Author's Note: Have some self-serving fix it fic of this scene. Of course, I love how it is in canon already, but I just wanted El to say something more and take a momento from him. I like to imagine Dr. Brenner having a pocket watch he allowed El to play with as a reward because she liked it.
Angstober 2023 Day 4: "I want to believe you."
Whumptober 2023 Day 9: "You're a liar."
Word Count: 300
Warnings: Canon Major Character Death
Isn't What It Seems
"I need you to understand… please…"
El grabbed her papa's hand and removed it from her cheek, curling her own around it instead. She listened to every single word he uttered out of his dying breaths, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction in providing him with the response he desperately sought out of her.
He wanted her to understand that everything she went through was to help her and protect her… The torture, punishments, disappointment in her refusal to perform… What about the others she was responsible for dying under the wrath of One's hand? Nothing he said could ever be trusted, even in his death.
"I want to believe you," she said slowly, "but you are a liar, and family does not lie."
El lowered his hand down to rest over his heart, taking care to not directly look at him in the process. She closed her eyes and swallowed down the lump in her throat, he did not deserve her tears. Lifting her head, she instead went to focus on her real family standing in the distance, giving them a weak smile before looking back at the man she once only knew as father.
Not wishing to touch him again, she focused on the silver chain that was clipped to his vest pocket and used her power to lift and unclip the pocket watch from his person, collecting it in her hand, El opened it to reveal the clock face still tick the seconds away.
"Goodbye, Papa."
She watched as the life was snuffed from his eyes, and she forced the watch to stop when the last labored breath was exhaled despite the onset migraine. She rose to her feet then and turned to walk back to her friends.
Her family.
