…….Its quiet now.

Yes. Too quiet.

Don't worry.

….I'm not worried.

Locke, is something wrong?

Yes….

The truth is out. He knows the truth of his destiny. He maybe upset for now, but deep down, he has been freed from the burden you were given. You, and he, can rest.

…I am not satisfied.

Not satisfied?

I wish I can repay all of them back…..Usagi, Kakyuu……and Knuckles…..all of them. Death doesn't let me.

But how…..Locke, you are not…

I must. The day I died…..I wished it. I wished for a chance to start over. A chance for reparation. I must walk again if I can ever thank all of them for helping me understand….never be satisfied. Never expect what you want. But for one time, perhaps for the rest of forever, this is one choice that I will make…..that is
right.

LOCKE!! Wait…….one moment, please…

Hotaru.

…If you could change one thing in the life you just left…

I can't. It has been set in stone. But those times are dead now. Now, the new time begins…..

LOCKE!!! COME BACK!!! Don't forget, please……about your mistakes, like everyone else does when they……come back…….

Let him go.

Edmund.

If he wishes to abandon his evolution, then he shall.

But he'll have to start over. What if he forgets all that he did, all that his actions created? He is the Guardian Savior!

…Maybe that is not for us to decide.

Then, guardians of the dead, what are you going to do?

Watch. Watch and wait. He's not done yet.


----------------


I woke up a week after it happened.

The explosion was still fresh in my mind. The flames, the terrible flames, as I began the descent to a fiery hell…

But its over. And now I was awake to sobering reality.

"…He's waking…."

Reality looked slightly red on the left side. Rotor stood over me with a pair of stencil knives. He put them down, and gave a huff, as another face – Washu – looked down.

"Well…I guess the sedatives wore off…"

I looked up to see them, and caught the doctor mirror. In my right eye socket was a black orb with a red stripe in the middle – a substitute for my long-gone optical orb. It wasn't completely put in, so there were small needles stick into the skin of my visual pore so I couldn't blink. Small wires were attacked to my face, and the receptors on my skin were only partially hooked up with the mechanical eye. I felt sick.

I should have died. But they saved me.

"It's happened…."
"Don't worry, knuckles." Rotor smiled. "You'll be good as new when I'm finished. I'll have to re-sedate you to do it, but the next time you wake up, you'll have vision again."
"Indeed…" Washu took out a needle. "This won't hurt…"

I slowly nodded. The memories of what happened were beginning to come back.

I had failed in front of my child. She saw that demon rip my sight from my eyes…..

After I realized……my father…..

"Rotor."

Sonic voice came into the room, and I looked to see him there – normal, blue, as he had been before. Yet he looked happy.

"Pluto's here."
"Pluto?"
"She wants to talk to Knuckles alone."

I didn't want to talk. I knew what she was going to say. Chin up, you're free! But it wasn't so easy as that. My father never got congratulated for what he did. Even though it was wrong, he was the cause of all that had happened, good and bad.

Where's the justice in that? Did my father's actions warrant all the pain he suffered? Or was required, being the Savior?

"Knuckles….."

But she was there, and whether or not I wanted to talk, she was going to.

"I'm sorry." She was suddenly there, next to me. "I guess you know now."
"Yeah….." I was none too happy about it. "Why? Why didn't he tell me the truth?"
"He never new the truth."

Pluto's red eyes simply stared into me as she spoke. I didn't want to look at her. I felt like I had failed.

"Guardian…"
"Don't call me that."
"Please-"
"What's the use?" I shook my head. "I thought I was destined to make a difference…..all of my work…..trying to do what was right……yet my father makes a man bleed and he's the one that must carry the burden. He didn't want it; I did, maybe not badly, but I could take it, my dad couldn't have if he'd grasped the repercussions of his actions. Where's the justice in that destiny?"

Pluto stopped for a moment; she gave a small, sad smile.

"Knuckles….destiny is not set in stone, nor is it all that clear until it is done," she replied. "Maybe, sometimes, you get an idea of what is to happen. But never the full picture."

I looked away; I could only think of my father, how he had thought something that was not meant to be.

"The unexpected will always happen, Knuckles." Pluto voice goaded me. "But you must always believe that, somewhere, you'll be satisfied. If its in this life, another one, or after all of it, the only thing you can make of destiny is to hope you did the right thing."
"My father will never get that pleasure."
"Not here." Pluto shook her head. "But trust, if he is in another life one day, he'll be able to start over from where he left off. He'll be able to have another chance. That's what destiny is, chancing what you don't know. The risk can be substantial, but the strength of the aftermath can far outweigh the flaws. Visions are nothing unless something is done about them.
That's why your father became the Guardian Savior."
"Chancing the unknown…."

