Keyblade War: Once apon a time......

"Ok, the rest is automatic from here" The twin said before mlooking at Storm and Michelo "So who is this guy and why did he pick a fight with the Emperor?" he asked the two.

 

Fardel felt his wounds heal, and body grow stronger, and most importantly felt his soul feel lighter. He rose from the bed on which he was put and faced the others with a face of shame. He had been humbled by the Emperor, and thus felt like there was no point in getting revenge anymore. Fardel faced them all, waiting for someone to speak.

 

Storm looked at Fardel as he turned to face them. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder, smiling gently."You did the right thing, you let your anger out. I'm proud."He said and lightly punched his arm.

 

"I must disagree. You must live with your choices, right or wrong is not my place to say, but if you value your life I would stay away from stunts like that again. Both you and the Emperor are far stronger men than I, but even I could see you didn't stand a chance out there. Although I suppose that is easier to say now that the result is clear." Michelo followed up on Storm's comment.

Turning to the Twin he answered "His name is Fardel but I can't say why he would want to fight the Emperor, but given the current state of affairs it shouldn't take you too many guesses."

 

Fardel could see that Storm only wanted to help and smiled back. "No, I was foolish. I thought I could win. But he proved to be far superior to me. I won't be doing anything like that again." Fardel looked at Storm and then to Michelo "The reason I wanted to kill the emperor was because of... My family. My wife and daughter were raped and killed by his gaurds..." Tears swelled up in Fardel's eye's but he tried to keep them hidden by shutting his eye lids. "They recieved no punishment for their actions. I suppose it was an incident that was unrelated to the emperor seeing as how he probably never knew about it. But it still felt like he had somehow done this to me." Fardel walked past them both "But now it's clear that I don't need to get my vengance on him. And at this moment, I have nothing to do... and nowhere to go..."

 

Alishia came foward "Why don't you join the military then?" she asked Fardel. The twin shook his head but didn't say anything.

 

Storm looked at at the group and smiled a bit, putting his arms behind his back and stepped back, looking to the side."Can't say I don't agree, revenge is never the answer..He didn't know about the attack, it was probably outside of his knowledge.."He said, pausing and then looked to Fardel."We'll punish them..do you need anymore rest?"

 

"It's a little late in the war to be going into the military, don't you think?" asked Fardel "Unless the emperor's got some cards up his sleeve."

"I've already punished those who were directly associated with the attack on my family. They are dead. Probably more so than before due to the dark seekers..." said Fardel as he seriously contemplated the thought of joining the military. It seemed like a suicide mission to Fardel... Join the army now? When the dark seekers had already proven to be far superior to the emperor's military? The dark seekers had gained so much ground over so little of time... that Fardel thought the odds would be... Fardel didn't even want to think of the odds. The thought would be too painful. But he had to know if there was still a chance. Something the emperor was hiding, perphaps?

 

"I know the offer was not to me, but if it is all the same I would like to help." Michelo said "The game is scarce so I can't hunt enough any more. May as well work for your hospitality. And if I'm right about the seekers scaring them away, then it will help the animals return as well."

 

"Well, my friend..." said Fardel to Michelo "You are much more optimistic about our odds than I am. You believe that we would actually stand a chance against the dark seekers? I don't think that I could! Maybe if I faced only one, I could beat it. But dark seekers are known for being in groups. And even though the military is large, it still hasn't coped well with these enemies."

 

"If I die in combat or die starving in the woods I will still be brought to oblivion. Honestly I'm not sure I would be able to take even one dark seeker down if they are as bad as you all say. But there is no hope of cutting down a tree if you don't at least take a good swing of the axe. You might have many roads to take, but my path is clear." Michelo said in response to Fardel.

 

"Then if you join I guess I should welcome you into the Imperial army, then again we arn't the Imperial Army so maybe we won't welcome you into our ranks" the twin said to Michelo, he then looked at Alisha "Did you give your report?" the twin asked her. she gasped and ran out of the room towards the thrown room.

 

Fardel looked at Michelo. "Listen, you." said Fardel as he had forgotten Michelo's name in all the excitement. "If you join up, then I'm not letting you do it alone. I hope you'll forgive me if I'm not the type to just let good men die."

 

Michelo laughed. "All these years as a hermit in the woods and then within hours I'm not allowed to go alone into a world full of people." He looked straight at Fardel as his tone became serious again "We all die. It is inescapable. But when, how, why. These are things that are not yet decided. Whether I die to help end a war or to feed a beast of the wild matters little to me. I do not fear death just so long as I die for something. There is little that is worse than a death without meaning."

 

Storm looked at Fardel and smiled a little bit."THey're right, we're talking to the wrong people about this."He said and held his hand out. His keyblade, Odin, appeared in his hand and he smiled to Fardel."Come on, let's see the Emperor about this.."He said, smiling."Okay?"He said, nodding." I am not letting good people die as well, offering my services to you is the best I can do."

 

Fardel got fairly mad with Michelo's narrow view of the world. "I'll tell you one thing that is worse, is dieing and your death being in vain! It's not about the meaning of your death. It's about being smart with your choices to get the best possible outcome. I thought you would have learned that from my mistake in taking on the emperor! I thought that I could beat him, and kill him, I never once thought what would come out of it besides my own selfish gratification in his death. And here you are ready to jump blindly into battle, when there might be other places in which you could be useful. And, most importantly, don't you dare mistake my hesitation as cowardice..."

Fardel noted the boys' loyalty towards himself and the others and decided it was best to follow his advice. "Alright, then. Let's go to the emperor."

 

After a moment Michelo nodded "Your fight with the emperor only had purpose in your selfish desires. This fight with the seekers, that is something worth fighting for. Something worth dying for." Michelo paused for a moment before stating "You are, however, right. A death must have meaning, but far more important is to live with meaning. One's life should not be cast aside so quickly." He immediately turned to walk out towards the throne room once more "I'll still join the military, but I have a long road of preparation to go before I see combat."

 

Fardel nodded and followed Michelo. He stopped and looked back at Storm, then made a hand motion to tell Storm to follow. It seemed that all three of them would be joining up today, but would it be enough?

 

Storm smiled at Fardel's gesture and he caught up, walking straight behind him. Odin disappeared from his hand and he put his hands behind his back.

 

Alisha was in the throne room giving her report on an experiment that the Emperor was working on. She was about to give a key detail when the Emperor silenced her as the three drew near the thrown room.