One-Eyed Man
Aoyama, Soba Shop -Gen-
Guest Room
Late Evening, just before sunset
Prior to The Fall
Originally Posted by
Red
"You are you. I will accept that. However, becoming a demon and being strong are two different things entirely. You think it is too late for you, but it is not. You say you don't have anything left, but when you get things you try to throw them away. You are human, but that is not a bad thing, humans are not weak. Do not talk of them like they are."
For seconds stretching into minutes, the two of them stare at each other, both eyes burning with the conviction behind them. A man who calls himself a demon and a dragon who calls him a man. Two sides who have brushed this subject again and again but who have only now come face-to-face with it. An unstoppable force and an immovable object.
It is the man who averts his gaze first.
It is like staring into the depths of the flaming sun. That unshaken conviction in humanity, in humans and of their power, is too brilliant for him to look at. It strips away the beaten, bruised, gaunt and scarred form of the man and leaves behind what lies on the other side of all those steel-like barriers he has built for himself. A child. A child that still clutches his bleeding right eye, wandering, still wandering, the ruins of the flaming city. He never found a way out of that place, and thus, he still wanders.
It is that child, that mirage wrought from memories locked deep within the man, who turns to look up to Red. His face is devoid of everything, most of all hope. The scar of the trauma experienced that day runs deep as a vein of pitch-black gold within him.
"As a human, I was too weak. I couldn't protect those I loved."
As a contrast to that child in the flaming ruins is the demon he decided to be. Standing atop a mountain of corpses, faceless victims of his wrath and revenge. With rain beating down on his face, obscuring even the expression he's making. His teeth are fangs, his nails are claws, his skin is cracked and bloodied and covered in white scales. His hand grips a broken sword and his red eye shines in the dark like a hellish lighthouse. His breath is ragged and rough from refusing to stop, from constantly trying to overtake himself, from being unable to stop at the path he started so long ago.
It is that demon, that nightmare weaved from a desire that fills the brain of the child, who turns to look down to Red. His face is filled with nothing but fury, smeared with vengeance. Yet at the same time he has long since forgotten why he swore revenge.
"As a demon, I am too strong. I only break those I love."
But those are both illusions, just fantasies brought to life by what was said in reality. The truth is that the only thing standing before Red is the One-Eyed Man, looking more exhausted and defeated than ever before. His accusation of Red making light of what troubled him, what ailed him, was thrown back at his face with words that were nothing but truth. How he believed it was too late, how he turned away from the blessings he didn't think he deserved, how he belittled humans despite hating everything non-human... these little inconsistencies, these oddities that kept piling up.
It was not as if the One-Eyed Man didn't realize they were there.
No. He, more than anyone else, knew they existed.
But they were all set aside because of what he had decided long, long ago.
The truth that he now, for the first time, shared with another living being.
"I've killed too many. Anyone who meets me is killed, either by me or because of me. I can only protect them as long as I'm able."
The tired, tired single eye met Red's gaze, reflecting both the boy and the demon inside it.
"I don't deserve a happy ending. Not after what I've done."
All this time, he knew. He knew that his fury was more often than not misguided.
"So when this is all over..."
But it was the only thing that kept him going.
"... a monster like me needs to die."
The fist that had been clenched shut relaxes, finally.
"Humans may be strong. I wasn't. I was a weak human. That's why I became a demon. I had to hate everything... but on that path, I forgot why I wanted to be strong in the first place. To find out who killed them. Who killed my parents. The selfish wish of a child to find someone else responsible. Because if nobody else was at fault... then it was because of me. Then it was I who killed them."
The red eye closes, and the man heaves a soft sigh.
"So, whether me or someone else, the end result is the same."
He had laid bare why he acted the way he did.
"For my life to have any point, in the end I have to die."
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