Lily's Potential

Enjoying the nice Sunday afternoon weather, Lily quietly walks around the estate alone since Ethan is having a meeting with Lucario and Ryan is meeting with the new security detail. It's been a while since Lily has had some time to herself, so she takes full advantage of it. In the middle of her walk, she sees the flower garden with the newly budding Lilies coming out, so she runs over to it.

"Hi, little flowers," Lily greets as soon as she makes it to the flower garden. "You have grown a lot since I planted you guys a couple of weeks ago. Isn't my new home such a nice place? There's a lot of space so that you guys can grow as big as possible."

Pausing for a second to take in the nice gentle breeze, Lily thinks about how she wants to grow up. She wants to be strong like her father but nice like Billy. She's aware of the bad things that they do no matter how hard they try to hide it. She also knows that she might have to do that when she gets older. Because regardless of how small she is, Lily has come to the point where she can no longer think like a child.

As she learns and experiences things on the estate, she begins to realize the terrors that her grandfather has done to her. She begins to realize that she was abused and neglected. Nonetheless, she also begins to realize that she is stronger than she realizes because she was able to survive in that environment despite her small size. She doesn't ever want to be abused or taken advantage of again which means that she knows, sooner or later, she will have to become a mean person.

She has grown mature too fast. Even so, Lily recognizes the effort that everyone on the estate puts in to keep the bad things out so that she can still smile and laugh like a kid which is why she does her best to pretend that the Guest House isn't a bad place. The scary sight of her father coming out of the Guest House with blood stains on his shirt before he changed for her adoption remains in the back of her head every time she catches a glimpse of the house because she understands that that place is not for her to go into right now.

Worn out from thinking so hard, Lily takes a seat in the shade next to the flower garden and closes her eyes, accidentally falling asleep. A couple of hours later, she hears the shouts of people yelling her name, so she wakes up and notices that the sun is almost done setting as the sky paints an orangish blue.

Lily smiles to herself as she listens to the numerous people searching for her. Before she came to the estate, no one has ever called her name. Now, she has a family of people who will always call for her and make sure she's safe.

"I'm over here!" Lily shouts after standing up from her napping spot. Running out into the setting sun, Lily shows everyone that she's alright, and the swarm of men who were nearby come dashing to her side, grateful that she isn't hurt.

—

At the same time in Lucario's office…

Ethan stands dumbfounded in front of Lucario's desk after hearing the idea he came up with. "You think that the various organizations around the world will want to join hands with Lily just because she is the next leader of the organization?"

Leaning back in his chair, Lucario crosses his arms. "Lily has the ability to attract people to her side. Of course, I will never force her to do something she wouldn't like. I will only do this if she agrees to it."

The seven year old child shakes his head while taking his seat. "Are you just using me as an excuse to get back at the Johnsons since they might have something to do with Lily's assassination? Is that the reason why you are allowing me to stay next to Lily?"

"What if I say that I am?"

Lucario's immediate question shuts Ethan's mouth up. In utter disbelief, Ethan sets a hand over his face. "If it's for Lily, then I guess it's okay."

"What do you mean by that? What is Lily for you?"

Ethan clasps his hands together and looks down at the ground. "Lily… I see Lily as someone to protect… I guess since I couldn't save my sister, I could protect Lily… Am I being selfish?"

"But why does it have to be Lily in particular? There were probably plenty of other little girls that you could have saved between when your sister died to right before meeting Lily."

"I'm not sure," Ethan responds, looking Lucario straight in the eyes. "I guess you could say that I was drawn to her for some reason. Something radiant about her pulled me in to help her."

Narrowing his eyes, Lucario stares at the child in front of him. "So you see my point," he finally remarks after standing up from his chair. "Out of all of the children, Lily was the one you were drawn to to save and protect from Jeremy's bullying. This natural ability that Lily has can be used to her advantage as she gets older."

Lucario walks over to the little boy and looms over him. "I will use you as I please, now that you are under my organization's protection. Your connection to the Johnson's will let me get rid of that Jeremy kid from hurting or insulting my daughter. Once Lily gets older, Lily will use you as she pleases, so don't think about getting too close to her no matter how drawn to her you feel. I will snap your legs in half if you try to do anything that you aren't ordered to do."

"Of course, I won't," Ethan defends, standing his ground. "I will perform my role as the organization's tool and Lily's right-hand man."

—

"Lily! Your stance is wrong!"

"I'll fix it, Father!"

"Ethan! Don't go easy on Lily! You must fight to win!"

"Understood, Mr. Lucario!"

In their first mock fight, Lily and Ethan practice everything that they have been taught this past week. Even though she is still smaller than Ethan, Lily manages to land decent hits on her sparring partner and dodge well enough to not get too hurt. Ethan, on the other hand, does his best not to go easy on Lily. He knows that he must fight her properly in order for her to improve her skills, but there's a part of him that doesn't want to hurt her.

"Stop!" Lucario shouts before separating the children. "Let's end the match. Take a break and then we'll-"

"No," Lily interrupts, heavily breathing. "I almost got it, Father. Can we fight one more time?"

Lucario winces everytime he hears Lily call him "Father". He understands Lily's reasoning since right now they are teacher and student and not father and daughter, so she has to be more formal with him. Yet, he doesn't like that it sounds as if Lily is maturing quickly and growing out of her "Daddy" phase despite being assured time and time again that she'll never grow out of it.

"Lily, if you continue fighting in the condition you are now, you are only going to end up hurting yourself," Lucario explains, tossing a towel over Lily's head. "Take a quick break and then we'll start back up again. It's good to see that you want to improve quickly, but as your father, I don't want to see you get hurt due to adrenaline-filled practice."

Waving her hand about to find her father, Lily uses her other hand to dry her face. "Yes, Daddy," Lily complies after her father picks her up and sets her on the bench next to Ethan.

"That's a good girl."

Watching the conversation next to him, Ethan tightens his grip on the water bottle. He can feel it. His body is getting sore where Lily keeps punching him. She has gained a lot of strength compared to how she used to playfully hit him at school. "Lily is improving at a fast pace," Ethan comments, smiling at Lily. "With how fast she can learn things, she'll be a great leader in the future."