Ignitedstar
None
<p>
A character I've been thinking of recently. Pay attention though, as there are two characters, but I am only talking about one "him". You'll know which one it is. Maybe... just maybe there's a place for him. Although, knowing him, he would say that there is no place for him. You will see. --- Another gloomy day in the city. Darkening clouds amassed from one end of the sky to the other. Rain had been pouring since last night. Weather reports hypothesized nothing but a flood warning for the five day forecast. Never in the 300 year history of this city had anything like this happened. Thanks to the endless drizzle, there was no school today for this young man. The weather did not particularly make him happy, though. His parents requested that he take a fifteen minute stroll for some groceries. He was running home with a yellow poncho on top of his white shirt, black rain boots, and a navy umbrella, holding its silver handle with his left hand. The fearsome wind made the rain sway left and right, so no matter which way the umbrella was tilted, the young man always found himself getting wet. He held the hard leather bags of food his parents wanted in his right hand and the young man readied himself to get hit by a second flurry of wind and water. It was just another fifteen minutes home. Anything to get out of this crazy weather, he thought to himself. The young man was about to pass the bridge that led to home. It was the same stone bridge that was over a river that had swelled to double its size due to the constant downpour. It was the same stone bridge that he had been crossing since his first day in grade school. He had to admit, he loved the dull, stone bridge. As a child, his secret base was the shadows of its underside. He reasoned long ago that whoever made the bridge must have liked secret bases as well. However, as the young man grew older he came to understand that the only reason it was there was because it made the bridge sturdy. His father once told him that bridges are always made about three times stronger than they need to be. Just to make sure they don't fall when kids that are using them as secret bases. Though, it had been awhile since he last went under the stone bridge. His secret base retired five years ago; there was simply no need for it anymore. The familiar stone bridge, this time however was not as familiar as he remembered. A certain aura emanated from it. The young man couldn't quite explain the feeling inside of him. The young man touched his head of short, dusty brown hair. This feeling... it matched the weather and the stone bridge. Only when he thought of those two things that he found the words to describe his feeling: Sturdy and powerful, but a sense of loneliness, and a lingering trail of sadness. He was no longer concerned with the rain or the wind. He was thinking about the bridge. He knew and he dared to look. There was someone there. There was someone under the stone bridge. Someone whom was hiding from the storm, yet sitting so close to the rapid current of the enlarged river. Someone that was using his retired secret base. The young man was compelled to discover who it was. It was a small city, so as far as the young man knew, no one had been under the bridge except him and occasionally his parents. As he slowly walked to the shelter under the stone bridge, the young man's gaze didn't leave its underside. There was someone there, but they didn't move. Not even a twitch. Like they didn't know or didn't care that the young man was approaching them. As he got closer, the fear of something bad happening became more real to his mind. At the same time, the curiosity and thrill to seek this anomaly made the young man continue. Who was this stranger? The young man stopped walking. He was in awe, not because of who he saw, but... what he saw. It was a person... but despite this, there were many things that were... off. First of all, he was really big and had a broad, muscular build. Unlike the young man's brown and peachy skin, this person had skin that was gray. He couldn't say much about the person's head though since it hid very well in the shadows close to the ceiling of the bridge's underside. Regardless, there was a flicker of white where the young man imagined the figure's eyes would be. It was so strange... to the young man, it was like the stone bridge had been personified. If a person wasn't looking too carefully, he was easily mistakable for being a piece of the bridge. Whatever it was, it may not be a man... but if not, then at least male. What do you say to someone... or something, like this? Words spilled out of the young man's mouth, coming out as a very curious and perhaps a little frightened, <span style="color:#993300;">"Who are you?"</span> No response. Maybe the young man was imagining things? Or the figure was just a statue. Then it said, <span style="color:#999999;">"You have no business with me. Please return to what it was that you were doing."</span> His voice. It was deep and beautiful. And the tone. It was meaningful and had power. Every spoken word was clear. It almost made the young man blush. Any girl who heard his voice would probably find it irresistible. <span style="color:#993300;">"I'm not doing much,"</span> the young man sat down next to the gray figure, his back on the stone bridge. Hearing the figure's voice made him at ease. It wasn't just that, but the way he had acted so far... to the young man, it sounded like this person doesn't have company very often. If at all. He looked intimidating, but there was a sort of peacefulness from his attitude. <span style="color:#993300;">"Look at the weather. What am I supposed to do?"</span> <span style="color:#999999;">"Go home."</span> He said. The thin outline of the figure's head that the young man could see moved and faced him. <span style="color:#999999;">"To the family and friends that love you. To the people that care about you. Neither of whom is I."</span> A moment of silence followed. The young man didn't feel like leaving. It would mean the wind and rain to run through, again. So he ignored the gray figure. <span style="color:#993300;">"You sound like you don't have anyone that loves you or anything."