Sweet Odium [BL]

chapter [epilogue]

3 months later

[Raven]

After the end of the battle, all the Mellontikos members including the ones that had stayed hidden in a basement had been brought to the Inoue headquarters. Me, Vince and Jane had started a long task of investigating each member and bringing them to court for their individual actions. More and more gifted families had agreed to take them in but there were many who were satisfied with staying out of the groups from now on. They couldn't simply drop their hate for the gifted society so they were promised support from all families to secure them a normal and secure life.

The ones who had managed to flee were only small in numbers so special task forces were continuously tracking them down.

I had tried reaching out to Rune's sister Vera many times, I even went by her house and called her agency but I was strictly turned down and told she was currently taking a break from any activities.
It also failed contacting his grandma. According to Jane, the old lady had left them as soon as Celeste was safe to survive and they never saw her again. Even in the deepest areas of our data network we were not able to find out about her whereabouts.

At some point I assumed they had to give me the fault for Rune's death and I couldn't be angry at them for that because I often felt the same way.

It was only that spark of hope for the Falcon family to reunite that made me want to help them. Just as Rune, Vera was a daughter of the leading family so I expected her to act as a new leader to a new era of the Falcon group... but that thought never became reality.

From all the survivors that were still out there, not even a single one had dared to step up for themselves or came out of their hiding even after the most influential gifted groups had all stated their apologies and promises of support and peace for the Falcon group.

Especially Inoue had promised to do everything in their power to help the Falcons rising up to their ancient power again. I knew very well that this was by far not enough to compensate for the hundreds of losses they had to endure but the fact that not even a single one of them showed their face was upsetting me even more.
Rune had been celebrated as an honored soldier that died for the sake of the gifted families so his name had spread to many parts of the world and yet no one would go as far as calling him a hero... maybe they still held prejudice against him for being a traitor from the Falcon group despite all the lifes he had saved.

It was halloween today... but I wasn't going to celebrate or party. I hadn't done that the last three months.
Instead I was sitting on top of the Inoue buildings roof, were a small playground stood empty in the dark.

The streets and bars were as busy as always and even the sky looked the same but the emotions I felt when taking all that in were totally different. When was the last time, I had felt at ease? The last time I fell asleep without waking up from a nightmare? And the last time I honestly enjoyed what I usually loved?

Life simply wasn't the same anymore. It felt empty, like I was going in a circle and stumbling over every possible hurdle.
Even before Jane and Vince advised me to see a psychologist I knew that I suffered from serious mental problems. I tried many things to make it better just like my psychologist said. I tried to structure my every day life again and find a positive meaning in the smallest events in life. I tried hanging out with people that were usually fun and I also asked others for advice.

But everytime I was supposed to have fun I kept remembering Rune being there with me. He simply didn't leave my mind and I also didn't want him to, even if it was hurting me.

With tears in my eyes I stared at the banana milk that I had bought from the convenience store. Why didn't I try it the first time he had offered it to me? Thinking back, I really hadn't deserved to have someone like Rune with me.
He had always been self-sacrificing... more than I realized at the beginning. But that trait of him was what I hated. If he hadn't taken all that on himself, he'd be sitting on that roof with me.