The Wizard and the Void - Chapter Five

Author: Milady Dragon

Author's Note: Alright, my determination to post every day has already taken a hit...sorry about that.

Daisy Coulson had never thought of herself as a good actress, but she must have been if she'd been able to hide her plans from her own father.

Still, Dad had a lot on his mind, and not just this threat from Hydra. He might not have spoken of Clint Barton to her, but even Daisy could see that the Elf meant a lot to her Dad. She had to wonder what had happened between them, that he hadn't told Clint that he was still alive. It must have seemed important at the time, at least to him.

She remembered vividly being in that alley, on the day that Dad had found her. Daisy had been terrified by the screaming and burning going on around her, and had only a knife she'd managed to 'find' from a man who'd been just as afraid as she was. Daisy didn't like to remember the part where she'd been an accomplished pickpocket by age four, but getting the knife had been far too easy. She also didn't like to think she'd left someone defenseless when she'd acquired it.

That had been the third orphanage she'd run away from. None of them had understood her, and the strange things she could do from a very early age. One of the first memories she'd had was of making her only doll dance on its own. That had also been when she'd learned to keep that sort of thing hidden, because she'd been discovered by one of the other orphans and had gotten a beating for her trouble. After that, the child Daisy had been had been far more suspicious of anyone. It had been a hard lesson to learn, but she'd learned it well.

However, there'd been something different about the man who'd discovered her, hiding in that alley. That man had been just as scared as everyone else, and yet he hadn't ignored her in favor of running away from the battle. Daisy may have only been six, but she'd seen in him a kindred soul, someone who'd seen just as much bad as she had.

It hadn't taken much thought to reach out to him, to accept the man as her new father.

It had been a couple of years later, after her dragon had come to her and he'd made her special gauntlets, that Daisy had figured out that she was just as much a path of redemption to him, as he was to her. Both of them had had hard lives, and they were doing the best they could to change themselves for the better. Knowing that had made her love him even more than she had already. No one had ever been willing to do that for her sake

He'd even been completely honest with Mistress Pepper, when she'd chosen Daisy to be her Novice, although she hadn't found that out until far after the fact. Of course, she knew about his past, and what he'd done, but she'd never loved him any less for that. Uncle Nick had once taken her aside and explained to her, when she was old enough to understand, and Daisy hoped she'd never meet her grandparents, because she was likely to curse them for what they'd done to their own son. Although, there was a small part of her that was grateful that they'd been so terrible, because if they hadn't, she might never have met Dad. There were times she hated herself for that, but she usually got over it pretty quickly, pitying the people who hadn't been able to see past Dad's magic to the wonderful person underneath.

Her Dad had done so much for her, loved her so much, that Daisy wasn't simply going to sit on her hands and do nothing to help him.

She knew the entire story. There were secret passages in the Keep, and she'd explored them all. She hadn't needed spells to listen in on what John Garrett had said to Dad. Dad knew it, of course he did, but he hadn't stopped her. There wasn't a lot he hid from her, and what he did hide was usually for her own good.

Daisy didn't like when that happened, but she did understand why it did.

And yet, he was refusing to let her help. Dad didn't care that she'd eavesdropped on their private conversation. What he did care about was her putting herself in harms' way for him.

Well, that was too bad. There was no way he was going to keep her out of this.

Being given the opportunity to go and stay with Mistress Pepper had solidified the plan she'd been considering. She'd just have to convince her teaching Master that she'd prefer to stay at the school than at Ferrous Castle, which would be a bit of a stretch seeing as she'd never hidden her admiration of Baron Tony's workshop. However, she could plead needing to catch up on some basic spell writing, and Mistress Pepper knew it. She'd just gotten onto her about it the other day.

Daisy headed up to her room, keeping the door open because she didn't want anyone to think she was trying to be sneaky. She let Skye curl up on the bed, the dragon's conviction that Daisy was doing the right thing echoing in her mind as she reached for her rucksack, needing to pack some clothing for her time away from the Keep. She also needed to remember to take her school books and scrolls with her, because she didn't want anyone – well, Melinda – to have to bring them to her at school. That might blow her entire plan, since she didn't want anyone to notice if she was up to something.

Melinda would. The Steward was damned spooky in what she could ferret out.

It didn't take her long to get her things together; after all, she had a lot of ger stuff already in her dormitory room. Her school uniform stayed in its bag on the hangar, laid out on the bed next to her dragon familiar. Underwear, casual clothes, and toiletries went into the rucksack, which her Dad had bespelled to hold a bit more than it really should. He'd offered to teach her the magic behind the bag, once she had more school under her belt.

Daisy could also recall exactly when she discovered that her Dad's magic was different from hers. She'd been so bitterly disappointed that he wouldn't be able to be her teaching Master, simply because the 'flavor' of his magic was opposite hers. Honestly, Daisy hadn't noticed the difference until it had been pointed out to her; in her mind, this was just her Dad and he was wonderful. It didn't matter that his magic was 'dark' while hers was 'light'. Yes, he could still teach her certain magicks that all Wizards shared, but his were powered differently. Even before going to school, she'd been taught how to Ward her room and personal belongings, to move objects, to cast Protection and Stunning and a certain Obfuscation Charm that she wasn't supposed to know, but had come in handy when trying to sneak late-night snacks from the kitchens at school.

