[Chapter 25] Foxes V/s Wolves Part 15 ~ A Father Figure

[South Korea, Wolves Headquarters] 

[Midnight 1:41 am]

[Attack Commence on the Wolves] 

... 

Kira: "I'm sorry." 

Kyro: "What are you sorry for? There's nothing for you to be sorry for?" 

He exclaimed, alarmed by him daughter great care for him, but nonetheless felt warmth erupted inside his cold heart. 

Chelsea on the other hand felt great amounts of guilt erupt inside her. She wanted to confess that she wasn't really his daughter, that it was all an act, but even more guilt seeped in as she looked at Kira's dying father. Who was she to take away his last smile, his happiness.

Of course, this would've all been avoidable if she didn't play the role of his fake daughter in the first place, but a part of her is glad she did, even if she will come to regret it. Because in the end, it got him to change. That even the cruelest awakener can have a change of heart. All for his beloved daughter. 

But she is not his daughter.

She is a fake.

A fraud.

A lie. 

A ploy to get close to her enemy in order to decapitate him. 

None of it was real.

She shouldn't have felt regret for messing with her enemies. They're bad people who experimented on children, kill innocents, cheated people, all for their greedy self-absorb self. Yet here she was, a grown a*s woman if we count her 1st life, bawling her eyes out. 

"I'm sorry," she couldn't help but whisper over and over again, as that's the only thing she can bring herself to do without outing her real identity. It's fortunate that Kyro is intelligent enough to have caught on to what she was apologizing for. 

Kira: "I'm-" 

Kyro: "It's okay. I know." 

He reassured her softly. 

Kira: "Huh?! What do you-"

She cried confusingly, not realizing that her eyes returned back to its original color.

Kyro: "Your eyes darling, your eyes." 

He repeated lightly. Chelsea's eyes widen, colored in realization. She took out a mini mirror from her pocket storage and looked at her reflection, displaying her deep musty blue eyes. "So, you know," realization dawned upon her. He knew she was not his real biological daughter, and yet he cared for her, and loved her like she was. 

Chelsea: "Why?" 

She couldn't help but asked. 

Kyro: "Isn't it obvious." 

Giving Yulius a pointed look, inferring that he knew those 2 were related just by looking at their eyes. Then again, it isn't really hard to pinpoint that they were related. After all, he has met many awakeners, but none has ever possessed gem-colored blue eyes.

Kyro: "You can drop the illusion now ya know?"

Yulius couldn't help but sigh in defeat, fully understanding his thought process. There was no point in denying the truth anymore as she forcibly removes not only hers, but her sister's transformation, reverting back to their 6-year-old self, surprising many.

Chelsea didn't even bother stopping her de-transformation, still clinging onto Kyro's wrist as he began to fade away slowly, but not completely. "If you knew, then why?" She firmly asked again, due to her question not being answered the first time. 

Her tears dried up, though still moist from her overly sensitive emotional display from earlier, something she still didn't quite understand as to why she was behaving the way she was. 

"Quite simple actually," he started slowly, "because, because for the 1st time in my 46 years on this Earth, you are, without a doubt, the best thing that has ever happened to me. Both of you, looked at me not as a man who represents evil itself, but a man who lost everything," he explained.

"But in my hurting, I hurt the very people I was meant to protect, becoming the very thing I despised the most. Everything I have done is unforgivable, yet the look of understanding lying in your eyes gave me all I needed to know about what kind of people you are," he smiles knowingly. 

"You are everything my little self, hoped and wished to be. I on the other hand, let my hatred clout my judgement, leading to my dark path. Promise me, you will not end up like me and walk an honorable path. Promise me?" He demanded mildly. 

Yulius: "You have our word." 

She replied, earning a head nod from her sister who also mumbled the same phrase. Kyro couldn't help but chuckle at both sisters. For almost different reasons. Chelsea because she's acting childishly cute, Yulius for being maturely cute. All in all, they were cute in his eyes. 

Kyro: "Your word huh? How noble of you." 

He claimed childishly, teasing the sisters not in a mockingly manner, but just for his own pure amusement with no harmful intent behind it. Yulius couldn't help but smile a little. Chelsea on the other hand, decided to join in on the teasing. 

Chelsea: "You're right! How noble of you sister~" 

Yulius sighed, countering back, "it's better than having bad manners." Chelsea's eyes narrowed, "then being a stuck-up prick?" Her twin scoff, "developing good manners does not mean you're a prick, but polite." 

Her sister didn't seem convince though. "Right, because you're a people pleaser." Yulius denies it, "am not. I just think it's a good idea to abide by certain jurisdictions of the rules/laws." Now it was Chelsea turn to scoff, "right, that is certainly much easier than just killing the guilts right off." 

Yulius: "And what happened to being innocent until proven."

Chelsea: "Well, that would make complete sense unless you know, they weren't guilty in the first place." 

Yulius: "Or innocent." 

Chelsea: "Bullsh*t! We know better than anyone if someone's innocent or guilty. So must we play on with this cliche act that'll get us nowhere."

Yulius: "It's not cliche if the defendant was the victim in the 1st place."

Chelsea: "And that gives them the right to murder thousands." 

Yulius: "Aren't you being hypocritical right now. Isn't what you just said right now the same exact case as Kyro's."

Cheslea was speechless. Indeed, she was being hypocritical as of this moment, but her sister had no right to stooped this low in order to prove a point. She still thought if someone as paranoid as Niklaus Mikaelson could change for his child, couldn't Kyro. 

