Chapter Six

Please check out the amazing fanart that Celebrusc drew for this fic!

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Xxxxxx

Peesh was grateful that Arkillo had been allowed to stay. She was starting to understand why so many people seemed to find that amusing, but it didn't matter. She liked this place, despite the constant guards around Arkillo, it seemed friendly and pleasant. Getting used to the planet talking back was the hardest part, although at least she knew she was welcome.

What she didn't know, was why she was here. Although there was nothing for her on her home planet, she couldn't see that there was anything here, either. She had a feeling that something was going on, because she'd seen a few of the Green Lanterns giving her some strange looks, but what it was she had no idea.

Perhaps surprisingly, she wasn't afraid. Maybe it was Mogo, who seemed entirely unthreatening to her, or the way in which she'd been welcomed, but she didn't fear for her safety, or even her future, though it remained unknown.

The Green Lanterns seemed keen to make her comfortable. Soranik seemed happy to share her home and had made it clear that she could have whatever clothes she needed and as much as she wanted to eat.

She had visited the huge dining hall and had found, to her delight, that they had several Astonian dishes to offer her. She indulged willingly, thrilled to taste the foods she'd wanted for years. Yet when she asked where they'd got the recipes, she'd been brushed off, leaving her confused.

She tried not to dwell on it too much, trusting that answers would either come in time, or she would eventually find the courage to push the issue. Instead she concentrated on the feeling of being actually free again.

She'd lost track of how long the slavers had kept her, but it felt like years and she had been free days at most - it was still strange to sleep in a bed, eat when she was hungry and not be put to work. Not that she had minded the work, she had always been willing to work and to help - but the forced nature of it and the punishments still haunted her. She shifted, an old scar on her back twinging as she thought of it.

It was her hope that those memories would fade with the scars. That she could put them behind her, try to forget. It was different from losing her family - those were memories she wanted, cherished, no matter how much they hurt. Those scars she carried willingly inside her heart.

At least there didn't seem to be any rush. She had been told quite plainly that she was welcome here for as long as she liked. And it certainly seemed like a good place to start over. There were many races here, with many skills who could and would help her carve a path for herself when she was ready. For the first time in years the future actually looked bright and she hummed cheerfully as Mogo guided her along a winding path, to a place that he promised was truly beautiful.

She had no idea that it was the same place her father had come when he was heartsick - but Mogo, of course, did.

"It is beautiful here, Mogo." She smiled, feeling the grass beneath her bare feet.

"Thank you. I have been told it can ease the weary soul," the planet responded.

She nodded. "Yes... Yes, I can see that." Sitting down on a fallen log, she watched several treemunks run up and down the trees playfully. "I think I might just sit here for a while."

Xxxxxx

Saint Walker was not oblivious to the eyes that were on him as he and Kyle landed. He was the last to know, it seemed, and perhaps that should have bothered him, yet under the circumstances he couldn't bring himself to care.

He was going to see his daughter.

His world had been turned upside down since learning she was alive. In a way, it was a more dramatic change than when he had lost her, lost all of them. Grief, though terrible, was something that could be understood, coped with and eventually accepted. This - was something else entirely. This was joy, love, relief, guilt, fear, regret, hope, all rolled into one and he didn't know where to start making sense of it all.

How would she react to him? Would she accept that he had truly believed her dead? He had raised her to be forgiving but - and this, he supposed, was the biggest fear - she had been through so much. How much had she changed? Would she even be the daughter he remembered? Did it even matter?

"Bro'Dee? You in there?" Kyle broke through his thoughts. "Mogo says she's in the grove you like... And... Arkillo is over there."

"Oh!" Walker looked up to see Arkillo approach, flanked by half a dozen Green Lanterns. "Arkillo!" He shook his head. "There are no words to adequately express my gratitude but... Thank you. I am forever in your debt."

Arkillo snorted, still not one for sentiment. "You're hard to find, Saint Walker," he said. "Made it difficult."

"I know... I am sorry. I had no idea... Thank you for bringing her here." The conversation seemed surreal, for so long he'd only talked about her in the past tense, when he had talked about her at all.

"Well I wasn't gonna haul her around forever," Arkillo retorted and made to move away. "She's alright though," he added, before turning away.

Kyle grinned. "Did Arkillo just admit he likes her? I've heard it all now!"

"I do not believe anything can surprise me any more..." The Blue Lantern said, before calling out to Arkillo. "Arkillo... Walk with me? I would... Be glad of your company and I hear she... Will be reassured by your presence."

