Author's Note:

Hello guys, been a while. Too long honestly. Now while I really wanted to make this one big chapter, for reasons I've explained in my profiled page (I won't repeat here because it will take too much space but read it if you want more of an explanation), I haven't and had to cut it much short than intended but worry not, I plan to give it my all to provide you with the best chapter I am capable of writing as soon as I can write it.

That's all for now,

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 23: -

You don't need Superpowers,

to become a Superman.

In every fairy tale, there is a good side and a bad.

The Hero and the Monster.

In our minds, we always like to imagine ourselves as the hero,

The one who saves the world.

But then who is left to play the monster?

There need to be two to enact the tale.

Sometimes you don't get to choose who you'll be.

There are things, when broken, that can never be put back together,

No matter how much you wish otherwise.

That night, my world shattered.

And it was when I understood. What Ddraig said was no lie.

Every life is a story, a tale to be told.

And in the story of my life,

The monster is me.

What was a hero?

No, perhaps the better question is: what makes a 'Hero' a hero?

Was it their powers? Their super strength? Their magic or fighting skills? Was that what made a true hero?

Or perhaps it was their appearance. Did a cape and costume make a person more heroic than one in plain clothing?

Or maybe it was something more philosophical, like Good overcoming Evil. But if that were the case then what should happen if 'Good' were to lose? Did that mean they would no longer be considered a hero? Were heroes just the winners, or was it something else completely?

It could just be that the hero was the one who killed the monster, a knight who slew the Dragon, the saint who brought down the Devil. Was that all there was to it? To become a hero, did I have to kill?

Was that what it meant to be a hero? Killer by a different name?

I didn't think so.

Archer probably wouldn't have agreed. He'd have said that a hero was nothing more than a fool. Bitter with resentment over his broken ideals, he would claim that a hero were nothing more than a sacrifice, or perhaps even humanity's butcher – he who kills the few so that the many do not suffer.

Kiritsugu, not the man who was my father but the man he was before the fire, was similar. He would have believed that a hero's duty was to save lives, no matter the cost. To kill the few to protect the many. That the end justified the means, even if it meant committing a lesser evil to prevent a greater one

To them, that was what a 'Hero' was.

Me?

I didn't believe either of these things.

To me, I think that a hero is someone who saves.

Not just a life, but to save someone so completely that they make their life worth living again.

Killing had nothing to do with it.

Neither did violence or super powers or anything else of the sort. A hero needs to be able to do one thing, and one thing only, to be called a 'Hero'.

To Save.

To me, that was what it meant be a hero.

Nothing else.

That was what I wanted to become.

That is what I will become. The one who saves.

Everyone.

"Ddraig, the killer of millions, proved himself to be exactly that." Karasuba stalked closer to deliver another strike. "A monster."

Putting all her weight behind the blow, Karasuba spun as she swung her sword at me while I danced back, skipping out of her reach.

"I…" What was I supposed to say to that? "You were only nine."

"You think Ddraig cared?" Karasuba asked with a perversely pleased smirk at the reaction her tale seemed to invoke. "About me? About a single child's happiness when the lives of millions failed to stir his heart? Did you think that the thousand years he spent imprisoned in the Boosted Gear would leave him feeling more sympathetic to the suffering of others rather than bitterly resentful over his captivity? If anything, time has only made him more cruel."

"But-" I was cut off as Karasuba made another attempt on my life, and I was partially grateful for the interruption because I couldn't think of anything to say.

Three strikes followed in quick succession, each meant to take my life. I barely noticed as my blades rose to bat them aside in pure reflex, my mind completely indifferent to the exchange. I couldn't bring myself to care about this fight any longer, whatever interest I may have had in it long gone.

How? That was what I wanted to ask. How was Ddraig able to exert so much influence on his host? But I quickly realised that it didn't matter. No matter what the reason was, it didn't change the reality we were faced with, that through the Boosted Gear Ddraig was capable of manipulating the mind of its wielder.

