REASON FOR THE RATING! In this story, there will be swearing, and lots of it. I cant guarantee that the F-bomb won't show up at some point, too. There will also be strong themes of suffering, death, depression, and the like, just like in Hero. Also, as with Hero, there will be violent battles, mentions of things such as child abuse, kidnapping, and torture, and so on. However, also like Hero, there will be no M-rated romance scenes. That means no lemons and no limes. Nothing like that at all. Lastly, there will be some smoking and drinking in this tale, but nothing extreme. And when I say smoking, I'm not referring to weed or anything of the sort. I'm referring to cigarrettes (though I'm not claiming that those are really any better). But, generally speaking, this story will be suitable for a teen audience, provided those teens are mature enough to handle blood. You have been warned.

One last note. The line breaker says "Jibun de", meaning "On My Own". The only special thing you need to know to understand this story is that one of the main characters is a very old friend of Kaden's. I won't say more for the sake of avoiding spoilers. I will reveal more about this character in Hero first and foremost. Only then will the same things be revealed in here.

~自分で~

It had been a hundred and forty years since Sonic and the others had departed on the Blue Typhoon, leaving for space together, likely never to return. Two full centuries had passed since Ivo's fall. Kaden and Marthal alone had stayed. If not for the cat, Kaden would have been left totally alone. Left to his own devices, he might have been killed already by this point. So many battles had come and gone, and, had Marthal not been there, Kaden would have had to all fight them entirely alone. Granted, he still fought most of them alone, simply because he didn't want to endanger his only remaining friend any more than was necessary, but even still. In a way, he really was alone.

The man who had once been his best and closest friend was gone. The only woman he'd ever loved and ever would love was gone. His son was gone. All his friends (excluding the obvious one) and allies and acquaintances and companions were gone. They'd all left, and he doubted they were ever coming back. And, even if they did return someday, nothing would change. He would still be in constant danger all day every day, he would still have far more work to do at any given moment than he could ever hope to complete, he would still be pushing himself so far beyond his limits that Marthal openly questioned how his friend was alive, just in order to keep this planet safe… And, throughout it all, he would still remain alone. He was truly on his own.

He was tempted to blame himself for his present circumstances. For all of this, really. He'd actually done it more than a few times, truthfully, though never out loud. Who else was there to blame, anyway? At least if the blame was placed on himself no one would care. No one… except Marthal, who staunchly and often angrily refused to accept Kaden's insistence that he himself was at fault. And, if he were being totally honest with himself, Kaden didn't truly believe it, either. That wasn't to say that he blamed Locke and the others, though. No, not at all. Truthfully, he didn't know who was to blame. He wasn't even sure where all the problems and fights and whatnot that had caused things to get this way had even come from, let alone how they'd started or why and thanks to who. He supposed it didn't matter. The past was fixed, anyway. It was over, gone, and nothing remained but these moments right now and the future that he always fought so hard for to try to secure.

He didn't have time to be thinking about these things. He had so much work to do… and never enough time to do them. Various cities were all under attack at the same time (nothing unusual there), the idiots in the government were fighting about some stupid decision or other that they shouldn't have even been considering in the first place (that was so common by this point that he'd come to expect having to deal with it at least once a day), several notable figures in society had mysteriously gone missing and needed to be found (now that was unusual), his weapons needed repairing… the list went on and on and on. As much as he didn't want to, it was time to get to work. Because after all…

There's no time like the present.

~自分で~

Kaden gritted his teeth when he landed. It was a bone-jarring impact, but at least nothing was broken. He'd landed on his feet, too. Things could've been worse. Still, that explosion (caused by an exploding ship that he'd just destroyed) had knocked him into the ground with enough force to leave him feeling sore and a bit stiff. He shook it off as best as he could and stood from his crouch. Looking around, he noted the fresh damage already done to this poor, ruined city. Thankfully, the place had been abandoned long ago. But, even still, he knew he was going to be hearing about this later. Abandoned or not, the grouches in the government hated it when any part of any city was damaged. Like it can be helped, more than half the time.

He appreciated what the government officials were trying to do, to a point, and he did respect them for the most part, but, honestly, they got on his nerves. A lot. Especially the man whom he and Marthal simply referred to as the general (so-called because he was once a renowned general for the world's best military forces, which had long since been destroyed). He's the biggest grouch of them all… And his face turns as red as a tomato when he gets angry. That last bit was a constant source of humor for Kaden and Marthal, but the yelling that went along with the face was far from pleasant. Even ignoring how badly it hurt Kaden's ears, it was still awful to deal with. He hated being yelled at.

Kaden began walking away from the spot where he'd landed just as, about forty feet behind him, the ship finally crashed into the ground, creating a small earthquake of sorts and making the whole thing explode into one giant reddish-orange fireball. With an idle motion of his hand, Kaden wiped out of the flames in order to keep the few plants that were still alive here from being killed. After that. He broke into a run. For the first time in months, he was headed home.

~自分で~

Things were never easy. Not for him. Truthfully, he didn't expect them to be. But he'd never expected things to get so hard, either.

Kaden was exhausted. He hadn't slept in at least a few weeks. It had been even longer since he'd had the time to eat. He hadn't even been able to go home in ages. He was constantly fighting, constantly injured, constantly running, constantly doing his very best to protect the world basically by himself… And his life was getting to the point where this was normal. So normal, in fact, that he was starting to hardly notice these things. He supposed this was a bit concerning, but when did he ever have the time to care? For that matter, what was the point of caring? It wasn't like he could change anything right now. Maybe he never could. He wasn't sure if he cared about that, either.

There was, however, one thing he did care about. Very much, in fact. There were two, technically, if he counted Marthal (which, of course, he did), but there was one other thing that was far more concerning to him than his friend. This thing was a constant weight on his mind, a burden he'd been forced to bear against his will. It was a curse… quite literally. It was sealed now, sure, but how long would that even last? This seal was not unbreakable, powerful though it was, and he was honestly afraid to think about what would end happen to him if the seal were to ever fail him.

This curse was one he'd been dealing for sixty years. Marthal was the only one who knew about it, and he wanted it to stay that way forever. No one else needed to know about it. The only other people who would have once cared were long go, and he had no reason to hold onto even a tiny sliver of hope that they would care about this. Bevause, after all, caring about the curse meant caring about him (as the curse only affected him), and that was never going to happen again.

I'm done thinking about this. Scowling softly to himself, Kaden focused his attention on his work. His sword desperately needed repairing… and it wasn't like it was going to fix itself.I need to focus… But, even as he thought that, a warning that he often received in his dreams played through his mind yet again.

"憎しみ。

怒り。

裏切り。

痛み。

闇。

死。

Nikushimi.

Ikari.

Uragiri.

Itami.

Yami.

Shi.

Hatred.

Fury.

Betrayal.

Pain.

Darkness.

Death.

These are the six triggers. These six things can and will awaken the curse and cause it to spread, allowing it the chance to overwhelm you and take you over. It creates these things in a person no matter how much they try to resist. It feeds off of them. Sooner or later, it will become too strong to control. Then you will lose yourself to its dark power. Its terrible influence will overtake you completely and change who you are, what you think, how you feel, how you act… The seal you bear now, the controlling influence you created and placed upon the curse, is the only thing preventing these horrible things from happening. You must never let that seal be broken, no matter what happens. If it should fail, there may be no saving you. Kaden, you must remember…

Hell's Curse is not something to be trifled with."

~自分で~

1,562 words this time. And I hope you enjoyed this fairly depressing prologue-ish chapter. Posted 12-06-15.