The Paths of Sin and Redemption

Chapter 36

Silver became worried when his mate didn't come back, and though the King claimed to be his family member, it was still a lot to take in.

He'd been alone for so long....

"Just....how did I lose my wings that day?" Silver asked Lord Suno, "I don't remember anything... I thought that I'd never have the chance to meet my parents, but to find out I actually lived with them for some time? Why...can't I remember anything about them?"

Suno sighed, "It was your mother's betrothed. Lady Ame had handed you off to me to protect you. She thought she could take him and I'm sure she could've. But he'd played a dirty trick as they fought; his blade was coated with poison and it had killed her almost instantly. The slightest cut is what took her life....and then he came after us."

"Once he managed to catch up with us, I was unable to hold him off for very long. With my disabled wings weighing me down and with him being nearly twice my age and thus much more experienced, he practically beat me into the ground, before he went after you. And being the little frightened pup that you were--around the same age your own children are now--you'd run back to Lady Ame, not understanding why she wouldn't get up.

He snatched you up and watched you squirm and cry in his hold, saying that you were supposed to have been his pup with Ame, not some pathetic angel. And then, instead of letting you join your parents in the afterlife, the evil creature that he was crushed your tiny little wings with one hand and despite your pain filled screams, he still wasn't done.

As I lay there, beaten to a bloodied pulp and unable to move because of it, I could only beg and scream as I watched on in horror when he then took your ruined wings--you were a baby, Silver," he stressed through watering eyes, "and slowly ripped them from your body. Thankfully for you, you'd gone limp right after he'd crushed your wings, so you were unconscious before he mutilated you and tossed your tiny little body into the nearby river."

"The only explanation that I have as to why you are even sitting here before me today, is that your demon youkai--the one thing that made you so unique from the rest of us--is probably what saved your life. To eventually put my mind at ease, I reasearched and discovered that when a demon is at risk of losing its life, its youkai would come to the fore to protect itself from being destroyed. Despite your young age, I can only surmise that your youkai was able to take over with what little strength you had left to eventually get your body out of the river once you were washed downstream. It most likely kept you under long enough to heal from such grievous wounds and has no doubt locked away such a traumatizing experience away from your mind....and with good reason," he said with a weary, heavy sigh before gazing upon the uke. "Just imagine what would have become of you should you have remembered every little detail as to what happened to you and your parents."

Silver remained silent as he thought over such a reeling explanation, and although it was very upsetting to hear, it did make sense.

"That was the last I'd ever saw of you," Lord Suno continued quietly, his face haunted as he relived that horrifying day as the male tried his best to hold back his pain. "Your body being discarded like you were refuse, watching that demon lick your blood from his claws before I too was rendered unconscious.... He took you away from me before I could even get you back. And the resulting Hundred Years War that I waged with the demons brought little satisfaction. I never saw you again and for nearly fifty of those years, I was plagued by recurring nightmares of everything that happened and the entire nation joined me in mourning the loss of our ruler and my only remaining family."

"I had failed the only family I had. I was able to eventually hunt down and kill Lady Ame's intended with my own two hands, but there was little satisfaction because I knew, even as I took his life... I knew that killing him still wouldn't bring any of you back," he sighed heavily, gripping his short quills tightly before looking up at the young male beside him. He then took the hanyou's smaller hand in his own, giving it a gentle squeeze as a loving smile of relief appeared, "But words cannot begin to describe how happy I am to see you alive. I...I had hoped for so long I'd find you. And after all these years...my one, true wish has come true."