A/N: Here it is, the final chapter of The Imperial Daddy. I can't believe that I'm actually posting this. It feels like just yesterday when I was playing through Turnabout Revolution and the idea to start this fanfic popped into my head. And never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that an idea that literally came to me in the middle of the night right when I was falling asleep would turn into a story that so many people would love.

I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this story, as well as the people who have commented on it, for supporting it. I thoroughly enjoyed writing each and every chapter of this story, and that feeling of enjoyment was only amplified knowing that all of you great readers were enjoying it!

I hope this last chapter proves to be a satisfying end for this story and I hope that you all will be just as receptive to the story that will replace this one.

The Twilight Realm isn't like the typical depictions of the afterlife that most people are familiar with. It isn't some paradise in the clouds where people joyfully frolic about while being watched over by a giant beaded man. Rather, the Twilight Realm is a land unlike anything comprehendible by mere mortals- a vast space of nothingness with a coloration resembling that of the loveliest sunset you could possibly imagine- hence the name- as far as the eye could see. And even though there isn't any sun present, the dimension is bathed in a warming light that soothes the soul of every resident. The Twilight Realm is a land of perfection, with the only questionable thing being a miniscule black dot that can be seen in the far distance no matter where you are, but the souls of the deceased don't mind this, for there they are at peace.

Once again going against common belief, in the Twilight Realm, souls do not resemble their human bodies from when they were alive, instead taking on the form of massless balls of energy. For what is the point of a soul- an eternal entity- retaining the form of a mere shell in the time before it is reincarnated anew? That is why souls in the Twilight Realm float about the dimension with much joy, some slowly to soak in the ambiance and other frantically and playfully like forest pixies, enjoying their freedom from corporeal existence. But if a soul is summoned to the Land of the Living by a spirit medium, then they have no choice but to comply and take on the human form, and memories associated with it, of the person being requested.

This is Inga's current existence after Ga'ran murdered him, and he is enjoying it. Sure, getting stabbed in the back and dying was almost as painful as almost three decades worth of psychological and sexual torture, but now, the former Minister of Justice is feeling a sense of happiness that he hasn't felt in many years. Without the limits of his body, Inga doesn't have to deal with his agonizing back pain. But the best part is that his ex-wife is still in the Land of the Living and will probably never get into the Twilight Realm when she dies after usurping the throne and all the unspeakable acts she did to him over the years, so the deceased former minister could breathe easy in knowing he would never have to exist in the same dimension as the woman who ruined his life ever again.

However, despite the immense joy Inga is now feeling, he can't help but feel a bit sad. While it's great not having Ga'ran breathing down his neck or any other part of his body, how could the former Minister of Justice truly enjoy himself without his precious daughter at his side? Inga can't help but be overwhelmed with sorrow at the thought of how Rayfa is handling his death.

Sure, Rayfa may try to act tough, but Inga knows better than anyone that deep down, his daughter is a sweet girl who loves her father more than anything. For all the former Minister of Justice knows, his little princess could be lying in her bed, crying her eyes out and refusing to eat, or she could be assaulting several servants in a fit of rage, or… No, no… Inga can't bring himself to even think about that final possibility- the possibility of Ga'ran, no longer seeing any use in Rayfa and feeling herself lacking any threats after his death, having the poor girl executed for lacking the proper spiritual power befitting of the Royal Priestess. Curse the Twilight Realm for being unable to show its denizens what's happening in the Land of the Living! For all Inga knows, his daughter could be already dead and has been aimlessly wandering around the Twilight Realm trying to find him.

But it's during one of these fits that Inga sees a rift forming before him, a tear in space that's expelling a golden light that proceeds to draw him towards it. Understandably, the former Minister of Justice tries to fight the rift's pull, attempting to float away from it as fast as his spiritual form can move, but despite his best efforts, Inga is sucked into the rift and enveloped by the golden light.

The next thing the former Minister of Justice knows, he's in his private quarters, which have been emptied of all furniture with the exception of his bed, which he is currently laying on.

"I'm… I'm in my room…" Inga says with a sigh of relief. "I'm not dead! It was all just one bad dream…! Crap! I've gotta go get the Founder's Orb from Dhurke!"

The former Minister of Justice proceeds to quickly get up off of the bed and tries to make a beeline dash for the door, only to be stopped by a small, soft hand gently gripping his- obviously Rayfa's. And sure enough, when Inga turns to face the hand's source, he looks down to see Rayfa staring up at him with big, tear-filled eyes, sniffling and biting her lip in an attempt to keep herself from crying.

"That… That wasn't a dream. You really were stabbed in the back before your meeting." Rayfa says in a pained toned, her gaze pointed towards the ground.

"Darn it!" Inga yells, hitting his bed in frustration. "I always knew your mother would be the death of me! If only I coulda stayed alive for a few more seconds so I could repay the favor!"

"You knew?" Rayfa said with a shocked look.

