#21- Hero

We had a hero once…

Hi.

You don't know me, but that doesn't matter now anyway. You see, I need you to do me a favor.

Please, don't go! Don't turn and walk away. I need you to do this. You're the only one who can and this is important, very important. More important then that mission of yours.

Heh. I knew you would be surprised. Yes, I know that you're an alien and I know all about your mission too. I know that you came here to wipe my species from the face of this planet. I know that it's time, that your masters are here waiting to start the devastation.

Stop laughing. I'm not here to beg for my life or for that of my fellow men. It's not like that. I'm not like that. You see, I'm here to tell you a story. Don't worry, it won't take long, but please listen to it carefully. It's very important.

Are you listening to me?

Good.

Once upon a time there was a hero. He wasn't like the heros you see on TV or read about in the papers, this hero was not famous. Nor was he strong or handsome. But he was very, very brave. So brave that our hero saw the things we refused to acknowledge and tried to protect us from them.

You see, we always knew you were there. You don't believe me, but let me assure you that it's true. From the moment your ship shook our neighborhood apart we knew that you were an alien. I mean, you didn't do a very good job of blending in, now did you? Please don't deny it. You made a terrible human.

So why didn't we dissect you? Good question. I wish I could give you a better answer, but I guess it was because we were afraid. Our lives were comfortable before you came, we lived mundanely all our days. Your arrival was just too different for us to take. It promised too much adventure and we've learned that with adventure comes pain and headache and heartbreak. We're not a stupid race, but we're afraid. So afraid that we're willing to do anything in our power to ignore that which is right in front of our faces.

But the hero was different. He saw you for what you were but unlike us he didn't look away. He raised the alarm and tried to do something and we ignored him. I wonder if things would have been different if we had let him know we had listened.

I live on the path between your houses. I've seen your marches to victory and retreats from defeat. I've seen you take monsters to our heros home and be defeated. I've seen our hero slink to your base and come back bruised and broken. Once, the hero collapsed in front of my home, moaning in pain. You had broken his arm. Do you remember that day? He escaped you though and while staggering home he collapsed on the sidewalk and I watched him until I could bear it no longer and shut all the windows fast against his pain.

It's not something I am proud of.

I was so afraid.

I thought that if I helped him, then maybe I would get caught up in your terrible battles as well. I'm not a hero, but he was. He was just a little boy, but he was a hero in all the ways I could never be. And like the coward I am I shut the curtains against him and pretended I wasn't home until he gathered himself up enough to move on.

And it kept happening.

We could have stepped in to help him at any time, but we left our poor hero for the wolves, for you, to prey on and tear him piece by little piece. We left him to fight and bleed on his own, turning blind eyes to his wounds and deaf ears to his cries for help. When he tried to warn us we ignored him and when his shouts became too loud we mocked him until he was silent. Our defense was him. We were his cross to carry and carry us he did.

How many years did he manage to keep us safe from you?

Won't answer that question, will you?

Well it was five years, six months, and fifteen days.

You're surprised again. You shouldn't be. I told you that we had known all along. But you didn't believe me until just then, didn't you? It's alright. We wouldn't believe him either.

I suppose you know the rest of the story well enough that I don't have to tell you how it goes. Our hero was our great shield and protector. No matter what you did, no matter what you said, you couldn't break him.

So we broke him for you.

I'm not proud of that either. How as one we all turned from him and gave him his final refusal. For years you had tried to break his spirit. In minutes we had broken his soul.

I'll never forget the look in his eyes. The sudden realization that we had been using him all this time, stringing him along with shadows and lies and that we would never take up his cause and help him. That he was alone. So terribly alone. We hurt him, abandoned him, and this is why we deserve everything that we get.

I don't blame him for any of this.

If I was he, I probably would have done the same exact thing.

It still hurts that he left us. You see, even after everything we had done to him, we didn't expect him to leave us. He was our hero. We thought he would be more noble and grand then we ever could be and protect us to the very end. We forgot that he was only a little boy. Maybe we should have made a greater effort to remember that.

He left, we lost our champion, and suddenly you were able to succeed. The battle ship in orbit over our planet is proof of your victory. In a moment, after I've let you leave, you'll go up and join them. Maybe you'll laugh as they wipe us from existence or maybe you'll silently watch us go. In any case, it's only fair that I warn you…

…We're going to make you earn it.

You've always been right. Humans are more like animals then an advanced species. When we're cornered we fight for our lives with ferocity like a madman's. And we've never been this cornered before. Every life you take, every battle you win is going to cost you. We're going to fight harder then anything you've ever seen and once it's all over you're only going to be able to sit back and be amazed at our last stand.

But I digress. I didn't find you here to warn you of the upcoming battle. I came to ask you a favor, a favor that needs to be done.

He's out there, isn't he? Our hero. When he left us behind he went looking for the acceptance we could never give him. He went looking among the stars for his proper home, didn't he?

Even though you refuse to answer, I know that it's true. He's out there somewhere. And you're going after him.

Please find him.

It's important that you find him. So important that I don't even have words to tell you what it would mean to me. You must find him and when you do, please remember this promise to me. You must promise to tell him this. Earth's final message.

Tell him we're sorry. Just that, only that. Just that we're sorry.

Do you promise to tell him?

Thank you. You don't know what this means to us, you really don't.

Good luck.

Goodbye.