The way the light reflected on the waters of the lake, oh how it reminded him of those days. Those days when those people found that light within him, those days when somehow they managed to bring out his best when now...
The way the light reflected on the waters of the lake, oh how he loathed it. He stared out longingly over the gold-painted pool that seemed to stretch on forever, stared out for god knows how long as he racked his brain for answers.
Why had they tried to stop him? Why couldn't they understand? Of all times, why, why then? Oh! Of all times, indeed. But, did he not deserve this one happiness? This one true joy? For all he'd been through, he surely had earned a quiet life with a family all his own at least ten times over.
And as he deserved that joy, they had all but decided their own fates. Yes, that was it. He fixed the mask which adorned his war-torn face with a scowl as the bittersweet blend of emotion he'd done his best to forget washed over him. His brother, his friends. And maybe so it was a cruel twist of dramatic irony, then, that the two remaining lights in his life had so soon been taken from him, too. He would have her back someday. He was confident, confident in her, confident in himself.
'There may be no happiness left for me in this world,' he thought, 'but surely somewhere...'
That night came and went, just as so many countless nights had come and gone before it. Countless, sleepless, endless. Somewhere. Someday.
He would hold on to that hope, for as long as he did he could hold on to that will to live, to her. Who else could he trust? If not them, if not himself, he would put his faith in her. The man traced a finger along the edge of his mask, sliding it from his face.
The way the light reflected on the waters of the lake... oh, how he longed for those peaceful days.