AN: Yo, sorry for the absence, if you want a detailed answer, check out the Neko thread on QQ. Aside from that, only got three notes.

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- Chapter 9 is a 2 part chapter.

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- Everyday, from today until April 1st, I will be posting 1 chapter of SOMETHING by 5pm EST. Most of it is not for my existing stories, but I'll be sharing everything that collected during my absence.

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- For this chapter, I couldn't decide on one of two song choices, so I'll let you pick for yourself.

/ watch?v=qHPq-yC8GTY

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/ watch?v=95ghfm0vlrs - aptly named 'Last Reunion'.

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Enjoy

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Chapter 9: Loss of Innocence.

Teleportation was never a comfortable feeling. The sensation of being in one place, only to blink and find yourself somewhere else, was disorienting at the best of times, like taking cold showers. You might be used to the feeling, but you can't help but flinch on first contact every time.

Hei shook off the sense of vertigo as he stepped out into Mr. Lupa's courtyard, feeling the welcoming chilly December air wrap around him and wipe away the remnants of humid heat from the Nekoshou village.

Ten months had passed since he began training with the Nekoshou, six months since he met Chloe, the final village leader, and began his training under her merciless claws.

Yet no matter what he went through in the weeks he spent at the village, he felt all the fatigue get washed away as soon as he came back to his true teacher's abode. Looking around, Hei couldn't help but smile at the place he had called home for the last seven years.

The same sandy courtyard filled with wooden posts where Hei trained till his skin cracked and bones fractured.

The same wooden veranda he sat on in the early mornings and late evenings, drinking tea with the old man.

The same single-floor L-shaped house that he was trained, taught, and grew up in while being ingrained with everything an heir to the legacy of a mercenary and assassin line had to learn.

Dozens and hundreds of memories flashed by, bringing a warmth to his chest that the winter chill could do nothing against as he let himself soak in it.

The Nekoshou village spoke to him on an instinctual level, bringing him peace and the freedom he so craved. It was filled with people that he couldn't help but come to care for, no matter how much he tried to keep his distance.

But here, in Mr. Lupa's home, where it all began for the path Hei was walking was special. 'Maybe this is the feeling of visiting a childhood home?' Being an orphan his first time around, Hei wasn't sure how seeing a childhood home felt, but he imagined it was like what he was currently feeling.

Just without the pain, blood, screams, weapons, and focus on how to kill people. You know, the simple stuff.

Hei snorted in humor and closed his eyes, opening himself to the world and stretching his senses to the surrounding area.

His range wasn't far, having only grown to sixty-five meters. Still, if he wasn't in combat and was instead searching for a specific aura, he could extend that range to two hundred meters while dulling everything else so as not to get overwhelmed.

His sense pushed through the house, finding Joy in the kitchen, and Hei almost lost his focus as the blob of energy he knew was her waved to him like she could tell he was looking. 'Fear the panda maid.'

Shaking that off, he casually waved back and searched for his teacher. He wasn't in the house, but he felt close by. Hei turned toward the woods behind the house, stretching into it before finding a weakly flickering aura unmistakable to him. 'There you are.'

He was unsurprised to find him standing before the sole gravestone that hid among the foliage. The older man had been visiting it more and more as the months passed, often spending days lost in thought until he or Joy came to collect him.

Hei walked up by his side with the silent grace his teacher had instilled in him at great effort, yet knew without a doubt the old master could sense him.

No words were spoken as a soft breeze flew through the area, gently stirring the flower bundle before the tombstone. The sun's rays pierced through the canopy, illuminating a name Hei had read hundreds of times yet never asked about.

Student and Master stood in a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity before Hei was verbally acknowledged.

"You have returned, child." The weary voice left Mr. Lupa's lips with a warmth that could only be understood by those who knew him well.

"Yes, Teacher." Hei bowed in respect to the man who made him who he was.

"Mn." A wrinkled palm rose to rest atop his head fondly. "Welcome home."

Hei's lips couldn't help but twitch into a small smile at the gesture. He turned to see his teacher and saw the proud wolf he was beneath his exterior.

He had an unbending spine, old and wise eyes that saw more than he could and scarred hands resting gently on the handle of a cane that could release a blade faster than an average person could blink.

He was the man Hei looked up to, strived to follow behind and surpass, and yet…. Hei's smile dimmed at the shadow of weakness that clung to him. The scent of decay wafted off him. His time was coming. Hei knew it; he had been around death enough to recognize it. Yet the last bits of the child inside him rejected the truth and fought for reality to be different.