Was that why the wielders of both the Boosted Gear and the Divine Dividing had always been driven to kill each other? Even though the wielders were complete strangers, they always attempted to slay each other when they laid eyes on one another. Had they inherited that hatred through the link to the Dragons that dwelt within them? Was that the reason why, even after a thousand years, after having their souls ripped from their flesh and sealed away, the Red Dragon and the White Dragon still sought to kill each other?

Sparks erupted as our blades flashed between us, her attacks never stopping. Not even when she told me her tale had Karasuba let any opportunity to kill me pass her by, relentlessly swinging her nodachi with all her might every time she saw an opening.

I allowed her to press her attack while I tried to think of what to do but I couldn't, my head too filled with images of a broken little girl to be able to form a coherent thought. My mind easily provided me with the images of a nine year old girl, after being forced to watch as her own father was mutilated, fled to the streets, condemning her to a life of-

"Ouch!" Karasuba hissed in pain, pulling her head away from her mother to glare sullenly up at her. "Mom, that stings."

"Oh, stop your whining, you big baby." Aiko brushed her daughter's complaints aside and gripped Karasuba firmly by the chin, holding her in place as she continued to treat her wound.

Karasuba scowled in indignation at her treatment but obeyed, enduring her mother's ministrations while sulking in her seat like a petulant child.

-wait.

WAIT!

The air left my lungs as the revelation of what must have happened dawned on me, leaving me breathless.

"You were saved."

Without realising it the words slip past my lip. I hadn't said them loudly - they had barely been more than a whisper - but there must have been something in my voice because it actually caused Karasuba to hesitate. She paused half-way through a strike, her blade hanging in mid-air between us while she sent me a peculiar look and raised an eyebrow in question.

I felt a smile tugging on my lips that I had trouble keeping down before I decided 'To Hell with it' and stopped fighting it, allowing the smile to fully bloom to life.

"You," I pronounced as I pointed at her with Kanshou, "were saved."

Driven from her family and all she knew, Karasuba had fled to the streets as a child, knowing that she could never return. Not after what had happened. After that night, there was no place left for her to call home.

But the reality before me contraindicated this.

Karasuba still had a home, a place to return to. She still had a family.

Just this morning, no more than a handful of hours ago, she had been sitting in the kitchen of her house, grumbling half-heartedly as she allowed her mother to worriedly fuss over her while her father watched on with fond amusement. It was a scene of a small and happy family enjoying each other's company – a scene that should have no longer been impossible. Not after what Ddraig had done.

Not unless she had been saved.

How else could she have returned to her home and still laughed so openly with her parents beside her after what had happened? What other reason could there have been for her to still be able to smile so freely unless-

It was like sunlight falling on my face, the warmth of it touching my soul.

Karasuba had already been saved.

Once, when I had expected to die, I called out for help even when I had been expecting none. On the day of the fire, surrounded by the charred corpses of the fallen, I stretched my hand out to the sky, hoping for someone to reach back to me. And to my complete surprise, somebody did.

Just as I had been saved from the fire, she too had been saved. Just as Kiritsugu had reached out for my hand that day, someone must have surely reached for hers.

As if confirming my suspicions, a smile bloomed on Karasuba's face. It wasn't the mocking one she usually wore, or even the hungry smirk that adorned her face at the prospect of battle. Instead, this was an honest thing, one that came from the heart, surprising me by how well it seemed to fit on her face.

"Yeah," she nodded firmly, "I was."

And wasn't that something?

"Who?" I asked, still unable to stop smiling. Was it the sage Sun Wukong? He should have had the power to pacify Ddraig, or could it have been-

"Who else?" Karasuba snorted and shook her head, fondness colouring her voice. "As if those two idiots would leave ever me alone."

"Your parents," I concluded.

Karasuba huffed out a light laugh and shook her head again. "After all that, you'd think that they'd know to leave well enough alone, but," she looked down to one side, sounding oddly shy though pleased as she almost-whispered, "they still came for me."