</span> He didn't mean it in a bad way, but the words were already out and the young man couldn't take them back. The figure looked away and the only sounds to be heard was rain, wind, and rushing water. <span style="color:#999999;">"I cannot love."</span> the figure spoke at last. <span style="color:#999999;">"It is best that I cannot be loved. If not, then in the worst of ways."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"In the worst of ways? What do you mean?"</span> The young man tilted his head, confused. How could love be bad? <span style="color:#999999;">"A slave."</span> It came out slowly. Much slower than the rest of what he had said so far.<span style="color:#999999;"> "A beast. A monster. Love of these sorts is best for me."</span> The young man shot a glance at the gray figure. <span style="color:#993300;">"Hey. That's not love. That's called abuse. And I think the rest is called hate."</span> There was another silent moment. The young man's eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness. Then he could finally see that the figure of gray that stood before him had no clothes on. What really surprised were all of the scars on his body. The young man didn't want to think about how the creature that he sat next to got them. <span style="color:#993300;">"Well... You have friends don't you?"</span> <span style="color:#999999;">"Friends."</span> The fearsome figure repeated. <span style="color:#999999;">"Comrades. Allies. They are all the same. I have none."</span> There was a pause. <span style="color:#999999;">"There was no time to have friends. We killed each other. We ate one another."</span> He was not from here. A person doesn't need to hear or know more and still not know. <span style="color:#993300;">"... To survive."</span> Another lull of silence. <span style="color:#999999;">"Where I came from, this is normal. I never thought about it. There was never a need."</span> It only meant one thing... but the young man was unsure. <span style="color:#993300;">"I don't think this is something you should be telling me."</span> He didn't know if it was something that he wanted to know. <span style="color:#999999;">"Then I met someone."</span>He quietly continued. <span style="color:#999999;">"A human being for the first time. A young man, just like yourself. At the time, I treated him with ignorance and misunderstanding. A creature that stood before me with no desire to fight. He was fragile and weak. A waste of time. I saw a fool, driven to only find his own death. He spoke to me in a language I could not understand. His ways of survival were strange to me. I questioned his ability to survive. I became curious. I wanted to know how he was still alive."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"But in order to do that, you had to learn."</span> The young man smiled. <span style="color:#993300;">"How long did that take you?"</span> It was amazing in itself, really. This person went from not even knowing what a Human was to knowing the language they use. And so fluently, at that. It made the young man wonder that the person in front of him was no Human at all, but whatever he was, the young man didn't care. <span style="color:#999999;">"Many years. The person who taught me was very patient. He showed me how the world could be studied. How it could be appreciated. I even began to call him Master."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Where is he now?"</span> he had to ask. <span style="color:#999999;">"I killed him."</span> It was an answer that the young man that stood next to the gray figure wasn't expecting to hear. Silence. <span style="color:#993300;">"What did he do?"</span> Did the young man that the gray figure spoke of try to kill him? <span style="color:#000000;">It got quiet again.</span><span style="color:#808080;"> "I… could not escape."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> Then nothing.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Couldn't escape…"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> the young man thought carefully about what the creature had said. A new world was what he thought. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"Do you mean that you ate him?"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> He said he couldn't escape. He couldn't escape the world he left behind. </span><span style="color:#000000;">The young man realized that what his friend had meant was that he couldn't run from his own instincts. The primal desires that everyone is born with. The way he paused… The young man knew that there was a lot more that happened.</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"That was my first time."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> He said. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"The first time I was afraid. Not of dying, but of doing something I did not want to do."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"It was your first time knowing you did something you wished you had never done. It sounds to me like it was your first time ever feeling guilty."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> Guilt led to regret. To kill the one that taught you everything… </span><span style="color:#993300;">"That must have been really hard."</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"Not the first time."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> He corrected the young man. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"The second."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Then the first was…?"</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"Deciding that I would learn from him."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">It got quiet again… only because the young man was thinking back about what the gray figure had told him previously. </span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="color:#993300;">"Is that why you never want to love? Because it might happen again?"</span></span><span style="color:#000000;"> It may not happen in the same manner, but if that was the first time he ever felt the pain of losing someone he cared about...