"Teacher, I've brought your favorite tea."

Mr. Lupa's smile was genuine, seeing more of Hei than he wanted to let out. "What a dutiful student, I have. Come." He walked towards his house with Hei at his side. "How has your training progressed?"

"Progress is steady and continuous, sir. Leone and the other village leaders are teaching me their crafts with a will."

"Ha." A dry, knowing chuckle left the old man's throat. "Those cats are throwing their all at you, aren't they?"

Hei's shoulders sagged as he let out a soft sigh. "You expected it, Teacher?"

"Like a bag of bored cats given a shiny new toy."

"You could have warned me, you know."

"Where would the fun in that be?" Mr. Lupa laughed openly and clapped Hei on the shoulder. "Those women will make you strong." His laughter lowered as his eyes hardened. "Strong enough to survive the supernatural world and make the name of Lupa proud." His laughter transitioned into a harsh cough, droplets of blood splattering on the frost-covered ground.

Hei moved in a blur to grab a pitcher of warm water from a tray on the porch before returning to the older man's side with a filled cup. "Drink, teacher."

He took it with a grateful nod and drank. "Ah, thank you, child."

"Please don't overexert yourself, teacher."

"Bah." Mr. Lupa waved a hand and resumed his walk. "I'm dying, not crippled."

"One is not better than the other, teacher."

"Depends on the type of cripple." He reached the porch, and Hei helped him up the stairs to his favorite rocking chair. "I'm at the end of my road; let me enjoy it as I please."

"Don't speak like that. You have many more years ahead of you." Hei helped him get comfortable, covering his legs with a blanket and ensuring his pillow supported his back until the old man playfully swatted him away.

"I can sit on my own. Go make the tea."

"Yes, sir." Hei turned away to hide the pain in his gaze and went inside, meeting Joy in the hallway. He tried to hand off the tea, but the gentle panda stopped him with a paw and drew him into a hug without a word.

Hei didn't dare hug her back, not having the courage to recognize why she was comforting him. She pulled back and pushed aside his hair with a motherly gesture that almost broke his composure. "I'm fine, Joy. Thank you."

She groaned lowly but took the offered tea and replaced it with a plate of fresh cookies before leaving Hei to stand alone in the hallway.

'He'll be fine. I'm just being sentimental. I'm still a few jobs away from reaching Gold rank; he's not going anywhere.' Psyching himself up, he walked back to the balcony and put the cookies on the table.

"Ah, oatmeal raisin. I think I'll miss Joy's cookies the most." Mr. Lupa happily took a few while Hei refused to acknowledge the sentence. "Sit, child."

"Yes, Teacher." Hei took the offered chair by his side.

"Tell me of your training. How far along are you with each of those cats?"

"Some better than others. Leone has had me focusing on…."

The topic change was welcome, and Hei found familiar ground. He fell into a rhythm of reviewing his work and defending his actions with logical reasoning. Critical thinking and analysis were parts of the core teachings Mr. Lupa had drilled into him.

Time passed as they talked, an explanation leading to a question, prompting an answer with an occasional token of guiding wisdom provided as the hours passed.

Yet no matter how much Hei wanted it to go on forever, he slowly ran out of things to review, and casual conversation was never his strong point.

The sun began lowering to the west as a cold breeze blew in, bringing with it the scent of coming snow.

"Hei." Mr. Lupa's voice shattered the ensuing silence with a tone of finality. "My time is up."

"That's not tr-."

"It is. Don't lie to yourself. I taught you better than that."

"I'm not lying!" The chair upturned as Hei stood up aggressively. "You're not dying." His binder was summoned with a gesture. "You can't die." He reached for his strongest healing card, only for a steel grip to grab his wrist.

"Hei." The tone in which his name was spoken was one Hei had only rarely heard his teacher speak. "Enough."

"B-but." Hei's throat felt like it was clamping shut. "Why? Why do you keep refusing? I can heal you!"

"No, child. You can't." Mr. Lupa's grip pulled Hei down to his knees by his teacher's side. "I have watched and studied your ability for years." He looked Hei right in the eyes. "You're hidden attempts to heal me. To prolong my lifespan with those pills. To cure my ails. You were not strong enough. Not yet."

The grip lessened, yet Hei didn't pull away. "Strong enough for what? My cards can cure almost anything."

