It was great travelling home with dad, I could feel this excitement growing with each day we travelled. One step closer to bringing mum and dad back together, a part of me couldn’t help but wonder if mum had known all along what would happen to dad and the question had been growing the last two days.

“Dad.” I began staring into the distance as Cathopia was now in sight. We’d stopped for a little break; we’d be back by the afternoon.

“What seems to be bothering you?” asked dad.

“Did mum know this was going to happen?” I questioned.

“Your mum sees a lot of things, sometimes she does not know when they will happen, but yes, she knew this would happen, me being sent away, but how long she did not know,” answered dad. “I had hoped it would not have been that long, how I have missed you grow.” He gazed at me.

“Why can’t mum control it?” I asked.

“Will of the individual,” he shrugged. “Not sure, she’s never had much control over it, the visions happen, that’s all there is to it,” smiled dad. “But I have a feeling you will control it much better than her, you are more powerful than you give yourself credit for, even now, just trust yourself, your talismans will guide you.”

“Thanks dad.”

Within the next few hours, we had made it back to Cathopia. I could hear dad sighing and saw him gazing at the city as if he had never seen it before, he had truly missed his home.

“Yamato, is that you.” Someone called surprised to see him.

“Yeah, I’m back.” He gave a wave and we continued.

A lot of the knights stopped what they were doing and stood at attention at the simple sight of him, he had been gone this long but still held the respect of everyone within the city. Sure, dad felt proud of me, but I felt proud of him to, proud he was my dad.

“Alright guys,” I said reaching outside the castle. “Everyone enjoy some time off. I’ll call you for the next mission.” I glanced at Kiba. “Good luck.” I grinned.

Kiba went straight to standing closer to Lin. “Want to get some food.”

“Sure,” she nodded. “Later bro.” She stuck her tongue out.

“Lin,” he snarled.

“Come on dad.” I headed into the castle.

“Coming.” Dad quickly followed.

Walking through the corridors, dad took in deep breaths, breathing in the scents of home, then he stopped at a corridor.

“Dad.” I stopped too, noticing King Alton striding down one of the corridors. He walked straight up to dad. I could see the mist of darkness dancing around him; it had gotten stronger than when I left, perhaps our absence would cause more harm than good.

King Alton stopped in front of him, dad turned to face him, and they gazed at one another for the longest time, then without a word, they reached out their arms, gripping hold of each other,

“I see you haven’t changed,” commented King Alton.

“And you’re still dancing with the darkness,” responded dad. I watched as the dark mist around him faded away into nothing.

“That fills a lot better,” smirked King Alton.

“I can only ward off so much Alton,” said dad.

“I know,” admitted King Alton.

“It won’t be much longer now.” Dad glanced back at me.

“I see,” he nodded, then moved away. “I have a meeting, go to Amora.”

“Be careful Alton, dancing with that Leo is no good for you,” said dad.

“Yeah, yeah.” He raised his hand and shrugged it off, then headed off.

“You never listen to me.” Dad sighed, then turned back to me. “Home.” I nodded.

We headed straight to the bakery. I noticed dad’s walking speed was getting faster, barging through the bakery doors to see mum and Tigra chatting.

“Amora.” Dad spoke her name and the room went quiet.

“Yamato.” Mum rushed around the counter, embracing dad as tightly as she could, perhaps she thought he might disappear again. “Yamato.” She was crying.

“Just as you said, our son brought me home,” smiled dad. I almost gasped, she had known all along.

Tigra came over. “Shall we let them catch up, they have been apart for quite some time.”

“Yeah.” I slowly nodded, gazing fondly at my parents, both home together again.

Both Tigra and I left the bakery together. I felt this overwhelming relief, now dad was back he could help me against the darkness growing within the city.

“Welcome back,” smiled Tigra. “Gone quite some time during that mission.”

“Sorry about that, had to face quite a few challenges,” I responded.

“Quick question, who’s he.” Tigra glanced back at Link who had been following us and I had completely forgotten about him.

“That’s Link, he lived in the village we just came from, since I saved his home, he has pledged his loyalty to me,” I answered. “I’ll give you your orders later, go and have a look around the city, it’ll be your home from now on after all.”

“As you wish,” he nodded and then nervously headed off.

“Wow, loyal to only you, neat,” commented Tigra. “Well, going to tell me about the mission.”

“Sure,” I nodded. She always enjoyed listening to my missions, but first we headed to the usual little café within the city, no one would bother us there.

The thoughts of what Kiba said to me raised in my mind. I gazed at her, I wanted to tell her how I felt but something was stopping me, was it fear or something else.

“Right, this mission.” Tigra sat down with a smile.

“On arrival there were huge thunder clouds, lightning striking all around…”