A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

"... Are you saying that this is all my daughter's fault?" the older male questioned, his voice calm and unwavering. He walked around his chair and pushed it back in.

"No," the creature responded in a clear and firm voice. "She came into the tunnels, and she escaped. What happened after that falls on both of us, not just her. And, I, ultimately, was the one who sought her out after the tunnels. I was the one who continued this whole mess."

"So, you admit that you've made her life a living nightmare?" His (e/c) eyes locked onto the creature's, and the creature nodded.

"I do, but I haven't been able to let her go." He maintained his gaze with her father even if he wished to look away. "It's selfish, and I know that you two would've killed me when I walked through that door if it hadn't been for your daughter missing. You already told me that." The creature sighed and his right fingers clenched the fabric of the brown pants a little. "But, I love her." His eyes glanced between both of them. "Even if you find that hard to believe given what I've done, I really do."

"If you ..." her mother started, and the creature focused his attention on her.

Almost immediately, he cut her off. "If I truly loved her, I would let her go?" Her mother didn't say another word, but she nodded. She probably took his tone as threatening, and he hadn't meant it to be, but the phrase had annoyed him. "I find that ridiculous. I understand that loving another person is about sacrifice, but each individual has their own sacrifice that they put forward." The creature heard a scoff from her father, but he ignored it. "And, mine isn't letting her vanish out of my life."

"And, just what have you sacrificed for our daughter's sake?" (d/n) questioned, pure bitterness in his tone. The older man walked a step forward and placed his left hand on the table before his fingers clenched the wood.

Momentarily, the creature had to avert his eyes down at his lap. His right hand clenched the pants more while he forced his left hand not to so that the clothes wouldn't be ruined. They weren't his after all. Slowly, a pained smile touched his lips, and he diverted his attention back to both of them. The smile caught both parents off guard, and her father now stepped back a little. Both saw that the smile wasn't a ruse to gain their sympathy; it was genuine even though they very much wished to doubt that. "I can't tell you since I wouldn't be threatening anymore. Even saying this now may ruin that, but it's all I have."

Dipping his head down, the creature stood from his seat. "I'll go work on the list and begin researching." He pushed in his chair. "But, just know that I don't cast blame all on your daughter. I don't deny the awful things I've done to her and to you both or to anyone else I've harmed. However," his eyes locked with both of them again, "Callest may be placing most if not all blame onto her for what's possibly happened to him. And, I doubt that he'll be making deals with her, and if he does, they're either probably lies or tricks in one form or another."

Turning away from them both, he nodded his head to them respectfully before he headed off to (f/n)'s room ... their room. The door closed behind him, and the creature heard them moving back in the kitchen. His left hand fell from the doorknob, and he pressed his back to the door and slid down the wooden object. Knees closer to his chest, he leaned forward and placed his head on them. He really should be getting straight to work; (f/n) deserved that, but his emotions still were in so much turmoil even though he had claimed that he would be starting anew; that it would be different. Unfortunately, that conversation had knocked him almost back to his prior state.

Bringing his right fingers up to his lips, he ran his index finger and thumb across them until they reached the corners. He forced his lips up into a smile before he pulled his fingers away and allowed his lips to fall back into a slight frown. Her parents now had seen a more vulnerable side to him, and he practically gave away the truth surrounding all of his actions in the process. A light laugh from disbelief escaped him. Truly, he was a wreck to permit that to happen.

After everything that had transpired, he wondered for how much longer he would be able to keep the truth an entire secret. He knew that in the future he would slip up. It just was a matter of when and how. And, he hoped that his pink flower would accept it, but he knew that would be less than likely. With how much he had done to her, he suspected that she might take advantage of it and kill him. She finally would discover the weakness she had been searching for, and he probably would receive a knife to his chest or some sharp object for that matter.

Combing his fingers through his hair, he spread his legs out in front of him and scanned over the empty-feeling room. He needed to move. Callest most likely wasn't taking breaks, and he certainly wasn't having periods of emotional trying. The creature steadily picked himself up to his feet and stared over to the computer. With gradual steps, he headed over to the electronic device, and he seated himself on the desk chair before he grabbed some paper and pen too. His right fingers reached out and began to write up the list first. "I'm going to find you and butcher him," he muttered to himself. "What happens after ..." he trailed off to himself, and he released another sigh. Whatever happened in regards to that, he would accept it and continue forward.

As for her parents, her father returned to sitting at the table. His fingers were intertwined in front of him, and a frown greeted his lips. Across from him, his wife remained silent but just as ... disturbed if that was the right term to use. Neither of them really knew how to feel about what just had occurred. That smile on his lips ... What were they supposed to make of it? It was almost like they had been seeing the creature for the first time, the first real time; it was as though they had been staring at a completely different individual.

Had the loss of their daughter finally made him realize how much of an utter sadistic a**hole he had been? Or, was it more than that? Did that smile extend to farther back and before that game that had happened between the two of them? Neither of them knew, which only frustrated them more.

"I still want to kill him," (m/n) finally spoke. Her grey eyes met her husband's optics as they both stared up and over to the other. "After we get our daughter back, I want him dead. That smile doesn't change anything other than ... Maybe ..." She groaned and, roughly, pushed her fingers back into (h/c) locks.

"(M/n)," he reached over and wrapped his right hand around her left, "we'll get her back. And, we can figure out what to do with him afterwards. He'll probably go back to his old self once (f/n) is here again. And if he doesn't ... Well, I don't know exactly." (M/n) hung her head before she slipped her hand out of her husband's. She stood up from her chair and walked around the table over to him.

Opening up his arms and turning his chair towards her, he let her sit upon his lap. Her arms draped over his shoulders, and she rested her head against his chest while his arms wrapped around her waist. "But," he started as she hummed for him to continue, "we should let (f/n) decide what she wants to do with him. She deserves that after everything she's gone through. If she sees this side of him and doesn't want to attack him anymore, we shouldn't either. But if she does, then we'll help her in whatever way we can."

"And if he's listening to us right now?" she asked, not lifting up her head, which caused her voice to be muffled to a degree.

"Then, so be it. He knows our feelings, and we now know part of his secret. Whatever it is, it'll make him weaker, and we might actually be able to take him on with it." (M/n) brought up her head, and her arms trailed down his shoulders a little bit before they pressed against his chest lightly. She stared up to him and nodded. (D/n) leaned his forehead forward and rested it against his wife's. "And, this nightmare will end."

"I would like that," she answered, a smile finally appearing on her lips again. He smiled back to her before he carefully stood up and set her on her feet.

"For now, let's look for our daughter." She nodded to his words, and he proceeded to ask, "Why don't we sit in the office downstairs. I'll bring our laptop down, and you load up the office computer." Again, she nodded. (M/n) leaned up on her tippy-toes and kissed her husband's lips gently before she smiled lightly again and headed off downstairs. His eyes followed her movements briefly until she walked down the steps.

Averting his attention away from her, he moved into their bedroom and removed the laptop from its case along with the charger cable. With both items in hand, he went to meet his wife in the front office. By the time he arrived there, the desktop was beginning to load the home screen of the search engine. He took a seat next to her on the spare chair and switched on the laptop. Soon enough, it was ready to go as well.

"I'll begin looking at places in the nearby area since Callest may be hiding in plain sight near Cankerfell," (m/n) mentioned, looking for any news story about abandoned sights besides the tunnels.

"I'll start with places southern of here since he might be trying to throw us off by hiding in warmer weather," (d/n) replied, his fingers typing away and his eyes scanning for anything that might be of use. Ultimately, though, they would locate their daughter and bring her back.