What It Once Was

Silence overcame the quiet countryside as the ruins of a former town laid dormant. Small particles of ash filled the air as dust covered the stone structures. Farmland that was once covered with wheat was now burnt to a crisp, the dirt unable to produce life. On the main road, a singular figure walked, his footsteps echoing through the area. Illuminated by the moonlight, a hood covered their head. Their hand clutched the cloak, clinging desperately as if to hide their identity. However as much as they hid, there was no escaping who they once were. Heavy winds would eventually come, forcing the hood off of their head, revealing a singular man under it. A man that once believed that power was everything. 

Every decision he made… every betrayal he caused, was now engraved into him, never escaping no matter how hard he tried. The eyes that once looked at him with love and compassion, they would all stare at him with disgust and worst of all… they would all look at him in an emotion that stung more than any blade. They would look at him in fear…

A man who was once a loving husband… was now regarded as the Demon King. A figure who held no remorse against the atrocities that he commited. A figure who would raise his blade against anyone if it meant advancing his army. 

Now having lost all his power, he walked the streets alone. Wandering as he tried to figure out a life that once was.

That’s where he found himself now, standing inside a place that he knew all too well. His eyes looked around as he tried to remember the past. The cobblestone that used to be solid, now was cracked and had moss seeping through the edges. The brightly colored windows now all laid shattered, the remnants laying broken on the ground. 

“The library where I met you…” the man murmured to himself as he touched the shelves. Worn books covered it sparsely, many of them destroyed during a battle. Eventually his eyes laid upon a singular book, his eyes widening at the sight of it. 

“It’s still here…” he grabbed the book and opened it. A soft smile began to adorn his lips as he flipped through the pages. A memory of the past filling his mind every flip. Eventually he was met with the leather of the back cover, the smile on his face began to fade. His hands moved to place the book upon the shelf, then the cloak adorned his head once more. 

He began walking down the old pathway once more, his footsteps being the only noise. More and more ruins began to fill his peripheral before he stopped. Then looking up, he was met with a small hill, at the top laid a singular building. His breath hitched at the sight of it.

It… it still stands. I didn’t… I didn’t destroy it…

Slowly… slowly his feet began to move, step by step, he scaled the hill. His fists clenching as the building came closer and closer. Moss ate away at the cobblestone around the foundation as cobwebs littered the lumber pile. Dust covered the windows while the wood looked to collapse at any moment. But despite all of that, the man just stood there, his expression unreadable. Then his gaze shifted to the window, his eyes widening slightly.

 A soft orange glow emitted from inside the house, indicating someone was inside. Quickly, the walked over to the door, his hand opening it slowly

However as he opened the door, he felt body go rigid. Inside sat a single person in the living room. Her jet black hair flowed down to her shoulders, her cat-like eyes staring deeply into the fire, her pale skin reflecting off the light. Her body tense as her hand remained folded on her lap. She made no motion to turn around, her body remaining frozen in place. 

“... Jimin?” the man took a step, “is that you?”

Silence

“Jimin… I… I didn’t expect to see you here,” 

Silence again, not an inch of movement for the girl. The man stayed there for a moment, unsure of what to do. His body wanted to move, but his mind… it knew better than to make any sudden movements. 

“6 years…Y/N…” the woman finally said, “it’s been six years since I saw you walk through that door. Six years since you went down that path…”

“I-I know…” Y/N whispered, he opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by the woman raising her hand.
“How dare you walk into this house as if everything is alright? As if the past six years never happened?!”

“Jimin,” the man took a step, “please… let me say I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you during all of this. It took me losing everything in my pursuit of power to truly realize the reason for it all. The true reason why I did everything. That it was all done for you. My foundation… the one who supported me… the person who would help through it all…”

Silence overcame the two of them, neither of which can look the other in the eye. However as Y/N looked  down, he watched as his former wife clenched her fists. Then water droplets began to fall onto them…
“You… you know how long I’ve waited to hear those words? For you to realize that you were wrong? You’ve changed so much…to the point where I questioned if even the man that I married was still there. I spent days and nights praying, hoping each day that my husband would walk through those doors. Be the same person that I fell in love with. But… it never came. You sought power over my love. You chose something temporary for something that you could’ve had for life.”

