"Papa"
A/N: Brief spoilers for episode 24.
o.o.o.o.o
I'd made assumptions on what a father was, based only upon my own experience.
If a father was absent,
If he caused grief,
If he lived in complete apathy of his offspring,
Then yes. That's who my father was.
Detesting father, I clung to Mom, and Al. I grew my bitterness inside.
It was so strange, then, meeting him. Oddly enough, snatching me out of the air before falling, probably saving my life. Hughes was eccentric to say the least, but what confused me the most was his devotion.
Was a father supposed to be like that?
Was it even allowed?
He was a military man. How did he find time in his busy life to love his family so much?
He annoyed everyone with his constant obsessions. Somehow, their bother seemed so superficial, though, as if they didn't mind. They all understood his true loyalties. I could not.
A birthday cake, a photograph, kind smiles everywhere. These were all things that reminded me of him. A thought once crossed my mind,
Like a father.
It didn't make any sense. Not from what I'd spent my life learning and justifying. I denied the thought that he was watching over us with any fatherly love. If such a thing as 'Fatherly Love' even existed. It was just courtesy between comrades. Yet still, neither Al nor I could really come to understand why he looked out for us so much. Why he always went out of his way for us.
What could be his drive to do that?
I gazed out the train window while thinking of this, and for a split second I swore he was there. Waving, happily. I was seeing things, since I knew quite well Hughes was still back in Central City.
"What was it?" Al asked
"Nothing" I replied, as I took the last bite of the pie Gracia made for us.
It tasted like home...