But before she could utter her thoughts, Kyro decided to draw the line there, agreeing whole heartedly to Yulius's statement. "She's right ya know." She wanted to deny it but let her father figure continue as his time was almost up.

"I have done so many bad things that I have come to regret. But even as I regret it all, it does not mean I am free from its sin. What I have done is done, and nobody can change that. Not you. Not your sister. And certainly not me. But I have come to accepted that. It's time for you to do so as well."

He lectured, making all but solid points, no room for a counter of any sort, much to Chelsea's dismay. Even so, she acknowledges that she's fighting a losing battle. But in her defense, she's grown attach to him within the little minutes she gotten to know him. 

She's always been a daddy's girl and having not receiving one in their 2nd life, she couldn't help but feel sadden by that fact. Sure, she has her best friend from her 1st life and Jiwoo, but the role of a father is impossible to fill by either of them. 

Which was why she allowed Kyro to carry her in the first place. She didn't feel any ill intent from him, but pure genuine fatherly love. The exact thing she was looking for to warm her heart. She knows full well she shouldn't be acting like this, but she couldn't help but be selfish just this once. 

Childishly as it sounds, all she wanted was a dad. Kyro easily fulfilled that role. All the more reason why she didn't want to reveal her true identity in the first place. She worried if she did, he wouldn't look at her the same way he did before he knew she was his fake daughter. 

Backfired terribly as the very man she let in, while also acknowledging him as her father figure is currently dying in her very arms. And as much as she wants to reverse the affect, she cannot. Not that she cares if she went against her sister's wishes for once, but because it's out of her hands. 

Even if she were to reverse time on his body, the thing chipping away at his lifeforce will only fasten the more she tries to reverse the effect of it. Moreover, he doesn't seem like he has the will to live on.

Kyro has accepted that his death is nearing and doesn't have any intention to change that. All but Chelsea of course. But like her observation from before, she is incapable of successfully saving him. It would've been better if she had stopped him all together from using the full 9-tailed form, but she respects his decision enough to allow him to fight a battle that will ultimately result in his death. 

With that thought in mind, she sighs defeatedly. Seeing that she has finally gotten to her senses, Kyro continued on with his last and final say. "Now I know you thought I was going to be angry at you for playing as my fake daughter, I'm not." 

Chelsea: "But-" 

Kyro: "I'm not." 

He repeated, getting Chelsea to shut up.

"You see, it doesn't change the way I feel about you. When we first met, your eyes looked at me with great admiration and curiosity. Personally, I never thought it was possible for someone to hold such high expectations for me, but you did. And next thing I knew it, I was gently holding you in my unworthy arms as I rubbed the back of your head affectionately with my soiled hands," he stopped shortly to take a breather, before continuing. 

"You brought warmth to my icy heart. I, who had slain thousands, whether they were innocent, children, or even babies, I killed them all. And yet I held the most precious thing in my arms ever so carefully because I'm terrified, I could break you. And I still am," he managed to wheeze out before coughing terribly much.

"KYRO!" 

Most yelled horrified. They all knew his death was inevitable, but it still hurt and scared them. After all, he was not only a clan head, but a friend, a brother, and a father figure. Even Yulius eyes couldn't help but water slightly. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He brushed aside their worried looks and continued. "Listen," he made eye contact with Chelsea's teary blue eyes as she tried to hold in her sobs, failing miserable as whimpers exited her mouth the next moment. 

"Whether you are my blood or not, you are my daughter and I love you," he said before immediately looking towards the other teary twin, "both of you." Earning a heart wrenching smile from her and a sobbing mess from the younger twin. 

"Hm." Yulius couldn't help but hums gently as her eyes soften terribly so. She acknowledged his love for both her and her twin, but she doesn't feel quite right saying it back. Probably because such words shouldn't be held too lightly. Moreover, saying something you don't mean, doesn't sit right for her. 

Don't get her wrong, she means well, and some part of her wanted to say 'I love you' back, but most of her didn't feel the same way Chelsea felt for Kyro. Fatherly love. Or the desperation of requiring one. 

She knew the exact reason as to why she felt that way. From a young age she has always felt detached from her emotion. It's not that she had a hard time expressing herself, she's actually very good at doing that. It's just hard to do so around unfamiliar people. 

It's tempting to let her guard down. And as much as she wants to do so whenever she wants, she can't. Especially when her paranoia has a tendency to act up, reminding her of the betrayals that has happened and will continue to happen if she continues to lower her walls. 

Chelsea understood that which was why she wasn't angry in the least with Yulius, who was only able to produce a single tear drop. In fact, it's a miracle she was even able to do so in the first place. Just goes to show that she too, cared for him deeply, whether she saw him as a father figure or not, she let her guard down slightly. 

Kyro looked at the 2 girls with pride. Though he is slightly dejected that they will not say 'I love you' back, he understood that the feeling wasn't fully mutual for them. Moreover, he doesn't want to force them to say something they don't mean at all. For now, he'll settle with their smiles burning in his head as his last and final memory in the world.

"Thank you. And farewell," he silently got out, though everyone was able to hear it above the roaring winds due to their enhance senses. And just like that, Kyro, the fox clan head has died in battle. Not at the hands of Yulius, but at the hands of his own. 

One he takes full pride in and does not resent Yulius in the slightest for. Because, even if it's one sided, she is one of his daughters. He repeated in his head before he couldn't anymore as his body finally shattered to ashes.

'They are his daughters.' 

Undoubtedly so, in the current moment, but soon to be replace in the much future by her softy of a master and so on.

...