((Another collab between me and Ko, at first, he made everything look nice and then we went back and forth and finished it together.))

It's been years since I last saw my father. 5 months old, and he already lost me. Losing a child would have driven anyone to insanity, especially after such a long time. Just thinking about his emotional pain makes me miss him even more.

I found the old house while wandering around the neighborhood, so I decided to investigate further. One thing was immediately clear when I approached the house: there was no life within it. The lights weren't on, there were no cars in the driveway, and the uncut lawn gave me the impression that it had been abandoned. I approached the door and opened it easily, as though the previous occupants left in such a hurry that they forgot to lock the door.

Once I entered, I felt uneasy as I noticed that everything was spotless and clean. There was no dust, no dirt, and no bugs scurrying across the floor. It would've looked absolutely clean if there wasn't broken furniture and blood on the floor. Whatever happened here, it was one hell of a fight.

I noticed a newspaper, rolled up and sitting I disturbed on the dining room table. I approached and picked it up, skimming through the front page almost immediately. The headline read "IMPRISONED FOR CLONING AND GENETIC MANIPULATION," accompanied by a picture I thought I would never see: my father, beaten and bloodied and in handcuffs, sitting in the back of a police cruiser. I couldn't believe it. My father, a geneticist? Impossible!
I headed down a set of stairs leading to the basement and saw a place I was never allowed to enter, and the next surprise waiting for me. It looked as though someone had turned part of the wall into a door, revealing a hidden room lit only by the displays of equipment. I looked in and saw three cells, all closed except for one, and dried blood covering the floor and the back walls. My eyes widened when I saw a small stuffed bear on the ground, not covered in blood like the rest.

I asked myself why a teddy bear would be down here, and wondered if this was some form of demented daycare. I picked up the small stuffed creature and looked around the other parts of the small dungeon, holding the bear close to my heart. A table sat in the middle of the room, complete with restraints, blood, and undecipherable notes. Along the walls were shelves upon shelves of scientific logs, journals, research notes, and spare books to fill with more information. 

I picked the most recent-looking one from the shelf opened it to the most recent page. I recognized the handwriting immediately as my father's. I began to read what he had written, scared of what I would find and yet too curious to stop.

December 5th, 1901 | 7 P.M.

After so many times, she refuses to listen to me. I don't understand what's wrong with her. She was supposed to be genetically perfect to Sabrina, an exact copy. Then again, neither is her older sister Haley, who's older by 5 minutes. She's the first attempt: sweet girl, but hates violence. On the other hand., Harmony seems to be the complete opposite. She throws tantrums, bites my ankle, and craves flesh above everything else. She doesn't like that last one though, as to she has no control over it and believed she could kill her siblings if it gets too strong.

I opened another page, with more entries. These were 5 years before the one I just read.

December 12th, 1896

I miss Mavis so much. She would know what to do about these -clones- children. After all, they are her children. I am in no condition to raise 3 kids, I couldn't even help Delilah before she got ill. So what chances do I have?

I suspect that I've gone insane and developed an acute case of paranoia. When Harmony first woke up, her eyes were red like blood, and they were filled with sadness, almost like her mom's. She was already hungry, and wanted something to eat, but human food satisfies her hunger by 75%, sometimes, she'll want something else.. She couldn't speak, either. She never could. All she could do is cry and make noises. Eventually, her eyes reverted to brown.

All she ever did between sessions was play with her only doll, and I swear, that thing moves sometimes. One minute, it's back will be facing me, I turn around, and it's staring directly at me, with near-malicious intent in it's lifeless, black, beady eyes.

Further testing is required, but I'm not sure I should be the one to run them. I need a new perspective, but if anyone else found out about what I'm doing, I'd never finish my tests. I guess I should just keep going as-is.

February 2nd, 1900

To state the obvious, getting bitten is not fun, especially on your ankle by an extremely small toddler who only wants to play. Julian (Harmony and Haley's oldest sibling) and I agreed to nickname Harmony "Ankle-Biter". It fits. One of these days, she'll end up biting my entire foot off. I may terminate the experiment if it comes to that, but I don't think I have the materials to start over. I guess I'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Though Julian will try his hardest to protect his baby sister if I decide to do that. He thinks that there is nothing wrong with her.