Footsteps rippled across streets sleek with rain, distorting the images of the darkened sky as the final drops of the dying rain fell.

Night had long fallen on the city, leaving its roads empty save for the late-night workers who rushed to their homes, trying to remain as short a time as possible on the streets. Though it was no sprawling metropolis, even a tiny city like Kuoh had its share of criminals that came out after the sun had long set and the line between late night and early morning began to blur.

The city at night was a dangerous place for anyone to wander alone.

But that night, something new roamed among the usual danger.

A child.

She walked through the seedy alleyway, carrying a steel pipe that was almost as tall as she was, dragging it on the ground behind her so that its bottom end cut through the water that puddled on the ground. She was a mess. Pyjamas soiled from the weeks she had spent on the streets, brown hair falling around her face in stringy clumps, cheeks smudged with grime and gaunt with hunger. All signs of a child that had been left, abandoned, to fend for themselves.

To any of the denizens of the streets, such a sight would have been like blood in the water and brought them all flocking. A child wandering the alone streets at night would have spelled one thing to them: victim. Weak, defenceless – Prey.

They learned their mistake soon enough.

It took only a single night for the usual gang-bangers to learn to stay away. The first group that tried to corner her in an abandoned building was left as nothing more than smears on a wall. The second group that tried shared a similar fate.

After that most knew well enough to stay away. It was not the first time something not quite human had wandered onto their streets, and it wouldn't be the last. Those who had lived long enough to learn the signs knew well enough to leave her alone. Or at least those wise enough did; those that didn't all ended up sharing the same fate.

The girl dragged her pipe through the alley, ignoring the way the few huddled forms lying on the ground – beggars – pressed themselves further against the wall as she passed, hoping not to draw her attention. She didn't even notice the smell from their unwashed bodies any more; her own state wasn't any better. And if she had spared them any thought, she wouldn't have looked down on them for their apparent cowardice. It was only natural for the weak to avoid the strong. They understood the way the world really worked and knew how dangerous these streets could be at night, from both the common criminals and those of the less mundane sort. All they could do to survive was look away and hope they would not get noticed.

And still, knowing the dangers, they came.

It was the laughter that first drew her attention.

Brown eyes flicked to one side, a hint of disdain gleaming in them as she caught sight of the teens crowding one corner, a hazy cloud of smoke drifting over their heads. Obnoxious laughter bubbled from their direction, causing her to snort and turn away to carry on walking in another direction. She had no interest in involving herself with them.

It was the pleading, however, that caused her to freeze in place.

The girl stood rooted to ground, so overcome by shock that she found herself unable to move as she reconsigned the voice. Slowly, almost mechanically, Karasuba turned to look at the source of the voice, eyes widening with disbelief as she caught sight of her.

The frazzled-looking middle-aged woman stood before the group of teens, her brown hair unkempt and eyes ringed with shadows as she desperately pleaded with them, even as they barely seemed to react to her presence – either too stoned or too indifferent to care. But still she continued to plead, holding up a picture to their faces and asking something of them.

Even from here Karasuba could recognise the picture of herself.

The surreality of what she was seeing kept her rooted in place, her mind unable to comprehend what was happening. She could not even begin to guess why she was here or what she would be doing in such a place. She could do nothing but stare as Aiko – her mother – continued to fruitlessly beg for help. So there Karasuba remained, staring, unable to think of doing anything else.

Only when her mother, whom she had never seen look so tired before, turned to look away only to suddenly freeze did her mind began to work again.

It was almost shocking to watch, how the exhaustion that her mother appeared to carry like a physical weight seemed to disappear at the sight of her, her back straightening up from her slump and life seeming to rekindle in Aiko's eyes. She was too far to properly hear, but Karasuba could have sworn that as she stretched a hand out towards her, her mother called her name.

Why? What was she doing here?

