Soren's eyes softened as he knelt on the ground, Arthur's head on his lap. "I didn't realise his past hurt him so much. I mean sure, it was filled with pain and anger.. But it haunts him this much? Jeez.. I feel bad for complaining about my own life.."
You shouldn't.. This guy had a choice, whether or not he knew it was his fault. Do not feel bad.
You say that but.. Is it really that simple for everyone?
Everyone has a minimum of three options when it comes to which path they follow. They follow the easy road, the hard road, or they make one for themselves. This guy's fate was decided when he forgot that he could make his own path. He is travelling down the hard road, which no one beside him, and while that demon thing may have had a part in that road, a lot of it was Arthur himself.
How do you know that when you know little to nothing about him? You are not a part of him.
That is true, but I say you in him. You two are similar in more ways than one, and at the rate you are currently going you're steering towards the hard road. Please, I'm asking for your sake, make your own path.
Discordion looked harshly up at Soren, "If you think for even a moment that Arthur had a choice in what happened to him you're wrong" he said, his tone harsh, and gentle at the same time.
Without Soren's permission, his shadow took over, both of his eyes turning completely black. "Everyone has a choice. Even you. We may not like the alternative choice, and so turn a blind eye to there even being one, but the choice is there for people to pursue should they want to. If they have the brains and the courage to."
"He might have that choice now.. but he doesn't know what to do with it!" said Discordion angrily, "He was possessed… by a powerful spirit. I did everything I could just to keep him alive. I would've done more… but the spirit who did this to him was under the protection of a powerful shadow entity. One that had me restrained, all but under his complete control. Every single second Arthur had during those twelve years was spent in pain. Agony by either Shadowfang's torture, or by the pain of the wounds he was forced to deal his brother."
"You say twelve years as if that's an impressive number." the shadow scoffed. "And what of this shadow entity now? Is he still around? Also, it being a pure coincidence that Arthur was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, he could have still fought against it. You say he was forced to do things, no one can force another to do anything. If the 'forcee' is weak then the 'forcer' will take that advantage. Arthur just so happened to have a weak mind, possibly even a weak soul. But what do I know, I'm only part of a demon who's father is a manipulative mass murder."
"Twelve years under Corana's power?" said Discordion, disgusted at this guy's attitude, "Yeah that's impressive" he said it firmly, "Especially since he was able to survive largely on his own power, despite being nine, and never having developed the mental shielding to defend against that kind of assault."
Discordion sighed, "And when I say forced, we mean that he was locked up in his own mind, while Corana's minion, the dark spirit Shadowfang, used his body to hunt the light guardian destined to lock Corana away when it was at it's weakest."
"His brother I assume?" He shook his head, averting his gaze. "I'm not going to pretend to know exactly how Arthur is feeling, nor what he has been through. I only know what I have picked up from everything that Soren has been through. The name Corana rings a bell, though I might be imagining things.." Soren's eyes faded back to normal as he regained control, causing him to gasp for air. He looked in confusion to Discordion. "I'm not even going to ask.."
"I take it that was your shadow?" he asked, keeping a close eye on the sleeping Arthur, who was still extremely pale.
"Perhaps." Soren sighed, gently stroking Arthur's hair. "You were right, I have been up to something, but I only did it as a precaution for Arthur's sake."
Discordion studied him for a moment. Arthur will wake up in a little while.
"Good. " Soren met Discordion's eyes. "You're looking at me weird."
Discordion raised an eyebrow, before vanishing without a word.
"Love you too." Soren rolled his eyes with a gentle sigh, turning his attention back to Arthur. He kept running his fingers through the latter's hair. "I'm so sorry.."
Arthur slept peacefully for awhile, before suddenly bolting awake, "What…"
"Hey, take it easy.." Soren mumbled, shifting away from Arthur a little. He winced in pain as he sat on his tail, but he couldn't do much about that now.
Arthur carefully sat up. "Did.. Discordion…" he phrased it as a question as he got his bearings.
"Nothing happened, you were just tired and passed out." Soren said, thinking that it would be better not to bring up what had caused Discordion to put Arthur to sleep.
"You don't have to shelter me Soren…" said Arthur sitting up, "I know what happened….. I lost it… again…"
"You didn't lose it exactly, you just remembered more than you wanted to.." Soren hugged himself, feeling very awkward.
"I lost it" said Arthur firmly, "I left Wolf territories so I could move on, but I can't…."
Soren shrugged, keeping his gaze averted from Arthur. "You can, you just need help."
"I've tried looking for help…." he said quietly, "Nothing works….."
"Then you haven't been looking in the right place." Soren picked himself up off the ground, feeling slightly off balance with his tail.
You want to help him, don't you?
I do, but I want him to want me to help him…
"I'd do almost anything for it to have never happened in the first place." said Arthur quietly as he got to his feet, almost unbalanced by the forgotten weight of his wings.
"I can not change the past.. The past is what's made you who you are today. Without that pain and sorrow, you wouldn't be the same. You'd still be you, but you'd be different, and we may have never crossed paths if that had never happened to you." Soren crossed his arms, leaning on a tree. A shadow crossed his eyes. I'm pretty sure I would have been killed already if it wasn't for his guy.
Considering he is the one who is allowing you to fight with your powers, I'd say so.
