Runaway Hero and the Capital

Six months have passed now since the Demon King’s proclamation. My flight has taken me far from his lands. I’ve grown older. And now I see the walls of the royal capital coming into view on the horizon. After six months I can see my home again. And yet I do not feel happy about it. The homecoming of a dead man has no value. The homecoming of a traitor has no value. And yet I cannot stop myself from yearning to look upon this city one last time.

My features are far too famous here, and so again I must sneak in. I want only to lay eyes on the capital and its people, and then I shall continue on. I approach a wall and teleport inside. Then I make my way to an alley where I can see the main street.

When I see the people gathered in the main street once more, I strangely feel nothing. I feel nothing at all. It’s like the connection between me and them has been severed completely. I suppose I was the one who severed it myself. They love me only as the Hero, and I am the Hero no more. There is no bond between us.

It’s hard to believe that it has already been six months since that day. I chose to not be the Hero and just as I do now, was shocked I felt nothing. I suppose the connection between me and my title had already been severed. The demons had swarmed me, blocking my vision completely. At that moment, they took Amelia away. The horde was too large, so I couldn’t reach her in time, even as I could feel her pulse of life moving away from me. For three days and three nights I slaughtered demons. But I still couldn’t protect her in the end. At that point I was already too great a failure to continue as the Hero, I suppose. If I hadn’t had the duty of the Hero, I wouldn’t have been able to fail her. So I abandoned it completely. I ran away.

I look at the crowd emotionlessly. And only now do I realize they are listening to a speaker, as they were in Ironheart. I listen in a little more closely, and realize the speech is again about me.

“—promise that we will find the Hero soon. We’ll get him right back into the battle, there’s no need to—”

The speaker is drowned out by the crowd. He cannot get a single word out against their enraged roars. Their anger is justified. Of course they hate me. Their supposed Hero ran away. Their supposed Hero decided their lives don’t matter. Of course they can’t accept me. They want me dead more than they want me to save them. I can never be their Hero again. I can’t stand it. I hate it. Everything.

I draw my sword and cut into the ground beneath me. A long scar now stretches from where I stand into the wall of a nearby building. The sound of my blade rending through stone draws the crowd’s attention. I hadn’t realized my hood had fallen from the force of my swing. They’re upon me in a moment, and I can do nothing against them. They swarm me like the demons had.

No matter what they do, they are only normal humans. They’ll never be able to do anything to me. They won’t even be able to pierce my skin in the slightest. And yet I only stand there as they fling their abuses. I cannot summon the will to move, no matter how easy it would be to escape them. But then, among the hatred directed at me, I feel a warm hand clasp around mine.

I don’t even have the will to see who the hand belongs to. I let myself be led around. I follow them out of the crowd. The people shy away from me as I move. They’re terrified, and rightfully. They know I could kill them with the slightest movement. I want to get away.

I’m pulled along into an alleyway. Then I realize that it was Amelia that led me away. I can’t believe it. I don’t understand.

“Why would you help me? Don’t you hate me?” She can’t meet my eyes.

“I… couldn’t just watch.”

“I see. Thank you then. I’ll leave you alone again. Goodbye.” However, when I move to leave, she grabs my wrist to stop me.

“Wait, I want to talk to you.” I look at her with sullen eyes.

“Don’t you never want to see me again?” She looks ashamed in some way.

“H-happy Birthday…” Why would you remember? Why wouldn’t you just try to wipe our relationship clean? “I… wanted to apologize.”

“You don’t need to try to make me feel better. You’re all right in hating me.”

“I don’t hate you!”

“You don’t need to lie to me. Why wouldn’t you hate me? I left you for dead. I abandoned you.”

“I know you didn’t! If you abandoned me, how would I have escaped? Why would the Demon King say you were defeated days after I was captured? You were fighting that whole time!”

“But I still couldn’t protect you. I failed my duty.”

“Why would that make me hate you? I was angry, but I don’t hate you.”

“I’m not a Hero. I’m not a good person. I’ve let so many people get hurt. I’m letting so many people die. Why don’t you hate me?”

“You are the Hero. I don’t know why you’re running away from the Demon King, but you’ve been helping people this entire time, haven’t you?! You brought down a country! You’re the one who saved hundreds of thousands of people in a single day, and all because you thought it was right!”

“I freed them, and now I’ve abandoned them to the Demon King. I’ve delivered them to him on a silver platter. Why don’t you understand? Why can’t you just hate me?”

“I won’t hate you!” She moves her hand from my wrist to my hand and squeezes it. It’s so warm, another person’s touch. “If you hate abandoning people this much, then why aren’t you fighting the Demon King?” I can’t help but be honest to her.

“I’m tired. I’m just so tired. I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of people getting hurt. I’m tired of being the Hero. I don’t want this duty anymore. I never asked for it.”

“I wish you didn’t have to be the Hero, then. But…”

The crowd finds us. I carry Amelia in my arms and flee to the rooftops. We get away quickly and I put her down on the roof of the building we stand on.

“There is no replacement for me. But even still… I can’t be the Hero anymore. I am not a Hero. I was never a Hero. I’m just a hateful coward who can’t even care if the world lives or dies. The only thing for a man like that is to run away and to keep running away. I’ll run until I can disappear from this world, and the idea of being the Hero is never one I need to face again.” Amelia looks as though she has something to say. However, she cannot find the words. She cannot express it, and eventually she gives up. “Amelia, will you come with me? Will you come to the edge of the world?” It looks like she considers it, for just the briefest moment.

“I can’t. I’m sorry. I need to stay here. I still need to fight the Demon King, even if I know I’ll lose.”

“Of course. Then this is goodbye. We’ll never meet again. Goodbye.” I gather up whatever courage I still had left and face her unerringly. “I love you.” She looks caught off guard.

“I… Umm… Alan, I’m sorry for saying I hate you. I’m sorry that I pushed you away like that. Umm… Or rather…” She gathers up all her courage, much more than mine, I’m sure. “I love you too.”

She’s upon me quickly. She presses against me, warmly, softly, gently. She puts her lips against mine. We kiss clumsily. When she pulls away from me, she looks up at me, still holding our bodies close. There are so many things I want to say when I look into her eyes. I want to tell her that I’ll save the world. I want to tell her that I’ll be able to protect her this time. I want to tell her that as long as we’re under this same sky we’ll meet again someday. But no words come, because she is the only one I cannot tell these sweet lies too.