Alone Again [COMPLETE]

Chapter 3

The following days after Ozzie's had gone by in a blur for Stolas.

He hadn't had any royal duties to fulfill, no Stella or Octavia around the house (as they were still off on their vacation), and... No Blitzo. He hadn't spoken to the imp since their sort-of fight outside of the mansion, and the thought of it made the owl slightly nauseous. He loved that imp to death (metaphorically), and now he was suffering for it because he hadn't communicated properly.

Even after his wife and daughter returned, Stolas was still constantly depressed. And, apart from the occasionally fight with Stella or small talk with his kid, there was still nothing to do. He resorted to just hiding himself away in one of the spare rooms to sulk, not that his wife seemed to care in the slightest about his absence.

Octavia noticed though.

After the third day of being back at the mansion and not seeing her father apart from short glimpses, she decided to say something. Even if she couldn't help him in whatever he was going through, she needed some sort of explanation. Cause if she didn't get one soon, her mind would begin to fill in the gaps for her and that could not end well.

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"Dad?" she said cautiously as she entered the spare room. It was hard to see her father- the man she looked up to- like this. He was just curled up on the small sofa, in his robe, eating cereal and watching some random, shitty soap opera. His expression was void of any strong emotion, and he was very still. For one, scary moment, she thought he was dead (if that was even possible considering where they lived), but the slow rise and fall of his exposed chest confirmed that this was not the case.

"Hey" she said gently, finally getting his attention. Upon realizing who was speaking to him, Stolas quickly put on a small, forced smile. "Via, darling" he said, hoping he could sound happy enough to not get her too suspicious. A little to late for the act Octavia thought to herself as she solemnly stared down at him.

"Dad, what happened while me and mum were away?" she asked bluntly. Might as well just go for it, right? Stolas dropped his gaze away from her and looked back at the television. "Nothing happened, little one" the prince lied. It would have actually been amusing- the fact that he really thought that she'd believe that- but his depressed tone of speaking eliminated whatever humor could've been derived from the situation.

"Was it with that red guy?" Octavia guessed. It seemed like Blitzo was the only person that Stolas ever talked about nowadays anyway, so it was a good possibility. "Yes, Via" Stolas replied, not seeing a point in lying any further since clearly she was gonna figure it out anyways. Still, he didn't want to shove his problems on her. She was his daughter, not his therapist. "But, you don't need to worry about that, okay? I'm fine"

"If you're fine, then why have you been curled up in here for the past three days?" Octavia countered, not allowing him to weasel out of this conversation. "I was honestly really looking forward to seeing you again cause mum..." she trailed off, not finishing that sentence. Last thing she wanted to do was upset her father more by making him aware of how bad her and Stella's relationship had gotten. "I missed you" she said instead. "But, you've just been holed up in here the whole time and I barely get to see you"

"I'm sorry, Via" Stolas said, a bit of emotion cracking through. Guilt.

"I've been..." Stolas took a deep breath, trying to will himself not to cry to no avail. "Blitzo kind of snapped at me and it made me realize I... It's fine, I..." he was full on crying now, for the first time since right after Blitzo had drove off. Octavia wasn't entirely sure of what to do, so she simply wrapped her arms around him, allowing him to cry.

"Look, I'll make it up to you" Stolas said after the tears had finally gone away. "Let's go out somewhere. Your choice" he gave Octavia a small smile. She nodded, returning the expression.

"I'd like that"