1Disclaimer: Lets face it you have probably read enough of these in the first five years of your life to know what this is supposed to say, and like me, wish movies, fanfics, etc. would stop bothering, because... WE DON'T READ THE STUPID THINGS! Our mommies and daddies told us enough when we were growing up not to steal for us to get the message We get it! Stealing is WRONG! Geez I mean come, we see copyright disclaimers often enough to not only have memorized that legal mumbo-jumbo, but to know what that mumbo jumbo means too! (Pant... Pant... Pant...). (Someone whispers in my ear what im supposed to be typing...) Oh... Guess I never did the disclaimer... well NcSoft, owns all non-user content in City of Heros, where as I own the characters in the story. Well that concludes my rant, read and review.

Winter of Darkness

by Vincere

Chapter 2

Somewhere in Europe, December, 19, 1887, 7:17 p.m.:

Johan's point of view:

When I first saw the door I refused to believe it, I refused to believe that anything could have happened to them! I refused to even think for a moment that the two people, aside from Vince, that I actually cared about in thewhole world could be anything other then ok. It wasn't as though I didn't care what happened to anyone other then them, its just that compared to how much I love and care about my parents and my brother, everyone else seems insignificant, without them there is nothing inthe world matters, because I love nothing as much as my family...

As we reached the door, which was smoldering slightly, and covered in splinters and cracks, I noticed a strange battering ram lying on the ground as if it had been casually thrown away. It was mostly metal, with one long handle to hold it by, it head wason fire despite the puddle of water it had made in the snow and by the looks of it would take a very strong man to even lift it, much less use it. Then we reached the door...

I had imagined that we would see the aftermath of a horrible fight, maybe even see Father and Mother alive, with Father holdingtheaxe he used for cutting down trees, the people who had broken in lying on the floor, and father himself standingheroicly amongst the carnage, happy to see Me and Vincent were safe..

What we saw was worsethen even what my wild imagination could have come up with. The house was pristine, the smell ofMothers excellent cookinginter-mingling with a faint odor that reminded me of rotten milk, and Mother and Father in the chairs by the fireas if they hasd been waiting for us to return home. But despite how perfectly normal the scene looked, it was the worst thing we could have arrived to find, because despite how normal everything was, it wasobvious that they weredead, because they weren't breathing. I heard Vince let out a sob, andthen saw him dash to Mothers side, while I watched dumbfounded by what I saw. I was completelyunable to believe that they had died without the dignity of a struggle, that Father had gone down without a heroic struggle, but instead they were merely sitting their in a cruel mockery of their lives.

Allmy questions, andthoughts dropped from my mind, leaving mewith the fellingthatmy world had just shattered into a billion pieces that could never be put together again.However there was one other thought...A slight irritation with Vincent for choosing to mourn our Mother more than ourFather. Father, who in my opinion, was the greatest human being on this Earth! But this irritation withVincent passed as I suddenly realized, he couldn't possibly mourn our Mother more then ourFather,I knew this because even though I mourned Mother more then can be expressed in words, my mourning for Father was beyond that, Father had been more than a parent he had been a hero. My Hero.It couldnt be possible for Vincent to mourn our Father any less,he had just gone to mother so I could mourn Father alone and in my own way.Then as soon as i had staggered to Father's side, Vincentlet out a cry of joy that was instantly replaced by despair.Dreading the answer, I asked Vincent what was wrong, to which he replied "She's breathing,"and before he could finish his sentence,Ireplied,"What's wrong with that!", then I noticed Father was breathing too, though it was incredibly faint. As I shook his arms a little to try to stir him,I felt a tiny pulse from one of his veins...

a pulse that was growing weaker and weakerby the second, and would stop any minute...

The feeling of myworld shattering into a billion pieces,which hadgone away at the discovery of my parents continued life, suddenly came back twice as strong, and made me feel as if I would actually shatter into countless pieces as well...

Father would die... and he would die before my eyes, with me a helpless onlooker...

Suddenly I felt a hot drop of water hit my hand and I looked up to seeit had come from Father's eyes, and as I looked into his eyes, whateverpart of me that the feeling of my world shattering had not reached, suddenly felt it, andthis feeling burned at my conscience, andchilled me to my very soul. For what I saw was more then Father crying, what I saw were helpless portals into the deepest despair and sorrow imaginable.

For others who saw Father like this, they might feel sad about it. But no personother than me could know what this sight meant to me. I had always thought that Father had been a person incapable of despair, a person who would not cry no matter what. I saw in him, a bastion against which all the evil, sorrow, and despair in the world could not overcome, a bastion which, though those forces might consume it would never in any shape or form give in. I saw in him the courage, determination, and bravery that I had used as the foundation of my very being, for I always thought that if a person could be capable of such outstanding things, then I should be able to stand just as strong, even if it took me my whole life to achieve such a feat, that as long as he was there, standing strong, nothing could be less than perfect...

It was then that as the last bits of my world crumbled away, I snatched back one last fragment and used it to lay a new foundation for my life... For reflected in this fragment was my new-found vow...

I vowed that the world would pay... it would pay not for taking Father from me and consuming him... No, it would pay for allowing someone to exist who could break Father, and in the process breaking me and my perfect world with him...

...Yes... It WOULD pay...

End Chapter 2

Authors Comments: Well that's that for this chapter. Bet you cant make a guess at what Johan grows up to be...