life is short, and must be lived. You taught me that.
Maybe now he will understand what I am trying to achieve.
I do not want him to become a carbon copy of me. I want him to be greater.
A carbon copy. But subject carbon to great pressure - it becomes diamond. Hard, brilliant, facets hiding the heart. Unbreakable. Precious and rare.
Power comes from many sources. Wealth. Fear. A desire for Vengeance.
Love.
He could have killed me back in the hospital. The child raised in my image would have done. But the boy who wishes to be a man in his woman's eyes? He stayed his hand. He needs me to be the villain to his hero. So I will play the part for him.
We have come too far to reach across any chasms between us. You took all the love that I had in me with you, Lili. And duty and pride would not do. He will not reach back to me. But he will reach forward, and any love that he has in him, that part of you that never died, will be given to her.
Our son, Lili. Alexander. Grown up and ready to take his place in the world. Gone beyond me. A man of courage and vision and compassion. You would be so proud of him.
I am.