Chapter Text
Loid Forger was dead.
As far as the word was concerned, he'd died in a horrific accident on his way home from work.
As far as his family was concerned, this was true.
As far as the man himself could tell, he wasn't sure it was completely true.
Twilight was used to taking in different identities with ease, and even more used to getting rid of them.
But Loid Forger wasn't going away.
He'd found that incorporating at least a couple of actual facts about himself into his multiple faces made it easier to not get lost between all of them and remember who he was. But before he realized it, too much of himself had leaked into Loid Forger, to the point he no longer could tell who was the fake one between him and Twilight.
And even after the operation was done, his death faked, Loid Forger presumably buried, he wasn't going away.
Twilight would still catch himself walking by a pastry store that happened to have Anya's favorite and have a brief thought of taking some home for her, or walk past a store and catch a glimpse of a dress, thinking it could make a fine gift for his wife. He'd walk past a vet clinic and think about getting treats for Bond, or even walk by a hospital and inevitably wonder how some of his actual patients were doing now.
He’d even lost contact with Franky, he tried working with him once or twice after his fake death, but after that the informant started to suddenly act cold against him, sending him mean glances and always frowning at him. So Twilight stopped personally seeking him out.
He'd always try not to keep track of the days, but would always inevitably end up remembering his wife and daughter's birthdays.
It had been 14 years and Loid still haunted Twilight.
Back when the mission was finally done, the day he went to the Handler to let her know it was over, as he brought up his plan to fake his death, she'd given him a look he could not quite decipher just yet. It seemed like a mix between sadness and… he didn't know.
And once the deed was done, he asked her one last thing.
"No matter what happens to them, don't let me know."
She gave him the same look, but nodded.
And now he was back in her office for yet another assignment. Sylvia had mentioned in passing the idea of retirement, both for her and for him, but Twilight brushed it off. If he wanted to retire, he should have done so when Operation Strixx was over, and the only other route for retirement for a spy could actually catch up to him any day now.
The Handler had definitely aged, although she still looked a beautiful woman. There were wrinkles around her eyes now, and her hair had a couple of gray strands already, but her eyes remained as intelligent and cunning as always.
She greeted Twilight curtly, and that's how he knew this was no ordinary meeting.
"Twilight. The mission you have been assigned is to assist one of our newest agents on a mission."
"So, baby-sitting duty," he deadpanned.
Sylvia's lips pressed together in a tight line.
"I tried to dissuade the higher ups to assign this to another agent, but with most of our senior agents retiring or dying and the lack of well-seasoned agents available, you were the only option left. Something about showing the new generations from one of our best. "
Twilight narrowed his eyes at her. "There's something you're not telling me."
"There is. But you'll have to figure it out on your own while you're on the mission." And there it was, the same look she'd given him all those years ago, directed at him once more.
"Alright."
"The name of the agent you'll be assisting is Chimera. Don't be fooled, she's incredibly smart. You'll know her when you see her. Good luck. Details on the mission will be delivered to you shortly."
Twilight left, and once the door had closed behind him, the Handler breathed a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, Twilight…"
Twilight was intrigued about this mission, but also not thrilled about basically having to play babysitter to some new agent.
The mission itself looked simple enough, he'd had to infiltrate a gala of some multimillionaire man, help agent Chimera to secure important documents from the man's office, and drop it off at the docks an hour away for WISE operatives to take to headquarters.
Infiltrating the gala was simple enough, and soon his eyes were scanning the room, looking for whoever agent Chimera was.
He did a previous sweep of the area, just to memorize the guards shifts patterns and the way the general place was laid out.
His eyes drifted towards the stair that led to the room where the documents laid, looking out for anyone.
Then, suddenly, a young woman approached the stairs, her way of walking light and her step familiar somehow.
She had pretty blonde hair going down to her elbows, and wore a black long dress. She made eye contact with him for a second, and they were both taken back.
Lo-Twilight wasn't expecting for her eyes to be as shiny and bright green as Anya's were.
She recovered first, and hastily turned around and went up the stairs, Twilight stumbling to follow her.
He reached the top of the stairs, not seeing the young woman anywhere, and carefully went around the corner to the room where the documents were. Outside the door an unconscious guard already laid on the ground.
The door to the office was ajar, and he retrieved his gun before stepping inside.