The sheer impossibly of what she was seeing left her feeling so overwhelmed that Karasuba could only think of doing one thing.

She ran.

Without looking back, she turned and ran. Dropping the pipe in her haste to get away, Karasuba sprinted in the opposite direction from her mother, not responding even as her desperate pleas to stop followed after.

Dashing out of one alley and into another, Karasuba didn't bother glancing back to check if she was being followed as she ran for all her worth. Without a destination in mind, she navigated through the confusing maze that was the back-streets of the city without direction, only hoping to put as much distance between them as she could. She didn't even slow when she ran into dead ends, rather she just put on another burst of speed and leapt up the chain-link fences or brick walls and climbed over to the other side before dropping down to continue running.

It would be a long time before she stopped.

It was in a completely unfamiliar area of the city, another alleyway that ended in a dead-end, that Karasuba reached her limits and her feet began to slow as exhaustion began to take its toll. She wasn't sure for how long she had been running or even where she was, only that by time she finished drifting to a halt she was left completely out of breath.

Panting, Karasuba slumped over as she gasped for air, one hand propping herself up by her knee while the other held on to a wall for balance. Sweat dripped off her face, sliding from her forehead and off her nose as she took deep lungfuls of air, trying to regain her breath.

"There you are."

Karasuba almost jumped at the voice, her head snapping up towards the entrance to the alley where a figure stood blocking the path.

"Man, I must be getting old if you can outrun me." The voice sounded cheerful, if slightly out of breath. "I don't remember you being so fast. It wasn't too long ago when I could run circles around you without even trying, but now I can barely keep up."

Karasuba couldn't say a thing in reply and just stared up at the man, her brown eyes gleaming in the darkness as if wet when she looked him over.

"…Dad?"

Like her mother, he too looked tired, but more than that what surprised her the most was how normal he appeared, as if the events of the last few weeks had been just a bad dream. He might have been a little thinner, his cheek bones more pronounced on his face, and there were more shadows under his eyes than she remembered, but other than that he looked the same. Exactly the same as he always did.

His hair was in its usual bird's nest of a mess. She knew he rarely gave more than a token effort at brushing it, and he was still wearing the same stupid white shirt and blue tie that he always seemed to wear to work. The top button was undone and the tie hung loose like it always was when he lounged around the house. If it wasn't for the sweat dotting his face, she could almost have made herself believe that she had caught him early in the morning, preparing for work.

And most importantly, he still had his smile. That same easy-going smile he always seemed to wear never faltered as he watched her with warm, familiar eyes.

Her mother always said she had her father's smile.

And just like that, it was almost like she was home again. If things were only slightly different, she could almost pretend that everything that had happened was just a dream, nothing but a long nightmare.

Almost.

Her eyes dropped from his face to his left side, where they lingered on the sleeve that hung listlessly by his side. The sleeve that his left arm was supposed to fill.

The left arm that was gone.

And just like that, she was back in the nightmare again, standing in a damp, litter-filled alley.

Her gaze lingered on his empty sleeve a moment longer before it rose to his face. After a time, Karasuba managed to swallow and, her chin trembling, voice quivering, she said, "...Daddy?"

"My, its been a while since I heard you call me that." Eyes crinkling with amusement, Ichirou shot his daughter a fond look before he began to step closer to her. "I thought you said you were too old to call me by that name any more."

Karasuba almost seemed to flush under her dirt-smudged cheeks but they almost immediately paled as she saw her father approaching. "Stay back!" she yelled out, scrambling back, trying to put as much distance between them as she could.

But her father didn't listen.

"No, I think not." Never taking his eyes off of her, Ichirou steadily closed the distance to the girl, his smile still light. "You've been away for far too long, Kara. It's time for you to come home."

"No! You don't understand, you need to stay away!" Karasuba kept backing away even as her father continued to stubbornly approach. When her back hit a wall a moment later, she glanced around in startled confusion as she found that she had retreated all the way to the end of the alley.