February 4th, 1900

There's something wrong. I felt a presence I have not felt for a long time. Just to be certain, I ran a black light over my journal, and found hidden messages among the old blood stains. One was written in the Ceaser Cypher code, and it wasn't all that hard to decipher. The message it contained still startled me, as any proper death threat should. The message said, "One more time, you defy me. Now hear this, mortal, you will not go back on our deal, I left a warning somewhere, in someone, I suggest you find it before it finds you. I'll be seeing you soon..."

I became confused. This entity gave my father an ultimatum, but the police were the ones to take him away. There had to have been something else. I looked around, grabbing journals off the shelf and putting them in a stack on the table. Once I was convinced I had grabbed them all, I began to study every little note and message, black light and all, to try and figure out what happened. Every single page was covered in hidden messages, most in code, some in normal English. I had no time to decipher them, but others were simple enough that I could decipher them in my head. Needless to say, I didn't like what I found.

While looking through the journals, I heard the thud of the front door closing and the footsteps of two intruders. They began to head for the stairs, and I naturally panicked as soon as I realized where they were going. I hid in one of the spaces between the shelves, trying my hardest to blend in against the dark, grey stone of the walls as the intruders header downstairs. I heard a female's voice call out, "Delilah? You down here?" I stayed perfectly still and silent, hoping that would be enough to make me stealthy enough to be unnoticed. "C'mon," the voice called out again, "what are ya, scared of-" The person was cut off by someone else, another female. "Harmony, that isn't gonna help."

"Like you and coffee," the first voice quickly replied, "it won't keep you awake forever and sometimes, it doesn't help your thirst."

"OK smarta**," the other voice growled. "It's still the only thing that is easy to find, easy to make, not to mention that it tastes AMAZING."

"Yeah," the first voice retorted, "it's decent AFTER thirty creamers and about a hundred sugars. Trust me, if you want energy, hot cocoa is the way to go, especially the stuff Felix makes! I have no idea what he puts in it, but it's AMAZING!"

I peeked out and saw two females. One was shorter compared to the other, with void-black hair, emerald green eyes, and a pale complexion to rival sour cream. She wore dark clothing from head to toe, like she was trying her best to cosplay as Johnny Cash. The other was average size, with golden hair, fair skin, brown eyes, and wearing a red shirt with jeans and black running shoes.

The short one HAD to be Harmony, the other one, I'm not too sure of. The dark-haired one spotted me almost immediately, locking her eyes with mine. "There you are," she greeted. "We've been looking for ya." The other one finished off a cup of coffee before tossing it into the open cell, turning towards me and noticing that I was poorly hidden between two shelves. She almost crouched down, as though addressing a child, and calmly called out, "Come out, we aren't gonna hurt ya." I slowly exited my hiding space and asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?" The two looked at each other for a minute, and then back at me. The short one replied, "Considering the fact that you have both my uncle's journals, you probably know my name. But you probably don't know my stepsister, Zara." Short one's Harmony. Tall one's Zara. I nodded to show my understanding.

Zara rose back to a standing position, bearing a relaxed posture that contrasted against Harmony's calm yet twitchy stance, like she was experiencing a constant sugar rush, I also noticed her head, shoulder, and hand ticking and twitching constantly. "I'm guessing you're Delilah, Henrick's daughter." Harmony noted. I nodded. "Oh great, that means we're cousins, as if we didn't have enough of those," Zara sarcastically joked. The statement was immediately met with an elbow to the stomach delivered by Harmony. "We're here to take you to go see your father." Harmony said.

"He's alive?" I asked. Harmony's energy seemed to drain as she slowly looked down at her feet. She took a deep breath before stating, "Yes, but... I can't say what happened to him. You need to see him for yourself."

