He stared toward the leaf buried ground… thinking, almost blankly… His thoughts were so conjured that they almost didn't exist. Somehow he couldn't ignore them though, move onto the future. Everything great, he thought, seemed like a dream because they always dissipated with such quickness it was as if they were never there. Sometimes he wished he could simply look back and rewind his life, to relive moments just one more time, perhaps if only to fix them.
You are a fool, for ever thinking to leave your home… The words seemed to echo through his mind. They didn't seem to make sense at the time, but slowly he pieced together their significance. With everything that had happened to him… he'd gained so much more experience and understanding of his surroundings, and the people in them. It was a scar of sorrow and disgrace. He simply ignored his superiors and without word left his village.
His head remained moped in the same position. With an indecisive nature, he remained confused. Did it make sense to look back on the past, or was there something else he could do? Of course… There was always another solution, but he never chose to take them. Choice was the key there. He always had one but neglected it like it didn't exist.
Reflecting on the past revealed this to him… He realized the choices he could have made and now what he could do:
He could return to his home…
He's coming back…
He could admit his ignorance and fault…
He'll see he was right and be disappointed…
He could return to the life that was once his years ago…
He'll see nothing but the truth to redeem him of the lies he told himself…
It'll be like a new start for him…
Finally… he'll make it his goal again… to find me…
A tear dropped from one eye… it symbolized the end of the search as soon as it met hands with the ground. A shake between symbols, resting him at peace to return back, and finally accept the truth of the events 5 years ago…
"It's time…" He smiled as he said the name, "To return home…"
Sae, that was his name, jumped from the rock that he kneeled on, with his head raised landing onto the dirt-paved path. "I'm returning today." He said aloud with such confidence. He began to walk, knowing this area well. His travels had brought him only miles away from his home once again. It was like he'd traveled a circle to become stronger in mind.
After a long travel to his home city, Sae finally concluded himself as back. He had no need to see the actual village before doing so, just seeing the old landscape seemed to be enough. In 5 years, nothing had really changed around the area. The hedgehog continued to walk forward, his eyes looking straight ahead. As he walked further up the hill a gust of wind brought to him a foul odor… As it came to him, he took a whiff of the air. It puzzled him, but part of it was smoke and this troubled him. Sae started to sprint forward like tomorrow was only on the other side. Then he saw the village… it was a ruin. All the buildings were ashes… from the remains of one house he could see a child hanging from a window, face burnt along with body from the fire they had died from. A young girl… holding onto her bear, being hugged by her mother… all dead… Tears spilt from his eyes. He couldn't hold the emotions back. They just rained out like an endless flood of water, the source a never ending fountain.
Sae walked inside the old village as he cried. Looking for clues of what might have happened, then crossing whom he'd been searching for the entire time… The figure was faced at an angle where the body was semi-visible.
"Father?" Sae's voice was of disbelief, "You're… here. But…"
"You're still young Sae."
"Damn it! What's going on here?"
"This village was so primitive. I knew you would return."
"What are you talking about? What's wrong with you? You're not making sense."
"You're so ignorant."
"Did you do this?"
His father would not answer. No reply was made, but just by staring at the single eye he had sight of… He saw no remorse.
"You bastard…"
His father turned, his other side now revealed. Where his stripes were once white, they had become black, and the white of the eye as well… The pupil a pure symbol of power, yellow around the massively dilated pupil.
"By Chaos… What happened to you?"
"I've become one with the darkness in Chaos."
"It's sick… To think I believed in you…"
"Silence!" The hedgehog obeyed at the overwhelming tone, "There's nothing that need be made clear to you."
"How could you have done this?"
His father didn't answer, "But you can't follow me. Not yet at least. Your death wouldn't be satisfying without preparation."
Sae's mind started thinking wildly. Thoughts of anger seemed to control how he comprehended the situation. He wasn't calm, wasn't thinking straight. For the moment, he was a fool.
"You won't tell me what to do. I'll kill you and avenge those who died here by your hand!"
"Then like a real man, you will forge your own destiny." No emotion left his father's voice as he turned his feet and drew his sword to point on Sae's position, who was now running forward in aggression.
The hedgehog took one foul punch, was parried, and then his father made his move. With a slash from his sword, he cleanly cut off Sae's arm causing a fountain of blood to spray from the hedgehogs open wound. He screamed and screamed in pain, cursing his father and abusing the word bastard.
There was no care for his son's agony; he had offered him a chance to live freely. Sae's father walked away, not taking another look back at his offspring. Then… there was silence.
