CHAPTER 347: Each Of Their Darkness 1

When Hunter opened his eyes, he was met with a scene that was as clear as day to his memory up to this point.

It was the scene of Elise dying on that table years ago.

Even though he was aware that Saphira was able to save her, it was still a source of guilt for him. A part of a dark past he wished he could forget but couldn't.

"Is it reasonable for her to be in such a place just because you were young and couldn't really save her? You were smart, you should have known that something was wrong back then."

He turned to see a reflection of himself, with darker features.

He knew of this, he knew of the fact that these kinds of things will appear if Ardel were to attack them with his darkness.

Saphira had told them that there will surely be a time where they will meet a darkness in them who will tell them everything. Who will make them realize everything they wished they didn't.

And when that time comes, it will be a battle for just them to fight on their own.

No one will be able to help them.

She can, but will she always be there for them?

No, that is an uncertainty during that time when she spoke of it. She wouldn't know if she will be there to support them when they enter such a place.

That is why they needed to overcome things on their own.

Though, Hunter would admit, it was truly easier said than done.

Because as he was made to see these flashbacks, his heart felt like it was being ripped apart. All the emotions he felt during the time that this event happened, came rushing back to him like it was just yesterday.

'You have to go through this in the past?' he asked in his mind.

Saphira said she had to face a whole load of darkness in the past. The things she absorbed at the beginning and the things that happened after that.

She had to face her darkness over and over again, to experience the emotions over and over again.

'It damn hurts a lot,' he bitterly smiled.

"You can still laugh? What pain do you think that little girl experienced while you lived your life like the prince that you are?"

Hunter gritted his teeth, he wanted to rebuke but the reflection was right. This had been the question he kept asking himself in the past.

The pain the little girl had to endure within the castle walls while he lived so freely.

"How about this one other girl?"

When the scene changed, Hunter felt an even painful grip in his heart.

It was the scene of a ten year old Saphira breaking down in that hospital bed after coming out of the coma.

The scene of her crying so much like her heart was being ripped apart.

And Hunter could see the ten year old him sitting on the side with his little hands clenched into fists. His eyes were filled with nothing but uncertain emotions.

Because at that point he really didn't know how to help her.

He wanted to stop her from crying but he also wished she could bring everything out.

Yet in the end, he didn't do anything to help.

He just helplessly watched her cry until she stopped and that was the last he saw her cry.

She stood up all on her own and all he could do was to watch her from behind.

"All you did was to watch. You always say things like protecting her but where is that protection even during the times you all reunited with one another?"

The scene changed to the moments that Saphira had to get hurt from physically to emotionally.

And the scene of her breaking down when they met Elise again but was now known as Elizabeth.

"You hurt her. You wanted to protect her?"

His reflection scoffed, "You are the one who's hurting her. You wanted to support her?"

He laughed mockingly this time, "You are the one who needs support not her."

The reflection kept talking as the scene kept changing.

Hunter couldn't speak as all he can do was feel the pain in his heart.

The regrets and the guilt.

He loved her but what was his love?

How much does it really carry for her to keep on hurting because of his own decisions?

"You love her?"

As he thought of the question, his reflection spoke of it as well.

"What kind of love is that? No one needs that!! You are nothing but a failure of a lover."

Hunter knelt on the ground as darkness slowly eat him up.

"Hunter."

He blinked when he heard her cheerful voice.

He looked up and saw a scene at the corner of his eyes.

She was smiling happily while looking up at him from her lying position on the grass.

"Hunter!!"

It was a scene on one of their nights in the wild, she was raising an insect that caused Stormie and Willow to run.

"Hunter!!"

"Hunter!!"

"Hunter!!"

More and more scene of her happily calling to him. Or simply teasing him.

"I love you, Hunter."

He sighed the moment he heard these words.

He could tell, this was not the doing of Saphira.

It was his momeries with her that was tempered by time.

It was his emotions while watching her.

His hand that was clutching his chest dropped down on his side.

The reflection smirked when he thought that darkness have completely taken over him.

That is until Hunter started laughing.

He slowly stood up and turned sharply to the reflection.

"I am weak, yes."

The reflection was shock.

"I can't always protect her, sometimes I was even the one who was hurting her."

He pulled out his sword and pointed it at the reflection.

"But she loved me even through all my flaws. She loved me even through the pain I allowed her to experience."

He slashed at him, "I can't always be there. I am not her knight and shinning armor. I will hurt her more in the future. That is the type of human that I am. But that is also my genuine love. There is no such thing as a perfect relationship. There are things that I can't do for her. But that is what makes the imperfect us perfect. Because we accept every flaws of each other. We learn to love them."

The reflection took a step back while holding the wound created by Hunter in his body. This man always had the greatest darkness in his heart.

The reflection was so sure that he would be able to cause this darkness to eat him up.

So why? Why is the darkness living in harmony with his own will?

"This is who I am. That was my childhood. All of it are me and I may regret so many things but I never regretted being a part of her life."

With another slash, the reflection turned into a wisp of darkness before completely disappearing.

"Though it still hurts a lot to understand that we are but lacking in so many ways. Imperfect in our lives even when it comes to loving someone," Hunter finished looking up at the eternal darkness in front of him.