After that faithful day.
Each passing year brought a new excuse to keep him from returning home.
Either his project was delayed.
Or his employer simply refused to release him because his engineering skills were simply that valuable.
To compensate, the amount amount of money he sent us increased with every single later.
It wasn't king before I started asking myself…
What on earth was the point of all this money if he's never actually going to return to us?
But every year, I forced myself that the next time would be different.
One year passed.
Two…
Then three…
Until eventually I stopped counting.
By the time both of my siblings had grown up into energetic toddlers.
They had never once laid their eyes on their own father in person.
Their entire concept of him was built around a framed, charcoal sketch he had sent us.
Our maid, Evelyn had done a splendid job helping raise them.
Using her steady wages to support her own sick mother.
Back in the tower districts.
By the time Luna and Leo were five years old.
It was clear that they had both inherited mother's sharp features rather than fathers.
Luna had slimy silver hair, like me and mother.
While Leo had thick brown hair.
The only thing the three of us shared…
Were his vivid emerald green eyes.
I had just turned fifteen.
When we received a letter from dad out of necessity.
His contract was coming to an end.
The best part was that he had been promoted to an high ranking position within the heart of the Valerthia Empire.
So naturally I was overjoyed.
Because he was coming home for good this time.
Until the day of his scheduled arrival finally came.
It was a bitter rainy afternoon.
We were all gathered at the front parlo when the carriage echoed outside.
I jumped up and down completely losing my compass.
"Is that him, big sis?"
Luna asked in tiny, innocent voice.
Bothe she and Leo were clinging tightly to mother's hands.
Their eyes wide with anticipation.
"Yes."
I answered, quickly.
Then…
The carriage door swung open.
I braced myself…
But the man who stepped out wasn't my father.
It was a complete stranger.
I was completely caught off guard.
The man who came out was dressed entirely in black mourning attire.
Wearing a polished top hat and a heavy wool waistcoat.
Covered by a black coat adorned with expensive sliver jewellery on each side.
He walked up our front path with slow, deliberate footsteps.
Stopping right infront of us.
He silently took off his top hat.
And pressed it flat on his chest.
"Uhm, mister. where is… daddy?"
I demanded, looking up.
My voice suddenly trembling as the festive atmosphere in the room vanished.
The man looked down.
His face twisted into an expression of profound, crushing guilt.
The silence between us felt heavier than the rainy storm.
When he finalised spoke… my entire world crumbled down around my ears.
"I am deeply sorry…"
He whispered.
"…but your father… Silas Vance… has sadly passed."
-Krakoom!
Lightning stock heavily as soon as the words came out of his mouth.
The words hit like a physical blow.
My legs instantly gave out.
I fell heavily onto my knees.
"No!"
My mother screamed out behind me.
"That can't be! That's impossible!"
She dropped on her knees right in front of me.
Evelyn was paralysed by the horrific news.
She instinctively grasped for Luna and Leo tightly against her apron.
They far too innocent to fully comprehend of what had just come out of the man's mouth.
*That can't be!*
I thought, my mind racing.
"No! You people are the ones who took him away from us in the first place! You kept him away from us for years and you have the absolute audacity to our door and tell us that he's…"
The gentleman closed his eyes.
Taking my vitriol without a single word of protest.
"Your father was a good man."
He said softly, his voice filled with emotion.
"He was man who loves his job, and prioritised his workers… but most of all he adorned his family more than anything in the world. I was his direct assistant. He was my mentor, my closest friend confidant, and most of all he was my closest friend… it would have been an absolute travesty—a total dishonour to his memory—not to come deliver this news to his family myself."
Deep down I knew this man hadn't done a thing.
He was grieving too and yet… I still blamed him.
I desperately needed a target to direct all the suffocating anger and agonising pain, I was feeling in my chest.
"W-We… understand…"
My mother finally whispered from the floor.
Her voice hallowed out as she pulled me into a trembling embrace.
This time we both comforted each other as we cried…
Clinging to Evelyn's skirt, little Leo looked at their backs in utter confusion.
"Why is mom and big sister crying?"
He asked with worry.
"It's nothing, master Leo…"
Evelyn stammered.
Her own eyes leaking she quitely wiped a tear.
Then pulled out the children away from the door.
"It's nothing just the cold wind…"
***
After that the gentleman had told us that everyone at the imperial facility lobed my father.
Everywhere he went he brought a smile to his coworker's faces.
He worked tirelessly for his family.
But one day…
…when he was performing daily safety check ups on the heavy steam-punk machines.
A massive piece of machinery broke loose.
It was about to crush a young worker working below.
Without a single hesitation, he leaped forward and pushed the young man out of the way.
Saving his life at the cost of his own.
The reason for the incedant was entirely clear.
The higher ups had left the equipment completely worn out to save on maintenance costs.
They consciously chose to look pass the safety hazards.
When the truth of his death began surfacing.
The corporate executives turned a blind eye.
They buried the reports.
Bribed the city investigators and publicly blamed the tragedy on 'lack of employee notice'.
That day on one was fired.
That day no one payed for my father's life.
That day the empire just kept moving forward.
Leaving us with a bag of bloody money.
After that day.
Grief consumed me entirely.
I locked myself away in my bedroom for a whole month.
Refusing to go outside.
I completely skipped playing.
Every single day Leo would knock in the door.
To beg me to come and play with him like we used to.
And every single day I would coldly dismiss him through the panels.
I was eating less and less.
My body grow frail as weeks bled together.
It got to the point where, late at night.
My mind had finally snapped.
Driven by sheer irrational grief.
I sneaked out of the house alone.
Into the freezing dark.
I was stupid at the time.
All I wanted to say at that moment was for myself if he really was…
I was too grief stricken to think logically.
When I left to live, I had accidentally left the door unlatched.
I hadn't known that Leo was awake and had heard everything.
When he saw me slip out to the darkness.
He didn't understand what was happening.
He just wanted his big sister back.
So, he followed me out of the slums.
By the time the winter wind had forced me to to give up on my stupid idea of travelling alone.
It was already too late…
I tugged back home in the dead of night.
Slipping back into my bedroom completely oblivious.
That my little barely six year old had wandered out into the freezing labyrinth of the tower districts.
I spent the next day paralysed in my room again.
Until I suddenly heard a gut piercing scream.
Echoing from the streets.
The voice was familiar…
..it was my mother.
Panic seizing my chest.
I opened my window and saw a massive crowd gathering.
A few blocks away.
I sprinted out of the door.
Then when I finally reached my destination.
I psushed threw the onlookers.
Then… there, lying cold on the cobblestones.
My little bother's lifeless body…
My mother was collapsed on the ground beside his small frame.
A familiar scene replaying from her childhood.
Only unlike before, there was no blood just stillness.
She hadn't just lost her faithful husband anymore.
This time it was her only son as well.
The primary question on everyone's lips…
…was how had such a young boy could even manage to slip out by himself in the middle a cold winter night?
***
A/N:
[Don't forget to drop a power stone or two… for motivation that is (T_T).]