Ghosts

His father stood amidst the monsters, watching him. He looked the same as he always did. His mouth closed, his brows furrowed. He didn't speak, he just watched Alden. Those black, mysterious eyes never stopped gazing at Alden.

"Dad?" Alden turned to face his father, his ears growing numb to the world around him. The monsters that stood between him, and his father were a blur to him; they did not matter. Not now.

Alden felt his legs carry him toward his father, as he desperately tried to reach for him. With no avail. He got further and further away from his father, despite how fast he ran, dodging monsters and leaping over bodies as he tried to reach that faraway man...

"Don't leave me, dad!" Alden raised his voice, tears filling his eyes. Where was he? Why couldn't he reach his father, who was right there? Why?

"Leave you?" His fathers voice reverberated through the air, grey smoke had begun filling the air, hiding Alden's father. Alden tried to listen, so he could pinpoint where the voice came from. He could not however, the voice was everywhere.

"You left me already, a long time ago. So how can I leave you?"

"I didn't mean it!" Alden's head twisted to and fro as he tried to find the source of the voice. "I-"

Alden stopped moving around frantically, his arms growing limp, his gaze dropping. He looked like a puppet that had just been scolded. "I'm sorry."

"So, you think a simple sorry, can fix everything?"

Alden saw a silhouette appear within the smoke, a few meters away. Alden was about to take a step toward his father, when he stopped. Could a sorry really fix everything? No, it couldn't. Alden knew that. No, he knew that better then anyone else. When the video got out, those responsible had deleted the video almost as soon as it had gotten out. Half hearted apologies, empty promises.

It fixed nothing.

The video had been shared, and it spread through the internet like a wildfire. Despite all the skills he had, he could do nothing. An action could be stopped, but the effects?

Effects could not be reversed.

That was why Alden was afraid to walk toward his father. Could he be so...so...shameless? His father, who had watched him come home with bruises on his face, his father who had watched him come home with a torn and dirty uniform, his father...his dear father, his dear father who watched him lock himself up in his room, his room door was not what separated them.

Alden had placed a large mighty gate, impenetrable in its nature, the Scaean Gate. That gate separated him from the world, from reality, from his family. When he had finally realized however, it was far too late. When he had broken down the door, and paused in his action...it was far too late.

The effects could not be reversed. The poison could not be cured. The curse would stay forever. There was no magic potion, there was no reversal. He had carved deep, gory scars into his fathers heart. Now, he could not heal those scars.

It was all his fault.

Alden fell to his knees, his hands covering his face. A cry of anguish was released. It was broken, pitiful, and mournful.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

"Apology, after apology. You're a failure. I'll never be proud of you. You were my greatest dissapointment."

His father's calm and gentle voice, one that had always felt like a soothing balm, one that could wi[e away any scar, had transformed into a sharp, and harsh voice. One that cut through Alden's heart, like the sharpest of blades. It was strange, hearing his father's voice take such a form. It was almost like...like it were not his?

It was not his voice. Alden knew his father's voice. He had heard his father upset, but even then, his words were still chosen carefully, his words were never aimed to hurt, only to express. This voice however, it had been purposely been molded into a blade capable of cutting deep, deep scars.

This was not his father.

Alden felt himself seal his heart, his emotion no longer leaking from his heart. His eyes grew sharp, aware, and he stabilized his mind. It was a trap, he'd have to escape it. Alden began to search for a crack in this false world, and he found one.

It was not a crack he could see, but it was there. He could feel it. Mentally, he tried to strike at it.

"What are you doing?" The voice bellowed, it was still his fathers.

"Shut up!" Alden's voice was low and cold, and it was full of anger.

Alden felt that crack grow larger, and larger, until suddenly, he began falling. He was falling through air, physically. He did not know what to do, how to react. He could just feel the cold wind on his skin and the sounds of monsters screeching.

Alden felt his body hit the ground, like a meteor striking land.

He gasped at the force at which he hit the ground, and slowly, he felt his consciousness fade away.

The world grew dark.