His Wants vs Her Needs

Shortly after lunch that same day, Lily follows her father to his office instead of going to her playroom where Ethan waits for her. Noticing this, he holds the door open for Lily and invites her inside.

"Is there something you want to talk to me about?" Lucario immediately asks after bringing her a milk box from the minifridge behind his desk. "You normally go to your playroom after lunch. Is something the matter?"

Taking a few sips from her milk box, Lily stares quietly at the table while her father takes his seat at his desk. It isn't long until Lily shifts her focus to Lucario. "Daddy, can I ask you something?"

For the very first time, Lucario hears his daughter ask for something, so he immediately stops everything he's doing. "Sure, baby girl. You can ask me anything."

"Will I be in danger now?"

A blank stare wipes across Lucario's face as he hears a worry come from his daughter's mouth. "Who… who said that you'll be in danger now?"

"I accidentally overheard you, Billy, and Ryan talking about how the people we talked to the other day agreed to partner with you." Lily hesitantly glances up at Lucario through her ringlets when she sees her father squinting his eyes harshly at his desk. "Are you mad?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad, baby girl?" Lucario swiftly asks, giving Lily his full attention. 

"Because your face is red and looks like it will burst…"

Lucario swipes his face with his large hand then stands from his chair. "I could never be mad at you, Lily," he reassures as he sits down next to Lily. "It's just that I didn't think you would fear being in danger so quickly. You have Ethan and Ryan by your side. You also have Henry and all of the other guys who are protecting you everywhere you go."

"But…" Lily stops mid sentence as she tries to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. She knows that she's well protected. She knows that danger should be the last thought on her mind. Even so, she can't shake the itchy feeling from her chest.

Lucario senses Lily's apprehension, so he reaches over to give her a hug, but he's stopped by a dime-sized hand on his chest. He begins to open his mouth to say something, but Lily suddenly gazes right into Lucario's eyes which shocks him into silence.

"Father, I want to increase my training."

Words that he never thought he would hear so early slips through Lily's mouth as if it is a matter of fact.

"What are you talking about, Lily?" Lucario tries to ask, eyes wanting some sort of clarification.

Lily stands up from the chair and crosses her arms without ever breaking eye contact with her father. "I want to increase my training," she repeats but bolder this time. "I want to become stronger now. People won't wait for me to get older to try and come after me."

Frozen, Lucario can't seem to break away from Lily's gaze. "How do you know all of this? Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"I hear everything, Daddy," Lily explains, softening her gaze. "Everyone talks about everything around me, assuming that I don't understand, but I do. I know that I'm a child, but I am a child who is old enough and capable of understanding what is being said around me."

Dropping his shoulders, Lucario encounters a defeat in his life that he never expected. He wanted Lily to stay a child for as long as possible, but he's realizing that it's proving impossible. Or rather, he knew it would be impossible, but he continued to deny it. "I just want you to live the childhood that I never got before you have to learn about how scary the real world is," he mumbles out of desperation.

"I can still live my childhood because I'm still a child. I have Billy and my classmates at school. I have all of the guys here who play with me when they have time. I have my father who loves me dearly. That's my childhood. It's just gonna be a bit different than a normal child's."

Shaking his head, Lucario pulls his daughter into his arms and sets her on top of his stomach while still hugging her as he lays down on the couch. With one arm hugged tightly around his daughter, the other covers his eyes to hide his swelling tears. "I just wanted you to be a normal kid until you got older. I wanted to hide the ugliness of this world from you as much as possible. I wanted you to only think about happy things. I was going to slowly show you the world so that it wouldn't be a shock to you. I didn't want to rush you like my father did with me."

Lily hears the cracks in her father's voice as she lays her head on his chest. Reaching over, Lily slips her pebble of a hand into Lucario's to which he grasps on to the twig-like fingers. "You and I both knew that that wasn't going to happen the moment we decided that I will be the leader of this family when I get older."