</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The young man wasn't expecting an answer. And he didn't get one.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Can I tell you something, then?" </span><span style="color:#000000;">The young man smiled. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"I'm glad that you learned from the person you met. It sounds like he was a really nice person. There are a lot of people out there, and not every human being is like him. You could've turned out a lot worse. You're really lucky, you know."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The gray figure sat in silence.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Why did you tell me all of this, though?"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> The young man thought he knew why… he just wanted to make sure.</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"You don’t look like him,"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> the creature looked at the young man, </span><span style="color:#808080;">"but the way you talk… the way you walk… the way you talk to me. The way you reply to what I say. You remind me of my master."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">And remembering brought up many memories; both of times when things were well and of times when things just don't work out, no matter how many times it is tried.</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The gray figure slowly turned his face away. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"I could not endure the pain of losing him. For some time, I would have done anything. Anything. To forget what I did. To forget what I knew. No matter how much I attempted to run from the past, it always managed to follow me in the worst way possible."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> There was a small pause. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"For example, meeting people like you."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Well that's no good."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> It truly wasn't. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"My Mom once told me that the past has to be let go at the perfect time. If you let it go too soon, it haunts you and you'll always be worried about it. If you let go too late, you get tangled up in it and it drags you down. We never know when we're supposed to let go. But when a person knows, they know."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> The young man looked at the friend beside him. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"You were so distraught over what you did… but you look at yourself now. I think you finally found the right time to let go."</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"You sound so sure. But I am not."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"A lot of things, we'll always forget. There are also a lot of things that we will always remember. You can still let go of the past and look back at it. It might be painful, but a person makes true progress when they can evaluate what happened and see to it that they learn from what happened for the best of everyone. That's really hard to do, too. Especially because it's hard to admit that we've done something wrong."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The creature didn't say anything.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"I probably should go now,"</span> the young man stood up, <span style="color:#993300;">"Before I go though, I want to tell you one more thing, since I don't know if I'll ever see you again."</span> The gray figure's head turned toward the young man. The young man's eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness from the underside of the bridge. He still wasn't sure what the gray figure was, but he definitely wasn't human. He wasn't wearing anything, either. If he was never human, then wearing clothes must have felt awkward. <span style="color:#993300;">"If you came from a place where the most important thing was yourself… then I think your master taught you something very special. Even though you killed him, from how you make this person out to be, something tells me that he wasn't mad or sad at all that you ended up doing so. After you killed him, you started to regret. Losing him made you sad. Perhaps even more so, because you're the one that did it."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"But you know? That's kind of what love is. You know you love someone when it's hard to imagine what it's like to live without them. Everything that happened and all of the decisions you have made up until now, have made you who you are. And because I think that you are doing your best to cope with what happened, you are probably more human than a number of other human beings."</span> The young man laughed. <span style="color:#993300;">"That may sound funny and I never thought those words would come out of my mouth, but I think it's true."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"I think…"</span> the young man wondered, <span style="color:#993300;">"I'm only nineteen years old, but I think that's what love is. At least, I think that's in the right direction."</span> The young man gave another smile. It was a bit weaker than the last ones he gave, but there was a sense of sincerity from it. <span style="color:#993300;">"I should go now. I don't know if I will ever see you again, but I'm glad that we met."</span> As he left the underside of the stone bridge, he thought to himself with a glint of hope. An underlying feeling was telling the young man that he wouldn't see the gray figure there if he checked again. He would absolutely leave. Out of curiosity though… just in case he ever came back, the young man would keep checking. A retired secret base… thought the young man. If a secret base brought moments like these, then it was worth keeping around. Maybe. The young man didn't wait for the gray figure to answer. Honestly, he wanted to hear it, but after all that he had already heard and everything the young man had said… Perhaps it was better if he never heard what the creature had to say. <span style="color:#808080;">"… But I enjoyed it..."</span>