The words echoed. To chance the unknown. That was destiny.

Perhaps, I thought, there was another chance for my dad…..

"Do you think there's another day for him?"
"We'll have to wait…." Pluto's smile was sad. "Just wait, and watch……"

-------------------------

Now, I am at a place where chances are put to rest. His funeral. It has been a week since the completion of my new eye. It different than before, but I can still see clearly.

Or maybe I can't. I see many faces I recognize from long ago – all of the sailors, the Freedom Fighters, Kakyuu, my mother and her other family. Even others, like George Fortinbras, people from other countries, have come to pay respects. Some I can't recognize as we huddle around the coffin near its burial site. Everyone is dressed in black; its needed for the cold January air. At least I think it is January on this planet. I don't know.

In fact, one person I did not recognize until I looked closer was the sole survivor of the ordeal which had claimed my dad's life. She looked different; perhaps it's the black dress, or the hair, which is done differently to cover her crescent sign, I don't know. All that clued me into her name was her blue eyes.

"….Locke…."

I walk over to Kakyuu as she is bent over the closed casket. My shoulder still aches from carrying it, but I bend down and put my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm….sorry…" is all I can think to say.
"No….don't be…." Kakyuu wipes her eyes and smiles. "I am just lonesome. Its hard without him here with me…."

I give a nod. Before I can say anymore, the three Starlights approach to pick the princess up. Without a word to me, Taiki and Yaten walk away. Only Seiya stays for a moment.

"Don't be worry about them." She shakes her head. "They are just as upset about it as she is."

I nod again, and see Julie-Su on the other side of the casket. She looks tired; she hadn't slept in the whole time I had gone, and especially after Lara-Su had disappeared.

"Come on." I take Lara-Su from her. "Let's go."
"You don't want to stay?"
"I….can't." I shake my head. "I just want something good to happen after all of this."

We begin to leave. I don't want to think about my dad; all that has happened with him is death. I want no part in his sad fate…..it's too much….

"Knuckles."

The new voice causes us to stop. I turn and see
her. Up close, the difference to when I last met her seem more striking, yet I can't quite figure out exactly what is different.

"Your Highness."

Quickly, I hand Lara-Su over to her mother and bow. Julie-Su begins to do the same thing.

"No." She shakes her head. She looks like she is going to cry. "Not to me, Knuckles. Please."
"…Queen?"
"Its my turn. I owe you my life."

She gets down to her knees. I can only stare at her; not just because of the fact that she is belittling herself to me, but because I notice something else about her. Her black dress looks very thrown together, done too hastily, and as a result it looks tight on her.

"Thank you…."

She looks up at me with a smile, takes my hand and then kisses it.

I am hit.

Her scent suddenly begins to come through a soft breeze from the ground. The smell from her breath, her lips, her whole body……the scent, so familiar. But it can't be.

It's my father's.

"Knuckles…."

Julie-Su nudges me, but I'm too thunderstruck to say anything; it begins to make sense now, Pluto's words.

Expect the unexpected.

She gets up, brushes herself off, and looks at me. I look back at her. I'm too shocked to speak. She realizes that I know. She turns red and looks down.

"It's a girl," she confesses. "Please, don't tell anyone….no one knows yet…."

This leaves me stunned again; she doesn't know my dad's there. Not with all of her power does she know. Or perhaps she does; she just doesn't understand yet.

"Good bye…."

With a small kiss to my cheek, and to my girlfriend and daughter, she slowly walks off, back to the coffin.

I can't stand it. As soon as the queen leaves earshot I bury my head onto Julie-Su's shoulder.

"Oh, Aurora…..God…..whoever's up there….." I sob for the first time in forever. "My father's alive."

Julie-Su seems thunderstruck. She doesn't understand why I say it, but nods.

"He'll go on…" she is hesitant. "We all do."

I keep crying; then I pick up Lara-Su and hug her.

"One day, Lara-Su…." I smile. "One day, I'll tell you everything. I promise."

Her reply is a hug; she's just grateful to have me. I have my father again; not in the way I ever imagined, but he's back, and he'll stay. He'll never leave, his destiny fulfilled. He's going to start over and do it right again.

And me……my family…..if it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have this. Its only a moment, but its enough for me.

The day looks bright again.



THE END