Unadulterated fear flooded her face as she realised her situation. "No! Don't come any closer, or I'll hurt you again!" Despite her words it was she who backed away, literally pushing herself into the wall in an attempt to get as far away as she could as if she were the one in danger.

Her father, however, calmly continued his approach, pace relaxed and steady, a stark contrast to Karasuba's growing panic as she continued to push her back into the wall, her feet skidding on the slick ground as they fought for traction. Like a cornered animal, her eyes wildly darting from side to side, she looked for a way to escape only to find herself surrounded by high grey walls with the only exit past her father.

Her head snapped back up in horror to discover that said father had almost completely bridged the gap to her, leaving barely a scant few meters between them. Her eyes quickly dropped to her left arm, watching it with obvious fear as if she was expecting it to grow fangs at any second and bite her, before she quickly scrambled to fold her arm behind her back, physically imposing her body between the appendage and her father, desperately trying to keep it as far away from him as she could.

"Please," Karasuba's eyes were filled with tears of terror as she pleaded with the man, "please, just stop, Dad. I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"And you think you can do that by running away from me? From your home?" He quirked an eyebrow, his tone lightly reproachful, but even then it held no real heat. He just shook his head before he carried on speaking, still smiling at her. "For someone trying not to hurt me, you really have an odd way of going about it."

Just when Karasuba was certain that her heart would leap out of her chest when her father became almost close enough to touch, he suddenly stopped.

Exactly two yards away.

Putting just out of her reach, he stood there patiently. Even if she stretched out her hand she wouldn't be able to touch him, and at that realisation Karasuba released a shaky breath, almost trembling with relief as she slumped against the wall. Then, drawing a deep breath in, she gathered herself up and looked up to her father.

She couldn't understand how he could still smile at her like that.

How after everything that had happened, after everything she had done, he could still smile at her in that way – just like he always had. As if nothing had changed between the two.

Then he did something even more incomprehensible.

He held out his hand.

Without the slightest hesitation, Hyoudou Ichirou lifted his right arm and offered his last remaining hand to his daughter.

Drip

A raindrop fell from the dark sky, splashing onto her face, but Karasuba couldn't even blink as she stared, wide-eyed, at the offered hand. The drop of water slowly slid down her cheek and to her chin, before dripping off onto the soaked ground. More raindrops began to follow as a light shower that could barely be felt began, sending tiny ripples running through the water pooling on the ground.

Two yards, that was the space that separated the father and daughter. A distance that was too wide for one to span, but close enough that if they both reached out to touch the other it was possible.

Two yards – a distance that only one hand could never bridge. It needed two.

"Let's go home." Ichirou said to his daughter. His brown eyes, though narrowed, still seemed to convey his sincerity.

Karasuba stared up at her father, not able to fully believe what was happening, before she hesitantly looked down at the offered hand. She watched it for a moment before shaking her head, sending her damp hair swaying.

"No." Heart in her throat, her voice came out strained, barely more than a whisper. "That's not possible anymore."

"And why is that?" Her father asked calmly, not moving an inch, still holding his hand out to her.

"What do you mean, 'why?'" She asked incredulously, almost gaping at the man. "Why?!" She repeated, her voice rising as she nodded to his missing arm. "That's fucking why! What do you think happened to your arm? Who do you think did that to you? Huh? Me, that's who! If it wasn't for me you-"

"So what?" The rest of her rant was cut off by Ichirou, who had been left completely unmoved by his daughter's words.

"So what?" Karasuba mimed, almost unable to believe what she was hearing before she huffed out a laugh. "So what? SO WHAT?! I'm a fucking monster, that's what!" She spat, snarling up at the man.

"Again," Ichirou interrupted her calmly, still smiling down at his daughter. "So what? What reason is that for you not to come home?"

"Are...are you fucking insane?" Karasuba asked, looking as if she was unsure whether she wanted to laugh or cry at her father's bullheadedness.

She choose to do neither. Instead, she got angry.