</p>
A character I've been thinking of recently. Pay attention though, as there are two characters, but I am only talking about one "him". You'll know which one it is. Maybe... just maybe there's a place for him. Although, knowing him, he would say that there is no place for him. You will see. --- Another gloomy day in the city. Darkening clouds amassed from one end of the sky to the other. Rain had been pouring since last night. Weather reports hypothesized nothing but a flood warning for the five day forecast. Never in the 300 year history of this city had anything like this happened. Thanks to the endless drizzle, there was no school today for this young man. The weather did not particularly make him happy, though. His parents requested that he take a fifteen minute stroll for some groceries. He was running home with a yellow poncho on top of his white shirt, black rain boots, and a navy umbrella, holding its silver handle with his left hand. The fearsome wind made the rain sway left and right, so no matter which way the umbrella was tilted, the young man always found himself getting wet. He held the hard leather bags of food his parents wanted in his right hand and the young man readied himself to get hit by a second flurry of wind and water. It was just another fifteen minutes home. Anything to get out of this crazy weather, he thought to himself. The young man was about to pass the bridge that led to home. It was the same stone bridge that was over a river that had swelled to double its size due to the constant downpour. It was the same stone bridge that he had been crossing since his first day in grade school. He had to admit, he loved the dull, stone bridge. As a child, his secret base was the shadows of its underside. He reasoned long ago that whoever made the bridge must have liked secret bases as well. However, as the young man grew older he came to understand that the only reason it was there was because it made the bridge sturdy. His father once told him that bridges are always made about three times stronger than they need to be. Just to make sure they don't fall when kids that are using them as secret bases. Though, it had been awhile since he last went under the stone bridge. His secret base retired five years ago; there was simply no need for it anymore. The familiar stone bridge, this time however was not as familiar as he remembered. A certain aura emanated from it. The young man couldn't quite explain the feeling inside of him. The young man touched his head of short, dusty brown hair. This feeling... it matched the weather and the stone bridge. Only when he thought of those two things that he found the words to describe his feeling: Sturdy and powerful, but a sense of loneliness, and a lingering trail of sadness. He was no longer concerned with the rain or the wind. He was thinking about the bridge. He knew and he dared to look. There was someone there. There was someone under the stone bridge. Someone whom was hiding from the storm, yet sitting so close to the rapid current of the enlarged river. Someone that was using his retired secret base. The young man was compelled to discover who it was. It was a small city, so as far as the young man knew, no one had been under the bridge except him and occasionally his parents. As he slowly walked to the shelter under the stone bridge, the young man's gaze didn't leave its underside. There was someone there, but they didn't move. Not even a twitch. Like they didn't know or didn't care that the young man was approaching them. As he got closer, the fear of something bad happening became more real to his mind. At the same time, the curiosity and thrill to seek this anomaly made the young man continue. Who was this stranger? The young man stopped walking. He was in awe, not because of who he saw, but... what he saw. It was a person... but despite this, there were many things that were... off. First of all, he was really big and had a broad, muscular build. Unlike the young man's brown and peachy skin, this person had skin that was gray. He couldn't say much about the person's head though since it hid very well in the shadows close to the ceiling of the bridge's underside. Regardless, there was a flicker of white where the young man imagined the figure's eyes would be. It was so strange... to the young man, it was like the stone bridge had been personified. If a person wasn't looking too carefully, he was easily mistakable for being a piece of the bridge. Whatever it was, it may not be a man... but if not, then at least male. What do you say to someone... or something, like this? Words spilled out of the young man's mouth, coming out as a very curious and perhaps a little frightened, <span style="color:#993300;">"Who are you?"</span> No response. Maybe the young man was imagining things? Or the figure was just a statue. Then it said, <span style="color:#999999;">"You have no business with me. Please return to what it was that you were doing."</span> His voice. It was deep and beautiful. And the tone. It was meaningful and had power. Every spoken word was clear. It almost made the young man blush. Any girl who heard his voice would probably find it irresistible. <span style="color:#993300;">"I'm not doing much,"</span> the young man sat down next to the gray figure, his back on the stone bridge. Hearing the figure's voice made him at ease. It wasn't just that, but the way he had acted so far... to the young man, it sounded like this person doesn't have company very often. If at all. He looked intimidating, but there was a sort of peacefulness from his attitude. <span style="color:#993300;">"Look at the weather. What am I supposed to do?"</span> <span style="color:#999999;">"Go home."</span> He said. The thin outline of the figure's head that the young man could see moved and faced him. <span style="color:#999999;">"To the family and friends that love you. To the people that care about you. Neither of whom is I."</span> A moment of silence followed. The young man didn't feel like leaving. It would mean the wind and rain to run through, again. So he ignored the gray figure. <span style="color:#993300;">"You sound like you don't have anyone that loves you or anything."