Daughter of the Hero

Chapter 4; Redecorating

Malco

I watched as Lilian and Jerard took the paint rollers out of their plastic wrapping. It was finally time to paint Illia's room. She had chosen purple, so we had gotten purple paint yesterday when we went grocery shopping.

"Coco, can I help paint?" Illia asked.

Coco was what she had started calling me because she couldn't say my full name. I thought it was the cutest thing in the world.

"Of course, you can," I told her. Her face lit up with excitement.

It was nice to see her finally starting to open up. Around Lilian and me, she was a bright, happy girl. Sure, sometimes her eyes were still haunted, but most of the time she was a joy to be around.

But when Cyprus was around, she became a lot more reserved and quiet, as if she knew that Cyprus didn't like her or want her here. It made my heart clench.

Illia bounced over to Lilian and pulled on her pants leg. Lilian looked down at her, smiling. It warmed my heart to see the clear adoration in Lilian's eyes whenever she looked at Illia. At least someone loved her.

It was clear her father didn't.

I watched as Lilian handed Illia a paintbrush. Holding it between two hands, she dipped it into the paint and, with a giggle, started painting purple streaks across her bedroom wall.

It was sweet to watch. The way the two of them—Lilian and Illia—were interacting and laughing as their painted the walls. Illia turned to Lilian and swiped a streak across her face.

"Oh, you little—" Lilian laughed, taking the roller and painting a long streak across Illia's hands.

The child giggled and the sound was like music to my ears. I loved her laughter. It was so pure and sweet, and it made me feel like less of a villain, knowing I had been the one to make it so that she could even laugh.

I took the roller from Jerard and let him do his own thing. I know he values his alone time, so I gave it to him as much as possible. Besides, he had used his wind powers a lot today, and he needed to rest.

He gave me a grateful look as he left the room. Now, just us three, we painted the walls together. It was a fun experience, and I knew that it was these moments that the child would remember. I wanted to replace every bad memory with a good one.

When we were finally finished, I took one look at a paint-covered Illia and said, "Okay, shower time."

"Shower?" Illia raised a tiny brow. "I take baths."

"Bathtime then," I laughed. She was such a bossy little thing. It was nice to see her true personality poking its head out through the cloud of pain.

"I'll show her to the bathroom," Lilian offered.

"Thanks, Lily." I needed to take a shower myself, as I had specks of paint all over my body.

I watched fondly as Lilian took Illia's hand and led her out of the room. I looked around at our handiwork, making a few extra paint strokes before leaving to take my shower.

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I walked through the furniture store, following Illia around. She was bouncing from aisle to aisle, looking at all the purple, pink, and blue child's furniture and laughing at the wonky chair that sat in aisle 3.

"This looks silly," She said to me.

I nodded. "It does. Do you want it?"

Her nose wrinkled. "No. It's ugly."

I laughed. "It's not ugly, Illia. It's just different."

She frowned. "Isn't different ugly?"

"No," I shook my head, "Not always."

"Oh," she said. she tilted her head, looking at the chair. Then, she nodded. "Yes, I want it."

"Then let's get it," I said. She looked at me with shining eyes. "Illia, what's wrong, sweetheart?"

She started crying. "Daddy never lets me get anything."

I picked her up, rocking her gently. Her tiny fists squeezed at my shirt. "Oh, sweetheart. It's alright. You can get anything you want."

Because of our bank heist a few days ago, we had the money to get her anything she wanted. So, I would spare no expense.

she pulled back to look me in the eyes. "Really?"

"Yes," I said. She wriggled in my arms, and I set her down.

She went scampering off into the store, and I had to hurry after her.

We were in Ethica, which was the only reason that I wasn't afraid that we might run into her father. I would only ever take her here, to this town, where there wasn't the danger of seeing her father. At least until she got a bit older and didn't have the fear of him that she clearly had now.

We went around the store, and she ended up wanting a dresser covered in butterflies, that wonky-looking chair, and a few other things. Colorful bedsheets, a tapestry that had fairies on it, and an adorable dinosaur stuffie.

Finally, we had everything we needed. I paid for the items and walked out of the store with Illia following closely behind me.

Pulling out my phone, I called Jerard.

"We're ready," I said into the phone.

He came a few minutes later, and we were swept off into the clouds. Illia, it turned out, loved flying. She wanted to fly all the time, everywhere, ever since her first flight. It was all she talked about.

Jerard, I could tell, was starting to grow fond of the child. He would let her ask him to take her for a flight, and they would be gone for hours flying over the towns and the forest. Honestly, it was adorable to see him starting to love her.

Every time they were gone, anxiety churned in my belly. What if this was the time they didn't make it back? What if Areos was patrolling and happened to see them? What if he took his daughter back from us?

all of these thoughts never left me alone. They kept me awake at night, that and my thoughts of how exactly I was going to make Areos pay for what he had done to this child.

We landed inside the house, and Illia immediately ran off, claiming that she wanted to rearrange her room to make space for the new things. She was so excited about her new stuff, she practically skipped all the way to her room.

I watched her go, a feeling of warmth spreading through me.

This child was making me soft. And the strangest thing was, I was okay with it.