The Darkness in the Light

Epilogue

Carter Mills hadn't faced his daughter since the incident she'd caused at Council House, but he was about to change that now. It had been two weeks, and he knew that she'd be craving any information about her friend, even if he was the one that was there to share it. She may have hated him, but he'd seen that her capacity for love was greater than that for hatred. And he had news she needed to hear.

He found her wandering the tunnels, just walking. It was strange, how someone who had grown up in fear of the tunnels was now so comfortable just exploring their depths. She seemed at ease, at least until the darkness stirred and he appeared just ahead of her. He was sad to see the way she tensed up at the sight of him, her jaw setting in a determined line.

"What do you want now?" she asked, watching him warily.

"I don't want for anything. I'm here to give you something you might like," he said, studying her reaction. She just frowned, her brow lowering even further in confusion and annoyance.

"I don't want anything from you, actually."

"Very well. How's your mother?"

"Fine."

"And you, have you been well since I saw you last?"

"Yep, fine too."

"And how is the leader? Has he recovered well?"

"He's fine."

There was a moment of quiet, and he knew she thought he was trying to gain information, but he was just trying to delay her leaving. He'd spent so long watching her in silence, and now that she knew he existed, he didn't want to wait around in the shadows any longer. She sighed, and he knew that she was speaking to the leader, the other monster of darkness, through her thoughts. Fusing her mind with his. It had been a long time since he'd fused with anyone.

"What do you want? Yes, you're checking up on me now, but what about long term? You've had nothing to do with my life, so why has that changed now? My powers aren't like yours. I'm not your prodigy, and I'm your daughter by blood only. You didn't raise me, and you weren't even meant to know I existed. You left mum before I was even born. Yet here you are, showing up as if you've known all along. So what do you want with me, and why are you suddenly trying to get it now?"

He had paused to face her, regarding her with eyes that matched her own. She looked so much like her mother, he realised, yet he'd given her his eyes, and his powers. Though she was right; they weren't the same as his. The way they had mixed with her humanity, and perhaps the way she'd been raised far differently to him, they'd turned into these unique powers that he was proud of. A pride she would never know.

""I wasn't certain you were mine. I had suspicions, but I wasn't going to come back into your mother's life just to raise them. So I just watched occasionally out of curiosity. It wasn't until you came to the drains that it became evident that you were mine all along."

"I don't belong to you like some possession."

He studied her, knowing that she was smart enough to understand what he meant, and wondering if she saw him as possessive. He hadn't tried to be, but he knew he was in some ways. But she was right, she was no possession.

"You know I mean mine as in my flesh and blood. You are a monster of the drains now, little girl, you are freer than any human that wanders above. Freer perhaps than many a monster, too."

She didn't care for his words, though he knew they'd rung true. She wasn't naïve. She knew the corruption of the world above; she knew how she'd been caged before now. Yet that wasn't on her mind, it seemed. What trouble her was the role I was trying to play in her life now, and why her freedom changed my stance as her father.