The Beauty in the Darkness • a Zoethian Fanfiction

Her expression.
I knew what she thought.
She thought I was a monster.
But I had to tell her.
I couldn't hide my secret forever.
I knew the consequences.
She would never look at me the same.
Think of me the same.
Or love me the same.

• One year earlier •
I awoke to the soft sound of rain.
I sighed.
I hate the rain.
I've hated it since that day.
That day in his lab.
I've hated him since that day.
That day he made me part...
He never felt the pain I felt.
How his experiment gone wrong had changed my life.
Forever.
But he would soon feel the pain I had felt that day.

I got up, and put on my regular clothing.
Brown pants, a black short-sleeved tee shirt.
I grabbed my cape and my mask.
I draped my cape over my back and tied it around my neck.
I pulled my mask up and headed down the stairs of Blackrock Stronghold.
As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I gaze out the door.
I see a figure.
A figure running toward me.
It was too misty to make out who it is.
But one thing stands out to me.
It's hair.
It's red hair.
A red so intense, it could almost be on fire.
Just because of that.
That hair.
I know exactly who it is.
Zoey.

As she approaches the door, I hear he call my name.
"Rythian!.... Rythian!... Rythian!?"
She finally spots me, gazing out the door.
"Rythian, there you are! I have a surprise for you! Come on, follow me!"
She turned around and started walking in the direction in which she came.
"Zoey, I can't." I said.
" But, why not? I don't understand why your so afraid of the rain, Rythian."
"I'm not afraid, it's just..."
"Just what?"
"... Nothing. Just forget it"
"Well I'm not going to let you spend all of your birthday inside!"

My Birthday.
It's my Birthday.
...Is it really my Birthday?
" It's my birthday?"
"Yes."
"... Really?"
"Yes, really!"

There was a long pause.

" I guess... I was too caught up in my magic that I forgotten my OWN birthday."
"Yes, I guess you were. I'll go get your present."
She turned around and continued it the direction in which she came.

She remembered my birthday.
No one had ever remembered my birthday.
She cared enough to remember.

A few minutes later, I see her walking back.
She's carrying a box and has a HUGE smile on her face.
The box is purple with a red ribbon tied around it. The box is fairly big. I wonder what she got me.

She approached me.
She held the box out to me and screamed "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYTHIAN!"
I started to take off the red ribbon that held the box shut.
After I got the ribbon off the box, I took the lid off the box.
I peered inside.
To my surprise there was a baby mooshroom inside the box.
I lifted the mooshroom out of the box.
"Her name is Daisy!" she said with a huge smile on her face.
"I...I..I'm speechless. I'd never have thought you would give me one of your mooshrooms."
"Well, I am your apprentice."
"It's amazing, thank you Zoey."

After I said that, she leaned in and gave me a hug.
I was caught off guard.
No one has ever hugged me before.
My stomach felt weird.
And I knew exactly why.
... I had butterflies in my stomach.
And what did I do?
I hugged her right back.