DarkTaoAngel: Another fic, this time a songfic with the song 'Blood' by Papa Roach. This one is all about the Tao family. Takes place after Ren gets locked in the dungeons of the Tao Mansion. Please review!

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I will forgive but I won't forget
And I hope you know you've lost my respect

I've accepted all of the apologies you've given, every single one of them. You always said the same things to me, that it would never happen again. So what do you call this? Yes, the Tao family much continue, but not by ways to make it seem evil. There was a time when this family was honored, sacred, respected. Until you became the heir. You know how you can make it better, but you never wanted to give up the crown for that purpose. You locked your own son in the dungeons of the very place he will some day rule as his own just to keep the glory all to yourself for that much longer.

You better watch out
If you don't know what's going on around you
You better think twice
Before you fry off the handle and lose it

You don't even know that what you're doing is wrong, do you? Open your eyes! It's a new decade, a new generation. The war is over, so you can stop fighting. The rest of this family has no problem with having a new ruler, but you still seem to think otherwise. If you keep thinking the way you do, you're going to be just another empty ruler, no one will remember you. But stop now, and you'll be accredited as someone who did something for this family, not against it.


You better join us
Before you get lost in the shuffle
You better rise against
The demons that are gonna try and hold you down

So many you've killed in your ruler-ship. Did you ever once think about what you'd done to them? And you just let them die. Are you just going to let everyone else die? I know that the hatred from many years ago still flows in your veins, but only you can put a stop to it. Look around you! Is this how you want the Tao family to be remembered by when you're gone?

Does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love?
Does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love?
The ones you love, the ones you love, the ones you love

Or does it cause you joy to watch our son being beaten? Doesn't it kill you inside to see him suffer? You had better realize soon that every single bit of pain he's endured his whole life has been from you. This isn't the man I married, this is just another Tao family monster, and empty shell of a being standing before me, nothing more. I had thought at one time that you could do some good in this family, but I must have been wrong. I guess you're just like every other Tao ruler before yourself, the ones that killed in the name of 'restoration.' What did you restore? You only destroyed.

Cause I'm not a pawn for you to play in your fing game
I've got dignity and I dream that I want to change
The pressure, your troubled and you let me down
I'm not deaf and all I hear is your empty promises

You told me once that you could change, that our dream, the whole Tao family dream, of having a Shaman King in our family was attainable, and that you would make it happen. So, does hurting the only person who could achieve that dream make it happen? How can you even stand being in a family full of such pain and regret? I married into this family because of you, not because of the cycle of old vengeances that still existed in it. But it turns out that you've become a part of that anyway.

Does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love?
Does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love?
The ones you love, the ones you love, the ones you love

Do you even care about what pain you've caused? I thought I knew you better than this…. You only care about power, and anyone, even your own son and daughter, much go if that is what it take for you to earn some 'respect.' No one respects you now, En. You lost that privilege a long time ago.

Does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love?
Yes, it runs in your blood to betray the ones you love?

I know I can't change who you are, but you can. Your son came here to face you, to show you what bad you've done to this family. He didn't hate you, he was one of the only people who believed there was something he could do to redeem what you've lost. The only person who actually believed in you, and what did you do? Hurt him, locked him up, ridded his mind not of doubt, but of the opposite… hope.

I will forgive but I won't forget
And I hope you know you've lost my respect

I know who you are, En, and who you can be. All of your apologies were accepted, all of your lies believed to be truth. But now no one believes you. I know I don't, and right now I don't really care what happens to you. I hope our son breaks out of that prison you've kept him in these many years. No, not the physical one. With everything you've fed him all of his life since he was young about killing and restoring being one in the same, I hope he escapes. He'll become a great heir to the Tao family.

Yes, it runs in your blood to betray the ones you love
Yes, it runs in your blood to betray the ones you love

So, what's left now? Are you going to spend the rest of your days waiting, hiding out until someone finds you and destroys you? You know that's what is going to happen. I can see it in your face, even as we speak. You are afraid, afraid of the Tao family, afraid of your own son. You're scared of everyone who is supposed to fear you. You know that one day our son will rebel against you. You're afraid that, because he made friends, they'll help him. He will win, just you wait. There will be a new Tao ruler.

Yes, it runs in your blood to betray the ones you love…

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DarkTaoAngel: Oh, I don't own Shaman King or this song. SK belongs to Hiroyuki Takei, and the song belongs to Papa Roach. I think I could have done better, but I wanted to at least get it done today. A new update of 'Take These Broken Wings and Learn to Fly' will be coming soon also, some time this week hopefully. Oh, and in case you didn't figure it out, this fic was Ran (Ren's mom) talking to En. Review!