Farm-House, Somewhere in Lilla Bjärred

"Bella-Donna. My little Belle." Philip murmured eyes locked on her but stumbled as he moved forward but nearly stumbled as he stepped down and Martin realized why.

"Your leg." Philip looked at him

"Philip, are you sure?" The doctor, 'Margarite' questioned her gaze not wavering from them but seemingly focused on Belle with a look Martin couldn't figure out.

"It may have been 6 years but I know my daughter."

"Inside. I'll help her." They moved in then, Philip re-entering last as he hadn't wanted them to be slowed by him. His little girl hadn't responded at all to the sound of his voice and he worried what that could mean for her.

"It's alright Mr. Winther. She's just passed out." Ida tells him. It was strange to see her, them after so long. So many things had changed in the six years that had passed.

Flashback

"Winther, you're needed in Division 45's control room." Daniks told him.

"God damnit! What happened now?" He threw down the materials he was working with.

"I don't know! I heard Sten panicking on the phone and Andersen closed the video conference, something about getting to his family which doesn't make sense since he's working from home this week. I, I think something went wrong with the launch device."

"Shit. Shit shit shit!" Philip said. "I told them they needed we needed to perform more test on both the induction system and hydraulics because they were malfunctioning. Fuck, if anything went wrong in either of those it could be catastrophic for anyone in the lab! Get Margarite, she may be able to help anyone down there if the chemicals have mixed!"

"Winther! Winther, you don't understand. Sten and Andersen they authorized the launch." Daniks called from behind him and he stopped.

"What?" He turned to face him. "What did you just say? When?"

"I'm sorry, Winther. Maybe thirty minutes ago. Winther, we had to. It isn't our fault you weren't done on time."

"Call your family. Call your family and tell them, explain that you HAD to kill them because ensuring the safety of something like this, something that could kill them was less important than money!" He grabs his phone from his pocket and calls. "Pick up."

"Papa?" Her voice comes across and he can't help the sigh of relief that escapes him.

"Donna! Donna, you need to get home. You get home right now!" He begins.

Flashback Ends

"-a? Papa?" He looks over and there she is looking at him with those bright green eyes.

"Bella-Donna." He wipes at his eyes and then leans over to press a kiss to her forehead. "My little girl, my sweet girl. You found me."

"I've missed you, Papa." Tears slid down from the corners of her eyes and he wiped them away.

"I've missed you too, darling. So very much."

"Why didn't you come home?"

"I tried, darling. Please, if nothing else believe that. I tried so hard to get back to you. I've only been able to get back on my feet . . . or rather foot now."

Flashback

"We have half an hour at best before the rain comes, we won't get very far. It's 6.5 hours of driving on a good day to make it to Haslev. How am I supposed to make it to my daughter? I still can't get in touch with my nephew. What about your family? Your husband, kids?"

"He's not picking up."

"Keep trying. W-We'll stop in Bjärred first, get your family."

"But your girl?" Margarite looked at him from the backseat seat of his car, where she had hidden

"Bella-Donna's smart, she'll make it the night. I told her to stay inside, to not let herself get wet, or go near anyone who is." Philip kept his eyes forward as his hands tightly gripped the steering wheel while he waited for the light to change.

"Are you sure?" He nodded unable to speak as he thought of his daughter, alone in whatever was about to happen. "Thank you. God, you didn't even have to help me leave headquarters. You could have left me there and escaped on your own but you didn't. Thank you Philip, truly." The light changed and he turned onto the highway. Doing so was a mistake though, for as the car pulled onto E4 (European route 4) another was shifting between lanes far too quickly with sirens not far behind. He had just checked and begun pulling onto the highway when it shifted from the far side all the way across and collided into them, sending them into the guard rail and rolling down the grass hill scattering people and sending cars careening to a stop at the street nearby.

"ARGHHH!" He screamed in pain as he felt metal crush around the lower half of him. Metal tearing at his flesh. Broken glass cutting at his face.

"-lip? . . . Phi-p . . . pHiL-p . . . PHILIP!"

The next he woke he was in a hospital. The rain beating at the windows. Margarite sat nearby in a chair, her arm in a cast.

"You're awake" She rasped.

"Wh-What happened? Where are we?"

"Philip, you're awake."

"The rain." She looked at the door making sure it was still closed

"Lethal as expected. But worse. It's not just one rain, it's all. And animals they don't die but they carry and transmit it."

"Bella-Donna? Your family?"

"I-I don't know about your daughter. Communications fell within the first half hour. and complete radio silence within 24 hours." She dropped her head into her good hand. It was then he noticed the subtle shake of her shoulders.

"Your family?" Margarite can't help sobbing then.

"Officers managed to get through to my neighbor, they were outside when the rain came. Th-they're gone."