"This is your mother we're talking about. Anytime I'm feeling happiness, she makes it her mission to snuff it out at all costs. So it's no surprise that when I'm preparing to have my moment of triumph over that mook Dhurke, she decides to ensure I never feel happy ever again. Plus, Dhurke's not the kind of guy who goes around stabbing people in the back."

"You… You don't have to lie to me anymore…" Rayfa says, turning her back to the man she once saw as her father.

"Whaddya mean?" Inga asks before grabbing his daughter by the shoulder and turning her around before kneeling down to look her in the eye. "I may have done a lot of rotten stuff during my life, but I'd never lie to you, Rayfa."

"After your death, I learned the truth… Uncle."

"No… No...!" Inga gasps as he reels back, his head spinning from the fact that his worst fear has become reality: Rayfa has learned that Dhurke is her real father. "Tell me that you're only kidding, Rayfa! Tell me that this is a bad joke, see!" The former Minister of Justice growls through clenched teeth.

"Do you think I want to believe this, Uncle?" Rayfa angrily retorts with crossed arms, flashing her uncle an icy glare. "Do you think that I enjoy the fact that I have been deceived for 14 years by the man who I thought was my father?!"

"Rayfa…" Inga sullenly whispers, softly stroking his daughter's cheek with the back of his hand, only to be immediately swatted away.

"Don't you touch me with your dirty, deceiving hands, you… you… jerk!" Rayfa snarls with clenched fist and cheeks red with rage.

"Rayfa, please…" Inga pleads, his eyes filled with sorrow as his adopted daughter takes a step back.

"If it wasn't bad enough that I had to learn you lied to me for my entire life after performing your Divination Séance, I found out that the gentle man who I so deeply trusted was an aspiring usurper- having Head Monk Andistan'dhin steal the Founder's Orb for you, kidnapping that spirit medium to channel the Holy Mother so She could grant you limitless spiritual power, and killing my real father in cold blood!"

"Rayfa, please hear me out…"

"And hear what? How you did what you did for power and your reputation?! I know that you always hated your marriage to Aunt Ga'ran, but…" The young girl whimpers, the fires of rage that were roaring within her being replaced by somber waves of sorrow as her shoulders slump over, tears filling her emerald eyes. "But I always thought that you saw me as a daughter and loved me as such, not as some kind of stepping stone. Is that… Is that why you were always so nice to me, because one mention of my true lineage could have Aunt Ga'ran removed from power?"

Upon hearing Rayfa accuse him of not truly loving her, Inga does something that no one had ever seen him do since he married Ga'ran: he cries. Oh, how the tears stream down the former Minister of Justice's face as he wipes them off with a swipe of the robe he's currently wearing, which only makes his crying worse. If it wasn't bad enough that his adoptive daughter sees him as some heartless monster, Inga has to deal with this torture while being in Amara's body, the woman who made all of this suffering possible.

"Uncle, are you… crying?" Rayfa asks in a mixed tone of confusion and awe, reluctantly taking a single step towards the weeping channeled spirit.

"What! Since when is it a crime for a man who's been tortured for more than half his life before being murdered to cry?!" Inga snarls, scowling at his adopted daughter with bloodshot eyes.

"No, it's just that I've never imagined you were capable of it. You always appeared so confident and beyond such emotions."

"Well, things change when you die trying to give your child a better life, only to find out that they hate your guts." Inga morosely sighs, taking a seat on his mattress and resting his jaw on his hands as he gazes at the ground.

"What do you mean, Uncle?"

"I admit that I had the Founder's Orb stolen and kidnapped that Fey girl so I could get the spiritual power housed within it. But I didn't do it for myself…" Inga looks up at his adopted daughter. "I did it for you."

"You did?" The princess asks with a surprised look on her face. "But how do I know that you're not lying?"

"Rayfa, you probably figured it out when you saw my final moments during the trial, but I could never remember faces for the life of me. See, they all looked the same to me. And even though I can truly appreciate your cute, sweet, little face while being channeled by your birth mom, back when I was living, I would have never been able to channel spirts to save my life no matter how much spiritual power the Holy Mother gave me. That, and all those fundamentalists running the temple wouldn't be too keen on a man who can channel spirits ruling over the nation."

"I guess you have a point…" Rayfa says with a hint of regret in her voice, obviously guilty for jumping to conclusions and hurting the man who raised her.

"Plus, even if I did gain the ability to flawlessly channel spirits and was able to ascend to the throne with no issues, I would have never gone through with it because I care about you too much. I 've seen how dedicated you are to mastering your spiritual powers, and I know that if you saw your previously-powerless father becoming king after your mother's 'untimely' death, you would have been devastated. So from the very start, my plan was to have the Holy Mother amplify your already-formidable powers and make 'em even stronger. That way, after your aunt was taken outta the picture thanks to a poison I would have concocted with common household cleaning products, no one would object to you becoming queen, taking on all of the spiritual stuff, while I handle all the political affairs, both inside and outside the country."

"Do you really mean that, Uncle?" Rayfa asks, putting a hand on Inga's shoulder as a glimmer of hope fills her eyes.

