Pacifist

INTRO

There's a darkness in everyone.

Sometimes, it likes to stay dormant until death, consuming only when the last breath leaves and warmth is no longer held in the physical body. Other times it's there from the very first breath, never once letting the light show its face to the outside world. People are not just two-dimensional, though; they have layers, they have shadows and negative areas in which no one can see but are very much still there.

But people can only handle so much, so they see only what they want.

A murderer is nothing but darkness.

A hero is nothing but light.

But is anything as it ever seems? Can anyone ever say that a murderer never loved someone so much that they would have curbed their bloodlust for them? Could anyone ever say a hero had never done a nefarious deed, overlooked by what made them a hero?

Some might answer that in confusion, not understanding the questions. But others, the rest of you do get the caution needed when taking in everyone around you. Not just the criminals. Not just the strangers. It's the family members who are able to hide their darkness behind stereotypes. It's the protectors who use their titles to feed their greed.

Those of you who hadn't understood before, are you understanding now? Is it easier to see that the world isn't black and white, that there is always more to the story?

There isn't a doubt that perhaps it isn't easy yet. Living one's life thinking in such a manner and then having someone ask for that to change isn't an instantaneous thing. But every change has to have a starting point.

Every light has to have a reason for why it's been snuffed, every darkness for its retreat.

That's what brings everyone here, to this story; a reason in which light and darkness will fight and one will win. It might be the cliche one, where love will keep the young man in question grounded to his humanity, or it might be the darkness and he might show just how inhuman he really is because of one man's decision to alter history.

But before we get to him, before we get to the legacy in which he will create, we have to start with the people who stand behind him. We have to start with the family broken apart by a man's obsessive anger. We have to start with the family brought together by the tragedy of blood and sleepless nights.

Let's begin, shall we?