Thoughtful Heart

Who am I again?

He was known as the Grim Reaper. A powerful Buddyfighter who stole other people's buddies. He didn't feel any regret when doing so and he never once doubted what he was doing. But then again, he never thought about what he was doing.

How could he, when the real fighter was locked up within the darkness?

Kiri had known he'd be trapped in the darkness when he took the Dark Core. He knew he'd change, that everything about him would be different. He wasn't quite sure of what to think now though. His mind was a mess, completely confused and unclear, clouded in mist.

He was vaguely aware that was he was doing was wrong. But it also felt right. He had got what he wanted. He was strong. He was going to be remembered.

But this wasn't how he wanted it. To be remembered as a criminal, someone who did horrible things and caused pain to everyone he neared. To hurt those who crossed his path. Fighting random Buddyfighters and stealing someone precious to them for his - their, his mind corrected numbly - goal. He wasn't even all too sure what that goal was.

He just knew he had obtained the things he wanted. It still didn't feel right though. The person on the outside - The Grim Reaper - it wasn't him. He was Kiri Hyoryu. But he was lost within the darkness, chained up and forgotten to the world. No one would remember him, but they would remember the Grim Reaper, the cause of a lot of pain. People may forget what you say or do, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. The Grim Reaper made various people feel despair, lost and most commonly, weak. But Kiri Hyoryu never did anything memorable, never made anyone feel something special enough for them to remember him.

It would happen very quickly. The proof that he ever existed would fade away faster than he could blink. The only people who would be likely to remember him for longer would be his parents, but they were always busy with their work, so he'd still be forgotten fairly easily.

As more and more people forget about his existence, the more he would be dragged into the darkness. He didn't have a reason to fight. He didn't even have the strength to fight against it anyways. It was slowly consuming him, corrupting him.

Until the real Kiri Hyoryu was no more.

Soon, he would no longer exist. Only the darkness and the Grim Reaper would remain. Gao wouldn't come this time. He had refused his help, after all. If that was even what it was. Gao only wanted to take the Dark Core away from him, claiming that it was "bad" for him. (Secretly, Kiri agreed with him, but he didn't want to be weak again. He couldn't be weak again. Without the Dark Core, he'd be nothing again. He didn't want to go back to that.)

As Kiri sunk deeper and deeper into the darkness, he stopped thinking as much. He stopped thinking about everything he was, everything he had once been (not that he had ever been much), and everything he aspired to be. He tried asking himself what it was that he wanted, but his answer was lost within the darkness. He had already gained what he wanted, right? To be strong and to be remembered. That's what he wanted and that's what he was. It may not be how he wanted it, but that was how it was.

The Dark Core had given him everything he had asked for, what reason did he have to fight against it? For his friends? What friends? He didn't have any - for a brief second, Gao and his friends flashed in his mind so he changed those thoughts to something different. He didn't want friends.

He was powerful, people knew of him and would always remember him, fearing the moment they may cross paths. He had gained everything he wanted. He didn't need or want friends, they would only take it all away from him and he would go back to his weak self. Go back to being that pathetic weakling that was nothing more than a pebble on the side of the road (he decided to humour himself and say, at least pebbles couldn't be crushed easily, whereas bugs could).

Even if he was to fight back, to regain control, what reason would he have? It doesn't matter what he tried to think of, his mind couldn't come up with a single thing for him to fight. There was nothing. Nothing for him to fight for and nothing left for him. There was nothing important to him anymore (Before Gao could even have the chance to flash in his mind, the darkness pushed him away).

He had nothing. He was nothing.

So he surrendered to the darkness.