The room was dark and quiet, too quiet. He whirled around, the barrel of his gun crashing against that of the woman.
They both stood still.
"I’m agent Twilight," he said, putting away his gun first. "I was assigned to help you out with this mission."
The woman stayed still for a moment, still pointing her gun at him, before she carefully put it down. It was hard to see her expression through the darkness.
"I know." she said simply, turning around and going for the documents stored behind the painting.
Twilight eyed her carefully, feeling a vague air of familiarity coming from her, but unable to place it.
The woman found the documents and silently handed them to Twilight. He examined them to make sure they were the right ones before nodding and placing them inside a briefcase he found in the room.
Steps were heard coming up the stairs, and in a matter of seconds there were shouts coming from outside.
The woman was already on the move. Somehow, she’d silently made her way to the window and had already cracked it open. She examined the view before nodding to herself and jumping.
Once again, Twilight followed her. She was fast, the view of her black dress gracefully waving with the wind as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop.
Twilight may be getting too old for this.
Bullets started raining at them from behind. Twilight cursed, almost tripping and getting hit. The woman looked back, and that single moment of distraction caused a bullet to graze her thigh.
Suddenly, she was falling down on an alleyway between two houses. Twilight jumped to avoid more bullets and went down to the same place, seeking to help her.
When he reached the ground, time seemed to stop. The woman-no, the girl was sitting on the ground, examining her wound. The pretty blonde hair had fallen from her head, revealing instead a familiar mop of pink hair.
She looked up at Twilight, and their eyes met again.
Inside of him, Loid Forger started to struggle to be let out, screaming he had to help his daughter.
The girl was Anya. Agent Chimera was his daughter.
"Anya…?"
"There’s no time." She cut him off. "They may find us if we stay here, and we have to deliver that briefcase to the docks."
Anya made a face, struggling to get up. The father in him rushed forward without thinking, forcing her to sit back down. "You’re not getting far if you bleed out halfway! The docks are far."
"We’re losing time!" Loid sent her a glare, the same one he’d give her whenever she’d propose putting off studying to watch spy wars. Anya glared back.
"At least stop the bleeding for now."
"It just grazed me!"
"And you're still bleeding! Even if you don't faint from blood loss, you may leave a trail for them to follow us if you're just bleeding everywhere!"
Anya huffed. "Fine!" she snapped, producing a knife from somewhere and swiftly cutting some fabric from her dress. She clicked her tongue, examining the piece of fabric. "Mama just got me this dress…"
Loid froze up halfway through reaching for the piece of fabric. Anya ignored him, tying it around her leg by herself to cover her wound while they could get to the docks.
Anya tried to stand up again, successfully getting Loid to react as he scrambled to help her get up. Anya seemed upset, but didn't refuse his help.
"Does it hurt much to walk?" he asked, worried more about his daughter's well-being than getting caught.
"A little…" she admitted.
Loid hummed, looking towards the end of the alleyway. "Stay here for a second."
He walked towards the exit, peeking into the street and successfully spotting what he needed. He made his way back to Anya, carefully helping her walk.
"I have an idea."
They made their way out of the dark alleyway and into the deserted street. There were cars innocently parked here and there on the street.
Loid ordered Anya to lean against the wall as he approached one of the cars, and in a matter of minutes he managed to open the door and start it.
Loid helped Anya into the car, and they silently made their way over to drop off the documents.
There were a million questions swirling around in Loid's head. After a couple of minutes, Anya rolled her eyes. "Can you not think so loud?"
Loid blinked, slightly startled by her voice.
"I'm sorry, I just…"
Anya interrupted him with a long sigh. "Fine. Mama is doing well, I'm not surprised to see you because I always knew you were alive, and I always knew you were a spy. Bond died a couple of years ago, but we got a new dog. And yes, I'm a spy now too."
Loid opened his mouth, surprised. He'd forgotten how Anya was always so intuitive she seemed to read his mind.
"That's because I can…" she said quietly.
"What?"
"I can read your mind. I've always been able to. That's how I knew you were a spy, and how I knew you weren't dead…"
Suddenly, it all clicked into place. Anya's occasional weird comments that seemed to come out of the blue, how she was so intuitive from a young age, how she'd answer questions he hadn't even asked yet.
And speaking of, more questions immediately started brewing into Loid's brain.
