Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental multi-fandom project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 30 June.
In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."
Disclaimer: Zorro (this version, at least) belongs to New World Entertainment and the Family Channel and is used without permission or intent to profit.
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"Admission"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'
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"I once had to make a choice... I could turn away, let each their own burden carry and accept that some would falter... or I could take the weight of the world on my shoulders, no one to pass it off to, no rest or slackening of the load... and in the end, all that I was made me take the weight."
"And let me guess; you've never regretted it?"
"No, I've regretted it every day since. I've regretted that the weakness of others is why I had to find such strength. I've regretted every battle fought when I wished I didn't have to... most of all, I've regretted my life being shaped in the way it has... 'Not for them the warmth of home and hearth, nor the soft touch of love's embrace', someone once said in the days of gods and heroes..."
"And which are you, god or hero?"
"Me?" He shook his head, "Just a man, possessing of certain... gifts, yes. But still just a man, like any other. I have a man's wants, needs... desires..."
She looked at him, eye to eye for what seemed like forever.
"The truth is I've been fighting for so long I've forgotten what it's like to not be fighting..." He broke the eye contact and looked away, "I'm tired. Tired of fighting, tired of having to fight... tired of knowing that every lull just means the next fight is going to be that much worse..."
"Zorro..." Victora reached for him and he waved her off.
"And worse," Zorro added, "Tired of knowing that the only things worse than what will happen if I fight are what might happen if I do not..."
