Kotlc Oneshots!

Father

(Elwin's pov)

Sophie walked into the Healing Center. Not that Elwin was surprised.

He snorted. "All right, what's it this time?"

Sophie sat on her cott, her picture hanging above it. "Elementalism gone wrong. Cut my hand on an exploded bottle."

Elwin grabbed a balm and some bandages. "Of course you did."

He spread the balm onto her hand, then wrapped it in a bandage. He noticed her shoulders sagged. So he asked, "What's wrong?"

She sighed. "I was actually distracted during class. That's how this happened." She gestured to her hand. "Forkle is being stubborn again."

Elwin frowned. "Huh. Withholding information?"

"When is he not? I deserve to know who l my biological parents are!"

He froze. Almost under his breath, he whispered, "You do."

Sophie didn't continue the conversation, so they were left in silence. He knew that was the perfect opening for the conversation. But... Mr. Forkle would be so mad at him for it.

But at the same time, Sophie deserved to know who she was related to.

When he unwrapped her bandage, there was still a large gash. She winced.

This was his opportunity.

He reached for a couple more balms. "This is a pretty nasty cut. It'll take a minute. Want to hear a story in the meantime?"

She perked up a bit at that. "Sure."

He chuckled. "Alright. What if I told you this story starts with a man? He was pretty lonely his whole life. His peers made fun of him for being childish when he was younger." Elwin leaned in and fake whispered, "But he really knew they were just jealous of him being so awesome." She giggled as he leaned back. "Well, when he grew up, he wanted to be a part of something. But he had no friends and no wife or children to call his own. He loved his job, but that was it."

He reached for another balm and spread it on her hand. He wrapped it with a cloth to let it sit. He stood and headed for an elixir on the massive wall of medicine as he explained, "So, when, one day, this mysterious group approached him about being a part of something world changing, he was interested."

Sophie tilted her head. He came back with the elixir and handed it to her.

"He was told that they wanted to have him help the world for the greater good. He had seen plenty of injustices over the years that others didn't seem to notice, so... he agreed." Elwin let out a sigh. This next part would make or break everything. "He was requested to volunteer to use his part of DNA and an unknown female to be made into an embryo. A child... he would likely never come to know."

Sophie's eyes widened. She started to open her mouth to say something, but he needed to finish everything before she said anything. He quickly grabbed a bottle of youth, hoping she didn't notice it was just water, and thrusted it her face. It spattered on her, but she drank it. Probably just so she wouldn't choke on it.

He continued as he pulled out another balm, intentionally taking the wrong one to buy him more time for explanation. "He started to second guess himself. He almost backed out. Twice. But... the group managed to convince him, saying that this child would be the one to help our world. They told him this child... would be the one to finally solve the problems the higher-ups couldn't see."

Elwin hung his head. He grabbed another pot of cream. Instead of a poultice, it was just a random lotion. "He hated seeing so many children during his time working at a school to be crushed thanks to things they didn't have control over. Having to break to them after trying so hard during ability sessions and getting injured from pushing to hard, that they may be talentless. After taking care of kids who were beat up because of being kids of a bad match. Or because they were a multiple birth. The pain of watching kids he cared so much about, getting banished."