"We have to get out of here. I need to get to Bella-Donna." His heart was racing. He couldn't imagine the pain she was facing right now and it only made the reality of the situation that much worse. Thoughts of everything that could go wrong were racing through his mind. More so the wonder of if she made it to safety and the fear of if she hadn't. His breath was short.

"Philip, you can't." He leaned up groaning as he used his arms to push himself to sit upright and turned his body. "Philip, stop. Stop!" She rushed out of her seat as he removed the nasal cannula and put his feet down to stand only to feel himself collapsing. Margarite just managed to push him back in time so he was sat on the bed. He felt nauseous.

"Wh-what?" It was then he looked down and realized he was missing his leg. His chest felt tight as he stared at the empty space where his leg should be. His heart monitor was beeping erratically. He didn't even feel it as his upper body fell back. He only realized it as his eyes found the ceiling.

"Oh, God! Doctor! Philip hold on!" He could hear as Margarite shouted, her footsteps running and a door opening. "Help! We need a doctor!"

End of Flashback

"My leg had to be amputated on the spot. There was barely anything left of it below the knee. Said it was a miracle, I'd managed to hold on as long as I did."

"We made it to the hospital just before the rain began." Margarite chimed in then. "He suffered a mini heart attack. I think everything just got to him at once but he couldn't leave not and I wasn't going to leave him there alone." Bella-Donna held her father's hand tightly. "The hospital went under lock-down after it was quickly discovered that people could carry the infection before dying of it themselves. That is until the power went out. We stayed there maybe a week. Doctors, nurses, everyone was leaving. Though one doctor managed to give us medication for Philip before also leaving. It was difficult to get around. We always needed transport and your father try as hard as he might is not superman."

"Sounds like him." She gave a teary smile. "He might not be superman but Papa's always been my super dad." He chuckled at his daughter's words, tears filling his eyes. He hadn't been able to get rid of the fear that his daughter would think less of him if they ever reunited despite knowing she had never cared for other's appearances or disabilities.

"Super dad, eh?"

"I love you, Papa."

"I love you, darling. Now, rest." He used his cane and lifted himself up onto his prosthetic. He was still getting used to the damn thing after finally finishing it construction with materials Margarite had managed to salvage. "Martin, come along son." It was as they reached the far end of the room that he spoke again. "I can't thank you enough."

"Philip, I-I didn't do anything. She, Belle's the one that-" He stopped when the man who had become a father figure to him after the death of his own raised his hand.

"We both know my daughter is a bit more special than most. Tell me, Martin did that mean she didn't ever need anyone else at her side?" Philip looked over his shoulder at him. "My little girl is a gem and she can be just as hard in the head except when it comes to you . . . and that Andersen boy for some reason." He nodded his head toward where Bella-Donna was laughing at something Rasmus said. "She'd never say it but her biggest fear is to be alone. You not giving up, you going until you found her. I can't thank you enough for that."

"I want to marry her sir. Have for a long time. Belle, she's it for me." Philip stared at him, eyes giving nothing away to Martin.

"What of Rasmus? The way she looks at him, it's the same way she used to look at you. I doubt she knows it, at least right now, but she's falling in love with the boy. Yet, she still looks at you the way I looked at my Dahlia."

"I'm not going to say I'm fine with it, I'd be lying if I did but Belle and I talked about this a long time ago. It has to do with how special she is. She told me how she felt their was something missing, not between us but still something." Martin wasn't sure exactly how to explain the whole 'match' situation to him and he wasn't exactly sure Philip would want him to either. How exactly should he say that both him and Rasmus were needed so that her magic, the thing that allowed her to do so many wonderous things and something that was part of her, wouldn't end up killing her. That they balanced her because her magic was slowly filling them.

He'd noticed how he'd felt stronger, faster and he was pretty sure the same thing was happening to Rasmus only at a much quicker pace. He didn't know if it had to do with Rasmus finally being out of the bunker and the fresh air, him getting more exercise with their continuous moving about, the situation, or even a combination of it. Either way he wasn't going to be the one to tell Philip that he needed to sleep with his daughter on the regular (several times to the point he wasn't sure how he could still get it up half the time) or her magic would eventually overload her body, killing her if she didn't exhaust herself to the point of nearly passing out everyday. He loved Belle more than anything but he had to admit Rasmus could give her something he couldn't. He was more dominant when it came to their sex life but he

"I know you're not saying something but I get the feeling it's probably something I'll regret asking about so I'll leave it. Either way, my little girl is all I care about so if you . . .both make her happy I'm not going to be the one standing in the way of that. I'd be careful though. Simone has always been a little, . . . what's the word?"

"Obsessed?"

"No, well . . . let's just go with possessive. Yes, possessive of my daughter. Even when it came to family, like her cousins Jakob and Sarah."