“Jimin…”

“I’m not done!” she yelled, the tears falling fast. Despite them though, her eyes continued to hold its fierce gaze. “how… how can you just walk in here as if nothing has happened. Ask for my forgiveness… as if you… didn’t commit those…” her mouth moved as if wanted to continue, but no full words came out, like the weight of what he had done was too heavy…

After a long moment, she met his eyes once more. “You don’t get that right… you don’t get to act like the man you once were. That man was buried a long time ago… and I was a fool for holding onto its remnants for so long…” 

Her words cut into the thick air, forcing Y/N to take a step back, his hands shaking. The venom and anger behind them were all deserved, leaving him with no choice but to accept them. Accept everything that was spoken… was true.

Y/N’s mouth opened to say something, but like her, no words came out. Millions of words flew around in his head, but yet he couldn’t formulate a sentence. The woman in front of him continued her gaze, the teardrops idly falling to the ground. Eventually a scoff escaped her lips as she walked past him, her hand reaching out towards the door,

“You came here asking for my forgiveness,” her hand wipes the tears from her cheeks, “but forgiveness isn’t something I can just give you… it’s something that needs to be earned,”

The door opened with a small creak, the moonlight illuminating her, “this is goodbye…”

Then with a single step, she left. The door clicking shut behind her. So many words and emotions filled his body, finding different ways to speak to her one last time. But… Y/N knew better than to do anything… because if he turned around. He would be forced to watch the last thing of his old life… slip away from his fingers. 

However despite all that, there was a nagging feeling deep inside of him. A feeling that he can’t seem to shake no matter how hard he tries. He knew it was foolish, but for some reason, his body reacted differently from his mind.

I don’t have the right to stop her…

But…

If I dont… I’ll lose her forever…

“W-Wait!” Y/N screamed out as he opened the door. This action made the woman stop dead in her tracks. However she didn't dare to even turn around to face him, “please… please let me say one more thing…”

No response came right away, only the gentle night breeze could be heard. Slowly the man’s head began to drop again, his arms going motionless at his sides. A sigh was preparing to escape his lips, when…

“Spit it out,” Jimin spoke, her tone unreadable

“I-I know I was a fool for coming here, that even expecting for your forgiveness would be hopeless. So with these final words… all I can say is…” a lump began to form in the man’s throat. His eyes focused on the back of the woman who he loved with all his heart, “all I can say is… thank you,”

No movement came from either side for a couple of seconds. But to the two of them, those few seconds felt like an eternity. Eventually, Jimin cut into the silence.

“Thank you for what?”

“Thank you for giving me the best years of my life. From the moment that we met in the village that one afternoon, to the moment where we sat on this hill, the stars above us as I proposed to you. Thank you for taking care of me during my worst and cheering me on during my best. Every single moment that I had with you, are moments that I wouldn’t change for the rest of my life.”

Y/N took a breath, using it to see if there were any noticeable differences in Jimin. To his dismay though, her body remained rigid and continued to look away from him. He took her silence though as a sign to keep going.

“Even if you don’t feel the same anymore, I’ll always love you. I’ll always love every single thing about you. From the way you talk, to the way that you move. Your little mannerisms like the way that you couldn’t meet my eyes whenever you told a lie. The cute moments you would have like randomly singing no matter what. Or the way you had a bright smile on your face as you picked flowers from the nearby woods.”

A wet feeling began to fall down the man’s cheeks as he kept going. A wistful smile adorning his lips as he took one final deep breath. 

“I… I know that this is goodbye. No matter what I try, I don’t deserve to have you back into my life. So my final words to you will be the ones I just said. All of them culminating in a simple sentence; Thank you…”

Having finished his words, Y/N simply stared at the woman again, a small part of him hoping to see her face one last time. But as the seconds passed, that hope diminished. He didn’t argue… he didn’t say anything else. All he did was shut the door for the last time. 

Unbeknownst to him though, the reason why Jimin couldn’t turn around to look at him was that the tears couldn’t stop flowing. No matter how hard she tried, they came. Her shoulders trembled as she stood there. Her eyes looking out into the distance, the teams streaming down her face as she choked out a single sentence.
“Why… why couldn’t you be that man sooner…”