An hour later, I was staring at my father's mauled body, covered head to toe in stitches and bandages. He was struggling to breathe, and his blood was pumped by a machine that made a soft hum as it worked. Standing by the bed and looking over the machines was a man in a lab coat, with silver hair and electric-blue eyes and fair skin. He looked to be twice as tall as Harmony, but I knew better than to make that presumption. After taking a few readings, he turned to us, revealing his kind eyes that seemed to glow with blue light. He approached us, and solemnly announced, "He's made progress, but it hasn't been much since the incident. I'll let you have a moment alone."

He exited the room, giving Harmony a look of disappointment and disapproval, which seemed to prompt her to follow him with annoyance.I walked to the side of his bed, gently reaching for his scarred hand and grasping it. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up to figure out who was holding his hand. I pressed my other hand on his chest, keeping him down. "You shouldn't strain yourself," I advised. "You don't look too well, and you should be focused on regaining your strength."

Henrick weakly nodded, and asked with a raspy voice, "Who are you?"

I felt an urge to cry, to hold him close and let my tears soak his faded orange jumpsuit. I fought it but sobbed as I replied, "It's me, Delilah."

Henrick's eyes widened with realization, and the hand I held tightened its grip. I wanted so badly to hug him, but I knew he wasn't strong enough for that. He was already tearing up, letting his emotions run down his face like a waterfall.

My father spoke again, getting choked up, "Delilah.. Is it actually you, my baby girl...?" I smiled a little, replying, "Yes, it's me." He smiled a greater smile than he had ever wore on his face. He laughed and cried at the same time, overcome with joy at the sound of a new reason to live. I gave in to the temptation to hug him and was surprised that he didn't fall apart. He hugged back with newfound strength, holding me close to his damaged heart.

"Dad," I asked, "what happened to you?"

He spaced out for a moment, asking, "What do you mean? Why did I disappear, or why do I look like... Well, Frankenstein's monster?"

"The latter."

He thought for a moment, then his brow furled, and his free hand clenched into a fist. "That... You weren't told?" I shook my head. He growled, "Why don't you ask your cousin, Harmony?" I hugged him again, hoping to calm him down. He relaxed, lying in the hospital bed like a defeated warrior. I gently kissed his forehead before I left. I turned to Zara, asking, "Where is Harmony?" She pointed down the hall, and I made my way down the hall.

Not even a minute into the journey, I heard arguing. As I got closer, I could tell who was arguing: Harmony and the man who was checking Henrick earlier. It seemed to be escalating, so I kept out of sight and listened to what they were saying.

"Twenty-eight stab wounds, fifty lacerations, and three times as many contusions! What in Solaria's name do you have to say for yourself?!"

"You KNOW what he's done to me, Felix! Just be lucky he's even alive! If I wasn't holding back, he'd be already dead and in worse condition than what he's in now."

"That's the problem: You have NO self-control, and no regard for human life!"

"HE'S ABUSED ME EVER SINCE I WAS CREATED! Do you really think I'm going to ever going to forgive him for what HE'S DONE TO ME?! TO HALEY! TO MY OWN MOTHER! HE DESERVED IT!"

"I'm not expecting you to forgive him, and I understand your pain, but it's no excuse to turn a man into a hamburger! If he deserved anything, it would've been dealt to him by either a judge or . You're not a judge, or jury or executioner, and yet you act as all three at once! That is no way for a sentient, civilized, human being to act!"

Zara used telekinesis to pin the two to opposite walls. "Enough fighting you two. You both have good points. But may I remind you, Felix, that Henrick is a sadistic man, but there can be some hope for him now his daughter is back. Harmony had every right to do it. After all, I've watched all of it, EVERY SINGLE TIME he's beat her, whipped her, experimented and tortured her. It's enough to make Lucifer scared."

Felix held himself back from laughing. "Such an obvious demonstration of how little you know about what lays beyond the mortal coil. Nevertheless, you've addressed what you think I'm wrong about, yet you say we both had good points." Silence fell upon the room for a moment. "I'm waiting," Felix taunted.

"DON'T MAKE ME STRANGLE YOU." Zara's eyes went from calm, to furious and they turned black like the void.

