The Land of Dawn (ML Fanfic)

45. the past

"It's funny how it's been so long already, yet I still feel you in my fingers. Your touch still reverberates to every inch of my body. How I wish you were here with me." Hayabusa silently whispered.

It has been months since that last encounter he had with Kagura. And now as he's alone in his room in the headquarters, he can't help but think why the gods allowed them to be separated.

Why a match deemed to be almost perfect had to be untangled by time and fate. What made things worse was knowing that his childhood nemesis, Hanabi has been spotted in the realms recently. Raiding small villages and looting poor farmers along the road; asking them for his whereabouts.

"That woman cannot be more desperate as she is now." He mustered out a long, heavy, exhausted sigh. Yes, he remembers the pact he has with Hanabi, one that they made when they were still kids; it was a pact fueled by immaturity and with the huge compelling feeling of knowing who was the best among them. It's funny how it mattered a lot to him before and how it seemed to be nothing but a forgotten epitaph now.

He knows that there are far more important things to settle on, to seek for instead of dueling with someone from the past just to determine who is the best of the best; when no matter what, there will always be someone better. And one should just believe in his own capabilities, for no other soul can make one feel complete, accomplished, than oneself.

That was what Hayabusa thought, it was the contrary for Hanabi though.

Warding such unworthy thoughts from his head, he proceeded to check on his new companion Alpha. 

He saw Layla and Alpha talking at the battle room. Layla seemed to be showing Alpha how her Malefic gun works. Hayabusa couldn't help but muster out a small smile. "They look cute together," he thought, "for a gunner and an assassin, hmm, sounds like a plan." 

Alpha raised his head and noticed a figure looking at them from nearby. It was his friend, Hayabusa. The one that accompanied him in his room during his first night in the headquarters.

It's funny really how all of them said that he was a vile, vicious soul in the past, made to kill and born to destroy. And he feels that he is nothing close to the man that he used to be. Looking at this young woman, Layla made him realize a lot.

That one can choose to be trapped in his past or one can simple move on and create a new destiny for himself. That the scars of yesterday may be someone else's fault, but healing from those pain, those scalding scars is no one else's responsibility but his own. He learmed that now. 

He mustered out a smile of contentment when Natalia, who was always so calm and cold suddenly rushed to the battle room, releasing exasperated breaths and showed a pale facade. "We are under attack. Prepare for combat!" She shouted as she vanished from their sight.

Alpha hadn't felt that nervous until now.