"Your Sacred Gear is strong, Hei, but like any Sacred Gear, it is only as strong as its user." Mr. Lupa sighed and patted Hei's head. "You are everything I ever hoped for in a student, child. You have the potential, will, fortitude, talent, and most of all, a heart strong enough to endure." The older man's gaze was warm, yet there was a weary weight to his following words. "You can reach heights I never could…but you are not ready to face the true monsters of this world."

"What?" Hei furrowed his brow. "How strong is the monster I have to face? High-Class? Ultimate? Satan? A god? I'm not afraid to fight them if I have to."

Mr. Lupa chuckled humorously. "So young and full of vigor." He shook his head. "Don't simply degrade your targets into general categories, Child. How do we judge the strength of a foe?"

The question was posed by a teacher expecting a proper answer, and Hei didn't disappoint.

"Power, Understanding, Tools, Skills, Other."

"Mn." The older man nodded. "The majority will be satisfied with their strength. The power makes them lazy and reckless."

"You have told me this, Teac-."

"However." Mr. Lupa narrowed his gaze on Hei for the interruption. "However, they are not all that way. The true monsters will train a skill to its limit, gather whatever scrap of power they can, seclude themselves for centuries to gain a glimpse of understanding, and sacrifice all to get what they want most." He grabbed Hei's shoulder tightly to impart the following words. "There are true monsters out there, Hei. Monsters who feast on hunters. It is them you need to be wary of crossing before you lose more than you are willing to risk."

"Why are you bringing this up, teacher? Is there someone hunting you?"

"No." Mr. Lupa smiled wanly. "I am not being hunted, Child." He sat back and rocked in his chair gently. "I am telling you this as a warning for what is to come."

"What's coming?"

"My past." The older man's eyes gazed at something Hei couldn't see. "Let me tell you a tale, Hei. The only true account of Amon Lupa, the 29th Lupa, to ever be told. All my highs and all my lows."

The sun descended past the horizon and the light of day gave way to the dark of night as student and teacher talked. As the final account of a legend was shared to be added to the annals of time.

Hei didn't know why he was being told this. He didn't know what was coming or why this was so important over the old man's health, but even still, he sat and listened as the tale was told.

The tale of a street rat in the alleys of Cairo. A child who picked pockets to survive and saw more of the dark side of humanity than any child should.

A child among many enslaved to a gang who ran the territory with ruthless abandon. A gang that would one day be wiped out by a woman. A woman who allowed him to pickpocket her to lead her to her targets.

Amon was starstruck. He watched the overlords who tormented him be taken down by a woman who fell from the heavens above like a hawk aiming for her prey.

To the young and impressionable Amon, she was like a goddess of war who trampled the insurmountable monsters beating him down. While watching her, the embers of an unbending spirit were lit, and somehow, she had seen them before he even knew of them.

That was the day Amon met Ms. Lupa, the 28th generation.

Like himself at her age, she was looking for a student and had chosen among the street rats. Weeding them out until only Amon was left willing to learn.

From there, his training bore resemblances to Hei's own. A brutal program designed to break and reshape the individual into the refined weapon a Lupa was meant to be.

The tale was full of rises and falls, but Mr. Lupa seemed to grow more animated as he talked, like the last burst of fuel in a dimming fire reaching its end.

His tale had ups and downs, joys and sorrows, laughs, horrors, hardships, accomplishments, and much more. He told of his challenges, the thoughts he felt, and the feelings that ate away at him. It was the most human Hei had ever seen his teacher admit he was.

The tale went through the night, with the stars twinkling above and a full moon shining down on the two.

His growth as an assassin, the retirement and passing of his teacher, how he lost himself, and how he found himself once more.

His rise through the Mercenary Guild, the connections he built in all corners of the world, the jobs that entangled him with governments and agents alike.

And then he admitted to something Hei never thought he would ever speak of.

He fell in love.

To a woman named Carlia, a mercenary with whom he clashed time and again on jobs, only for them to find respect and understanding in each other. As he said it, a spark was all that was needed to make the connection snap into place.

It was for her that he put down his mask and stepped away. It was for her that he bought the house they currently sat in. It was for her that he found joy in peaceful silence by her side in a world without bloodshed.

She opened the door to a world he never knew existed. She made him whole. And for a blissful year, the two found peace in each other's embrace.

But then came the death of his once rival. His closest friend who was forced onto a job by way of a Marker.

