Through the Ghost

He awoke some time later, his stomach growling him awake. After a quick stop at the bathroom in his quarters he made his way to the dining area for a bite. A few minutes later, while he tried to remove the remnants of food from his teeth using his tongue, the startling screech of a chair being dragged across the floor drew his attention. Soon enough the orange head of Chara crested the table top, staring curiously at him as if she’d never seen another person eating before.

Time ticked by slowly as the two of them observed each other from across the small table. His eyes instantly went to the scar on the left side of her head. The only remnant of where the medical implant had been connected to keep her increased brain temperature under wraps. “Why do you, and mommy, and Miss Jaya have green on you?” she finally asked.

He thought for a moment about the best way to explain it. “Because we have these tiny robots that give us super powers.”

She looked at him quizzically. “Mommy doesn’t have super powers.”

“She did. She was a hero, still is to some people,” he replied with a warm smile as he reflected on the memories, the adventures they’d had.

“Why doesn’t she anymore?”

“That’s kind of a long story, but I guess we have time.”

She stared at him even more intently.

“Once upon a time, there was an evil wizard that cursed a whole bunch of people. Your mom didn’t like that much and hunted down the bad man. One day, she found his evil lair and she defeated the wizard, bringing peace to the world. People cheered her name, but the kings and queens of the world were not happy. She’d disobeyed their requests. So, they had her banished. She was sad and alone, I tried to find her but couldn’t. That all changed when you were born; suddenly she wasn’t alone.”

He expected to see a look of pride, or sadness, or at least satisfaction at hearing the tale. But she only looked at her feet.

When she finally looked up at him, she asked “Did you know my daddy?”

His heart leaped into his throat. “Yes,” he answered cautiously. “I, I know him pretty well.”

“What’s he like?”

“Your mom hasn’t told you anything?”

“Nooooo,” she said, stretching the word out in annoyance.

“Every time I ask, she gets all sad and quiet. That she’ll explain it when I’m older, but I’m six now.”

His heart beat a little faster. It wasn’t lost on him that he could face down pirates, mercenaries, and aliens without any problems; yet few of those moments left him feeling as anxious as staring down the little girl across from him. “Well, he loved your mother very much. Together they were unstoppable, fighting monsters and bandits.”

“Why hasn’t he found us?”

“What?” he stammered.

“Does he not love me and mommy?”

“Of course, he does, he just….”

“Hey, sweet pea, what’re you talking about?” Anna asked Chara, kissing her on the top of her head.

“I was just asking, Mr. Tal about daddy.”

Anna tripped over the stool as she walked by. “Oh? Um, what’d he say?” Anna inquired with a curious glance towards her former partner.

“Stuff,” Chara replied.

Anna looked at her daughter imploringly.

Before Anna could explore their conversation any further, Tal got up to leave. Anna grabbed him by the arm and pulled him aside before he could get far.

“Hey, I’m sorry.”

“You keep saying that, but I’m starting to doubt you know what it means.”

She sighed in exasperation. She dropped her voice into a barely audible whisper. “What would you have me say? Hey sweetie look, your father’s back, everything will be okay now.”

“Maybe not,” he replied, voice equally low. “But anything can be better than nothing at all.”