Once she'd gone to Wizard School, though, she'd come to see the difference first-hand. It had also been the first time she'd run into the prejudices that the older, more powerful, Wizards were trying to combat. Those first months she'd gotten into fights with both Greats and Cardinals, after they'd made disparaging remarks against Voids, taking each word personally because of how much she adored her father. After being called to the school twice, Dad had sat her down and had explained that she couldn't always use her power and her fists to make her point, and the best way to defeat the bullies was to turn their arguments back against them, to show them that all three branches of magic could get along.

That was when Daisy had begun to build up the core group of friends she had now.

It was those friends she was going to turn to now.

"Alright," Melinda's voice said from the open doorway, startling Daisy even though she'd expected someone to show up, "just what are you planning?"

Daisy whirled to face her. Of course, Melinda had worked it out. There wasn't a lot that got past Dad's Steward. "I'm planning on going back to school. There's no need to bother Mistress Pepper. I can look after myself, I'm not a little kid anymore." She put just enough teenage stroppiness into her voice, hoping to convince Melinda that she really wasn't up to anything.

Melinda didn't look impressed. She leaned against the door jamb, arms crossed, her usual resting face a little more severe than usual. "I know you have something up your sleeve."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Daisy had a feeling it wasn't going to work, but she had to try.

"I understand the need to help your father. Believe me, I do."

Daisy knew that. She knew that her Dad and Melinda were old friends, and that she'd given up her own mercenary career in order to come and run things at Shield Keep, bringing Andrew with her.

"There's nothing I want more than to go be the one to watch Phil's back," Melinda continued, "but I also know my place is here, to stay and protect the Keep if necessary. I'm willing to accept my role in events. You should, too."

The girl flopped down on the bed, disturbing Skye just enough for the dragon to grumble about it. "It's just…he's my Dad, and he's walking into danger and I can't do a thing about it!" Despite wanting nothing more than to put on an adult face, she couldn't help the tears that prickled her eyes.

Melinda sighed, the stern expression giving away to fondness. "I feel the same way. But, at least he's willing to take the Hawk with him. Clint will watch his back."

There had been something about Clint Barton that had had her trusting in his ability to do just that. "You mean," she had to tease, "there's something past the rampant sexual tension between them?"

"It really is that obvious."

Daisy laughed at the smirk on Melinda's face. "Was it like that? Before?"

"It was worse," Melinda sighed. "They're both oblivious idiots. I'm hoping that Clint gets past the idea that Phil didn't tell him about being alive, and they finally get their acts together."

"But, why didn't Dad say anything? I'm confused."

"He's never really explained, but I suspect it has to do with what happened to him when he faced down Loki. Something changed in him after that, and I think it has something to do with the fact that there isn't any sign of a scar, when I know for a fact the stabbing actually took place even if I didn't witness it."

Daisy had never seen her Dad shirtless before, because yuck, so she didn't know there wasn't a scar. "But…I remember the blood," she protested. It had been all over him, when he'd found her. She'd been a little freaked out about it, when she'd realized what that dried stuff on his tunic had been, plus the holes in the front and back…Daisy had always believed that he had to have been in that alley a while after it had occurred, because he'd seemed pretty much healed.

"None of us really know what happened," the Steward answered, "but, according to Nick, everyone involved had known that Phil had actually died. But he won't tell anyone what really happened, so we can't help him."

"And you think he'd been hiding away because of it?" This echoed Daisy's own thoughts on the matter, but to her it had more to do with the fact that he'd been an evil murdering dark Wizard and wanting to reform than how he'd actually been killed.

All Daisy knew was that her Dad wasn't a coward. And it didn't have anything to do with him volunteering to walk into a nest of vipers with just an Elven archer at his back. If anything, that made her so proud of him she could barely keep it inside.

But, it would explain why he'd been hiding out at the Keep for years. He'd been happy to be a semi-hermit, and not just because of his past as an evil Wizard. There'd always been something more, and this made so much sense she was surprised she hadn't thought of it herself.

Melinda didn't say anything. But then, she didn't have to. Daisy was seeing it, as well.

"Look," she capitulated, "I can't promise to keep out of things. I can promise to be careful. But Melinda…you can't ask me to step aside and let Dad just walk into danger. That's not me. He's my Dad, and I love him, and I want to take care of him the same way he took care of me." Not that she actually knew what she was going to do, yet.

She knew she was pleading, but she couldn't help it. Melinda couldn't honestly think she was going to just walk away! If she did, then she didn't know Daisy at all well!

Melinda, though, was nodding. "If your father finds out, he's going to ground you for the rest of your life."

Daisy grinned. "Well, he has to catch me first…"