Promise Me Forever

Promise Me Forever (Part 1)

Author's notes: So there's a lot of flashbacks/time skips within this, so do your best to figure out which is which! And this part is written in Eddy's third person perspective.

This first part is written by yours Truly!


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Crying to the heavens my scream was heard

As the skies became blurred

It rained down fire

I should have been a part of its pyre

Red was the glow of its flames

Crimson as the blood on my frame

_______

The tea plants shifted in the wind, wafting through the air was its grassy fragrance. Pleasantly it filled his nostrils serving to soothe his nerves. Often he worked the fields, often he got nothing in return.

This was the life he knew. At night he would lay with the promises of a lover, "One day I will take you to a land like Xuanpu, where we no longer have this strife."

In the morning he forgot such words only knowing the toil of the fields. What was the worth of words if they were made to die? The people were starving yet no one close to power batted an eye.

Occasionally he would take things from the fields he poured his blood and sweat into. To the village he would bring it, his only prayer was to not be caught.

Recently something else was caught in the wind. Not simply the grassy scent but a call to a revolt.

"We must make the heavens hear our cries! Why should we toil and starve as those who are in power lay back and eat without the work. Have they not heard the teachings of Confucius!"

He was not a follower of Confucius though, so no word slipped his lips. After all, he was primarily uneducated. That fact didn't keep him from praying to Buhhda and the Toaist gods, however.

"Isn't it Confucius who said 'In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of.' Did he also not say, 'Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?' Edward don't you see, all men, no matter their standing deserve to be respected. " the far more educated farmer went on with the ramble. It resonated with Eddy though,he always showed respect to those around him. It was something he believed deeply: they all deserved respect.

Finally Eddy decided to open his mouth and speak, perhaps to kill the feeling within him, "How can we make the heavens hear us if the gods and those superior are out of our reach?"

The older man smiled at the younger as if he had been waiting for these questions, "We will make them by direct attack. I have heard murmurs of uprisings against those who suppress us. Let us join in this fight for freedom. Let us reach those things that have eluded us."

_______

When Eddy opened his eyes, he was no longer in those fields, he wasn't anywhere. All he knew was that the sun had fallen and he was by another's side, "Brett?"

He whispered softly, still smelling the smoke mixed with something metallic. The murmur of the name was a silent question; was Brett still there and breathing?

"Hmm?" A familiar sound came, "Are you cold?"

Brett's gruff voice filled the silence.

"No," Eddy decided as he leaned more towards the man. As he looked up at the skies he wondered if it had all been for nothing. A profound sorrow had filled him. They were no patriots, they were cowards. Fleeing their village burned to the ground as their friends and family perished with it. Why had they taken up their swords if they couldn't protect anything in the end? The useless blade still lay by his side.