Hardening her expression, Karasuba rose up to her full height and glared up at him. "What part of 'I'm a fucking monster' do you have trouble understanding? You don't seem to be getting this, so let me make it perfectly clear." She locked her eyes with his, matching his warmth with her fire. "I-Am-A-Monster," she proclaimed, pronouncing each word separately, "a man-eating, fire-breathing Dragon. And Dragons are-" The rest of her words seemed to lodge in her throat, her voicing failing her as Karasuba bit back a sob.

The pitter-patter of raindrops grew, rising in intensity as water fell from the sky. The sound steadily built up until nothing else could be heard inside the alley but the splashing of water. It was as if the rain had cut the father and daughter off from the rest off the world, leaving them alone.

Karasuba managed to force back her emotions and turned her face upwards, letting the rain wash the start of tears off her face. Clenching the hand she still held folded behind her back in resolve, she steeled herself for what she had to do and spoke again, but there was no heat in her voice anymore. Whatever fire she had in her had been extinguished as if by the rain, leaving her sounding tired.

"Dragons are dangerous, Dad. To everything. Nothing can survive being around them – us for long. It's why we have always been alone and why we always will be. Not because we choose to be but because everything that tries to stay near us just dies. And I..." Karasuba tried to force a quivering smile for her father but couldn't quite make it "...am a Dragon. And nothing is going to change that. No matter how much I wish things to be otherwise." She shrugged. "Just give it up, Dad. There is no other way. We are born into this world, and we die alone. That's just how things work."

Karasuba wiped her face with the sleeve of her right arm before raising her head to look wistfully up at the man. "Do you get it, Dad? Now leave. Just go away. Please. For me?"

Not waiting for his reply, Karasuba tilted her head upwards to look into the cloudy sky. Raindrops fell onto her face, stinging her eyes, but she still forced herself to keep looking upwards as she waited for her father to leave, not wanting to see it happen.

She would have to keep waiting for a long time, for he did no such thing.

When she finally looked down to see her father still there, Karasuba felt genuine fury fill her.

"What are you still doing here? I told you to go away! I'm not coming home!" she snarled at him, baring her teeth. "Now get!"

But again, he did not move.

"What? What more could you possibly want?" she pleaded with him, feeling drained. "What do you want from me?"

He just said, "To come home."

"Don't you get it?" Frustrated, weary and fed up, Karasuba screamed up at him. "I can't stay with you! I can't ever come back! That's just how things are now! I'll always be alone-

"WHEN WERE YOU EVER ALONE?!"

Karasuba was shocked into silence as her father shouted. She absently noted that she would have been reflexively stepping away were it not for the wall at her back.

It might have been the first time she had ever heard him raise his voice.

"When have you ever been alone?" His eyes were intent as he started down at her, his usual smile nowhere in sight. His arm, which he had not lowered until now, dipped as he leaned toward her until his face was only couple of feet away from hers. "I'm asking you. When in your entire life have you ever been left alone?"

Karasuba was stunned into silence, too confused at the change that had come over her father to speak, and maybe a little frightened.

"'Born alone, die alone', what kind of nonsense is that? When have you ever been alone? When?" Ichirou's eyes bored into her own. "Was it as you were growing up? When you had us, your mother, Issei and even me? Haven't we always been there for you? From your very first steps to your first words, we were always there, right from the very beginning. Even when you were born your mother was there for you, with me right by her side. I held you in your very first minute of life, so don't you dare tell me I left you alone. Since you took your first breath in this world we have been with you the entire time, right there by your side.

"Even in the womb you were not alone! Even then you had your brother with you, right there by your side inside your mother. So tell me. When have you ever been alone?"

She felt as if the entire world had been turned on its end, the ground slipping from underneath her, leaving her unbalanced. Things that she had been so sure were true just a minute earlier were being brought into question, and whatever certainty she had held began crumbled at her father's words.