Arkillo growled and fixed Saint Walker with a look that would have terrified a lesser man. But Walker was unaffected. "I mean no offence," he replied, knowing that the very last thing a fear lantern wanted to be was reassuring. "However, these are exceptional circumstances."

There was no verbal answer from Arkillo, but to Walker's relief, he did start walking in the direction of the grove. Yet to his horror, the guard started to follow and he shot Kyle a pleading look.

"I think Walker can keep him in line," Kyle said, catching on and placing himself between the Green Lanterns and Arkillo. "Let him go. I'll straighten things out with Kilowog."

The Lanterns muttered, but stood back.

"I'll stay here... Good luck, Bro'Dee. Not that you need it. It will be fine."

The confidence from Kyle was reassuring, though not as much as he would have liked. "Yes... It will." Walker smiled at Kyle and then walked off with Arkillo, into the leafy forest that Mogo was so proud of. Before long they were out of sight of the Lantern headquarters, completely surrounded by the tall trees.

"You are afraid." Arkillo stated a moment later. "It radiates from you."

"Yes," Walker admitted. "Right now, I truly am. I am happy but... I do not know what to expect. I do not know what to say. I do not know how she will feel."

There was a rustle of leaves up ahead and Arkillo grinned. "You're about to find out."

Xxxxxxx

Peesh hadn't moved from the log. It was quiet here, with just the treemunks and birds for company, a peacefulness she hadn't experienced for a long time. It was almost a surprise to hear someone moving through the trees, but she jumped up when she heard Arkillo's voice and ran towards it, wondering who he was with. Maybe that nice White Lantern.

You are afraid." She heard Arkillo say. "It radiates from you."

And then, another voice.

"Yes. Right now, I truly am. I am happy but... I do not know what to expect. I do not know what to say. I do not know how she will feel."

She froze, stopping in her tracks. She knew that voice. Heard it nearly every night in her dreams. It was the voice that gave her strength in her darkest nights. And it was completely impossible to be hearing it now. She couldn't move, couldn't...

But the other could. A rustle of branches, heavy feet and light. Arkillo appeared and beside him...

The world spun, stopped making any sense. She couldn't see, hear, Arkillo. The trees fell silent, the treemunks vanished. There was only...

"Daddy?"

She stared, forgetting to breathe, not believing what she was seeing. It wasn't possible. It wasn't. He'd died, just like her grandfather, mother and brother. He'd saved their world and then he'd died. And then - he said her name.

The rush of memories was like a physical force, a thousand images of him calling her name assaulting her mind. It caused her to stumble, but her body didn't know if it should go forward or back.

Her legs wobbled - and then a strong hand caught her, guided her back to her feet.

She froze again, feeling the warm, gentle hand holding her arm. Solid. Not a dream or a delusion. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she breathed and looked. He wasn't fading away, wasn't leaving. The hand squeezed lightly.

"Peesh..."

"Daddy!"

It didn't even make the slightest bit of sense to her, but as she threw herself into his arms, it didn't matter. A miracle was a miracle and she lost all desire to know why. It was, that was good enough. She buried her face in his chest and let out a broken sob, clinging to her father as one sob led to another, until her whole body shook. As his warm, protective arms wrapped around her, she only cried harder.

He hadn't expected this. Had thought he'd have time to approach her, to try to calm both their nerves. But suddenly she was there, right in front him, everything he'd dared to hope for, alive and aware and here. "Peesh..." Just saying her name, calling her was indescribable. Wonderful. Terrifying.

He drank in the sight of her, slightly taller, slightly thinner. Older in a way she shouldn't have been. But alive. Whole. He realised that no matter what Kyle and Arkillo had told him, he hadn't really believed it until this moment. Despite all he'd seen and done, this seemed like a miracle too far, a gift too much.

When she stumbled he didn't think twice, reaching out to catch her arm. It was instinct, but he gasped when he made contact, somehow not expecting the rush of emotion that would come from the simple touch. He called her again, wanting to say her name over and over, just to convince himself that this was real, that he wasn't about to wake up.

And then she moved and he was holding her, really holding her, as he hadn't done in years. He put his arms around her and held her close, knowing he was crying as much as she was. It didn't matter, for they were tears of joy.

"Oh my child... I have missed you so..." She trembled in response and he stroked her back soothingly, just as he had when she'd been no more than a baby. At that moment, whatever she'd been through since the day she was swept away didn't matter. It would, just not yet. Now was for this moment, this perfect moment where nothing was too bad and everything could be overcome.

All would be well.

END CHAPTER SIX