"What do you hope to accomplish here? Revenge? Retribution? I thought I taught you better than this." Spoke out the tall and scarred Avanthar, he stood tall, arms crossed over his chest as he spoke.
"I don't know, but what I do know is this is long overdue, I can't continue to move forward with my life if I am haunted by ghosts from the past." Alexander replied, looking up to the Avanthar, his mentor Fergus.
"Well then, what am I doing here? You insist on moving forwards yet you refuse to let me go." The Avanthar retorted, a mix of sarcasm and genuine sadness in his voice.
"One thing at a time Fergus, one thing at a time.." Alexander responded, his eyes trailing the ground, not daring to actually look at his mentor, Fergus had always taught him that letting someone see you sad shows weakness, and there was plenty of weakness in Alexander's eyes.
"Hmph, you haven't changed a bit, whatever, wake up, you've arrived." Fergus spoke, lightly kicking Alexander's leg, before vanishing entirely.
Alexander's eyes shot open, quickly scanning the deck of the ship, just as he thought, he was alone once again. Alexander sighed before grabbing the side of the ship, standing himself up as he scanned the horizon.
There it was, in the distance lay the shores of Daendroc, the sight of the sandy beach filled Alexander with a mix of uneasiness and anger, he knew it without a doubt, he was home.
The ship pulled into the port, and without a word Alexander departed, his boots clicking against the wooden dock, his red coat lightly flowing behind him, he kept his eyes straight ahead, his face an unmoving, stoic picture.
The journey to the town was brief, though it gave Alexander time to ease himself, as he made his way down the dusty street of his old home he drew quite the attention, his flashy outfit and shield strapped to his back made him stand out like a sore thumb.
After what seemed like an eternity of people staring and whispering Alexander finally reached his destination, a disheveled house at the outskirts of the town, boarded windows and chipped paint confirmed Alexander's suspicions, he took a deep breath as he made his way to the front of the house.
This moment had been played over a thousand times in a thousand different ways in Alexander's head, however, none of them quite like it truly happened, there was no spectacle, there was no conflict, he was simply.. there.
Alexander stood face to face with the old, rotting wooden door of the home, he reached down and firmly grabbed the handle, pushing on it to no avail, he huffed softly, taking a step backwards, raising his booted foot into the air, preparing to kick the door down before a voice spoke up behind him.
"You didn't even try knocking, wherever you were sent didn't teach you any manners did they?" Spoke the newcomer, his accent heavily Daen, his tone chastising and abrasive.
Alexander lowered his foot, though refrained from turning around, closing his eyes as he spoke "I hoped I wouldn't find you here, I hoped I would find out you were gone, somewhere better, anywhere but here."
The man's face twisted into a vile smile, with venom in his voice he spoke "Someone had to stay here and take care of our father after what you did, is that why you came back? To apologize? Beg to be forgiven, or was it to tie up loose ends?"
The words sent a cold chill down Alexander's spine, he slowly spun himself around to reveal the man, he had the same eyes and hair as Alexander, except much smaller and very skinny, almost to the point of malnutrition.
Alexander lightly shook his head as he eyed the man up and down "I see he fed you those lies as well, about what happened to mom, you're just like him, it's sad, truly, you could have been so much more Diego, you could have had a life, instead that leech of a man has broken you." He seemed to completely ignore the question, eyes full of sympathy as he spoke.
Diego gritted his teeth, clenching a fist as he gazed at Alexander "That /man/ raised me, taught me how to be tough and survive in this world, and you wouldn't be where you are today without him!" He spat in response.
Alexander furrowed his brows, though he did his best to keep calm "I didn't come all this way to discuss him with you, where is he?"
"He left a few days ago, to find you no less, said he wanted to see you with his own eyes, I don't know why, you're nothing special." Diego turned his eyes back to Alexander's, filled with tears and hatred
There were a few moments of silence, the two brothers staring into each other's eyes, before finally, Alexander went to step past Diego, back the way he came "Take my advice Mi Hermano, get out of this place, don't tie yourself to that man."
As Alexander made his way past Diego he spoke up, his angry hiss of a voice replaced with a soft, almost sad one. "She should still be here, you should have never been born and she should be standing with me right now."
His words caused Alexander to look down at the ground, he spoke with the same saddened tone "I know." Is all he said, before walking away, putting that house, and his birthplace behind him, for what he hoped was the final time.
