Lockdown
When we came back to the Jungle Temple, Aquila and I decided to have a little spark to spark. I had originally come to take her home, but now it was something else, something deeper than that.
"Why did you just take off like that? If you wanted to know more, you could've just asked me" I told her.
"I knew you didn't know half the stuff I was bound to ask. So I went to Earth to ask some of mom's old friends about the past, and…I kinda met someone".
"Is this someone a someone I should know about?" I asked.
"Dad, not the point! Why? Why didn't you just tell me the truth in the beginning?".
It was definitely time to be honest. I couldn't hold back anything. Luckily we were alone.
"I didn't want you to feel different. No one knows better than me about being an outcast. If I told you then…it wouldn't have changed the facts".
"No" Aquila nodded in agreement, "It would've changed my perspective though".
"Would it have?" I asked. Geez, I was asking a ton of questions.
Aquila hugged me. "I'm so sorry for making you worry. I was thinking about going home, but then this came up. Dad…I wanna lead this planet. Beast morphs are dying, and I think I can lead them out of that. Something tells me that's what's going to happen. But it's just a feeling, so…".
"I missed you too, Kiddo. Your mother and I were worried sick. As were your brothers, your sister, even your future brother in law was".
Aquila smiled. "Isn't that him right there?" she asked.
She was pointing at Storm Caller, who was trying to negotiate a deal with Leobreaker. Like father, like son, I guess.
"Nah, that's Storm Caller, he's your future nephew".
"So he's Andy's right?".
"You know she hates that, right?".
"Yeah, but Andy's not here, is she?".
"Good point. I was sparked here you know. I lived with my mother here once. I made a promise to protect her, but in the end, it was the Phoenix herself who wound up protecting me. That reliquary was hers. She made it herself. She used it in rituals and such. She would teach me all about her craft…and I followed it for a while without knowing why".
"Some things you just can't forget, I guess".
"Yeah" I nodded in agreement.
I couldn't believe how distant we were. I knew one very important thing about being a parent: As the sparklings get older, they become less and less attached to their parents. I gazed at Aquila and saw a femme growing too fast. Much too fast. She was only fourteen. I hadn't wanted this for her, but the Quents had left me no options.
"You okay?" Aquila asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking".
"About what?".
"Many things…mostly about you".
"What about me?".
"Just…how distant we are. I mean, now I'm thinking I know barely anything about you".
"You know a lot about me. I'm your Birdie, how can you not know all about me?".
It felt kinda nice to hear her say that she was my Birdie. It was my nickname for her. Aquila then did something that she hadn't done since she was about five stellar cycles. She snuggled up real close to me, her face turned to my chest.
"I've been wanting to do this for such a long time, daddy. But I was afraid you'd think it was immature" she said.
"No, it's alright. It feels nice, actually. It makes me feel closer to you. I don't wanna lose you, Aquila. I always knew there was something about you that I knew I was gonna put you high above your siblings for. I think this was it".
"Shut up and snuggle with me, daddy".
I heard her cry a little. She had all this emotion tucked up. It was kinda sad actually. I knew Aquila was usually unshakable, but now this was how I knew that something happened that really changed her. I held her closer as if I was afraid to let her go. I was scared that she'd disappear again, and I'd never find her. We both fell into recharge like that. Just holding on to each other…not sure what was going to happen. But we knew nothing could set us apart anymore.
A/N: Wow, lots of Out of Character ness in this. I just wanna get this fic over with, but I have so many ideas for it. Oh, someone asked if I was ever going to make a crossover. To answer that, yeah, I do kinda have one planned. If you wanna check it out, you gotta read my file though. See ya!