SGE His Darkened Heart (A Japaric Fanfiction)

Chapter 19 All that's Left

-Aric's POV-

"Evil will triumph over good," was the first thing the School Master promised his followers. Aric found the Schools for Boys was no more and neither was the School for Girls. Instead, the newly brought back to life School Master had changed the Schools in his image. The boys and girls, good and evil, had set aside their differences and united.

At first, Aric was appalled by the new image of evil, thinking he would no longer be able to roam freely as he had in the School for Boys. No more beatings to administer, no little distractions to keep his thoughts at bay. Aric truly believed the School Master would make him nothing more but a Never student never to reach his full potential. That was until the School Master had come to him with an offer, an offer Aric couldn't refuse.

"My School will need a dean," The youthful School Master had told Aric. "A Dean besides the old one most of them already know. You become Dean alongside your mother and you'll be in a position higher than any of the students. You will be their superior, not their equal."

The only catch was the School Master permitting Aric from killing Lady Lesso as long as Aric and her worked alongside each other as Deans. Aric had been so close to ending his mother's life for good after the Trial. After seeing Evelyn Sader die, Aric had come across his mother and attacked her. He was just about to stab her when the School Master had butted in and offered Aric a position as Dean so long as he left his mother alive for the time being.

Aric had agreed and that's how he found himself as teacher of woods training in which he would lead students in vigorous exercises through dangerous obstacles. As Dean, Aric could order students in the new school around and they had to obey him. Aric found there were many perks to being a Dean.

The only problem was having to be Dean alongside his very own wretched mother. While Lady Lesso was respected by most of the students in School, Aric was feared for his threatening demeanor and harsh mannerisms. "Perhaps you should learn the meaning of the term 'respect,'" Lady Lesso had told Aric in a dismissive tone one day. "Those students will never look up to you as one of their Deans if you continue to use brash cruelty towards them."

"I'll never be like you," Aric had retorted. "I would never abandoned the one person who trusted me. I don't need those kids being loyal towards me. I need them to fear me so they can get into line."

Aric had felt something inside him break at  the sound of his own words. Maybe, he'd rejected the idea that him and his mother might be like each other because he knew he would never hurt someone who'd given him his trust. But, the thing was Aric had hurt someone. He'd left his best friend behind. He'd abandoned the one person who'd once trusted him completely. Now, it was easier to think that Japeth hated him instead of believing that maybe, just maybe, Japeth missed him.

So perhaps Aric was wrong when he'd told Lady Lesso that he would be never be like her, because in a way, the both of them had each left people they'd once cared about behind.

Besides Aric's new position as Dean and the union of the two schools into one evil one. it was also the weather that went through a drastic change. No longer was there anymore rainy or bright days. Instead, the days had become darker and the sun that had once given the woods life began to take that life away.

Aric didn't mind the chill or the shadows that crept across the woods, but it was only when he looked up at the sky that he became unnerved. With the dying sun, Aric saw the sky was dreary and bland. There were no more blue skies to look forward to and although it was those blue skies that made Aric remember Japeth, the one person he tried his hardest to forget, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anguish every time he set his violet gaze upon the darkened sky.