"You do remember?" The voice's tone had lifted in hope. "It's really you?"
Trembling with shock, Night didn't know what to do. He wanted to say a lot; especially if the person across the room was truly his father. Had he really been down here for the past ten years?! How was he still alive?!
And most importantly, why had he left him . . . ?
At last he managed to mumble, still round-eyed, "Dad . . . ?"
"Yes?" his father anxiously pressed. "Ha-Have you been doing okay? Did someone ever adopt you? Is Spectrum's daughter a decent partner?"
"It's actually you . . ."
"Yes! Is everything alright?"
"I don't . . . I don't know . . ."
He took a long, deep breath. "You're alive," he ventured, trying to comprehend all this.
"I'm alive," Tizian confirmed. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he answered automatically, frowning. "I'm sorry— I . . ."
"It's me who should be apologizing, actually," his father interrupted, sounding deeply regretful. "I didn't explain to you very clearly why I did the things I did." Briefly he paused. "I didn't have a choice."
Swallowing, Night struggled upright, anxious to hear more. "Why?" he asked quietly, for the first time expecting an answer.
There was a heavy silence. "Preciser managed to find out my identity," his father replied dully at last. "He grabbed me early in the hour one Monday and told me that, before Spectrum arrived. Then he threatened to kill you if I didn't give him the gem before the next attack." A brief hesitation followed, and his father's breathing grew shaky. "The only choice I had was to give you the gem and abandon you," he went on sadly. "It was the only way to keep both you and the world safe. I'm so sorry."
As he finally understood what had happened all those years ago, and why, a bittersweet sense slowly overtook him. Tizian had left him there because he loved him. In a way, he'd sacrificed himself for his son's safety, and the world's safety, proving that he had been more than worthy to be a guardian.
"I'm sorry I didn't explain," his father mumbled, breaking the lull of silence and making Night jump. "I was scared . . . scared of what Preciser could do. I didn't know if he knew what I was doing, or if he assumed I would just give in. Once you and the gem were safe, I came down to Preciser and told him he wasn't going to get what he wanted. He threw me in this room, and I've been here ever since."
Night blinked a few times. "How are you . . . alive still?"
"Oh." Tizian laughed. "He has his servants nourish me, and every now and then they'll unchain me so I can walk around and stretch for a few hours. I don't think they'll do it while you're here, though. Not to mention there's a particular servant who comes and talks to me every now and then to keep me sane."
That last part was definitely a surprise. Night had never considered that anyone in Preciser's city would be friendly. "What's his name?"
"That's the only bummer about him. He won't tell me."
"Why not?"
"He doesn't tell me that, either."
"Uh . . . okay . . ." he said quietly, still recovering from shock.
"Now what about you?" his father demanded. "What's been going on with you for the past ten years?"
He hesitated, at a loss for words. How had life been in his dad's absence?
YOU ARE READING
Where Light Meets Dark
Teen Fiction[COMPLETED ~ TO BE PUBLISHED... eventually] Sunray was the light, lonely and shining. She was a beacon of hope to the public, but quiet in her own life. To everyone else, anyway. Night was her shadow, sworn to protect her just as much as his home. H...
