Grandfather, The Breath of Eclipse...

The ghastly moon was replaced with the divine sun as the light reclaimed the skies. However, even with this change, a tense atmosphere couldn't be washed away by the rays emitted by the sun. The chirps of birds could not be heard, and the wet earth couldn't be seen under the coat of a sea of fire formed by leaves coloured gold, orange and yellow.

A young boy stood amongst the ocean of leaves, his hair unkempt and messy with a shirt stained by tears. His gaze wandered aimlessly, looking upon the naked Autumn Trees and the fallen leaves. His eyes were swollen, and dark outlines stood out upon his pale face beneath them.

Even if a person were directly upon the boy, they wouldn't have been able to hear his faint breath as he seemed to be the embodiment of a living corpse. A white mask shaped to look like that of a fox's face was in his hand. It had two white ears coloured with a crimson red inside the ears. The Fox mask had red and grey patterns decorating it with a long red string representing the red string of fate acting as the ties to put the mask on.

The boy looked at the mask in his hands as a memory remerged and then fell onto the ground cushioned by the pile of leaves.

Nearby a group of three stood, watching their beloved child/brother hurt so much.

"Hayate, we gotta do something, or he will hurt himself. We have lost Mother. We can't lose our child too." Ichika gripped onto her husband's sleeve as she wept, horrified at the thought of losing her child.

"I will speak to him, Yuki. Go take your Mother inside and take care of her," Hayate said as he walked towards his son.

(Hayate POV)

I walked towards my son, my steps heavy. Creating a slight cough, I tried to attract his attention. "Ahem, ahem", but to no avail. He merely ignored me. No, he didn't even notice me. "Shoku!" I yelled desperately, trying to get him to listen to me.

"I understand that you are sad, no, you are heartbroken, and there is a void within your heart since the passing of your Grandma, but know that you're not alone. That your family will always be there for you," I took a deep breath and finally, I saw him turn to me. His face had tears streaming down combined with a trail of snot emerging from his nose.

"Dad…. You promise never to leave me?" He said, his dark eyes lit with this fragile hope, a dream of not being alone.

"I-I, I promise Shoku, I won't leave you," I said, but internally I didn't believe so. 'We are all going to die one day. I'm sorry, Shoku, this is a promise which will break your heart… But please bear with this selfish request of mine because I don't want to lose you, my son.'

I saw his eyes transform from their previous dark state, but I knew this was only temporary. "Come on, we have to go, tomorrow we will have your Grandmother's funeral, but before that, I want to tell you a few things about our family."

"What sort of things, dad?"

"Your Grandfather, the mask in your hand and the twin swords Yoake and Yūgure, come on, let's talk as we walk."

Walking upon the dead leaves, I could hear a crunch beneath my feet as we walked towards the smithy "Shoku, our family weren't originally from this village. We were part of a powerful clan."

Shoku looked at me in confusion. "Why haven't I ever heard of this? And if we were from a powerful clan, what happened?"

"I do not know much details about it, but there was a calamity that had happened. Beings beyond our comprehension slaughtered our clan, and the reason we survived was because of your Grandfather." I took a pause. We arrived at the smithy.

I looked back, ensuring that Shoku was still following me, and then I retrieved two swords, one entirely black and the other white. Both blades were in their sheaths. On the black sword Yūgure were carvings of a serpent with its jaws wide devouring the sun and consuming all light. The snake coloured a brilliant red that seemed like blood, and when staring at it, you could see it coming to life.

Yoake also had a similar design; it was a white katana with golden patterns and a painting of a golden dragon whose tail wrapped around the sun and its body blocked the moon.

"These two words are your Grandfathers." I then breathed, holding the two swords I seemingly danced, remembering my late father. As I danced, I remembered when he came to me, bleeding out, handing me these two swords, 'Hayate, don't cry… You're the man of the house. Make sure to take care of your Mother, your wife and your two little children.' His voice started to echo in my mind. Then I saw my Mother.

As I continued to dance, I stopped to see Shoku, whose eyes expanded at the brilliant display. "Your Grandfather taught me this swordplay. He called it the Breath of Eclipse. He was the only reason we survived that massacre."

"Do you want to learn?" I said I was happy I had finally distracted him.

Hours passed, the sun started to fall, and darkness blanketed the sky again.

I tucked my son into his bed, and tomorrow was my Mother's funeral. Kissing my wife, I grabbed multiple bottles of sake. Walking towards my smithy, I sat outside, leaning upon the rigid brick walls. Staring at the sculpture of my Grandma and my son, I was drawn into another world in which I turned into a little boy…

Taking several gulps of my sake, I immersed myself in this fictional world of mine. It was beautiful. Extraordinary gardens surrounded buildings, the night sky was lit up by hanging lanterns, and the scent of warm home-cooked food could be smelt everywhere. Then the scene had changed, and I took another sip of my sake. There was death and slaughter… "Ichika, grab the children. We gotta leave." We fled from there, along with my Mother leaving our Grandfather to protect us.

The scene changed again with a family inside a heartwarming village where a remarkably few children ran amok in the village, giving it a sense of life. But suddenly, that image shattered, replaced with a dying old man smiling at his son, giving him twin swords, "Take care of our family with these two swords. They're called dusk and dawn. Remember, in distress, always breathe, my son." The old man's breath ended, and he died with a smile on his face.

Unknowingly a single tear trickled down my cheeks as I continued to drink, drowning myself in the past, trying to escape from the present. A picture of my Mother appeared, her eyes were white and skin pale, 'Why! Why! Why! Why? Why did you all leave me?' A white world appeared, and I hugged my knees.

I was alone…

Crying at this revelation, my tears became wild laughs as insanity struck me, but then the white world became filled with other figures… Staring at them, I recognised them as Mother, Father, village men like Bob, gossip Aunty Shirley, crying baby Bill and so much more. Then my daughter Yuki appeared, giving me a gentle smile, and so did Shoku. Finally, I felt a gentle hug coming from behind me…

The love of my Life "Ichika"…

My laughs died down, and my sadness was replaced with a gentle smile plastered on my stern face. 'I haven't slept like this for a long time. I went off to my dreams, sleeping like a baby.

"Silly you, you might wake up the children, Hayate" Ichika looked at her sleeping husband dearly and laid his head on her lap, looking upon the stars. She stroked his hair and relaxed his face, and said, "You're not alone. You will always have me."

Silence returned to the world, and the couple slept...

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A/N: So how did you like the new POV… To be honest, I was planning to do this chapter a bit differently where I would add a new plot of some sort, but I will leave that for a future chapter. I also did this POV to develop other characters, don't worry, It will still mainly be the MC. Also does anyone remember Uncle Bob? If you don't, he is a side character I built and is a nonce who loves Shoku…

Anyways, when will I achieve my dream of a ducc chain in the comments…

Someone help this poor author achieve his dream of a ducc chain.