Sustaining silence for a while, Minato pulled out his good luck charms. Reminders of home: his red armband, and his evoker. He took a deep breath. Whatever he had left to say, he must say it now.
"Kharon was always a little suspicious, it wasn't too long after we met. When the Heroes' files about details of their lives were leaked, he read about me. He knew my world's own apocalypse would come within my lifetime... because many people wished it. Many people didn't care for the world; apathy was destroying it. 'This world is so horrible, it should just end'. They would look to the sky, some rejoicing and others in despair, as the unspoken wish would be granted."
The boy shakes his head.
"Dial back a few years," Minato smiled wryly. "I wouldn't have minded that myself. What has the world ever done for us? It gives and takes away-- I rejected even the eyes of real, sympathetic people because I convinced myself they were all the same, pitying me for my life situation. Nobody looked at me more than 'the orphan', I must exist to make others feel better about themselves, and no one would hesitate to push me onto someone else to deal with. I never matured until I met S.E.E.S., I never made connections. If I lived, nobody would care, not even myself, and so would be the case when I died."
"--I was wrong about that." Minato's world was colorless and empty. As his heart was touched, so were the tints and vibrance in what he could see. The blurs of people's faces came into focus, and he could remember both the smiles and tears as he became a handful of his friends' confidant. He recalled them one-by-one, their names and faces, the different forms that loneliness could take. In the end, they matured and made their decisions with his encouragement but without his input--he wasn't the best at that... And he recalled how some friends died. Didn't they all go, with smiles on their faces?
Was he strong enough for that? Could he say 'this is how it should be'?
1/2
"Kharon was always a little suspicious, it wasn't too long after we met. When the Heroes' files about details of their lives were leaked, he read about me. He knew my world's own apocalypse would come within my lifetime... because many people wished it. Many people didn't care for the world; apathy was destroying it. 'This world is so horrible, it should just end'. They would look to the sky, some rejoicing and others in despair, as the unspoken wish would be granted."
The boy shakes his head.
"Dial back a few years," Minato smiled wryly. "I wouldn't have minded that myself. What has the world ever done for us? It gives and takes away-- I rejected even the eyes of real, sympathetic people because I convinced myself they were all the same, pitying me for my life situation. Nobody looked at me more than 'the orphan', I must exist to make others feel better about themselves, and no one would hesitate to push me onto someone else to deal with. I never matured until I met S.E.E.S., I never made connections. If I lived, nobody would care, not even myself, and so would be the case when I died."
"--I was wrong about that." Minato's world was colorless and empty. As his heart was touched, so were the tints and vibrance in what he could see. The blurs of people's faces came into focus, and he could remember both the smiles and tears as he became a handful of his friends' confidant. He recalled them one-by-one, their names and faces, the different forms that loneliness could take. In the end, they matured and made their decisions with his encouragement but without his input--he wasn't the best at that... And he recalled how some friends died. Didn't they all go, with smiles on their faces?
Was he strong enough for that? Could he say 'this is how it should be'?