Aaron held his daughter carefully against his chest, still afraid that if he moved too much, the moment would somehow disappear.
She was so small and warm, her tiny fingers curled around his as she slept peacefully against him, and the simple weight of her body felt almost painful because he had spent so many years remembering a child who had never been given the chance to exist.
Agnes sat beside him, watching the two of them with a soft smile, and Aaron found himself staring at her for longer than he intended because there had been a time when he could barely remember the exact shape of her face without seeing it covered in blood.
All the parasite aberrant, all of the burden in his heart, all of those responsibilities, all of his dead teammate, and the dark mine were all gone…
Or he wanted them gone. Aaron couldn't differentiate between those two anymore. He just knew that his wife and daughter were real.
