[Completed] Legend of the Five Knights II: The Shadow of Justice

Episode 48.5: Easter Hope

*Serrano*

[Years Ago]

"Big brother, big brother!" Conrad yelled as he hopped on my bed.

I grumbled. "What is it, Conrad?" I asked, running a hand through my blue hair as I looked up at my little brother.

"It's the day the Sky Father returned victorious from that other world!" he exclaimed, a large smile on his face.

"Oh right!" I chuckled and patted his head. "You sure love these kinds of events, don't you?"

Conrad nodded his head. "Yup! Oh right! I found this while snooping in the attic." He lifted the black album he held in his hands.

I frowned. "Didn't Mama say not to do that?"

He lowered his head. "Conrad is being a bad boy again, isn't he?"

I smiled. "Maybe." I snatched the album from him. "Though don't worry. I'll just tell Ma that it was me if she ends up discovering this was taken," I said as I opened it. The album had several pictures. One of them was of my uncle Tekeshi giving a three-year-old Tetsu a piggy back ride. Hard to believe that he was chubby as a toddler given that he's now as scrawny as me.

"That looks like fun," Conrad said, smiling. He lowered his head. "I wish... Papa could've played with me like that."

"Me too..." Back when I was a kid, Pa would often be too busy with work to participate in the father-kid events during Father's Day. However, there was one time in which he had managed to make time to participate. While we didn't do very good, I do recall it as one of the happiest days of my life...

Sadly, Papa began to change soon after...

I shook my head, trying to push back those dark moments. Flipping the page, I found a picture of baby Conrad in a bunny onesie. Holding him was Pa.

"This man, he's Papa?" Conrad asked, turning to look at me. He smiled. "Serra looks a lot like him."

I gulped as I stared at the grinning white haired man with cool blue eyes. He had the looks one would associate with a male idol; slender figure smooth looking skin. It was true that I resembled him, but I didn't like it. I hated being constantly compared to him. That man, Azami, he had hurt us too much. Especially Mama.

"P-please don't say that," I whisper. "I'm nothing like him."

"Huh? But big bro looks just like him! Conrad does too," he said, pointing at his white hair. He giggled. "I hope that Conrad can grow up to be as handsome as you."

I sighed and turned the album once more. This time I found another picture of Pa, except this time he was carrying another baby, me... Baby me had on a white tiger onesie.

Pa was sleeping as he held me tightly in his arms. The two of us were in a hospital bed. I heard from auntie Anis that I nearly died from pneumonia. Mama had forgotten to close the window of my room on a night in which the temperature fell below the norm for that time of year, spring. At first Ma thought that it was a simple cold, but she began to panic. I wasn't getting any better even with the home remedy grandma Tulia, who was staying with us at the time, had made for me.

They took me to the hospital but even there my condition was severe. The doctors had never seen anything like it. It was a strange mutation of the illness which had inflicted me.

Ma called Pa. She told him I was ill and might not make it though the night. Pa, who was on tour with his band, decided to drop everything and rushed back home. He stayed with me though the night, even though the doctors said it was dangerous for his own health.

Pa didn't care. For that night he held me in his arms and wouldn't let go. He wanted me to spend what could be my last moments with him...

Ma later decided to join him. She was likely the one who had taken the picture.

"Pa looks scared," Conrad said, pointing at his face. Azami's eyes were closed tightly and his hands looked blurry in the image, as if he were moving them fast. Was it the result of shivering?

Pa who wasn't ever very religious supposedly prayed for me all day and night until my illness broke.

"Seems like it," I said, turning away. I pushed myself out of the bed. "I think that we should put this away while we can. After we can go outside and play a game, if mama will let us."

Conrad giggle and followed me toward the door. "Okay!"

My gaze fell to the album in my hands. They were shaking as I thought about the moments depicted in it.

Papa... why did he change? At that age, I still didn't understand... What had transformed him into that monster who ruined our lives?

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this special chapter I wrote to celebrate Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter) ^_^ **