Her wits scattered, Karasuba gazed dumbly up at the man who sired her, unsure what to feel, before she managed to stutter a reply. "B-b-but Ddraig said that Dragons are born-"

"Dragons." Ichirou cut her off curtly, standing upright once more. "Not humans, not people, but Dragons. And while Dragons may be born alone, humans are not. You were not. Before you were born, you were inside of your mother's belly as she kept you safe, you along with your brother who even then was by your side. And even afterwards, when you were born I was there, waiting by your mother's side. We were all there with you. And we never left."

The rain poured down stronger, soaking their clothes, leaving their hair clinging to their faces. Strangely, for all the cutting cold of the water, Karasuba felt warm.

"Its not just you." Ichirou continued, not at all bothered by the rain. "All of us are. There is no such thing as a human who came into this world alone, not without someone right there with them by their side. Not a single one of us has ever been born alone. A Dragon maybe born from an egg but, at least in the beginning, humans are never alone. The first sound we ever hear is the beating of our mothers' hearts. In our first moments in the world our mothers are right there with us. That cannot change. From the time we take our very first breath we have someone beside us. That is true for every one of us. There does not exist a human who was born entirely alone. And no matter what happens afterwards, whatever tragedy may follow, it can never change that when we first came into this world we had someone with us.

"Kara, don't you see?" Ichirou implored his daughter, trying to make her understand. "You have never been alone. Not once."

Rain continued to fall over their heads as they watched each, father and daughter, as one waited for the other to speak. An eternity seemed to pass before Karasuba opened her mouth.

"I…." she began, her voice raw with emotion. "...I..." she tried again, doing no better the second time. Once more she opened her mouth to speak, only to clench her eyes shut in resignation. "It doesn't matter." She shook her head and looked away. "None of it matters. No matter what you say, they're just pretty words. They won't change anything, not what I am. No matter how hard you try and pretty it up it doesn't change the fact that I'm a monster, that I'm a Dra-"

"My daughter." Karasuba's head snapped up at him, surprise etched into her face. Ichirou watched his daughter with unwavering eyes as his usual smile slowly slipped back into place.

"If you are a monster then that makes me no less of one, for that would make me the father of a monster. If you are a Dragon," a hint of humour tugged on his lips before he carried on, "then I will be the Father of Dragons."

"You- *hiccup*" Karasuba, fighting to blink away the pinpricks of heat she felt in her eyes, resolve floundering, tried one last time to explain. "You don't understand."

"It is you who doesn't understand," Ichirou cut her off. "You are my daughter. Dragon, monster, Demon, none of that matters. It will not make a lick of difference. No matter what you are, nothing will change who are: Hyoudou Karasuba, my one and only daughter. Do you remember what I told you?" Seeing the questioning look his daughter sent him Ichirou clarified. "Why our family names come before our own names.

Comprehension soon washed away the confusion. "…Because family comes first."

"That's right." Ichirou nodded in satisfaction. "Family comes first. Always. Which is why if Hyoudou Karasuba has become a 'Dragon', well," he shrugged, "so be it. The father of Dragons I will be."

"Why?" Karasuba whispered, this time not even trying to fight the tears. "Why don't you hate me?"

A Smile. "What kind of father would I be if I could hate my daughter?"

"But your arm-"

"Is only an arm," He lifted his right hand and wiggled his fingers. "I have another one. But you? You're the only one of you I have. No matter how hard I look I will never find another Hyoudou Karasuba. There is only one. And if my arm is the price to keep you,-"

And again, without the slightest hesitation, Hyoudou Ichirou raised his arm and offered his last remaining hand to his daughter.

"-Then let the Dragon take it."

Fear bloomed on Karasuba's face and again she forced herself back against the wall. "Dad! What are you doing?

Ichirou ignored her and turned his focus from his daughter's face to the arm she was trying to hide behind her. "Oi! Dragon, are you listening? Do you want my arm? Here, go ahead and take it." Ichirou offered his arm as his smiled turned sharp, almost a barring of his teeth. "But I'm getting my daughter back."

