'…? It doesn't hurt?'
The silence was broken by the man's voice of shocked tone as if he was seeing a ghost. "Seriously… what in the world. are you…"
The kid opened one of his eyes hesitantly as saw his sword which had cut off half of his arm penetrated through and cut off half the arm to the chest.
But what was more shocking was that the sword of the man was penetrating the stomach of the kid or at least it should have been. No blood, or wound as if the blade was penetrating nothing except his cloth. As if the boy itself did not exist. All he felt was a weird feeling of something softly touching insides, almost tickling the body or soul itself and his strength leaving his body. Nothing happened…
"Hahaha, I guess this is my loss…" the man says to the kid with a smile of relief. "Ha… how could I had forgotten about that?" As he looked towards the chest near the heart where he had a stab mark on his cloth.
"Well that doesn't matter anyways. Since I am the one dying". His wound was deep enough to be fatal without a healer. He might not be able to hold back without a proper treatment. He just simply loosen his grip and the sword fell beside him.
The man fell to the ground on his back with a satisfied look on his face. He had lost the battle but he held no regret. Just a smile of relief as if a huge unknown burden was lifted from him.
A warm drop of blood fell onto the ground from the kid. But it was not from where his wound was supposed to be but his nose.
The kid barely was able to stand up, checked his nose and surely, he was bleeding from nose and not before long eventually fell onto ground on his front beside the man due to his stamina being drained to its utter limit.
"Hey. How does it feel? After taking your revenge?"
'Should you really be asking that…? I feel no anger at all like I lost my rage… I just hate myself for locking away the thing I was good at… and it's a pity.'
"Pity?"
'Pity that we couldnt come to an understanding. Never in the fight did I felt like you wanted to kill me. If you did, I would have died.'
In the end there was no satisfaction, he felt empty as he made revenge his goal but what lied beyond it was nothing. He pitied others for not being able to understand each other and felt lonely for no one else to understand him. The man just let out a laugh as he was heavily breathing.
"I guess that makes the two of us a pitiful soul."
'Headache just hurts more than ever before, even after avenging. I do not think hating is for someone like me… But do not misunderstand, I still wouldnt forgive you for killing others.' the kid whispers.
'Ha… please don't forgive me' said the man with a laugh.
The man thought to himself "Maybe it was never about how the world works. I wonder if we adults are the one making it overly complicated for the younglings"
'So why did you do it? You had no will to fight yourself.' the kid calmly asked and the man replied with "Someone had to do something. I am nothing more than a pawn myself."
'Pawn?' questioned the kid but was met with silence from the man.
'Fine by me, I will find this player of yours myself and ask him' the kid replied back as if he was challenging him.
The man just calmly replied with 'Sure do that. I hope you do find your way.' and silence fell onto the ground again.
Awkward silence fell as none of them were passing out or on. Awkwardness of not even being able to move from their spot and next to the one who tried to kill one another.
'Hey, this is getting awkward but I am not going to sleep any time soon. More like I can't so why not just answer me something else. 'Don't you feel mad about how you should have won that battle?' the kid questioned
"What's there to be mad about, I am the one who ambushed you first. No matter what I say, it will be a loser's excuse and whatever tricks u use… in the end losers get to tell no tale. It doesn't matter how you win, let it be by cowardly or honourable, playing fair or dirty. No one will ask the victor for details. What matters is whether you won or not, not how you won. Sadly what is how this world works…"
'Why did you teach me? If you had not, you could had easily killed me…'
"I have no idea… I guess I was just curious about what would you become if you learned to guide the sword so all I did was just throw you a hint. You are the one who did the rest. Don't get the wrong idea, I don't regret it"
'So, why did you slow your sword at the end…'
"Huh?"
'You slowed down your sword multiple times during the fight. Backed up when you could had killed me easily.'
"You are too attentive for a kid. You must be seeing things…"
'I guess if you say so'
"But of course I would win if we fight again…" He looked towards the kid who had a gloomy face.
"Fear not. There is no one to remember me when I am gone."
'I will…' claimed the kid with a serious look on his face. A look not for hatred but respect for someone despite being the foe.
'Ha. kids these days.' said the man as he looked onto the grey sky.
'Hey. It might be late but what's your name?' asked the man and kid replied 'I have no name… not any that i remember of'
'What do they call you then?'
'The kid or Smiling Kid'
'I see. Smiley it is' taunted the man
'Hey that's not my name'
'I am Ignis Satus'
'Nor did I ask yours.'
The Ignis face suddenly went serious as he said "Hey Smiley, soon the soldiers from town will come and will take you back. As for me, it's too late". He spoke with certainty as if his fate was already sealed while the kid was confused and asked him 'How do you know that?'
Ignis just looks at him and smirks. 'A secret'
'Forget I ever ask… I would have punched you if I had the strength…'
Ignis laughed and then took a deep breath. "I take it back. You are really amazing. Remember this, you are never truly alone. There will always be someone out there who will cry for you as long as you live on. So don't die yet till you find someone…"
The eyes started to get dizzy as now he is struggling to breath. He thought to himself "Maybe it doesn't take a hero to change the world… but common sense, that other people lost on their way…"
Ignis said 'Now I really wonder why people fight, when they just met… Well I might not be so different in that prespect… After all, War is a lie'
'I wonder how you survived… but I hope that you are the one who…' said as he looked towards the kid. 'Ha, here I am babbling on about and there you are sleeping peacefully… So much for 'not able to pass out' … Dam it.'
His eyes had gone blurry while his head was no longer able to focus and he started to take in heavy breaths as his vision slowly narrows.
'I guess my time is up… This version of me is not even supposed to exist but I wonder if it wasn't for that order… could we have ever met?. Could we… had been the people who shared a path in their life? Instead of this cruel fate?'
Ignis paused for a moment 'Please do not forgive me, for I will not forgive my own self…'
His body starting from his wound started to crumble like glass cracking from his wound and turning into weightless ash and the blood and wound started to glow yellow. The Cracks revealed a bright golden light in between them as if there was light shining under the cracks. It almost looked as if he was breaking into small fragments that were disappearing into nothingness.
He raises his arm facing towards him towards the sky and it instantly cracks, breaks and crumbles. 'Ha… fate really is cruel… after all this suffering, just to send me off like this when I did not want to go. I guess it's a befitting punishment for someone like me…'
'I guess I don't deserve that light of yours, for it's too bright for me to walk in… why don't you learn something from him?' as he looked towards the sky smiling as if he was talking to someone else, even mocking them.
The ashes started to glow up the moment they were cracked and broken off from the rest of the body. It looked like it was being burnt off as it flew towards the sky. It did not hurt, but felt like giving off gentle warmth like being tucked into bed by parents on a cold night.
His eyes twitched as if he was reminded of something. 'You really are odd' as he just smirks upon the kid.
'Hey kid… no, Smiley, be better than me… be better than us. Do not be tainted by this phoney world. Be free from this phoney world for this marks my end… but also your beginning… I wished I could have been there to see how this rigid world would bend to your existence… The One Who Won Against This Corrupted Fate…'
He gave off a peaceful smile onto the boy as he said 'Good bye, The Original Ab—' but before he reached the end of sentence. The cracks reached the head and instantly shattered his body entirely, making him disappear with no trace left of his existence behind. Even his sword was not left behind.