A Choice with Regrets [Levi Ackerman]

Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a bird.

She was embellished with two perfect wings, blue and white, and with glossy feathers.

One day, a hunter discovers this beautiful bird flying across the sky in sweet harmony and invites her to fly alongside him. He admires her, but then he realizes there are no other birds as stunning as this one.

He fears that he will never see this bird again, so he decides to capture her out of greed.

The next morning, he sets up a net, waiting for the bird to reappear in the woods.

The carefree bird falls right into his trap and the greedy hunter snaps both her fragile wings to keep her from fleeing. He even takes her freedom away by tossing the bird into a small cage and bringing her back to his forest cabin.

There she is, the object of his affection. Now that he has the bird to himself, he looks at the bird every day and night.

However, he slowly begins to lose interest in her.

The poor bird, unable to fly and express the true meaning of her life, ceases to flourish. Her feathers lose their natural gloss and she no longer sings her bright, cheerful tunes. Her wings are beyond repair, so she lays there, staring off into the open window in her cage.

The hunter no longer pays her any attention, except by feeding her and watching her grow weak.

He did not remember the birdcage and thought only of the day when he had seen her for the first time, flying freely amongst the blue sky and white clouds.

If he had looked more deeply into himself, he would have realized that what had excited him about the bird was her freedom.

Suddenly, he decides to set the bird free by opening the cage.

He anticipates the bird's movement and the bird attempts to stand on her feet again. The bird eagerly flaps her shrank wings and by the time she flees from the cage, she collapses into decay.

On the wooden floor, she wastes away.