Behind her back, the Boosted Gear surfaced over her left arm, coating her limb in a gauntlet of crimson scales and sharp claws.

"Dad don't! He really will-"

"A Father's arms," Ichirou cut her off, his gaze pinning her in place even as his smile turned gentle again "are made to hold his children – that is their sole purpose. If I can't do that, then I have no use for them. May as well let the Dragon take them both.

"But either way-"

And once again, like that night weeks ago, her father offered her his arm.

Lost and afraid in a dark corner of her closet, it was he who came for her. Cowering in fear, he held out his hand to her, offering a way back into the light. And now once again, in the dark streets of the city, he came for her, holding his still open hand towards her.

"-I'm taking you home."

Karasuba stared at the hand held before her face with something that could not be easily described. It was beyond simple wonder or disbelief. If there was a word to describe what that offered hand meant there, then it might have been -

Salvation.

Back then it had been his left arm. Today it was his right. Somehow she knew, that even if he should lose this arm like he had his last-

-He would regret none of it.

Ah, that's right. He was always like this, wasn't he? Her dad had always been this kind of person.

Biting her lips so hard that they almost bled, Karasuba stared at the offered hand a moment longer before she began to move. Tentatively, fingers trembling, her whole body shivering, she lifted her right hand from her side and raised it towards his.

I know. I know that this still changes nothing.

Two yards, a distance one cannot cross – it needed two. And slowly, as if afraid that his hand would disappear if she moved too quickly, Karasuba's hand began to bridge the rest of the distance to his.

I'm still a Dragon, and Dragons are always alone -

Her fingers brushed over his and she pulled back, hesitating.

– but people are not.

Then as if throwing herself at him, her hand leap the rest of the way and latched onto his.

So maybe, just maybe, even a monster like me doesn't have to be alone.

Her father's fingers slowly folded over her own as they slid into his hand. Tightly – gently – as if he'd never let her go again.

Tears pooled in Karasuba's eyes as she looked at their joined hands, not taking her sight off it even as her father pulled her to him. Allowing herself to fall onto him, Karasuba buried her face into her father's chest and, for the first time since she had run away from home, cried.

Warm. So very warm. When was the last time I felt this warmth? To think that I would be allowed to feel it again.

It felt as if it had been a long time since she had felt warm.

"-Sorry, I'm sorry." Karasuba could not remember when she had started speaking, buried in the warmth of her father, but by the time she realised it she was crying her eyes out in an endless stream of apologies as she rubbed her face into his chest. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Ichirou never said a word as he wrapped his single arm around his daughter, tucking her head beneath his chin. He didn't need to. They both knew he had already forgiven her long ago. Still, she apologised.

It rained – in the damp narrow alleyway, water fell from above their heads, as if the sky itself was crying alongside her.

"-Ichirou! Ichirou, where are you?" Vaguely, Karasuba recognised the sound of her mother's voice coming from the alley's entrance. "Ichirou, there you are. Did you fin– Oh, thank God you found her!"

Before she knew it, another set of arms were wrapped around her. "Thank goodness you're okay!" she heard her mother whisper into her ears as she sobbed in relief.

Karasuba cried even more.

Turns out, even monsters cry.

If so, then maybe, just maybe, even monsters could be allowed to have a happy ending.

Behind her back, held carefully out of the way, the Boosted Gear stirred. The emerald gem embedded in the crimson gauntlet blinked, almost as if in confusion.

*Chapter End*

Author's Note:

A couple of chapters ago, Ichirou said that it was determination that made men extraordinary. But it is courage, the will to do what is right when there nothing to gain and everything to lose, that make men Heroes.

What people forget is that when it comes to superheroes, it is not the 'super' part that's important, its the 'hero'.

You don't need super powers, to become a Superman.

I'll post the rest of my thoughts in the forum later tonight – don't want to take too much space – but I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks again for reading.