Chapter Text
“Good night, Dr. Forger!”
“Good night,”
Anya feigned a smile as she exited the hospital. Once the cool air from outside hit her face, her lips turned into a frown.
Today marked 15 years. 15 years since the famed Agent Twilight passed away.
It was hard to believe that Operation Strix had ended, let alone in the manner it ended in. Now at 27, Anya had followed in her father’s footsteps; become a WISE agent and work as a psychiatrist for her day cover. Her fiancée Damian knew none the wiser as her mother did all those years ago. It was cathartic in a way-living the life her father lived almost to a tee.
She, Agent Starlight, was reputable, but not in the ways Twilight was. She rarely went out to the field; instead she became a go-to medical specialist (not just psychiatry) for WISE. She always questioned her decision to become a genuine doctor, wondering if it were the right call. Her childhood in the lab, surrounded by doctors and scientists haunted her, prodded at the back of her mind with unease with every patient that came under her care. But the fear over her father’s death outweighed her fear of the lab. She wanted to follow in his footsteps but she couldn’t bring herself to go all-the-way.
It ate at her, especially on a day like today.
She looked up at the city lights, decorated for Christmas in the coming weeks.
She wondered what he would think of her now. Proud? Disappointed? Relieved? All of the above? Nothing?
‘Well, I’m certain the last isn’t true’. He would certainly feel something over these developments. The Forger family had become real after all.
Operation Strix came to a close when Anya was 12. By that point, the secrets between the family had already been revealed for 3 years. Enough time for Loid to learn how to combat her mind-reading abilities and ensure she wouldn’t be there for the assassination of Donovan Desmond. That ate at her too.
‘I should’ve been there, damn it!’ She’s tempted to punch the brick wall of the apartment building next to her. But she knows better than to draw a crowd, so she keeps her balled-up fist in her pocket.
(She arrives late, Bond in tow, to the crumbled government building. Yor stands outside, trying to cover her face and hide her tears. Medical and emergency rescue personnel surrounded them, trying to unearth the rumble. Anya tries to join in, trying to find some semblance of her father beneath it all but Yor yells at her to stay back, to look away.
Anya ignores her and jumps into the fray, picking up rocks with her bare hands. Yor rushes over and holds her back.
“No Mama! We need to find Papa!”
“No Anya, this is dangerous!” Yor shouts through the tears.
Bond sniffs around and then barks. The two of them look down and Anya swears she sees bits of blond hair and rough fingers peeping through some jagged pieces of bricks.
And Anya screams. Throughout the chaos and madness around them, she screams.)
She and Damian decided to keep their mourning mostly separate this year. For the best, she reasoned. Both their fathers died at the same time, essentially killed by the other. Though Damian still didn’t know the truth-he just assumed Loid was caught in the same building collapse as his own father and remained completely unaware of the reality to this day.
It was tough, dating Damian. When they both returned to school, she couldn’t look him in the eye. She tried to avoid him as much as possible. But Damian understood her grief in a way Becky or the other kids could not. Throughout the rest of their middle and high school years they had grown closer. She figured out in high school that he liked her; it was hard to avoid reading his mind on the subject-he made it very obvious. She played oblivious for as long as she could-she couldn’t deny she had grown to love her Sy-on boy too; they had too good of a chemistry to ignore, played off each other well and understood the other’s loss better than anyone else-but guilt overcame her whenever she thought about dating him.
But when he finally asked her out in senior year she couldn’t say no.
She was grateful their relationship was rather slow. They probably wouldn’t get married for quite some time.
That being said, Damian was going to pick her up later tonight. She had to attend a conference with him early in the morning, so she might as well stay the night at his place.
~//…\\~
When she entered her home the first sight she was met with was her mother and Yuri sitting on the couch.
“About time you showed up,” Yuri said trying to be gruff, but it was clear he didn’t mean it. From their positions it looked like he was comforting Yor with his hand on her back. “What? Your rich boyfriend didn’t pick you up today?”
“Fiancée, Uncle Yuri.” Anya reminded him as she took her coat off. “And no, I decided to walk home.”
“O-oh dear,” Yor finally turned to greet her. Her eyes were teary and the tissue she was holding was wet. “In this weather too…let me get some tea to warm you up.” She was about to stand but Yuri beat her to the punch.
