Chapter 266 - A New Path (1/2)
'My life reduced to a science experiment.' Amell fell on his knees in anger. ”Everything! It was all him, all along! IT WAS HIM!” With ferocity and indescribable anger he struck the ground and spread a crack through the mountain.
”D-Daddy?!” To no surprise, that outburst of anger awoke sleeping beauty. She rubbed her eyes to try and get rid of the left-over sleepiness looming over her. She was almost too comfortable snuggling against the eagle's feathers so it made her not want to move away from that warmth. The evening chills still made her body shudder, so Orlando in a rare moment of kindness covered most of her body with his humongous wing. ”DADDY!” As reality settled in with her, she realised what she was looking at. Her father in all his grandeur, with eyes that screamed both danger and comfort. The sensation he gave off was new to her. She had never seen him like this before so she couldn't tell if he was upset with her or glad to see her.
No matter how complicated her feelings were at the moment, she still made Orlando remove his wing and she rushed at her father. With a skip and then a jump she landed comfortably in his embrace and immediately she felt a lot safer.
'Daddy is different?' she glanced up just to see that he hadn't recognized that she was in his embrace. His body had moved to embrace her unconsciously, like a reflex his body performed without him commanding It to do so.
”Daddy, what happened? Where were you? Who was the man that attacked you?” Her body had healed from the damage the strange man had caused, but she still felt weak. Shaking her father awake proved fruitless. She sat there swinging his arm every which way but he just didn't move, no matter what she tried to do.
Fear started building up inside her, and could anyone blame her for that? Not really! The invincible man she knew would always protect her was sitting there pale as a ghost just staring out into the void. It wasn't until she had shaken his arm maybe a hundred times back and forth that he started showing some sort of a reaction again.
”Valerie?” He said. Slowly looking down at her, he palmed the right side of her face and as if nothing had happened, his gentle father-like smile grew back. But, she could see through that smile no matter how he tried to hide it. 'He's sad,' she said to herself as she tried to not worry.
No matter how strange and unnerving she found this situation, seeing that smile again put her mind at ease somewhat. The entire world started filling with vibrant colours, when previously, just seconds ago, it was a world of grey uncertainty. ”It's me, daddy! Are you daddy?” She said, slightly leaning backwards away from him. His change was too sudden for her to feel completely comfortable about it.
”Not to worry, Sweetheart. I am me.” His gaze was distant as he continued saying, ”for now.” His hand stroked the side of her face as it fell to his side without him noticing it was there in the first place.
Valerie tilted her head to the side. His final two words weren't lost from her, she just didn't know what he meant by them. ”D-Did you defeat the bad guy?” Her stuttering coupled with her frightful expression seemed to snap Amell out of whatever mindset he was in. He made a conscious choice to stroke her cheek and lean in to kiss her on the forehead.
”Don't worry, baby. That man will not come back ever again. But, for everyone's sake, especially for your safety, I have to get you back to your mother.” He said smiling.
”What? No! I want to stay with you. The bad guy won't come back, right? I can stay with you for a little longer, please!”
Surprisingly, Amell felt it was much easier to deny her requests now. If this was from him learning that a big part of his family was preprogrammed, he didn't know. Maybe it stemmed from the simple fact that the man he needed to become barely had any emotions in him. No doubt, this would cause huge friction between him and his family, and if Sylvia was free from any further manipulation as God implied then she would absolutely see and feel that something was wrong with Amell. The emotionless aura around him would probably never truly go away again. After what he had learned here today, he wasn't sure that life could ever go back to how it once was, no matter if he became the new God or not.