"The Void Wears A Crown Of Forget-Me-Nots"

Chapter 20: The Void

The tired Ex Watcher blinked, and the rabbit blinked back.

And the void shifted around them.

A sharped tooth smile cut across Sam's face as he stared at Grian. Grian only let out a sigh before turning back and closing his eyes that carried the void.

Sam's smile fell into a sickly frown as he tilted his head to the side, "What? Are you not happy to see me, Gri-on?" Sam asked, his ears twitching.

The void shifted again, and with it so did Grian. The Strawberry Blonde looked younger, though no more alive, and was now clothed in a blood and bullet-ridden school uniform.

"Sam." Grian breathed his name, and let it be carried by the forever-moving void. Grian neither spoke the name with fear, nor hatred. It simply just was.

The Rabbit's ear twitched again, but his red eyes didn't carry the void, not as The One-winged Creature's eyes did.

And for once in his existence, Sam was silent.

Grian opened his eyes and stared down at his blood-soaked hands. Grian's eyes, which were as black and ashen as the aftermath of a wildfire, gave nothing away of what he was thinking.

Then, Grian began to speak again, "You know, I was one so... scared of you," he continued, the void shifting within his words.

Sam remained silent, his red eyes watching as Grian's wing hugged his side.

The One-winged Creature bit his lip, and turned his lifeless gaze back up to the nothingness that seemed to blanket him.

"I was once so scared of all of this," Grian said, his wing slowly relaxing at his side.

Grian fiddled with his hands, his face scrunching up as the void shifted with him once again. "And I was so angry. And I fought you at every turn, biting and clawing and screaming. And I made everyone but you bleed in the process." Grian shut his eyes tight and took a deep breath.

For a long moment silents wrapped around their world. Sam's soft breathing was the only thing that could be heard as Grian's chest remained still.

Then, as if a spell was broken, Grian smiled.

And the void shifted, its color turning into that of a rich gold instead of the ashent remains of a wildfire.

"But you know what? I'm not scared anymore." Grian turned to face the silent rabbit boy. The Strawberry Blonde's smile was soft, and his void eyes were burning bright. "And I don't want to be angry any longer."

And despite everything, Grian's voice was soft. Not caring, not loving, there was no venom nor hurt in it. It simply just was.

Sam's ears twitched and fell back. The rabbit blinked, a blank expression on his face.

"I'm not him," the tar-black cat said, their voice falling flat in the golden hue of the void.

"I know,"

The red-eyed cat frowned, "Then why do all of this?" they asked dully.

Grian merely tilted his head in thought before he looked at the cat with eyes that burned with the same golden fire as the void.

"Grief is a strange thing, isn't it? How could I miss the man that made me into such a monster?" Grian smiled softly as thousands of his eyes opened inside of his golden void.

The cat's frown only deepened, but before he could say something, The Thousand Eyed Creature crowned in golden forget-me-nots continued.

"Or at least, that's what I would want to say- Sam making me into a monster, I mean." Grian confessed softly, "In the end, it was my choices that made me into this. It was me who hurt those who got in my way. And I can't blame Sam and the others for what I became, not fully, at least."

The cat's ear twitched, "Then why do you miss him?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Because now, more than ever, I want to gut him and trap him back into this void where he belongs," The Creature simply said.

The cat was silent for a long moment, then simply nodded, satisfied with his answer. And as Grian's void shifted again, The red-eyed cat was gone as Grian came to terms with his past.

Grian was once again alone. Sitting on the edge of their old home that was left floating in the void after they brought the end times to their world.

"Those are the mistakes you made in the past."

Soon he would have to wake up back in that forest. Surrounded by his Shifters, left to rule over his land.

He was foolish to think he could destroy the Kingdom Of Valor. And he was foolish to think he could run away from it all.

Grian knew he was foolish to name himself king, and to think that he would feel something again if he hurt the ones that hurt him.

"Yet that had already come to pass.'"

But yet here he was, dreaming of his lover who was taken from him too soon, and reminiscing over his past as a Watcher.

" "Let the past rest in the past." "

And as Grian closed his eyes, and begged for his story to end, he was falling through his golden void.

'It's not like I can die anymore.'

And as the golden void opened up to swallow him whole, Grian gave one last message for his void to carry to the man who had come looking for him once again.

"Find me at the world's edge, where it began, and where it will end."

End notes

Grian's characterization in YHS and TS: The perpetuation of the cycle of abuse, (Was abused by Sam and the new world around him. Instead of trying to change the system, he became part of the system inorder to survive it.).

Taurtis's characterization in YHS and TS: Ignorance is bliss, sometimes it's better to turn a blind eye then to deal with Sam's BS.

Sam's characterization in YHS and TS: A psychopathic narcissistic abuser who thinks he's smart, but everyone knows his BS.

If you made it this far reading this book, I am incredibly grateful!