His expression only grew colder, more contempt, when he was given all he needed to understand just how much damage he had caused with his decision. It hurt him: gutted him empty and scrapped at the walls, but above all else, it made him furious. At himself, at the fact he had to make the decision in the first place. It shouldn’t have been a rare sight to see tears streaming his daughter’s face. He should be used to them by now – he should have been prepared to help make them stop. “I am, and you’re right,” was all he could offer, no matter how much it was worth. A hard, sharp breath is sucked in and Kai is breaking the distance between them. His hand moves to cup the base of her head, palm right below her ear, as he chose to show her just how wrong she and her brother had been. The elder flooded her thoughts with memories; Bonnie showing him photos of the toddler’s first Birthday, Easter Egg Hunt, Christmas. The way he would always try to steal a glance of them when they crossed paths on the street – the times he would literally cloak himself to get better looks. Kai pressing a kiss to Caroline’s hand, who had been crying for what looked like hours, with fresh tears on his own face. Altercations between him and her, him and Enzo. Even his own twin had an opinion on the situation, and they weren’t the prettiest or nicest scenes to think back on. Every heartbroken, bittersweet, dancing-on-the-edge moment he had the last twenty years. The most vivid of them all, however, was him holding the infant Vivienne in the hospital. She hadn’t been in the world more than a few hours, but Kai looked down at her like he known her his whole life. “I love you,” he repeated – even stronger than before – as his hand began to fall. “Please… know that now.” It might’ve been too late, but that didn’t stop him from wanting her to know it wasn’t her fault.
Vivienne noticed his expression, and listened in silence at his apology. The silence that followed had an air of finality to it, and she prepared to leave as there was nothing more to say, but then the gemini closed the gap between them, and she was caught off guard. The instant he touched her she wanted to reject it, his touch black, poisonous, and unwelcome, especially after their brief conversation. She was prepared to pull away, but before the heretic could so much as move memories that weren't hers flooded in, and she found herself frozen in the spot as she experienced them for the first time. The visions were unnerving, because, before, It’d always been easier to accept that the gemini hadn’t cared about her or Nathan, that they were simply forgotten as the heretic lost track of his numerous offspring over the years. Seeing the way he poured over the pictures, savoring the brief glimpses into the lives he couldn’t be apart of ripped her apart on the inside. The stolen glances, all of the almosts, everything that could have changed the course but didn't left her red and raw. Then came the last memory, the one brief moment they’d spent together before everything fell apart and her life without him began. She was only dragged back to reality when he spoke up once more, then she felt his hand fall and the visions faded away with it. The heretic stared at her father silently, still processing everything she’d just witnessed, feeling like a deer in headlights as she faltered trying to come up with something to say. Anything to say. “You…” He’d cared. He’d watched out for them. Being apart had hurt him too. There were so many things she wanted to say, and so many questions she wanted to ask, but all she could think to offer him was a quiet “... I know.”
