6 Father-Daughter Bonding

Hope sat in the kitchen area. She was fixing some coffee for herself, and the others when they woke up. She sat at a table, in the corner looking out the window. She sipped at her coffee, with hazelnut creamer, and just the right amount of sugar.

A galaxy drawing pad, with a large-ish silver unicorn sat perched in the middle of the cover, laying stationary on the table. The drawing book was opened. There were doodles of things she had found important in her dreams from before.

These things may look irrelevant to most, but really they were very relevant to her visions. Each and every little doodle held a big, or small, meaning that lead to a larger event. these doodles were small picture of a broken crumbling cross, black nasty looking demons, a twisted, bloodied, a gnarled crown, fire, smoke, a symbol with two swords in an 'x' position that had a shiny crown in the center, and beautiful white flowers.

From what hope could interpret, these doodles indicated a war for the crown, more importantly, a war to see who could reclaim heaven. Lucifer not only wanted to control god's creations, but he also wanted to get back into heaven and take it for his own. The flowers seemed to be a interpretation of a new life or beginning.

Something that meant purity and innocence. But there were only five. So she figured the flowers stood for people. Five people who would help her, along her journey to make a new pure beginning. She looked up from the drawing pad, as she lightly tapped her pencil against her drawing book.

She looked to up to a digital clock and it read '3:45 am'. She sighed and hunched over as she rubbed her face, in an attempt to wake herself up a bit more. Stirring that came down the hallway brought her back to reality. She looked behind her seeing her dad walking in groggily. He walked straight to the coffee pot, "you're up really early. Did you even sleep?" He spoke softly.

Hope gave a soft laugh in return, "umm yeah maybe for thirty minutes or an hour to sum it up. I went to bed at 2:30 this morning." She shrugged a bit. Her father took a seat across from her. He peaked a little at her doodles, "you're documenting dreams I see. Your mother did the same thing. She wasn't as fully aware as you are, but she was still just as good."

Hope smiled, "I know. I miss her, but she's in a better place. I'll make you both as proud as possible. But first, we have to save humanity. How will we do that exactly? I'm not exactly sure..but we will take one step at a time." Her father smiled, "Hope, you're the greatest daughter I could ever ask for, you know that? No matter what happens-"

Hope had interrupted, "nothing is going to happen to you dad. I wouldn't let anything ha-" her father smiled interrupting her, "Hope listen to me for a moment. I know I haven't been the greatest father as you were growing up. I should've been there but I wasn't. I regret the entire fact that I've missed out on so much I should've been there for. But whatever happens to me just know that I love you. If anything did happen don't blame yourself, alright? You've been so great to me even though I screwed up a lot. But now that I'm here nothing will ever harm you as long as I'm around. You are the only reason I'm continuing with life. I can't forgive myself for the pain I've caused you as you were growing up. And I can't get the years I missed with you, but right now is all that matters to me. I want to say thank you for forgiving my mistakes and giving me a lot of chances to continuously keep trying basically what I'm saying is thank you for not giving up on me."

Tears pricked her father's eyes. Hope hadn't realized the tears that rolled down her cheeks. She had kept eye contact the whole conversation, but towards the end she had let her gaze fall to her opened drawing book. Her father smiled little and got up kneeling down in front of her. He grabbed her hand into his, and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles soothingly, "Hope look up at me." Hope looked up at him sniffling.

She did as she was told. He used his other hand to wipe her tears away, "you're young, but very mature. You've come along way. You've witnessed a lot. You've seen demons, murder, you've seen things gone wrong, yet you've forced yourself to stay strong. You've made it a mission to make sure you make a positive impact in the world. You haven't taken a break at all. You've helped so many people with kindness; even if they weren't discerning of it."

He paused a little to moisten his lips as he gave Hope's hand a reassuring squeeze, "you've got a heart of gold. You've helped me understand what it's like to be an amazing father. All the demons you've seen aren't pretty, and you have no choice but to see their true form. I know it's scary. You're so brave, and I couldn't be more proud of you."

Hope was a mess she gently lunged forward and into her father's arms. He looked a bit shocked but hugged back. He smiled and stroked her hair some, "I love you dad. I'm so proud of you. I wouldn't trade you for another dad ever." The two broke apart and wiped away their tears. Her dad got back into his seat sipping at his coffee.

The time now read '5:30 am'. Footsteps could be heard along with small mumbling. It seems that the others were starting to get up and move about. Hope smiled and stood up pouring cups of coffee for everyone. Her father got up and joined her side. The two had began to fix breakfast working together, with the help of others.