It ate away at him, knowing how his friend was set up. He couldn't take it and unveiled his blade, taking vengeance for the honor of his rival, and Carlia was right by his side. But his actions were not without consequence. He awakened a foe that would cause the death of his other half as she took a hit meant for him.

He awakened a devil that had slept since the end of the Great War.

Forced to flee, Amon did everything he could to save his love and failed, leaving him with a sorrow that ate him to his core. A sorrow that hungered for the blood of the one who took her from him.

For two years, he hunted for that devil. He tore apart every scrap of information, every whisper, every mention of his foe's whereabouts to no avail.

Bodies were left in the hundreds, leaving the Underworld shaken by a storm as a rabid wolf was on the loose.

The devil he hunted wasn't particularly strong power-wise. Still, its abilities made him devious and deadly, with its reaching limbs hidden in shadows.

Amon tore apart those shadows. Every connection, every branch, he clipped each and every one until he found the source.

Amon Lupa, a human, brought a noble devil clan to extinction. A clan that failed to inherit their ancestor's bloodline and had fallen from grace, yet still, a clan of devils, nevertheless, was brought low through his own hand. He left no root untouched until he reached where the ancestor was resting.

"I gave too much of myself in that battle." Mr. Lupa's energy began receding. "I sacrificed things difficult to gain back."

"What did you lose?"

Amon held up his cane in answer and stroked the handle with a complicated expression. "Do you know what this is, Child?"

"A weapon?"

"It is. But it is so much more." The blade was unsheathed, and for but a second, Hei caught a glimpse of a wolf in its metal, staring at him from the other side of a mirror. "This blade, Hei, is the true legacy of Lupa." The older man smirked at something he saw in its edge and sheathed it for the last time. "Within this weapon, you will find trials you will one day face." He held out the cane and passed it into Hei's numb arms. "I only hope you are ready to face them when that day comes."

"I…I don't understand." He had never seen his teacher let go of his cane since the day they met. It was always in his grasp. Hei was half sure the man slept with it under his pillow.

"No, you wouldn't." Mr. Lupa chuckled and let go. "With my passing, the weapon will regress to its natural state, waiting until you prove worthy to wield it as the next Lupa."

"I thought you already named me Lupa?"

"I allowed you to use the name, Child, not claim it."

"So I was never worthy?"

"I didn't say that." Mr. Lupa looked at him with pride. "In my eyes, you have long since earned it. I'm afraid she is more judging than I."

"She?" Hei's question went unanswered as Mr. Lupa looked away and brought them back on topic.

"I didn't kill my final opponent, Child."

"What?"

"I didn't kill the devil I sought out to end." Mr. Lupa coughed. "He was stronger than I, a fundamental power difference and his bloodline making him a mountain before my steel, so I sealed him." A vicious ear-to-ear grin split his face with bloodlust that downright felt to Hei like an ocean. "I trapped him in layers of seals and buried him where he wouldn't be found, to suffer in agony for the one he took from me." The bloodlust receded like the tide. "Yet as much pleasure as it brought me at the time, I only later realized I missed my chance to end him by prolonging his suffering."

"Why didn't you end him while he was sealed?"

"I no longer had the strength." Mr. Lupa admitted. "But I was too stubborn to admit it. Neither was I willing to let another interfere and possibly free him." He patted Hei's shoulder. "I wallowed for far too long in my thoughts, making excuses for every possible student I could have taken until the day I met you."

"Back at the orphanage."

"Mn. Seven years to this day." He patted Hei's hand. "The moment I saw that spark in your eyes, I felt as if I understood what my teacher once felt when she met me. I took you on for my oath to Lupa, but as I trained you, you pulled me from my thoughts. I found joy in my days once more, no longer brooding over a grave, and started looking forward to what was to come." He smiled at Hei, a smile from the heart. "I've held on this long solely thanks to you, my desire to see you grow, and your wonderful cards pushing me far beyond my body's limits. Thank you for brightening an old man's days at the end of his road."

"Thank me?" Hei numbly asked. "I should be thanking you. You taught me everything I know. You gave me the tools, the skills, the path to walk. Without you, I would be dead or a slave to who knows what after my Sacred Gear awakened. I owe you everything, old man."

"Owe?" Amon chuckled. "There is no debt, Child. But if you feel that way, I'll leave you with three requests."

"Anything."

"Don't be so quick to accept open deals." He tutted admonishingly, but Hei stared on stubbornly, and Mr. Lupa could only fondly sigh. "Very well. First, find yourself a woman."

"What?" Hei blinked at the unexpected request.

