I Love You Forever
By generalquistis
Author's Notes: Ragnarok doesn't belong to me. Sara Irine does not belong to me either. Nothing belongs to me but the story plot. The words of "I Love You Forever" do not belong to me. I forgot the name of the author of the book but it's a nice song. The book is about the unconditional love of a parent to a child.
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"Sara, do you realize now? It has always been you that I love above all… Papa is so sorry! I have run out of time to make myself comprehensible to you."
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"I love you forever; I like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be…"
Sara opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling of her bedroom upon hearing the voice of his father singing to her one of her favorite tunes.
"Good morning, Sara," Lord Irine greeted gently.
The ten year-old blonde girl blinked and turned to the person who greeted her. She smiled happily. "Papa!" she cried out as she instantly sat up and embraced him.
Lord Irine embraced his daughter tightly, "Oooh. My big girl! Miss me?" he asked happily.
She gazed up at him with her big innocent blue eyes. "Yes, papa! Where have you been?" she asked with a pout.
"Didn't Mama tell you that I was away on a trip?" he responded with a look of wonder on his face.
She shook her head. "Oh well. At least you're back." She said as she embraced him again. "Are you staying here?" she asked.
"Well… yes, but I have to leave again tonight." He told her.
"Aw shucks. Where are you going? Another trip?" she asked stubbornly.
Lord Irine patted her head. "Unfortunately. But don't worry, Sara, my little Princess! You always have your gifts delivered from me everyday whenever I'm away, right?" he asked sweetly.
She sniffed. "I don't like those gifts. I want you to be with me and Mama!" she said with a hurtful look on her face, bowing down her head. She did not understand why her father always had to be away. She heard from some people that he was just in the Palace… but how come if he calls her "his little Princess", she was never allowed to live in the Palace with him? She asked him about it once but he just told her, "Someday, my Princess, you'll live with Papa in the Palace."
The thought of being with her father every single moment of her life made her feel happy and compensated the sadness being brought about by being apart from him for long periods of time. Sara even wondered why she could not see him everyday anymore ever since she turned four, but she did not bother to raise more questions.
"But Papa has to leave." Lord Irine told her.
She had a sad look on her face.
Lord Irine's heart sank when he saw the sad look on his daughter's face. He patted her head gently, "Tell you what. Let's spend the day together, shall we? We'll go around the city and we'll go training together and for your enjoyment, we'll pick flowers. And Papa will buy you another gift. Do you want that?" he asked gently.
Sara never really cared about the material things that her father would give to her. She just wanted to be with him. She shrugged. "Okay, Papa." She said.
He smiled at her. "Don't listen to your Mama when she tells you that I'm spoiling you," he said with a wink as he patted her head.
Sara giggled.
They were silent for a few moments, just looking at each other like they have not seen each other for a long time indeed. And Sara embraced her father again. "Papa," she began.
"Yes, my Princess?" he asked gently.
"Sing to me that song again." she said.
Lord Irine had a loving smile on his face as he stroked his daughter's long blonde wavy hair. "I love you forever; I like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be…" he began, then he looked at Sara's face. "Sing with me, Sara." He said.
Sara smiled and nodded, then they began to sing: "I love you forever; I like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be…"
She giggled happily as Lord Irine laughed gaily. "My Princess has the most beautiful voice ever!" he said sweetly as he patted her head gently.
"Really?" Sara asked with a look of wonder on her face.
"I'm telling the truth. Papa never lies, right?" he responded with a gentle look on his face.
Sara giggled. "Can't you take me with you when you travel so that I can sing to you?" she asked with a pleading look on her face.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Sara. You have to stay here for your mother. She needs you too." he told her.
Sara just pouted and crossed her arms.
Lord Irine chuckled lightly and got up. "Maybe when you grow older... say, when you turn 18? Now get out of that sleepwear, change your clothes and I'll meet you in the living room." He said before leaving the room.
Sara watched quietly as her father left. As soon as she could not hear his footsteps from outside her room anymore, she bowed down her head with a confused look on her face. She remembered her dream before she woke up. Why was her father apologizing to her in her dream?
Not wanting a puzzling dream to ruin her day, she just shrugged it off, put on a cheerful smile on her face and went to her bathroom to change her clothes.
Afterwards, she got down to the living room and saw her mother cleaning the area while her father was reading the morning papers.
"Mama!" Sara greeted happily as she embraced her mother.
Her mother smiled happily as she leaned the broom against the wall to embrace her daughter. "Oh Sara. Good morning." She said sweetly.
Lord Irine smiled as he looked at the two. With that he put down the newspaper and got up from the couch. "Well, we'd better get going now, Sara. Let's eat breakfast at a café first, shall we?" he asked.
Sara nodded. "Okay, Papa!" she said happily as she let go of her mother and ran to the door. "C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!" she said happily as she rushed out of the house excitedly.
Lord Irine looked at one corner and got the Haeryongdo resting in one place. He walked over to it and picked it up, "Sara, don't forget your sword!" he called out before turning to Sara's mother.
She just bowed down her head and moved away. "Please don't make anything bad happen to our daughter. I don't want to see her getting harmed." She said with a trembling tone.
Lord Irine pursed his lips, approached her and gave her a hug. "I'll never let anything bad happen to our little Princess, dear." He told her.
She just stiffened with a cold look on her face.
With that, he let go of her and got out of the house. "Sara! Wait up!" he called out.
Sara was dancing happily by the front gate and when she saw her father, she laughed gaily and ran to him. "Papa!" she cheered happily. Lord Irine welcomed her with open arms, lifted her up and placed her upon his right shoulder. "Whee!" she cheered.
