The Author's POV

"Where are we?"

When I turned my head to look around, I noticed what appeared to be the ruins of a city. The buildings were in shambles, and the pavement was pitted and broken all over town.

It wasn't surprising to find a city in such a state given the recent conflict that had taken place; however, in contrast to the other cities, this city appeared to have been in its current condition for a considerable amount of time.

A good indicator of this was the moss and other plant life that had taken up residence in the cracks of a number of the buildings.

Walking around the street, Kevin didn't say anything. He just looked around the place with a reminiscent look.

I didn't know for how long we continued to walk for, but we soon stopped in front of a house.

Well, what seemed to be the remains of. Half of the house was completely gone.

"This is where I used to live back when I was a child."

Kevin finally spoke, his gaze never leaving the house.

"My mom makes very good soup. I would've loved for you to have tried it at least once. I tried replicating her recipe, but it just doesn't taste the same. I don't know what it is…"

There was a warm smile on his face as he spoke.

I didn't say anything and just quietly listened to what he had to say.

"My dad would always come home late. Probably because we lived far from where he worked… rent problems, you know. We weren't very wealthy. Not that our life wasn't bad…"

He continued to ramble on about his parents. What he remembered about them, how they looked, what they liked, what they disliked…

I just quietly listened on. This was the first time I'd ever heard him talk about his parents.

He usually avoided talking about them. It's not that I never brought them up; rather, whenever they were brought up, his face would take on a different expression. It was one that told me to stop asking.

"You know…"

Kevin turned around and our eyes locked.

"This dawned on me quite some time ago, but... When you have nothing, the only thing you can do is gain, but when you have everything, all you can do is lose... It is funny how things turned out to be exactly like that for the both of us."

His words made me frown. I didn't really understand what he meant.

'Can only lose when you have everything?'

Was he perhaps talking about the other me? …Then, what did he mean by 'when you have nothing, you can only gain.'? Was he perhaps referring to himself?

"Human emotions sure are complex…"

After taking a few steps forward, Kevin eventually entered the house. When he walked on it, the wooden floor made a creaking sound.

I quietly followed behind him. His words were rather surprising, but I didn't say anything and just continued to listen.

…I was finally starting to learn about the real Kevin.

understand them at first. It took quite a while for me to

his finger over

only gained. Gained a new understanding of what emotions are. Love, sadness, anger…

hand and placed

strong I became, no matter how many times I tried to stop the fate that

a

"…Their death"

His fist slowly curled.

way or another, they would die. The more I witnessed it, the more

He smiled.

dear. It's not easy… Especially

eyes. Flashbacks started to resurface in my

to think about resurfaced, and something pricked at

helplessness is probably what drove me to finally

fist was

them to feel what I felt. I wanted them to disappear from this

hand relaxed,

just that, I knew it

his head, he looked at me.

I can go against

I noticed a line of blood running down the side of his mouth. He staggered a

"Kevin!"

opened up and

"I'm fine."

to be stopped by Kevin who

mean you're fine? You

"T, trust me."

voice was weak and carried a hint of

at him, I

"Thank you."

me a smile before weakly sitting down

h,have to anyway. You'll eventually understand. You're smart anyway. I'm sure you'll come to understand with—No, I'm sure you already have

some blood off his chin and looked at me while shaking his head

say. I'm sure you already have an idea of

"…"

His words held some truth. While I was indeed confused by everything he said, I had

"Hah..ha.."

as he leaned back against the chair and admired the house. There was a serene smile on his

reason, I couldn't muster myself to say anything at the moment. Too afraid of breaking the peace

time. Spent countless years just for this moment… Sacrificed many things to have this work… and made many people suffer in the

eyes,

to distance myself away from them, they keep sticking to me like glue… heh…I'm no good guy… but hey, who is? It's all a matter of perspective… Be it you, me, Hemlock, or Jezebeth… one of us is the bad

passing second. His eyes

kill... I still did

was

"H, hey Kevin…"

He continued.

it. I was scared of what I was gaining. The more I gained, the