Glory For Mankind | AOT [book 1]

Ch.10:Honor Thy Father

"Please help my wife!"

"Help! My son is hurt!"

"My baby is missing, please someone!"

"My mother needs a doctor!"

"Have you seen my husband by any chance?!"

"Mama...Mama..."

Ruvik brushed past the chaotic crowds of desperate survivors.  His eyes were dull and his blades were still out, clenched in his hands--as if it were the only thing keeping him grounded. He managed to take down the titan, after it had feasted upon his brother. Tobias' body left unsalvagable. What kind of older brother was he? Why didn't he do something? Why was--

"Ruvik?"

The young man froze in his step at the sound of his name, he turned around and found the last person he expected to see, his father.

Greyish brown hair and tired brown eyes stared at Ruvik in surprise. The man quickly wrapped his arms around his son, and Ruvik didn't pull away or return the gesture. He just stood there silently as his father embraced him--Alfred's long lost son that his shitty wife took away from him.

"When I heard what happened, I was already in Wall Maria for a business deal," Alfred quickly changed the subject, concern filling his eyes as he looked at Ruvik. "But that's not important, where's your mother? Where's Tobias? Have they evacuated already?"

From Ruvik's dark expression, he already knew the answer, "Oh, no...Edna...I'm so sorry Ruvik."

"An 8 meter class titan devoured mom and a 5 meter class abnormal ate away at my brother." There was a dull expression on his face as he informed what he just witnessed.

His father was saddened by what he heard. "Ruvik, son."

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He raised a brow. "Have you forgotten what I've been doing for a living before...For you...For mom..." 

Ruvik removed himself from his father's arms and walked passed him. "I'll be fine without your comfort. After all, I've lived fifteen years without it."

Alfred tensed up, but chased after his son. "Ruvik, listen to me!"

He grabbed his son by the arm, stopping him mid-stride, but Ruvik didn't spare his father a glance. Instead, he narrowed hi eyes at the scenery in front of him.

"You know I didn't want to leave you and your mother, I loved you both..." Alfred's voice quivered as he desperately tried to explain his force of absence in his son's life. "I have always loved your mother, and I've always loved you. You know I wanted to stay, but I--"

"You already had a family," Ruvik finished. "I know. You had a more important family back in Sina, right?"

"Ruvik..."

"I don't need your sympathy!" He ripped his arm away from his father, "I was there for mom, I was there to take care of her, to take care of my half-brother, I even had to become a killer just to keep a damn roof over there heads--all because I had a poor excuse of a father who left us for his wealthy life within the interior!"

"Ruvik, it's not what you--"

"You think I wouldn't fin out? You married another woman while mom was pregnant with me--and then hid us away like we were a mistake, an embarrasment!" Ruvik yelled. "Because of you, my brother is dead! Because of you, mom remarried! Because of you, she refused to leave that damn house when she had a chance! Because of you, I have nothing!"

Alfred was silent, staring at his son with wide eyes. The two were at a stand still. Ruvik was glaring at his father, and his father was staring at him with a pitifull look that Ruvik hated with every fibre of his being.