"Yes. She knows." Anya said, answering yet another unsaid question. "I told mama a couple of years ago…"
"Oh…"
A new silence formed between them, neither of them knowing exactly what to say now.
"Mama was heartbroken, you know?" Anya said out of the blue. "I tried to tell her you were alive, but she thought I was just in denial. She thought I didn't notice, but she was devastated."
Loid's grip into the steering wheel became harder, his knuckles almost turning white.
"Why are you telling me this… ?"
"Because you love her too."
Anya’s answer caught him by surprise, and he stepped on the brakes suddenly. At this point they had already left the city behind, and were in the middle of a dark and desolate road.
He whirled around to see her, Anya staring at him with a smug look.
Loid didn’t answer and turned around to face the road again, clearing his throat and continuing to drive.
Then the further implications of Anya's previous statement fully hit him. 'Love her too'? As in, Yor was-?
"Is." Anya corrected, not bothering anymore to pretend like she couldn't read Loid's mind. "She still loves you."
Loid's brain turned completely blank.
He'd figured he loved his family around the time the mission was about to end. He just never considered the idea of Yor loving him back. And in a way, he'd given up his family because he was scared. Scared that if he stayed, they would end up getting hurt because of him, or they would inevitably discover the truth about him and hate him for it.
And now he'd been back in Anya's life for mere minutes before she got hurt.
Loid shook his head. 'Hold it together, Loid. Now it's not the time,' he thought.
Anya hummed, staring at him. "You said Loid," she pointed out. "Not Twilight. I noticed you started to do that a while before you left."
Loid didn't answer, not knowing what to say.
"I used to think secret identities were cool, but now I get it. It's like… a mask. And if you wear it long enough, you start to forget what your original face looked like."
"Why did you join WISE?" Loid asked, straight to the point once and for all.
"Well, you know I always wanted to be a spy, and I knew you were one."
Loid looked at her from the corner of his eye. "... And the true reason?" he prodded.
Anya made a face, apparently foreseeing he might have known her reason wasn't as simple as an unlikely childhood dream.
"The truth? I wanted to find you, bring you back home."
That single sentence was enough to almost completely break one of the world's best spies.
"Anya…"
"Of course we'd be happy to have you back!" She cut him off, the thought formulating in his head seconds before Anya voiced it. "Mama will understand. She's always wished you came back."
Loid stopped the car, already at their destination. He did his best to keep his mind clear and his face neutral.
"We can talk about this later. I'll deliver the documents, you stay here. I'll get you back home so I can help you with that wound."
He spoke in a tone that left no room for argument, but Anya didn't seem opposed to that, so he simply grabbed the briefcase and made his way towards the designated warehouse.
Inside, none other than the Handler was expecting him.
She looked up, and even through the darkness, he could tell that once again, she was giving him the same look from before.
This time, he finally understood. It was pity and sadness, but also hope. Hope he'd finally choose his family over being a spy.
"You didn't tell me." Was the first thing out of his mouth.
"You asked me to." She answered. "I just did what you asked from me."
"... When did she join?"
Sylvia sighed.
"Two years ago. She hasn't been assigned many dangerous missions though. I've kept an eye on her."
"So she joined at 18…"
Sylvia examined him with interest. "Are you sure she's 20, though? You said yourself she looked too young, and couldn't find any official records of her birth before we faked those."
Shit. That's true, Anya had probably read his mind back then, that's how she had gotten him to adopt her. No wonder she was less mature and intelligent than her peers at school then, she was probably younger than them.
"What are you going to do now?" Sylvia asked, interrupting Loid's thoughts.
"I…"
He had no idea.
Sylvia stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Twilight, listen. Many years ago, I didn't talk you out of retiring to stay with your family because I had a feeling you wouldn't listen no matter what I said. But that girl right there," she paused, pointing in the direction where Anya was still waiting in the car. "She seems to know the exact words to get through to you, because you look different. Take it from someone who lost their family already, you'll regret it if something happens and you don't get to spend as much time with them as you hoped to get. So don't waste whatever time you have left, because you never know when it's going to be the last day you'll see them."
Memories of Anya's bloody leg entered his mind. She was hurt right now, and if she kept the whole spy deal up, who's to say she wasn't going to get herself killed.
Loid couldn't allow that.
