Dragon of the Elements

CH:64{Calm Before the Storm}

While Rias was telling everyone to give Kenshin and Alice some space, while Akatama was taking the unconscious Wilheim into custody, the two Commanders made their way up a hillside overlooking Gold Port. "...Here." Alice said coming to a stop. "Let's have a seat."

Kenshin plopped down on the ground. His elbows on his bent upward knees...he looked out at the horizon. "..." A shiver ran through his body as Alice sat down next to him. "Are you cold?" She asked.

"A little." Kenshin said letting out a sigh. "...You're right...I am...still in utter shock...I just wanted to get a move on, so I could put it behind me and worry about it later."

"That's not good." Alice said shaking her head.

"...Is peace even truly possible?" Kenshin asked.

"That's a peculiar remark coming from you." Alice said.

"Well...it's just I'm supposed to be pursuing that ideal, but when push came to shove, Wilheim was able to get under my skin and I was almost ready to slice his head from his body in front of everyone." Kenshin said. "It just shows...how stupidly naïve I am..."

"..." Alice stared at him.

"You know...what my childhood dream was?" Kenshin asked. Alice shook her head. "I...wanted to be like my father...a hero.." A scoff and a self depreciative smirk followed this. "Please...there's no way someone who's done the shit I've done could ever become that...I'm just a fool...an arrogant fool, maybe in the eyes of the devil youths who will never know my past, but-."

"...No." Alice said cutting him off.

"?" Kenshin glanced at her.

"You're wrong Kenshin." Alice said shaking her head. "Kenshin...in all my years...I've never met someone with a more heroic ambition than you. Sure you're not the true blue definition of a hero...but you know what needs to be done...and you do it, no real complaints, no hesitance...you are even willing to dirty your own hands, so others won't have to."

"..." Kenshin stared at the Demon Queen.

"Why is it you fight for peace?" Alice asked. "You've never allowed anyone to be terrorized, to be bullied or taken advantage of, you pick on people sure, but you make it obvious that it's nothing more than harmless teasing."

"Alice..." Kenshin said.

"Everyone I've ever talked to about you since you first arrived, have nothing but good things to say about you." Alice said. "It's proof that no one want to live under Forbesii's rule willingly, I mean even Cassandra and Toraki were plotting to backstab him..and they're all thankful to you for leading the charge."

"Still...if I succumbed to my rage...and killed Wilheim. I'd have only been proving his point." Kenshin said.

"But you didn't." Alice countered. "You snapped out of it, and let go of the need for vengeance, instead choosing to punch him as hard as you could. You didn't let him martyr himself off."

"It wasn't all me." Kenshin said closing his eyes.

"What then?" Alice said.

"Please don't freak out, but...I was pulled into my own mind by the spirit of RyuuTaisho." Kenshin said.

"...I see." Alice said with a short nod, holding back a shiver.

"He said...he knew what Wilheim did the entire time..." Kenshin said. "And yet...he didn't hate him for it."

"Sounds like him. He didn't seem to have a hateful bone in his body...after..." Alice trailed off.

"It's OK, he told me about that." Kenshin said. "Not during this conversation mind you, but when I was in the past. He asked that I don't hold it against you, so I won't."