Chapter Text
It was a bright, sunny day. The Monastery’s red roof gleamed in the sunlight, gleaming and cheerful.
“Hey Arin, look what I found,” Sora’s voice came from inside an old, abandoned room.
Arin hurried over, interested, side-stepping the various ornaments and clothes that lay littered inside. “Yeah?”
You might be wondering: why were they digging around in the Monastery’s old rooms?
Well, to be fair, training to be a ninja was boring and exhausting work.
They were just taking a little break. They weren’t distracted or anything. It was for their own good.
It totally wasn't because Lloyd was out getting groceries and they practically had the entire place to themselves.
(At least, that’s what Arin told himself as he made his way over to his best friend).
He looked over her shoulder and saw the picture she’d been staring at. “Woah,” he muttered, taking it into his hands, peering at it closely – although it was hard to hold it properly without prodding any of the cracked glass on top. “Is that…Lloyd?”
“I think so,” Sora replied softly. Her eyes strayed to the cracked picture as she hesitantly traced it. “Huh, wonder who this guy is.”
The guy in question was the one standing beside the younger Lloyd, old and wizened, laugh lines and crow’s feet lining his face. He looked…so proud of the boy, Arin almost felt like he was intruding on a personal moment.
And Lloyd, too: he looked so much happier, lighter – much better than he did nowadays, like a heavy burden had been placed on him, dragging him down so much that every smile felt like a forced one.
Arin coughed.
The room felt sombre, quiet – and he felt awkward.
“We shouldn’t have seen this,” he muttered, backing away. “It looks…private.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Sora, standing. “But I want to show you something.” She tugged at his hand, pointing over to a small corner, decorated with pictures – all of the same man, laughing and smiling.
“I…” She hesitated. “I found the frame over there, right in the centre.”
“It looks almost like some sort of shrine,” Arin observed, before realizing, a stab of grief going through his heart. “Or…a memorial.”
His eyes fell on the clothes on the floor. “Sora,” he whispered, “look.” He picked up a robe, wide-eyed. “Isn’t this what the man was wearing in that photo?”
He swept his gaze around, and took a step back, looking at the room in a new light.
Everything here looked like it had once belonged to the unknown man in the photo. Whoever he was, Lloyd clearly had cared for him once.
His eyes strayed back to the shrine, noting the reverent way that the pictures were placed, meticulously cared for even in such a dusty room.
He shook his head.
“Come on,” he muttered, taking Sora’s hand gently and leading her out. “I don’t think we should be here.”
The photo was placed back in the shrine, the two people frozen in a moment of happiness, unknowing of the hardships to come. The room remained dark and sombre, forgotten memories swirling in dust.
Arin closed the door quietly, and left.