"I've never been more honest and sure about anything in my life… well, except for that one time I tried to send your aunt back to the States with some weird chief prosecutor guy with goggles who proceeded to laugh in my face and compare me to his idiot son."

"In that case, Barbed Head owes me an apology." Rayfa smirks.

"Why? Did that mook insult your abilities again?" Inga growls.

"No, Uncle. When we were investigating your private quarters, I told Barbed Head exactly what you told me, that you stole the Founder's Orb for my sake, but he just shrugged it off and kept insisting that you were out only for yourself. Everyone was so adamant about you being a power-hungry tyrant during your trial that even I started to have my doubts…" The young princess says, eyeing the ground with a look of shame.

"Don't blame yourself, Rayfa…" The former Minister of Justice states in a reassuring tone, putting a gentle hand on his adopted daughter's shoulder as he gets up off of the mattress. "You were hit with a lot of truths all at once and your world was all shaken up. I'd react the same way if I were in your shoes."

"But now that you've told me your intentions regarding your plan, I will waste no time in using Horned Head's phone to contact Barbed Head and give him such a verbal lashing that he will wish he was never born." Rayfa sneers.

"That's my girl!" Inga chuckles as he hugs his adopted daughter. After the embrace, Inga keeps his hands on Rayfa's shoulders as he kneels down to look her in the eye. "Now listen Rayfa, I may not be your real dad, but you've always been and always will be my daughter. See, your aunt never wanted to have kids, even after becoming queen, saying that she would have no child ruining her 'perfect' body- which is like worrying about the paint flaking off a dilapidated building that's literally falling apart. But then one fateful day after Dhurke fled the palace with your real mom, we found her, and with her was a baby girl… you…"

Inga pauses to sigh, wiping away a tear forming in his eye.

"Your aunt forced a lot of things on me- sappy romance movies, bland cereals, and horrible, horrible bedroom experiences too twisted and sick to even think about- but her telling me that we'd be raising you as our daughter was the only one I actually liked. And when I held you in my arms for the first time, hearing that little giggle of yours as you tugged on my beard, I vowed that I would love, care, and protect you as if you were my own flesh and blood. That's one reason why I was always so determined to have Dhurke arrested and/or killed. I was afraid that he would one day come to the palace and tell you the truth, and that you'd… you'd... you'd run off and forget all about me." The former Minister of Justice morosely states, feeling as if his words are trapped in his throat like a lump.

"Uncle…" Rayfa whimpers with a small smile on her face, tears forming once more in her eyes. Only this time, these aren't tears of anger or sadness, but rather joy- the joy in knowing that the man who she views as her father loves her more than she could possibly imagine.

Uncle and niece, father and adopted daughter, begin to hug once more, each savoring the warm embrace of the other in their arms. Though this touching moment doesn't last long, for Rayfa begin to notice that Inga's body is starting to glow, slowly transitioning back and forth between his form and Amara's.

"Uncle, what's happening?" The young princess asks in a startled tone.

"I guess Amara feels that it's time for me to go back to the Twilight Realm…" Inga sighs with a look of resignation.

"No, you can't leave! There's still so much that I want to say!" Rayfa pleads as she bursts into tears, clinging to the former Minister of Justice's shoulders for dear life.

"Don't start with the waterworks, Rayfa, 'cause if you start crying, then I'll get sad, see? I don't wanna leave either, but just remember that I'll always be with you and…" Inga grunts as the light surrounding his body shines brighter, his ability to stay in the Land of the Living slowly slipping away from him along with his strength. "I… love… you…"

With those final words, Inga loses consciousness, lying limply in his daughter's arms with closed eyes like a ragdoll as the light becomes so bright that he can no long be seen, the weight of his body causing the girl to fall back onto the bed with him on top of her.

"No, Uncle…! FATHER!" Rayfa shrieks, warm tears streaming down her cheeks as the light diminishes, revealing Amara's regular form and only that.

"Father…" Rayfa mutters under her breath with a sniffle as Amara regains consciousness and sits up.

"So Rayfa, did you gain the closure that you desired with your uncle?" Amara calmly asks, stroking the back of her daughter's head as the young girl sits up with her shoulders hunched over.

"Yes, Mother. But would you be offended if I were to refer to Uncle Inga as my father, even after learning the truth?"

"Not at all. But do you mind if I ask what brought this on all of a sudden? For just this morning, you were crying about how your entire life was a lie and how your uncle's sins against the Holy Mother were unforgivable."

"I admit that Father did many horrible deeds over the course of his life, but he was still my father who loved me with all of his heart. He always made it a point to put me first, even when he was planning to overthrow Aunt Ga'ran. And I know that this may sound childish and clichéd, but he was truly an imperial daddy… MY imperial daddy!" Rayfa proclaims before bursting into tears and burying her face in the crook of her mother's neck, who proceeds to gently pat her daughter on the back as the young girl cries her eyes out.

The End