</span> He didn't mean it in a bad way, but the words were already out and the young man couldn't take them back. The figure looked away and the only sounds to be heard was rain, wind, and rushing water. <span style="color:#999999;">"I cannot love."</span> the figure spoke at last. <span style="color:#999999;">"It is best that I cannot be loved. If not, then in the worst of ways."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"In the worst of ways? What do you mean?"</span> The young man tilted his head, confused. How could love be bad? <span style="color:#999999;">"A slave."</span> It came out slowly. Much slower than the rest of what he had said so far.<span style="color:#999999;"> "A beast. A monster. Love of these sorts is best for me."</span> The young man shot a glance at the gray figure. <span style="color:#993300;">"Hey. That's not love. That's called abuse. And I think the rest is called hate."</span> There was another silent moment. The young man's eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness. Then he could finally see that the figure of gray that stood before him had no clothes on. What really surprised were all of the scars on his body. The young man didn't want to think about how the creature that he sat next to got them. <span style="color:#993300;">"Well... You have friends don't you?"</span> <span style="color:#999999;">"Friends."</span> The fearsome figure repeated. <span style="color:#999999;">"Comrades. Allies. They are all the same. I have none."</span> There was a pause. <span style="color:#999999;">"There was no time to have friends. We killed each other. We ate one another."</span> He was not from here. A person doesn't need to hear or know more and still not know. <span style="color:#993300;">"... To survive."</span> Another lull of silence. <span style="color:#999999;">"Where I came from, this is normal. I never thought about it. There was never a need."</span> It only meant one thing... but the young man was unsure. <span style="color:#993300;">"I don't think this is something you should be telling me."</span> He didn't know if it was something that he wanted to know. <span style="color:#999999;">"Then I met someone."</span>He quietly continued. <span style="color:#999999;">"A human being for the first time. A young man, just like yourself. At the time, I treated him with ignorance and misunderstanding. A creature that stood before me with no desire to fight. He was fragile and weak. A waste of time. I saw a fool, driven to only find his own death. He spoke to me in a language I could not understand. His ways of survival were strange to me. I questioned his ability to survive. I became curious. I wanted to know how he was still alive."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"But in order to do that, you had to learn."</span> The young man smiled. <span style="color:#993300;">"How long did that take you?"</span> It was amazing in itself, really. This person went from not even knowing what a Human was to knowing the language they use. And so fluently, at that. It made the young man wonder that the person in front of him was no Human at all, but whatever he was, the young man didn't care. <span style="color:#999999;">"Many years. The person who taught me was very patient. He showed me how the world could be studied. How it could be appreciated. I even began to call him Master."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Where is he now?"</span> he had to ask. <span style="color:#999999;">"I killed him."</span> It was an answer that the young man that stood next to the gray figure wasn't expecting to hear. Silence. <span style="color:#993300;">"What did he do?"</span> Did the young man that the gray figure spoke of try to kill him? <span style="color:#000000;">It got quiet again.</span><span style="color:#808080;"> "I… could not escape."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> Then nothing.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Couldn't escape…"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> the young man thought carefully about what the creature had said. A new world was what he thought. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"Do you mean that you ate him?"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> He said he couldn't escape. He couldn't escape the world he left behind. </span><span style="color:#000000;">The young man realized that what his friend had meant was that he couldn't run from his own instincts. The primal desires that everyone is born with. The way he paused… The young man knew that there was a lot more that happened.</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"That was my first time."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> He said. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"The first time I was afraid. Not of dying, but of doing something I did not want to do."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"It was your first time knowing you did something you wished you had never done. It sounds to me like it was your first time ever feeling guilty."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> Guilt led to regret. To kill the one that taught you everything… </span><span style="color:#993300;">"That must have been really hard."</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"Not the first time."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> He corrected the young man. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"The second."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Then the first was…?"</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"Deciding that I would learn from him."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">It got quiet again… only because the young man was thinking back about what the gray figure had told him previously. </span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="color:#993300;">"Is that why you never want to love? Because it might happen again?"</span></span><span style="color:#000000;"> It may not happen in the same manner, but if that was the first time he ever felt the pain of losing someone he cared about...