"You heard me." Amon smirked. "Find a woman like my Carlia. Find a woman to complete you." His eyes stared ahead longingly. "Every day I wished I had more time with her. I wished I had done things differently to keep her with me. My choices haunt me, yet I don't regret the memories we shared. Don't be afraid to love, Child."

"I…" Hei wasn't exactly a trusting person. It took numerous beatings and heart-to-heart moments to open up to Leone, and while he felt comfortable around the others, he wouldn't say what he felt was love.

Love was difficult for him to understand. Love was absent from his first life. Love was the feeling he received in the few moments he was held by his birth mother. Love was the heart-wrenching pain of seeing her life fade. Love was wanting more time with his father figure, who was dying before his eyes. Love always ended in pain with Hei. It was an elusive emotion to him, and Hei could recognize he was long since emotionally stunted, broken in a way words couldn't convey.

"I…I'll try." He didn't know if he could, but he promised anyway.

"Good. Good." Amon looked at him understandingly. "It will come when it comes. I only ask you not to close your heart out of fear when it arrives."

"Mn. Next?" He wanted to move past the awkward topic.

"Second. I want you to kill that bastard."

"With pleasure." That was easier to understand. Hei was ready to go hunting at that very moment. "Where is it?"

"Not so fast, Child." Mr. Lupa grabbed his shoulder to keep him still. "You have time. My seals will hold for another few years. You have time to grow stronger, and stronger you must become to handle that creature."

Hei grit his teeth but nodded in acceptance. "How strong do I have to become?"

"Ruby." Amon answered without hesitation. "When you reach the rank of a Ruby mercenary, I'll be confident in you killing it."

"Ruby?" Hei looked at him musingly. "That's the rank you reached."

"I only reached it for a short time, Child." The older man shook his head. "Lost in my bloodlust, I took on jobs to help me reach my goal and attained Ruby as a byproduct, but I never completed more than a single job."

"What was it?"

"The eradication of a fallen devil clan."

"…I could do that."

"I'm sure you could." Mr. Lupa teased, making Hei huff in annoyance.

"There was a job for it?"

"At a certain level of power, there is a hit on everyone." Amon chuckled. "With factions in a cold war, it becomes the battlefield of mercenaries, assassins, and spies while the warmongers, greedy, and dogmatic flag bearers bite at the heels of peace."

There was a bitter truth to those words that Hei could understand. "I'll reach Ruby." He swore it to himself to fulfill his teacher's request. "I'll end your foe."

"Good. When you reach Ruby, tell Carlos to bring you to my guild lockbox. It contains the information you will need. As well as the answers you seek to my condition."

"Understood." Hei bowed his head in acceptance, already beginning to form countless ways to hurt devils.

Seeing Hei's dark mood, Mr. Lupa couldn't help but tease: "I recall someone making an oath to reach Diamond."

Hei raised a brow as his mind took him back to the day of his first contract.

"Yeah, yeah. What rank are you?"

"I had reached Ruby in my heyday but quickly fell back to Emerald as life got messy at that time."

"So, I have to reach Ruby and stay there to surpass you then, Old Man?"

"If you don't reach Diamond, I wasted my time with you."

"Diamond it is, then. Why aim high at all if you don't aim for the top, right?"

"Ha! What did I tell you about getting a big head, child? A tadpole wanting to be a dragon is all talk."

"I can do it, you old bastard!"

The memory pierced his darker thoughts and forced a twitching half-smile onto his face. "I'll do it, you old wolf."

"Not an old bastard this time, am I?"

"Not this time."

The two shared a look of shared humor, the last spark of heat rising to vanish into the cold embrace of falling snow.

"Third." Mr. Lupa's voice was down to a whisper as his shaky finger tapped Hei's ring. "Oath Bound."

Hei's eyes widened in disbelief as he understood. "No!" He stood up with honest anger on his face. "Hell no! How could you ask me that?!"

The older man's eyes stayed on Hei's own without changing from his kind gaze. "Peace, Child. Let it be my final gift to you."

"In your condition, it would kill you!" Hei adamantly shook his head.

"I'm fading as it is. It makes no difference."

"Of course it does! You're not dying." Hei's eyes watered. "You're not leaving me."

"Hei, look at me." His teacher's hand rested atop his head. "It's my time. Let me rest easy knowing I gave you everything I could as your teacher."

"No." Hei's knees grew weak as he gripped the older man's hand in his own. "You're not just my teacher. You're so much more than that…." His throat closed up, unable to find the words he desperately wanted to say. "I can't…."