"I'm so sorry, Lily."

"It's okay, Daddy. I know that we can get through it together. Slowly."

—

"Are you telling me to cause injury to Lily?!" Ethan yells, clenching his fists at his sides.

"You saw it this morning, too," Lucario defends as he crosses his arms. "Lily isn't going to be an ordinary person growing up. She is going to be doing something special as she gets older, which also means that she will be encountering more harm towards her."

"But I thought you said that no one will be messing with Lily now that the Meyling Food Court is joining her side?"

Clicking his tongue, Lucario flicks Ethan's forehead. "The Meyling Food Court and the Buenavista Family can only do so much to protect Lily," Lucario lectures, shaking his head. "We may be strong, but we can be overpowered if multiple groups come at us at one time. We have to plan far in advance for Lily's safety which means that, starting as soon as possible, Lily's training has to be intensified."

"Did you even ask Lily if she wanted to increase her training? Does she understand that she will get hurt more often with this new training regime?!"

Lucario observes Ethan's reaction to this. Ethan's clenched fists. His worried gaze hidden behind his protective anger. His impatient stance. Lucario understands. As much as he wants to discipline Ethan for speaking out against his orders, Lucario knows that Ethan will be the only one to go against him if it were for Lily's safety which is why he has Ethan by Lily's side to make sure that he isn't doing something that could possibly hurt Lily.

"You're asking me about something that Lily requested for herself," Lucario finally reveals with a long sigh.

Surprised, Ethan takes a step back. "What… what do you mean? Lily is the one asking for her training to increase? Why… why would she do something like that?"

"Lily asked me to convince you without letting you know that she requested it because she knew that you would try to talk her out of it," Lucario explains as he leans against his desk. "She wants to become stronger to protect herself now that she has been officially recognized by Mammon and the Meyling Food Court. She understands that there are eyes watching her and that they aren't all good eyes."

"But she's just seven! She shouldn't be so mature at such a young age to the point that she's aware that there are people out there watching her with such intent!" Ethan paces back and forth, trying to wrap his head around the situation. "Lily's just a child!"

"So are you and look at where you stand!" Lucario shouts before thinking.

Taking a step back, Lucario slows his breath then clears his throat. "Lily is a child who is absorbing things at a faster rate than you think," he starts to explain. "Have you not noticed it yet? She's changed tremendously since she first came here and especially after becoming friends with you. It's at a dangerous rate, but it's still change. I always knew that Lily was different with how she handled her past, but she's exceeding expectations and milestones faster than they are appearing."

Ethan knows that it's true. At her academics. At her martial arts practices. At her extracurriculars. There's nothing that Lily has done that she has failed at. She immediately picks things up as quickly as it's thrown at her with very little struggle.

"Fine," Ethan groans. "If this is something that Lily wants, then I can't go against it even if I want to. How far am I allowed to go with Lily regarding her training?"

"I've already told Billy and Ryan what to do. Your role is to never give Lily an opportunity to beat you. Even if it takes ripping your heart apart, you must always be stronger than Lily. This is for her protection and yours."

"What do you mean for my protection?" Ethan asks, a bit baffled by the sudden advice.

With a scoff, Lucario opens the door to his office. "You've seen the results of the practice she's been doing by herself. It doesn't matter if she's pretending to be mean and tough or if she's actually going to turn out that way. She's going to become the fiercest beast this family has ever seen whether she realizes it or not. If you want to survive when that happens, you have to be strong enough to handle the crazy orders she might give you."

—

Sitting around the dinner table, Lily, Lucario, and Ethan enjoy the dinner prepared for them. Lucario is handling some last minute emails. Ethan is wiping steak sauce from Lily's cheek. Lily is happily chewing her food with bandaids on her face.

Amidst the silence, Ryan comes running into the dining room bearing a letter in hand. "Father Lucario, the Meyling Food Court has sent someone to be assigned as Miss Lily's guard," he quickly announces between each heaving breath.