A time when he Cared

“Why do you put up with his bullshit?? He’s an absolute asshole.”

Angella smiled slightly as she answered the anonymous friend. “Xavier... He’s different. Yes, rather crude, but there’s a side to him that no one sees, someone he doesn’t want anyone to see in him. I do admit, he hides it well, but I still see it.

There was a time he cared. When he was young and the world was bright and new in his eyes... Though, he didn’t get to live through the life of a child. He lived through the life of a 19 year old man, raised in the army with war and death all around him. First, he had to be tried for his fight, just another little pawn, a soldier on the battleground. In the war he fought, everyone he hurt seemed to be innocent; everyone was just fighting for the same thing, and had to kill each other over it; A forbidden power that eventually had been destroyed because of all the discord. Though in the war, he still had a place, he fought to rise the ranks, because from the beginning he was destined for greater things, he just had to pass their tests, and he’d be looked upon as a hero. And so he rose. He rose all the way up to being the General, and was awarded General of the Army just in time for them to put the blame on him for a million deaths. He was their scapegoat. After all, he was different. They viewed him as defective, and just like that, they abandoned him as a pile of scrap.

For years he was left to waste... There was nothing he could find purpose for, and really, he just laid there, in a closed down falling apart warehouse... then Damia found him. She was just snooping around where she shouldn’t be, and she found him. She almost just... Brought him back to life. She... She brought him home. He was filthy, yes, but we treated him to a nice dinner, a shower, washed his clothes for him.. he just seemed all mopey at first, but oddly Damia’s eagerness and optimism started to get him talking. They hit it off right away, in fact, we all did. We became such great friends. He was the sweetest guy in the beginning, though also weak and frail, crushed by the life he used to lead... For the longest time he looked like a sad puppy, just like Allen, and Galileah was another ball of cheer, though the two of them always lived life so fast, but the group of us, we were happy. Allen and Galileah had a kid, and for a while Damia and I just went along with Xavier, though he felt like a third wheel.

Both Galileah and Allen died young. Their kid died from a seizure, and a little under a year later, both of them followed. Galileah overdosed, and just a month later, Allen had finally drunken himself to death.
Xavier was rather devastated.  He felt weak again, and for a while, he hated himself, and then he just… shut off his emotions. For a while he just withered again, but oddly from that came some feeling of invincibility. He swore he couldn’t feel anymore, and he just faced the world with no fears or sorrows, searching for something to keep pulling him forward. And he found it.

Power. And that’s all he wanted. He strove for it head on, using his intelligence and strength and physique to obtain it for himself. Money, popularity, respect, dominance, power... and that power drove him mad.

And now, he has it. He’s fairly responsible with it. He supports the both of us with it. Both Damia and I are happy with him. He’s at last recovering his emotions again, I believe. He became the leader he was always meant to be… just a bit stricter; his decisions are odd, but they work out in the end.”
“but he abuses you, both of you-“
Angella rubbed the bruise right beside her eye “it’s mark from his affection, not from his anger. I’m sure you wouldn’t understand. He just slipped. You can ask Damia, he’s kind to all of us, he takes care of us, his friends, his soldiers. He’s our leader, and he’s  a great leader. And we stand by his side.”