"You can." Mr. Lupa's grip tightened. "You need it. I lost my love because I lacked the power. I trained my whole life, yet lost to my final foe because I lacked the power. Take it, Hei. Take it and never lose what I lost. Take it and live."

"B-but…"

"Do it."

Tears fell unbound as Hei raised a shaky hand. "B-book."

The binder appeared in a soft glow, illuminating the dark of night around them, and for the first time, Hei thought it felt holy.

Hei couldn't speak, but the intention was there as the pages turned.

Spell Card #5: Oath Bound—Create a geass to enforce an agreement between two parties. The geass goes into effect immediately and will be fulfilled directly upon the completion of the contract. Neither party can be forced to sign, and such parties will cause the geass to combust without going into effect. The upper limit enforcement strength of the geass stops at the user's energy pool multiplied by two.

The card that would be the source of his raw power growth, the card he focused on for years as the core of dozens of plans to grow, the card his teacher had helped him understand the potential of.

And Hei had never felt sicker to his stomach than to have it at this moment.

His hands were numb as they reached for it, shaking wildly as he set the card, yet hesitating on the activation key. His eyes screwed shut, unable to see through the outpouring of tears.

"Go on, Child." Mr. Lupa's voice was fading, but his voice was firm, comforting, accepting. "Set me free."

A thousand and one memories flashed by: the training, the instructions, the lectures, the life lessons, the meals, the spars. Each aspect of their journey together burned through his mind like a storm, all coming back to the moment the two first met precisely seven years before in a dusty old library of his childhood orphanage.

"The other path is to take my offer and come under my wing. Inherit my skills and carry on my legacy. Let me fulfill my final mission in life."

"What legacy? Who are you supposed to be anyway?"

A tooth-filled smile was his answer. "You may know me as Mr. Lupa. Accept my offer, and you may call me Teacher. And in time, if you pass my training and survive to come out the other end, so too, will you be known as Lupa. Become my successor and inherit the name Lupa. Reject, and I never come back. My price is to give your all to inherit everything I can pass down. What you do after that is solely up to you. The choice is yours."

An aged, scarred palm reached forward, and Hei's vision became full of only that palm. To take the hand and go into the unknown he could see, or to reject and trust things to work out with the unknown he couldn't.

Red eyes snapped open with an inner fire as Hei locked gazes with Amon Lupa, the only man in two lives to be worth the title of Father.

"I never regretted taking your hand seven years ago, not for a single day. These years have been the greatest gift I have ever received. Thank you….Father."

He spoke of more than a single lifetime, and even without a single answer about his past being given, Mr. Lupa somehow understood as his brows crinkled in joy. "As did I, my son."

Hei clicked the button as the sound of chimes echoed all around, light wrapping around the two.

Mr. Lupa's voice was just above a whisper. "I offer all of my mana in its entirety to my heir, to my son in all but blood, if he shall carry on my legacy, vanquish my foe, and find love to hold, cherish, and protect with his all."

"I.." Blood dripped to the polished wood from where his nails bit into his palms. "I.." His teeth ground hard enough to shatter stone. "I!" The wooden deck cracked from the force he applied on it as he bit out the words. "I…accept."

The binder flashed in a symphony of bells, almost as if in response to its user's emotions.

Mr. Lupa gasped as an aurora of blue light escaped from his chest, flowing into Hei's. Hei felt his pathways burn like battery acid flowed through them, momentarily blinding his senses as it settled inside him. The sheer quality of the older man's lifetime of refined and honed mana multiplied Hei's own with the welcoming pain of going above the safety limits he had previously set for himself.

Yet, as his hearing returned, he heard only a final whisper: "I'm coming, Carlia."

"Father?" Hei called out as he blinked the spots from his eyes, but all that welcomed him was the slack grip of his teacher's hand and a smiling face finally at peace. "Father!"

Hei called out, but there was no longer a response. He checked his pulse and shook his shoulders but to no avail.

The truth was there, yet he still called out. Desperately hoping for one more word. One more look. One more second.

Despair overtook him, and for the first time since he lost his mother, Hei broke down and sobbed.

Even as Joy appeared and buried his face in her fur, he sobbed.

Even as his teacher's cane glowed and changed shape, he sobbed.

And as the sun rose on that snowy December morning, a young wolf howled in mourning for the last trace of innocence lost.

End of Part 1.

AN: :')