"My little Princess is growing up to be a big girl one day!" he said, feeling proud of his daughter as they walked away from the house and out into the streets. Everybody eyed them, especially Sara who was being carried.
Sara never really liked it when those people stared at her or her mother wherever they went in Fayon, but she knew she had to get used to those stares. Lord Irine told her not to mind those people who like to say bad things about her and her mother because those things are not true. "They're just jealous of you because you are a beautiful Princess, Sara." He told her.
Sara nodded. "Does this mean I'm going to marry a Prince?" she asked cheerfully with a blush.
Lord Irine laughed. "Not necessarily! That's old school! You can marry the boy you will fall in-love with as long as he doesn't look like a member of a rock band with all the black make-up!" he teased.
She pouted, "But Papa, that's the kind of boy I want to marry! Isn't that cool? I'll be the envy of all girls because he's a rock star! Yeah!" she said cheerfully.
"Well as long as you love him and he loves you and he doesn't plan on hurting my beautiful little Princess, Papa is okay with that." Lord Irine told her.
Sara giggled.
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After having a quick breakfast, they proceeded to a field to train. Lord Irine taught Sara some new magic and new ways to attack with the Haeryongdo and the Shinryongdo.
Lord Irine saw great potential in Sara but he knew that she still has a long way to go before she could become a professional warrior.
After training, Sara invited him to make flower rings. Since he did not know how to make one, she taught him. Lord Irine was happy being with his daughter. While making flower rings and seated in the field, he told her stories about his travels and the battles he and their ancestors had won.
Sara was just happy that she was with her father and she could spend the whole day with him before he could leave again that night. She wished the day would never end so that she could be with her beloved father forever.
Around past noontime, two high priests arrived together with a group of Palace warriors. Sara easily recognized them because they were always the ones seemingly guarding her father wherever he went.
"You're here, Lord Irine." One of the high priests said.
Sara lowered her gaze to the ground, pretending not to care about them. She began to pick some more flowers surrounding her. She knew those people never really liked her and her mother for a reason that she did not know.
Lord Irine was silent.
"It is time." The high priest said.
Lord Irine frowned. Sara sensed the sudden change of mood of his father but she just kept quiet. She watched as her father got up. "Sara, I have to run for a while. But I'll see you in your house for dinner." He told her.
Sara was just quiet. She bowed down her head. She looked sad.
Lord Irine knew his daughter was sad so he knelt down before her and got one of the flower rings and placed it on top of her head. "All hail Princess Sara of Fayon!" he cried out.
Sara smiled cheerfully at her father. "Teehee!" she giggled, blushing slightly.
Lord Irine gave her a loving hug. "I love you, my little Princess." He said softly, his eyes closed as if relishing the moment.
She embraced her father. "I love you too, Papa." She said softly.
With that, Lord Irine got up and got the Haeryongdo and the Shinryongdo. "I'll take this back to your house for you. I'll see you later, Sara." He told her.
She nodded. "Okay, Papa." She said. And she just sat still, watching Lord Irine leave with the other people from the palace who had come to fetch him. The two high priests gave her a cold stare and she just bowed down her head, avoiding their look. Her happiness got replaced by sudden misery. And suddenly she felt like the loneliest person on the planet. Sighing heavily, she just got up and continued to pick flowers while singing a tune that her mother used to sing to her when she was still very little whenever she would miss her father: "I love you forever; I like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." It was one of her favorite tunes too because her father used to sing that to her when he was still living with them until she turned four.
Around three in the afternoon, when she already felt tired and had the urge to go home, she gathered a bouquet for her mother and father, wanting to surprise them once she reaches home.
Little Sara Irine ran all the way back home. People still stared at her wondering why she always had that happy smile on her face while laughing all the way.
Once she arrived home, she called out to her parents, "Mama! Papa! Look what I got you!"
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"Sara, do you realize now? It has always been you that I love above all… Papa is so sorry! I have run out of time to make myself comprehensible to you."
Sara Irine flinched a little when she remembered her father telling her that after she had stabbed him with her Haeryongdo. But she just sat still upon reminiscing.
It was a cold evening but she was still out and about, trying to track down Chaos and his party. However, she had been unsuccessful because several thoughts about several things from her past seemed to be bothering her every now and then especially after she remembered that she spared her half-sister's life.
"It has always been you that I love above all…"
Sometimes she would think that maybe she should have let him lingered for a while enough for him to explain the injustice he had done to her and her mother twelve years ago. But that Cursed Prosecutor had to arrive to help speed up his death.
But wait. Did not her father wield her away from Skurai's path so that he could be the one impaled by Talatsu?
She recalled the days when she was still happy with her father as she walked over to a stream near the forests of Geffen and looked at her reflection on the water being illuminated by the full moon above. She knelt down by the stream to take a closer look at her face. Her father used to tell her how beautiful she is and that she is his Princess.
"But everything's different now…" she muttered.
Still she could not help but reminisce on the past. And she felt sad again. She observed the sad and miserable look on her face. What has become of her in those 12 years of planning her vengeance against those who had done severe damages to her life?
She recalled that as a child, all she ever wanted was to be with her father and have him around her and her mother all the time… and the three of them can live peacefully and even without all the luxuries in the world, they'd still be happy. And then everything was taken away from her by one fatal incident.
"Sara, I always want to see you smiling and laughing."
"Why?"
"Because it makes me happy to see you happy, my little Princess."
She bit her lower lip. "Papa…" she thought sadly as she touched the water to distort her reflection as she sang softly, "I love you forever; I like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be…"
She smiled bitterly as tears fell from her eyes.
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The end…