"Calm down," Felix commanded. "You don't want to p*ss me off. You won't like it when I'm angry."

"Since when did you have the authority to give me orders?"

"Zara, I'm a hundred years older than your father is. I'm pretty sure experience outranks everything in this matter."(References galore in this so be prepared XD)

"I highly doubt it." She smirked, her eyes reverting back to normal. Felix sighed, shaking his head. "Whatever. We're already WAY off track about what we were talking about."

Zara released her telekinesis, and Harmony fell to her knees, she tried to stand but ended up collapsing again. Felix gently picked her up, holding her in his arms the way a man would carry a bride. I was able to compare their heights, and Harmony looked like she was around 4'7 at the most, but for Felix, I couldn't tell. He sighed once more, muttering something about something being "complicated."

"So," Felix asked, "How did the patient react to our guest?"

"He started crying, he hasn't seen his daughter since she was 5 months old." Zara replied.

Felix nodded. "And now she's... what, y'all's age now?"

Zara replied, "Anna's age, but yeah. Guess you can say that."

Felix thought for a moment, trying to grasp the fact that my father missed the opportunity to watch me grow up. "That's truly awful," he finally concluded. "However, I can't do anything to help them stay together. The government wants Henrick to serve his time in a cell, not the rehab center. And before you ask, no, I can't change their minds." Zara replied, "Del will try to convince them to let her stay with her father for the night. I don't know if they'll let her."

Felix shook his head. "I've got a lot of influence in the government, like Kobaltic and Kalia do. If they said no to me, they'll say no to her. It's out of our hands now."

A look of annoyance appeared on Zara's face. Harmony, on the other hand, was a bit out of it like she was experiencing a sugar crash, even though she was never on a sugar rush to begin with. Felix gently set her down on a nearby table and announced, "I'm going to check on Henrick again. After that... I might try to get the government to let his daughter visit him every so often. I'm not sure about their policy about that, but I know that it's 12 hours a week for the rehab center. Maybe they have a similar policy." Zara went quiet for a second, remembering something. I could barely see a tear form in her eye. I quietly returned to the room where my father was.

He seemed to have calmed down more since I left, completely relaxing his entire body and nearly entering into a nap, yet still remaining conscious enough to understand what's going on. I went back over to him and gently held his hand, but for some reason, a wave of sadness hit me and my eyes started to well up with tears.

"Did she tell you?" my father asked. I replied, "...I heard their conversation... I pretty much got the gist of what happened. I'm sorry, but in a way, you deserved it. I know what you've been doing to Harmony. I read your journals and I saw the cell. You abused her. She was only a child back then! And now, you need to apologize for what you did to her. From what I heard, be glad it was Harmony that got you and not Aunt Mavis. Otherwise, you WOULD be dead for hurting her." His eyes widened in fear, more tears started flowing down his face. His heart rate started dropping, I panicked and Felix rushed in here to help keep him stable.

As soon as Felix stabilized my father, he sat down in a nearby chair and sighed, holding his head in his hands. "Do you have any idea what you almost did, Delilah?" I stayed silent and hung my head down. "It.. wasn't her fault.. Don't blame... her.." My father managed to get out, "I'm getting old...You didn't have to... do this.. After what I did.... To your wife..." Harmony is his wife? I guess that makes more sense.

Felix shook his head. "It's my duty to protect and preserve sentient life. Although you've taken a dark path, you're no different. Your judgement will come, but I'll burn in H*ll before I refuse to help someone." I stayed quiet, tears forming in my eyes. "Delilah..." my father said to me. "Don't...cry..." I could see Zara watching us from the door, sipping on another cup of coffee. At this point, I'm not surprised, though I think she should lay off the coffee for a while and drink something else.

After my father fell asleep, Felix brought me out of the room and suggested that everyone should go home. Zara already left and Harmony rushed home to go check on their kids. But me.. I just wanted to be with my father. That's all I want right now aside from him recovering faster and getting out of here. I stayed in his room and sat in a nearby chair, keeping an eye on him. Honestly, I don't know how many years have passed since I last saw my father, but I'm glad he's alright and that we're together again.