Ambitions of the Forgotten

Chapter Two

Khaenri'ah was plagued with occasional eruptions that would occur in order to wipe out any straddlers.  The one that happened during Kaeya's childhood was one that he didn't stick around with for too long.

He watched as his house burned, and as the monsters started travelling in, ready to strike the terrified villagers.  For the first time, Kaeya felt a surge of extreme emotion.

He tried to run inside his house, yelling for his mother.  His mother was still in there, his mother was dying, he had to save her!  He didn't know why, after all his mother had shown no love for him, nor did she do anything to care for him.  But even so, Kaeya just had a gut feeling that if he lost her, then a huge chunk of him would be gone once again.  That if he lost her, then Kaeya would be even more empty than he already was.

Firm hands held him back.  Kaeya tried with all his might to surge forward, to escape the strong grip.  Tears flooded down his face, something that had never happened before.

For the first time in his life, Kaeya wanted something.

"P-please!" he choked out.  "Let me go!"

The grip tightened.  Kaeya screamed as he tried once again to escape.

And then, he heard another voice.

"She's already gone.  There's no point in going after her."

Kaeya looks up.  Just as expected, the voice came from his father.  His voice is empty, and lacking emotion.  It's almost as if he doesn't care for his own wife's death.

"How do you know?!" Kaeya responds.  "What if she's still in there?!  There's still a chance!"

"Not enough of one to constitute you going back in there!" the man yells back.  Kaeya's eyes widen, shocked by the surge of anger that seems to come from his father.

"You're not just anyone, Kaeya!  You're this nation's last hope!  If you die, then what is there left for us to dream of?!" he questions.

"Dream?!  What dream?!  All I see in you all is emptiness!  I've never seen the hope you say that I should bring!" Kaeya cries.  An onslaught of emotion seems to come to him all at once, a pouring of everything he must have held back his entire life.  

"You tell me I'm your hope!  Then why do you never show it?!  Why are your eyes so empty?!  Why can't I save her?!"

The boy finally gives in to the grip, dropping on his knees.  It's hopeless.  There's nothing he can do.  He sobs, for the first time wishing that things were different.  That this had never happened.  As his tears drop on the ground, his father once again grips his shoulder.

"We need to go." he states, plain and simple.

"G-go?  Where?" Kaeya stutters out.

His father looks away into the distance.  Kaeya's not sure where he's looking, but he can tell that it's somewhere far beyond where he's ever been.

"Somewhere far away." says the man.  "Your time has come.  It's time for you to begin fulfilling your destiny."

As he stood up, Kaeya looks at the ground.  Everything is falling apart, yet all his father cares about is his supposed "destiny".  The boy is filled with rage, but he doesn't let any of it out, as he knows it's an argument he would never win.  So staying silent, he follows his father as he takes the first steps towards what would one day bring Kaeya a new life.

Is this for the better or for the worse?

Kaeya doesn't know.  

But as he leaves behind all that he's ever known, Kaeya can't help but feel that same trembling fear he has felt on such rare occasions so long ago...

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A/N: Again, thank you for reading chapter two!  It took me a while to figure out how to publish this thing but I figured it out eventually!  Next chapter I'll probably go into him meeting Diluc and his father, but it's gonna be a bit before I update since I'll be busy.

- Harold 2