Several years later...

Meir put his head down, sitting inside his cage, his eyes on the ground.

He had constructed it himself, and hadn't moved since.

"I'm here to form a contract."

Meir sighed. "Go away."

"If you don't want to, I have about two jars of holy water. Straight from Michael."

Meir looked up, finding a young woman. "That would vicious, dishonorable, and ruthless."

She shrugged. "I am my father's child."

Meir scoffed. "That's none of..." he blinked, looking up once more. "That wouldn't be you, would it, Lily? I would very disappointed in you, if it were."

Lily shrugged. "Disappointed in how I turned out, pops? I think it happens when you abandon your children on doorsteps."

"It was nice. Brick. They were kind to you. Go home, Lily. I'm not your father anymore. I can do nothing, save sit here, and suffer."

"That's pathetic. You're pathetic, father."

Meir said nothing.

"She's gone you know?"

Meir stared at the floor of his cage blankly.

"Mom. She's gone."

Meir blinked. "Leave Lily. There's nothing I can do."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Get up. You made me like this. You can't abandon me. Abandon us. You need to take responsibility!"

Meir knocked on his bars. "I have. This is my responsibility, Lily. I don't expect you to understand. Hold still. I'll wipe your mind."

Meir looked up. Silence. He looked around with a sigh. He'd begun to see scenes of the future. The past.

He'd begun to piece together his past, the possible futures. He was taking his fathers role in earnest, despite himself.

He sighed, looking in the distance.

"Father?"

Another figment. A possible future perhaps. He sighed softly.

"Yes? Lily?"

She edged closer to the cage. "It is you. I knew you wouldn't leave me. I'll free you."

Meir sighed. "I put myself here, child. All is well. Hold still. I'll wipe your memory—"

"I think I'm going to see Mom."

Meir looked up, waving his hand, trying to rid himself of the prophecy. "You must not. You must not make the mistakes I did. You must not become this."

"Daddy!"

Meir's eyes opened. She was there. There was no figment. No alternate reality, no possible future. He just knew.

She was his after all. His little girl.

"You should not be here," He murmured, his hands trembling, as he reached between the bars to cup her face gingerly. "My little girl. You shouldn't be here."

Lily shifted. She wasn't as old as in the visions. Still, it hurt his heart to know she'd grown up even a little without him.

"How did you find me?"

"You're my father."

Meir said nothing for a moment. "You're not in danger Are you? No trouble? No pain?"

Meir looked her over. "You look just like your..." he cleared his throat. "Go home, little one."

Lily couldn't stand to him the way he was. Frail almost, hunched inside a corner of a cell he'd locked himself in.

"I want to stay with you daddy." Lily stepped forward, putting her small hands on the bars.

"You see where I live little Lily. You cannot live with me," He casts a glance away. "You'll be happy with them. If you just forget me, you can be very happy, my Lily," he begged. "I know you can, I've seen it."

Lily sat down, leaning against the bars, sniffling. "They're nice. But they're not my parents. I want to be with you."

Lily sniffled, wiping at her face clumsily. "I-I know you keep your clone watching me. I followed him back to you."

She shouldn't have been able to see him. She shouldn't have been able to remember. But she was stronger than he thought.

Meir sighed, phasing out of his cell. Lily looked up. He was larger than he used to be. He gathered her into his arms gingerly. Lily snuggled into his chest, her little hand hanging into his cloak.

"I'll tell you a secret Lily," he said softly, as he held her. "And you mustn't tell anyone."

Lily looked up at him expectantly.

He smiled, brushing her cheeks back. "I love you. And because I love you, I want you to be safe. Hm? That's why I found them, the Clark's? And aren't they nice?"

She nodded, wiping her eyes.

"That's right. I picked them, just for you. They're my present to you, little one. I will always be watching over you. But you can't come back here, okay?"

Lily felt the warmth of her father, the only person she'd really known, her whole life. He was scary looking, too tall to be human, and his eyes were flaming red.

Other people would be afraid, she knew that. But he was her father. He held her hand when she was afraid, cradled her when she was tired.

He looked over her crib when her teeth started to cut through her gums, and sobbed when she started to walk.

He was her father. And no matter what she couldn't forget him. No one could replace him, no matter how nice. They had money. They gave her attention, affection.

They were perfect. But all she wanted was to be with her father even if she had to sit next to him in that cell.

"I want to be with you Daddy. Please don't make me leave." She cried, her arms around his neck.

"I know, Lily," he stroked her hair, using his powers as he did. "I know. Nothing would make me happier."

Her eyes began to close.

"Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to be happy."