</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The young man wasn't expecting an answer. And he didn't get one.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Can I tell you something, then?" </span><span style="color:#000000;">The young man smiled. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"I'm glad that you learned from the person you met. It sounds like he was a really nice person. There are a lot of people out there, and not every human being is like him. You could've turned out a lot worse. You're really lucky, you know."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The gray figure sat in silence.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Why did you tell me all of this, though?"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> The young man thought he knew why… he just wanted to make sure.</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"You don’t look like him,"</span><span style="color:#000000;"> the creature looked at the young man, </span><span style="color:#808080;">"but the way you talk… the way you walk… the way you talk to me. The way you reply to what I say. You remind me of my master."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">And remembering brought up many memories; both of times when things were well and of times when things just don't work out, no matter how many times it is tried.</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The gray figure slowly turned his face away. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"I could not endure the pain of losing him. For some time, I would have done anything. Anything. To forget what I did. To forget what I knew. No matter how much I attempted to run from the past, it always managed to follow me in the worst way possible."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> There was a small pause. </span><span style="color:#808080;">"For example, meeting people like you."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"Well that's no good."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> It truly wasn't. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"My Mom once told me that the past has to be let go at the perfect time. If you let it go too soon, it haunts you and you'll always be worried about it. If you let go too late, you get tangled up in it and it drags you down. We never know when we're supposed to let go. But when a person knows, they know."</span><span style="color:#000000;"> The young man looked at the friend beside him. </span><span style="color:#993300;">"You were so distraught over what you did… but you look at yourself now. I think you finally found the right time to let go."</span> <span style="color:#808080;">"You sound so sure. But I am not."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"A lot of things, we'll always forget. There are also a lot of things that we will always remember. You can still let go of the past and look back at it. It might be painful, but a person makes true progress when they can evaluate what happened and see to it that they learn from what happened for the best of everyone. That's really hard to do, too. Especially because it's hard to admit that we've done something wrong."</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The creature didn't say anything.</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"I probably should go now,"</span> the young man stood up, <span style="color:#993300;">"Before I go though, I want to tell you one more thing, since I don't know if I'll ever see you again."</span> The gray figure's head turned toward the young man. The young man's eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness from the underside of the bridge. He still wasn't sure what the gray figure was, but he definitely wasn't human. He wasn't wearing anything, either. If he was never human, then wearing clothes must have felt awkward. <span style="color:#993300;">"If you came from a place where the most important thing was yourself… then I think your master taught you something very special. Even though you killed him, from how you make this person out to be, something tells me that he wasn't mad or sad at all that you ended up doing so. After you killed him, you started to regret. Losing him made you sad. Perhaps even more so, because you're the one that did it."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"But you know? That's kind of what love is. You know you love someone when it's hard to imagine what it's like to live without them. Everything that happened and all of the decisions you have made up until now, have made you who you are. And because I think that you are doing your best to cope with what happened, you are probably more human than a number of other human beings."</span> The young man laughed. <span style="color:#993300;">"That may sound funny and I never thought those words would come out of my mouth, but I think it's true."</span> <span style="color:#993300;">"I think…"</span> the young man wondered, <span style="color:#993300;">"I'm only nineteen years old, but I think that's what love is. At least, I think that's in the right direction."</span> The young man gave another smile. It was a bit weaker than the last ones he gave, but there was a sense of sincerity from it. <span style="color:#993300;">"I should go now. I don't know if I will ever see you again, but I'm glad that we met."</span> As he left the underside of the stone bridge, he thought to himself with a glint of hope. An underlying feeling was telling the young man that he wouldn't see the gray figure there if he checked again. He would absolutely leave. Out of curiosity though… just in case he ever came back, the young man would keep checking. A retired secret base… thought the young man. If a secret base brought moments like these, then it was worth keeping around. Maybe. The young man didn't wait for the gray figure to answer. Honestly, he wanted to hear it, but after all that he had already heard and everything the young man had said… Perhaps it was better if he never heard what the creature had to say. <span style="color:#808080;">"… But I enjoyed it..."</span>
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