"Hey, Lance..?" Anna called her gunner friend. Lance turned around and looked back at her. "Yeah?" He asked with a smile. Recently, he's been smiling a lot more. Anna really likes this fact, as she has always only seen Lance with a serious look, or a frown. Despite his smile, Anna was frowning right now. "You know… I've never really asked…" She quietly spoke. Though the gunner could hear her, he still walked closer, and sat down next to the girl. "Well, If you don't mind me asking you… What was your childhood like..?" Anna looked at Lance in the eyes. The boy's smile turned into a frown, all of a sudden. "Uh… What's with the sudden question?" He asked curiously. Anna's frown grew more after hearing his response. "Um… You told me about how you never met your mother, and how abusive your father was… and how you grew up on an orphanage in Redpine Town… but I want to know more about you..!" Anna held his hands. Quickly realizing her actions, though, she let go off him swiftly. "I-I'm fine if you don't want to share it, though!" Anna slightly lifted her arms up. Lance kept his frown, and looked down at the ground. After a moment of silence, Lance looked back at her. "I guess it's fine to share a few stories" He weakly smiled. Anna smiled too, slightly leaning to him.
"My Dad was definitely very abusive of me. From slapping me when I was still a baby, to continuously beating me up even as a kid, and almost even hanging me… He said that doing that will make me taller…" Lance frowned again. "To be honest, I'm happy that I actually got away from him… But at the same time, Dad and I have went on hunting trips together… and, well… I do remember those times very fondly…" He looked at the girl again. Anna's eyebrows furrowed after hearing him. "Is that why… you also go on hunting trips with me..?" She asked. Lance nodded, and suddenly smiled again. "And I have tons of fun when we do" He held her hand. Anna smiled along with him. "I'm glad to know that…" She slowly began to blush. "A-anyway..!" Lance stuttered, slowly turning red too. "I'm not sure if my Mom died, or if she left my dad, since he never told me. So… I'm sad that I've never known if she was a good person or not… So my Dad, if you didn't know, died because of an accidental experimental explosion on a factory far from my home, where my dad worked… That was why I was sent into an orphanage to Redpine Town. My dad was terrible, and I was promised better care there. I was a little hesitant at first, but I eventually agreed to go there, since I would die if I was alone" Lance turned back to frowning again. "That orphanage… it was no better than my dad… That place of despair… It was why I started to… to… Well, that's why I started to really hate humanity altogether…" He finished with an angry sigh. Anna stayed quiet, just looking at her companion. Unbeknownst to her own actions, She tightly held Lance's arm. The Gunner flinched and looked at her. "Don't worry, Lance… You didn't conquer the earth" Anna moped, pulling his hand closer. Lance couldn't stop himself from smiling. "I'm fine!"
"While I know what I planned to do was horrific, I do forgive myself… a little, I guess…" He adjusted his sitting pose. Anna nodded, before letting go of him. "That orphanage… it was terrible. My first days were very good… but… slower and slower, everything just got worse and worse…" He came back to frowning. "They treated not only me, but the other kids so harshly. They didn't provide enough food, we didn't have a safe resting place, and… you can even say… we were enslaved. We had to work for them… And that's when I realized that… my Dad was not the only terrible human being to exist. Humanity as a whole may have been the cruellest thing to ever exist…" He gritted his teeth, holding his knees a little bit more tightly. Lance sighed, and let go of his knee. He seemed to have calmed a little bit. Slowly, he calmly turned to look at Anna. She looked at Lance with a worried face. Her bright green eyes started to shine. "…After several years of… mistreatment… I was able to get away from the camp… I escaped at night, and I ran into the forests. I had a rough start, but I was eventually able to get used to my surroundings, and got back at my feet. I… you could say again… started a new life. I slowly got myself the things that I needed, and wanted… And to this day, I still pity the other kids that stayed in the orphanage..." He continued his story. "One day, I heard about the shutting down of the orphanage. This reminded me of just how much I hated mankind… I started to build my first weapon. And after I've finished my project, I went to the orphanage to see if they really did shut down… I saw that they did, and I felt a little bit of happiness. However, I thought to myself… Humanity is still everywhere, and they are all still cruel… I need to lead them. I need to lead the people of Earth to a better world… And after building my own empire, I started 'making the world a better place'… by kidnapping women… I was so delusional…" Lance, this time, frowned and looked down. His face was clearly showing regrets. Anna could only look in pain. Who knew that he had such a bad past… No wonder he wanted to end humanity. She could only make a frown, herself.
"I am such a fool…"Lance mumbled again. Anna heard this, and angrily furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought you said you forgave yourself?!" She suddenly asked, in a fairly loud voice. Lance kept quiet, just looking at her in shock. "You said you forgave yourself, but you still act like you're the worst human being to ever exist!" Anna grabbed his tie on uniform, and pulled him closer. "Lance! You've changed..! You tried to kidnap Natalie, you threatened the destruction of my village, you tried to conquer the world!... And yet… you managed to turn yourself around… to join forces with us..! To save the world!... I can even safely say that… I trust you… I have no doubts that you've changed!" Anna barraged Lance with words. And all Lance could do was stay silent, and listen. "So…" She slightly rubbed her eyes, which watered a little. Anna looked downwards and stayed silent for a second. After another inhale of breath, she looked up again. "Don't blame yourself..!" Her voice completely changed from that of audible anger, to a calm and soothing sound. Lance stayed still and quiet. The girl that was in front of her had just bombarded him with words. Words that simply wanted to make him feel better… And make the boy feel much better it did. Lance slowly grew a very happy smile. And with the smile, he pulled Anna into a hug, surprising the ranger. "Thank you, Anna…" He held her tighter. The girl's arms where locked by his hands around her. She stayed idle, letting the gunner embrace her more. "I'm not lying when I said that I forgave myself… But I definitely hated myself more than I liked myself… And I still consider myself to be very lucky that I'm able to find people who are willing enough to forgive me… People… who are a part of humanity… I've definitely still been blaming myself, and I think that I should never forget that I've been terrible in the past… Thinking humanity altogether as evil is unfair… But even so… You're right… I'd say I did a good job at changing…" Lance closed his eyes. Suddenly, Anna heard him chuckle. She's heard a genuine chuckle. "And it means a lot to know that you trust I wouldn't do bad things again… Thank you, Anna" He tightened his hug again. He smiled to himself in happiness. Something was clear too. Without even looking at her, Lance could tell… Anna was smiling... He always liked that.
