I was knocked from my recollection of that awful day by another blow to the head.
"She destroyed so many people that day!" the voice screamed at me. "So many died and it is all your fault for tainting her, for making her this way!!"
"Don't you think that thought doesn't cross through my head everyday?" I whispered. I could feel my captor freeze and knew he was listening. "I can see the pain in her eyes everyday. She knows what she did and she grieves everyday because of it. But she has become stronger, learning to forgive herself each day. She is by no means forgetting those people but..." my voice became louder. "She is doing her damndest every single day she is breathing to make sure no others die! She has dedicated her life to saving others!" The room was silent once again except for the sounds of rain on the roof.
"Stephanie is already too far gone."
"Stephanie?" I asked. "Her name is Valkyrie. I think you may have the wrong person."
"No," the voice replied next to my ear. I tried to jerk away as a hand came out of the darkness and grabbed my neck. "She was Stephanie before she ever became that monster."
"Who are you?" I asked, fear entering my voice for the first time tonight. A blinding light hit my eyes and illuminated the face of my captor. "You are her father," I whispered. Valkyrie's father was staring at me with a hatred I knew far too well. I was sure that was the same look I had given Serpine so long ago. His clothes were torn and matted with dirt and blood stains.
"You are alive? Where have you been all this time? We have been looking for you!! She thought she had lost you!" I struggled against his hands that were on my neck. "You have been alive all this time and never tried to tell her you were ok?! She grieved for you!!!!"
He released my neck. "I never wanted anything to do with her again! She is a monster, a killer!!! I saw what she did with my own eyes!!! I saw her kill her!!!" I felt a cold chill.
"You were there?" I whispered.
He looked at me with wild eyes full of hate and said poison coating his voice, "I saw it all and she never knew it!"...