Annaisha

"Shut up! Stop following me!", he yelled and ran off towards the forest.

Naturally, she followed without a second thought. She didn't call out his name, because she knew how it annoyed him. And even though she wasn't used to the terrain in the forest, she couldn't just leave him alone.

Of course, he was faster. Before she knew it, he had disappeared in the forest. Even if she called out his name now, he wouldn't answer. So she kept searching on her own. Stumbling, falling and bruising her legs countless times, she always got up and went back to looking for him.

But soon, the sky darkened and she could smell the rain in the air. That scared her. She knew it would be dark soon. And she didn't know the forest well enough to return by herself anyway. Not that she was going to leave without him.

On the other hand, he was already sure she'd left. She would never be able to find him, he thought. Sitting in the the hollow tree trunk, he knew he'd be alright come rain or hail.

"It's not like they'd care anyway", he mumbled to himself before burying his face into his arms, folded on his knees.

"What are you saying?!"

He quickly looked up, to find her muddied, bruised figure, her little white dress torn, and uncountable twigs in her long dark hair.

"Annaisha!", he yelled, "What are you doing here?! I told you to leave me alone!"

"It's getting dark and it's raining...", she said, soaked from head to toe, "We should go home."

"Go away!", he yelled before running away again.

She followed. Again. Like always.

"Father will be worried!", she called to him.

But he wouldn't stop. But somehow, she kept up with him this time and that led the two of them out of the forest. The sun was beginning to go down and the clouds made the evening darker than usual.

"I don't need your help! Go away!", when she'd finally caught up to him, she grabbed his arm but he shook her off, rather violently.

"Why?", her voice broke barely, "Why are you always like that? Why do you hate me?"

She was teary eyed. Perhaps from the pain, or perhaps...

"I don't need your pity!", he dared not look at her face, "You're always like that too...I can't stand you! Because I'm worthless, you pity me! I don't want that! Go away! Leave me alone!"

"Don't yell", she was crying, "I just wanted to...You looked like you were lonely. I didn't want you to be-"

"Shut up!", he pushed her back.

The country road was turning to mud. There was no one around to hear them in the heavy rain. And the fields on either side of the road just howled with the stormy winds.

"But father worries too. I don't want you to feel like that either! I just want to help", she managed to say, with her tears choking her.

"You can't! You can't help me! No one can help me! I don't need your help! I wish you...", he shoved her, before running off towards home, "I wish you didn't exist!!!"

Her disheveled figure on the muddy country road, watched him go in tears.

********************

"****, how long are you planning to sleep?", his father woke him up, "What were you up to last night? Look at the mess you are."

"I was...", he sat up, "Playing in the forest."

His father understood what that meant.

"Alright, go on and wash up. We'll eat."

He noticed how empty the seats were at breakfast. His brothers ate quickly and went out for their magic class. He slowly downed his stew and helped his father clean. Despite the maids, his father often did the cooking himself.

It was almost noon and he hadn't left the house at all today. He was looking out of the window of his father's study when he came up to him.

"Not going out today?", he asked, gently ruffling is hair.

"Father...where's Annaisha?", he asked, with a hint of guilt.

"Annaisha?", his father looked perplexed, "Is that a new friend you made?"

"Eh?", he stared at his father, confused.

"Oh, is it a girl you like?", his father teased him.

"No, father, I'm talking about my sister, Annaisha!"

"Eh? Sister? Is that how you think of her? That's alright too, of course", his father answered, unable to understand what was going on.

"No, Annaisha...she...", he ran off towards her room.

He sprung the door open, but it wasn't how he remembered it. It looked like it belonged to one of his brothers. One by one, he went through every room. But there was none that belonged to Annaisha.

His father tried to get a hold of him but he slipped away. He asked every servant if they knew where Annaisha was. But no one knew who she was. He even summoned the courage to go to his mother's room. But she didn't seem to know any Annaisha, the only child she had been able to love.

He ran out of his house, looking for his brother. By the time the sun was going down, he had realized that Annaisha had been erased from this world. He went back to the forest. To the muddy country road, but there was no trace of her.

"Annaisha", he was down on his knees, "Did I...no but...I didn't really want it to happen..."

Was it fear? Guilt? The child didn't know. All he knew was that it was unbearable. He didn't want to feel that feeling anymore.

"So...I know...if I just..."

He thought he had the answer. If he just forgot about her like everyone, then this feeling that was eating away at him would disappear too.

And so he forgot Annaisha. He forgot that he erased her.

*******************

"****! Thank goodness, you're safe!", his father hugged him as he saw him flailing across the country road that was still muddy from last night.

"Father...?", he was weak and tired.

"Where's Annaisha? Wasn't she with you?", his father asked, wiping the mud off his face.

"Anna...who's that?", he asked.

His father's eyes widened, as if seeing something absolutely terrifying in his son's eyes. He hugged his son, closing his eyes.

The boy, of course, didn't understand anything. But the whole village searched for Annaisha for seven days, in the forest and the mountains. They searched, even though his father gave up, perhaps because he knew something they didn't. He had seen what they hadn't.

**************

"Where is she?! What have you done with her?!", Rouge's voice barely ever got this high.

There was no answer.

"They're looking for her...If she's out there, they'll find him."

"And why aren't you looking for her?! Aren't you her father?!", Rouge yelled again.

Again, there was no answer.

"I want an answer. Don't you dare try to hide anything about Annaisha! Tell me!"

"Rouge...there's something...No, I'm not sure if its there...", he was exhausted, he hadn't had a wink in so many nights.

"What? What is it?!"

"I don't think she's out there."

"Huh?"

"I asked ****. He doesn't even remember her", his face grew dark.

"Eh? Doesn't...remember her?"

"He doesn't have any idea who she is. There's something missing...I'm sure of it but...I can't put my finger on it", he grabbed his head, struggling to find the answer.

"Ah...I see...ahaha...", Rouge was taken aback, almost in a daze, "In my family, there have been...mages. Real mages. I heard they...the world is nothing to them. And where they go, there's slaughter. Nothing but slaughter. Unimaginable...with a magic unlike any magic. They...they... I thought it was odd that he had no magic. So that must be it...he must be something...different. He must be..."

"Rouge...get a hold of yourself. What are you saying?"

"You have to...you have to kill him, Kenji!", she grabbed his hand, a touch that has been alien to him for far too long.

"Rouge...", he stared at her, perplexed.

"You have to! You can't let him stay alive! He'll...he'll be the end of us!"

Kenji didn't need to remind her that the person they were talking about was her own son. She knew it without him saying so. And yet she was begging him to kill her son. Kenji just held her hand that had ended up in his own, and silently heard her pleadings.

But there was no end, no right answer. He got up and kissed her forehead, another touch that he hadn't known very often in his life. He left her room.

Kenji Blackwell looked for an answer for 10 years, relentlessly and to no avail.

*****************

"There's something about that boy...I don't know but...", he sighed, old and haggard as he had gotten over the tiring years, "Even if there is no answer, I beg you...please take him away. Let him find a place where he can belong."

"That's not tellin' us a lot, mister", Chopper said, as the evening sun peeked into the dark interior.

"But we'll do what we can. You probably won't see us again, Mr. Blackwell. But please await our message", the young Lady said, as she stood up and offered a handshake, with a reassuring smile on her face.