Etched in Stone
By: PhoenixJustice
Disclaimer: Heroes is owned by Tim Kring; I only own this story and make no profit from this.
Warning: Rated T for language, etc.
Characters/Pairings: Adam Monroe, Kensei/Hiro if you squint.
Setting: Somewhere mid-S2.
Summary: He would be Adam, become the beginning, whilst sending others to their End.
Word Count: 500
Prompt: Quote "If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss." --Quote from The Art of War by San Tzu
It can never be said that he ever took joy in killing; no, those lives over the many years had done nothing to satisfy his thirst. His life had been a series of empty interludes ever since that one fleeting moment underneath a cherry blossom sky when his life was irrevocably changed.
After that, he went through the motions, determined to gain revenge upon the one who had broken his heart. First thing he did was to strip away the name Kensei; the name that he could no longer lay claim to, for the man who did those deeds was no longer the same man who walked this Earth.
He was reborn anew; creating a path of fire and blood in his wake wherever he went. His sword was his only constant companion, the only one who never let him down. He was failed by Yaeko as he would be failed by her great-granddaughter so many years later. As he was failed by everyone, really. Humanity showed its true face through the constant years of bloodshed and war. The cries of the anguished mingled with the screams of the triumphant. And never, in the middle of it all was any real proof that humanity had any sort of redeeming value.
Sun Tzu said it all; "If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss." He had heard it often enough. And he had learned the lesson well. No, if anything, the people he met or seen only cemented his furthering belief that humanity had lost its way and they needed a guiding touch to see them through, if there was to be any value in the whole of people
So, while he had taken various names over the years, this revelation made choosing his name all the easier. His true name.
He would be Adam, become the beginning, whilst sending others to their End.
He would become the salvation of everyone. He would be the Hero this time, not his very own Benedict Arnold. No...his carp would have to face him one day and he would make him see the shaping of the world by his hands.
A/N: Didn't expect this to turn out in Adam's POV, lol. Oh well.
I hope you enjoyed this!
Let me know what you thought!
--PhoenixJustice