“I’ll do it Yor, you sit here and take it easy.” Yuri quickly entered the kitchen while shooting a look at Anya.
She got the message loud and clear and after taking her shoes off, took a seat next to Yor. Bond was at the foot of the couch and nuzzled Anya’s legs when sat. She petted him, even years later Bond’s fur was still thick and full as when they first got him. Anya sometimes wondered if he were immortal-it felt like he hadn’t aged a day.
“Look at what Franky brought earlier today,” Yor’s voice startled her. She could hear the crack in her voice but Yor still tried to keep it leveled. Anya looked at the center table and there was small gift basket: a mug, two boxes of expensive assorted chocolates, a bag of coffee beans, and some flowers.
Anya took one of the boxes and opened it. After popping one chocolate she nodded. “Very good, just like he said it would be.”
“Hm?” Yor tilted her head confused.
“Uncle Scruffy called me from the airport earlier today. He told me he dropped some good chocolate off at home.”
(“Sorry I couldn’t reschedule this trip, kiddo.” Franky said from the other end of the phone.
“It’s fine,” Anya responded. “Can’t revolve your life around me and Mama forever. I’m old enough to take care of myself-I’m engaged now you know!”
“Heh, sure you are, but you’re still a little peanut to me.” He responded cheekily. “And I’ll have you know I’m not ‘revolving’, I’m supporting!”)
“Ah,” Yor nodded silently and then weakly laughed. “I was going to tell you to open the other box. That’s all peanut butter chocolate.”
“Really?” Anya couldn’t stop her eyes from sparkling. Even now she still liked peanuts, no matter what form they took.
“Oi, wait till the tea is ready!” Yuri called from the kitchen. And then she saw his annoyed head poke out from behind the door frame. “Did you even eat dinner yet?”
“Ehehe…no…”
Sighing, Yuri went back inside to heat up some left overs for her.
Anya turned back to her mother. Edging 50, Yor still looked beautiful as ever. Her face was slightly wrinkled and her hair was still long and sleek, but her tired, worn expression made her feel even older. She’d clearly been crying for some time today, which definitely stuck out to Anya. She enveloped her in a hug.
For the first few years without Loid, it had been difficult. Sometimes Anya would come home from school to find Yor in the bedroom keeping her tears to herself. Times like that reminded Anya how real her family had become. Years of reading her parents thoughts about ‘faking it for the mission’ slowly turned into thinly-veiled attempts of denial and once their secrets were exposed, it blew all their emotions open.
Yor and Loid had become united fighting front-even managing to unite WISE and the Garden. It was all so perfect, idealistic even, but a little-too-perfect now that she looked back on it. From there she thought everything would go well regarding Operation Strix. Her own friendship with Damian had been growing stronger and soon, Loid had managed to land that spot to meet with Donovan Desmond. The father of a close friend of his son and esteemed psychiatrist, Donovan had grown interested in meeting to discuss about the health ministry, along with the countries other top leading doctors. There was an after-party, where the spouses of everyone were invited.
And then…and then-
“I was…” Yor sniffled into Anya’s shoulder. “I was thinking about how you just got engaged. H-how you’re going to get married soon…” She clutches Anya tighter. “How Loid is-is going to miss all of this, how he’s missed you growing up…”
“Ma…” She’s thought of this too. During her driving test, her senior dance, graduation from high school and college, first job interview, first mission…As a child she thought Loid was invincible. Even with Bond’s predictions of disaster, she always thought he would jump back from it like it was nothing and it would all be okay. That he would be there and help her through all these life-changing events, watch her live a normal life of peace that he wanted.
“He’d be so proud of you, Anya…!”
Ah. Maybe that’s what she needed to hear.
She feels her eyes start to water, and damn it, she hasn’t cried seriously in ages. Keeping her sadness to herself to be strong when Yor could not…
For the past few years, the anniversary of Loid’s passing had been quiet affairs. Just silence from everyone in the Forger household. But with life moving on and Anya growing up, it weighed on Yor even more. Thinking of the 6 years of marriage she had with Loid, that even though they found out the truth about each other during the final half, it felt like she had grown incredibly close to him. She could finally say she found a partner that truly understood and accepted her.
Anya crumples in her mother’s embrace and sobs.