Sylvia smiled, seemingly catching the change in him without needing to say anything.
"WISE will be happy to help assign you a new identity and documents for your retirement."
"I was counting on it… Any chance Loid Forger can come back?"
She snorted, amused. "Mm, that's tricky. But anything for my favorite agent. Luckily for you, Anya and Yor moved to a new part of the city years ago."
Loid seemed thoughtful for a second. "This was my last mission, then."
"Mhm. How nice to finish your career as a spy by going on a mission with the daughter you're giving up said career for."
"Ah, make sure to start with Anya's paperwork too."
Sylvia sighed again. "You're leaving and you're just giving me more work. Fine, I'll contact you once it's done. What will you do in the meanwhile?"
"I'm going home." he stated simply, finally leaving to get back to Anya.
Anya immediately noticed his shift in demeanor as soon as he got back into the car.
Not used yet to the fact Anya could hear his thoughts, Loid inevitably revealed the reason for his sudden good mood inside his head.
Anya jumped into her seat, wincing as she jolted her leg too much, but paid it no mind. "You're retiring!?"
"Yes. I'm too old for this already, besides…" he spared a brief look at Anya, starting the car again. "I said I'd take you home. And perhaps it's about time I go back too."
Anya opened her mouth, surprised. "You're… Staying?"
"Yes."
Anya jumped from her seat again, crushing him in a hug. Loid immediately moved to hug her too, only now realizing how much he missed his daughter's hugs.
Finally they broke apart. "So, you're giving up the spy job too. I already asked the Handler to help with the paperwork for your resignation."
Anya whined. "Papa-!"
"You said you did it to find me and get me home. Well, then you don't have to keep going." Loid cut her off. Anya pouted, looking like a child again. Which reminded him… "Anya, how old are you?"
She blinked, surprised at the question. "I'm 20."
"I mean how old you actually are. There's no way you were actually 6 when I adopted you." Loid started driving back into the city.
Anya gave a sheepish smile. "Ah, I was hoping you'd just let that go. I'm 18 then."
"So you joined WISE at 16!?" he asked, scandalized.
"Yeah…"
"Anya."
"I know-"
"It's dangerous! You could have gotten badly hurt…" Loid paused. "Wait, did you get hurt?"
Anya plastered on her innocent face. "Ah, go left here. Our place is on the opposite side of the city now."
"Thats not an answer." Loid stated, but obeyed. He decided to drop the subject, he already had to help Anya with her leg, knowing whether or not she had gotten badly hurt before would only give him a heart attack.
Anya gave him directions the rest of the way, the subject dropped for now. They arrived at the place, and Loid parked the car nearby. Suddenly, all bravado had left him.
What would Yor say? Would she really accept him back? What if she had actually moved on now?
Anya reached for Loid's hand, holding it. "Papa, it's okay. Mama will be surprised at first, but I'm sure she will be glad that you're back."
Loid smiled a little. "Yeah… Let's go, your leg must be hurting a lot. We better disinfect it and stitch it up soon."
They got out of the car, and Loid helped Anya up to her and Yor's home. And maybe soon his too.
Anya scrambled to find her keys, hidden on the back of a plant standing outside the door, and soon opened the door for them.
A small white dog barreled towards the entrance, and Anya quickly shushed him before gesturing for Loid to get inside.
He looked around briefly, finding the general layout was the same of their previous home.
Anya pointed him in the direction of the bathroom, and soon Anya was sitting down on the edge of the bathtub, Loid focused on cleaning her leg.
Anya winced. "Papa, that burns!"
"Better than an infection." He answered.
The next couple of minutes were spent between hushed whispers while Loid carefully stitched Anya's leg.
Anya whined once he was done, examining her leg and her tattered dress. "What am I going to wear to that fancy party Damian invited me to now?"
"Damian? The Desmond kid?"
"Oh, yeah. He's sort of my boyfriend now."
"Absolutely not." Loid stated.
Anya rolled her eyes. "Papa…"
"No, you're not old enough for that."
"I'm in college!"
"Yeah, and you're only 18. So no."
Anya opened her mouth to answer when a light in the hallway turned on, and Yor's sleepy voice startled them, creaking open the bathroom door.
"Anya, who are you talking to…?"
She stopped, frozen in place, staring straight at Loid. Loid stared back.
It was going to be a long night.